Emily Gould in Slate:
As of this writing, [last week's Jezebel post titled "The Daily Show's Woman Problem"] has generated almost 1,000 comments and nearly 90,000 page views. It's a prime example of the feminist blogosphere's tendency to tap into the market force of what I've come to think of as "outrage world"—the regularly occurring firestorms stirred up on mainstream, for-profit, woman-targeted blogs like Jezebel and also, to a lesser degree, Slate's own XX Factor and Salon's Broadsheet.
Ha.
A lesser degree. Hidden question: How can
we get those page views?
They're ignited by writers who are pushing readers to feel what the writers claim is righteously indignant rage but which is actually just petty jealousy, cleverly marketed as feminism. These firestorms are great for page-view-pimping bloggy business. But they promote the exact opposite of progressive thought and rational discourse, and the comment wars they elicit almost inevitably devolve into didactic one-upsmanship and faux-feminist cliché. The vibe is less sisterhood-is-powerful than middle-school clique in-fight, with anyone who dares to step outside of chalk-drawn lines delimiting what's "empowering" and "anti-feminist" inevitably getting flamed and shamed to bits.
Consider the radical idea that women are human beings.
Posts
41 comments:
Fallen, like everyone else.
"Consider the radical idea that women are human beings."
This thought not allowed until more pressing issues such as oil spills in a post racial America are solved.
See, here you are doing the same thing! :-)
Consider the radical idea that women are human beings.
That's just the species.
The right criticism is that they're missing a better feminism.
"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."
I wonder what Emely Gould would make of Drudge's pic montage today.
VP Biden seems to be pouring a drink on Lindsay Lohan the way some college kids drink beer.. see Hillary beside them holding a glass of whine?..
Isn't Drudge the king of the new media?
The vibe is less sisterhood-is-powerful than middle-school clique in-fight, with anyone who dares to step outside of chalk-drawn lines delimiting what's "empowering" and "anti-feminist" inevitably getting flamed and shamed to bits.
This paragraph inadvertently provides one of the best definitions of feminism I've ever read.
Feminism always has been an "... middle-school clique in-fight..."
There isn't anything else.
College education white girls started this clique. And succeeded in creating a quota system that rewarded them as if they had suffered like blacks under Jim Crow.
There is no "good" feminism. It's all right here in this story.
Now, I like this blog, and Ann is a likeable women. Can't dispute that.
She's a middle class white woman who got a big lift from the quota system. She now has a tenured, high paying job that apparently requires very little effort.
Good for her. You've got to admire people who know how to game the system.
It's always funny to see someone realize that the internet is really just a high-school cafeteria, and everyone on Earth has lunch period at the same time.
This behavior is nothing surprising to anyone who's spent time on comments pages, or message boards, or USEnet newsgroups, or Prodigy/Compuserve/GEnie/whatever, or BBS message bases...really it goes all the way back to phreaker chat lines and probably back to the invention of the telegraph.
They're ignited by writers who are pushing readers to feel what the writers claim is righteously indignant rage but which is actually just petty jealousy, cleverly marketed as feminism.
How much of what passes for modern feminism isn't petty jealousy or something else just as vicariously emotion, but logically desolate?
Come to the dark side, Emily.
We have cookies.
To continue my thought:
"... women's worst tendencies..." would be exemplified by the constant bitching for even more favoritism that is feminism.
Yes, feminism is probably the worst tendency of women.
And, feminism is undoubtedly the worst topic on this blog. I think that it even outdoes the racism hysteria for shear asshole nonsense. Somewhere in the middle is the homophobia jerks.
The Great Bigot Hunt needs to be put to death. The competition among spoiled brats for victim status is truly deplorable.
John and Ken, KFI Los Angeles, used to be mostly whimsy on the passing scene; ratings are much better for all outrage all the time, though with a different audience. 5 hour show.
Armstrong and Getty, KNEW San Francisco, are transitioning from whimsy to outrage for time-filling, when they're out of material. 4 hour show.
The corresponding feminist blog question is what audience you want, I guess.
Consider the radical idea that women are human beings.
Mais non! Vive la difference!
Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin!!!
OK, enough with women's issues
One of my favorite news stories of the past few weeks was the reporting around the explosion of a gas tanker in the Congo.
About 220 people were killed and about 75% of the dead were men.
Invariably, the lead to the articles would go like this:
"220 people were killed in the explosion of a gas truck in the Congo, including women and children."
You gotta love that. The newsworthy part wasn't that 3/4 of the dead were men. No, it was that 1/4 of the dead were women and children.
I guess the men had it coming.
Invariably, the lead to the articles would go like this:
"220 people were killed in the explosion of a gas truck in the Congo, including women and children."
The exact same BS is used in contemporary high school history textbooks to describe Civil War casualties.
Don't all blogs -- successful ones -- do the same thing, exploiting some subset of the population's worst tendencies?
shoutingthomas, I can't find evidence that any men were killed in the explosion. Just villagers, people, women, and children.
Don't all blogs -- successful ones -- do the same thing, exploiting some subset of the population's worst tendencies?
Do they, evidence please?
I hope you appreciate the irony of you comment.
YOUR comment. (sigh)
I hope you appreciate the irony of your comment.
Not to derail the thread, but irony has seemed like a slippery eel at times. NPR did a two hour show a couple years back from multiple authors, academics, etc, and it was, frankly (pulling out my geek cap) riveting.
Doesn't irony have to be intended by the speaker in order to be ironic at all? If not, couldn't everything anyone says or writes be considered ironic by others through their own lenses?
/hijack off
Single Women need leadership too. Thanks to Jezebel they can find direction through life.
Isn't that what ehir father is for?
And then afterwards, they ahve their husband.....
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Oh how I laughed, just typing the last...just picturing Ann or my Life Partner being "dutiful."
"petty jealousy, cleverly marketed as feminism"
Feminism has always had it backwards.
It presumed conflict between the genders and focused on equality.
It should have presumed equality and focused on conflicts that may exist.
Or how about we consider the radical idea that women are, generally speaking, petty and conformist and emotionally brutal?
Or how about we consider the radical idea that women are, generally speaking, petty and conformist and emotionally brutal?
We'll consider it, but only in private....
Don't all blogs -- successful ones -- do the same thing, exploiting some subset of the population's worst tendencies?
Do they, evidence please?
Althouse uses pictures of bunnies to inflame her readers.
Kill the wabbit!
In response to MadMan--
Nah, I don't think so. Though, perhaps the more comment-driven ones?
The Left wanted to do to women what it did to blacks - make every one of them think and act like a victim.
Too bad, a lot of women just said, "No".
If I were Adam, I'd be demnanding that God give me my rib back.
Feminism was never about equality;i t was about giving bored, suburban housewives who didn't want to join the PTA something else to bitch about.
I've never known a self-proclaimed feminist who wasn't a beehive of negativity, vanity and stupidity. Perhaps if you finally just learned the lesson that Men learned a long,long time ago, you would all be much happier:
Life is not always fair, so deal.
So long as you are valued, respected and loved, the rest of your complaints are just petty bullshit given the patina of respectability by politically-mischievous troublemakers.
I would say to all "feminists"; Just ask any female bundled up in a carpet and beaten daily in Afghanistan about what they would give up just to be loved, valued and respected. You don't know just how good you've got it, so stop whining.
I'd also tell all the "feminists" to "Just suck it up", but someone might slap me with a sexual harassment suit out of pure spite.
Because we know womyn are like that.
The Left wanted to do to women what it did to blacks - make every one of them think and act like a victim.
Too bad, a lot of women just said, "No".
And that's why the left goes so apeshit over outspoken, conservative women. They're a threat.
So those women are angry that some other woman, with an entertainment background, got a gig on a (very overrated) entertainment show? Okay.
Condi Rice for prez.
Included as a link is a previous Jezebel post that featured video of Munn jumping into a giant pie while wearing a French maid costume.
I dunno. Seems like a pretty good match for the Daily Show.
I will admit to having once or twice wished that Olivia Munn had a little bit more self respect but I'd never complain that she's not he "right sort" of woman because of it.
Dear dog, what?
I really thought that we stopped judging women and labeling them unfit for polite company, but I guess I was really wrong.
Olivia is funny and outrageous. She got a part as herself in Iron Man and I was really pleased for her. Olivia Munn, O'Reilly and Larry King (though my husband insists that Larry King was Stan Lee's cameo.) And I've no doubt that the number of people who recognized her was equal to those that recognized O'Reilly.
And of course, this is brilliant.
Olivia Munn does Twilight.
So seriously... show of hands...
How many of you knew/know who Olivia Munn is?
Synova, your husband is correct. Stan Lee has a cameo in every Marvel Comics-based movie. Spiderman, Iron Man, X-Men, etc.
In Iron Man (the first) RDJr. referred to Stan Lee as Hugh Heffner. I think the running joke is that Tony Stark is just misidentifying him.
I sort of knew who she was. I've seen "Attack of the Show" a few times. Missed her (or already forgot about her) in IM2.
And, yeah, that was Stan Lee, not Larry King. Hilarious.
Jezebel is right, most of the Daily Show women are in help-mate roles. No one would watch The Daily Show if it were written and performed by 50% women.
Women are not people too... they are lawyers and other verbal diarrhea professionals.
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