Althouse: "I want to see queer and trans people of color with radical social and political analyses dominate independent media by creating and growing our own platforms, so we can centralize and control our own narratives."

January 3, 2015

"I want to see queer and trans people of color with radical social and political analyses dominate independent media by creating and growing our own platforms, so we can centralize and control our own narratives."

Just one example from the responses WaPo got asking "leading feminists" what they are hoping to accomplish in 2015.

Something so garbled and dispiriting about it all.

Nice caricatures though.

79 comments:

Gahrie said...: How about pulling your head out of your ass and doing something for the millions of women of color who are suffering real oppression around the world?; 1/3/15, 5:52 PM
traditionalguy said...: So the goal is for queer people to dominate independent media to control the narratives.

That is a declaration of a culture war.

Not a bad idea since they have been guaranteed a win over Judeo-Christian Morality if they fight it.

Oh yeah. That's what they are being used for. To outlaw Judeo-Christian Morality.; 1/3/15, 5:59 PM
Michael K said...: Are many women this stupid or just "women of color" and "trans women?"; 1/3/15, 6:03 PM
Wince said...: "...so we can centralize and control our own narratives."

Sounds to me like "so we can make shit up". Who pays these people?

From Stacy McCain:

Feminism’s intellectual hegemony within academia, however, protects its young disciples from encountering informed criticism of their belief system, and one of feminism’s core beliefs is that the world is in desperate need of feminist enlightenment. The cult of “consciousness raising” (an idea borrowed from Communist Party doctrine, thanks to “Red Diaper babies” Anne Forer and Kathie Amatniek) means that every college sophomore who has taken a couple of Women’s Studies classes believes she possesses a moral and intellectual superiority that qualifies her to tutor us about how women are oppressed by the patriarchy.

This attitude of arrogant condescension, this presumption that feminists possess a sort of gnosis that endows them with superior insight, is what makes them so obnoxious when communicating in their accustomed modes — the Lecture, the Screed and the Rant.

One notices that feminists seldom debate or engage in dialogue with their critics. We may take this as evidence that feminist rhetoric and ideology cannot withstand careful scrutiny.; 1/3/15, 6:07 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Who says "analyses" like that?

"Platforms"... "narratives"... "centralize"...

What I "want to see" is people speaking naturally and not bullshitting. That should be easy. Speak directly. Say what you really think.; 1/3/15, 6:08 PM
campy said...: "Say what you really think."

Assumes they actually think.; 1/3/15, 6:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Ann asked: "Who says "analyses" like that? "

I actually wondered if they meant "agendas"!; 1/3/15, 6:13 PM
Robert J. said...: "dominate ... centralize ... control"

That about sums it up.; 1/3/15, 6:14 PM
chuck said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/3/15, 6:17 PM
Henry said...: The odd-word-out is "dominating"; 1/3/15, 6:19 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Something so garbled and dispiriting about it all.

Not if you have a sense of humor.; 1/3/15, 6:19 PM
Paco Wové said...: The comments at WaPo are about as enthusiastic as the comments here.

These people are "leading" feminists? The MacArthur grantee maybe, but the others?; 1/3/15, 6:31 PM
eustace said...: Aren't they just saying they want significance without the bother of accomplishment?; 1/3/15, 6:36 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: When you interview a flock of intellectual turkeys, you can expect to get what you have here--Gobblydegook.

I thought it was touching that the black radical feminist wanted the cool kids, i.e. he LGBT crowd to join in and dominate independent media. Who knew she was in to S&M?; 1/3/15, 6:42 PM
Paco Wové said...: Seems odd that a large majority of the people queried appear to be minorities (black or asian), plus one that may be a transsexual white guy. I guess white womens' concerns are sooooo 2014.; 1/3/15, 6:46 PM
Dr Weevil said...: So they're interested in "creating and growing [their] own platforms"? Sounds good to me. They can set up their own version of Twitter and take their tweets over there where no one else will ever see them.

What to call it? Hmmm. How about GLBT + Twitter = "GLTBitter"? It's hard to pronounce, but neatly combines 'glitter', 'glib', and 'bitter'.; 1/3/15, 6:53 PM
Paco Wové said...: Seems like you could make a "PoMo Feminism Bingo" game out of all the cant and mindless sloganeering.

"black lives and black liberation"
"Black people owning their power"
"campus gender-based violence"
"campus sexual assault"
"centralize and control our own narratives"
"could not be silenced"
"feminist racial justice"
"join in solidarity"
"level the playing field"
"LGBT movements intersectional lives"
"gender non-conforming people"
"queer and trans people of color"
"people of color"
"black queer and trans women"
"women of color and our stories"
"protect users from ... hate speech"
"put programs and policies in place"
"radical social and political analyses"
"reproductive rights"
"shared vision of gender equality"
"violence against black people"
"voices of women"

and my personal favorite:
"convene the table of change, not have a seat at it."; 1/3/15, 7:00 PM
cubanbob said...: I would like to see these woman get real jobs. Mickey D's would be a step up in terms of useful work.; 1/3/15, 7:05 PM
William said...: I hope those whiny Boko Harum captives do nothing to turn the spotlight away from the problems people in the LGBT community here face. That ham, Malaka, has already done enough damage to the feminist movement.; 1/3/15, 7:05 PM
Achilles said...: "Something so garbled and dispiriting about it all."

It isn't necessarily that feminism has been co-opted by statism that is dispiriting. It is that so many feminists haven't noticed what their fellow travelers are and what feminism "stands" for now.; 1/3/15, 7:08 PM
David said...: Do men exist? Based on their statements, not in the minds of these women except as rapists and (in one case) possible foot soldiers in the service of women.; 1/3/15, 7:10 PM
Michael K said...: There are not enough bubbles for them to inhabit.; 1/3/15, 7:16 PM
MrCharlie2 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/3/15, 7:17 PM
MrCharlie2 said...: holy shit. makes me glad to go back to work on monday.; 1/3/15, 7:18 PM
Leora said...: I actually thought this was some sort of unfunny parody until I googled these folks and found they really did exist. I don't think there was concern for anything that any normal person would think of as a problem of women - like balancing child raising and employment, or the plight of women in the developing world. And the language was shockingly meaningless.; 1/3/15, 7:18 PM
YoungHegelian said...: ...by creating & growing our own platforms...

I didn't realize it had become so difficult to set up a web site. Has Blogger starting turning down LGBT sites? Oh, oh, she said dominate, not just be heard.

It's also important to see the phrase "queer and trans people of color with radical social and political analyses" as a Boolean AND statement, which means she'll be writing for an audience of a few hundred people in the whole US.

What fragmentation identity politics starts it never finishes. I realized that back in 1980 when I saw a bulletin board ad for a group for "Radical Fat Jewish Lesbians" at Revolution Books in DC.; 1/3/15, 7:19 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: God forbid that we see any queer and trans white people with radical social and political analyses dominate independent media by creating and growing their own platforms so they can centralize and control their own narratives.; 1/3/15, 7:29 PM
Jupiter said...: Ann Althouse said...
"Who says "analyses" like that?"

Hmmmm... If I have a political analysis, which I have been known to do, and if you have a rather different political analysis, as you also have been known to do, then we have a couple of political analyses. Analyses is the plural of analysis. Is that pretentious? What about phenomena/phenomenon?; 1/3/15, 7:29 PM
Jupiter said...: But yeah, every last one of them is a fatuous asshat, and I am just glad none of them said "I want to reproduce".

Incidentally, what I want to do this year is understand General Relativity well enough to follow this article I found about the relativistic treatment of a rotating disk. Apparently even Einstein got this one wrong. There is no "relativistic contraction" of the circumference.; 1/3/15, 7:35 PM
richard mcenroe said...: People who can't even consistently define their own sexual identities are gonna tell the rest of us how this world really works.

Yeah, that should go well.; 1/3/15, 7:38 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Jupiter,

Incidentally, what I want to do this year is understand General Relativity well enough to follow this article I found about the relativistic treatment of a rotating disk.

You got a link for that? It sounds fascinating.; 1/3/15, 7:38 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: For good reasons homosexual behavior and cross-dressing were categorized as mental disorders. For political reasons homosexual behavior and cross dressing were normalized.
You can't make a person with a mental disorder better by saying that they are normal. The underlying disorder is still there.; 1/3/15, 7:42 PM
LYNNDH said...: Several years ago in the midst of the recession I received a newsletter from my college. They were touting a new degreed program and one of the main classes of study was Transgender Native Americans. This when college graduates with good degrees couldn't get jobs. My thought was "They're going to study all 5 of them by name?"; 1/3/15, 7:51 PM
Herp McDerp said...: Via EDH at 6:07 PM:

From Stacy McCain:

This attitude of arrogant condescension, this presumption that feminists possess a sort of gnosis that endows them with superior insight, is what makes them so obnoxious when communicating in their accustomed modes — the Lecture, the Screed and the Rant.

One notices that feminists seldom debate or engage in dialogue with their critics.

No university has ever staged a production of "The Vagina Dialogues."; 1/3/15, 7:56 PM
cassandra lite said...: I feel foolish for buying into the narrative, decades ago: "We just want to be like everyone else, good and bad, except for the fact that we like people of our own sex. Other than, we're just like you are."; 1/3/15, 8:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Jupiter: But yeah, every last one of them is a fatuous asshat, and I am just glad none of them said "I want to reproduce".

My planned comment involved "fatuous clowns" (well, the phrase that first popped into my head had a much more obscene noun than "clowns"), but I see you've got it all covered.

I was also wondering what Althouse has against "analyses". I use "analyses" all the time. Does that make me a fatuous asshat?; 1/3/15, 8:13 PM
Ambrose said...: So if a queer or trans person of color expressed a really radical analysis - a conservative one - on an independent media, how long would it take for the correct-thinking folks to ostracize that person and retake his or her narrative. My money is on one news cycle; 1/3/15, 8:22 PM
Michael K said...: "So if a queer or trans person of color expressed a really radical analysis "

I attended a conference, I forget what about, and the featured student speaker was a transgender kid. I thought that was very odd and illustrative of what is going on. I wonder how many members of the audience, made up largely of alumni, made a mental note to cancel that donation?; 1/3/15, 8:32 PM
John Cunningham said...: So the Feminazis march under the banner of Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrerin, Ein Reich, but what about the Deaf Lesbian Eskimoes and the Asian Nympho Midgets?; 1/3/15, 8:45 PM
John Cunningham said...: So the Feminazis march under the banner of Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrerin, Ein Reich, but what about the Deaf Lesbian Eskimoes and the Asian Nympho Midgets?; 1/3/15, 8:45 PM
fivewheels said...: "I would like to see the creation of 2 million new, living wage ($15 or more) caregiving jobs..."

How do you think jobs like that are created? (Hint: Not out of thin air.) What are you doing to actually create these jobs? (Hint: Whining won't do it.); 1/3/15, 9:01 PM
charis said...: They need Strunk and White, The Elements of Style.; 1/3/15, 9:03 PM
chillblaine said...: Nice to see Brianna Wu interested in 'opening up gamedev.' I thought she was only interested in twitter trolling #gamergate supporters every fifeteen seconds.

Hmm, nothing on this list from Amanda Marcotte. I guess her desire that neckbeards let go of their entitlement rage and nerd privilege didn't seem aspirational enough.; 1/3/15, 9:20 PM
Chef Mojo said...: I saw Asian Nympho Midgets open for Deaf Lesbian Eskimoes at the Warner Theater back in '93.

Like bloody catnip, that was...; 1/3/15, 9:31 PM
rhhardin said...: She's into dominance.; 1/3/15, 10:13 PM
RuyDiaz said...: "Something so garbled and dispiriting about it all."

Not for me. That piece confirms my prejudices against feminism. I don't find it dispiriting at all.; 1/3/15, 10:21 PM
madAsHell said...: Mental illness with a megaphone.; 1/3/15, 10:38 PM
Barry Dauphin said...: I want to see queer and trans people of color with radical social and political analyses dominate independent media by creating and growing our own platforms, so we can centralize and control our own narratives.

Unless, of course, they advocate for lower taxes and think AGW is BS.; 1/3/15, 10:53 PM
MikeDC said...: Nothing says controlling your own narrative like centralization and dominating the independent!; 1/3/15, 11:05 PM
LTMG said...: @Henry, let me try something. Change 'dominating' to 'dominizing'. Does that make the word fit in, he asked sarcastically? If this non-word ever grows legs, remember, you saw it here first. By the way, easy to turn 'dominizing' into 'demonizing'. Keep that for a rainy day!; 1/3/15, 11:10 PM
MayBee said...: They are genius because they laid the groundwork to make it totally subhuman to criticize these groups.

So when they want to control the narrative, a lot of people are going to let them.; 1/4/15, 12:13 AM
MayBee said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/4/15, 12:13 AM
Mary Beth said...: I would like to see the creation of 2 million new, living wage ($15 or more) caregiving jobs, and more affordable options for quality care for working families, particularly in light of the numbers of women in the workforce and the rapidly growing older population in America.

They can go get all the McDonald's workers and Walmart workers who are not making a living wage and hire them as caregivers for their parents and grandparents.; 1/4/15, 12:30 AM
urpower said...: "Those who tell their own story, you know, must be listened to with caution." -Jane Austen, Sandition; 1/4/15, 12:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Translation: We want to be heard. We want an alternative to the corporate mindfuck.

This is the language of their university classes. What's changed from my own college era is the melding of softened biz/tech lingo into the eternally awkward mix: "creating and growing our own platforms," etc. (Isn't the whole point of Indy media that no one group can dominate it?); 1/4/15, 1:38 AM
Lyle said...: what stupid human beings they are; 1/4/15, 2:00 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Charlene Carruthers, 29 | Black Youth Project 100 National Coordinator | @CharleneCac
I hope to see a continued resurgence of young Black people owning their power to end police and domestic violence.

So, you're going to just DEMAND shit, in louder and louder voices and actions, while offering NOTHING in return? Yeah, that ought to work.; 1/4/15, 6:17 AM
H said...: Imagine going back to 1974 and saying to a feminist of that time: "Forty years in the future the biggest problem facing women will be the lack of outlets for trans-sexual and racial minority free-lance writers."

Don't you think that the 1974 feminist would be overwhelmed with how many problems had been solved?; 1/4/15, 6:27 AM
Vet66 said...: The good ship "Who Cares?" is out of the port and long gone over the horizon.; 1/4/15, 6:36 AM
MadisonMan said...: I just want them to write clearly. Sentences that are devoid of jargon would be a good start.; 1/4/15, 6:45 AM
MadisonMan said...: We have an amazing opportunity with @heforshe for one half of humanity (men) to join in solidarity with the other half of humanity (women) in creating a shared vision of gender equality that benefits all of humanity

Yeah, sure. Men, you do all the work. Women will just sit back and watch, judging your efforts.

Typical.; 1/4/15, 6:49 AM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: And yet they have pussies, so we talk to them, but this new generation takes even that incentive away.; 1/4/15, 6:58 AM
jr565 said...: First world feminism is about rich white ladies problems and not real issues. They've gone so far past A Room Of One's Own. But ladies still have to bitch. So now it's about exaggerating rape statistics to pretend that there is a rape epidemic. Because there is really nothing modern feminists have to argue about.
Of course, they could go down to Afghanistan to see where real feminism is needed.; 1/4/15, 7:32 AM
tim maguire said...: I couldn't read most of them--what most striking is the sameness of all the New Year's wishes. 25 slightly varying ways of saying the same thing.; 1/4/15, 7:38 AM
ganderson said...: Fivewwheels- these folks really do believe that jobs are created by fiat (and not AT Fiat)Someone way smarter than I am observed, in answer to Granny Warren's "you didn't build that" speech- that is the way these people think- start a program, hire your friends with trans--gender studies degrees. Also- are we sure this article is not a parody?; 1/4/15, 8:48 AM
Paco Wové said...: "Isn't the whole point of Indy media that no one group can dominate it?"

I assume you're being rhetorical here.

From the snippets provided, it sounds like most of these people are devoted to advancing the interests of tiny in-groups at the expense of everyone else (especially the outiest out-group of them all, white heterosexual men). The tinier the interest group advanced, the more crazed the proponents sound.; 1/4/15, 8:50 AM
Skyler said...: Queer and trans people of color with radical political and social views. Both of them!; 1/4/15, 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: jr565: First world feminism is about rich white ladies problems and not real issues.

I guess you didn't notice the racial distribution of this dozy bint parade. "Whiny and stupid" is an equal-opportunity condition.

As far as I can see, contemporary "first world feminism" is about providing a "safe space" for mentally unstable people to drool and babble in, and hustling up foundation- and tax-funded jobs for otherwise unemployable parasites with degrees in IHateStraightWhiteMen Studies.; 1/4/15, 9:23 AM
Sam L. said...: Garbled and dispiriting does pretty much define them.; 1/4/15, 9:47 AM
Anonymous said...: I thought the comments on the original were perceptive. Many said, and I agree, that it must be a hoax. Judging by the comments here, the hoax is working well by drawing out your bigoted commentators.; 1/4/15, 10:26 AM
Paco Wové said...: "it must be a hoax"

Why? What leads you to that conclusion?; 1/4/15, 10:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous: I thought the comments on the original were perceptive. Many said, and I agree, that it must be a hoax. Judging by the comments here, the hoax is working well by drawing out your bigoted commentators.

No, "many" made the perceptive observation that the "leading feminists" were parodies of themselves, which does not mean what you seem to think it means. As of this minute, there's not a single comment there alleging a hoax.

Since you think the quotes from these very serious ladies (you can look 'em up, you know) are so stupid and crazy that the article must be a hoax, you obviously must a hateful bigot yourself.; 1/4/15, 11:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Totally unfair attack on an admittedly screwy bunch by a covert comedian.; 1/4/15, 11:54 AM
Paco Wové said...: Asking people for quotes and printing them in the Washington Post is "attacking" them?

Can you at least come up with a coherent troll here?; 1/4/15, 12:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Totally unfair attack on an admittedly screwy bunch by a covert comedian.

My my my guess the Post must have deleted every single one of those "many" "perceptive" comments you saw calling the article a hoax.

Now plodding lumpen-liberal Ruth Tam is a sly subversive comedian? Dude, you should have just slunk away quietly when your were caught out in your first dumb fib.; 1/4/15, 12:54 PM
wildswan said...: I'm going to grow my own platform this year in my garden but trouble already - the way they looked at me in the garden store when I asked for platform seeds. Not sure I can go back there for anything.
Maybe I'll take out an Emily Dickinson poem written with my fountain pen - there was trouble over that too at CVS mainly over ink in a bottle but when I get all that then I'll write out this poem from the greatest women writer ever
"I'm nobody -
Who are you?
Are you nobody too?
Don't tell -
They'd banish us you know.
How dreary to be somebody -
How public = like a frog -
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog."

And bury it and see if it comes up a platform.

You know even if they get a platform to grow there will be nobody but us nothings to listen to them. Hardly worth it, really; 1/4/15, 1:26 PM
Anonymous said...: If this is a declaration of war show them honor by taking it seriously. Marginalize these clowns to the maximum extent and meet violent rhetoric and violence by bringing back the contemptuous back of the hand slap.; 1/4/15, 5:35 PM
Robert What? said...: OK, I read the article and I think I got it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

They want to be able to punish people they disagree with, or just don't like - primarily heterosexual white males - in whatever way they see fit on any allegation, or even nothing at all. None of this "due process" crap which was invented by racist dead white men a couple of hundred years ago.

They want to criminalize the speech of people they disagree with, or just don't like, to prevent them from tainting the pure young minds they've worked so hard to train.

Amirite?; 1/4/15, 9:53 PM
Unknown said...: If these people came into power on a Monday, they'd be hacking off testicles by Thursday afternoon. Let's stop pretending otherwise.; 1/5/15, 2:20 AM