Culture isn't just for yogurt and liberal elites anymore

Babble on.

Earlier this year - during the Canadian federal election, in fact - Margaret Atwood wrote opinion pieces for both the Globe and Mail and the National Post slamming knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, McCulture/Disneyophile conservatives for being backwards hicks who would kill The Arts (always capitalized, you barbarian!) in Canada. I take a perverse pleasure in the fact that both papers published letters I wrote refuting her liberal elitist silliness. In my vanity, I imagined her sitting at her breakfast table reading the papers, and yelling "BROOKS! I don't know who you are, but I'll get you my pretty!"

Wouldn't Maggie be surprised to see the discussion taking place in the Canadian VRWC blogosphere today. Of course, it begins predictably enough for her:

The Mad Medic: "...MAN, does ballet ever blow...My wife says this is because I have no "culture" and maybe I should move into a 'double-wide'. I say this is because I have a functioning 'brain' and seeing flouncy people flounce flouncily for over an hour really gets on my 'nerves'."

...but the response is eloquent and heartfelt...

The Purveyor of Fine Invective: "...in its defense, The Nutcracker is probably the only ballet where you will see soldiers in 18th century military uniforms carrying rifles with bayonets. The bayonets get used, too -- against man-sized mice. In any human-vermin war, I tend to side with the humans, especially 18th century soldiers and cavalry who are not shy of using their bayonets. There's also the very tame romance between Clara and the Prince. I think there are worse things in life than raising a young girl who admires men (noblemen, even) who serve in the profession of arms."

...and for the Last word, a sip of warm experience...

The Dancer: "Years ago when I use to go out to the nightclubs with my girlfriends I would be approached by men and eventually they would ask me what I did. At first, I never thought anything of saying dancer. This would inevitably bring on the – are you really? No, come on, what do you really do? Show me something. One night, one man was making a particular pest of himself with his cynicism and his lack of appreciation for classical ballet. I tried to explain that ballet was about beauty and form, about emotion and sexuality. He just wasn’t getting it. So I hiked up my dress, leaned against the bar, lifted up my leg straight up in the air and rotated my leg till it was behind my head. Before you could blink, Colleen and I were six deep in men at the bar and never had to buy a drink after that. From that time on, whenever I went out with the girls, they were the ones pestering me to do the leg thingy. And that is why the King of Snow wears pants that tight."

For a bunch of eeevil Rovian neo-cons looking to dismantle the legacy of Tommy Douglas while using homeless Iraqi children as speedbumps on the road to hell, we sure can get touchy-feely at times. Why, our own Spectral Pest has even been nominated for Best Culture Blog at Wizbang's Weblog Awards.

I'm sure there's a lesson in all of this, if only I had a graduate degree in liberal arts so I could decipher it. Ah well, it's The Incredibles for this unlettered boor.

Babble off.