Not mine, but I thought it worth posting.
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Feminizing the Public Square
"Politics has a bad reputation in part because it involves argument, or
'petty bickering.' And that, in turn, fits poorly with a contemporary
shift in American sensibilities that is perhaps deeper than any change in
morals or views. The new sensibility reacts negatively to strong
personalities. (If Douglas MacArthur was too much for Americans to take
in the 1950s, he would be positively terrifying today.) It is
uncomfortable with sharply defined arguments; it wishes to defer tough
choices for as long as possible. It is emotional rather than logical…
"This is a womanly approach to politics, and its prevalence will grow as
politicians court 'soccer moms.' The spread of sogginess is, in fact,
part of the much-remarked feminization of America… A feminizing tendency,
too, is probably built into liberal democracy, and within, bounds, it's a
good thing: It civilizes and tames men. But taken too far, it threatens
the masculine stubbornness and intractability that serves as a bulwark
for republicanism… The shifting politics of guns and tobacco in the 90's
suggests that ours is not a populace jealous of its liberties. And it is
no accident that these liberties have traditionally been associated with
men, and macho risk-takers at that."
Ramech Ponnura, The Washington Times, Dec. 21, 1998, pg. 2, as quoted in
The Journal, March 1999, pg. 5.
"The radical feminist speak in one voice. They don't like what the
president, but he's their man. He's a man who gets it.
" 'His strengths outweigh his flaws,' says Patricia Ireland, president
of the National Organization for Women, who was joined by 15 other
feminist icons at the National Press Club in Washington to proclaim their
support for the president. Now we can understand why the new television
sitcoms are aimed at younger women, whose young female stars are
invariably described as post-feminist, and anti-feminist, or
feminist-not! Younger women have had it with the aging old guard.
"The feminist icons have surrendered all credibility in the Clinton
scandal, marginalizing themselves as their conservative critics never
could Barbara Ledeen of the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative
women's group, call them policy prostitutes: 'They're willing to sell out
the real interests of women to play partisan politics.'
"Betty Friedan, once the revered godmother of feminism, and Eleanor
Smeal of the Feminist Majority indulge in hypocritical mumbo-jumbo,
plundering what's left of whatever moral authority they had. They've gone
from attacking men who behave badly to supporting the Big He so long as
he shares their liberal politics. It's a strange position for feminists
who believe the personal is political.
" 'When personal responsibility is separated from virtue itself, then it
is possible to have a much celebrated male feminist who also gro0es and
harasses women,' writes Shelby Steel in the Wall Street Journal. 'The
female eunuch' described by Germaine Greer in the 1970s has morphed into
'the feminist eunuch' of the 1990s."
Source: Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times, October 1, a998, pg. A 19,
as quoted in The Journal, March 1999, pg. 5,6.
FYI
Not coincidentally, public, like virtue, derives from Latin roots
signifying manhood: 'The public' included only independent adult males.
Public virtue entailed firmness, courage, endurance, industry, frugal
living, strength, and above all, unremitting devotion to the weal of the
public's corporate self, the community of virtuous men. It was at once
individualistic and communal… If public virtue declined, the republic
declined, and if it declined too far, the republic died. Philosophical
historians had worked out a regular life cycle, or more properly death
cycle, of republics. Manhood gave way to effeminacy, republican liberty
to licentiousness, Licentiousness, in turn, degenerated into anarchy, and
anarchy inevitably led to tyranny. Novus Ordo Seclourm, the Intellectual
Origins of the Constitution, Forrest McDonald, University of Kansas
Press, pg. 71.
------------------
John/az
"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."
-----
Feminizing the Public Square
"Politics has a bad reputation in part because it involves argument, or
'petty bickering.' And that, in turn, fits poorly with a contemporary
shift in American sensibilities that is perhaps deeper than any change in
morals or views. The new sensibility reacts negatively to strong
personalities. (If Douglas MacArthur was too much for Americans to take
in the 1950s, he would be positively terrifying today.) It is
uncomfortable with sharply defined arguments; it wishes to defer tough
choices for as long as possible. It is emotional rather than logical…
"This is a womanly approach to politics, and its prevalence will grow as
politicians court 'soccer moms.' The spread of sogginess is, in fact,
part of the much-remarked feminization of America… A feminizing tendency,
too, is probably built into liberal democracy, and within, bounds, it's a
good thing: It civilizes and tames men. But taken too far, it threatens
the masculine stubbornness and intractability that serves as a bulwark
for republicanism… The shifting politics of guns and tobacco in the 90's
suggests that ours is not a populace jealous of its liberties. And it is
no accident that these liberties have traditionally been associated with
men, and macho risk-takers at that."
Ramech Ponnura, The Washington Times, Dec. 21, 1998, pg. 2, as quoted in
The Journal, March 1999, pg. 5.
"The radical feminist speak in one voice. They don't like what the
president, but he's their man. He's a man who gets it.
" 'His strengths outweigh his flaws,' says Patricia Ireland, president
of the National Organization for Women, who was joined by 15 other
feminist icons at the National Press Club in Washington to proclaim their
support for the president. Now we can understand why the new television
sitcoms are aimed at younger women, whose young female stars are
invariably described as post-feminist, and anti-feminist, or
feminist-not! Younger women have had it with the aging old guard.
"The feminist icons have surrendered all credibility in the Clinton
scandal, marginalizing themselves as their conservative critics never
could Barbara Ledeen of the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative
women's group, call them policy prostitutes: 'They're willing to sell out
the real interests of women to play partisan politics.'
"Betty Friedan, once the revered godmother of feminism, and Eleanor
Smeal of the Feminist Majority indulge in hypocritical mumbo-jumbo,
plundering what's left of whatever moral authority they had. They've gone
from attacking men who behave badly to supporting the Big He so long as
he shares their liberal politics. It's a strange position for feminists
who believe the personal is political.
" 'When personal responsibility is separated from virtue itself, then it
is possible to have a much celebrated male feminist who also gro0es and
harasses women,' writes Shelby Steel in the Wall Street Journal. 'The
female eunuch' described by Germaine Greer in the 1970s has morphed into
'the feminist eunuch' of the 1990s."
Source: Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times, October 1, a998, pg. A 19,
as quoted in The Journal, March 1999, pg. 5,6.
FYI
Not coincidentally, public, like virtue, derives from Latin roots
signifying manhood: 'The public' included only independent adult males.
Public virtue entailed firmness, courage, endurance, industry, frugal
living, strength, and above all, unremitting devotion to the weal of the
public's corporate self, the community of virtuous men. It was at once
individualistic and communal… If public virtue declined, the republic
declined, and if it declined too far, the republic died. Philosophical
historians had worked out a regular life cycle, or more properly death
cycle, of republics. Manhood gave way to effeminacy, republican liberty
to licentiousness, Licentiousness, in turn, degenerated into anarchy, and
anarchy inevitably led to tyranny. Novus Ordo Seclourm, the Intellectual
Origins of the Constitution, Forrest McDonald, University of Kansas
Press, pg. 71.
------------------
John/az
"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."
