Battle off the Isms
A response to an article by David Wong
Cracked.com is a place where a lot of different writers give voice to a lot of different ideas. Yes, it is primarily a humor site, but there are a lot of great think pieces on there as well.
One of my favorite writers for such think pieces is David Wong, whose work I admire very much and have even cited in some of my academic papers. This article went up a couple of days ago, but I just got to it this morning.
However, the site is a little wonky today, so comments aren’t posting. I wrote this once, and it got deleted by login mechanics. This is the second version, which I had the foresight to write in Word. It could also be that there are a lot of comments already and new ones just won’t be accepted. Either way, the article makes some really good points, plus it got me on a train of thought I thought I’d share.
Please note, I twisted one of this sentences by only quoting part of it. The entirety of the line I singled out was this:
It reinforces their belief that internet feminism is just a bunch of former homecoming queens kicking the nerds for being gross and fat and weird.
This whole article is great, but I had to single out this line: “internet feminism is just a bunch of former homecoming queens kicking the nerds for being gross and fat and weird.”
Please note that I left out your qualifier in the beginning.
Please also note that I am a feminist who writes (on Medium.com as Jenny Asencio) about the hypocrisy of mainstream feminism. I can honestly say your line is a true statement, even while I defend the social equality of women and those with “feminine” qualities. In fact, because I do not hesitate to point out the flaws and hypocrisy of mainstream feminism, I have been told the following things about myself by supposed “actual” feminists:
- that I have no idea what a “real” woman goes through because, based on my profile picture on Medium, I’m ugly and never wear makeup and have therefore never been objectified
- that I hate all women because I am not willing to reward flaws and breaches of trust with my own trust.
Gloria Steinem got up on national television and told Bill Maher that women voting for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary were only doing so because they were chasing boys. When one of the framers and leaders of the modern feminist movement can’t even admit women have agency, then yes, mainstream feminism has turned into homecoming queens kicking the nerds down for being nerds. Even having the right body parts doesn’t disqualify you from their ire if your message is not their cultish chant of “all men are toxic, no exceptions.” There is absolutely zero mystery to why the incels would think that of the feminists. Often, they are victimized by feminists, or listening to someone who was. It’s a vicious cycle.
I am also quite gratified that you pointed out, a few times, that silencing this type of speech is not the answer. I was rallying against that as well after Charlottesville because the best way to ensure another Charlottesville is to silence those idiots and make them feel persecuted. Counter-protesting and going on the defensive will only fuel them. The best way is to smile and nod and counter their arguments with all the joy and compassion you can muster, because no one is the villain in their own eyes, and will resist being treated as such, no matter how insidious their worldview.
I think another part of it is dismantling polarization. The two opinions I expressed above have led me to be lumped in with one side or the other on numerous occasions — either I’m an internalized misogynist or I’m one of those unreasonable fem-Nazis who couldn’t get a man (I’m married); either I’m a Nazi myself or I’m one of those snowflakes who wants to censor free speech. I am expected to be on one side or the other, and when people are confronted with my super-power of being able to see both sides of everything, they become very confused. Yes, it is possible to observe that women have historically been given a raw deal that permeates our social attitudes to this day while simultaneously seeing modern feminism embellishing that to persecute men, and yes it is possible to believe that all people should be able to say what they want while believing at the same time that some people say some really fucked up things that should not be given air. But I sit around thinking about these things a lot, and sometimes even putting my thoughts on paper.
Cults like the ones discussed in this article form by people who are avoiding thinking. They are pre-packaged thoughts. The light you shed on the mechanics of how this type of thinking gets so ingrained is excellent, as usual. No matter what “ism” is at play, this article is a thorough blueprint of how it gets dragged down the rabbit hole to become something people actually believe, no matter how inane or ridiculous.
