McCarthyism Vs Feminism

By GR Klein

From the 1940's to the 1950's people like Senator Joe McCarthy lead an anti-communist movement that resulted in numerous people losing their jobs, being imprisoned and publicly humiliated.

They used questionable evidence to exaggerate the potential threat to social stability that supposed "reds" or communists might pose to America.

It lead to a culture of fear where the most innocuous action could be interpreted to suggest that the individual concerned was engaged in a conspiracy to subvert the dominant paradigm and destroy American society.

This lead to rabid witch hunts , such as the Hollywood Blacklists where prominent actors and writers like Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles who were suspected of communist sympathies were denied work.

There are clear parrallels with some aspects of the feminist movement and McCarthyism.

1. They include the fact that anyone critical of the movement (ie feminism or McCarthyism) is automatically cast as an opponent and a threat and anything they say is ignored as the ravings of a lunatic. Thus anyone who questions domestic violence statistics is anti female, anyone who says women can be violent and abuse kids are heretics.

2. Unquestioning belief in the correctness of their position - opponents are 'thought criminals'

3. Numerous people unjustly imprisoned (fathers jailed for being unable to make child support payments – government workers jailed for being reds)

4. Political correctness is a real version of big brother’s mythical “Newspeak” , which says that you cannot challenge the status quo and cannot use certain language for it will mark you as an enemy of the state.

5. Creates an exaggerated threat - “all men are rapists” or “commies will destroy America and the domino theory” , “all commies are evil” or “all domestic violence is perpetrated by men”

6. Creates an “other” to be hated without question – “the reds” or ‘the deadbeat dads”

7. Both use propaganda to control the population – bombarding us with unsavory images of the evil “reds” or the dangerous “men”
   

Finally people came to their senses and realized that McCarthyism was just a hysterical overreaction and many convictions against supposed “reds” were overturned.

Lets hope that just as McCarthyism came to an end so too will the excesses of feminism which cast all men as villains and ignores the many great achievements that men have made for our society.

But it must also be said that a key difference between feminism and McCarthyism is that feminism actually produced positive changes in society, while McCarthyism failed to enhance our world.

Yes its true feminism has done some wonderful things that have lead to the emancipation of women and produced profound change, however this movement has its excesses and a tendency to misandry is one of them.

"I am a man (Jew) . Hath not a man (Jew) eyes? Hath not a man (Jew) hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed, and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a woman (Christian) is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?"

Wiliam Shakespeare (adapted from the Merchant of Venice)