Letters to the Editor
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Obama's response even more effective on
Youtube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow
enjoy.
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Trash
The single word that leaps to mind about this Op-ed.
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This column....
.....is begging for use of the "blockquote" tag.
Anyway, this looks to set off some fireworks. I can already predict some of what's going to happen: People are going to build a narrative around what Obama said, trying to paint him as an elitist, as much as they possibly can get away with. Others will defend him, say "keep it in context," and it will go around and around.
Just keep in mind that here you have Obama on one side, and McCain and Clinton on the other side. Interesting division there.
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woman hating on the left part 1
The terrible, horrendous point that has become illuminated recently is the woman hating on the Left. There are progressive men and women who denigrate, decry, and hate women.
More importantly, they deny that sexism exists. They say it's no big deal, that it's only about white women, who don't count anyway...
I suggest that white women, like every other human being, do indeed count.
But misogyny and sexism impact greatly on women of color, too.
The highest incidence of sexual assault is against Indian women (perpetrated by Indian men and White men...national studies show that Indian women are the ONLY women who are not MOSTLY raped by men of their own race/ethnicity, but are disproportionately raped by white men). Women of color are less likely to be believed or validated when they report rape and battery because of racism. Many people believe that violence is normal in communities of color, and so that nothing should be done when a woman of color is raped, or assaulted (by a stranger or someone she knows). White women who are raped or physically assaulted by a man of color who they know are discounted and despised because they have lowered their status by being involved with a man of color.
We constantly see "left wing" and "progressive" men who secretly snicker at the idea that women could hold public office, and take every single miniscule excuse to put women down. They use the excuse of Sen. Clinton's "likeability" which is a code word for uppity, brash, nasty, and non-subservient to men. The recent trash stating that no real man would work for Sen. Clinton is indicative of the crap on the left. No REAL man would polish his nails. Can no one on the left hear not just the horrible sexism, but the blatant and disgusting homophobia in these words? The disregard for trans people? Our youth on the left are demolishing ideas of gender stereotyping -- it might behoove some progressive men to spend some time with them.
More importantly, too many on the left will NOT acknowledge that sexism is oppression or that women are oppressed.
If one is truly a progressive, one will dedicate one's life to the eradication of racism, sexism, homophobia, and ALL other forms of oppression (too numerous to list here). If you are a man, you will actively be working to stop sexism and to acknowledge male privilege. If you are european-american, you will be actinve working to stop racism and colonization, and to eradicate white privilege. Etc. Etc. Etc.
A progressive who does not acknowledge the oppression of women is not really a progressive. A progressive who does not acknowledge the oppression of people of color is not a progressive. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Women and girls are raped and sexually assaulted constantly by men. There is an international trafficking of women and girls.
Women make less money than men. Etc. Etc. Etc. (No, this doesn't mean that there are not boys who are the victims of male predators, too..and it doesn't mean that there aren't some women who are predators.)
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'Fair nuff, Joan
"I wasn't persuaded: Barack Obama does have an affluent, educated, Ivy League sense of self-righteousness and entitlement that my Irish Catholic working class side occasionally chafes at."
Any different than the poor, uneducated, GED sense of self-righteousness and entitlement that my multiethnic upper middle class side occasionally chafes at? Such is politics, right? Turns out that we have to work together in order to get things done...
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woman hating on the left part ii
Let's look at this quote
"Approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) each year. Media and government surveys estimate the percentage of women being sexually harassed in the U.S. workplace at 40% to 60%. The European Women's Lobby reports that between 40 and 50 % of female employees have experienced some form of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual behavior in the workplace. Sexual harassment claims filed by men with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has grown from 9% of all charges in fiscal 1992 to 15% in 2003. Many of those claims involve male-on-male harassment; harassment of men by women is rarer, according to legal experts."
So, are we now going to say that all women are oppressed because of gender EXCEPT Sen. Clinton? Or EXCEPT rich white women? Those of us who have dealt with rich white women who are being horribly controlled, battered and abused by rich white men would beg to differ.
OF COURSE, oppression is mitigated by class, status, income, privilege, etc. That's why these singular analyses DON'T WORK!
You can't acknowledge racism, and ignore sexism, or vice versa. In addition, you've go to look at age, faith/religion, sexualities, physical and developmental disability, geographic location, refugee and immigrant status, trafficking status, mental health, physical health, parental status, addiction and language, and then tie it into historic and current systems such as colonialism, environmental destruction, war, globalization, and community and state sponsored violence (like what's going on in our prisons!)
This is what oppression looks like. And it totally ties into the disgusting junk that Senator Clinton has to deal with in her campaign. ALL progressives, especially and including men, should denounce and decry this sexism, just as ALL progressives, especially and including European-American people, should denounce and decry the racism that is occurring...
Susan McGee
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Joan
Are you calling me "uppity" because I admire Obama?
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Race and gender, race and gender, race and gender....
Yawn, here we go again. No one under 45 or anyone who is capable of critical thought cares about this non-issue so Joan if you were impressed with his response I take it with quite a grain of salt because it implies a great need for a response in the first place; which will never be enough for the likes of Fox News and their ilk, not to mention the more radical HRC supporters anyways.
War and econmomic devastation are a little higher on the concern list at the moment. The only ones who have the luxury of worrying about Obama being too elitist are the true elitists, especially the Punditocracy.