Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

This Man/Woman Thing

I generally do not involve myself in things when I have no voice to make or alter decisions. Decisions like where to put the sofa or what color to paint the foyer...I stay out of those things, merely standing by to aid in any of the physical labor involved, especially painting that line between the wall and the ceiling. Hanging art is another example. In other matters, I COULD be involved but choose not to be: where to eat lunch, for example. I usually don't care; as long as food is on a plate (or in a cardboard box or cellophane wrapper) in front of me, I'm good. I get passionate about things that I CAN control that are important, like the best way to do something that requires skill at woodworking or my self-appointed position as the grammar police. That's why I have I beef with President Obama's pick for Supreme Court Justice.
I realize I have no say in it, but the oft-quoted nominee has raised the hackles on my neck with the quote that's being bandied about on every news program, including FOX and MSNBC. The quote from a speech delivered in Berkeley in 2001 described why she felt her heritage would be important to her role as a judge:
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Rush Limbaugh exploded with bombastic terms like "racist," and others have jumped on the bandwagon, some rather gingerly for fear of alienating a BIG part of the electorate. Even the president went so far as to opine that Sotomayor might have chosen to put words together differently. So far, no word from the would-be Her Honor.
I have no doubt that she was dead on right about her ability to understand a life experience which she had lived better than a white male who had lived a life of privilege (probably...poor people don't get elected to office). But why is no one calling her on the egregious grammatical error in that statement? Seriously, people, what's gone wrong here?
"Latina," according to the dictionary, is a woman who is of Latin-American or Spanish ancestry. It's like "alumna" is a female grad while "alumnus" is a male grad. If "Latina" designates a woman as "Latino" designates a male, there was absolutely NO REASON to add the word "woman" to her sentence. (reread it...see?)THAT'S what Rush and all the other pundits should be upset about, especially since they don't have a while, male leg to stand on with regard to the "white male" thing.
It's probably a good thing that I have no say in important matters. Just today my sweetie asked me whay I always get so emotional about seemingly unimportant things. That's easy; I'm an emotional guy.
But I could be Sotomayor's speech editor.

1 Comments:

At 5:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you'd have a better time trying to convince your sweetie where the couch should go - and if you have any luck with that - she's a more accepting woman than me.

 

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