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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Its bemusing, the “criticisms” from the naysayers. Ms. Marcotte got what she deserved because she said things that offended bigots? Because people who took what she said completely out of context - and continue to do so - were offended? Because people who hold a certain opinion about a year old alleged rape-case which hasn’t even gone to trial cannot stand somebody holding a different opinion? Because people cannot get over server problems? Yet they were the ones who read her blog, continued to read her blog, perhaps posted on her blog, and even maybe emailed her. This line of reasoning can be summed up by Daffy Duck yelling, “I say Duck Season. So shoot!”. Think she “got what she deserved” because of what she said? You got what you deserved for reading it in the first place. It should have ended there. Period, end of story.
Ms. Marcotte, now that you’re airing your experience they are even more angry. Don’t you know that one is supposed to fall silent after attacks from Conservative zealots for daring to sassily put out a perspective that doesn‘t exaggerate the stature of straight, white, middle-class men who decide what it means to be “Catholic“ or “Christian“? Like a good woman who knows her place. So cue further disingenuousness that none of this has anything to do with her being a feminist woman, yup. All those letters and posts regarding her looks, how she needs to be “f*cked”, wishes that she is barren, and other sexually violent acts specific to the female body and experience are just the Devil playing tricks on us.
Ms. Marcotte: You poked intelligently at sacred cows. You insulted and satirized - and threw back into their faces their words and ideas - people who use religion and wonderful people such as Jesus Christ to justify depriving others of human rights. Who, by apparently appointing themselves spokespersons for all Catholics (or any religion for that matter), are more bigoted than anybody for further marginalizing the experiences of religious people - Catholic or otherwise - who don’t hold bigoted, anti-gay, anti-woman, xenophobic views. You made fools of people who tried too much to be like Jesus, throwing themselves on crosses over supposed “scrubbing”, over things you didn't even say. This was yet another non-controversy and you called it.
I say - enjoy.
I always wondered what the whole love affair with Ivins was about too. I guess I'm just not that impressed with people who possess no other rhetorical weapon than snark.
I remember listening to her on NPR a few years back. I believe it was a Commonwealth Club lunch. Anyway, she's going on and on about how Bush mangles the language- true. In the course of doing so, she must have mangled it 4-5 times herself and every time she did she'd comment something along the lines of "oh, I pulled another dubya!".
Um, no Molly. You can't speak the language either.
While it is tempting for me to interpret the attacks on this blogger as misogynistic attempts to put a young feminist in her place, and while I am certain that some element of the rancor was in fact fuelled by individuals who dislike outspoken women, I think we feminists need to take a lesson from this too. If we are truly committed to the fundamental principles of feminism (and civil rights in general) that affirm the inherent worth of every individual, perhaps we should try to make sure that our rhetoric supports rather than undermines our values. I know that is something I occasionally forget, when I am angry or tired or feeling a lot of unfocussed passion in need of an outlet. But when we use demeaning and degrading language about others, we close the hearts and minds of those we seek to persuade. We also commit the same aggressions against others that we work so hard to defend ourselves against. That is a moral problem and a strategic one.
That is not to say that there is no place for humor and no place for expressing anger. Sometimes you have to find a reason to laugh at what hurts you. Sometimes you have to let out your frustration. But there has to be a way to do that with some sensitivity to the fact that our opponents in the "culture wars" are people who can be hurt by our words.
But, for me (because, let's face it -- who's it all about?), the most upsetting part is that all "feminist bloggers" have now been melded almost indelibly into one huge, organic lump, with one indistinguishable from the other. Of all the bloggers out there who post regularly on political and feminist issues, two were lucky enough to have made the jump into mainstream politics. It was a benchmark moment, and those are usually met with agressive, hostile attacks from hate-mongering bullies like O'Reilly and Donohue.
Personally, I think the Edwards campaign and Amanda panicked and hit the "eject" button a bit too quickly for my comfort. No, I didn't read her hate mail, and no, I didn't have to live with the attention and the personal attacks, but what did she expect? Did she think that everyone would throw open their arms and welcome her like the first breath of Spring? She was hired specifically because she didn't "speak the language" (whatever the hell that means)and because she outspoken and, at times, brash. But she was also breaking new ground, and that's always an invitation for blood-letting.
For someone with a rep in the blogosphere for not mincing words and for fighting the tough battles, Amanda should have seen that this was one of those battles, and while I sympathize with and understand her reasons for resigning, I wish, for all of our sakes, she hadn't. I fear it's just going to make it harder for the rest of us to get similar opportunities in the future.
~AS~
This was too funny. Apparently, the troll traffic is way up over at pandagon, so marcotte put up a post explaining why she bans trolls.
She explains, with no apparent irony, that:
"The internet is not all that different from real life. You know what getting tossed out of public places for assholery and groping women is like."
Ostensibly oblivious to the fact that her own Internet blog just failed miserably under the scrutiny of real life and that she herself was tossed out of a public campaign due to assholery! Simply adorable.
http://pandagon.net/2007/02/15/to-steal-roxannes-long-ago-post/#comments
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
