Barbara Ehrenreich And White People's Ice

Nice piece from the always interesting Barbara Ehrenreich. Once again the parallels between the black struggle and feminist struggle are just stunning. Ehrenreich pillories this idea that it's some sort of noble accomplishment to show that women can be as vile and nasty as men. Pillory is the wrong word. She recognizes that the idea of innate female superiority is a myth which is ultimately destructive, and its good that Hillary is helping to rid us of that. But Ehrenreich rightly points out that she shouldn't be lionized for it. 

Was I saying something about parallels? Oh yes--this reminds me of how people often celebrate Bob Johnson as a black hero because he showed he could be just ruthless, cold, and calculating as any other white capitalist. Or folks who celebrate Frank Lucas because he showed that blacks too could be organized criminals. Yay. It's also the OJ reflex--defending and celebrating otherwise loathsome people, because the people who run the world are allowed thier share of otherwise loathsome people. There's some truth here--a true end to racism/sexism must include an end to noble savagery, or noble femininity. But the people who push such an end shouldn't be confused with people who actually raise the bar for morality for all people.