Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!killer!dcs!wnp
From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: A Suggestion?
Summary: Activists are always a minority, and I'm no expert
Message-ID: <283@dcs.UUCP>
Date: 30 Dec 88 06:10:11 GMT
References: <2457@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu> <1751@scolex> <1152@igloo.UUCP>
Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas
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<2845@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu> <281@dcs.UUCP> <1143@actnyc.UUCP>
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Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
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Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas
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In article <1143@actnyc.UUCP> gcf@actnyc.UUCP (G Fitch) writes:
>In article <281@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
> > Ah, but not all women will identify with what goes on or is envisioned 
> > by the prime movers in soc.women.
> > (Most of the ones I know won't).
> > Thus, the women this refers to ARE a minority. Maybe a large minority, but
> > a minority nonetheless.
>Then what's the problem?  If the "prime movers" are such a minority,
>they aren't prime movers.  They can have their "Experiment" and the
>rest of the world, including this majority of women who aren't moved
>by the "prime movers" (according to their opponents), will pay no 
>attention and go its merry way.

Actually, if you look around in society, it is always a minority who are
prime movers in anything, because the majority are passive for a variety
of reasons, while the minority of activists are very vocal.

>I wonder if any of the authorities on the women's movement, such as
>the above, would care to cite chapter and verse.  Feminists claim to
>represent women's interests, but not, as far as I know, women _in_
>_toto_.  Once again, I think we're seeing a monolithic authoritarianism
>imputed to a group that doesn't actually show much evidence of it.

I am not an authority on the women's movement, and have never claimed
to be one.

What I wrote in the cited article is based on fairly wide reading, encounters
with people and my observation of their attitudes, etc. The ease with which
one recent poster dismissed Phyllis Schlafly because she happens to vocally
disagree with the women's movement is typical of the attitudes I am referring
to.

BTW, it seems to me that most posters in this discussion are not authorities
on the subjects they speak out on (i.e. law, etc.) -- so I am in good company.

>Followups to news.groups.

Ah, but you see, this newsgroup is not organized in an authoritarian hierarchy,
so you can't dictate where I should post a followup. Since I don't get
news.groups, I'll follow up here.


-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
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