The War Room

DEFINING SEXISM FOR A NEW GENERATION: JOHN LENNON IS DEAD

By now, virtually everyone is familiar with the Warren Kinsella sexism incident and the, in my opinion, kinda, maybe, half-assed, sorta make light of it, could be an apology but maybe not as strong as wished, that he issued.

Is Warren Kinsella really a sexist? I have no idea. I do not know the man.

But then again it depends on how one defines sexism? Based on the very public image Warren has crafted for himself, I'd have to guess that Warren is, a throwback to the ideology of the 60's and 70's. He seems to be the poster boy for the modern, politically correct, white, secular, urban liberal. In his writing, he appears to wear it on his sleeve. Right down to his proudly uninformed 70's era Catholicism and obsession over bad and dated rock n' roll to give him an 'edge', and keep him young. In other words, his public persona is the typical boomer. At least that is how I perceive the image without knowing the man in reality. I could be wrong.

And that is what I would really like to use this incident as a spring board for.

Kinsella aside, baby boomer progressives are actually the ones stuck in the past, not a conservative woman like Lisa MacLeod. The 'feminists' of the boomer generation (male or female) said they wanted 'choice'. But the word 'choice' infers that there is at least more than one option. Yet these individuals defined choice as being anything - other - than what they perceived as the stifling patriarchy of the '50's - hence the 'baking cookies' reference. They say they wanted to give women choice and equality, yet any woman who made the 'wrong' choice was seen as stupid, vapid and not a true 'woman'. Hence the contempt for any woman that is not a liberal or progressive - why they are so quick to mock, damn or villify a conservative woman at any turn yet not see how they themselves are the new sexists.

Which , is not truly feminist at all.

And yet people always make mistakes. But the judgement...that is why these incidents stick out. Because this generation of progressives are so quick to be intolerant and judgemental of anyone who disagrees with their increasingly narrow minded, stagnant, irrational world view that is rooted in a utopia that not only never existed...but could never exist.

Whether it is the increasingly hysterical assertions and lies of Michael Moore; the racist and sexist incidents of the past week involving the Ontario Liberals; or the Nobel Peace Prize Winner who said she could kill George Bush, this is a generation that is coming apart at the seams. Their value system was based on desire, not truth; juvenile rebellion, not mature stability; hedonism, not wisdom; emotion, not reason. Even feminist icon Erica Jong's daughter has said she was sold a bad bill of goods.

They see the world changing but lament they are slowly losing control of it. Bill Clinton achieved little to nothing but teenage scandal as a president; Trudeau created a confused and divisive Canada; the sexual revolution led us to HIV; materialism led us to greed.

Imagine, the anthem for this generation, was not a complex song about how to achieve utopia. It was a facile dirge that made trite of the complex nature of reality. Indeed, for this generation, that finally will have to realize that John Lennon is dead, that is a true shock to the system.

posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 2:53 PM