Letters to the Editor
TRenee
Published Letters: 318
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Some perspective
[Read the article: My last word (for now) on sexism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it's great to be talking about issues of racism and sexism in this country. I think we would be better served by examining how race, gender and class intersect. We need to put Hillary Clinton's position in perspective: It may be true that she suffers from sexist name calling, and one could even argue that she has been victimized and hurt by this. But her position as a rich white woman of privilege who is the recipient of political nepotism must also be scrutinized. For example, how many women in this country or in the world could even be in Hillary's shoes?
I challenge those who claim, like Joan, that they are concerned about the mistreatment of women to view an HBO documentary currently airing called "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo" that deals with exposing how rape in that country is used to terrorize women and families. Just a warning: It is painful and enraging.
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Elisabeth
[Read the article: My last word (for now) on sexism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Acknowledging racism has little to no effect on acknowledging sexism. Except, it is noteworthy to mention that black women face attacks on both fronts.
How patronizing.
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smoothyo
[Read the article: Through a bong, darkly]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's another war going on but from where I'm sitting it looks like the priorities of today's 20-somethings lie in things like 'The Hills' on MTV, 'American Idol', iPods, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears. If this author thinks that the youth of the 60s accomplished nothing I can't WAIT to see what the professor(s) of tomorrow write in their books about the youth of the early 21st Century.
You do you think is fighting the war (or, more accurately, the occupation) in Iraq and Afghanistan? Who are dead by the thousands? It's those 18-20-somethings that you seem to think are worthless. You want to know why the youth is apathetic? It's because people like you drown out their voices.
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yelladogdem
[Read the article: My last word (for now) on sexism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I, like weeping, am confused at your point about Bull Conner and also at your feelings that you were condescended to by weeping’s assertion that there is a difference between engaging in racism and being a racist. I also think this an important distinction that needs to be explored. Perhaps there wouldn’t be so many hurt feelings on both sides if it were.
People are complex. We are a country that enslaved and dehumanized blacks for hundreds of years. Women, of all colors, have also been relegated to a subservient status. With all of that historical baggage, is it no wonder that the language that we express ourselves in can be racist and sexist? Americans have strong racist and sexist traditions and beliefs, both cultural and political. It is possible to be a decent person who is not a cut-and-dried racist or sexist, but who was raised in a racist and sexist society. As much as we’d like to, we can’t escape our history that easily. Stereotypes and generalities are ingrained.
So many posters in this forum, on both sides, are trying to play the zero-sum game when it comes to sexism and racism, when it’s not quite so simple. AKASmith, for example, has pointed out subtleties in language that she feels discriminates against Hillary, but does not quite see the same subtleties (e.g., Hillary’s MLK comment, Bill’s Jesse Jackson comments) when it comes to examining the role race has played in Obama's campaign. (Please, not picking on AKA but she is a frequent poster who not too long ago posted something about subtle, sexist language used against Hillary that Hutman later analyzed.) The same is true of other Obama supporters who claim racism has been used against Barack but claim, while using gendered language, that their dislike of Hillary is about her record and not the fact that she is a woman. This does not mean these people want to go out and hose blacks folks or beat up their women.
As an Obama supporter, what really bothered and upset me were postings by liberal whites in this forum on Geraldine Ferraro comments and Rev. Wright’s sermons. Ferraro because, it seemed to me that when her comments were rightly labeled as racist, Hillary supporters automatically assumed that this meant people were calling Ferraro, and not just her stupid comments, racist. In the case of Rev. Wright, I was disturbed that he was viewed as a simpleton, of not having complex understanding of his anti-government sermons, that he invoked white fear as the “angry black man” and was labeled a racist. I’ll tell you: It’s easy to have negative feeling about your country, but still love it.
I think if we could come to the understanding that we live in a racist, sexist (not to mention classist and homophobic ) society and that there is little we can do to stop that exposure, we'd be better served in these discussions. One way to fight it is to realize that we all harbor racist and sexists cultural beliefs because of the very nature of our society and try to stop it in its tracks when we find ourselves succumbing.
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Gustavo
[Read the article: Through a bong, darkly]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I know my history; you just missed the point of my post. When did I say thousands didn't die in Vietnam? I didn't even utter the word Vietnam; I was talking about Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps I'm missing your point?
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Rosenkavalier
[Read the article: No, Hillary Clinton shouldn't be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The fact is, for all these Obama supporters calling Hillary a whore
Who are all these Obama supporters calling Hillary a whore? Are you talking about Randi Rhodes? One person?