{"id":89,"date":"2010-10-18T08:56:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T12:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=89"},"modified":"2010-10-18T08:56:55","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T12:56:55","slug":"maureen-dowd-calls-out-the-mean-girls-but-shouldnt-she-be-celebrating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/10\/18\/maureen-dowd-calls-out-the-mean-girls-but-shouldnt-she-be-celebrating\/","title":{"rendered":"Maureen Dowd Calls Out the "Mean Girls," But Shouldn't She Be Celebrating?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Note: Last week was rough, with travel, sickness, and a funeral, but this week I will resume daily posts. \u00a0Many thanks to those readers who have dropped me a note!<\/em><\/p>\n

Maureen Dowd\u2019s column<\/a> yesterday, with a substantial assist from the Drudge Report, has aroused interest and blogospheric commentary. \u00a0She shares her observations from a speech from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and transitions into some grand insults toward the various Republican women who are creating such a sensation this election cycle:<\/p>\n

As the politicians droned on and my Irish skin turned toasty brown, I worried that Governor Brewer might make a citizen\u2019s arrest and I would have to run for my life across the desert. She has, after all, declared open season on anyone with a suspicious skin tone in her state.<\/p>\n

We are in the era of Republican Mean Girls, grown-up versions of those teenage tormentors who would steal your boyfriend, spray-paint your locker and, just for good measure, spread rumors that you were pregnant.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These women \u2014 \u201cJan, Meg, Carly, Sharron, Linda, Michele, Queen Bee Sarah and sweet wannabe Christine\u201d \u2014 are guilty of such atrocities as \u201cmistreating the help or belittling the president\u2019s manhood, making snide comments about a rival\u2019s hair or ripping an opponent for spending money on a men\u2019s fashion show.\u201d \u00a0Stoking the same anti-incument fires that brought Obama to power two years ago, these women are, Dowd writes, \u201cthe ideal nihilistic cheerleaders for an angry electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several points to be made here.<\/p>\n

FIRST, it goes without saying that a complaint about mean girls who gossip and demean and traffic in rumors, coming from Maureen Dowd, is about as rich as it gets. \u00a0Warren Buffett rich. \u00a0Insult, mockery and gossip is Dowd\u2019s entire stock in trade. \u00a0She is a sharp writer, and periodically offers an interesting perspective, but unfortunately she has chosen to use her talents to become a cross between a political gossip columnist and an insult comic. \u00a0She may have a point, but her message is so undermined by the messenger that she would have been better leaving it alone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pallas Athena: Conservative Feminist Icon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SECOND, I know it\u2019s common for conservative commentators to note how liberal feminist women, even those at the helm of organizations that are theoretically devoted to the advancement of women, fail to celebrate the advancement of women when they are conservativ<\/em>e women. \u00a0There is a double-standard here, to be sure, but double-standards have lost their power to shock. \u00a0It does irk to see extremely accomplished women such as Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina called \u201cwhores\u201d or, as in this case, likened to bullying teenage girls.<\/p>\n

Yet I cannot blame liberal feminists who are not pleased when candidates \u2014 be they male or female \u2014 achieve success who will not support the policies those liberal feminists believe are in the best interest of women. \u00a0Conservatives rightly say that a conservative African-American man (for instance) should not be expected to support an African-American candidate, if he believes that the candidates policies will not serve the interests of African-Americans, or Americans in general. \u00a0So I confess I don\u2019t quite get the logic from my fellow conservatives here. \u00a0Are we saying that feminists should support all female candidates? \u2013 Isn\u2019t that the kind of identity-based support we do not<\/em> want to see? \u00a0In other words, liberal feminists (at their best) seek not merely to get women elected, but to pass legislation that serves the interests of all women. \u00a0If they believe that a male candidate is more likely to pass such legislation, it is entirely reasonable for them to support the male and oppose the female.<\/p>\n

THIRD, Christians who care about honesty and civility in politics should take these issues seriously. \u00a0Is it fair game to challenge Obama and Reid to \u201cman up\u201d? \u00a0Presumably this (when used in the debate against Reid) was Angle\u2019s way of establishing her own toughness, and counteracting the stereotype that the woman will be weaker or more timid. \u00a0(Dowd makes a ridiculous attempt to slide\u00a0from \u201cinsult\u201d to \u201cthreat\u201d in this sentence: \u201cThat\u2019s not an idle insult, coming from a woman who campaigns at times with a .44 Magnum revolver in her 1989 GMC pickup.\u201d) \u00a0I don\u2019t find this particular bit of rhetoric (\u201cman up\u201d) out-of-bounds, but we should hold our politicians accountable \u2014 and we should not support columnists \u2014 when their language descends into insults and mockery.<\/p>\n

FOURTH and finally,\u00a0it does seem that feminists should find something<\/em> to celebrate in the phenomenal successes of these women. \u00a0They could celebrate that more and more women are coming to the fore and taking meaningful leadership positions on the conservative side of the spectrum (something that has been lacking for far too long); they could celebrate that more and more candidates for top office are female; and they could celebrate that we are now seeing multiple options of what it might mean in today\u2019s society to be a woman of intelligence and power.<\/p>\n

This is meaningful. \u00a0Girls approaching maturity today can look beyond Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi for multiple examples of what a flourishing, accomplished, influential woman looks like. \u00a0And women like Whitman, Fiorina and even Palin are even more compelling examples, in some ways, because they did not build upon the wealth or fame of their husbands, but raised themselves up by their own bootstraps. \u00a0I\u2019m sure that liberal feminists find this threatening \u2014 they want little girls to dream of being Hillary or Nancy, to equate female empowerment with the liberal agenda \u2014 but there is real cause for celebration that there are so many examples of powerful women across the political spectrum today.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: Last week was rough, with travel, sickness, and a funeral, but this week I will resume daily posts. \u00a0Many thanks to those readers who have dropped me a note! Maureen Dowd\u2019s column yesterday, with a substantial assist from the Drudge Report, has aroused interest and blogospheric commentary. \u00a0She shares her observations from a speech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism","category-the-ethics-of-rhetoric"],"yoast_head":"\nMaureen Dowd Calls Out the "Mean Girls," But Shouldn't She Be Celebrating? - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Note: Last week was rough, with travel, sickness, and a funeral, but this week I will resume daily posts. \u00a0Many thanks to those readers who have dropped\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/10\/18\/maureen-dowd-calls-out-the-mean-girls-but-shouldnt-she-be-celebrating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maureen Dowd Calls Out the "Mean Girls," But Shouldn't She Be Celebrating? 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