You may recall how Christina Hoff Sommers, right-wing think tanker and longtime pseudofeminist, was transformed into the idolized “Based Mom” after she cannily jumped aboard the #GamerGate train and started going to events with noted ethical journalist Milo Yiannopoulos?
Now GamerGaters and Anime Nazis and other elements of the Internet’s Trump-loving sh*tlord army are turning on the woman they thought was one of the cool girls.
Sommers’ crime?
She signed a petition in support of Michelle Fields, the former Breitbarter who lost her job after being manhandled by Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at a Trump event.
Sommers’ fans — well, ex-fans, really — aren’t taking it well.
Those were some of the more polite reactions.
Others were a bit more, er, blunt.
But not everyone has deserted this Jewish agent of Lucifer. Sommers has managed to hold on to the endorsement of at least one influential Tweeter.
It’s almost touching.
And yeah, for the record, no one deserves harassment. However, I find it really hard to believe that she, a relatively intelligent woman, could look at what gators have done and think that the situation was okay and not realize that it was always a hair’s-breadth away from happening to her.
Nah, she used them. Out of principle I’ll say she doesn’t deserve what happens next, but I don’t think she cares at all what the Twitter mob says or does. In fact, she’ll use it to her advantage as she promotes herself as the true, reasonable, conservative feminist that totally gets the sexism thing, guys, but totally overcame it unlike those whiny liberal women.
@WWTH
@Paradoxy
Exactly what I was thinking. feMRAs and all the other “cool girls” that side with misogynists in order to feel included: you’re not a member of the Boys’ Club and you never will be. They don’t like you. They don’t like you. They may praise you whenever you stroke their little egos and preach what they want to hear, but deep down they share the same hatred for you as for any other woman, because you’re a woman. They will never accept you for who you are, no matter how hard you try to prove that you’re “not like other girls.” You’re just another feeeeeemale to them, and they tolerate you as long as you dance on their puppet strings accordingly. They only want you for what you can give them.
The second you show any sign of independent thought, they’ll turn on you mercilessly and rip you apart. They’ll never forgive you for a second. All it takes is half a toe over the line for you to lose everything you worked for. Because you’re trying to be friends with horrid, bigoted assholes who include you, yes YOU, on their Enemy List even if they tell you otherwise. You are not an exception. I repeat: you are NOT an exception.
There’s a difference between ordinary bigots and unapologetic abusers who are organizing politically to threaten anyone who wants to hold them accountable. She committed the unforgivable crime of saying that there need to be some consequences for Lewandowski’s actions. They’re resentful that they’re subject to any moral limits on their behavior towards women.
If you’re a FeMRA, the boys’ club is never for you. They just use you for as long as you’re convenient.
Colette: Thanks! It was that or Schadenfreude from Avenue Q, but ultimately this one was more appropriate.
Standing up for women is an unforgivable crime in some circles, and some of those group have very flexible definitions of “standing up for women.” Some women, unfortunately, keep believing they’ll be exempt, because that’s the pack of likes they’ve been sold: be a good girl, and we won’t attack you. Until we decide you’re no longer a good girl.
Sommers doesn’t deserve harassment and abuse. On the other hand, let’s face It, harassing and abusing women is what they do every waking hour. At least this distracts them for a brief period from gaslighting Fields.
Mike, CHS isn’t playing “demoiselle en détresse” Where did she claim she was personally assaulted by all of this?
This. And their definition of “good girl” can be very flexible as well. It’s just another case of heads they win, tails women lose.
@sunnysombrera
Yeah, the only constant part of their “good girl” definition is “doesn’t do stuff that annoys us.”
ETA: Good grief, so many typos in my original comment. I must be too tired to proofread.
http://www.cairohub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/the-scorpion-and-the-frog-5001.jpg
(We are the frogs still on the shore.)
“Satan’s plan for USA” LMFAO
What are Satan’s plans for the other countries?
And what is God’s supposed plan for the US? Let me guess…to have ‘Murica win and dominate all other countries. Oh, and to be all-white as well. And possibly all-male.
And yeah, nobody deserves harassment and abuse. Not even Roosh the Horrible Doosh would deserve to be harassed and abused.
I can’t help but feel sorry for her. I don’t want to, but I can’t help feeling that way anyway.
Don’t bother. The disappointment of Twitter bros has no impact on her. She hasn’t been run out of her house by threats or anything. Save your pity for when/if she is forced to move to a hotel for a few days by the hate machine.
For… for what? For publicly criticizing him for failing to fire Lewandowski? Man, you folks are all about freeze peach until someone criticizes your great authoritarian saviour. Then, apparently, it’s a matter for the courts.
@PoM
I’m just afraid that it could possibly escalate. Wouldn’t be the first time. Angry bigots can be, and often are, brutal and violent. Especially when a woman does something they don’t like. I know right now it’s just a bunch of twitter assholes, but it could potentially turn into more violent and threatening forms of harassment. That’s the only thing I’m worried about.
I don’t want to feel sorry for her. I really don’t. She’s an awful person. It’s just hard not to feel somewhat sorry for someone with so much internalized misogyny and so much naivety with what she was getting herself into. I know feeling like this is irrational, but…IDK.
For most rational people, (not her) this would be a wake-up call that maybe the individuals she was surrounding herself with were toxic as hell. But I strongly, strongly doubt it.
Let’s hope some of the new Twitter attitude toward harassment helps stop the worst people from continuing to target her.
That’d be some poetic justice.
@SJA
If it escalates, then I might feel sorry for her, too. But right now she’s just experiencing some shade from a few disaffected ex-fans. I haven’t seen any evidence that there is a zeitgeist moving against her, or that she is being harassed. I think we all know the difference between angry tweets and harassment, and if this has crossed that line it has happened outside my knowledge.
Asserting that angry tweets and harassment are the same is exactly the argument that harassers make. They claim equivalence in order to claim that their harassment is not anything of the sort – it’s just a few angry tweets. I give that argument a hard side-eye, and I’m not less skeptical of it when it comes from a more compassionate position.
If this becomes harassment, then I will start feeling sorry for CHS, but I’m not willing to equate what we see here with harassment. Nothing good can come of that.
Somewhat off-topic, but delicious:
“Milo Yiannopoulos isn’t a horrible person. He’s FORTY-FOUR horrible people.”.
@PoM
Oh, I wasn’t trying to say that it was harassment already. I know it’s just angry twitter comments right now. I was just expressing that I was worried that it might devolve into harassment, which could easily happen when you’re dealing with horrible people like this.
Also, even if it is not harassment right now, I feel sorry for her because she got involved with those bigots in the first place. I feel sorry for any woman who has. They turn on women just like that. I know she is an awful person as well, but as I said the way I feel right now isn’t very rational. I know it’s not. It’s a purely emotional response, I admit it.
But yeah, wasn’t trying to equate it with harassment as it is now, but just saying that it could potentially turn into harassment. Maybe I should have picked better word choices.
I know sometimes I feel sorry for people that I shouldn’t, that don’t deserve it. One of my weaknesses. Just the way I am. I know she doesn’t deserve it though. Eh.
@SJA
That’s not a weakness; it’s a sign of strong moral character to be able to empathize with others, even when they’re awful to you. You just need to be careful how you use that empathy. Don’t make excuses for them or ignore the bad behavior, but it can be very useful to help bring someone over to your side if you can get inside their head, and empathy will help you to do that.
@Tulse: So much for Milo’s ‘ethics’ eh?
Somewhere in my pipe dreams I can imagine the private eye roasting him but they usually only go after big print rags :/
@kupo
Having a lot of empathy is good, but I will admit that sometimes it has been a weakness in the past because it is harder for me to stand up to or call out people who are behaving badly. To me or to others. I am terrified of confrontation a lot of times, and prefer to empathize even with people I shouldn’t. I often times try to find common ground or find a way to see them as more human, even if they are despicable. Which I suppose isn’t 100% bad per se, but can really make you feel sorry for the wrong people sometimes or in situations where it is not appropriate or out of proportion to the situation. And sometimes people step all over you because of it too.
I can recognize bad behavior in an instant, but I have trouble calling it out sometimes because I don’t like hurting peoples’ feelings. That is something I really need to work on. But anyway…back to discussion of CH Sommers. Don’t wanna derail.
P.S. Sorry for teal deering away/derail
Social Justice Atheist:
I don’t think it’s about whether or not she deserves your compassion. You recognize the humanity in her that she and her detractors refuse to see in others, and although it may cause some mixed feelings, that’s not a bad thing. Remembering that she’s a human being, helps you not to become whatever she is/was.
That mixed feeling is that sense of karma. She lay herself down with (metaphorically) wild dogs and now she’s picking up fleas. I hope she learns from the experience, but remember this is a mistake SHE made, because of her own personal weaknesses, and you are not responsible for that.
Some people can only learn things the hard way, and sometimes not even then. It sounds cold but people like her make such mistakes all day, every day. Some people don’t learn not to bite others until they are bitten.
If you’re going to ride such a tiger, then you should really expect such a mauling if you choose to dismount. I find it hard to feel sorry for her even though I don’t condone harassment.
What the heck does “Based Mom” mean anyway?
@LKeke35
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Maybe this will end up being a lesson for her. Doubt it because people like her usually never learn, but we can always hope.