Talk:Feminazi

(Redirected from Rush Limbaugh/Feminazi talk)

User:Taw changed the wording from 'followers' to 'listeners' suggesting that everyone who listens to Rush uses the word. That's certainly not accurate. I listen to him sometimes, but I don't agree with him. And I don't use that word.

--User:Jimbo Wales

The article states: "It is not meant to suggest that radical feminists actually share the same beliefs as the German Nazis, as the National Socialist German Labor Party actually opposed feminism."

While this reasoning is sound, we see no evidence that Limbaugh does indeed make this argument. As is, it is an argument of the "It is not so because it cannot be so" type, i.e. "Limbaugh is of course aware of the horrible crimes of the nazis, how could he not?", the implication being that Limbaugh would not deliberately use a term like "feminazi" to invoke images of murderous gestapo troops, some of them no doubt inspired by sado-masochistic pornography consumed by his conservative right-thinking audience.

Present evidence that Rush Limbaugh has indeed clearly separated "feminazis" from real nazis in the article, or I will remove this sentence.

You, of course, have evidence that "his conservative right-thinking audience" consumes (I assume that's the word you would have used had you been paying attention) "sado-masochistic pornography"?

No, that's just my pet theory, that's why I don't include it in the article, smart man. — Eloq.

I'm sure he does intend to "invoke images" of murderous gestapo troops — but it's still pretty clear that he isn't saying that the sort of feminists he's talking about actually adhere to the specific beliefs of the National Socialists. To suggest otherwise seems very odd to me. --User:Jimbo Wales

The point is, we don't know to which extent Limbaugh wants this analogy to apply unless we have an actual quote on the matter.

Well, in any event, I like the way you edited to satisfy all parties. :-) Do you listen to Limbaugh? He may be a big fat idiot, as the comedian says, but he's not stupid. If you asked him "Do you mean that feminists support the same ideas as the Nazis?" it's pretty obvious that he'd laugh at you. :-)

I suppose I can (re)settle this (or at least try :-) since I found an actual quote from Limbaugh, in print, no less (he has also spoken at length about the term on his show using the same basic definition). Other than missing his definition, the article didn't really need many changes, I just touched it up a bit and I hope everyone continues to be satisfied. Since Rush Limbaugh is the main person using the term, I think it is probably a good idea to at least include his definition. There is also a much longer explanation in one of his books (quoted a few places online if you care to read it), but I don't think it would really add much to the quote I selected (it all comes down to the same definition). --Daniel Quinlan

I think that

He found a striking play on words, feminist + nazi = feminazi, which is simultaneously memorable, sardonic and ad hominem.
He is comparing feminists to nazis, wrongly perhaps, for enforcing political correctness.
The terms big, fat idiot and feminazis balance each other rather well.

User:Ed Poor

See also : Rush Limbaugh

It's sad... there seems to be no sweet, nice, feminine, loyal, sincere women in america any longer. They have all been taken by the femminist tide. :(

Okay, I'll go through each of my changes since my last set of changes provoked such a rapid response (I liked many of the changes, actually).

"mocks" -> "refer to": mocks is POV; I don't use the term, but I think some of the people who use it are quite serious about it.
removed "this definition is disingenuous" and "epithet" to "term": whatever, I'll leave in the factual statement that he uses the term otherwise, but whether or not he's using the term outside of his definition would require additional sourcing.
"epithet" -> "term": strive for more neutral language
removed "as when he bristles at the fact that there are Women's Studies departments at almost all universities but no Men's Studies department.": I don't think this really adds to the article, especially not the bristles comment which is as loaded as the feminazi term.
"His listeners" to "Others": Jimbo Wales already covered this. I too, am a listener, but I do not use the term.
removed "like all name-calling" and "intentionally": also POV

I hope this adequately explains my revisions to the changes made after my last set of changes. --Daniel Quinlan 09:09 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Looks good to me. I especially agree with the change to "others", because this term is also used by people who have no connection to Limbaugh and do not listen to his show. I think perhaps some more explanation of common (i.e. non-Limbaugh-related) usage might be helpful. In particular, it seems to be most often used to refer to "militant" feminists, using the 'nazi' portion of the name to drawn an analogy with fascism in general, rather than the Nazi party per se (which is what the "ironic" comment seems to be assuming). Or at least that's what I've surmised from general usage; I've heard this term a lot, and wasn't even aware it was related to Limbaugh, so I think it should be explained in the wider context. --Delirium 09:12 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

A whitewash of what is a term of abuse, by adopting the pretense that it is a term of analysis. But not worth fighting over. — Someone else 09:28 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The term is already noted as a term of abuse. See "pejorative" in the first sentence and also the entire last paragraph. --Daniel Quinlan 09:36 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Delirium, I think your explanation is dead-on and helps explain the "Other" usage much better than what has been previously in the article. Therefore, I merged much of what you said into the article. Going with our impressions (I had to use a "seems" in there) in this article is perhaps a bit risky, but I believe the result is good. Thanks. --Daniel Quinlan 09:36 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I think the current form is reasonable. It's certainly a term of abuse, but I do think it's motivated at least some of the time by a reactionary reaction (can I say that?) to more extreme militant feminism, especially in its caricatured form as man-hating. I've even heard people who describe themselves as feminist explain that they're "not a feminazi", so presumably these people (being feminists themselves) are intending to dissociate themselves from some undesirable extreme wing of feminism (whether real or imagined), which is different from Limbaugh's purpose, which seems to have been just to attack feminism. The distinction of "reasonable feminist" vs. "feminazi" is the one I've heard most often. --Delirium 09:40 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Reverted to last version by Dysprosia, but agree with Someone else that this article is just an excuse for abuse masquerading as analysis. It's unworthy of Wikipedia, but what can you do? To fight for/maintain a reasonable version (which would IMO amount to a wiktionary definition) would probably be a lifetime task for someone without a day job. :-( Bishonen 14:15, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

From the Book

The Way Things Ought To Be, p. 193

"I prefer to call the most obnoxious femniists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern-day holocaust: abortion. There are 1.5 million abortions a year..."

p. 296

"Feminazi: Widely misunderstood by most to simply mean 'feminist.' Not so, boobala. A Feminazi is a feminist to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur. There are fewer than twenty-five known Feminazis in the United States"

It's very clear that the portmanteau coined by Hazlett is different from the primary usage of Limbaugh. It's also clear that the nazi reference is to mass murder, not Hazlett's reference to authoritarianism.

Downchuck 05:39, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)