Feminism, My Oxford Debate, Bill Burr & Terry Gross
How the media creates Tower of Babel confusion
Sometimes the media is like the Tower of Babel.
People aren’t speaking the same language. But in this case, they don’t realize it. In the new episode of They Stand Corrected, how that’s happening with three terms: transgenderism, feminism, and Zionism. You’ll hear that the media refuses to follow consistent rules about what words mean — and that failure is worsening cultural battles.
Fox (of course) is calling Trump the most “feminist” president of our lifetime. (Um, very much no.) Mainstream news agencies, meanwhile, are reporting on a new no-heterosexual-sex movement gaining popularity in the U.S. as a rejection of Trump’s 2024 victory. They call it feminist, a modern version of the classic Greek play Lysistrata. And amid all this there was a contentious exchange between comedian Bill Burr and Fresh Air host Terry Gross:
Terry: The whole point of feminism is becoming equal and getting men who perceive women as less than…
Bill: I'm also being playful, but I'm also not gonna be this person just going like, yes, you are 100% right because you are a woman and you are not flawed…
People are talking past each other. The media should fix this, stat.
I came to this in an unusual way…
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As I explain in this episode, I never sought out the term for myself, but my agent and editor told me my book All In, part of my work busting myths about dads, was “feminist.” Then the Financial Times named me one of the world’s top ten “male feminists.” I was invited to participate in a debate at Oxford. We won! See the video here.
In this episode, why we need to look at how the media handles “feminism” and the controversial term “transgenderism” in order to understand how it applies a different set of rules to “Zionism,” fueling a hate movement.
More on that in the next newsletter, so be sure to subscribe.
This episode, like so many others, was inspired by a listener — in this case, one whose organization brought me to town for a fantastic, sold out event. Thanks much to Amidah Albany!
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JL