The Observer, November 9, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 10
Unpopular Reason: Once-valid political movements now perverted by irrational radicals
In 1848, when the first women's rights conventions were taking place in America, there was real purpose to them. Women did not yet have the right to vote, nor was there true equality in the law. Early feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought for something noble and worthwhile. But the days of rational, purposeful feminism are long gone.
The insanity began with the second wave of feminism, starting in 1963 with Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique, which condemned homemaking as a waste of a life. If that had been the worst thing to come out of it, then I wouldn't be such a staunch critic of feminism. But it is much worse than that. We saw the passage of Title IX, which now forces schools to make financially and logistically unsound changes to their athletic programs to placate the whims of the fringe. And efforts to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution began, even though the 14th Amendment already ensured female equality with respect to legal and citizenship rights. But perhaps most sickening was their attempt to wipe out the right to free expression by pushing for a ban on pornography. Their justification was based on claims, which to this day remain unsupported by facts or research, that pornography causes rape and sexual deviance, and that the industry is based around coercion and violent threats against female participants, who are unwillingly exploited. This lunacy only lent credence to the platform of religious fundamentalists who were also looking to quash free expression based on logically unsound positions. But the souring of a once legitimate cause is not unique to feminism.
The same is true of the African American community of the United States. Slavery is abhorrent, and something which this nation's history is blighted by. And, even after slavery was ended, the level of inequality that would persist for more than a century afterwards was shameful. Segregation and inequality before the law were both wrong, and organized opposition to them was a worthwhile cause. Leaders from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King Jr., who suggested peaceful and rational ways of obtaining racial equality and harmony, were men of great courage that deserve our admiration
Sadly, the legacy of these fine men seems to have long been forgotten. Instead, we've reversed the institutionalized racism, such that being Caucasian is now to one's detriment. What private industry chooses to do is its own concern. But for federally funded schools to practice affirmative action, and for laws to be passed pressuring businesses to do likewise, is just wrong. Naturally, it gets far worse. Political correctness is now so rampant that suggesting that affirmative action is wrong, that the Jena Six are criminals, or that thug culture is repugnant is now seen as racist. Anyone with the audacity to question the standard rhetoric of ultra-liberal organizations like the NAACP can expect a verbal lynching by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Not even Bill Cosby was allowed to question the logic behind blaming all of the African American community's present day problems, few of which existed until recent decades, on past inequality and fabricated modern racism. Instead, they made it a class issue to deflect attention from the validity of his point.
What's next? When will the insanity of once-valid movements being perverted by irrational radicals be checked by reality and public outrage? If things keep going this way, my guess is never. The future looks increasingly bleak if the civil rights and feminist movements are any sort of indicators.
Caleb Posner is a freshman political science major.
