Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I'm a girl. Well, OK, I'm a woman. And I am conservative. As a conservative, I really don't care what someone's sex is when he or she is making an argument. I care about the power of persuasion, the logic, the rhetoric. In short, I care about the truth of the argument or the lack thereof. Blue Yeti posted earlier this week and said that our Ricochet Overlords want to encourage women's voices here at Ricochet. I am not alone in thinking that this is a bad idea (elegantly phrased, Douglas!).
I certainly don't believe we should discourage women's voices here at Ricochet, but we should worry more about the content of folks' posts than their sex. Doing otherwise seems, well, kind of liberal and lefty, no?
On March 23, I was asked to speak at a Stand Up Rally for Religious Freedom. I was proud and honored to do so, and I think I did a kick-butt job (thanks again for all the kind words and support!), but it kind of bummed me out when they told me they asked me specifically because they were hunting about for some females to put up on stage to combat the anti-woman narrative of the lefties and found me. I'm all for combating lefty narratives, but can't we do so just by showcasing our best speakers and best arguments and leave the quota thing to them?
I believe that my point of view is valid if it is valid, not valid because I have two X or XY chromosomes.
(3 minutes to the end of Palm Sunday, and it's Lenten fast for me again until Easter! Have a blessed Holy Week, all!)
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Part of rhetoric is emotional appeal, and females have a different emotional appeal. Regrettable, but true.
Dec '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Mama T,
You are a straight shooter. Just keep on keepin on. As long as I know somebody as honest as you is out there I don't care if they try to bend the light rays.
Triangulation will always fail. If not in this world then in the next.
Regards,
Jim
Apr '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I can't believe you did me like that, waiting until the last minute to post.
I think I told you about the Oregon legislature, where two members were in violent agreement? Next week I'm going to blister your ears. :-)
Jan '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
As a woman, I totally agree!
Nov '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Your basic impulse is right: Conservatives don't pander to special interest groups; we concern ourselves with the rights, freedoms and responsibilities of individuals, not those of collectives.
But your reaction is wrong: oversensitivity to dogma violations or category transgressions is a Liberal/Progressive trait. Conservatives don't worry about political correctness of either variety. Want to organize based on some common interest, concern, value or trait? Be our guest.
Iguana-fanciers for Ron Paul ... meet on the back patio after tea.
If the RO's (Ricochet Overlords) want a chick clique then by all means let them gather willing participants ... but leave others be.
Finally, in keeping with the topic of gender I offer this irreverent verse by science-fiction author Randall Garrett:
Oh, give me a clone
Of my own flesh and bone
With its Y-chromosome changed to X
And when it is grown
Then my own little clone
Will be me of the opposite sex.
(I'll spare you the more recent X-rated extrapolation of this piece into a multiverse song by Asimov -- a clear violation of CoC)
Yes, the malapropism was deliberate.
Dec '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Its unfortunate that we have to have the right messenger to combat the ad hominems.
Its harder to trivialize an arguement by telling a woman they hate women, or a black guy that they hate black people.
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
It's a laugh that we'd judge people's comments based on their sex, but you simply can't have lived through February and March's contrived "war on women" media onslaught without realizing that organizers had to make sure to play the game.
The head of my church body testified before Congress for the first time in *history* and all the headlines were about the completely contrived walkout Democrats did because only two women were on the panels (a number the Democrats described as "zero").
And yet that controlled the news cycle for months. Also, though, I'm glad they made sure to include you because your speech was awesome. Shows the politicizers!
Nov '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I agree, but it can be a useful tool. A tool the Republicans didn't use with Sarah Palin.
Mar '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Gracias for the compliment Mama, but I didn't think it was all that insightful when I wrote it.
I like seeing women post for the same reasons that Molly mentioned too, the obvious example of a woman going "Feminists don't speak for women". But at the same time, I don't want to get into that left-wing mentality where we have this check-off sheet, and we're going "We don't have enough of *minority X* here. Go find someone".
What's funny, though, is that kind of thinking is how we got Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS. Bush the Elder was told that it was the "black" seat on the court, and he had to find someone of that color. How delicious is the irony that this process gave us the man most dedicated to eliminating that kind of rot in governance on the court? Thomas is arguably the most colorblind jurist of the bunch (in addition to having the purest philosophy on how to rule on laws brought before them).
Edited on April 2, 2012 at 4:14pmMar '12
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Look. I don't want to have to fight this nonsense about the war on women, but as long as the left is going to push that meme, the best thing for us is to have visible, outspoken conservative women who reject it. Men can be written off simply as patriarchal stooges, but it's much harder to do that with women. I don't enjoy having my gender be a political symbol, but I didn't want to make it one.
Oct '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Social media engineering?
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
My thoughts exactly.
I'm four years out of college and I still try to maintain friendships with women from my college sorority. Most of them are stuck in an echo chamber of liberalism in their jobs and social circles, and I feel responsible for voicing an alternate perspective. To the extent that they listen to me, they do so mostly because I'm a woman.
Oct '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Dianne, I hope you're not implying that a fiftyish, greying man ranting loudly over garden party hor d'oeurves can't be as persuasive as you are. I'm appalled at your sexism.
I'm ashamed to say that I was that guy a few years ago at a little soiree my wife was giving. I was just walking through when a perennial foil seated on the porch baited me with a remark typical of her. My wife saw it coming and tried to head me off, but I couldn't be stopped. We went at it hammer and tongs for a good long time while all the other women sat around uncomfortably . I'm not sure my long-suffering wife has forgiven me yet and that was eight or so years ago.Forgiven, maybe. Forgotten, no.
I don't think I changed any minds that day, so okay, you have a point.
May '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I completely agree, Mama Toad.
Those of you who think conservatives can combat liberals in the media game by selecting spokespersons based on type are kidding yourselves. There were plenty of blacks at the Tea Parties, but how often were they seen in liberal reports (when the rallies were reported at all)?
Liberals won't concede anything. You can't force them to be logical or fair if they are not willing to be.
And you can't break a stereotype with a few people. Ever heard the expression, "the exception that proves the rule"?
Aug '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Diane is merely looking at the picture from a "strategic/tactical" position, and it shouldn't be rejected out of hand.
For decades, the Left has been using various rhetorical weapons against conservatives. They use their special interest groups to organize what can be described as "combined arms" assaults against candidates and policies. If a law about health care comes out, they bring out their "Feminists" and "Exploited Minority Women" units as flankers while their "Women in Power" are the vanguard.
Conservatives need to promote all voices that agree with us, and we should take advantage of the fact that we have "independent self starting women" and "dynamic journalist women" and "entrepreneurial women" and "religious women" etc. on our side.
What will be quickly seen is that while the other side's "combined arms" are only there as mercenaries who were paid in hand outs, conservative women are women of spiritedness and courage.
Not to speak for Diane here, but I imagine one of the most effective aspects of her advocating conservative principles is that it shatters the "all conservatives are grumpy old men who hate people" assumption.
Diane is an intelligent young woman, who understands the arguments.
Aug '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
BTW, it isn't Diane's sexism we should be "concerned" with, rather it is the sexism of her sorority sisters who only listen to her because she is a woman.
The Left is filled with people who will let anyone speak -- if they agree with them -- but who will only listen to those they disagree with when that person is a member of a particular "victimized" class. If only because they are shocked into listening in the first place.
Jun '11
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I so, so agree with you, Mama Toad. I work in print journalism (hold your laughter) and I am dismayed at all the ways the industry tries to drum up readers by appealing to "female readers," "minority readers," "youth readers." For the life of me, I cannot figure out how an increase in the millage rate or news that a road will be resurfaced impacts a "female reader" more than "any other reader." I don't see how my gender would affect the way this news would be reported.
Fortunately, the paper I work for is dedicated to reporting the news in our community — regardless — but too many newspapers have tinkered mercilessly with their content to appeal to different segments and, well, we see how that's working...
Dec '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I agree with the idea that we shouldn't play by the rules set for us by our liberal "friends", but there may be something to be said for their tactics.
If a white man and a black man gave identical speeches regarding race relations, who's speech would be better received by the masses? I have to imagine that it would be the black man's.
While we don't want to accept the left's set of rules and standards, we can, perhaps, beat them at their own game, no?
May '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
I agree with Blue Yeti; I am a capitalist pig free-markets person.
This is not an issue of PC, affirmative action, Title IX, or anything else of the sort- it is about marketing and building a brand. If you have a product and you want to sell it to all of the population, y0u need to tailor it based on target market of interest demographics. If Midge or FJB comes here and only sees comments by, for example, an ancient doddering spout-off like me, she won't join, she won't even return to read.
The world is made up of two kinds of people: males, and females. Gotta sell to both.
Dec '10
Re: Wanted: Conservatives with XX Chromosomes?
Woah, woah!
Easy now, Duane. What about our transgender members? Or our members who are trapped in a man's/woman's body? To say nothing of those who don't even recognize gender as a concept.
I think I speak for all of Ricochet, when I say that we should look past such antiquated social constructs, like gender.
;)