Digby says:
If Hootie Johnson wrote a Swiftian satire like Burk's, proposing that women should be equipped with Norplant to be removed only with their partners consent, he would be a feminist, fergawdssake. He'd be satirizing the same anti-choice position that Burk is satirizing and everybody on the planet except for certain literal minded right wingers and a claque of mendacious propagandists would know that.
Now, if Reynolds had presented a case in which Hootie wrote a Swiftian satire proposing that women be given the choice to kill their children up to the age of 18, he would have found the proper corollary. But, again, everyone sane would know that it was satire and I can't think of any left leaning writer who would attempt to pass it off as a literal proposal or say that is betrayed some kind of inappropriate stridency in it's language. They would find his position absurd, but they wouldn't punish him for the form of his writing, but rather the intention of the piece.
Satire is more than a spoof or a parody, although it can take that form. It's a way of exposing the folly of certain arguments and attitudes. It turns an exagerated mirror on people and forces them to examine their views from the perspective of the other side. It often makes people angry. That is the point. But, you have to get the point in the first place.
Poor Reynolds is all caught up in the actual words of her satire rather than the intent, which is just embarrassing. Her anti-abortion "spoof" was what, inappropriate? Did all that talk of sterilization hurt his feelings and make him uncomfortable? I'm getting the feeling that Reynolds may be a bit too sensitive for political debate. Certainly he should stay away from satire. It's often ill-mannered and inappropriate. (Just like those nasty Democrats in Minnesota. Rude, rude, rude.)
What is "abundantly clear" is that this is one confused lil' Professor who just can't admit he was duped by a mendacious right wing columnist and that he doesn't really understand what satire is. How humiliating for him.
And CalPundit has a way too nice response up to this nonsense.
And my two cents are...
Instapundit's example of unfair treatment at the hands of liberals involves some kids who thought dressing in blackface for Halloweenwould be really cool. While it's pretty clear that their (and Glenn's) university has no legal right to punish them for this, and if they try the kids will have a nice lawsuit, their national fraternity has every right. If Glenn disagrees with the decisions of a private organization, he can perhaps begin a campaign against them similar to that of Martha Burk's. If this is the best concrete example of PC-overkill and double standards that Glenn can come up with, then I really wonder what's gotten him so upset.
These kids most likely did a dumb, and not malicious, thing. However, if it was simply a dumb thing and the kids don't realize that invoking clear symbols of historical racism might make some people mad then obviously the unavoidable unrelenting power of the PC crowd never managed to break through into their little worlds. Clearly its strangehold on the consciousness of youth is not as powerful as some would have us believe.
I'm not sure why I have to explan why dressing in blackface is the kind of behavior that a national fraternal organziation doesn't want its members engaging in. Such things don't reflect well, for good reasons, and such organizations are very much concerned for their reputations. I'm sure they would respond similarly if the students had decided to throw a "Schindler's List" party and have everyone dress as concentration camp victims, whether the members involved were white, black, brown, yellow, Jewish, purple, or green. It isn't simply about the race/religion/ethnicity of the people involved.
In a world where Don Imus, on radio and TV, is regularly sucked up to by leading politicians and media figures, left and right, where Ann Coulter has a regular media presence (print and television), where Rush Limbaugh does election night analysis for NBC, and where Gordon Liddy and Michael Savage and a host of others remain on the air, I'm really at a loss to understand where this feeling of oppression comes from. Actually, that's not entirely true - I expect I might understand it, but it is frightfully sad.
(yes I know I promised to stay away. Got home early).
