I just received another communication from the Obama-Biden transition team. If you click the message image below you will be taken to the "Open for For Questions" part of the transition site.
Interestingly, if you look for questions with the words "homophobia", "racism", or even "bigotry" questions come up. If, however you search for questions with the words "misogyny" or "sexism", no questions come up. I know this is not because no questions were asked about the Obama administration's plans to combat misogyny and sexism; I, along with hundreds of others, asked such questions, with seriousness and good faith. Apparently though, the transition team cannot bring itself to publish questions on these topics.
I am appalled.
What can one infer from the fact that the transition team is not even interested in including QUESTIONS about these topics? Something far scarier than indifference to them. Rather, there is hostility toward and fear of the topic and those who even raise it.
Despite the fact that 51% of the population consists of women, our incoming President's transition team is unwilling to even post questions about misogyny and sexism. Is it any wonder that so many women and men who genuinely care about women as persons are realizing that we will have to, as we always have to, help ourselves? That's fine, we do what we must. Just as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandis K. Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela realized that they could not depend upon their governments to aid them in the quest to dignify and improve the lot of their communities, so too must we abandon that expectation at least from an Obama-Biden administration.
If the Obama-Biden transition team is not interested in including even questions on the subjects of misogyny and sexism, there is precious little hope the Obama-Biden administration plans to tackle them head on. Join with others who will, whether it be through 51 Percent or through other organizations you believe have that mission.
UPDATE: DECEMBER 30, 8:15. Since posting this piece originally approximately six questions mentioning misogyny or sexism have gone up on the transition team website. Whether they will stay up depends upon whether the webmasters allow "flaggers" to override the questions. At the transition team's site, you can flag a question as inappropriate. Once a question is flagged enough times, it is it seems, automatically removed. Hence, the removal of all the questions I saw posted on the first round that referred to sexism and misogyny. Apparently, many more who visit the Obama-Biden transition team website find any references to sexism and misogyny "inappropriate" than do visitors who endorse such questions. One example of a question that would seem to be in danger of being eliminated is the following:
"What will you do to encourage schools to fully integrate education about misogyny and sexism into their curricula, at every level and across all subjects?"
I was worried about this when they started moderating the Blagojevich comments. Some things are simply verboten.
B[***]rds!
Posted by: madamab | December 29, 2008 at 03:30 PM
I just looked through their proposals for "woman" on that change.gov website, it is deplorable, looks like a programm that might have been proposed 40 years ago, quite old fashioned, one could say!
Posted by: Mirlo | December 29, 2008 at 05:31 PM
ack... I supposed I should not be surprised, but I am. Can they not even answer the questions? Good lord.
Posted by: TeresaInPa | December 29, 2008 at 07:44 PM
So, why don't we formulate two or three well-worded questions to submit regarding sexism and misogyny, and then everyone can vote on them?
Posted by: Equal Rights | December 29, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Mob voting even on which questions citizens are allowed to ask their government? Good god.
This whole election has become surreal, not least from the fact that the Whole Foods Nation that selected Obama seems to have turned into MySpace Nation.
Posted by: Lexia | December 30, 2008 at 01:01 AM
I wonder whether they tag key words such as sexism and misogyny...perhaps we could formulate questions that describe those issues without using those particular words, submit them and watch to see whether they, too, are redacted.
Welcome to Life in the Surreal Lane...
Posted by: truthisgold | January 02, 2009 at 02:11 AM