Stock in hubris is going up these days. Not only is it in great demand by the radicals and paranoiacs leading, and cheerleading for, the Republican party these days, but now it seems to be in great fashion with the alpha male bloggers of the left. Of course, we all know that male hubris is not new -- nor is anti-feminism. STFU is a common refrain heard whenever we of the "minoriity" class called female get uppity and question what the wise men are doing.

The heat is on, and they don't like it. Now the men are complaining about women (and men) de-linking from Kos and other chauvinists -- to which I think Kathy's response is apt:

Imagine, all those years I've spent walking the streets handing out literature, all those days and nights working for Democratic candidates—guys like Bill Richardson, Howard Dean, and Herb Kohl—when all along I was secretly plotting the downfall of the entire party with just a few subversive clicks on my blogroll.

Us feminists—or Femi-nazis as Rush Limbaugh cheerfully calls us—are truly the spawns of the Republican devils, despite the fact the grunt work at most Democratic Party offices I've been to has been done by women volunteers, most of whom consider themselves feminists, (albiet some of them still shave their legs). How dare we demand our concerns be listened to, responded to without condescension, even!

Steve Gilliard, in his usual ranting tone, accuses us women of just being stupid:

Some women got pissed at Kos for running a TBS ad of two women throwing pies at each other. What I don't think the women understand is that it's not a simple matter of refusing ads. Daily Kos is a business, and it needs money to operate the way it does. It's easy for other people to debate your actions when they don't have your bills. And a lot of people, especially younger people, don't get that you need to make hard choices to reach a goal.

Yes, we dumb girls just don't understand commerce. Silly us! Thanks, Steve, for educating us.

But of course it's Steve who doesn't "understand": he still thinks this is all about the pie ad:

Second, let me say this: if the biggest concern in your world is a TBS ad, consider yourself lucky. You must have an otherwise perfect life. If the ONLY thing you have to complain about is an ad for a show you will avoid, I'm happy for you. And he was far nicer than I am to people who tell me how to run my site. But I think you think this is a simple issue and it is not.

He then goes on to the "We're just businessmen" argument we hear all the time from polluters, pornographers, sweat-shop owners and that ilk:

Once an ad goes up, it's up and you've been paid. In Kos's case, a couple of grand. You can't just drop it.

You spent zero time thinking about the complications of this. You expect Kos to make decisions as you would and when he said he wouldn't, you got all huffy like your college prof said something you didn't like.

Yeah. We're just being "huffy." Pardon me, Steve, but you can kiss my huffy pumps. Yet I look at $6500/week from Blogads and see your point. How dare us amateurs question the professionals! Of course! It's towards the end of his rant that he shows is cards:

What is the greater goal? Having a successful site or making sure everyone isn't offended.

Apparently commerce trumps principles, and profit is the primary mission of these principled bloggers who just want us inconvenient women to shut the fuck up. It does shed new light on bloggers who blog as a business, yet claim virtue over the mainstream media who do news as a business. But that's all really a different topic.

Because the loudest complaints against us uppity women keep trying to make this all about the pie ad, when many of us have made it quite clear that it's not. Steve makes the mistake a lot of Kos apologists have made over the past week -- that this is even about the pie ad:

And like that, Kos is on the shit-list with the crowd who dares not shave their legs.

If you listen to their rhetoric, Bush is Hitler and the world is coming to an end and Iraq is a quagmire and they have to take back Congress or all is lost, yet they allow their unity to be challenged by something like this. I saw less serious repercussions when half the Democratic Caucus voted for the hideous bankruptcy bill.

Instead of sticking together when they need to, they choose to have a big pie fight about, well, a pie fight.

Talk about setting up straw men! (Or women!) Who's talking about Hitler? And what does he care how often I shave my legs?

Of course, a little criticism isn't going to stop the truly righteous ones, like John Cole, who's gone after Shakespeare's Sister and who had a special comment just for me:

I don't think this is about the pie ad, and have said so repeatedly. This is about you guys demonizing Kos for running the pie ad and his refusal to take the ad down and his 'condescending' response, for which he apologized for aspects of it.

And I am not a misogynist, not that I give a shit what you think.

Yeah, right. Like I gave a shit about the pie ad. Really, John! And you complain about people making assumptions. I and many others were responding to horse's ass remarks like yours here. But go ahead. Heaven forbid you might feel criticized!

What all of their impassioned cries of outrage don't address is the real problem in the liberal politocracy: the idea that chauvinistic, sexist and, yes, misogynistic attitudes are excused if one is "pro-choice."

Pinko Feminist Hellcat's snarky response to all this I think cuts to the bone:

Remember girls--you're just supposed to nod and smile. Make sandwiches for them and stuff. Laugh at their jokes, no matter how lame or stupid they are. Cause they're the men, and their fee-fees might get hurt. Odd how they can dish it out but cannot take it.

Someone hand these boys some tissues before they aspirate on their own spittle.

It's not an easy thing to face from one's "allies": a complete dismissal of any validity to our concerns. That these men even try to claim to be the arbiters of what is and what is not an appropriate feminist concern is the epitome of hubris.

That such a refrain comes from men who claim what they consider moral stances on issues they find important and criticizing certain Democrats for compromising values too readily, but give a very DLC-like admonition to STFU and toe the line in the name of unity, is especially ironic in this day and age -- especially when the Dems aren't exactly garnering any clear loyalty from women:

Despite the gender gap, President Bush succeeded in increasing his overall share of the women's vote this year. Senator John Kerry did win a slight majority of women's votes (51%), but he lost ground from 2000, when 54% of women voted for Al Gore. President Bush's ability to increase his share of the women's vote to 48% this year (up from 43% in 2000) is a major reason why he took the popular vote this time around.

Maybe this time it's the alpha males who should shut the fuck up and try listening for a change.

About author

media girl also blogs at other places.