Interview with Philip Roth: 'In some quarters, “misogynist” is now a word used almost as laxly as was “Communist” by the McCarthyite right in the 1950s — and for very like the same purpose.'

SwanOfAvon22 · 2014-03-17T04:09:31+00:00

A little background info, for those who may not be familiar with Roth: he is considered the male novelist of the 20th century, not because he's supremely gifted but because he writes unapologetically from the male perspective: frequently men who are out of place, sexually inept, emasculated or unsuccessful -- precisely the type of men feminism has such contempt for and whose plights feminists have been ridiculing or erasing for decades now.

Rather than fold under the constant accusations of misogyny, bitterness or what have you, he wrote a big 'fuck you' to the self-righteous SJW crowd in the form of The Human Stain, in which the protagonist, a university professor named Coleman Silk, is accused of racism (he uses the word "spook" to refer to students who are chronically absent from his class, without realizing they are black). He is forced to resign. Soon after that, his wife dies of a stroke and he begins a relationship with a 34-year old woman (he's in his sixties, if I recall correctly) and the campus feminists in the novel go crazy.

I won't spoil the book (you can wikipedia it if you want a spoiler), but it concludes with a devastating revelation about Coleman that further drives home how far political correctness has run amok. Roth is a great writer (arguably one of the best American writers of the 20th century) but he's also unapologetic in his portrayal of men and men's issues, and I'd recommend him highly to anyone subscribed to this subreddit.

invertedcross · 2014-03-17T01:40:22+00:00

I hate this. Disagree with a woman? Misogynist. If you're a male anymore you've been wrongly called misogynistic over some inane discussion or comment. I hate it but at the same time it helps me avoid people who should be avoided.

DoctorDP · 2014-03-17T03:00:43+00:00

Calling someone a misogynist(or racist, and to a greater extent a pedophile) is not something you should just throw around casually. It's a damn serious accusation.

Granted, they've thrown it around so much the term has lost most of it's real meaning. Even so it's tantamount to calling a woman a bitch or a slut- in a reasonable discussion, it has no place as a tool to discredit someone you disagree with solely because they don't share all of your opinions.

edtastic · 2014-03-17T04:06:49+00:00

The drama issues from the assailability of vital, tenacious men with their share of peculiarities who are neither mired in weakness nor made of stone and who, almost inevitably, are bowed by blurred moral vision, real and imaginary culpability, conflicting allegiances, urgent desires, uncontrollable longings, unworkable love, the culprit passion, the erotic trance, rage, self-division, betrayal, drastic loss, vestiges of innocence, fits of bitterness, lunatic entanglements, consequential misjudgment, understanding overwhelmed, protracted pain, false accusation, unremitting strife, illness, exhaustion, estrangement, derangement, aging, dying and, repeatedly, inescapable harm, the rude touch of the terrible surprise — unshrinking men stunned by the life one is defenseless against, including especially history: the unforeseen that is constantly recurring as the current moment.

If only feminists could appreciate the complexity of men like this man instead of reducing us to their two dimensional archetypes.

imbecile · 2014-03-17T11:55:41+00:00

Recently I come more and more to the conclusion that feminism is the result of alienation in a very Marxist sense.

Only because women are so isolated from all the work men do, all that infrastructure men build and maintain, because that work, all that struggle and the shit men go through, is hidden away from them at jobs. Because the benefit of that work to them is impersonalized and can be taken for granted. Any true personal connection they may have had to it filtered out through uncaring markets and institutions.
At the same time women become more and more alienated from everything they would have to offer a man. House work is made alien to them. Their very own appearance and sexuality is becoming an impersonal chore offered as a commodity, adhering to industry standards, not their own anymore.

Only in such an environment feminism can grow and exist.

2014-03-17T16:39:21+00:00

"Misogynist" is a "thought-terminating cliche."

A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissention or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating. Thought-terminating clichés are sometimes used during political discourse to enhance appeal or to shut down debate. In this setting, their usage can usually be classified as a logical fallacy.

Learn this term, and use it with relish.

Mustard and ketchup too if you're so inclined.

Onions are a must.

circuitology · 2014-03-17T13:45:31+00:00

You remember the stuff about the SPLC and us being a 'hate group'?

That was a direct result of SPLC's bastardised (though mainstream) [mis]use of the word "misogyny".

ZimbaZumba · 2014-03-17T04:34:06+00:00

'In some quarters, “misogynist” is now a word used almost as laxly as was “Communist” by the McCarthyite right in the 1950s — and for very like the same purpose. - Philip Roth

WOW!. We could add the words 'Trigger', 'Objectification' & 'Sexism' to the list as well

Pithier wording is:-

“Misogynist” is now a word used almost as laxly as “Communist” was during the McCarthy era — and probably for the same purpose.

NWOslave · 2014-03-17T01:30:49+00:00

Except McCarthy was right and everyone in this country has grown up in a communist country.

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