Posted on by Justin Baragona

Misogynistic Right-Wing Columnist Tells Young Women That They Are Too Dumb To Vote

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In a column that appeared in National Review Online on Sunday, correspondent Kevin D. Williamson wrote a response to a blog actress Lena Dunham wrote where she gave five reasons people should vote. Williamson’s article, titled ‘Five Reasons Why You’re Too Dumb To Vote,’ claimed that the first reason someone would be too dumb to vote is if they got their voting advice from Dunham. He then proceeds to rip apart Dunham’s political leanings, specifically the fact that she is involved with Planned Parenthood and is pro-choice. Williamson also complains at length about Dunham’s HBO series, Girls.

The NRO correspondent exposes his real intentions with his column right away when he complains about Planned Parenthood and abortion. While he tries to argue throughout that his issue is about Dunham’s narcissism and the the childish nature with which she speaks about voting and political issues, his complaint is really due to Dunham being pro-choice and trying to convince young women that look up to her to vote their conscience.

If you would like to be filled with despair for the prospects of democracy, spend a few minutes attempting to decipher the psephological musings of Lena Dunham, the distinctly unappealing actress commissioned by Planned Parenthood to share with her presumably illiterate following “5 Reasons Why I Vote (and You Should, Too).” That’s 21st-century U.S. politics in miniature: a half-assed listicle penned by a half-bright celebrity and published by a gang of abortion profiteers.

It is an excellent fit, if you think about it: Our national commitment to permanent, asinine, incontinent juvenility, which results in, among other things, a million or so abortions a year, is not entirely unrelated to the cultural debasement that is the only possible explanation for the career of Lena Dunham. A people mature enough to manage the relationship between procreative input and procreative output without recourse to the surgical dismemberment of living human organisms probably would not find much of interest in the work of Miss Dunham. But we are a nation of adult children so horrified by the prospect of actual children that we put one in five of them to death for such excellent reasons as the desire to fit nicely into a prom dress.

Beyond Williamson’s rants on abortion, one thing you quickly notice is the pretentious nature of his writing. Later on in his piece, he complains about Dunham’s own narcissism and the self-centered nature of her show and celebrity culture today. Yet, he peppers his column with words like ‘psephological’ and ’empathogenic.’ To see the true nature of his pomposity, just look at the following excerpt.

As a procedure for sorting out complex policy issues, voting is of distinctly limited value: If you wanted to know whether the compressive strength of a particular material were sufficient to support a bridge over Interstate 20, you would not go about solving that problem by bundling that question with 10,000 other equally precise and complex but largely unrelated questions, presenting the bundle of questions to the least-informed few million people you could identify, and then proceeding with whatever solution 50 percent +1 of them preferred. That would be a bad way to build a bridge — a homicidal way, in fact — and though it is a necessary instrument of accountability in a democratic republic, voting properly plays a very limited role. For instance, we have a Bill of Rights, which could with equal accuracy be called the List of Stuff You Idiots Can’t Be Trusted To Vote On. A majority of Americans don’t like free speech? Too bad, Harry Reid.

But for Miss Dunham et al., this isn’t a question of citizenship — it’s a therapeutic matter. Voting, she promises, will offer “a sense of accomplishment,” knowledge that one has done the right thing, even “joy.” But checking a box is the most trivial accomplishment imaginable; having done so is no guarantee that one has done the right thing, inasmuch as voters routinely make bad decisions for evil reasons; and one suspects that Miss Dunham means something different and less by “joy” than did, say, Beethoven or Walt Whitman. “I wore fishnets and a little black dress to vote,” she writes, “then walked around with a spring in my slinky step. It lasted for days. I can summon it when I’m blue. It’s more effective than exercise or ecstasy or cheesecake.” And that of course is the highest purpose of our ancient constitutional order: to provide adult children with pleasures exceeding those of cheesecake or empathogenic phenethylamines.

In the end, Williamson is just upset with Dunham because she is energizing young women to vote. He knows that, for the most part, these women are going to be pro-choice and vote for liberal or Democratic candidates and initiatives. Seeing that, he decides to personally criticize Dunham and her work. He then proceeds to say that anyone who follows her advice is too dumb to vote because they aren’t actually thinking about the issues at hand. Instead, they are just voting because it makes them feel good and important, therefore proving that they are just concerned with what they want, not anyone else.

Here’s the thing. Essentially, voting is about what someone personally wants and desires. One person, one ballot. You get to decide who and what you want to vote for based on your own self-interest. Should people do research and put a lot of thought behind their vote before stepping into the booth? Sure. However, it is still going to be what they personally want.

37 Replies to “Misogynistic Right-Wing Columnist Tells Young Women That They Are Too Dumb To Vote”

  1. Any further proof needed that Repugs are scared of women, particularly smart women? It worries me that some women still vote for the party of women haters. How can they be so blind?

  2. Of course he does not want women to vote. He, along with many Teapugs want women home, controlled, barefoot and pregnant. Do none of them realize there is a global population crisis which will only get worse if birth control and abortion are forbidden? If women are forced to bear more children? And BTW, barefoot and pregnant – what an effective way to keep women out of the corridors of power!!

  4. Mary

    For the same reason that some Latinos still vote Republican. Self hating individuals who continue to vote against their self interest because they have this dillusion that they must be better than someone else. No Respect for self.

  6. It appears Williamson just told his 6 readers that voting is ridiculous and they shouldn’t do it. Which is fine with me. The more people who think the way he does on the issues who feel voting is trivial and decide to stay home on election day, the better.

  7. I wonder how long he spent looking up big words to sound intelligent? Williamson clearly does not believe in democracy.

  8. Modern day Republican leaders know that if women ever decide to vote as a bloc with women’s issue at the core they are doomed, therefore they allow the resorting to the misogynistic and systematic degrading of women via their mouthpieces including such women as Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and the Fox News eye-candy bunch.

    I actually think the GOP brain trust would like to drop these sexist practices but can’t control their Fox News/Clear Channel monsters they’ve allowed to take control of their message.

    While Barry Goldwater is turning over in his grave, Ronnie Reagan and the Bushes still have their patented shit eating grins firmly in place.

  9. It’s obvious that any thinking person would have *my* values (unless he was corrupted by Satan). So we just need to explain better (or if that doesn’t work, drop bombs on them), and they will be enlightened just like me.

    Until that happens, they deserve contempt, but will benefit by wiser people fatherly setting the rules for them.

  10. Shorter Williamson: “Women shouldn’t vote. I can’t get laid because women like Dunham are too dumb to see my obvious superiority, and those who do, are all skags.”

  14. With all of the rage that Kevin D. Williamson feels towards women in general, an educated guess would be that some woman laughed at his tiny penis when he got undressed in front of her for the first (and probably the last) time.

  15. Another misogynist scum bag who hates a women who are
    self assured and strong.He also knows women are going make sure a lot of the geopigs lose in November.

  16. Basically, they are trying to recreate a time when only white,property-owning, ril Chrischun males could vote, or even be considered sui juris.

    Yeah, he wants to hang women for seeking abortions, but never the men who impregnated them.

  17. Look you bald headed go-TEA wearing a$$wipe! When YOU! YES YOU! have to live in the type of world that YOU demand women live in THEN and ONLY then can you open that odiferous orifice and speak. With every word Kevin proves his FEAR of women and HIS narcissism. Here’s how I know when some one is too stupid to vote, #1 If your a guy named Kevin D. Williamson Conserv. Hack! #2 You are a A.Conservative B.Republican C. TeaBagger D.Bible Thumper E.Gun Nut F. FOX NEWS viewer/ NewsMax viewer.

  18. Wow. Keep classy folks. Don’t know what to do in the election? Pick a side and consume ONLY the media from that side. Consider, please, that Kevin is a wingnut…he in NO way represents the majority opinion of Republicans. Grown up American women are probably more interested in how they are going to find jobs, feed their families, and pay their bills, as the workforce has shrunk significantly, and higher and higher taxes are eating into their paychecks, than the campus/bar topics of birth control and who is sleeping with whom. I honestly think most republicans (and I know there is that extreme right element, same as there is an extreme left element) that doesn’t care a snit about who is marrying whom. Since 2009, 90% of Americans have lost net worth, and unrestrained spending on social programs needs to be checked, or we will go broke. That’s not to say we don’t care about people, but at some point, there has to be a line.

  20. This is just their slave agenda. Wait ladies – next it will be we are too dumb to own property. We need to get on the ball so these idiots don’t get elected

  21. The lines are certainly being drawn. Will we eventually live under Sharia law? God Forbid. May we live under the rule of the people until Jesus returns. Let the tares and wheat grow up together. Not until the righteous Kingdom of God comes to earth should we have a theocracy.

  23. Say it to my face, you twit.

    I know how to hit like a girl…it’s similar to the hits that female US Marshall gave a would-be attacker a couple of weeks ago.

    He went to hospital.

  24. That would be the heavenly state all rethugs wish for. Unable to own property, unable to vote, unable to step out side of their home, unable to be educated, does this sound like something we all can recognize? Hmmmmm!!! sounds like the Taliban to me.

  25. folks, im angry and you are all angry at the republicans. use it and get motivated and VOTE on November 4th. about one month away. races are gonna be close. dems need to turnout and vote. if we don’t, it could be the last chance we have to stop the republicans and lunatic radical conservatives. if the senate ends up in GOP hands, they will most certainly begin changing the constitution to fit their radical ideology and theocracy- right after they draft articles of impeachment for Obama and repeal obamacare. recorded video proves one of the GOPTP’s first moves would be to add an amendment that allows non-americans like ted cruz to be eligible to run for the presidency because that clown is not eligible at all to run. he is not a natural born citizen and mommy was a Canadian born and raised while bigot daddy cruz was a communist born in cuba who served the castro regime. VOTE. YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT AND COUD LITERRALLY COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE IN NOVEMBER!!!

  26. I highly doubt the women in Texas (or any other state where women’s rights are being pared away by law) see birth control as a “campus/bar topic,” especially since the biggest group of women who get abortions are married and already have children but can’t afford another.

    As to spending cuts, I’m all for them—once we start cutting the trillions going to defense boondoggles and corporate welfare, and once we start making the wealthiest pay their fair share in taxes. The problem is not spending cuts; it’s that we’re cutting spending in the WRONG places. Hungry children vs. Monsanto? Kids get the food. Trillion dollar plane vs. Veterans’ health? Vets. Tax cuts & subsidies for G.E. and Walmart, or roads and bridges? Infrastructure. Funds for banks or for students? Students.

    I’m tired of us spending several times as much on social programs for big corporations and the wealthy as we need to help those who really need help—let’s try it the other way for a change.

  28. National Review Writer Hates Lena Dunham and Abortion, Likes Hanging On the Twitter doohickey yesterday, the Rude Pundit got into the kerfuffle over the efforts of Kevin D. Williamson justifying why he thinks women who have abortions and the doctors who perform them ought to be hanged. Like by a rope. Until dead. Williamson is a random conservative spoogebucket who writes for the National Review (motto: “When abortions are illegal, we will dance on the bloody graves of women”). – See more at: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/09/national-review-writer-hates-lena.html#sthash.stA3KyWC.dpuf

  29. If Republicans don’t care about these issues – birth control, abortion, equal pay, etc. – then why are they trying so damn hard to put obstacles in the way of women?

  30. Agree – turn the anger into action.

    The loudest voice we have is the one we exercise inside the voting booth.

    I don’t think voting has ever been more important and the consequences as dire as it is for these mid-terms coming up.

    We must speak in the language politicians understand the most: votes.

  31. I don’t know who that guy is, but he has some serious issues and ought to seek professional help…from a psychiatrist who enjoys a challenge and has lots of time on his/her hands to spend with him.

  32. All he is doing is repeating what republicans think and will do if they ever come to total power. They have the SCOTUS and the house. The only thing that is stopping them are they don control enough state houses to call for constitutional convention and we still control the Senate and the Presidency

  33. Women, unwanted pregnancies, abortion. What is missing here? How do women get pregnant? Through men who won’t have a vasectomy. Men are just as responsible for unwanted pregnancies as women are but far fewer men have vasectomies than women have tubal ligations. Why is that? I can think of no more appropriate gesture of gender equality than for all men to have vasectomies after they have fathered two children. The possibilities for “complications” following vasectomy are far fewer than for women after tubal ligation. Real men would take responsibility for their sexuality and support vasectomy as the most effective means of birth control. Oh, yes, and one more thing. To be really certain, they would ALWAYS use condoms even after the surgery to prevent STDs…

    And finally: Kevin Williamson: You are no Bill Buckley.

  34. The “Latino” blanket is one that cover many different groups, in facts all the facets of economic and educational groups,

    The SW Mexicans have been here the longest as the Border crossed them with the Manifest Destiny Expansion. In Texas, due to the back-stabbing moves of the white settlers, the Tex-Mexicans morphed into “Spanish or Latinos” to escape persecution.

    The Puerto Ricans, came after the Spanish American (Teddy’s )war, and heave been second rate citizens ever since.

    The Cubans that exiled during the first wave of the Castro Revolution, were the top 1%, and are just like the other 1%’s.
    Then there were the Marielitos, some were jail-birds and rejects, from lower brackets of Cuba society.

    Then there are the rest of Spanish Speaking groups from all Latin America, that have been arriving at different times, under different circumstances.

  35. NOW! I’m not saying anything about Right/Wrong, Left/Right, Up/Down, Male/Female. I’m just saying, there’s a whole lot of people on the internet that take a lot of bad ideas and advice from a lot of different sources. Be it 4chan, Tumblr, Reddit, or one of the sites listed above. Instead of reading things themselves and forming their own opinions, they allow people to dictate what they should think. Fact-gathering is EASY now, Information age. Five seconds on google, and you can find a lot, a lot, a lot of information that’s unbiased in any way, shape or form that you can form whatever opinions you want about.

    That said, there’s a lot of Biased, on both sides of any argument, websites that portray things quite a bit differently. It’s up to you, the viewer, to extract delicious fact pie from stinky opinion poo. Numbers don’t lie, but Numbers displayed in a Biased way do.

  36. Time to keep going. I’ve read what Kevin’s said, and this really doesn’t seem like something that one should go on the offensive for. What he’s saying is that the reasons that the other blogger presents are Shallow, and self-serving. Voting is supposed to be a Civic Duty. By casting a ballot, we’re deciding the future for our City/county/state/Nation, so if you’re just going to go and voting just to vote, than that’s the wrong reason to do it. He’s not saying not to take pride, he’s saying that people need to educate themselves before just casting a ballot willy-nilly.

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