> Some of what we think & write about has to do with how the
> Susan Hs got to where they are.
That is undoubtedly true, and the underlying human kindness of it does you credit. But people whose youth was made miserable by the likes of Susan H can hardly be blamed for wanting to get over the wall.
On the subject of verbal abuse, I just remembered a long-ago incident. The backstory is too long and tedious to recount, but some years ago I used to ride a bicycle to and from work in the dire desert of Westchester County -- specifically, Scarsdale, or Scarysdale as we used to call it. The drivers were awful suburban pigs, of course. One day I was nearly forced over a bridge railing into the Bronx River by a blithe young JAP in a BMW convertible. Of course I caught up to her at the next light -- as a cyclist nearly always does in this part of the world -- and as I cruised past, I said to her, in a quiet conversational tone, "You should get on a bike too. Do something about that fat ass."
Now she didn't in fact have a fat ass. And I don't object to generously-proportioned figures -- au contraire. Nor do I report this an an example of witty repartee; it wasn't. But I thought the phrase would probably hurt, and boy was I right. The effect was spectacular. She visibly blanched, sputtered, then roared past me half a mile down the road shrieking inarticulate abuse.
Was I being a tyrannical male chauvinist, reproducing gender-privileged discourse, and contributing to the subjugation of women? Was I being a looks-ist? Was I contributing to the anorexia epidemic?
All the above, no doubt. I'm a guy, hence privileged, she was a woman, hence oppressed. On the other hand, she had ton of steel and a couple hundred horsepower on me, and obviously a lot more money.
So it's hard to be too penitent. Not every utterance is intended to be a considered critique of the Gotha Program. Sometimes you're so mad you just have to spit; and if you never get that mad, or never spit when you do, there's something wrong with you.
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Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://www.cars-suck.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com