Thursday, September 18, 2008

Top 5 Things I Learnt About Feminism from Conservapedia

Conservapedia is a clean and concise resource for those seeking the truth. ...

No other encyclopedic resource on the internet is free of corruption by liberal untruths.
- from the About Conservapedia page on Conservapedia.com
According to Conservapedia, feminists:
  • oppose chivalry and even feign insult at harmless displays of it
  • shirk traditional gender activities, like baking
  • detest women who are happy in traditional roles, such as housewife
  • prefer that women wear pants rather than dresses, presumably because men do
  • seek women in combat in the military just like men, and coed submarines
Coed submarines! The horror! Funny, none of the self-proclaimed feminists I've had the pleasure of dating have minded my displays of chivalry. And I've met some fabulous feminist bakers. And knitters. You get the point. 

You could argue that I've been selective in what I've pulled from the entry. But that's the point. The fact that any of this nonsense survives in the entry at all undermines the seriousness and authority of the enterprise.
Neither is Wikipedia a "liberal" version of Conservapedia. I'd be happy to critique a genuinely liberal version of an Encyclopedia for its misrepresentation or emotionally loaded presentation of facts and for making stuff up, as well. It's that principle that makes me a reluctant visitor to Huffington Post, et al.

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