Our Betters Victorious, And Still Unhappy
In the Los Angeles Times, a tale of high roads not taken:
Oh, heck no. The Trumpites next door to our pandemic getaway, who seem as devoted to the ex-president as you can get without being Q fans, just ploughed our driveway without being asked and did a great job.
The author of the above, Ms Virginia Heffernan, not only has a “pandemic getaway,” which must be nice, but also neighbours sufficiently thoughtful to clear her drive of heavy snow. Inevitably, this induces not gratitude or warm feelings, but fretting and resentment, such that the aforementioned act of kindness is framed, disdainfully, as “aggressive niceness.” Exactly how Ms Heffernan’s neighbours were being aggressive is unclear, but it seems that we, the reader, are expected to dislike them, quite intensely, on account of their being insufficiently leftist.
Of course, on some level, I realise I owe them thanks,
On some level, says she.
I’m not ready to knock on the door with a covered dish yet.
As readers may be a little confused by the air of displeasure, I should point out that no history of neighbourly rancour is offered as an excuse – no disputes over hedges or noisy pets. Nothing of that sort is mentioned at all. Ms Heffernan’s neighbours are, it seems, to be frowned upon, indeed despised, in print, in a newspaper they may well read, simply for failing to vote for Mr Biden.
I also can’t give my neighbours absolution; it’s not mine to give. Free driveway work, as nice as it is, is just not the same currency as justice and truth.
Absolution, indeed. What a grandiose creature she is. And so, instead of the customary thanks, Ms Heffernan extends to her neighbours – via the medium of a newspaper column intended to shame them – an ultimatum of sorts:
But I can offer a standing invitation to make amends. Not with a snowplough but by recognising the truth about the Trump administration and, more important, by working for justice for all those whom the administration harmed.
You see, in Ms Heffernan’s mind, Mr Trump is a demon king, the cause of all worldly woe, and “a man who showed near-murderous contempt for the majority of Americans.”
What, you didn’t know?
Only when we work shoulder to shoulder to repair the damage of the last four years will we even begin to dig out of this storm.
And our pious, progressive columnist is repairing the damage, and working shoulder to shoulder, by resenting acts of kindness by her neighbours. And then publicly badmouthing them.
As Sam Duncan quips in the comments here,
Geez. Trying to figure Our Betters out is exhausting.
Well, it seems Ms Heffernan insists on clinging, one might say bitterly, to her ludicrous, self-flattering conspiracy theories, which, coincidentally, offer inexhaustible opportunities to be a bit of a bitch. Such that she can look down on her neighbours, and seethe at them, regardless of how they actually behave, regardless of their kindness, and regardless of how much nicer they are than she is. And by regardless, I mean because of.
Which tells us quite a bit about Ms Heffernan, I think.
Via WTP.
Bear with me: I’m thinking laterally here.
Maybe it wasn’t her Republican neighbours who plowed her driveway; maybe it was someone a bit closer to her heart. After all, did she wake up and see some people shovelling, or did she wake up and see her driveway clear of snow? I put it to you she might have just been visited by her deity (no, not Karl Marx, the other one) during the night, who may have found the chilly driveway offensive to its sensibilities and used its power to make the driveway a bit more like home.
After all we can’t have Virginia saying that it was a cold day in hell before she thanked her Republican neighbours and actually have it be a cold day on her driveway.
@ bill: Are you suggesting Beelzebub plays for the Democrats, those souls of purity and virtue?
My verdict? This didn’t happen.
Heffernan mentions a speech recently made by Sen. Ben Sasse where he says, “You can’t hate someone who shovels your driveway.” Perhaps she might invent the neighbor expressly to respond to the Senator.
The Miami Dolphins
Male dolphins will school, isolate a lone female dolphin, and gang-rape her. Sometimes to death.
The regroover awaits.
You can’t hate someone who shovels your driveway.
I daresay she could easily hate someone who rescues the lives of her
childrenspawn. Hell, she likely dines on kittens, washed down with a puppy smoothie.My verdict? This didn’t happen.
Ms Heffernan has, I’ve discovered, churned out a long series of rather fanciful and frequently ludicrous Trump-bashing podcasts for Slate, which suggests a kind of monomania, a competitive animosity. So, I imagine that she might well behave irrationally and brattishly towards any Trump-supporting neighbours. I mean, Slate is where you’ll find content such as this as a matter of routine.
Unpleasant, psychologically marginal women is pretty much their brand.
Is it my imagination or is this kind of behavior exhibited disproportionately by whammyn?
As illustrated many times, “social justice” posturing does seem to attract a high concentration of women, many of whom exult in Mean Girl behaviour.
But how far does the mean girl behavior differ from the median girl behavior?
Yes… sorry…the regroover it is, then.
But how far does the mean girl behavior differ from the median girl behavior?
[ Hides breakables. ]
Unpleasant, yes. Psychologically marginal? Not according to what I’ve seen on the Nextdoor app. Kind of par for the course there. A course where par is constantly shifting in one direction…ok, maybe ‘par’ isn’t the right word…
See this from a different perspective: Ms Heffernan was “driveway shamed” by her neighbors. That is pure white privilege. Are the neighbors displaying arrogance and superiority by clearing the driveway without asking permission and then expecting to be praised? Do they assume that Ms Heffernan was unable or unwilling to clear her driveway?
I don’t want my neighbors to do things for me unasked. Don’t wash my car “for me” when you wash yours. Don’t cut my lawn when you cut yours just because you have your mower out of storage. At least ask first.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
More feminist problems…

More feminist problems…
Pronouns, obviously. So, again, the standard question. Is she being honest about her racing heart and feelings of anxiety, and therefore neurotic; or merely signalling – i.e., pretending, compulsively – and therefore neurotic?
[ Added: ]
I mean, if you feel a need to go through life in effect announcing, “I VOTED DEMOCRAT! I VOTED DEMOCRAT!” and you do this all but daily, seemingly at any random opportunity – then there’s something wrong with you. And if your peers and social circle pressure you to feel that this is necessary, and in no way odd, then there’s something wrong with them as well.
More feminist problems…
It’s going to get worse, as drug companies shift manufacturing to COVID vaccines and away from anti-psychotics.
I wonder how many people in the USA are now wishing they had voted for Trump?
I wonder how many people in the USA are now wishing they had voted for Trump?
Yeah…I’m guessing maybe three. I would wager far more are regretting voting for Trump. Or at the least, letting anyone they know know that they voted for Trump. I say this not because of any recent events one way or the other but because I have become increasingly conscious of what total and complete cowards most people are. Especially “conservatives”. Especially “conservative” friends and relatives who talk about how upset they are with what is happening to our culture, yet sit down and let our culture insult them because NFL football is so bloody important to their (soon to be) miserable little lives.
https://babylonbee.com/news/conservatives-sit-down-for-a-relaxing-evening-of-being-insulted-by-every-major-corporation-in-america
Wife sent me this. Was expecting a POC trans-woman who identifies as not having legs to touch this girl out at the end. All such elements have been previously identified on these pages. All that needs to be done is to bring those elements together to shame this arrogant paraplegic woman and her privilege. White privilege, no less.
https://youtu.be/fqWG5_7nwyk
go through life in effect announcing, “I VOTED DEMOCRAT! I VOTED DEMOCRAT!”
…in order to avoid being attacked by Democrats.
People like this are why the Italians invented the phrase, “Vafunculo!”
Do they assume that Ms Heffernan was unable or unwilling to clear her driveway?
I assume that they assumed that the Heffernans were too busy with their lives in the city to worry about the driveway at their country home. An uncleared driveway is a big red flag to burglars letting them know that this lovely, presumably well-appointed vacation home is unoccupied and has been since the snow fell.
One hopes that the neighbors never again make the mistake of helping out this ingrate. I look forward to her upcoming column on how her vacation home was burgled, with about 4,000 words bouncing incoherently between explaining how the burglars probably deserve her wealth more than she does and complaining that her Trumpster neighbo(u)rs did nothing to prevent the reallocation.
More feminist problems…
Would it surprise anybody to learn that Ms. Orlins was a big cheerleader and participant in the BLM riots? Funny how some people in pirate costumes cheering for their team are scarier than a mob dressed in black, breaking windows and setting buildings on fire.
I don’t want my neighbors to do things for me unasked.
I have never witnessed a case of somebody resenting a neighbor shoveling their driveway or walk. Never in my entire life.
I wonder how many people in the USA are now wishing they had voted for Trump?
There do seem to be a lot of “conservatives” who prefer a gargantuan technocratic state, run by leftists and thieves, to anyone who threatens it.
More feminist problems…
‘How can I make this about me’
https://twitter.com/GarbyJooman3/status/1358682244722827264
An uncleared driveway is a big red flag to burglars letting them know that this lovely, presumably well-appointed vacation home is unoccupied and has been since the snow fell.
Quite. Ms Heffernan doesn’t, I think, specify in the article, but I assume the drive-clearing favour was done while she was away “in the city” and wasn’t around to be asked. There’s no mention of her watching them do it, for instance, and the reader is given the impression that she’s yet to thank her neighbours or acknowledge the effort, which is something a normal person would most likely do quite promptly. And which makes the indignation and claims of “aggressive niceness” sound all the more churlish and adolescent.
That’s assuming, of course, that anything we’re told is true. Ms Heffernan’s relationship with reality does seem a little… intermittent.
…the more churlish and adolescent.
Speaking of which…
From here, which is chock full of inanity.
I am not sure how classical music which was basically a product of male wypipo is colonialist or nationalistic, but OK. RTWT.
There do seem to be a lot of “conservatives” who prefer a gargantuan technocratic state
Don’t get me started on s.230.
Imagine being married to this perpetually enraged, neurotic viper. A marriage, a relationship, an existence, in which everything must be analyzed, everything is fraught with multiple meanings and secondary motives, and in which EVERYTHING IS A PROBLEM. And every problem must be dissected and examined under an electron microscope and no one can be happy until Virginia is satisfied that this problem has been resolved. But….if you really think about it, can’t the resolution of a particular situation represent a problem in and of itself? Put your happiness on hold, dear, we’ve got a bit more forensic psychology to work through.
“I’m not married to Virginia Heffernan. I have never been married to Virginia Heffernan. I will never have to be married to Virginia Heffernan.”
My new serenity prayer.
Would it surprise anybody to learn that Ms. Orlins was a big cheerleader and participant in the BLM riots?
Not one iota.
She’s also a candidate for NYC’s Manhattan District Attorney. She tweets about her readiness to “fight against a cruel and unjust system that’s rigged against Black, Brown, & lower-income folks…”
But don’t question her commitment to, you know, actual law and order.
Orlins: “… a sport that still hasn’t apologized to Colin Krapernik”
Apologise to an ungrateful multi-millionaire manipulator and B-grade quarterback who needs a haircut? No!
‘The feminist musicologist Susan McClary infamously compared the recapitulation in his [LvB’s] Ninth Symphony to “the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release”.’
It sounds like she needs new batteries for her toys and/or perhaps she suffers penis envy?
In much the same vein, someone has trouble with a sportsball team name.
I don’t know, maybe she’s on to something. After watching the Super Bowl my 4-year-old son declared his desire to become a pirate so he could rape and pillage. Then he asked me what rape and pillage were.
My verdict?
This didn’t happen.
I think it probably happened, because this is exactly the way country people treat their neighbors, and seeing as she is a nasty, leftist urbanite, I don’t think it would occur to her that someone would kindly plow her driveway for her if it had never happened, because she would never think to do it herself.
See this from a different perspective: Ms Heffernan was “driveway shamed” by her neighbors. That is pure white privilege. Are the neighbors displaying arrogance and superiority by clearing the driveway without asking permission and then expecting to be praised? Do they assume that Ms Heffernan was unable or unwilling to clear her driveway?
I don’t want my neighbors to do things for me unasked. Don’t wash my car “for me” when you wash yours. Don’t cut my lawn when you cut yours just because you have your mower out of storage. At least ask first.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
I just spotted the guy people hate to have as a neighbor.
I don’t know…while I don’t see how the driveway plow should not be a problem because it is a lot of work and, while I haven’t lived in heavy snow country as an adult, I don’t see how someone could screw that up, unintentionally, I do get a tad uncomfortable when people do things for me that I am perfectly capable of doing myself, especially if it is something someone could be particular about. For example mowing the lawn. My neighbor does take care of a portion of my lawn even though we have a lawn service through our HOA…and he does as well…but seeing as he’s a Californian with a battery powered lawn mower, it’s oddly satisfying to let him do it. However under different circumstances I might feel differently. Unless it’s a really fancy hotel, I don’t like bellhops touching my bags. Especially on business trips. Not that I carry anything all that sensitive, but it just feels imposing. Don’t touch me, don’t touch my stuff. I’ll kill yah. Got that, Francis?
Damn double negative…”don’t see how the driveway plow should be a problem…”
“don’t see how the driveway plow should be a problem…”
Maybe she has a stamped concrete driveway.
Cloudbuster: “Ms Heffernan was “driveway shamed” by her neighbors.”
Definitely a possibility. Living in rural Australia which burns most summers, clearing long grass and other natural ‘kindling’ is mandatory, hence we, living under threat of serious firestorms, slash, rake and pick up anything that could ignite as well as laying out fire fighting equipment just in case. A new neighbour from England – not many bushfires in England I understand – moved in on the small property next door. His Lordship turned out to be the worst type of arrogant Pommy Bastard and started immediately, in an abusive manner, demanding we cease all normal farming practices because machinery makes a noise – he claimed to be a ‘brain’ worker. He allowed his property to become completely overgrown with waist-high grass. His property thus threatened all others living nearby. A visit by local council authorities, at my suggestion, resulted in him having to cut his grass and clean up or be prosecuted. Soon after I took great delight, one day when he was home, in using my tractor with slasher to cut the overgrown grass along his road frontage.
His Lordship turned out to be the worst type of arrogant Pommy Bastard
I never cease to be amazed at the idiots who move to a new location seemingly without first learning anything about the people and about the necessary and prudent practices for all landowners, after which they angrily object to one local custom after another.
What’s more, I have seen it work both ways:
1. Liberals buy rural home where they can keep lots of dogs, and live there for years. Farmer neighbor sells land to developer. City folks buy new homes, and immediately complain about the barking dogs.
2. The same liberals buy second home in the woods, and immediately start complaining about the habits of the locals.
pst 314: “I never cease to be amazed at the idiots who move to a new location seemingly without first learning anything about the people and about the necessary and prudent practices for all landowners, after which they angrily object to one local custom after another.”
This particular English “Lord of the Manor’ – his ‘estate’ was about 3 acres in area – also complained about our horses and, twice, our cattle mooing on a farm in an area zoned for farming! His final mistake was to complain about the cattle mooing to one of the local Coppers, treating said Copper as though he was just a country bumpkin Plod. The copper investigated the previous 6 years of abuse, intimidation and one assault before taking action. The Copper later explained what action he took: “I visited his face and told him if he didn’t like living in rural Australia he should move back to live in a city, preferably London!”
We never heard a peep out his Lordship again.
“I visited his face and told him if he didn’t like living in rural Australia he should move back to live in a city, preferably London!”
Please thank the PC for not suggesting that his Lordship move to the States. 😀
I have a neighbor like that. From North Carolina or some similar moist state.
Here, we are on the edge Of The Great Western Desert (i.e. California, where some fires happen some times).
Lady thinks the volunteer pines and Oaks are cute. I think they are a bit less flammable than petrol.
Her hubby won’t deal with it.
Hence, visits from the local fire team.
I wake to the cheerful sound of chainsaws…
FtF: “California, where some fires happen some times.”
California nowadays appears to be just as volatile as Australia in summer and also appears to be blessed with the same absolutist Green mentality about conserving underbrush, also known as kindling, so fires burn so hot everything is killed.
On Miss Orlins: https://twitter.com/Btaylor74/status/1358819234428583937?s=19
I was struck forcibly by the sentence “They did not attend a citywide celebration for the 100th birthday of Charles de Gaulle, the war hero who orchestrated the liberation of his country from Nazi Germany in 1944”. He did what? Whatever he did, sulking in London for most of the time, he did not orchestrate the liberation. That was done by the armies of Britain, the US, and Canada. He was allowed to enter Paris first, and NOT ONCE did he mention or thank his liberators. This person is also historically illiterate as well as deficient in humanity.