Shutting down the Conversation

This week I actually turn to our local paper The KSU Sentinel. I highlight them not only because I will likely attempt to write an opinion of my own – for the sentinel- , but also because the story has received international – people from Canada and United Kingdom have commented on the articles – attention. I will analyze this week The Problem with the Men’s Right Movement , published September 16th and article which appeared in the opinion section.

 The article started of quoting from a conference in Michigan. Ms. Howell comments on the bad advertising and marketing of KSU Mens as a non-feminist group. More over social norms in our society create an interesting rule. In the media we see a tendency to protect social norms by attacking ideas and vies we oppose. Phrasing them as the extreme compared to normative view. This very idea in fact confronts the liberal bias we’ve been told exist, as state in the purpose of this blog the media conforms to social norms because it needs the public and the fears the government. Ms. Howell preforms the classic method of avoidance. She states the problems surrounding KSU Mens, but provides no real solutions for solving the problems. While we understand the problems surrounded with this normative societal approach to different things.

However, this approach also has consequences. This only seeks to provoke a started reaction placing KSU Mens and Ms. Howell as polarized opposites. This is one time where “He Said, She Said” journalism would have been helpful. Such would have provided Ms. Howell a position for her critics, which aren’t in anyway off point. However, she failed to paint the picture that patriarchy actually harms men, not because it restricts, but because it promotes a view of dominance that doesn’t actually exist. While speaking out against the shock value of KSU Mens advertising, this article has done nothing more than add to the shock value.