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Read other letters about this article
I read Amanda's piece up until page 3, then skimmed through the dozens of references to "feminism" and "misogyny" and so on.
While the article starts off seeming very frank and revealing, I got snagged on this line:
Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?
A: You'd have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.
The joke was typical of Pandagon's satirical tone and was intended to mock a common rhetorical ploy of abortion opponents -- a hypothetical question and answer -- not to mock anyone's personal faith.
It's clear to me that Amanda is in denial about what she wrote. I am an atheist so I don't find it personally offensive. But to any Christian it certainly would be. Amanda, you're discussing the most sacred figures in their faith in an off-handed sexual manner: Jesus' body fluids, Mary taking birth-control drugs, etc. Furthermore, Amanda, you have labeled Christians or Christianity as inherently misogynist and reduced it to an "ancient mythology" (which it is, to be sure, but Christians think of it as relevant and true).
Look, Amanda, I was young and full of piss and vinegar just like you once. I did the same thing you did -- pushed things too far, typed out my anger, provoked reactions. The thing is, when people tell you you've gone too far, it works better if you actually consider whether they're right. Whatever their motive might be, and however much abuse you might be getting from various people, the question still remains -- did you say something offensive? I think you did. I think you know you did. I don't blame you for being defensive about all this, but please, be an adult, too. Instead of trying to absolve yourself of all responsibility, at least own up to the fact that what you wrote was offensive.
Now, on to a few other things:
-- Blogging is not that big a deal. Bloggers are only as important as the value and insights in the writing. The community that builds up around a blogger can evaporate overnight, and it doesn't really amount to anything unless people are organized to take action somehow. But blogging doesn't make anybody important or special. Any schmo can be a blogger.
-- The people who sent you death threats and sexual comments are jerks. Period. No matter what you wrote, you didn't "deserve" the crappy things people wrote to you. So by saying you should own up to what you wrote, I am not saying that people's rudeness is acceptable.
-- I think you've gone overboard with the whole feminist, mysogynist, victimization, silencing-women, they-wouldn't-have-treated-a-man-this-way thing. Believe me, if you were a man, your blog writitng would have offended people just as much. The only difference is in how people react. If you're a woman, they'll bully you one way. If you're a man, they'll bully you a different way. The standard tactic of a bully is to get personal, which means whatever might push your buttons, hurt you, scare you. So you might want to re-think exactly how much this has to do with your sex/gender.
-- Working for John Edwards is a good gig. Whenever you have a job, you do have to be careful how you represent yourself elsewhere. It goes with the public-figure territory and it's part of maintaining professionalism. Perhaps the Edwards campaign is partly to blame for not being more careful who they hired and how they set guidelines. But if somebody working for Guiliani's or McCain's campaign had a blog where they wrote nasty stuff about evolutionists or whatever, certainly it would not be ignored.
-- The Donohue right-wing guy you speak of sounds like a dolt. I don't know much about him, but there are a thousand other dolts ready to take his place, so this isn't really about him and his negative influence. It's about not giving such people scandal-fodder when you're working for a political campaign. It's about being on-message and presenting yourself in a positive light, etc. Little dumb scandals can mess up campaigns (look at Joe Biden).
-- If Democrats, leftists, liberals etc. want to win the next election, we will all have to rise above this sort of inane in-fighting and maintain our wits and class. Take your religious comments, for example. Even if you're against organized religion for all the right reasons, you have to remember that many Democrats (and potential Democratic voters) are religious people whose faith gives them hope and inner peace and all that. It does no good to alienate them, and it helps right-wingers make the case that liberals are elitists.
I hope that helps... Good luck with your career and future writing.
