The reaction is largely heartening. But I don't see it having a long-term effect, wherein we all rally around Cupp to improve the level of discourse. That's because incidents like this happen with such frequency and casualness that it's clear people think there won't be any pushback if they attack a conservative woman. Back in 2008, when some idiot hecklers shouted “Iron My Shirt” to Hillary Clinton, we talked about sexism for three days. But, like Weigel pointed out, no one at the AFL-CIO even thought twice about not only GETTING a piñata with Nikki Haley’s face on it or hitting said piñata, but similarly had no problem recording the event and UPLOAD IT TO YOUTUBE. If you do something sexist against a liberal, expect ... Continue reading →
Looking in her cupboard last week, Shulamis Labkowski got a morsel of unwelcome news. The mother of three from Oakland, Calif., inspected three bags of Trader Joe's semisweet chocolate chips, a staple in her kosher kitchen. They were alike in all ways but one: Two of them had a small D on the label, meaning they were classified as dairy under Jewish dietary laws. The changed label was tough to swallow. Kosher law forbids mixing meat and dairy at any time, but Trader Joe's chips used to be deemed "pareve," meaning they could be eaten with either meat or dairy meals. An avid baker, Mrs. Labkowski tore through five to seven bags a week to make treats without worrying about running afoul of the rules. ... Continue reading →
The chant is becoming familiar by now: "1, 2, 3, 4, tuition fees are class war!" But on May 22nd, the New York City streets echoed also with "Solidarité!" Hundreds of thousands of people--some estimates go as high as 500,000--were in the streets in Quebec, fighting--and in many cases directly disobeying--a new "emergency" law put in place this weekend to try to stamp out student strikes. May 22nd marked the 100th day that students in Quebec have been refusing to go to class, and the biggest "manifencours" (an abbreviation of "manifestation en cours" or demonstration in the street) yet against tuition hikes and the increasing neoliberalization of not just education, but of public services in general in what has been Canada's most social-democratic province. (image ... Continue reading →
Because all things in the pubic zone draw the focus of the religious right, these so-called "social issues" are often lumped together, leading to the presumption that people who support marriage equality are the same people who support reproductive justice in the form of abortion rights. But two polls released today show a rift among Americans on those topics, with more accepting same-sex marriage than the moral legitimacy of abortion.Last month, Phyllis Schlafly, the right wing's anti-feminist, anti-gay grande dame, crowed to an audience at George Washington University that, on the issue of abortion rights, "we're winning." And indeed the right is winning on abortion, according to the latest Gallup poll, which found the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as "pro-choice" at a record ... Continue reading →
A word typically used to imply that the previous speaker is overly condescending and/or has a different way of explaining because he happens to be a man and the other party a woman. Usually, this is based in an over- or misinterpretation based on prejudice about the alleged mainsplainers intentions or on an inability to take constructive feedback. Sometimes it is used as an attempt to unfairly discredit the speaker or his arguments without having to provide counter-arguments. Typically, the mansplainer is simultaneously implied to be sexist or misogynistic.Explainee: Women only earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. This is a grave injustice.Explainer: That is a misleading statement. In fact, after correcting for factors like hours worked, experience, physical danger involved, etc., the ... Continue reading →
May 16, 2012 Continue reading →
This article originally appeared on AlterNet. We’ve long heard complaints that TED is elitist. The annual conference in California costs $7,500 to attend and is nearly impossible to get into, even for those who can afford the price tag; it is widely considered to be “unofficially invite-only.” Still, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t gone down a TED video rabbit hole at least once. Snobby as they may be, those TED folks sure know how to pull together some fascinating speakers and share their talks online in a compelling way. There are some questionable TED talks in the archives, sure, but most of them are solid, and some are great (for example, the scientist who studied her own stroke). So it is ... Continue reading →
