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Attacked for their looks
Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | July 27, 2005 | Cheri Pierson Yecke

Posted on 07/27/2005 4:24:28 AM PDT by rhema

When I was a seventh-grade teacher, I confiscated a note written by a girl named Jennifer. It was titled "Everyone Hates Melissa," and Jennifer was collecting signatures.

Melissa, a quiet and gentle girl who was the smartest in the class, was described as "a nerd,"ugly" and "weird." Her hair, her clothes, her looks were brutally criticized -- but not her demeanor or her academic skill. After all, there was nothing to criticize there.

Too often we see this same seventh-grade behavior among adults. While healthy civic discourse involves disagreement on issues of policy, too often people are prone to bully and harass their opponents with attacks on physical appearances when they are unable to articulate a valid and logical opposing argument.

Consider the criticisms of the president's new nominee to the Supreme Court. John Roberts has impeccable legal credentials, so what can the pundits attack? Why, the clothing of his wife and children, of course. A fashion maven in the Washington Post looked down her nose and mocked the family as "a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of Jelly Bellies, three little Necco wafers." They were then duly admonished with a sniff: "Please select all attire from the commonly accepted styles of this century."

Condoleezza Rice, our dignified secretary of state who started college at age 15 and earned a doctorate in her early 20s, is one of the most powerful women in the world.

Nonetheless, she has been mocked and ridiculed -- not for her intellect or knowledge of international diplomacy, but for her hair. It has been likened to that of June Cleaver, but her critics are not content to stereotype her as a dowdy relic from the supposedly subservient '50s. She has also been criticized as a "dominatrix" who oozes "sex and power" for wearing

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: media
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1 posted on 07/27/2005 4:24:28 AM PDT by rhema
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To: rhema

Excellent article. Thanks for posting it.


2 posted on 07/27/2005 4:26:45 AM PDT by Restorer (Liberalism: the auto-immune disease of societies.)
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To: rhema

Let's no forget the abominable skewering of Katherine Harris by the Washington Post's "Style" section reporter Robin Ghivan back in 2000, all because she did her job.


3 posted on 07/27/2005 4:27:08 AM PDT by Senator Goldwater
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To: rhema

Good article.

We can see that one party is focused more on form than substance.

We knew that the party of diversity does not extend to diversity of thought. We now know that it does not extend to diversity of appearance. Not really.


4 posted on 07/27/2005 4:28:38 AM PDT by saveliberty (Liberal= in need of therapy, but would rather ruin lives of those less fortunate to feel good)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: rhema
Well, let's not be TOO self-righteous here. How many of US have slammed Hillary Clinton for the extra helping of butt she has? Or Helen Thomas for looking like a mistake at the gene-splicing lab? And don't even get started on Bella Abzug or Betty Friedan. Then there's everybody's favorite sack of guts, Ted Kennedy.

If they're fair game, so are we.

6 posted on 07/27/2005 4:43:35 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: Caleb1411
Where are the feminists? Their silence speaks volumes about their convictions and partisan leanings. After all, it is mainly conservative women who have been the victims of this sort of media slashing. Sad to say, with few exceptions, the circling vultures are left-leaning women.

. . .whom you'll never find criticizing the appearance of any pro-abort sister, even a Republican.

7 posted on 07/27/2005 4:46:05 AM PDT by rhema
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To: Senator Goldwater
skewering of Katherine Harris by the Washington Post's "Style" section reporter Robin Ghivan back in 2000, all because she did her job.

And because of the party with which she was affiliated. ;-)

8 posted on 07/27/2005 4:46:05 AM PDT by Allegra (Less Than 30 Days Until R&R - W'HOOOO!)
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To: IronJack
How many of US have slammed Hillary Clinton for the extra helping of butt she has? Or Helen Thomas for looking like a mistake at the gene-splicing lab? And don't even get started on Bella Abzug or Betty Friedan. Then there's everybody's favorite sack of guts, Ted Kennedy.

Well, yes, we FReepers do that (and I'm guilty as charged), but how many times do you see the media commenting on their looks?

9 posted on 07/27/2005 4:48:11 AM PDT by Allegra (Less Than 30 Days Until R&R - W'HOOOO!)
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To: rhema
Ah yes--the "enlightened" left.

Does anyone remember how this woman was attacked (and still is to this day?)

Look at this garbage.


10 posted on 07/27/2005 4:49:24 AM PDT by SkyPilot (Eliminate, eradicate, and stamp out redundancy!)
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To: IronJack
Well, let's not be TOO self-righteous here. How many of US have slammed Hillary Clinton for the extra helping of butt she has? Or Helen Thomas for looking like a mistake at the gene-splicing lab? And don't even get started on Bella Abzug or Betty Friedan. Then there's everybody's favorite sack of guts, Ted Kennedy.

True, but our comments are for the most part the equivalent of email exchanges. How many conservatives have launched appearance-denigrating salvos in syndicated columns or on national news broadcasts?

11 posted on 07/27/2005 4:49:25 AM PDT by rhema
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To: rhema
And here is Melissa today:


12 posted on 07/27/2005 4:50:57 AM PDT by capydick ("The current tax code is a daily mugging." --Ronald Reagan)
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To: rhema

Great essay.

Dan


13 posted on 07/27/2005 4:53:18 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: SkyPilot

"Does anyone remember how this woman was attacked (and still is to this day?)"

I sent her an e-mail during the attempted election by recount, and got a very nice reply.

I expect leftist swine to act like swine; what upsets me is the GOP's failure to support her properly.

If it hadn't been for her, and her alone, Comrade Gorsky Gorovich would be premier of the Supreme Soviet of North America today. She stood like a stone wall and stopped it from happening. And I don't think she's received anywhere near the payback she deserves.

And that's from somebody who objects to women in public life on principle.


14 posted on 07/27/2005 4:59:23 AM PDT by dsc
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To: rhema
Melissa, a quiet and gentle girl who was the smartest in the class, was described as "a nerd,"ugly" and "weird." Her hair, her clothes, her looks were brutally criticized -- but not her demeanor or her academic skill. After all, there was nothing to criticize there.

Kids sometimes like to be plain mean. If they can get the nerds to cry, they feel they have really scored something.

15 posted on 07/27/2005 5:02:30 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (No wonder the Southern Baptist Church threw Greer out: Only one god per church! [Ann Coulter])
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To: rhema

The left/MSM disgust me.


16 posted on 07/27/2005 5:15:29 AM PDT by AliVeritas (Ignorance is a condition. Stupidity is a strategy.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Kids sometimes like to be plain mean. If they can get the nerds to cry, they feel they have really scored something.

The positive lesson in this for kids and adults is "take your own counsel and live your life your own way. If you need the approval of others to be happy, chances are you'll never be happy."

17 posted on 07/27/2005 5:15:32 AM PDT by Dark Skies ("The sleeper must awaken!")
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To: Dark Skies

The whole idea of a pubskewl is unnatural. Home schooling, where the participants are all family, is the Thing.


18 posted on 07/27/2005 5:17:37 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (No wonder the Southern Baptist Church threw Greer out: Only one god per church! [Ann Coulter])
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To: rhema

If they didn't stand up while Schiavo was publicly starved by her slimebag husband, what makes you think they'll stand up for this.

Where have they been while all these young girls continue to get snatched, raped and killed by repeated sexual predators?


19 posted on 07/27/2005 5:18:23 AM PDT by AliVeritas (Ignorance is a condition. Stupidity is a strategy.)
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To: rhema
Just more proof that the left's way of thinking is immature and childish.....No surprise; it would take a child's reasoning to accept some of the things they embrace as truth....

Like I've always said:....The They are ignorant and naive; living in a fictitious and clouded world of their own making....
20 posted on 07/27/2005 5:21:27 AM PDT by PigRigger (Send donations to http://www.AdoptAPlatoon.org)
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