Charlotte Allen has unleashed a spitstorm with publication in the Washington Post of an op-ed piece in which she asserts that women are . . . well, dummies. While the piece itself is amazingly dumb, I was struck by the reaction of the feminist bloggers whom I sampled who to a woman didn't bother to offer intelligent point-counterpoint responses to the piece but instead engaged in name calling.
Zuzu, for example, said that the "mainstream media hates women," while Jessica grumped that the WaPo responded to the hundreds of negative comments it got by changing the headline on the op-ed "from overtly misogynist to questioningly sexist."Now maybe this isn't an ideal teaching moment, but I had hoped that these two bloggers, who are among my faves, and their sisters would not resort to the ever reliable rant.
Is this also amazingly dumb? Or am I missing something?
UPDATE: WaPo Outlook section editor John Pomfret now claims that the piece was "tongue-in-cheek." This strikes me as incredibly lame given that aspect seems to have been lost on everyone who read it. Besides which, what the hell was it doing in a news and review section if it wasn't serious?
Image from American Digest
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