It's interesting, isn't it? People hate it when someone points out the flaws in the things they like.
I've recently been exposing Jessica Rey's swimwear designs, and for some reason, it looks like some commenters at Laura Wood's site had set their hearts on them.
So, rather than comment on the truth of my statements, they talk about my writing style.
I will now begin to dissect their comments, the ones which Laura has simply posted without adding her comments. I actually think this is worthy of my time, although I would much rather be researching on my book and article projects, or reading one of the eight books on my reading list (there is a new one I'll be getting - Jim Kalb's which just came out: Against Inclusiveness: How the Diversity Regime is Flattening America and the West and What to Do About It).
Above is video from photo shoot for a commercial for Rey's swimsuits, with plenty of half-naked models (male and female) in the skimpy Rey swimwear, and some in underwear.
Diana J. writes early on in the post at Laura's site:
What exactly is the jab about Catholicism at the end of Kidist’s post? ...[She is] saying that religion is not an appropriate alternative? How is embracing one’s commitment to God not reclaiming beauty?I agree this is confusing, but I found Rey's bland, uninteresting style to be hypocritically puritanical. I think God wants beauty for us and for the world. Rey's dressed down style seems to say that she is a "good Catholic." Yet, she goes out of her way to design "beautiful" swimsuites. I will pick up on this at a later post, how "beauty" is misrepresented and misunderstood by today's modern, feminist women.
Diana J. continues:
It’s one thing to disagree, but the snide remarks almost make it seem like Kidist has some sort of personal vendetta against Rey.Why would I have a personal vendetta against Rey? I just know of her through her various online and merchandising enterprises.
And Claire Stevens writes, in my defense:
I read with interest the comments from others concerning Kidist’s post on Jessica Rey, then I went and read Kidist’s post. From the comments on your site I was expecting a much harsher critique by Kidist than what I found.And finally, here are some excerpts from Paul T.'s comment, who is the most vocal (or verbal) of the commenters. I have added my reactions to his comments in bold:
Paul T: [The] rambling, catty quality of [Kidist's] attacks on Rey weakens her persuasiveness and credibility.
KPA: Pure ad hominem
Then Paul T. proceeds to "describe" my case against Rey.
- Paul T.: Rey, though American-born, is an Asian invader of our culture
- KPA: I will not shy away from this one. I have observed, over and over, that Asians, even up to third generation immigrant Asians, identify ethnically with their culture. With the increased numbers we are seeing in Canada (and America), Asians will be a dominant group soon, influencing us with their own version of non-American, but American-created Aisanness.
- Paul T: She is running a for-profit enterprise, so her arguments on behalf of modesty are tainted with insincerity
- KPA: What I'm saying is that she is using her "modesty" angle to attract people who would be interested in modesty, which is much larger than we think - concerned parents, young girls who do not want to show their flesh (maybe they're overweight, underweight, generously endowed, etc.) . So yes, she is insincere, since she's using it to make money.
- Paul T.: Her swimsuits are overpriced in comparison with (Third-World-sweatshop-supplied) Wal-Mart’s — sorry, but Kidist raised Wal-Mart a second time, so it’s fair to mention it again
KPA: What's wrong with saying what is true? Walmart prices are lower, and the suites comparitivley attractive. China made? I've addressed that too, here and here. Walmart is working hard at contracting American designers.
- Paul T.: While some find her swimsuits beautiful, she herself dresses like a frump
- KPA: Again, no refutation with examples. "She dresses like a frump" is an objective statement. If Paul T. thinks it is subjective (i.e. opinionated), or wrong, the burden is on him to show us how and why.
- Paul T.: Her arms are too pumped-up from exercise, suggesting raised testosterone levels which probably make her still more aggressive in business
- KPA: I've provided a short, external, report to show the validity of this statement. I didn't make it. Paul T. again simply dismisses it.
- Paul T.: Clearly, she goes to the gym, which takes away time from the performance of her family responsibilities...
- KPA: I used to go to the gym two to three times a week. It takes weeks before any kind of moulding of muscles takes place. Once there, one has to go regularly to maintain them. Even a week away from the gym can change the muscle tone. These shapes don't come easy!
- Paul T.: She espouses [sic]
- KPA: Clever Paul T. is trying to catch me out on language.
- Paul T.: [Rey is following a ] puritanical’ Catholicism rather than a sincere regard for beauty, in fact she is out to “stifle beauty in our culture” (!)
- KPA: I will grant Paul T. that this is a little confusing. I think the reason Rey's swimsuits look better than her speech getup is because she knows that women will go for beautiful things. Yet, she deosn't reciprocate that belief with her own attire. So, her schtick for beauty is a marketing device, rather than a true belief in beauty. But, I will write more in this later, since beauty is my theme, and Rey use is sophisticated and deceptive.
- KPA: The Exclamation mark! In brackets, no less (!) He thinks he is speaking to an "in" crowd which will marvel at my stupidity as much as he does (!).
- Paul T.: As an actress she never rose above parts in forgettable TV shows.
- KPA: Well she didn't. Who watches Power Rangers and who watches day-time soap operas, unless it is bored housewives who should be getting their home in order? Does Paul T. watch these shows? No? I thought so. And who cares about soaps except for bored, unintelligent women who stay home (I won't call them housewives), while their husbands are out slogging away, and their children have been scuttled off to all-day schools?)
After the Power Rangers, Rey had one or two-episode parts in four television shows. This makes me think that she's waiting for the time her kids are grown (i.e. five, six and in school) before she takes on other acting roles.
Actually, she has started a "mockumentary web series" No Nerds Here "about fan conventions starring former Power Rangers."
Here is the the exhausted-looking Jessica Rey doing finger-clicking a la hip black culture, which looks charming when former black power ranger Nakia Burrise does it, but looks strained with Rey.
Paul T: Kidist's reasons are mostly piffling stuff and their scattershot, cobbled-together quality, taken all together, look more like attempts to justify a gut-level animosity than anything else. (Some might say that, at worst, many women do tend to argue that way).
KPA: So there we are. Since I criticize another woman, I must be envious. And not only that, I am of that sub-species of homo sapiens which is scatter-brained and incoherent. My arguments are invalid. My insights are useless. I may just as well stay at home and watch soap operas (!).
Paul T: By the way, I don’t know that anyone but Kidist has ever linked “Catholic” and “Puritanical.” It reminds me of the character in Philip Roth’s short story, “The Conversion of the Jews,” of whom Roth wrote: “Benny used the term “Catholic” in the broadest sense — to include the Protestants.” Ah well, Catholics, Protestants – they’re all white!
KPA: I will leave this to the Philip Roth aficionados. I have tried to read a couple of Roth's books. They are illegible for their utter promiscuity.
It's funny. I recently watched a PBS program on Roth, and was going to write about him comparing him to Rey. It seems that Roth had a profound hatred of his Jewish identity. But, he is still Jewish. So how to reconcile this hatred with himself? So he writes about Jews, but in the most basic, bare of identifications - sex.
Rey, with her rejection of her identity (her marriage to the white guy), provides us with a sexualized version of female attire - the swimsuit.
If anyone has any other ideas about this, or wishes to elaborate on in it in some psychological sense, please let me know.
And finally, Mary writes at the Thinking Housewife:
I blame Facebook for the popularity of the maternity photo shoot – I’m guessing most of these photos end up posted.She is right to speculate. But Rey is too clever to post her children's photos online. I guess a baby photo in a "pregnancy and marital" photo shoot is OK. Plus, the baby is too young to be recognized. But, the clever Rey has nothing of her children (except for this on Facebook, where we cannot see the toddler's face, and this for an ad for children's footwear, where again the toddler's face is not clearly visible, and Rey seems to be using the child for a footwear ad, making money already...), and only the pregnancy photo of her husband, online.
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My blog is a daily account of how I see things. IT IS A BLOG, not a scientific journal or a literary anthology.
Plus, I like to write in a familiar style. I think it gets closer to "me" and closer to the reader.
I write as though I'm speaking, or as Larry Auster wrote to me in an email last January about my writing (blogging style):
There is something appealing about your semi flow-of-associations writing. Not everything needs to be big and important. What you provide is a feeling of your life, of yourself.And Laura from Texas uncharitably writes (from Laura's post):
[Kidist's] posts are reminiscent of a middle school level book report, with a heavy dose of childish gossip thrown in.Actually, I have taken on other endeavors besides blogging. I am in the process of writing a book, which I've called Reclaiming Beauty. That is what takes time. It will certainly not be in the casual style of my blog. It will be a researched, carefully constructed piece of writing. It will take time. I have already outlined the preliminary ideas here (which incudes a chapter on Rembrandt).
I have had articles published at various well-known sites. I have also a Masters in a scientific subject, Nutrition. And Here is my My PhD thesis proposal in Nutrion (pdf file).
Then Paul T. contradicts himself at the end of Laura's post by saying:
I’m sorry if Laura from Texas thought I believe that ‘all women argue as ineffectively as Kidist does;” in fact I don’t even think that Kidist typically argues as weakly as I think she does on the subject of Jessica Rey. Often she argues superbly. I meant only that there is a long-standing perception that when women don’t argue well, it’s often because they are less interested in sorting out questions logically according to abstract principles, than in rationalizing their emotional reactions with whatever comes to hand. I assume that there is probably some basis for this perception, as with most folk beliefs; but just how fair it is, I really couldn’t say; and it goes without saying that men can argue very poorly too when passionate emotions get the better of them.I think that I touched a nerve for some reason. They all seem to really want to like Rey for some reason: She is a mother; she is a wife; she is a Christian; She is a business woman; She's non-white; Why She is Superwoman!
I think there is still an feminist-tinged admiration for a woman who "does it all" in this society, and especially if she's non-white. We seem to be conservatives, but we are all liberals at heart. And then comes along Jessica Rey, and who embodies all that we wish to see in a modern, twenty-first century woman.
She should be on Sarah Palin's team singing "I am woman, hear me roar!" But those gals from Sex and the City did that better, and they were prettier.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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