If you’re a high school student, you may have George Orwell’s 1984 on your summer reading list. This novel pioneered the idea of “doublethink”– using a contradictory term to distort the meaning of the original concept. In the book, the slogans WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH are examples of doublethink.
You may be asked to provide a real-life example of Newspeak and doublethink. Well, I got one for you! In today’s Joplin Globe, Kathryn Jean Lopez pimps the latest fake conservative “grassroots movement,” the Mama Grizzlies.
K-Lo’s dilemma is this: Misogyny is a conservative concept. It’s tradition, it’s the old way of doing things. The cure for it is feminism, which is a liberal concept, and oh by the way as been demonized by the right every since bitches started wearing bloomers. Now how do you attract women to a movement that is inherently anti-woman? The easiest way is by using “doublethink.”
In this article, K-Lo advocates for women who happen to fit the anti-feminist ideal of women- constantly reproducing (and of course they never have reproductive issues that would necessitate TEH ABORTIONZ- at least none you’ll ever hear about), always willing to stab all other women in the back, ectomorphic, and never ever threatening male insecurities (“Hey! ‘Mama Grizzlies’ makes me think of hunting! These chickies are all right!”). In womanist and feminist circles, these women are called “colluders“. But instead of rallying against feminism, which would be too damning and honest, K-Lo prefers to muddy the waters by claiming that what she’s doing is feminism.
Throughout the article, she can’t help but drop illogical anti-feminist bomb after illogical anti-feminist bomb. She mentions how women are risk averse, yet they voted the “risky and scary” Obama administration into office (maybe it’s only Republican women who are whimpering, easily-frightened infants? Republicans period?). She mentions chivalry like it’s a good thing. She hilariously refers to MG’s as “scads of attractive women”, because OMG FEMINISTS ARE FAT AND DUMPY AMIRITE? And of course, she lets the men have the last word. Actually, she has the last word, but she says that guy has the last word because she’s stupid and doesn’t understand the meaning of “last word”.
Wa-lah! By dressing up a negative idea with its positive opposite, K-Lo hopes to make you swallow the idiotic b.s. that your mothers and grandmothers fought bravely against, making you easy to fall under her party’s control. War is peace, freedom is slavery, Stepford Wives are feminists.
If you need more examples of doublethink, by the way, just hop on over to the National Review website. K-Lo’s articles are always chock full of them. Your English teacher is sure to be impressed!
EDIT: I probably should have left this to the advanced patriarchy blamers, because they’re so much more awesome than I.
Kajed Heat 
http://leadercall.com/columns/x1300295771/What-women-don-t-want
Thank you kindly!
The phrase “what women want” and other phrases that treat individuals like a monolithic mass normally never fail to get my teeth grinding. But when it’s used by some lone goofball completely out of touch with freaking everything, especially American women, it almost becomes funny.
“She mentions chivalry like it’s a good thing”
It’s not a good thing?
I know that when I was newly divorced with a one year old and an 8 year old there were many times that I needed help from a chivalrous male as I didn’t know how to and sometimes just didn’t have the physical strength needed to do occasional car and/or home repairs AND I didn’t have the money to pay a repairman.
Occasionally a nice guy would volunteer to help. BUT, MANY TIMES NO ONE DID.
Maybe it was because MEN hear and read again and again that women don’t want and/or need any help with anything EVER because as FEMINISTS POINT OUT women are so very, very superior to men that they can do any and everything and NEVER need help from anyone. Especially not any inferior MAN.
(I would be ashamed of my son if he EVER walked into a building in front of a woman and DIDN’T hold the door open for her. And if she gets mad about it and has a childish fit, tough. She can have her fit and my son can be a gentleman and show respect to the WEAKER SEX)
If you want to dispute those last two words come over and arm wrestle my son.
I started typing out the difference between general politeness and chivalry, but then your went on about how feminists think they’re better then men and revealed yourself to be completely crazyboots. I don’t think it’s worth the effort explaining it, and I’m starting to think it’s not worth it to have you contribute on this blog if you’re not going to bother to be anything other than pig ignorant. You have one strike left, and after that you can get your own blog to shit on.
Pig ignorant? That’s a good description for traditional feminism.
How’re the magical fruits and talking snake doing, by the way?
And here is a link to one of Summer’s Guinea Pigs at the Guinea Pig Day Spa
Absolutely wonderfully, joyfully, worshipfully fantastical!
PFTHHHHHH! Said loudly and with much force.
I’m a very liberal feminist, so when I attack Obama’s record, it’s from the left (just to make that clear) – the man was carried through the primaries on a wave of misogyny. He’s barely more of a feminist than Limbaugh. Every time actual feminists tried to speak up, they were either shouted down with misogynistic bile or cries of “But… Abortion rights!” He’s not exactly stocking the Supreme Court with nominees who are clearly pro-choice (it’s good that both his nominees are female, but I’d argue that they’re not the best women he could have chosen because he’d rather not fight over the issue).
But that’s not why I’m posting. I’m posting because I’m going to be pedantic here… Damn it, “Wah-la!” is not a word. It’s “Voila!” It’s French, sacre bleu!
I’m not saying that Obama isn’t a colossal disappointment re: women’s rights. He is. I will say he’s a hell of a lot better then Mrs. Palin and the vast majority of the right. I hope one day there’s a candidate I can vote for, instead of against.
The one thing about Republicans that makes me sympathetic (really, it’s the one thing) is their constant and unrepentant mangling of the English language. It reminds me of myself- pray you never have to talk with me in person. Waa-la stays.
This mangling includes counting a mangled French word under the header of “English language”.
To all of you,
Let’s just start with a change to the Declaration of Independence and admit that all MEN AND WOMEN were created EQUAL (under law or politics, not strength or who gets the “top” position). I’ll let all of you define “top”.
For sure that is the way our laws now read. No gender discrimination in ANYTHING that I know of is allowed, legally. Enforce existing laws and be done with the argument or are there more needed to ensure legal equality?
So if we can agree that our laws demand female equality with men, should we now start on moral laws? Boy that will be a leap for man/women kind. No I am not in favor of stoning adulterous women by the way or anyone else for that matter. And in many ways I consider those that do my enemies.
If I hold a door for a women and she spits in my face, do I get to spit back? If I take my hat off in an elevator and get called a rude name, can I respond? If I do my best to promote the best person to a job and it happens to be a man, do I get the right to be tangled up in lawsuits for years ahead. The answer to the last one is “you bet” in many cases.
For some time now I have opposed Affirmative Action laws. Do some of you, Kaje in particular, feel the need to expand that racially driven attempt at equality to women in the same manner?
Just what is the argument here with all the nasty posts?
Is this one nasty?
Anson
Anson O’Burlingame, Strawman Slayer,
By all means, if a woman spits on you because you opened a door, feel free to spit on her back. Now all you have to do is find a situation where that has happened, ever.
I take that back, something like that has happened to me. In college I once held a door open for a guy since he was walking ten feet behind me, he got to the door, looked taken aback, and called me a “bitch” as he stomped on by. I certainly would have called him a rude name in return, if I weren’t standing there trying to figure out why he called me that. And that wasn’t an isolated incident. I don’t think that’s what you’re going for though.
All this confusion over the difference between “manners” and “chivalry” probably deserves its own separate post.
Also, yes, I am for AA programs and other such assists to historically marginalized groups. The key concept that opponents to AA don’t understand is “privilege”– they harbor delusions of bootstraps and can’t understand that their way was paved smooth for them, just by virtue of being born the “right type” of person. I think this cartoon summarizes racial privilege better then I can:
http://abagond.tumblr.com/post/524642194/a-good-cartoon-that-shows-what-white-privilege-is
http://www.snotr.com/video/422