Ask Doug, he raised the issue and pointed out that, based on his personal experience,Rophie's intellect was questionable and understanding of feminism dubious.
I didn't disqualify anyone, other than to note that Wente uses the rhetorical trick (of left, right and mushy middle) of citing someone who agrees with you then using a meaningless qualifier like 'well known', or 'renowned' to buttress a weak argument.
My point was that Wente's ravings were, well, the ravings of someone on the right and entirely consistent with her past ravings on different subjects. I found Wolf's article interesting, and if nothing else, well documented. Wente didn't even bother to respond to Wolf's main point; what the hell was Yale doing about harassment? Nothing seemed to be the answer, in fact they seemed to be going out of their way to do nothing. The gist of Wente's and Paglia's comments seemed to be, like I said, in Wente's case 'We fucked our profs, and TA's, who wouldn't want to get fucked by a prof or a TA? There must be something wrong with her' and in both their cases 'Wolf is an attractive woman, so how can you take her seriously?'. They couldn't even be bothered to respond to her main points.
If this is feminism, it has changed significantly since I read feminist theory 20 years ago. And I have read Paglia, some of the most outlandish thinking on sex and gender I've had the misfortune to come across.
>
>But no, Roiphe and Paglia's credentials have been rejected by the feminist
>credential committee: Doug and Paul!
Please explain to me how Wente's comments on Wolf constituted a feminist argument. Zoe Williams in the Guardian had a much more cogent response:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1154586,00.html
I don't agree with it but at least she doesn't resort to the level of cheap, insulting invective a la Wente and Paglia.
>
>(A note on serendipity: isn't there something telling about the names of
>the protagonists? Predator Wolf, innocent Bloom?)
This one's yours Doug. Bloom to me sounds like too many aged, tenured and intellectually lazy profs I met in the 1980's, who viewed their undergrad population as a happy hunting ground for flexible, nubile and hopefully easily impressed bed mates. Wolf's story has the ring of truth to me, and I think it does too for Wente and Paglia. The fact that some people no longer see some sort of old school charm in decrepit farts sleeping with young women whose career they can manipulate scares the pellets out of them. Hence the rabid, ad hominen attacks.
PC
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