While I think it's a bit of a stretch to liken American-style feminists to the KKK, Mr. Usher makes a well-reasoned argument regarding the Duke non-rape case. I too, noticed that the furor over the matter when it was first brought to public light remains quite a contrast to the utter lack of contrition from those who pilloried the accused men in a rush to judgment. Folks, this is why we have trials in courts based on evidence, not in a mob environment, and this was surely the case here. Those who smeared the accused men were all-too-eager to loudly condemn them based on an unsupported accusation (actually, several unsupported accusations, for the accuser gave several widely different stories). But did they apologize when they were proven wrong, let alone with the same public furor they used to condemn the accused men? To my knowledge, there hasn't been a whisper. I hope the accused men sue the skirts off 'em.
For what it's worth, I tend to be a left-leaning moderate. I'm as anti-Bush as anyone, marching front and center in the local rally on Inauguration Day after he stole the 2000 election. But, while I'm all in favor of gender-fairness (and isn't that what feminism was supposed to be about?), I'm sick of being viewed as an enemy just because I'm unrepentant about having the audacity to be male, and I refuse to apologize for being masculine.
There's a reason I use the phrase "American-style feminism." Females are certainly oppressed in many parts of the world soley because they are female, and, yes, this is largely due to it being easier, in systems without protections, to oppress someone who is smaller and weaker, which, of course, females tend to be. However, these areas of oppression tend to be nondemocratic "developing" countries. If we consider the democracies of Europe, for example, women have the right to pursue whatever professional aspirations they choose, and have the same political freedom males have, but without much of the raving insanity of...