Anna Belle's analysis of the media madness surrounding Glenn Beck's rally is published at Peacocks and Lillies. Jezebel's analysis of how the Left is losing Feminists is here: in the NYT.
Of course, NYT's editors want to believe the understory to Jezebel's piece. Namely, that Conservative women have no claim to Feminism. So she gets a primo spot in their opinion section.
But Anna Belle is actually more spot on, as she queries:
"When is the left going to realize that these heroes of America’s past belong to all Americans, that they are not the comfort toys of the left, which is how they treat them when they say that some Americans can’t appreciate them? "
I mean... shouldn't we want ALL Americans to celebrate the lives of Martin Luther King and Susan B. Anthony? Do we really want (more of Anna Belle's words here)
King (to be) like a Dora doll for the Sharpton marchers; (or ) like a dead and honored American by Beck and his ralliers, who paid no mind to the reactionary march Sharpton scheduled only after Beck’s rally was scheduled. Isn’t it worth asking during all this why Sharpton and other civil rights leaders didn’t see fit to honor King’s memory with an event of their own this year just because King was worth it, rather than reacting to a bunch of Americans who want to exercise their rights as well?
Seems to me this is the same kind of question we should be asking about Anthony. Do we really want her to be a "Dora doll" for certain kinds of Feminists? (Many of whom cannot be bothered to read her works, because they might collide with their own ideas about what Feminism should look like.) Do we want the likes of Susan B. reduced to a caricature of the complex individual that once chided:
"Just Tell Them I have worked 40 years to make the Women's Suffrage platform broad enough for Atheists and Agnostics to stand upon, and now if need be I will fight the next 40 to keep it Catholic enough to permit the straightest Orthodox religionist to speak or pray and count her beads upon."I'm getting the same eerily creepy feeling, from some of my friends and family on the Left, about the issues we face in regards to Islam in America. The questions are complex enough that I do not want to jump on the anti-GZ mosque or pro-GZ mosque bandwagons. I want to take my time and read ALL sides. To make my own decision, thank you.
But, any time I talk about the writings of Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Phyllis Chesler, I get the "Oh, they are *Conservatives*" eye roll. As if that somehow negates their first hand experiences and Feminist interpretations? WTF???
I mean, doesn't anybody care about the TRUTH any more? Is everything a political game to these folks that I used to support and vote for?
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Those last two paragraphs nail it, Syd. Thanks for the link to the Jezebel article. I'm going to check it out. I tweeted you today!
ReplyDeleteSome women don't want to be feminist if it means they can't hate on a bitch now and then. One of the more insightful comments about men I've ever heard in my life (and I can't remember who said it!) was that when two men fight over a woman, it's the fight they want, not the woman.
ReplyDeleteWho gets to claim So-and-So as inspirational is just an excuse some women seem unable to live without, the excuse to hate on a bitch. They just can't give that up. It's like the person trying to stop smoking who sneaks their cigarettes in the basement or suddenly finds a million excuses to drive to the corner store. They just cannot release that drive.
And men take advantage of it -- if they decide they want to attack ANY woman, no matter who she is or what she believes, all they have to do is lie about her. Make her one of "them." Spread stories, she's a slut, she's a whore, she's this, she's that. The most ardent feminist in the world will cheer during the gang rape if you can lie to her that the victim flirted with her boyfriend one time. And that's what they did to Palin -- she's pro-abstinence, she got rich selling rape kits, she's this, she's that.
As long as ANY woman is fair game, ALL women are fair game. You'd think women who rush to claim the label feminists would be the first to recognize that. But the thirst to hate on a bitch is stronger.
Thanks for the re-tweet, Anna Belle.
ReplyDeleteAnd let me know what you think about Jezebel's op ed.
Janis, I hear you!
ReplyDeleteBut I think there is more to this that hating and bitching.
I think that we have a whole crop of "Feminists" that have been fed a line of bull. One that says "the only thing that matters is reproductive freedom." (Jezebel is actually one of them, but I have linked her here to show that even SHE is waking up to the disaster the fourth wave is creating.)
Now don't get me wrong. Reproductive freedom matters. It matters ALOT. But, it is not the *whole battle.* And there is NO EFFIN' WAY that Susan B. Anthony thought it was all that mattered. (Anthony was torn on the subject of abortion, as we well know from her writings.)
Anyways... I really think we are dealing with a generation that only knows one version of history. It is a version that conveniently leaves out Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln's party affiliation. At the same time that it distorts Susan B. Anthony's legacy.
SYD, I'm not entirely convinced that abortion was the "bill of goods" that got sold ... I still don't know. It just seems like the excuse for feminism's implosion instead of the reason, although the left has been using it as a sword of Damocles for literally decades. It was the stick that was used to beat us into submission for thirty years, so no wonder that's the particular stick we picked up to beat one another with.
ReplyDeleteBut ... why do we still even want a stick to beat another woman with? What is it about letting a bitch have it that is so addictive that we will even go looking for a stick to use?
In other words, what was the thing that caused feminism to implode and eat its own guts in 1750, before abortion was even a possibility? 1500? 1320? What's going to be the next excuse in 2245 for sinking girly fangs into the throat of the next stuck-up bitch who reminds us of out mom or that trashy slut who stole our boyfriend in high school? :-(
We can't just act like keeping an eye out for that particular stick will prevent us from imploding again. We need to examine why we keep looking around for sticks and a girly ass to whup when things get bad.
It is like Allende said in the interview I posted a few days back. The oppressed will always look for someone "lower" that they can turn around and oppress more. Someone to "take it out on."
ReplyDeleteConservative women, like Sarah Palin, are NOT the problem. They may not be the solution either... but that's beside the point. For Liberal women like Jezebel (and so many others) to take out their frustrations on Palin only diverts attention from the real oppressors... in this case, that would be the Democratic party and it's Obot brigade.
What the DSCC did to Hillary, and by extension all women, in 2008 is beyond the pale. But... you see... women who take refuge in an abusive home must blame someone else. Cuz to blame their abusers is blasphemy. "Oh look... it's HER fault. Cuz it can't be Superman's fault.... He's my idol."
We could go on and on about this. But no need. The story is as old and worm out as the day is long. :~(
Just caught Anna Belle's synopsis of the Jezebel article:
ReplyDeletehttp://peacocksandlilies.com/2010/08/30/constructive-feminism-and-the-third-wave/
On target, as always. And so insightful!
The oppressed will always look for someone "lower" that they can turn around and oppress more. Someone to "take it out on."
ReplyDeleteIt's more than that, though -- it's not taking it out on someone else. That's the problem. It's taking it out on us. WE are attacking OUR OWN KIND. There is a difference between a glutton and a cannibal.
Under patriarchy, women are trained from day one to attack other women. The greatest threat we face is allegedly from other women. You can listen to ads and commercials for women and girls, there can be only one pretty princess.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good old boys club but there certainly is no female comparison. Women are taught to compete with each other for any scraps that might be tossed our way. Breaking all that cultural training is incredibly difficult. To this day if a woman wants to be given credibility or to advance, she must attack another woman to get the patriarchy to pat her on the head. If women were able to unite, we'd already be in power. That's the trick with keeping women oppressed, separate, divide, control.
I mean, doesn't anybody care about the TRUTH any more? Is everything a political game to these folks that I used to support and vote for?
ReplyDeleteI could not have said it better myself! It's so frustrating to me that before some people will even consider information they want to know if it came from a righty or a lefty - and then they dismiss or ignore if they are on the "other side." Can we grow up already and have big girl conversations?