Wednesday, March 04, 2009

To Puma, Or Not

Liberal Rapture: 'Sexing PUMAs'

"...PUMA is also a Democratic primary reform and feminist movement.

Donna, you lost me after '(1)'. I am a PUMA. I am not a battered woman. I presume you are, and if you need to 'commiserate' and 'vent about the abusers', vent to your heart's content, but don't call that PUMA. The millions of adherents claimed by PUMA are not all battered women stuck in recursive victim-mode. PUMA is public domain. PUMA is all of us. PUMA is me.

I'll repeat now what I told Murphy's coven: You must choose. You can either be a battered women's support group, solipsistic and marginalized, or you can be a broad-based political organization participating in the reclamation of our political landscape. You cannot be both.

Your definition of a PUMA applies to but a tiny fraction of the true PUMAs, so stop calling yourselves that. You're giving the rest of us a bad name.

(c) 2009, by 'tamerlane', all rights reserved."

I am not a battered woman, but I certainly sympathize, and I also think tamerlane has a valid point. If the middle can retake the country, then many of these marginalizing, gender and race based problems will see solutions being offered instead of cliches and rants. We need Pumas to help foster a political system based on mutual respect and rational thought, not the current horrid demonization that happens anytime anyone takes a contrary view.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

May I surmise from your blog title that you esteem moderation?

Moderation, open-mindedness, and healthy debate, were the guiding principles which spurred me to write the piece you excerpt.

Many of us saw PUMA as a "middle way" to steer clear of the scylla and charybdis of the radicalized main parties. Sadly, certain elements have tried to radicalize PUMA itself, and impose totalitarian censorship on words and ideas.

Liberal Rapture (http://www.liberalrapture.com/) where I am but an humble guest, promotes a diversity of viewpoints. We at LR are a boisterous yet thoughtful community, who often disagree but always respect each other. I believe I may have found a like-minded blog here.

I actually admire Donna Darko, and my piece needs to be read in full to get the entire picture, and to know who I am most displeased with. (Contact LR if you would like to cross post.)

Above all, we must keep the discussion free (and sometimes, free-wheeling!) To shut down dissent is to become no better than those we resist.

Bob Harrison said...

I don't know why I never saw this comment-- it's now nearly year since it was left-- but thanks tamerlane for an intelligent observation and I will take up your invitation to visit Liberal Raoture.