I’ve always had a weakness for people who tell you exactly what they think and never bother to mince words, and Shaidle is all that.
One of the most forthright critics of Canada’s Tyranny of Nice and a courageous proponent of free speech in the face of a Nanny State, she’s had her share of suffering, as have we all, but she is not the sort of person to demand that everybody Observe the Pieties on her behalf, and she can often be screamingly funny when it comes to the sort of hushed silences we are expected to observe on behalf of the sundry movements that batten on human suffering as a way of drumming up support for cash, power, reverence, etc.
I often disagree with her sometimes overwhelmingly libertarian outlook, but her — I can’t help but like her. She’s so bloody blunt, so . . . not whiny, and so willing to take life head-on that I’ve always found her refreshing even when she says things with which I strongly disagree. (…)
As a citizen of the Soviet of Washington, I must attest a certain resonance with [my distaste for “bougeois disease culture” colored ribbon campaigns]. There are certain pieties that must be observed here in the Land of the Green and the Home of the Gay. So we are perpetually being made aware of things that we would have to be in a coma not to be aware of.
Did you know that AIDS is a deadly disease we must defeat? News to me. Also, it turns out that we need to fight it, not by keeping our pants zipped and not swapping body fluids with complete strangers, but by wearing red ribbons and attending Pride Parades.
Also, were you aware that care for the environment is important and that we should respect the Earth by wearing green ribbons and recycling? Total news flash to me. If I didn’t have Seattle media making me aware of the fact 24/7/365, my short-term memory loss would have completely erased that knowledge from my mind.
Indeed, if it were not for ribbons, I would be totally unaware of lots of things only a victim of massive brain hemorrhage could be unaware of…
