You may remember a piece I posted yesterday on an interesting article in the Nation about the ways in which the left's norms have turned into weapons yielded by feminists against each other in a kind of race to the holier-than-thou bottom. The reaction on Twitter was, well, entirely unsurprising: Michelle Goldberg's piece was frequently dismissed out of hand as either racist or the product of "privilege." A few favorites:
This comment pretty much sums this piece up: "White feminist horrified to discover that WOC Feminists have opinions": http://t.co/rJJEi5MhPK
— Catherine Andrews (@candrews) January 29, 2014
White, cisgender, privileged, grumble grumble http://t.co/76IhNavveF
— The real Jon Brodkin (@jbrodkin) January 29, 2014
Dear black people, trans people and poor people. Stop being so uppity. Kind regards, The Nation. http://t.co/gICHUtedZJ
— Christopher Benton (@hyperdeath128k) January 30, 2014
http://t.co/bZfjsTaWIx This article, man. The NERVE. if you can't tell the difference btwn actual bullying & critique FFS YOURE THE PROBLEM
— Lauren Rose (@liveyourlife489) January 30, 2014
Racist White privileged feminist hate for Woman of Color by @michelleinbklyn and @TheNation. http://t.co/r2cpsVtN3O #ExclusionaryFeminism
— Revolution MacInnes☮ (@From_Nothing) January 30, 2014
I'll be honest: I can't tell if that last account is real or a parody. The author is a bit on the nose throughout his feed. But, then again, subtlety isn't really considered a strength amongst this set. So who knows.
Either way, rarely has a writer so quickly seen her thesis proved correct. The most common negative response to Goldberg's piece was to simply dismiss it as an unacceptable thoughtcrime, too racist and/or privileged to bother dealing with. It perfectly reinforced the quote Goldberg included from a feminist writer in the 1970s who faced a circular firing squad of her own: "There’s a difference between trashing someone and challenging them. You can challenge someone’s idea. When you’re trashing someone, you’re essentially saying they’re a bad person."
Goldberg is now being trashed as a bad person. Her position isn't being assailed; her character is. It was really nice of the Toxic Avengers out there to reinforce her position.