Monthly Archive for March, 2012

Hi, Road!

Hello, my name is Kevin.  I have SIWOTI syndrome.

Over Facebook way, I find this:

‎…And then there’s the Left’s especially vitriolic and hateful war on conservative women. Also, the Left’s silence regarding the treatment of women under Islam/Shariah speaks volumes.

with a link to the WorldNutDaily-wannabe, PajamasMedia, about how awful “the left” is to women.  I’m going to go ahead and reply, even though I can pretty much guarantee I will be accused of (1) changing the subject and (2) supporting violence against women.

Really?  You’re going to claim the high road here?  Okay, you have two points. I’ll address them both.

First, the left has an especially vitriolic and hateful war on conservative women.  I’m sorry, calling Sarah Palin an idiot is not a war on women, it’s a war on idiots.  The article you link to is all about Monica Lewinsky and Mary Jo Kopechne.  Individual cases from 15 and 43 years ago.  And those were crimes against specific women; the republican war on women is coordinated attempts to strip rights from all women.  See the difference?

Second, “the Left’s silence regarding the treatment of women under Islam/Shariah speaks volumes”.

(A) It’s a remarkably loud silence.  I found a half dozen articles about it on HuffPo with 10 seconds of Google searching, and I regularly get emails from liberal groups like MoveOn and Avaaz asking to sign petitions to the governments of Islamic countries urging them to stop various egregious acts, almost all against women.

(B) Answering criticism of your own actions by claiming the other side isn’t talking about what you want to talk about is misdirection. People talk about the republican war on women because it’s happening here, and our votes and our letters and our commentary makes a difference.  Complaining that “the left” (as if there’s some unified group of that name) is ignoring violence overseas while the people you support are attempting to reach the exact same conclusion right here at home is distraction.  There’s no longer even an attempt to pretend it’s about saving fetuses; the laws being proposed (and passed) now are directly aimed at eliminating birth control, and then shaming and punishing women when they get pregnant as a result.  Texas just dropped $40 million worth of health care for poor women (not men) rather than give any money to Planned Parenthood.  Plenty of people on the religious right are quite open about wanting women out of the workforce, at home and pregnant.  So go ahead and keep wringing your hands that “the left” isn’t hating on Islam enough, if it makes you feel better about supporting the theocrats rolling back women’s rights at home.