An invitation to feminist and anti-racist commenters only:
Say what’s on your mind that’s against the moderation rules.
For now the only caveat is no Amp-bashing, please. If you feel you really, really need to do it, write about it on your own site and post a link here.
Interesting. I was just visiting feministblogs.org and this post was at the top of the pile – otherwise I’d not have seen it, since I rarely read Alas, a Blog except under these fleeting circumstances. Alas (as it were), an Amp-critical blog post of my own really isn’t worth my energy, but as it happened, I did “micro-blog” a quick swipe just the other day.
(For the record, I love most everybody else here, despite the painfully obvious issues around collaboration.)
My rant: Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Hillary. Which of these things does not belong? Why is it so hard for people to refer to a senator and presidential candidate by her last name? And, yes, I know Clinton uses her first name in lawn signs and things, but I see that as making the best of the situation as it is rather than trying to fight every last battle of sexism.
Second rant: Edwards was just coming off of my sh!t list with his health care proposals and plans to end the Iraq War (freudian slip: I wrote “Viet Nam” the first time), when he goes and makes a cheap sexist comment about Clinton crying. Why, John, why do you have to make it so hard for me to like you when you’re technically the most progressive candidate?
Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Hillary. Which of these things does not belong?
There is actually more subtle sexism that goes on in commentary. In an article that mentions Obama and Clinton together, for example, check for ratios of Sen. Obama to Mr. Obama vs. Sen. Clinton to Mrs. Clinton. There are some times when Clinton doesn’t get “Senator” even once and the other candidate gets his job title. It’s not always true but it happens enough that I noticed it, and I am woefully unobservant.
Mrs? MRS? Who the heck uses Miss and Mrs any more? Even apart from the fact that it’s not her proper title. It’s enough to make me want to vote for her just because of the level of sexism against her. Almost. Then I think about the Iraq War…
My rant: Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Hillary. Which of these things does not belong? Why is it so hard for people to refer to a senator and presidential candidate by her last name? And, yes, I know Clinton uses her first name in lawn signs and things, but I see that as making the best of the situation as it is rather than trying to fight every last battle of sexism.
You *could* make the case that there’s a need to avoid confusion with her husband. The counter to that argument is George H W Bush vs George W Bush – the latter is referred to by his surname, or “Dubya” as a deliberately insulting diminutive.
(And you could argue that referring to your current President with a deliberately insulting diminutive is only appropriate…)
I hadn’t realized that “rants” about Democratic politicians were “against the moderation rules.” Funny, I thought there were already plenty of political threads that these “rants” would have been perfectly appropriate in. Just my rant for the day.
Victoria, Dianne, Michael, PiatoR, Eliza: You all suck.
(Better, Eliza?)
Calling her Senator Clinton would be sufficient, because her husband was never a senator.
Much. At least it seems to fit in with what this thread was meant for.
Victoria, Dianne, Michael, PiatoR, Eliza: You all suck.
That’s just a rumour – I never even knew the guy!
Wait – what were we talking about?
Victoria, Dianne, Michael, PiatoR, Eliza: You all suck.
Dammit, are those pictures on the internet? I was sure I’d destroyed the files.
Heh, I just thought from seeing some threads elsewhere on the ‘nets that there might be some pent up anger.
No where else to post this, but there was a very recent gang rape in Kingston NY that has some serious victim blaming going on. Please read this…
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/NEWS/801080322/-1/NEWS
…and help spread the word that NO ONE asks to be raped.
The Joss Whedon obsession on this blog is fucking stupid.
:-P
My vent is that some of the sexist, racist commenters on this blog make my skin crawl. I could really do without them, or at least with more threads that had a ‘please note’ tickbox so we could get some real conversation in.
I read this blog almost every day, though I don’t usually comment. Here’s my vent: I really don’t like Jack’s ‘Blog and the Bullet’ posts. They seem out of tenor with the rest of the site. I wish that Jack would at least post a few lines of commentary on what he thinks of the post: does he wholeheartedly agree with every line, or does he just think these are interesting questions to discuss? And then it would be good if he could stick around and reply to comments. It’s rare that I’ve seen any of the high-quality discussion this blog generally generates on any of these posts, and I think one of the reasons why is the lack of followup in comments. Even if the author turns up to offer a brief reply, it’s rarely sustained – which is understandable; they’re not committed to this blog in the way that they are to their own – and sometimes it doesn’t seem to show the commitment to rational engagement that this site usually exemplifies. I’ve read some great posts by other posters in which they quoted at length from posts on other blogs – but not in the same careless, standoffish manner. Frequently, there’ll be several at once, almost none of which will attract more than a handful of comments, if any at all. I really wish you’d either change the format or cut them out of the blog altogether.
Thanks for reading regularly; I hope you keep on reading. To address your comment:
One thing I really liked about “Alas,” when I had more time for blogging, was the “link farms” I did; I really liked that “Alas” linked to more than just the typical “A-level” blogs. And I was really disappointed to have to give that up.
I really like “The Blog and the Bullet,” obviously, or I wouldn’t have asked Jack to crosspost here. But I agree they have a different tenor than the rest of “Alas.” For me, Jack’s posts have taken the place of the “link farms” I used to do; they assure that “Alas” will continue to regularly link to less-known lefty blogs. For that reason, I don’t plan to drop “The Blog and the Bullet,” as long as Jack is willing to allow me to cross-post his stuff.