Four Strong Women

Four Strong Women

We have recently heard four strong women speaking their truth: Kristi Noem, Karoline Leavitt, Pam Bondi, and Jeanine Pirro. And it has been quite a spectacle: angry, self-righteous, denunciatory, and defamatory. They have confidently proclaimed what they evidently believe—the trouble is that it has been false, illogical, unjust, and vicious. Yet they fit today’s feminist rhetoric: they won’t be bullied and intimidated by men (or other women) and they stand up for what they believe. They think they have right on their side, or they appear to. But they are dangerous, stupid, and absurd (especially the last). They give the lie to the myth that women are inherently superior to men, morally and otherwise. They particularly love to defame others and cry out for draconian punishment. If you came across these four women before meeting any others, you would suppose that all women are monsters. Of course, they are not the only ones, and they exist on the political left too (though less repellently). I sense in sensible female commentators (Ana Navarro, Abby Phillip, and others) some embarrassment about the behavior of their “sisters”, but actually it is fairly predictable: they are right-wing zealots protected by the mantras of contemporary feminism. There is no such thing as “my truth”, and “strength” is not a virtue absent judgement and kindness. These cliches have become masks for ruthless self-promotion and violence against others. They are also eminently corruptible. They do what they are told, whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter. They have zero integrity and even less humanity. But they are just the contemporary world writ large and ugly; there are similar types everywhere, including in universities (I know some of them). It is hard to avoid the conclusion that feminism has become morally bankrupt and intellectually incompetent. It has become political in the worst sense.