I was just reading a Feminist blog, the writer of which is pro-Clinton. I can absolutely say that I was shocked at the overt racism that was present in the comments of the post and which were completely ignored by the proprietress.
They were discussing why feminists should not vote for Obama, even if he wins the nomination. Some went so far as to declare that they would vote for McCain (don’t even get me started on why it’s sheer stupidity for a feminist to vote for a man that calls his own wife a "cunt"). Someone mentioned that Black feminists were appalled at the blatant racism being displayed on White feminist blogs and they used something said about Michelle Obama as an example. The following was said in response to that assertion:
You know, Michelle Obama is an ape. Not because she is black, but because of how she behaves1. In case you hadn’t noticed, animal like insults are not limited to blacks. Those of us who are "white trash" have to listen to the same insults, and they are part of our vocabulary, too. Here’s just one example: We don’t go to the opera house because we don’t want to wear a "monkey suit" and thus be accused of "aping our betters". But we understand: to you it’s all about race. Everything is about race. Both because you hate white people so much and because you know your candidate Obama has nothing without his precious race card.
Here is a comment by someone who claims to be a feminist, but obviously is biased against the mentally disabled (any kind of ableism is supposed to be a big no-no):
The more you try the more you firm up our resolve to see to it that the fraud named Barack Obama and his seriously miserable clinically depressed wife, who thinks we should Affirmative Action both of them into the Presidency, never get to sit their radical asses in the White House
What is amazing to me is that when someone says "Sweetie" to a woman it’s automatically labeled misogynist and the pile-on ensues (I don’t like the term ‘sweetie’ when used by people unfamiliar with me, by the way). The whole reason for this movement to notvote for Obama is for perceived chauvinistic infractions on his part.
The talk goes on about how Obama uses his "race" to get ahead and that it’s true if he wasn’t Black he wouldn’t be able to stand a chance with Hillary. Not only that, but he’s cheating the system because Michigan and Florida had their delegates disqualified for breaking DNC rules (nevermind that Obama had nothing to do with the DNC rules or the breaking of them). There is talk about the fact there are more women than Blacks and that they "heard that black voters want Obama or else they’ll hold their breath til their little faces turn blue and they’ll stamp their little feetsies. They didn’t want this to be about issues or fair elections, they wanted this to be about identity politics and rioting at the convention. Well, blacks are 13% of the population and women are 51% of the population, so get ready for us to out foot-stomp you."
What the fuck is that shit? Which "-ism" is the worst? Really?
This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to run down the street screaming at the top of my lungs while pulling my own hair out by the roots. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t think, though, that it would have bothered me if it wasn’t on a blog that I’ve been reading for years and which has (until 2 minutes ago) had a place on my blogroll for all of those years2. It was the opposite kind of nonsense that inspired me to disavow DailyKos . We are not them, but we are starting to act a lot like them. That makes my eyes bleed.
My choice for President was Dennis Kucinich, because he was the only candidate with a proven record of standing by his principals and really giving a damned about the people he represents. He was also the only candidate to come out publicly in favor of gay marriage (and decried the use of that stupid ass term "civil unions"). At one point I had decided that I wasn’t going to vote because Kucinich was denied full access to the Democratic process. There were roadblocks thrown up at him from day one. He wasn’t even allowed to participate in debates or be on some state ballots. Where the hell were all these cry-babies then? Why didn’t anyone recognize the one candidate that espoused their values? Oh, yeah. That’s right. Besides being a white man, he wasnt’ "electable". Instead of abstaining from the vote, I’ve since decided to chose. Based on history and trustworthiness. This could also be called "Picking the Lesser of Two Evils".
Now I’m seeing Democrats, Progressives and those I’ve previously respected for their activism advocate voting for a Bush Republican because they don’t like [fill in the blank]. Or alternatively: Because their favorite candidate sucks and could very possibly lose (unless she somehow manages to get the rules changed in her favor). If they can’t have Clinton then they’d rather have McCain than Obama? What kind of fucking logic is that? Really. Even I, a lowly Appalachian simpleton, know that doesn’t work for anyone’s benefit (unless you’re profiting from the "war" or oil or military contracts of some sort). Helping McCain win would be tantamount to saying "I loved the Bush II regime! Gimme more!" Hello? Is this the fucking Twilight Zone?
They say they don’t want to be threatened anymore with the threat of losing "Roe v.Wade". That’s crazy-talk, they say. It’s like telling them to sit down and sit at the back of the bus. They alone brought about the Roe v. Wade decision and they are strong enough to keep Roe v. Wade in tact. McCain can do nothing about that. Leave it up to the states!!
Except they rail against the states that are slowly chipping away at a women’s right to reproductive health. They want to fight states that pass laws that ban abortion right out and where a woman is forced to watch an ultrasound of her fetus prior to the procedure being performed. They want the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed and keep tabs on those that would push the rights of women back to Biblical stages. These women would rather give all that effort up because Obama called someone "sweetie" and/or because members of the MSM have railed a misogynist campaign against Hillary Clinton3. That’s just insane.
I’ve also seen some people talk about Obama being "unelectable" in the general primary. That’s just like de ja vu to me. I’ve heard it before and they were saying it about my candidate then. But they’re afraid that Obama won’t be able to carry states like Ohio and West Virginia, therefore he shouldn’t get the nomination. To that elementary level of reasoning I say:
NO DEMOCRAT IS GOING TO TAKE THOSE STATES! Those states are going to John McCain anyway. Hello? You do remember that those are RED states and most certainly will go that way in the general Presidential race? I mean, shit, our Congressman, who I was so excited about, has supported every George Bush policy since 2004 (when the Blue Dog fucker got elected).
I know that I’ve gone off on tangents about hypocrisy before and that it was a "Duh!" kind of thing then, too. I just cannot get over the rift among Progressives over these two candidates. If one they don’t like wins then the other doesn’t get their vote? Does that make sense? It does only to a certain extent with me, because my candidate was locked out of the race. But when it comes down to it, I most certainly will not vote to see Bush’s policies continue for another (at least) 4 years. And I can’t believe that a true Progressive/Liberal organization formed for the sole purpose of organizing a boycott of Obama. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s some kind of Conservative group that’s posing as progressive to trick pissed off feminists to help McCain win.
And these women, with their brains and righteous fury, are falling for it. They would rather allow racist slurs on their site and back a known misogynist Bush supporter than to admit their candidate isn’t going to win. They would allow their own anger be led around by a group that IS NOT supporting a new regime in the White House. Pitiful.
Someone in the comments of the post to which I’m referring asked how the Clinton supporters planned to win over Obama supporters were their blackmail attempts to work (meaning Clinton were to actually win the nomination). No one answered her. They don’t see the need to win over Obama supporters (though there are many of them that are just as rabid as Clinton supporters). Why?
Because we are not DAFT enough to throw our vote to the opposition. We’ll hold our noses and PRAY that we’re not making a huge mistake.
Of course, in my opinion, there is no choice between Clinton and McCain except for gender and age. Two peas in a pod and all that jazz.
I’ve not seen evidence of this. Can someone give me a link, please? [↩]
I’ve actually refrained from delinking blogs based on their favored Presidential candidate, but when they start allowing freaks a free platform to spout off nonsense I find personally objectionable, well, I delink. [↩]
I’ll not get back into how she’s a liar and hypocrite and why she deserves their scorn as much as Obama does. [↩]
Pick Your "-ism"
I was just reading a Feminist blog, the writer of which is pro-Clinton. I can absolutely say that I was shocked at the overt racism that was present in the comments of the post and which were completely ignored by the proprietress.
They were discussing why feminists should not vote for Obama, even if he wins the nomination. Some went so far as to declare that they would vote for McCain (don’t even get me started on why it’s sheer stupidity for a feminist to vote for a man that calls his own wife a "cunt"). Someone mentioned that Black feminists were appalled at the blatant racism being displayed on White feminist blogs and they used something said about Michelle Obama as an example. The following was said in response to that assertion:
Here is a comment by someone who claims to be a feminist, but obviously is biased against the mentally disabled (any kind of ableism is supposed to be a big no-no):
What is amazing to me is that when someone says "Sweetie" to a woman it’s automatically labeled misogynist and the pile-on ensues (I don’t like the term ‘sweetie’ when used by people unfamiliar with me, by the way). The whole reason for this movement to not vote for Obama is for perceived chauvinistic infractions on his part.
The talk goes on about how Obama uses his "race" to get ahead and that it’s true if he wasn’t Black he wouldn’t be able to stand a chance with Hillary. Not only that, but he’s cheating the system because Michigan and Florida had their delegates disqualified for breaking DNC rules (nevermind that Obama had nothing to do with the DNC rules or the breaking of them). There is talk about the fact there are more women than Blacks and that they "heard that black voters want Obama or else they’ll hold their breath til their little faces turn blue and they’ll stamp their little feetsies. They didn’t want this to be about issues or fair elections, they wanted this to be about identity politics and rioting at the convention. Well, blacks are 13% of the population and women are 51% of the population, so get ready for us to out foot-stomp you."
What the fuck is that shit? Which "-ism" is the worst? Really?
This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to run down the street screaming at the top of my lungs while pulling my own hair out by the roots. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t think, though, that it would have bothered me if it wasn’t on a blog that I’ve been reading for years and which has (until 2 minutes ago) had a place on my blogroll for all of those years2. It was the opposite kind of nonsense that inspired me to disavow DailyKos . We are not them, but we are starting to act a lot like them. That makes my eyes bleed.
My choice for President was Dennis Kucinich, because he was the only candidate with a proven record of standing by his principals and really giving a damned about the people he represents. He was also the only candidate to come out publicly in favor of gay marriage (and decried the use of that stupid ass term "civil unions"). At one point I had decided that I wasn’t going to vote because Kucinich was denied full access to the Democratic process. There were roadblocks thrown up at him from day one. He wasn’t even allowed to participate in debates or be on some state ballots. Where the hell were all these cry-babies then? Why didn’t anyone recognize the one candidate that espoused their values? Oh, yeah. That’s right. Besides being a white man, he wasnt’ "electable". Instead of abstaining from the vote, I’ve since decided to chose. Based on history and trustworthiness. This could also be called "Picking the Lesser of Two Evils".
Now I’m seeing Democrats, Progressives and those I’ve previously respected for their activism advocate voting for a Bush Republican because they don’t like [fill in the blank]. Or alternatively: Because their favorite candidate sucks and could very possibly lose (unless she somehow manages to get the rules changed in her favor). If they can’t have Clinton then they’d rather have McCain than Obama? What kind of fucking logic is that? Really. Even I, a lowly Appalachian simpleton, know that doesn’t work for anyone’s benefit (unless you’re profiting from the "war" or oil or military contracts of some sort). Helping McCain win would be tantamount to saying "I loved the Bush II regime! Gimme more!" Hello? Is this the fucking Twilight Zone?
They say they don’t want to be threatened anymore with the threat of losing "Roe v.Wade". That’s crazy-talk, they say. It’s like telling them to sit down and sit at the back of the bus. They alone brought about the Roe v. Wade decision and they are strong enough to keep Roe v. Wade in tact. McCain can do nothing about that. Leave it up to the states!!
Except they rail against the states that are slowly chipping away at a women’s right to reproductive health. They want to fight states that pass laws that ban abortion right out and where a woman is forced to watch an ultrasound of her fetus prior to the procedure being performed. They want the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed and keep tabs on those that would push the rights of women back to Biblical stages. These women would rather give all that effort up because Obama called someone "sweetie" and/or because members of the MSM have railed a misogynist campaign against Hillary Clinton3. That’s just insane.
I’ve also seen some people talk about Obama being "unelectable" in the general primary. That’s just like de ja vu to me. I’ve heard it before and they were saying it about my candidate then. But they’re afraid that Obama won’t be able to carry states like Ohio and West Virginia, therefore he shouldn’t get the nomination. To that elementary level of reasoning I say:
NO DEMOCRAT IS GOING TO TAKE THOSE STATES! Those states are going to John McCain anyway. Hello? You do remember that those are RED states and most certainly will go that way in the general Presidential race? I mean, shit, our Congressman, who I was so excited about, has supported every George Bush policy since 2004 (when the Blue Dog fucker got elected).
I know that I’ve gone off on tangents about hypocrisy before and that it was a "Duh!" kind of thing then, too. I just cannot get over the rift among Progressives over these two candidates. If one they don’t like wins then the other doesn’t get their vote? Does that make sense? It does only to a certain extent with me, because my candidate was locked out of the race. But when it comes down to it, I most certainly will not vote to see Bush’s policies continue for another (at least) 4 years. And I can’t believe that a true Progressive/Liberal organization formed for the sole purpose of organizing a boycott of Obama. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s some kind of Conservative group that’s posing as progressive to trick pissed off feminists to help McCain win.
And these women, with their brains and righteous fury, are falling for it. They would rather allow racist slurs on their site and back a known misogynist Bush supporter than to admit their candidate isn’t going to win. They would allow their own anger be led around by a group that IS NOT supporting a new regime in the White House. Pitiful.
Someone in the comments of the post to which I’m referring asked how the Clinton supporters planned to win over Obama supporters were their blackmail attempts to work (meaning Clinton were to actually win the nomination). No one answered her. They don’t see the need to win over Obama supporters (though there are many of them that are just as rabid as Clinton supporters). Why?
Because we are not DAFT enough to throw our vote to the opposition. We’ll hold our noses and PRAY that we’re not making a huge mistake.
Of course, in my opinion, there is no choice between Clinton and McCain except for gender and age. Two peas in a pod and all that jazz.
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