Quote:
Originally Posted by Strangelet
I'm not going to be bullied by your vitriol or your comically misguided sense of offense. I'm going to calmly reiterate my point.
(...)
And so before you respond with another inventive literary device involving felatio, bear in mind its already going to be a while before I can begin to take anything you say seriously.
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I'm very much afraid that I have kind of got to that point as well. Gambit's post in this thread was pretty extreme, but in essence he had a point.
There is a difference between a debate and a harangue; argument and vitriol; making one's point and having a shrill hissy-fit with whomsoever dares defy one's accepted "vision".
I dunno. Maybe it is just an American cultural thing, but I certainly don't have people in my entourage who feel that is the proper way to conduct a debate, particularly on so important a subject as pro-choice.
What I see coming out of this is not misogyny from the male posters but merely an expression of their view that anti-choice policies (I can't call them pro-life when they come from a president who thinks it's fine to execute people) do not automatically equate to a hatred of women.
The characterisation that Cacophony seems to be making thereafter is that because some people don't agree with what she is saying, it has to be because they don't understand and/or they must be misogynists too, which is the way in which people with entrenched and unshakeable positions (dare I say extremists?) always try and justify their stance. "I'm right, you're wrong, and if you insist on asking me to explain why I am right, or trying to explain why you are not wrong, it means you are too thick to see it, probably because you are one of 'them' as well" is one of the most immature, illogical and intellectually insulting arguments to be used. It is up there with GWB's infamous "You're either with us or against us". It brings intelligent debate into disrepute, frankly.
I am waiting for the post telling us we are all brainwashed by the patriarchal hegemony any time soon.
(And, to reiterate, I am pro-choice and support a large part of what Cacophony says on the subject.)