Letters to the Editor
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Another review of this silly book I read
Brought another more disturbing angle to this story.
By my estimation, the best course, according to Faludi, would have been if the media had ignored the men of courage while they were engaged in their backbreaking labor after 9/11.
Worse yet, maybe Faludi thinks these men should have been actively denigrated by the media.
That would have been a better solution, because then we men could all get into pansy mode and push you gals out to do the dirty work that men have been doing all these eons. I am for this, because it seems to me women think this is a ZERO SUM GAME, that is if the focus is on men, it is not on the women, which is supposedly a bad thing.
IF there is any greater need for proof that the media reflects women's reality positively while denouncing men's reality, it is this ongoing clown show.
Faludi's irrational and ludicrous book length screed gets ample, often fawning reviews across ALL the major media. While a SUPERIOR book such as Rantings of a Single Male (4.5 stars on Amazon) never even makes the mainstream press because a mere MAN wrote it and it dealt with gender topics.
The media serves two factions' interests: Rich men and ALL women. Poor men have no place in polite society. It is the same as what is happening at the polygamy ranches where junior gets kicked out because he is a threat to those who run things and their access to the best females.
AND YOU WOMEN SUPPORT THIS.
So when is the NON RICH male movement finally launching to provoke a challenge to the prevailing duopoly?
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unruly boys
“I am not talking about the boisterous unruly runts. I am talking about the quiet, shy, sensitive boys.”
Well, then, I really have to disagree. First of all, I wasn’t talking about the unruly ones. Boys (and girls) can be boisterous and confident without being unruly. I was talking about the average boy and the average boy is not suffering from discrimination in the classroom. I’ve been to literally hundreds of faculty meetings and district meetings (in more than one district) and education classes, and never ever has there been one moment that could be even taken as a hint that teachers should praise girls at the expense of boys. Boys are not put fourth after girls and pets and teacher’s children as you claim. Boys tend to dominate classroom discussions today just like they did in the past. The difference is that there are more girls with the confidence to participate. The shift in attitudes that have helped girls succeed in the classroom are also quite beneficial to those sensitive boys you mentioned. Telling me that there are invisible “metamessages” that I don’t notice does nothing to further your argument, especially since my practical experience shows me the opposite.
And I agree that Ritalin is over-prescribed, but I don’t think it’s the result of a conspiracy against boys. Students with behavioral problems are often mainstreamed into overcrowded classrooms. Teachers who find it difficult to cope with the constant disruptions are understandably eager for anything that will calm these kids down. There are tremendous problems facing public schools today, male discrimination isn’t one of them.
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This article is missing a very significant word...
"Taliban". You'd think if a feminist was writing about 9/11, she might want to at least mention in passing the most brutal misogynistic regime on the planet. Instead, I mostly read complaints about how people said mean things about free and successful career women in the West after 9/11. Is that oblivious narcissism a failure of Faludi's-- or Traister's? Or both?
Fun fact: when the US went to war with the Taliban, one of the AC-130 gunship commanders was a woman that the Taliban soon nicknamed the "Angel of Death". They knew about her, because they could hear her on open radio channels coordinating attacks with Green Berets and Northern Alliance allies on the ground, and when they heard her voice, they were afraid, because that meant an AC-130 was about to unleash a barrage on them. At one point, the Angel of Death got on the radio, and asked a Northern Alliance commander to translate the following message:
"I heard about how bad you treat your women," she told the Taliban, "so I'm here to pay them back."
So now the question becomes: which woman actually cares most about women's rights where they are most threatened in the world, and does the most on their behalf? Faludi, Traister-- or the gunship commander?
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BRAVO for the gunship story
it is probably apocryphal, or it may be true, I was not there, but it is a fun story nonetheless.
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"Rantings of a Single Male (4.5 stars on Amazon)"
Is this something you self-published?
I hate to tell you brightstar but stars at Amazon hardly qualify as an educated way to evaluate books. Personally, I enjoyed "Backlash" and, although I haven't read "Stiffed," your emotional outbursts have certainly convinced me that I should. I will reserve judgment on Faludi's new book until I have actually read it.
It always amazes me when people have opinions on books they haven't actually read. A review is one person's opinion and not even a reliable cheat sheet to what the actual quality of a book may be.
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You misunderstand
the Amazon rating if you think it is not a decent judge of the quality of books.
Of course you will think anything Faludi oozes out is super. She is writing to flatter women.
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Go Read Stiffed
so you can read what another women invents about what bothers men rather than listening to what ACTUAL PHYSICAL MEN have to say.
no need to actually engage men when you can instead soothe yourself by reading made up fables by someone who has never been a man herself.
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Brightstar, take a course in logic.
By your reasoning we should ignore everything said by you about women as being fable -- since you have never been a woman.
BTW, is the "Rantings" book self-published by you? Why should I pay to read a man ranting when I can come to Salon and read all those very eloquent messages from you? You know Brightstar, I have decided that you really are a halfway-expert upon one thing: Yourself. You don't even know yourself very well.
Like I said before, get help.