Comments on: Lying won’t save your ass

by: Sporkey

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:43:33 +0000

Well, from that link, so it was meant to be a “joke” and “funny”, but not “satire”. And, of course, feminists are humorless.

I’m with you, DivergentDana. I want to go run off and live in the woods, too, after reading that.

by: DivergentDana

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, I want to run off and go live in the woods after reading your link, Rebecca.

by: Rebecca, Mad Gastronomer

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:55:11 +0000

I’m not up for slogging through all those comments to make sure this hasn’t been posted already, so in case it hasn’t, here’s Charlotte Allen’s responses to questions and comments about the piece.

by: Sjofn

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:54:08 +0000

I hate this 3-D object crap. I hear it all the time and I’ve been chuckling with glee at this thread. I’m very happy to hear from the women who have this skill. I always feel a little deficient in that I could be a poster child for lack of spatial reasoning skills. I hate conforming to a dumb-broad stereotype, as I’m afraid I’m perpetuating the stereotype in others’ minds.

If you really want to get better at it and you have the time to do so, pick up video games as a hobby. Seriously. I OWN at spacial relations, and I am positive it’s because I’ve been gaming since I was 10 or so.

by: Divergent Dana

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:42:22 +0000

“Since the total incarceration rate is around 1%, these numbers would imply that 80% of the prison population is black. I don’t know whether that’s true or not.”

It’s not true. At least in 2002, African American men composed about 45% of the prison population with sentences longer than 1 year. I’ve heard 50% bandied about since then, but the first stat is straight from the DOJ. Anecdotally, if blacks became 80% of the prison pop., I wouldn’t have heard the end of it online.

And I’m not going to argue with you, Ginmar. You know when a group of people talk about how they “never gossip” right before launching into the tale of how Joe got plastered last Sat. and ended up making out with Gary, even though he’s engaged to Sue? Well, I don’t plan to be in that group that says “Oppression Olympics is wrong, mmkay” just before they light the torch and proceed to perform the pole vault, the shotput and the 100 yard dash. I think it’s wrong, and I actually mean it.

by: chingona

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:52:09 +0000

And even at the National Review Online, Lisa Schiffren had this to say (along with a much longer description of stupid political behavior among men that would be inappropriate to extrapolate to apply to men in general):

As far as I can tell, there is more than enough stupidity out there to go round. When it’s a writer with a dumb idea for a column, the idea is that an editor will exercise better judgement. I’m not an oversensitive feminist. But as a rule, “women are really stupid” columns aren’t funny even when written by women.

She does defend Allen’s other work and of course, feel the need to say she’s not a feminist, but how bad can you get when even the National Review says you are out of line?

by: chingona

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:47:02 +0000

The discussion obviously has moved beyond the original post, but here’s an interesting commentary from Columbia Journalism Review:

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/women_are_dumb.php?page=all

And there are several good posts on this blog, from a female journalist who usually covers national security issues (I wasn’t familiar with her before, but it looks pretty interesting beyond just this issue, but anyway):

http://www.warandpiece.com/

by: Jon

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:35:01 +0000

Is it possible to get a breakdown on this? I’m finding it difficult to reconcile this mentally with recent reports of an incarceration rate of better than 1% and about 12% of your population being black.

I make no comment about the validity of these numbers, but here’s how it would work.

1 in 15 black people in jail is 6.7% of the black population. 6.7% of 12% is 0.8%. Since the total incarceration rate is around 1%, these numbers would imply that 80% of the prison population is black. I don’t know whether that’s true or not.

Note that you can’t use the 1 in 9 statistic with the 12% number, since the first is for black men only, and the second is for black people.

by: Phoenician in a time of Romans

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:35:10 +0000

But while it’s easier to call someone “bitch” rather than “nigger”, it’s also true that 1 in 9 black men in this country are in jail, 1 in 15 black people are, and white women especially are probably the least likely group of people in this country to spend time incarcerated.

by: ginmar

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:18:57 +0000

I live in Minnesota, which in the Cities has a certain self conscious liberalism to it, plus a large minority population of various denominations. Plus you see lots of inter racial couples here as well. Racism is a big issue here. Sexism? It doesn’t exist.