There's an ongoing and totally infra dig blog discussion of just how sentient Megan McCardle is but this absolutely hysterical interview with McCardle about her dating habits reveals that she may rank slightly lower than a tuberous begonia:
Not to belabor a dead begonia but this is why the whole "I'm not a feminist" shtick of Megan's generation really pisses me the fuck off. This comes at the end of a series of interviews with conservative women each of whom bitches about feminism and the beta males it has supposedly produced who (gasp!) expect a woman to split the check with them! But see, in my *mother's day* when it wasn't ladylike to pay for your own meal women routinely were reminded to *carry mad money* so they could *pay for their own taxis* when the guy decides that, yes, in fact, you can be had for the price of a meal. In *my day* we carried our own money and paid for our own stuff--including the taxi home--because feminists had made it possible for us to *have* our own money and *not to need to be bought* for the price of a meal. At the same time, as some may remember, a study was done showing that, yes indeedy, college guys thought that after a relatively small outlay of cash they were entitled to sex from their dates and therefore, for the same relatively small outlay of cash they were entitled to behave badly to women who didn't offer sex after a happy meal at mcdonalds. All the more so were we thrilled to a) date liberal guys who weren't paying for our meals and b) not have to deal with conservative guy's entitlement fantasies about 6.50 worth of beer and skittles getting them some head.I know absolutely what the worst date I ever went on was. It was a blind date...we went to....an Irish place -- and God, I hope my father never listens to this.
So, we got to this place and he tried to order me a Budweiser and I was like, "I don't really like beer." So, he ordered me a glass of the house white wine. Then the waitress came and while I was looking at the menu, she said, "Do you want an appetizer?" He said, "Yes, we'll have the bangers and mash." ...If you don't know, that's basically sausage and mashed potatoes.
He ordered it and had several more beers and I nursed my glass of white wine while we waited for the food. The food came, I started to eat it, and after the first bite, and he actually made a joke about women eating sausage that made me not able to eat any more food.
Also, as he drank more, he started trying to grab my knee under the table -- I'd known him now for an hour and a half. The service was really slow, which was just making it worse. Finally, the waitress came and she said, "Will that be all?" and he said, "Yeah," and I said, "No, no, I'd like dessert." I was so mad at this point because he was like a hydra. I'd slap one hand away and four more would grow in its place. ...I ordered the most expensive dessert on the menu and then when she came back with the check, I was like, "No, no, I want another dessert," and I ate it. I felt like, "I'm owed this much."
Then we got up to leave and we walked outside and he was like, "Would you like to come back to my place for a nightcap?" ...It was around 8 o'clock at night. I was like, "First of all, it's 8 o'clock and my night's not quite capped. Second of all, I wouldn't go back to your apartment because I just met you." ....Then he looked at me and said, "Well then, how are you planning to pay for dinner?"
(Laughs)
(Laughs) I am no longer friends with the person who set me up on this blind date. So, I was just stunned. I was 23 years old and it had just never occurred to me that anyone would say anything like this ....I said, "First of all, I cannot be bought and second of all, if I could, it would not be for Bangers and Mash and a glass of white wine." Then I grabbed all the money I had in my purse, threw it at him, and hailed a cab. Then I realized I had no money to pay the cab. (Laughs) So, I explained to the cab driver what happened, I went into my building to get some money, and when I came back out he said, "Don't worry about it" and waved and drove away.
So where am I going with this? Megan is slightly younger than me and she's a self proclaimed *libertarian.* What 23 year old woman leaves home to meet a stranger, can't stand up for herself during the meal when he behaves boorishly, retaliates passive aggressively by force feeding herself two desserts *on his dime* to prove she "can't be bought" and then throws herself on the mercy of a kindly cabdriver for cab fare home? I mean, what the fuck? If we ever came to the conclusion that libertarianism, for both boys and girls, was merely a form of narcissistic infantilism we were spot on.
aimai
aimai
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