Earlier today, I commented negatively regarding some statements about men in a blog post. One reaction to my comment was that it sounded "dismissive to women". It struck me that that phrase is often used to stifle dissent.
It also occurred to me that, in that respect, it's much like the phrase "insulting to Muslims".
The third phrase, which was used against me by my parents when I was young and disagreed with them about Jewishness or Israel, is "Jewish anti-semite".
The phrases may be completely inapplicable in the particular case. That doesn't matter. What matters is that they can be used as weapons to intimidate someone into shutting up.
10 comments:
I read the post and your comment and couldn't begin to imagine how they got "dismissive toward women" out of it. Strange.
Maybe you were supposed to write a few paragraphs empathizing with women followed by an outlined plan to teach the male youth of America how to not rape.
I agree more male role models need to communicate to young boys that violence toward women/rape is absolutely not acceptable and should in fact be considered shocking, but if you've taught your own kid that, what else can you do? Unless you come across a boy in the store mistreating a girl who could use your immediate and spontaneous guidance, you've done what you should with your own child.
Thanks, Kristen. It's nice to have some support. I've decided to stop reading that blog, even though I've known the blog's author online for years and considered her a friend in the online sense. Very sad.
It was decades ago that I was first told that men are obligated to teach other men to behave properly. It struck me as sexist nonsense then and still does. It holds all men responsible for the misdeeds of any men, just because we're the same sex. It says that I'm expected to give behavior lectures to the kind of man or boy that I despised and avoided like the plague when I was in high school!
Agreed that I don't see anything "dismissive" about what you wrote. But man, did you step in it. Not through any fault of your own, of course, you just picked the wrong topic to comment on with anything other than "I agree." It's like trying to have a rational debate on the gun control issue -- might as well be rolling a boulder up a hill.
And there I was, just ambling along idly, commenting helpfully on other people's blogs ...
Or so I thought.
Hmm. Thanks to those responses, I feel a blog post coming on that would spark endless discussion and zillions of hits if I were a famous blogger. As it is, I'm just some unemployed guy with a blog. But what the hell.
You could always out a pseudonymous blogger out of spite. That would certainly drive traffic, although not the kind you're looking for.
Go for it, David. I know what you are planning, and am totally behind you.
If I knew the identity of such a blogger ...
No. That would be wrong. No matter how much traffic it would draw.
Whew! It's a good thing I don't have any such info, or I'd be tempted! And I'm not good at resisting some types of temptation.
Hope you're not disappointed, Leonore. The post isn't powerful or world changing. Or blog changing.
In case you didn't catch my reference.
I didn't catch it at first.
Hmm. Better than a blogger, it should be some famous rightwing blowhard. Like having evidence that Rush Limbaugh is actually Anne Coulter in a fat suit. Pictures.
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