Althouse: "I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting. Although the #MeToo backlash has a voice online..."

February 6, 2018

"I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting. Although the #MeToo backlash has a voice online..."

"... it has no voice in real life, in my opinion. It is not possible to talk about any nuance right now, for fear of retribution or being marked backwards. In my circles, the only permitted response is to nod quietly in full support of #MeToo and #TimesUp. Saying anything about it, trying to understand context, inject nuance, etc. is about as welcome as suggesting that another person comb their child's hair differently."

Writes a commenter named Tamarine Hautmarche on a NYT op-ed "Go Ahead, Criticize #MeToo" by Michelle Goldberg, which is reacting to the Katie Roiphe piece in Harper's, "The Other Whisper Network/How Twitter feminism is bad for women."

I haven't read the Roiphe piece, even though I'd noticed it the other day. I didn't remember the big controversy about it, though I had blogged about it a few weeks ago. (It involved the possible outing of the author of "Shitty Media Men"). And, in fact, I can't read it now unless I buy a Harper's subscription.

Anyway, Goldberg thinks people, including Katie Roiphe, are overdoing their expressions of fear about on-line mobs. Even though "social media is a grotesque netherworld of bad faith and cruelty," they can still speak, because look at all of the expressions of "discomfort with #MeToo" that are out there.

34 comments:

langford peel said...: These dumb broads don't realize #Metoo is going to turn into #Notyou in which any half way intelligent male executive will never attempt to mentor, help or even deal with a female. Ever. Why take the risk?

So when it comes time to parcel our responsibility and job advancement it will be #Notyou all the way down.

The Pence rule will become the norm not the exception. As well it should.; 2/6/18, 2:14 PM
Drago said...: "I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting. Although the #MeToo backlash has a voice online..."

You keep using this word "diverse". I do not think it means what you think it means....; 2/6/18, 2:15 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: You keep using this word "diverse". I do not think it means what you think it means....

This.; 2/6/18, 2:19 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: langford peel said...
These dumb broads don't realize #Metoo is going to turn into #Notyou in which any half way intelligent male executive will never attempt to mentor, help or even deal with a female. Ever. Why take the risk?

So when it comes time to parcel our responsibility and job advancement it will be #Notyou all the way down.

The Pence rule will become the norm not the exception. As well it should.

Surely this will not be allowed, but the women forced upon the men somehow. No? I mean, that's the way it used to be.; 2/6/18, 2:22 PM
rhhardin said...: I don't understand who's the friend and who's the enemy in the post, but I was bitching about metoo weeks ago. What's the problem.; 2/6/18, 2:23 PM
langford peel said...: When an unshaven lesbian harpy can claim sexual harassment twenty years later it makes your only defense too never have any dealings with a woman in your place of business unless you have witnesses.

Just as it is not advisable for a man to talk to a child who is not his own. Ever. Even in a dangerous situation.

I was at a mall once and I saw this young child wandering around unsupervised For about fifteen minutes. A toddler. I was sitting in a chair resting and waiting for my wife. I finally had to get up and talk to a woman who was working in the store in front of the escalator. The kid was sure to fall down the stairs. She grabbed him and called security. If I did that I would have been arrested.

I didn't do it because I have a friend who intervened in just such a situation and was held by the police for hours for questioning. You see the mother claimed that she would never have lost track of her kid and that my friend must have taken him. When they finally reviewed the CCTV footage they realized that he go to the mall about ten minutes before he found the kid wandering aimlessly in the parking lot. He had been at work for the eight hours before that. In a toll booth where he was on camera. So it was all bullshit. Still he was arrested and was tuned up by the cops because they thought he was a kid toucher.

Of course he is black so there is that too.

Still you should never put yourself in a situation where it is a he said she said thing.; 2/6/18, 2:23 PM
traditionalguy said...: So he takes the usual approach of a good man who stays silent in the face wrongs. A very wise person.; 2/6/18, 2:24 PM
Michael said...: If you live among educated liberals in any setting, expressing or even raising the possibility of nuance with respect to any of their established wisdom is to risk social suicide, or perhaps, if they really like you otherwise, merely amused condescension. They will if pressed admit that the laws of physics do not strictly speaking prevent them from being in some slight particular wrong about something, but it is for them a purely hypothetical question.; 2/6/18, 2:24 PM
rhhardin said...: Flirting is more interesting than not flirting, is the general argument.

Fallback is that metoo is bad for women. Nobody minds that it's bad for men, of course.; 2/6/18, 2:25 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: My advice to young males at college or in the work force -- Ignore all liberal women, even the good-looking ones. They will cause drama and headaches.; 2/6/18, 2:25 PM
Fernandinande said...: "I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting."

And it sucks.

And, in fact, I can't read it now unless I buy a Harper's subscription.

Sure you can!; 2/6/18, 2:26 PM
bagoh20 said...: It's like the "Ferguson effect". When you broadly indict at the drop of a hat, they stop showing up, whether you need them or not.; 2/6/18, 2:27 PM
Browndog said...: Diversity is our strength. We will demonstrate our strength when we pummel you into Groupthink.; 2/6/18, 2:28 PM
langford peel said...: Women can force all they want but they will have lost the chance at any meaningful cooperation or advancement. Sure you will have your affirmative action sinecures just as you have today. But the isolation of women in the work space will become even more pronounced. Their talent and ability will not matter unless they are working alone on projects or with other women. Men will limit their exposure especially after hours and off site. It is that simple. You would be a fool not to do so.

You should read Dr. Helen on this. She has her finger on it and has long preached that the demonetization of men will have unintended consequences.; 2/6/18, 2:29 PM
Bill said...: Bless you, Fernandistein.; 2/6/18, 2:30 PM
Fernandinande said...: "the demonetization of men"

Many countries don't use men as money.; 2/6/18, 2:32 PM
David said...: Overdoing it?

As long as you are willing to lose friends, social status and vocational momentum, go ahead and nuance, lefties.; 2/6/18, 2:34 PM
Meade said...: Bay Area Guy said...
"My advice to young males at college or in the work force -- Ignore all liberal women, even the good-looking ones. They will cause drama and headaches."

Weird — that is almost exactly my advice to old males out of college and out of the work force.; 2/6/18, 2:36 PM
langford peel said...: Any intelligent conservative or traditional man limits his interaction to non liberal women. Often women of other cultures or with similar conservative and traditional values. You might work with a Mormon woman and not have to fear an accusation. Or perhaps an Orthodox Jew or a Muslim female. Of course they would not be in the workplace as they are where they should be.... raising their children, ironing the shirts and making sandwiches.

These young mattress carriers don't realize that they have forcibly dried up their dating pool. That is why they turn around at forty with no husband, no children and three cats.

The other big difference is that beta male pool that used to be their last resort is also drying up. Once they start selling sex robots these worthless harpies will be totally out of luck,

Just as it ever was.; 2/6/18, 2:37 PM
langford peel said...: "the demonetization of men"

You thought that was a typo but it was deliberate Ferdie. To many woman men are just money. They will get what they want out of them in one way or another.

Men are indeed a form of currency. It is a means to status and money. That is why you see article after article of college educated women bitching that they have no one to date. That educated and successful men don't want to date their liberal whining feminist asses. They would never turn to a working man because he would be beneath them. They want to monetize their sexuality. It is never about love and family to them. It is about money and power.

Same as it ever was.; 2/6/18, 2:42 PM
WK said...: Not meaning to stereotype but I would more expect to see someone named Tamarine Hautmarche working in a diverse academic setting and not driving a backhoe. Odd how that works out.; 2/6/18, 3:05 PM
Carol said...: Couldn't academic just not say anything when the subject came up? Act indifferent? Like cruel neutrality, if you will.

Way to make a statement!; 2/6/18, 3:07 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Well #MeToo is a lot shorter & punchier if not quite as raw as #YeahIFuckedHimSoWhat.; 2/6/18, 3:27 PM
Sebastian said...: "I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting." Hold it. I call BS right there.

Anyway, I use the two-minute rule: outside of strictly formal work situations, any discussion with progs of any topic of current prog orthodoxy that features any expression of nonorthodox sentiments will result in prog yelling within two minutes.; 2/6/18, 3:41 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: "Diverse academic setting" means we may look different, but we will excommunicate anyone who thinks different. And very few liberals are liberal anymore, especially in Diverse Academic Settings. They are leftists - the opposite of liberal.; 2/6/18, 4:03 PM
Jupiter said...: "I live among educated liberals in a diverse academic setting."

Boy are *you* fucked.; 2/6/18, 4:47 PM
langford peel said...: Actually he will not get fucked.

Or if he does some dizzy bitch will follow him around town carrying a mattress.; 2/6/18, 4:54 PM
Sam L. said...: You may be living among "educated liberals", but as Brother Dave Gardner used to say, "A liberal is a person educated beyond his capacity to learn."; 2/6/18, 6:36 PM
Unknown said...: The #MeToo movement has been proportional to the penis threat that plagues our nation. Fortunately, Google and Facebook are ahead of the culture and have instituted a one-time asking out rule that is perfectly reasonable.; 2/6/18, 7:04 PM
buwaya said...: Free speech my a**.
And #metoo has nothing to do with it.
Try say anything nice about the Spanish inquisition, just try.; 2/6/18, 7:16 PM
Henry said...: That's a terrific simile by Ms. Hautmarche.

There is the sense that people's political opinions are their babies, their very own personal babies, and it's offensive to do anything but gush.; 2/6/18, 7:22 PM
Jupiter said...: Matthew Blaine said...
"Fortunately, Google and Facebook are ahead of the culture and have instituted a one-time asking out rule that is perfectly reasonable."

Oh, wow.

"Ambiguous answers such as “I’m busy” or “I can’t that night,” count as a “no,” said Heidi Swartz, Facebook’s global head of employment law."

But what if she says he asked twice and he says he only asked once? They need bodycams, like the cops, only 24/7.; 2/6/18, 7:30 PM
Gahrie said...: Men are indeed a form of currency. It is a means to status and money. That is why you see article after article of college educated women bitching that they have no one to date. That educated and successful men don't want to date their liberal whining feminist asses. They would never turn to a working man because he would be beneath them. They want to monetize their sexuality. It is never about love and family to them. It is about money and power.

Careful!

I have been admonished for merely saying women leveraged access to sex.; 2/6/18, 9:14 PM
FIDO said...: As I've noted before: the attraction of the Liberal thought police was always that they had a steady supply of young, hot, libertine women who were properly indoctrinated to attract men who wanted to get laid, and take advantage of the male tendency to do or say anything TO get laid.

But today's young women aren't so libertine, aren't so hot, are far more doctrinaire, and, since we are speaking plainly, are kind of bitchy AND they don't know how to make a sandwich.

Won't screw, can't cook, and a scold to boot. What a prize!

This seems to have caused a melt down in the popularity of Liberal ideology. It's incoherent, feel good gobbledee gook, but when espoused by a set of breasts, seems almost reasonable.; 2/6/18, 10:41 PM