Oppression Olympics and Diminishment

Mark at men for Hllary has some feminist analysis of the sexism exposed by the campaign at Men For Hillary. This is a small section from the middle of his post:

...When Burleigh asks the question "Will Obama repudiate the misogynistic undertone in rap music, the tidal wave of bitch and ho vulgarity that does nothing to move young black (and white) women an inch closer to parity with men?", she is truly asking the wrong questions.

The question for Obama should be "Why haven't you denounced the rampant sexism that has occurred during this election season, which has been used to very effectively diminish your opponent and make her seem small? Doesn't that bother you as much as David Gergen seems to be bothered by Clinton not rejecting the votes of racists?

Gergen should be asking Obama the question that parallels his question to Clinton, which would go like this:

"The rampant sexism and the apparent gender gap with male voters for Obama raises a question, in my judgment, of whether Obama shouldn't say 'You know, if you want to vote against Senator Clinton because she is a woman, I don't want your vote. I don't want to win this way. Sexism has no place in this campaign."

I don't know who invented the term "Oppression Olympics" (it may have been Jessica Valenti), but it is being bandied about in a big way in the blogosphere as a term to put-down Clinton's recent comments about sexism in America and during this campaign cycle.

I find it very offensive, since it is clearly a term that can be used to instill guilt and shame for even talking about the sexism of this campaign cycle. In other words, the term "Oppression Olympics" is a way of guilting us into not talking about sexism at all. Interesting... this post is precisely about that -- the oppressiveness of the term "Oppression Olympics." In fact, thank you for nothing, Valenti or whoever you are, for inventing this term so that men can hammer us with it at will to try to keep us from talking about sexism.

The article that started the most recent spate of commentaries about "Oppression Olympics" was The Nation's Race to the Bottom. That has been followed by Hillary participates in the oppression olympics, Does the Clinton Camp Talk of Sexism Risk the Democrats' Future and many others. The most accurate commentary (other than this one) is found at Shakesville.com -- Hillary Sexism Watch: Part One-Hundred posted May 22, 2008, by Chet Scoville:

"Some people have been complaining about what they call the Oppression Olympics, the alleged comparison between the importance of racism and the importance of sexism; but what Judis admits here is that the game has, to a large extent, been both staged and rigged for the duration of this primary season by those who most influence our discourse."

I keep harping on EQUAL RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. So, here we go again.

It is NOT about who wins, but how they win, that matters to me. This campaign season sucks when it comes to democracy, process, and equal rules of engagement. I blame it squarely on the MSM, the DNC (the "do-nothing-crats"), and Obama's willingness to go along for the ride.
The purpose of sexism is to oppress and to be in control (whether intentional or not). The main methodology of sexism is "diminishment." If you can diminish an adversary, you can gain "mind control." It is a clear type of psychological warfare.

Sexism diminishes those against whom it is used. In fact, it doesn't just diminish the woman or man against who it is used, but it diminishes all women and all men. If you don't think there has been more diminishment accomplished against Senator Clinton on the basis of sexist language and behavior in this campaign season, then I don't know what rock you have been living under (maybe the Don't-Rock-Obama-Rock).

Diminishment has a very significant impact on how we appraise someone's talents, skills, knowledge (you name it). If you don't think so, tell me why. Let's say we had Olympic events for best in character, most presidential, smartest, most experienced and most skilled and the outcome of those contests relied on the votes of the ticket holders to the events. Don't you think that a person could win those events by diminishing their adversary in some manner? You bet they could.

You bet this has been the Primary Campaign Oppression Olympics and most of the hard sexist work and sexist sweat to diminish Clinton has been done by the MSM.

Way to go, guys and girls of the MSM.

Oh, I suppose, there will be those out there who will say "Clinton caused her own diminishment." Right...., no, wrong! Both Clinton and Obama have done things to contribute to their own "smallness" but those smallness mistakes which they have each done, are damn near equal.

Race, on the other hand, has hardly ever been used to diminish Senator Obama. The MSM won't go there anymore. In fact, Judis noted in his article The [Hillary] Autopsy Report, "And if some voters didn't appreciate the potential breakthrough that Obama's candidacy represented, many in the Democratic primaries and caucuses did -- and so did the members of the media and Obama's fellow politicians.

And as Clinton began treating Obama as just another politician, they recoiled and threw their support to him." Judis' astute analysis of how Obama's "historical breakthrough" was appreciated by the press and how the press "buddy-bonded" with Obama when he was shown "such disrespect by Clinton" is spot-on.

Obama has never had to go negative. The press has done all his work for him. That makes it pretty easy to stay above the fray, when your media buddies (guys and girls) do all the hard-hitting for you.

I get a little nauseous when commentators say things like "I have not seen Obama trying to make Clinton's sex an issue in this campaign." As if. He doesn't have to. The MSM has done a bang-up job for him. His riding the coattails of those efforts by the MSM, however, is despicable and an indicator of a low level of integrity or a high level of ignorance. I guess it is bliss when your opponent is getting so dissed.

Is........? YOU NEED TO READ THIS POST HERE

In fact, Mark needs feminists to go to his blog and comment as he is being swarmed by the BOBots. He needs your brains and wits in response in the comment section of this post.