The Hobbesian

2009-05-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well well well. You'd think there haven't been any stories to get riled up about in the last year and a half. There have been, of course, and much heartache has been suffered by yours truly, but life is busy and sometimes I get tired of expressing outrage. Too much to be outraged about.

This is a doozy -- Romanian president Basescu's worst moment

2007-05-22T04:17:00.000-07:00

With all due respect for his re-election, Traian Basescu has done something that makes me glad that -- for reasons not in the least political but having to do with my location -- I didn't participate in last Sunday's election - I might have otherwise voted for him.

There's zero chance of that now. I'm worried the only acceptable position for a decent voter is to refuse to participate -- it's just too depressing to give your vote to somebody who has no qualms about calling a woman reporter (Andreea Pana) "pasarica" - "you cunt", basically, though the Romanian term is arguably "gentler." No matter how annoying the reporter might have been (which, by the way, didn't appear to be the case), equating any woman with her genitalia is disgusting and wrong.

You think this was bad? It wasn't even the end of it.

He confiscates her cell phone and gets into his car while the said phone is still recording. In the "private" space of his vehicle, he tells his wife how irritated he is by the aggressive "filthy/stinky Gypsy" - referring again to the woman reporter. He later returns the woman her cell phone, which, surprise-surprise, contains the disgusting remark saved in its memory.

If you think the expression "stinky Gypsy" is offensive in English, you should hear it in Romanian, where it is an institutionalized, naturalized expression that nicely packs Romanian racism against the Roma minority like few other words.

The president, well-liked by 74% of the electorate, has found many supporters who excused his "private" "slip" or even encouraged his "legitimate" annoyance with the woman reporter. The most unbelievable example is the web site for Evenimentul Zilei, naturally, where posters are completely unbothered by and even encourage the president's behavior, while dismissing any accusations of misogyny and racism AND blaming the woman for what happened to her. It's also interesting to watch various TV shows in which several "public figures" express their mild regret that Basescu committed this "slip" and blame it on the fatigue of the re-election campain. BS. What is wrong remains wrong.

No matter how much you love Basescu, his outrageous remarks are a sign that we don't yet have the normal reflexes of a civilized country: when a woman is called a cunt/pussy for doing her job, and when she is furthermore branded in racially humiliating terms, every decent supporter of the president can only react with dismay, disappointment, sadness.

Romanian search terms: rasism, misoginie, misoginism, Evenimentul Zilei, Antena, presedintele Traian Basescu.

EVZ does it again; homophobia is here to stay

2007-04-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, there have been several articles in EVZ that were contemptible and pathetic; I'm too busy to write an entry every time decency is trampled in their pages, but I thought I'd give it another stab today.

Here's a new installment of EVZ's well-known approach to journalism: ""Legatura bolnavicioasa" care l-a salvat pe N.C. Munteanu".

This is an article about Neculai Constantin Munteanu, radio commentator at Radio Free Europe and distinguished anti-communist voice in the 70s and beyond.

It turns out - the horror! - that Mr. Munteanu is gay.

Evenimentul Zilei - or, perhaps more precisely, the article writer Anca Simina - chooses to show its support of Mr. Munteanu from the very title of the piece: "The Sick/Unwholesome Liaison that Saved NC Munteanu". Oh, I forgot. They put that in quotation marks, as in "The Sick Liason." The quotation marks - quoting nothing but their bigotry - are supposed to introduce an ironic distance between the writer and her subject.

Except it doesn't work that way. It is VERY obvious, Anca Simina, that you couldn't decide between supporting the anticommunist and disparaging the homosexual.

What is "sick" and "unwholesome" is the way you guys allow your worst instincts to take over your journalism.

The quotation marks make their nasty appearance another time in the piece when describing Mr. Munteanu's fear of being discovered and blackmailed for the "invisible hump" on his back; did the writer quote Mr. Munteanu? No. She simply found what she thought was a good metaphor. Ridiculous, ridiculous, and tragic.

He is simply gay, Ms. Simina! He is not an unwholesome hunchback. And no number of quotation marks is going to allow you to pass yourself as "ironic." You are simply a narrow-minded, unprofessional scribbler.

EVZ is trying, but its readers aren't

2007-03-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Despite my general mistrust of Evenimentul Zilei,

I have to hand it to them today - they published a piece on "The Cathedral of Hope" from Dallas, TX, and nowhere did the writer slip in any obvious snide remarks about homosexuality. Congratulations to Livia Cimpoeru for writing the article.

[If I'm to be paranoid about this, I could argue that - since the "news" article does not give any news, and it's not listed in the "magazine" or "lifestyle" sections - it was published to incite the Romanian reading public by showing them something that many consider outrageous; in that case, even writing "objectively" about the phenomenon would serve to anger and provoke the public --- if that's what EVZ had in mind, it's sick. But again, until further proof I prefer to think it was just an objectively written lifestyle article]

You see, I feel I need to congratulate someone for performing an act of normalcy; this is how it goes in our media - normalcy is odd.

Here's the text: Catedrala homosexualilor. However, as of right now, the opinions of the first 10 people who commented on the article... are horrendous and deserve no such respect.

No response , no acknowledgement from EVZ

2007-03-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Evenimentul Zilei hasn't yet had the decency to acknowledge the receipt of my letter. I sent it to several staff members, a few of whom are women, and no one has bothered to send a note back. I think this would have sufficed: "I agree/disagree with the article by Silviu Sergiu". But nothing happened.

This whole state of affairs is pretty sad, I would say; it's either that my complaint wasn't credible (did I write in too passionate a tone?) or, worse, that no one gives a damn about how women are being portrayed in the pages of their newspaper.

It could be that some of the staff did feel sympathetic but they are unable - for reasons that are not obvious to me - to take initiative and respond to a discontent reader. Who knows. The net result is that NO ONE IS ADDRESSING THE NOXIOUS PROBLEM OF SEXISM WITHIN EVZ.

Ridiculous sexist article in Evenimentul Zilei

2007-03-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

On March 8th, EVZ published its most despicable article to date: a lovely little piece by Silviu Sergiu called "The Other Women" - "Celelalte Femei".

http://evz.ro/article.php?artid=295325.

The misogyny of this article is so reminiscent of early 19th century advice treaties for young girls that it's shocking it found a place in the year 2007's print journalism. Here's a choice morsel: "it's March 8 [Woman's Day / Mother's Day in Romania], and these lines are dedicated to them: those women who have given up their femininity, choosing to dive into the Romanian mud pit we euphemistically refer to as "the political scene"."

What nerve on the part of these women! To have given up their "femininity" and joined the men in their manly afffairs!

More wisdom from the journalist: "In our local politics there are women whose desire for omnipotence leaves that of men in the dust." hmm.. Omnipotence, eh? The 4 or 5 women in Romanian politics are that ravenous for power and that likely to get it, eh? Then we must do what we can to stop them.

It's not, I quote from Sergiu, "graceful, kind and feminine" to desire power. Furthermore, these women want it, I quote, "with their whole being". This all-consuming passion that our 4 female politicians have stands to destroy everything we cherish! These "women" must be stopped!

The journalist reassures us: "These lines do not stem from a misogynistic drive." How wonderful to know - now we can all give a big sigh of relief. He says he's not sexist, therefore he's not. We have to believe all statements that start with "I'm not racist, but...", "I'm not antisemitic, but...". If you say it, why not, I'll buy it. After all, everything he says about "these women" - without mentioning one single name - can plausibly pass as compassion: if "these women" would just stay out of politics, they'd be spared all the humiliation, the attacks and the nastiness that he contributes to. He only wants what's best for them.

He further says: ""let's talk about those women who, knowingly or unknowingly, forget to behave as such. [give us a list of instructions, Mr. Sergiu, so that we know what women are supposed to behave like - it would make things so much easier for everyone if you just ordered and women just complied], i.e. with grace, kindness and femininity. We must tell them [that's right, you tell them!] they stand to lose the right to complain about their inequality to men, if they fully adopt the sins of these men's behavior." Huh! So, should women wish to speak up with anything but kindness and femininity, they lose the right to ask for equality! That's good to know - women will understand that they need to keep quiet if they want equality. Makes sense to me.

Shame. Shame on everyone who allowed this to be published, shame on those who are silent about it, shame on those who don't undertstand what the problem is.

Shame.

Cuvinte de cautare: misoginism, misoginie, femei, femei politician, Mona Musca, 8 Martie, Ziua Femeilor, Ziua Femeii, Ziua Mamei...