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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I don't know what to say. I went to public school in Hawaii, with children of many different races, economic backgrounds, and skill levels. I had good teachers and bad teachers. I never felt angry or hostile because my peers of other races and classes held me back. None of my friends (white, Asian or Hawaiian) did either.
My son is one of the few non-whites (his father is chinese) in his school. It's a fine environment, but I am sorry he has not had a chance to experience the diversity that I experienced. I was shaped in a really good way by diversity. I won't try to say it always works out right. But you should not think that it always works out wrong.
I can't help but notice that all the letters given the coveted "Editor's Picks" for this article happen to be in perfect agreement with the author of the article...who just happens to be the Editor of Salon.
I suppose the explanation is that none of those who disagree with Joan Walsh have come up with a noteworthy rejoiner. Perhaps. Or perhaps they've given up -- or will soon give up -- reading articles like this, if not Salon generally. Given the tone of the article and the vitriol of the responses, I don't blame them.
I've read Caitlin Flanagan a few times, and found her to be amusing, sometimes incoherent, often elitist (though frequently self-consciously so), and occasionally on target. I have not found her to be worthy of the journalistic equivalent of a fatwa.
When I first read Cartman's post, I was disgusted. But then the more I read the more it made sense. In fact I am completely on his side. There is no doubt in my mind that we should round up all the narrow-minded, prejudiced people on an island and let them "educate" themselves. Not only will this cut down on the bigotry that goes on here in my beloved free America, but it will allow people who flatter themselves by believing they belong in honors classes (even though they've never grasped the fundamentals of critical thinking, and don't know that home schooling is two words and not one) to be in good company....that is, until they start turning on each other.
Try googling homeschooling, one word. People who actually homeschool do not typically say it as two words.
Honors classes tend to be for screening out the delinquent, the violent, and the incredibly stupid --- definitely not limited to the cream of the crop in most cases. However, it would have been nice to be able to learn some content as opposed to all of the intelligent students being forced to be in the same classroom as the yahoos who would throw staplers at the board while the teacher wasn't looking and generally made learning impossible. After taking the SAT at 16 and getting above a 1550, I still could not convince the school board to let me take college courses for credit --- they said it would be "unfair" to the rest of the kids who didn't have that opportunity! They didn't give a shit that I (and a bunch of my friends) were bored silly by almost every class, and no standardized measure of achievement could sway them towards admitting their classes did not provide enough intellectual stimulation. Public schools punish kids with iniative and independent minds, and rewards those who regugitate what the teachers want to hear.
Caitlin Flanagan exemplifies the phenomenon of the moderately talented writer without anything to say. . .She has few real ideas and is confused about the ones she does have. . .so, with no idea what to say or write, she just writes or says something really stupid. . .
Every time I read one of her New Yorker articles I'm just astounded that they gave her that much space to describe how she blew obscene amounts of money on a Hawaiian vacation with her family. . .or on bribing her children's private school teachers with expensive gifts. . .
Her stuff is, indeed, compulsively readable, but it always makes me feel like I need to take a shower after reading it. Nothing else in the New Yorker ever makes me feel that way. . .
Is that why they publish her? Because she's the closest they can get to unseemly voyeurism and still call themselves the New Yorker?
What is their excuse?
Please: fight about this working mom vs. non-working mom nonsense all you want (and it is nonsense--most of the moms I know, employed outside the home or not, are too busy to engage in this sillyness)but whatever you do--DO NOT buy this book. She'll just use the money for another extravagant vacation--or even worse--subject New Yorker readers to descriptions of her home renovations.
Ick. Gotta go take a shower.
Readers weigh in: "I feel sorry for Flanagan, but she's a fraud"
Nice, balanced banner, Joan. It's bad enough you have a vendetta against another woman and feel the need to throw your weight around to make damn sure your definition of feminism is better than hers. Now you have to cherry-pick a line from a single letter (of over 100) to "represent" the "readers." What a sad, sorry website this has become under your leadership.
Her criticism of Flanagan is in two forms:
First, Flanagan apparently isn't sufficiently true to her values -- she doesn't live a life of enough moral purity for Walsh. In which case, say, Martin Luther King should be ignored, as should Thomas Jefferson. King cheated on his wife, and Jefferson owned slaves. What a load.
Second, there's just plain personal attacks and characterization of Flanagan's writings in the nastiest, mean-girls-at-recess way. She tells us Flanagan is "confused" and "sociopathic" and "intellectually dishonest" and has written a "scary Soviet propoganda pamphlet." This is the equivalent of telling another fourth-grade girl that her shoes are stupid and ugly because they're the wrong brand. Flanagan says feminism has caused "heartache" but nyah, nyah, nyah, she's unhappy herself. Way to change the subject there, Joan. Slick. Instead of a response or a different position, just make an unrelated accusation. Whatever you do, don't address the actual point Flanagan is making. Just smear her. Less work. Read the next few sentences carefully, Joan.. Flanagan is writing about feminism. Walsh is writing about Flanagan. The two subjects are different. DIFFERENT.
If you dislike her personally, fine, attack her personally. But at least have the decency to come right out and say that you hate her, instead of dressing all this excrement up as some kind of political stance. It isn't. For whatever reason, you are out to get her. So just do it.
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