Friday, March 26, 2010

Is there such a thing as male or female blogging?

Susannah Breslin over at True/Slant has a post entitled Are men better bloggers than women? This is in response to another article asking why bloggers are usually men. Are they? I don't think so. Anyway, Breslin categorizes female bloggers into three categories:

For the most part, I’ve found, women bloggers fall into three categories: “mommybloggers,” “ladybloggers,” and “women who blog like men.” The first category includes those who have made careers out of writing about the perils of raising a family, being married, and getting stuff off the kitchen floor. The second category includes the group of blogs that self-describe as “feminist” and which seem to have decided that blogging about purportedly widespread sexism and instances of misogyny in our pop culture a neo-feminist movement makes (NB: it doesn’t). The third category includes those few women who blog about politics, technology, and other more “male” topics with a scathing wit and piercing gaze that put their male blogger rivals to shame.

Hmm, not sure which one I am. I'm a mom but don't blog about kids much, unless they are violent and I want to discuss their psychology. I blog about relationships and misandry, not about misogyny. I like blogging about politics but am not sure I "blog like a man" whatever that means. According to Breslin, blogging like a man has something to do with blogging on current events, heated debates, racy subjects, and avoiding feelings and relationships. I hope/think this blog blends both of these topics. We discuss relationships and feelings, but often in relation to justice, the law or politics. And yes, there are often heated debates, which I enjoy.

Does that make me an androgynous blogger?

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

Tea Party protesters are extraordinary, not ordinary

I read radio host Michael Graham's new book this week entitled, That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans. In the book, Graham defends millions of typical Americans like his mom--"ordinary people who worry that Obama's socialist policies are jeopardizing America's future." Count me as one of them, though I don't like the use of Graham's description of tea party protesters as "ordinary." They are anything but.

But before I tell you why they are extraordinary, what do their demographics look like? According to a a Quinnipiac poll:

74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
5 percent are solidly independent;
45 percent are men;
55 percent are women;
88 percent are white;
77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
15 percent voted for President Barack Obama

Ann Althouse noted that there are more women than men. Funny, because all the media does is talk about the angry white man in relation to the tea partiers and town hall protests. They need to get with the program and realize that there are a lot of angry women out there. I've met them.

Many are small business owners who fear their businesses will fail because of increased taxes and regulations. Many are already paying increased worker's comp taxes that are hurting their bottom line. Other women are moms like these who fear that their kids will be left the burden of extraordinary debt for years to come. Still others I have met long for individual freedom and the right in the United States of America to make their own decisions about their business, health care and what they eat, drink and think.

They, like the men who are protesting at the Tea Parties, are not ordinary Americans. The ordinary are the elite politicians who think that they know what is best and try to foster their will on these independent citizens. The ordinary are those who demand that government give us cradle to grave entitlements that lead to a loss of freedom and an increasing debt to be carried for years to come. The ordinary are the media who are so biased in favor of the Obama administration that they do what they can to smear these extraordinary citizens for daring to voice their opinions.

The extraordinary are the citizens who are refusing to be ordinary and go along with the program down The Road to Serfdom.

I salute them.

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Monday, March 22, 2010

Did Male Bashing cause the financial crisis?

Stuart Schneiderman: "It wasn't an excess of testosterone that caused bankers to make imprudent mortgage loans. It was an excessive amount of Nanny state meddling in the marketplace, an excessive amount of imposed matriarchal values."

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What the hell is with Fox News?

It seems that they are stuck in the 1990s with the false hope that if they act "fair and balanced" by bending over backwards to give much time and attention to Democrats on their shows, they will somehow be rewarded. It was nauseating watching Geraldo Rivera preening for the camera last night and they seemed to have on more than a fair share of Democrats talking up the bill. Perhaps Fox News wants the cred of the liberal broadcasters they might hang out with or the one in their head.

But as long as they are not liberals, it's not going to happen, so they should focus on the viewers who are looking for a place where conservative or libertarian ideas are not seen as aberrant. Growing conservative and libertarian media, like PJTV, is more important than trying to act like liberal lite.

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Good news for snorers: "Israeli couple finds sleep apnea may extend life."

Sunday, March 21, 2010