Letter to the Editor: The last word
By Leigh Washburn
Thanks for the complement, but my career depended on research- and fact-based writing, and I’m also very experienced at editing, so commenting on a local news outlet’s factual errors really didn’t take much courage on my part.
I referred to your comments as “social-media-generated” because they echo almost word for word what I’ve seen in that venue, so you can understand why I was under that impression.
I’m not going to waste much time quibbling over the definition of feminism. Most of your piece was a condemnation of what you think the movement has devolved into. I promise you that what you describe doesn’t apply to those with whom I wrote our article, so DO NOT paint us all with the same brush. Regarding your challenge to ask our mothers and grandmothers whether they consider themselves feminists, I wish I could but they are long gone. However, I am a 70-year-old mother (of a feminist) and grandmother (of one adult and one teenager who hold similar beliefs), and I’ve been a feminist for the better part of half a century. I may be old as dirt, but I’m not an anomaly.
I said that your comment about how few women considered themselves feminists was misleading because the polls and reports are conflicting. I cited one by a reputable group, so I think it deserves to be taken seriously. It depends, though, on how you word the question. Some fringe groups (what you call the “third level”) have given us a bad name. I think more women would relate if they were confronted with the truth about what we fought for and still believe.
I understand that many millenials prefer to distance themselves from the term (I suspect that in the case of the Irish, the Catholic opposition to abortion may play a role), but when they speak about what they believe, I hear exactly what we’ve been saying for decades. I hope they remember that we (their mothers and grandmothers) contributed in no small way to their ability to demand respect, equality, equal opportunity, freedom to run for and get elected to public office, freedom from exploitation, and, most of all, to be taken seriously.
I don’t know what you mean by my defending Trump. I’ve written articles about his incompetence and sheer stupidity and about Hillary Clinton (based on fact, not rumor and supposition), which you can find on the Spectrum’s website, so I won’t rehash that here.
I’ll agree that Vox is left-leaning and Snopes is perceived, wrongly, I think, as such, but I have a very intelligent, very staunch conservative friend who’s an attorney (and, inexplicably, a Trump supporter) who almost always runs her information by Snopes. Snopes tells us where its information came from, so we can check for ourselves. But I mentioned Politifact as well, and I don’t think they give out Pulitzers to political rags.
With regard to Muslim immigrants, yes, there have been problems in Europe and I’m well aware of what happened in Germany. This is a complicated issue. While they are reprehensible, these incidents are isolated and by no means indicative of massive crime waves sweeping the continent. That’s Trump’s song-and-dance, fabricated to keep his supporters in line. It’s a great scare tactic. You should also remember that violence perpetrated against these people has not been uncommon.
That Islam brings with it violence and intolerance could be said of fringe groups associated with any religion over the centuries (but not, in the case of Islam, over “thousands of years”), but to condemn an entire religion based on these outliers is unconscionable. You must know that those who have suffered most from Muslim fanatics have been other Muslims. Islam is a peaceful religion, at least as peaceful as any other and more than some. If you want to blame religion as a whole for the worst wars and violence throughout recorded history, then I’ll agree with you. I’m sure we can both make the case that Christianity holds top billing in that regard.
I doubt that the AAUW report is fraudulent. That is an extreme and very serious accusation that requires more than your opinion to confirm. I do agree that there is an earnings gap that is not necessarily related to the wage gap, but I don’t agree that the studies you cite disprove a wage gap as well. They are confined to one or two specific groups of women, so it is inappropriate to consider them universally applicable.
If you have problems with the Democratic Party, at least talk about those that are real, of which there are plenty. You don’t have to resort to stereotypical insults; this makes your contention that you don’t pay attention to social media somewhat suspect.
Finally, I don’t think you watched much of the Las Vegas rally if you believe that ethnic minorities were insulted by it and by fact that the organizers took it upon themselves to speak for a group to which they don’t belong (speaking of which, you might check what you wrote…). Considering that it was largely organized and run by African Americans and Hispanics (btw, according to the dictionary and source of the term, “Caucasian” should also be capitalized), and that they constituted the vast majority of speakers and entertainers, I suggest that your assumption, at least in this case, is misplaced.
To repeat what I’ve written elsewhere, this was a rally that promoted certain principles with which not everybody agrees. I know you take issue with the name “women’s” march, but that’s a trivial point and not really worth arguing about. The “march for some women who agree on a particular set of principles” would have sounded pretty silly. Of course it wasn’t meant for everybody, and I can’t imagine why anybody who fundamentally disagreed would want to attend. There is a time and place for equal representation of all sides of an argument. THIS. WASN’T. IT.
This is my last comment on this topic. Feel free to have the last word if you think it’s necessary, but I think we’ve both had our say, and considering the lack of comments, nobody’s paying attention anyway.
The viewpoints expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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