Yo, hello. I am not happy with these diaries about sexism and Hillary Clinton that have been floating around on the rec list for several days now. I have read them, but have not commented, and that was pretty deliberate.
Because I have a fucking lot to say, see, in response. A fucking LOT, because I write about sexism all the goddamned time. You might say it is my modus operandi, to call out misogyny on Daily Kos when I see it. In fact, my most rec’d diary of all time is called Sexism on Daily Kos. No, I am not even kidding, check the link. And I wrote that diary almost 8 years ago now, so I identified that sexism was a wee bit of a problem for the Daily Kos community quite awhile ago.
And, ya know, there was that whole Pie Fight thing, so sexism has plagued Dkos essentially since its inception.
All that being said, I think it is extremely short-sighted to blame misogyny for the reason some folks are ill at ease with Hillary Clinton’s return to the spotlight. It’s a reason for sure, but it’s not THE reason, because there IS no one reason, just like there’s no one reason that she lost the election.
A lot of the MSM is reporting folks telling Hillary Clinton to go away, absolutely. But I’m just going to bet there’s a whole myriad of reasons for that, only one of which is genuine misogyny. I mean, it could be that Hillary Clinton is terribly unpopular right now; she’s a divisive figure inside the Party itself (as is Bernie Sanders), but she is not well-received outside the Party, at all. There is a fucking reason the Republicans are salivating at her return.
What, it doesn’t even occur to you people that there could be other, legitimate reasons folks are telling Hillary Clinton to skedaddle ? Holy shit, it’s almost like a person could have a different point of view about the direction of the Democratic Party! What a concept!
We got our asses handed to us, on a silver platter no less, on November 8, 2016. We got our asses handed to us by a goddamned group of white nationalist, MRA motherfuckers who are decimating the Earth and are generally stunning in their sheer cruelty. They enjoy making others suffer, and they have a very specific agenda, and it is absolutely fucking killing us, as well as the entire planet. At this point, I am legit uncertain about whether humanity itself can survive the Trump administration. I really don’t know, and neither do you, but it’s sure as hell not lookin’ good.
So Democrats REALLY have to win in 2018 and 2020. Like, REALLY REALLY REALLY, or it is peace out, game over. Donald J. Trump is a goddamned menace to the world, and he is proving it on an hourly basis. Everyday is a bizarre disaster spectacle, unlike anything we have ever seen before as a country, or even globally. He’s giving Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin a run for their money, and look what kind of autocratic leaders he keeps inviting to the White House. Donald Trump admires Rodrigo Duterte and Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin. Just let that sink in for a minute.
This means that we have got to, as The Resistance, organize and GET OUR FUCKING SHIT TOGETHER! We need new leaders, goddamnit, and we need them yesterday! We need to broaden our base, and we need to reach out to folks who have been too disheartened with the entire political process to vote. We need to reach people that are dismayed and frightened and who no longer believe that the system can work for them. Those people are definitely reachable, but we (as a Party) have to give them something to vote for!
It is never OK to diminish someone’s human rights and say that they should “shut up and go away”, just because they’re a woman. It is never OK to tell anyone to “shut up and go away”, just because they’re black, or Asian, or Latino, or LGBTQ, or Muslim. But that’s not completely what’s going on here, although it is a facet of the problem. However, making sexism the ENTIRE problem will not diminish the other problems that we, the Democratic Party, have. In fact, by refusing to address the other issues we face, I believe we are making a grave mistake.
The future is much too important to fuck this up. So don’t.