“Surely we have had enough of confusing maleness with "usefulness" and other human virtues. If men had a more modest view of what their masculinity ought to entail, perhaps they could move on from debilitating feelings of loss to tackling their real economic and political problems.” IfsMenHumansRealEnoughFeelingsProblemMovingPoliticalLossViewsVirtueEconomicOughtModestMasculinityConfusingUsefulnessHad EnoughTacklingMaleness Author:Ellen Willis
“For a decade Americans have been steeped in the rhetoric of "zero tolerance" and the faith that virtually all problems from drug addiction to lousy teaching can be solved by pouring on the punishment. Even without a Commander in Chief who pledges to rid the world of evildoers, smoke them out of their holes and the like, we would be vulnerable to the temptation to brush aside frustrating complexities and relieve intolerable fear (at least for the moment) by settling on one or more scapegoats to crush. To imagine that trauma casts out fantasy is a dangerous mistake.” WorldHas BeensMomentsProblemWould BeMistakeFantasyImagineTeachingDangerousDrugAddictionCastsTraumaDecadesTolerancePunishmentHolesTemptationVulnerableChiefsSmokeSettlingComplexityCrushZeroImagine ThatRhetoricBrushesFrustratingCommandersPledgePouringDrug AddictionDrug AddictCommander In ChiefScapegoatZero Tolerance Author:Ellen Willis
“Some conservatives have expressed outrage that the views of professors are at odds with the views of students, as if ideas were entitled to be represented in proportion to their popularity and students were entitled to professors who share their political or social values. One of the more important functions of college that it exposes young people to ideas and arguments they have not encountered at home is redefined as a problem.” PeopleIfsImportantIdeasProblemHomeYoungPoliticalValuesSocialViewsShareStudentsCollegeArgumentFunctionProportionProfessorsOddsPopularityEntitledOutrageSocial Values Author:Ellen Willis
“If believers feel that their faith is trivialized and their true selves compromised by a society that will not give religious imperatives special weight, their problem is not that secularists are antidemocratic but that democracy is antiabsolutist.” IfsGivingFeelsSelfProblemReligiousDemocracySpecialWeightBelieverTrue SelfImperatives Author:Ellen Willis