My Alleged Hypocrisy

Over on (well, you know), Jonathan Eisenman has scurrilously accused me of hypocrisy. He claims that my post below on “sex fests” is contradictory with my post below on an op-ed by a student at Portland State University.

Jonathan, there’s no hypocrisy here. I criticize the use of university funds to pay for purposeless drivel like sex fests. And I criticize people getting hysterical over posters and magazines, flinging accusations of sexual harassment and oppression all over the place. In both cases, certain people have come untethered from common sense, and I am pointing that out in each case.

I don’t know where you got the idea that I am criticizing the student’s right to express an opinion. That’s nowhere. I call her ideas stupid; how much more directly to the message can I make it?

Actually, as I was reading the woman’s op-ed, I found myself thinking that there is a lot there that I could agree with. The ubiquitous sexualization of our society, for instance (and, it should perhaps be stated clearly, the fact that this is a bad thing). The objectification of women in the media is cause for concern. My criticism was that this lady put it in the context of sexual harassment, oppression, victim’s rights, blah blah blah… In other words, she took what could be valid points and made a mockery of them. It’s odd that you would accuse me of seeking to dodge an argument; that’s the matter with this op-ed. Rather than stating a very legitimate, and on some points even correct, case, the author hyperventilates.

So there is no hypocrisy on my part.