Remember my post on Linda Hirshman, the feminist who argued that stay at home Moms are less human because they don't have a job? I just read the letters to the editor for that article. You know how magazines generally print letters proportionally, i.e., if the rate is 50% pro and 50% con, they print an equal number of pro and con letters? Well, they did not print a single letter in her favor. :-) There were a lot of good ones; I was pleased.
Pro-Life: June 2006 Archives
I am not sure if you found this disturbing as I did. Here, the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, says "Warren Buffett will be known as the Dr. Mengele of philanthropy unless he repents and ceases using tax deductible donations to promote a culture of death and desolation."
Now as you expect I have much to criticize Buffett about concerning his pro-death philanthropy. However I must object to comparing him to Dr. Mengele. Dr. Mengele did far worse things than Warren Buffett will ever fund. He committed far more unspeakable crimes. The inapropros comparison, I think, not only falls flat but risks only alienating more moderate voices and embarassing the cause.
There is a saying on Usenet (the traditional forum for discussion on the Internet) that a thread has reached the end of its useful life when people start comparing their opponents to the Nazis. It's very true. At that point the discussion has completely and totally degenerated into something utterly unprofitable. Unfortunately it applies here too.
Reading other parts of his message, he says, "The merger of Gates and Buffett may spell doom for the families of the developing world." I'm not sure what to call this — it's not quite demogoguery, it's not quite sensationalism, maybe rabble-rousing — so I'll just call it nonsense. "Doom" implies total destruction. That is not going to happen, that is just patently absurd. Much less are Gates and Buffett going to cause it. It is said that there are two errors you can make of the devil — give him too much credit, or not give him enough. Let's not give Gates too much credit.
HLI has always been a somewhat shrill and strident organization, in my opinion. Rev. Euteneuer has proven a close follower of Rev. Marx, his predecessor.
I say strident language is not going to get us where we want to go. And I'm not afraid to criticize an ally on that account.
UPDATE: Apparently the reason Buffett was called "Dr. Mengele" was because of his eugenics activities. While this makes a certain amount of sense, I still object to the association. It would be better to call him the Margaret Sanger of philanthrophy, though that certainly doesn't have force. :-)
Feminists are starting to show their true colors, as Newsweek reports. Linda Hirshman, author of "Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World," quite explicitly and unapologetically denegrates stay-at-home motherhood. For real.
"Well, if you have two or three children, you're out of the work force for 13 years. And you should have work that brings you influence, honor, compensation, a way of being political and a hand in shaping the world around you."
So motherhood doesn't bring influence, honor, compensation, "a way of being political" (that's good??), or a "hand in shaping the world around you." That's news to me. This is such a sad statement it's not even funny. A woman influences her children and everyone they encounter in their lives. It's an honor to be a mother, which is why we have Mother's Day. There is a lot of compensation for being a mother, just ask one. Perhaps it's not monetary but is that what really counts? Not shaping the world around you? Sheesh, just listen to what world-changing people have to say about how their mothers influenced them and made them who they are.
She talks so snobbishly it's unbelievable. And she defines things in terms of men's standards — who gets the compensation, who gets written into history, who has the power, and so forth.
Dom Bettinelli also has a good piece on this from another periodical.
