Trump as a Stress Test

In keeping with the Russian theme of this election, the genre of letters to the Good Tsar has already begun to appear. People are making asses out of themselves, trying to tell Trump that he is being fooled by mean advisers and are “explaining” things to him.

And in keeping with the entitled immaturity theme, a bunch of cabaret dancers moans at an incredible length about how humiliating it is to perform at the presidential inauguration. As if anything can be more humiliating than being in a profession where you always have to exhibit your panties.

In a way, I’m almost glad that Trump won because his victory helped demonstrate how many idiots and special snowflakes there are. Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated yet, he hasn’t had a chance to do anything, and people are acting like he roasted and ate all of their family members.

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31 responses to “Trump as a Stress Test”

December 28, 2016

I thought cabaret dancers were too … racy for the presidential inauguration, are they not? One would think the religious T|rump supporters would be up in arms because of it.

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Clarissa

December 28, 2016

No, The Rockettes are very mainstream. People take babies to see the performances.

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1. Shakti
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  That’s because the Rockettes (whatever they are, they call themselves a precision dance” company) are not cabaret dancers. And really, if showing your underwear is the humiliation, one must wonder what you think of figure skaters and ballet dancers. Underwear galore!
  
  People are making asses out of themselves, trying to tell Trump that he is being fooled by mean advisers and are “explaining” things to him.
  I never understood the purpose of this genre. Who are they trying to reach? It’s almost never the person they’re addressing. It’s especially pernicious to employ this conceit that he’s reasonable and is acting in good faith when he’d done nothing to demonstrate it and is signaling he will not, repeatedly and loudly.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 28, 2016
    
    Of course, it’s humiliating. Why do you think men are not lining up for the exciting career of kicking up their legs while wearing sparkly panties? Most men on this planet will get very angry and possibly violent if you suggest they exhibit themselves like this in public.
    
    By the way, after the career of these poor Rockettes ends, they end up poor, unemployable, and generally in a very sad state. I know one and it’s not pretty. Surely, if this were considered a decent job, they wouldn’t find it so hard to get employed at least at a minimum wage.
    
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    1. cliff arroyo
      
      December 28, 2016
      
      “Why do you think men are not lining up for the exciting career of kicking up their legs while wearing sparkly panties? ”
      
      Correct me if I’m mistaken but the high front kicks that the Rockettes are known for are a lot more difficult for men* due to differences in pelvic structure (the same reason that male figures skaters can’t lean back while spinning the way females can).
      
      And the main reason that wearing skimpy outfits and dancing is not a viable male career is that not enough women are willing to pay to see it (the way that men pay to see scantily clad females).
      
      Most of the audience that would like to see men kicking and showing off their sparkly panties…. are probably other men (so you’re dragging a whole new spectrum of hangups to the question).
      
      *there not easy for anyone, but they’re easier for a fit young woman than for a fit young man
      
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      1. Clarissa
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        “Correct me if I’m mistaken but the high front kicks that the Rockettes are known for are a lot more difficult for men* due to differences in pelvic structure (the same reason that male figures skaters can’t lean back while spinning the way females can).”
        
        Men could totally compensate for this issue by donning the glittering panties and wriggling their butts. They could even get on their hands and knees to make it more fun.
        
        “And the main reason that wearing skimpy outfits and dancing is not a viable male career is that not enough women are willing to pay to see it ”
        
        You are SO mistaken. If you ever go to a male strip bar, you’ll see how insane women go over any possibility of this sort of spectacle. This kind of show could bring in crowds of female spectators. But. . . where do you find men who’d want to be debased in such a way?
        
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        matt
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        US female strip clubs are around 5,000 in the us and a 5-10 billion industry. Male strip clubs are likely not even number in the 100’s, probably in the dozens.
        
        It is most assuredly due to lack of women willing to pay. A few male strip clubs in vegas (and maybe NYC? idk) doesn’t top the 5,000 or more around the country
        
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        Clarissa
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        “It is most assuredly due to lack of women willing to pay. ”
        
        I know you really need to believe that. 🙂
        
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        matt
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        Ok care how else to explain one is 10 billion and the other under 100 million? for some reason greedy business owners are letting 10 billion (9.9 billion in this example) just sit there? You have an annoying tendency to not like facts which you don’t agree with without really adressing the point at all 🙂
        
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        Clarissa
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        I suggest you start with Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex and after that I can suggest a very good reading list.
        
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    2. ShaunRe
      
      December 29, 2016
      
      Clarissa, you are getting prissy. How come? Is it maternity? Is it old age?
      
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      1. Clarissa
        
        December 29, 2016
        
        I have always despised women who eagerly lend themselves to spectacles of female degradation. Read my posts on burqas, for instance.
        
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J. Otto Pohl

December 28, 2016

Trump as Baba Yaga. I like it. All he needs is a house with legs. 😉

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cliff arroyo

December 28, 2016

The Rockettes do most decidely not show their underwear. They wear tights and do precision dance routines that are about as sexy as a Ladies Garden Club social.

I’m not a huge fan (as a child I preferred the June Taylor Dancers) but they are a very traditional American thing and I’m befuddled that things are so unhinged that they would complain about performing at an inauguration.

Part of the traditional American Proposition was that it was an honor to perform for any President even if you voted for the other candidate.

If there’s no proposition left, then there’s no country – just a place on the map for hustlers to make money…..

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Clarissa

December 28, 2016

I think it’s ridiculous that they are making such a stink over not liking the man who’s being inaugurated. Do they believe that the doctors, the cooks, the drivers, the dentists, etc who serve them necessarily love them and approve of their political opinions? If nobody can do their job unless they agree with the person they are serving on everything, we’ll all end up doing nothing.

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1. Joe
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  Yes. They ACTUALLY do.
  And when they don’t get what they want, we all have to hear about their feelings.
  
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2. Reed
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  “I think it’s ridiculous that they are making such a stink over not liking the man who’s being inaugurated. Do they believe that the doctors, the cooks, the drivers, the dentists, etc who serve them necessarily love them and approve of their political opinions? ”
  
  Your analysis leaves out an important difference: My doctor will not have the power to strip away my healthcare coverage, my dentist is not trying to defund my older sibling’s medicare, and the various bus drivers and restaurant cooks in my life aren’t trying to install an anti-science, misogynist, racist, kleptocracy in place of the current administration. Trump is.
  
  If my boss wanted me to perform at the celebrations surrounding Trump’s inauguration I’d be pissed, too. As the old proverb says, “Silence implies consent” and, apparently, some members of New York’s best-known professional dance troupe do not consent, and refuse to be silent. Power to them.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 28, 2016
    
    The doctor obviously has more power over one’s well-being than Trump. And I’m sure that “anti-science kleptocracy” is not a great preoccupation of these dancers. ☺☺☺
    
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    1. Reed
      
      December 28, 2016
      
      “The doctor obviously has more power over one’s well-being than Trump. And I’m sure that “anti-science kleptocracy” is not a great preoccupation of these dancers.”
      
      Really? You realize that Trump & Co. plan to do to healthcare what Rauner has done to you and your colleagues, yes? Ask your friends with the Down Syndrome daughter—the ones you blogged about earlier—about obtaining care for “pre-existing conditions” on the “free market.” Trump, McConnell, and Ryan’s plans are to privatize and screw the whole country’s healthcare coverage to a degree that will make Rauner look like an underachiever.
      
      And really, “… I’m sure that “anti-science kleptocracy” is not a great preoccupation of these dancers” is the kind of smirky snobbism that gives academics a bad reputation. You have no idea what the members of the Rockettes think. Is the average Rockette a PhD intellectual? Probably not. But their political views—and their thoughts on science and honest government are probably far, far to the left of most of your neighbors and many of your colleagues. (You realize that New Yorkers know Trump and, by about a 10 to 1 margin, loathe the man.)
      
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      1. Clarissa
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        You are a fan of forced analogies. ☺ The problem with our health insurance is that we can’t leave. If I could leave and switch to another insurance, I wouldn’t have a problem. What angers me is that I’m paying for a service I don’t get.
        
        As for how I know about the interests of the Rockettes, I have already answered this: from long and detailed personal conversations over the course of several years.
        
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Shakti

December 28, 2016

I think it’s ridiculous that they are making such a stink over not liking the man who’s being inaugurated. Do they believe that the doctors, the cooks, the drivers, the dentists, etc who serve them necessarily love them and approve of their political opinions? If nobody can do their job unless they agree with the person they are serving on everything, we’ll all end up doing nothing.

If you ask them, they will say it’s not just about dispensing a service but about their freedom of artistic expression and speech and to make them perform is to violate both. These Republicans were happy to fight tooth and nail to carve out exceptions to public accommodation laws (or to codify them) in so many areas so why is it a shock when these dancers make a stink over performing for one person? (This would not be happening with Cruz, Kasich, or Pence, I think. I’m not sure.)

Anyways much hay is being made over the dearth of performers and groups for the Inaugural. I think it’s less principles than money. So many of these performers would happily perform for the Sultan of Brunei or the like but then again they are actually is known for paying handsomely , unlike Trump.

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Clarissa

December 28, 2016

I don’t want to be so negative and believe that these women consider what they do art. But you are right, people are quite capable of being that dumb.

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1. Reed
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  Why so snobbish? I suspect the members of the Rockettes consider what they do to be entertainment and not art. Considering that they regularly perform their shows in a hall that seats 5000 people and often sell out, it would seem that many, many people would agree. (Personally, I have no interest in seeing the show. Chacun a son gout.) I think it makes no difference whether they are dancers in the NY City Ballet, the Rockettes, or the local strip club. If they find Trump and his ilk repellant, they should not have to perform.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 28, 2016
    
    Nobody has to do anything. I don’t have to show up for class if it doesn’t strike my fancy. And neither does my university have to employ me if it doesn’t feel like employing a worker who refuses to work.
    
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    1. Anonymous
      
      December 28, 2016
      
      “Nobody has to do anything. I don’t have to show up for class if it doesn’t strike my fancy. And neither does my university have to employ me if it doesn’t feel like employing a worker who refuses to work.”
      
      Agreed. But what if your Dean says that you and other members of the faculty have to go to Springfield and march (smiling non-ironically and waving cheerfully) in Gov. Rauner’s inauguration parade, behind a banner that says, perhaps, “Illinois Professors Salute Gov. Rauner”? Is that within the usual scope of your work? (And, yes, I realize that the Rockettes may have contractual obligations to travel, etc. But you get the idea, yes?)
      
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      1. Reed
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        previous reply is mine. I hit post comment prematurely
        
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      2. Clarissa
        
        December 28, 2016
        
        The analogy doesnt work. My job is to teach, their job is to prance around in panties. Of course, I’d never refuse to teach Rauner’s kids or himself, if he decided to learn Spanish. And I can assure you that I would be as professional as I always am in the process.
        
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2. Shakti
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  It’s not high art that you’d analyze, but it certainly requires skill, no matter how interchangeable and anonymous the dancers are in the production.(Supposedly they have to know how to perform jazz, tap and ballet. The Phantom of the Opera is not high art either, but the <a href=”https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-requirements-to-play-Christine-Daa%C3%A9′> lead has to have a huge range and dance en pointe. Can everyone off the street do this? No. )
  I feel a tortured metaphor about industrial era assembly line dancers refusing to dance for some dude who campaigned on making industrial era assembly line jobs come back again (so people say) but that’s not the robot rebellion I see happening.
  🙂
  
  I really don’t think it’s politics so much because the Rockettes performed at both of Shrub’s inaugurations without fuss.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 28, 2016
    
    I don’t think it’s politics either. I don’t think this entire election or the inauguration itself have anything to do with politics.
    
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Dreidel

December 28, 2016

“If you ask them, they will say it’s not just about dispensing a service but about their freedom of artistic expression and speech”

“Free agent” performers (Elton John, Beyonce, etc.) clearly have the right to pick and choose where and for whom they will perform.

Full-time Rockette dancers under contract are employees who are expected to perform wherever their employer directs them to, or find another job.

As for the money, the Rockette enterprise probably has a set fee for various types of performances, and the dancers themselves are getting union scale.

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1. Clarissa
  
  December 28, 2016
  
  These dancers, besides, are completely anonymous and interchangeable. One leaves, there are 50 more and they are indistinguishable. And before people get scandalized, I’m repeating almost verbatim what an actual Rockette told me.
  
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