Y’all, I’ve been giggling about this all morning.
Two things really strike me. Let’s start with the lesser funny and move on to the greater funny.
1. “Newsflash. The Internets can be mean. Actually, feminists are some of the meanest ones out there, but whatever. (I broke with the sisterhood, so I should be virtually beat up.) ”
Y’all, thank god that Adrienne thinks I’m one of the meanest feminists out there because I’m about to say something very mean and I would hate to think she felt caught off-guard by it. But who is even remotely surprised that a conservative woman who was in a sorority but has only mostly male friends doesn’t find feminism has much to offer her (you’re still welcome for your college education, though, of course)?
Well, pluck my feathers and call me a chicken, of course she doesn’t.
Yet.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Also, let’s give a little “ha” to the idea that saying, “this is a woman who thinks that Cosmo is a main vehicle for the transmittal of feminist values, so, really, there’s no hope,” constitutes “virtually” beating her up and another little “ha” to her trying to pass “Mean Girls” off as a documentary.
2. “Perhaps many of leading lefty blogs are men, but on the right, there are powerful women. We don’t make a big deal out of it because the right operates by merit while the left focuses on quotas. ”
Do we have instant replay in blogging? Let’s institute it. Can we get an instant replay?
“the right operates by merit”
Oh really?
Oh really, really?
I have but one question (and yes, I believe you could ask the same thing of the Democratic candidates, but no one’s claiming the Democratic party is a meritocracy): When you look at the Republican presidental candidates, do you really believe that those are the Republicans most capable of leading this country? That they, out of all of the Republicans in this fair land, are the few that are the best for the job?
I’m going to be laughing about that for a long, long time.
Tiny Cat Pants 
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Yeah, Michelle Malkin got to where she is because of “merit”….had nothing to do with the fact that she was an Asian apologist for internment.
“…but no one’s claiming the Democratic party is a meritocracy.”
Were it me, I would have worded it differently:
The right has an ideal of operating by merit. Many times we fail. But is the ideal worth pursuing, or is the idea of a meritocracy, in and of itself, an evil?
Hypocrisy, compliments, vice, virtue, and all that.
Dude, even Ayn Rand opposed the idea of “meritocracy”, believing it to be just as bad as any other “ocracy”.
Have you ever talked to young women in sororities? Most of them are left of center, ardent feminists.
Just wondering.
Adrienne, I’m not talking about most girls in sororities. I’m talking about you. Or are you trying to say that you used to be a left of center, ardent feminist, as defined by Cosmo, but have since given it up?
I’m grateful that I am living in a time a place where I can enjoy some of the benefits of the feminist movement.
You don’t have to look back that far to see the comparative benefits feminism has won for us. When I was fresh out of high school in the early 1970s and looking for a job, the classifieds were divided into “Help Wanted — Men,” “Help Wanted — Women,” and “Help Wanted — Men and Women.” I used to check to see which jobs my vagina was unfitting me for….
The right has an ideal of operating by merit.
Then why does it utilise a dynastic oligarchy, parsed through a corporatist slanted mockery of a democratic process (if that, often it’s just an oligarchy) to decide who gets what peice of the republican pie?
If your ideal is to operate by merit, shouldn’t there be some sort test that would detirmine their merit for a position? – and it doesn’t neccesarily have to be a written test of course, I’d personally prefer that they wrestle lions and had to box a kangaroo or two before being able to get their name on a ballot, but YMMV (a glorious history of swashbuckling and/or ninjary would also be acceptable btw).
As opposed to what we have now, where vets get put in charge of FEMA via a complex buddy system, of course.
But that’s just me. When I say stuff I expect it to in some way match with reality you see, rather than it being completely counterfactual and all. But what you’re doing is fine I guess, sure, if you’re into that kind of thing, which neither me nor anyone who loves freedom and democracy is, but you go right ahead, no one’s stopping your being quite spectacularly wrong or anything…
“But who is even remotely surprised that a conservative woman who was in a sorority but has only mostly male friends doesn’t find feminism has much to offer her (you’re still welcome for your college education, though, of course)?”
Aunt B, if you read my post within context, most of my college friends are men. That doesn’t men that I don’t have a lot of female friends.
Actually, most of my friends from graduate school and DC are hard-core liberal feminists. (I went to the school ranked #1 for liberal activism for my master’s.) We have interesting discussions that spur many blog posts.
Are those your only objections today? I’m almost disappointed :)
What are your views on women in online politics? You really didn’t respond to my post.
You know, I think she did. You made a silly argument and she said so. You got engagement. You whined about how mean it was to be held intellectually accountable for what you wrote. Now you feel ignored (though really, you just don’t like being told you’ve said something silly so you’re tuning the response out.) You’re whining about that too. She also did you a favor by linking to you. She pulls a whole hell of a lot more traffic than you do; since you want visibility, she gave it to you. What else were you looking for? Roses and a card? We’re mean girls, remember?
You may have missed the “you’re not entitled to comments” thread about the relative sense of ownership over feminist bloggers, but if so, here’s the synopsis: you aren’t entitled. Write something substantive and people might engage you substantively. Or not. Participating in the life of a blog community dramatically increases the chances that the other members will pay attention.
Ha, Bridgett, I feel a little like you just took my dick out and waved it around. That felt quite cool.
Adrienne, I’ll be honest. You grate on me. You seem intellectually undisciplined in a way that is almost breath-taking in its shamefulness.
But I can’t help but kind of like you, too. Not the kind of like that would ever motivate me to have coffee with you but I find myself rooting for you. Why?
Because you’re smart and you’re mouthy. And a day will come when the lightbulb comes on. I don’t think you’ll suddenly become converted from conservatism, but I know a day will come when you’ll be biting your tongue to keep from saying “fuck you” to the person who didn’t give you the job you deserved or who constantly gives more important clients and interesting jobs to your male co-workers or whatever, a day when your belief that, with enough moxie and self-esteem, you can make this world treat you equally to men, is put to rest and on that day, you’ll be glad to have women like me for allies.
Haha Aunt B. I’ll be sure to pass a recommendation for doctoral programs on to you.
But thanks for the begrudging compliment.
Bridgett, believe me I don’t think that I”m entitled to anything. I would ,however, like to hear what Aunt B says about gender and blogging. I’m quite intrigued from both an academic and non-feminist perspective and will probably write more on the subject.
Oh, and thanks for the laugh. I pulled in a long day in DC. Your comments are rather funny.