Feminists

Do you know who Neal Boortz is?

He's a Rush Limbaugh wannabe radio talkshow host -- and attorney, btw -- who is fond of making the following argument, or did when I last listened to him some years ago:

Referring to African Americans as Kool cigarette smokers and Malt Liquor drinkers and a bunch of very objectionable and unflattering stuff he would then claim when callers called him on it as racist that those statements are NOT racist. Why? Because:

*Please note: this is an example of the type of argument I've heard him make repeatedly, not necessarily an exact verbatim quote, except for the first sentence. That's pretty much a direct quote, or close enough.

Now, I would like to believe that everyone in THIS group knows better, knows that racism is a system of oppression that proceeds from -- is the natural societal outcome -- of how it's defined in the dictionary. Racism, we all know, manifests in myriad ways well beyond what any dictionary definition or even encyclopedic entry can cover. Many books have been written about racism, and have probably not said it all yet. Boortz's stereotypes are absolutely racist as I believe he knows full well. Boortz's remarks (not to mention his justification!) helps keep this society's residual racism firmly in place, anchored.

Our sexist friends may not actively or consciously hate, resent or distrust women and therefore might be able to protest their innocence far more honestly than Boortz, but their sexism -- the sexism they could only have learned from a thoroughly misogynist society -- proceeds from that same source (misogyny), AND in turn helps keep that misogyny in place just as surely as Boortz's comments do for racism. Their sexism normalizes sexist behaviors and attitudes (especially when the women near them allow it to go unchallenged); their sexism teaches others to engage in sexist attitudes and behaviors; their sexism helps normalize all other kinds of disrespectful attitudes and treatment of women; their sexism cancels out your efforts to gain equality for all. Etc.

Disrespect is a very dangerous thing because it's such a slippery slope, also quite prone to the influence or agitation of others. You teach or convey enough disrespect for certain other humans either as individuals or classes and you can hurt or kill them or cause them to be hurt or killed or stand by while they're hurt or killed and not feel very bad about it at all. If enough people share your disrespectful views of those people, you can do all of that with impunity. We never go to war without thoroughly demonizing our "enemy." Troops wouldn't kill them if they respected them as humans, so they have to be made less than human.

Personally, I think not confronting the sexism we encounter in daily life esp. in those we know, however sweetly and gently we might choose to do so ------ Well, let me quote something I learned from my Gay Rights brothers and sisters when I was more physically involved in political activism (in the 80s and 90s):

SILENCE CONDONES.