Feel the Loooooove

December 4, 2004

Comments

So, Oliver Willis links to a blog entry over at Is That Legal that notes that Michelle Malkin’s books are copyrighted under the name Michelle Maglalang. Of course, Oliver surmises that the reason for this is that Michelle doesn’t want to appear too ethnic (you’d think the Filipino features and hair would be a dead give away…but I guess the name thing fools white people). Even better is this comment by one of Oliver’s more sensitive commenters.

Maybe she did this. Professionally in the legal sense with contracts etc, kept her professional name to do her business under. Took her husbands name as a social married name she “goes by” but professionally legally she is still maga linga lingling bada bingbing and a boo be doo too..

Geee, with racists like that in the Democratic Party who needs racists Southerners hiding in the Republican party. Lets ignore the fact that her husband’s name really is Malkin and that it looks very much like it is just as the commenter describes above, she has used her maiden name professionally prior to marriage and still does in some regards (so far it looks like for legal things like copyrights).

Also, while it looks a tad bit hypocritical for Michelle Malkin to note that Teresa Heinz was calling hereself Teresa Heinz-Kerry for politics, but that Ms. Heinz really considers her name Heinz not Heinz-Kerry. However, the difference is that for Michelle Malkin it appears to be a legal reason for the use of her maiden name, while for Teresa Heinz(-Kerry) it is merely for political marketing. And while many of Malkin’s more hysterical claims about internment and Japanese-Americans have turned out to amount to little more than an anthill, it is rather (disgusting) irony that Oliver Willis & Co. feel justified in resorting to the same sort of behavior that would normally be seen by them as racist.

14 responses to “Feel the Loooooove”

lunacy

December 4, 2004 at 10:34 pm

Another difference between Heinz-Kerry and Malkin is that Heinz isn’t TaRaySa’s maiden name but her deceased husband’s name, while Maglalang is Michelle’s family name.

I know this may seem petty but I find nothing offensive about a woman retaining her family name, but I find it a little discomfitting when women, either through divorce or death, prefer their previous husband’s name to their current husband’s name. In every instance I’ve notice this, the previous husband was hugely famous while the second husband’s name is not so reknowned.

Even with the hyphens. Maglalang-Malkin isn’t nearly as creepy as Heinz-Kerry.

I think it’s creepy that a wife would do that to her current husband and I find it creepy that a husband would accept it.

Creepy.

Hairsplittingly yours,
Lunacy
Attila Girl

December 5, 2004 at 12:38 am

There’s really no good solution to the name problem. I transitioned over to using my husband’s name over a number of years, but it still amounts to giving my name up in some sense. And for most legal documents I’m still Joy Whittemore McCann, or Joy W. McCann. Socially, I’m Joy M. McCann, using my “real” middle initial.

There really is a huge difference between the Malkin situation and the Heinz-Kerry situation, but Malkin did go out on a limb by criticizing someone on what amounts to an intensely personal issue.

If we weren’t planning on having kids, I would probably have stayed Joy Whittemore–but McCann is shorter, and I think in a family it’s a great convenience when kids and both parents share a name.

Nonetheless, if my maiden-name clips were better, I’d probably still be writing under the original name. I have a friend who’s a film editor, and there’s no way she could have changed over: it would wipe out her entire resume.

Like I said: no perfect solution.
Christopher Cross

December 5, 2004 at 1:51 am

This must all a part of that “rebranding” Oliver is talking about…
Attila (Pillage Idiot)

December 5, 2004 at 3:45 pm

My “cousin” Attila Girl points out some of the practical issues with switching to your husband’s name. What I find peculiar about the accusation against Malkin is the idea that someone is going to appear less ethnic by using a Jewish name. We’re only 2% of the American population, which is below even my blog’s vote total.
Dean Esmay

December 6, 2004 at 3:17 am

I’ll just be blunt: I love that my wife shares my last name. That said, it wouldn’t bug me a bit if she still used her maiden name for legal purposes.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Oliver Willis thinks that being black and a Democrat gives him a license to act like a complete jerk. He’s the blogosphere’s most prominent bigot. Every time I read his site, I feel like I need a shower to slough off all the filth.
derek

December 6, 2004 at 8:40 am

ms. malkin addressed this issue here last week.
Oliver

December 6, 2004 at 3:58 pm

Actually, I feel that being black and a Democrat gives me license to point out the racism of people like Dean Esmay who ask questions like “Black People: Aren’t They Annoying?”. For what its worth, I’m sure most white republicans would find Dean’s brand of race-bating equally repellent.

I don’t agree with making fun of Malkin’s name, just her hypocrisy and shoddy research.
Steve

December 6, 2004 at 6:34 pm

The only problem is Oliver, is that the two situations do not appear to be at all the same. Michelle Malkin uses the same name virtually all the time save when copywriting here works. Heinz (Heinz-Kerry) on the other hand adds or drops the hyphenation for convienence sake alone.

So, you are left really with making fun of her name…or being an idiot and thinking this is hypocrisy. I’ll leave it to you to choose which it is.
Uncle Mikey

December 7, 2004 at 11:40 am

I vote for idiot. Oliver’s track record speaks for itself, and him ripping anyone else for shoddy research and hypocrisy would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad.