Saturday, December 03, 2005

Response to Traditionalists

From Pat Gundry's Noodle Factory, here is a mock debate between traditionalists and egalitarians.

Debate 2, And Critique: What Men Think About Women, Sort of

Trad: We are concerned about radical feminism, the breakdown of law and order, drug use, marital breakdown, and homosexuality.

Egal: It's interesting that traditionalists usually try to tie all those issues to egalitarianism. But, they have absolutely no connection whatever. Radical feminists, of which there are very few, have a parallel in radical traditionalists.

Most traditionalists do not believe women are evil and should be violently suppressed. But, there are traditionalists who do believe, teach, and live that. You have no problem differentiating between radical and moderate trads.

The supposed breakdown of law and order just hasn't happened. There is actually less crime now than previously. The building of new and bigger prisons has to do, not with more crime, but with the commercialization of prisons, "law and order" issue electability of politicians, and imprisonment for petty crime and drug use. It's a national scandal.

Divorce is more common among people in Bible Belt states, where traditionalism is most prevalent, than in more "liberal" states. So, it can hardly be proved that egalitarianism, considered by most trads to be a liberal position, is the cause of family breakdown.

As for civil rights for gays and lesbians, that issue has absolutely no connection whatever with equal opportunity for women. Both are social issues, but they have no more in common than do the issues of ageism and racism.

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