The stated goal of the manual was to encourage mutual respect and equality between boys and girls, but Ms. Swift and Ms. Miller, who died in 1997, concluded that the author’s intent was being undermined by the English language.
“We suddenly realized what was keeping his message — his good message — from getting across, and it hit us like a bombshell,” Ms. Swift said in a 1994 interview for the National Council of Teachers of English. “It was the pronouns! They were overwhelmingly masculine gendered.”
“We just wanted to give people the background, to make them aware of what was happening right underneath their noses,” she said of the handbook. “We didn’t want to tell people, Do This or Don’t Do That!” [emphasis mine]
But that's just what she did.
The gender equalizing of words always struck me the Political Correct thing to do rather than actual equalizing of words.
The soft bigotry of low expectations. The new sexism. And what better time to do so than during National Offend A Feminist Week.
I'm sure Tina Fey is funny in person. But not the laugh out loud funny that people strive to credit her for. Should she tell a joke, it's more of a "Hmmm, that's funny" rather than the "Haha" funny. And she did make some success in the male dominated world of comedy writing. But most of that was because she is a funnyish woman. Not in spite of it. Succeeding up the ladder of success the Politically Correct way.
She's also fallen prey to what I call the "Martin Short Effect". At one time, early in his career, Martin Short was funny. As his success grew, he went from Martin Short the man to Martin Short the image. Where no matter what he did, it was supposed to be funny because he is Martin Short. Jiminy Glick is the best example of that.
The former “Saturday Night Live” performer and head writer became a household name during the 2008 election, when she returned to the show as a guest with a pitch-perfect impersonation of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Week after week, she poked fun at the Alaska governor for everything from her family foibles to her lightweight answers to reporters’ questions. “I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers,” Fey-as-Palin deadpanned during a spoof of the vice-presidential debate
[. . .]
“No one ever said it was ‘mean’ when Chevy Chase played Gerald Ford falling down all the time. No one ever accused Dana Carvey or Darrell Hammond or Dan Aykroyd of ‘going too far’ in their political impressions. You see what I’m getting at here,” Ms. Fey writes.
She spent her tour of duty on SNL making fun of the Right to a canned, liberal audience. And those who weren't liberal were being polite in laughing with the crowd so the tires on their car wouldn't be slashed later.
Not just Sarah Palin but Republicans in general. That's not really being funny as much as it is pandering. Edgy, edgy stuff for a mainstream show.
With 30 Rock, she is in essence a newsreader who passes the broadcast off to the Sports, Weather, Traffic and whatever Special Reports are going on.
Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, the blond chick, the actors who play the writers and the dude who plays Kenneth the Page are the ones who bring the funny to that show. And mostly because they pretty much play themselves.
Morgan plays someone who has a tenuous grip on reality and sanity. Baldwin plays a megalomaniac. As I said, not much of a stretch.
Anything really gut busting funny that ever came from Fey on 30 Rock, I chalk it up to coincidence.
But it's not her fault people on the right don't get her ironic jokes. You sexists.
Because they take issue with the term, "Man Cave".
Props to my girl Erin for finding this gem at Home Depot – that’s right, the store is offering the “Top 10 Man Cave” paint colors, hence making the “no women allowed” den of sports, beer and manly brouhaha to escape the oppressive forces of their wives an official room of the hetero household…and to be painted bold, masculine colors.
Yes, because there is the word 'man' in the title, it automatically means 'no womyn allowed'.
I contend that if a woman can walk through her house and not see any evidence that a man lives there, then the house is clean.
Besides Palin’s actions—being louder than words—as a mom with a special needs child she sought to carry through the pregnancy. Instead of killing the unborn baby when he was diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. And as horrid as these numbers are, aborting a special needs child is something that 9 out of 10 mothers have done. She was in the 10% who carried her son to term.
But Palin’s actions weren’t good enough for Graas. Graas wanted the flowery words. Mind you, flowery words from a used car salesman were enough for me buy a crap car when I was younger. Once bitten, twice shy. I’ll take someone’s personal actions over their words any day of the week. Graas wanted something after Palin endorsed Rand Paul for Senate.
The use of the language "Platform" in a speech.
Granted, Palin is not the Chief Expectative of a State anymore but a mere private citizen. Not even actively seeking office but who has more political clout than Mitt Romney or Newt Gringrich.
I have this. A show of support for the 14th amendment, in fact the entire Constitution. She didn’t succeed from the Union as governor of Alaska.
“Not good enough”, is what Graas will probably say. And where I’ll have to counter with this: I have looked but failed to find where Palin lists off the amendments, checking off the pros and cons of each. But there is ample evidence where she talks (not actions, remember, talks.) about supporting those who are Constitutionalists.
Now I would imagine that when Palin talks about the Constitution of these United States, she means the initial document as well as all 27 amendments to the Constitution. Seeing how they are in fact part of the Supreme law of the land. She’s never released a Facebook note with an asterisk behind it saying for example, “*Except for that pesky 20th Amendment.”
For context, I believe in the Bible being the Word of God. I don’t believe a book here and there and consider the rest irrelevant but all 66 books. It’s the same with the US Constitution. I’ll treat it as the Supreme law of the land and will do my best to adhere to its laws (except for when they contradict the Bible’s commandments but that is a theological argument for later). And that includes the Amendments.
The Bill of Rights, absolutely they were needed. The 13th, banning involuntary servitude? You betcha. The 19th, we can talk about but it is the law of the land (And I’ll freely blow the Wolf Whistle of Sexism on me for that one. I. E. it’s a joke.). The 21st, God forgive me but I do love a tasty and cold micro brewed beer from time to time. And that’s only picking a few Amendments out at random.
Specifics, Graas will ask for one more time.
Very well, in the year of our Lord, 2010, she gave a speech on Friday, May 14th to the Susan B. Anthony Organization. There was lots of talk about the Constitution throughout her speech and her support for it as well as endorse candidates who she’ll believe to support those same views. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it’s available online.
It all comes down to life and how we're going to take a stand on protecting innocent life and deciding that nobody is beneath the protection of our laws.
Life, meaning all life, special needs and unborn and laws meaning all laws at the local, state and federal level, including the Supreme Law of the Land: The US Constitution.
If that doesn't quell her line of questioning, I'm not sure what will but I've said my piece about it. Should it continue, it will be without me and I will wash my hands of this affair.
To be sure, this is not a joke like the supposed "Dog Whistle Racism" where a third party can declare you of being racist for something you said that was completely unrelated to race.
Robert Stacy comes close to blowing the Wolf Whistle of Sexism with his latest posting. He skirts the issue of sexism but never impales his target. To the untrained eye, it looks like he's trying to exploit the new Miss American by putting up pictures of her pole dancing but he's well within the realm of good taste for a blog.
Wolf Whistle sexism is something that most men and women wouldn't even realize they are guilty of it until it's too late.
Amanda Marcotte probably didn't even realize she was guilty of being a complete and total sexist. Rest assured, as soon as she was able to justify her views of genital mutilation, a secretary somewhere got her rump slapped and was told to fetch her boss some coffee. That affront to women everywhere rests solely on Amanda's shoulders like a padded jacket straight out of a 1980's music video.
It need not happen this way. Nobody should ever have to unknowingly sound the Wolf Whistle of Sexism. There is a cure for most people. Should you ever be accused of committing Wolf Whistle Sexism, go to the store and pick up a copy of 'Going Rouge' right away. At the very least click over and read Conservatives 4 Palin as soon as you can. Will that get you feeling better? You betcha!
Amanda Marcotte is an extreme case, however. She may as well be a lost cause. To cures what ails her is something I woudln't normally suggest.
But then not all cures are worse than the disease.
