carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves (part II)

(Continued from part I earlier)

Picking up where we left off, a comment from yet another "Anonymous":

The meme states that if all you've done are X and Y, you are not Z. It doesn't say what the requirements for being Z are, because that's irrelevant. Someone who's ONLY done X and Y hasn't done/been anything else that would make them Z.

Huh. Well, going back to the original meme, then, we'd get this:

Dear girls...		So...yes. We are female. Okay. With you so far.
who take pictures in slutty clothing		Well, some of us do that too. Some of us are actually sluts. Also, there are male sluts as well as female sluts now, though I'm fairly sure you're speaking solely about the female ones. Who then take pictures. Of wearing the slutty clothing.
and glasses		Some of us wear glasses, yes. But again, this makes me think you're speaking about women who wear glasses in these photos with the slutty clothing who don't wear glasses normally. Which is weird to me--how do you tell someone doesn't normally wear glasses?
and label the caption "nerd LOL":		Okay. First real complaint. And this, I will say, is frequently my complaint on the blog about people (of either gender) on the internet in general. I call them "LOLpeople", which in its own way, is just as dismissive, but in my case, I'm not basing it on gender of person, or portrayal of social group, but intelligence. (As in, I think people who use phrases like that--"OMG he broke up with me lol"/"nerd LOL"/"ya you look great lol"--are, overall, just not that bright.)
you're not a nerd;		See, do you get to decide that? And even putting my prejudice aside, simply saying "I'm a nerd" automatically means you're not one? How does that work?
you're a whore		I know I'm being literal about this, but seriously, if the woman in question isn't actually exchanging sex for money, SHE'S NOT A WHORE.
who found glasses		I doubt there are any figures on how many whores wear glasses, versus not, and it's not like that was your point anyway. But based on this breakdown, your entire point seems to be partially "hot girls don't wear glasses" with a brief embellishment of "stop pretending you know me". And wau, does that come off as hostile on your part.

(I had to link that last one because her glasses actually SAID "Whore"; it was from Annie Galicia's blog on the Whore Couture Fair in SL.)

But does this really tell us anything we didn't know? It may not have been the intent of Manning to paint things this bleakly; in point of fact, he's done everything since this whole thing blew up to make the point that he doesn't believe the things that this one image portrays, and he's been daunted by the amount of press that's linking his name and misogyny.

Speaking of...here's "Anonymous" again:

Some of us just don't want the stream of abuse we get from some of the people on your side. Having a name/pseudonym on something doesn't change the content of that thing. Attack the stance, not the poster.

Now, in that point specifically--that of attacking the stance, not the poster, or put another way, revile the idea, not the idiot with the idea--I do tend to agree. We are creatures that label, and it's very, very easy for us to connect things in this way. We see John Doe saying something we don't believe in and make the immediate connection that John Doe is wrong wrong wrong and likely evil and might sleep with chickens and could look at internet porn involving squid and marmalade, and do our best to march in with this sense of offended scorn and lay waste to the man named John Doe, and not to what Doe actually put down in print.

But here's the problem inherent in that comment, too--while we want to keep our communications clear, at some point, if someone says something racist, something misogynistic (or misandric), something that, at the end of the day, is designed to incite or offend or ridicule or insult a particular person or group of persons...Well, yes, obviously what was actually said wasn't good, but at least a little ire should be pointed towards the person saying the thing.

To advocate anything less is to diminish our social responsibility in public spaces. And unfortunately, if you paste it on your Facebook wall? You're posting in a public space. There is zero expectation of privacy.