Well... I agree with him in that I like her and think she is the only hope for the Repubs but HOLY LORD this guy is at NYU? Are we sure a 12 year old didn't write that?
@schatzepage: I don't know that I'd go quite that far, but he's paraphrasing Hannah Montana and marking the day, he saw a YouTube? Once again, I feel old.
I'll defend Owen on this one. This story makes me curious about a lot of things, and Owen's post here does contain some reliable answers to the questions I'd find myself asking. Answers are good -- even if they're partial and flawed, if presented in good faith they're still better than nothing.
And I don't find the tone of this post to be blame-y or excessively snarky or even notably irreverent. Instead it just highlights how some of the fairly mundane details of this story managed to take on a sadly tragic importance.
Similarly, I'm pretty sure that some commenters' attempts to psychoanalyze the perpetrator are hopelessly premature...but I still find those interesting too, especially SarahHeartburn's comments about the very first impressions that students sometimes make.
In short, I see a lot of thought-provoking observations in this post and its attendant comments, and it seems unhelpful and obfuscatory to complain instead about what's not there. (Except maybe the failure to blur out the instructors' identifying info -- that seems worth considering.) I wonder if people aren't just taking their free-floating sadness and anger at this story and aiming it at the nearest target, which Owen happens to be here.
@Motoko Kusanagi: An arrogant blogger who thinks he's funny when he partially blames the victim for living and a university for "causing" the perpetrator to snap.
It's a shitty syllabus and a lame, conservative take on the subject matter. That said, there could potentially be some benefit somewhere in looking for the potential triggers for this guy's totally irrational hatred of women -- this staggeringly smart woman in particular -- and it's possible that this document could provide some insight. This sick young man is obviously the extreme example of a completely unhinged misogynist/anti-semite/general bigot. It is likely that he took the class because he was already those things and thought it would be a good opportunity to visit his anger on his fellow students, to victimize them. But it is also possible that he learned some truth in this class that was powerful enough to crack him once and for all. And it might be worthwhile to know what that is.
@Botswana Meat Commission FC: Maybe to keep Gawker's female readers from taking not only this class, but anything that sounds similar. Just in case. Oh fuck, I don't know. We all know what goes on in a women's studies-type class, right? Why post all this?
08/27/09
Yep, that's redefining something...
08/27/09
08/27/09
Come on, y'all. Show the boy some REAL writing.
08/27/09
08/27/09
08/27/09
05/09/09
And I don't find the tone of this post to be blame-y or excessively snarky or even notably irreverent. Instead it just highlights how some of the fairly mundane details of this story managed to take on a sadly tragic importance.
Similarly, I'm pretty sure that some commenters' attempts to psychoanalyze the perpetrator are hopelessly premature...but I still find those interesting too, especially SarahHeartburn's comments about the very first impressions that students sometimes make.
In short, I see a lot of thought-provoking observations in this post and its attendant comments, and it seems unhelpful and obfuscatory to complain instead about what's not there. (Except maybe the failure to blur out the instructors' identifying info -- that seems worth considering.) I wonder if people aren't just taking their free-floating sadness and anger at this story and aiming it at the nearest target, which Owen happens to be here.
05/09/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
05/08/09
1. When depressed people write to Salon, it's funny!
2. When beautiful women take classes in sexuality they get shot!
3. Fire Shelia.
05/08/09
05/08/09
And posting the syllabus? Why? How is that in any way enlightening? I don't get it.
05/09/09