Hoist By Their Own Petard ... Feminists Skewered in Their Own Words

Ned Barnett (c) 2008

Note: This is not - technically - an analysis of a candidate's PR efforts and an exploration of the strategy behind those actions. Instead, it's a book review of a book by Dr. Mike Adams (UNC-Wilmington) - Feminists Say the Darndest Things - that looks at feminists' actions and documents their underlying strategy. This is a remarkably good book.

Dr. Mike Adams is a skilled author and a true satirist, and his latest book is written in the spirit of Jonathan Swift. Adams uses words like rapiers (warning to feminists: rapier is to rape as niggardly is to ... well, to the "n" word - i.e., they don't mean anything like the same thing). This bad pun (mine) is something akin to the real skewering Dr. Adams gives to feminist individuals - and the feminist movement - that are making our college campuses today less fun - and far less instructive - than they've been in the past. Would that there be more honest "insider" assessments of the world of the Ivory Tower today - and, perhaps, fewer "true believers" intent on imposing their views on the world, whether the world wants them or not.

You've heard the expression, "I couldn't put this book down." I feel that way - since it arrived from Amazon on Monday, the book has been my constant companion - I've read it at red lights, waiting in line at the drive-through, in my doctor's office (waiting for my annual physical) and over several meals. It is episodic enough to be read in brief snatches, yet compelling enough to stay by your side - like a bag of potato chips you can't put down - until it's finished. If, like me, it left you wanting more, I suggest Dr. Adams' first book, "Ivory Tower of Babel," or his regular column at Townhall.com: http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeSAdams. However, as much as I liked his first book (hint: a lot) and his regular columns (ditto), I like this latest book even more. It is hard-hitting, to the point ... and relentless in it's successful quest to skewer feminists with their own words.

Other reviewers have itemized the features - but let me highlight a few features, such as:

The lesbian feminist academic who wrote a scholarly paper (published, if you can believe that) on how "queer studies" should be expanded to include love-of-pets (yes, "that kind" of love).

The feminist student who was so outraged at Dr. Adams that she had her daddy write him a nasty note.

The feminist professor who stayed with another professor not her husband (he was also married) at a conference, then bragged about it to her class in vivid detail, then said "what?" when asked if this was academically, professionally or morally appropriate.

The married feminist professor who was hitting on a (male) candidate for a teaching position, and who got outraged at another married feminist professor who was doing the same thing, on the same campus visit.

There are so many more, but half the joy of this book is unearthing the next absurdity.

Beyond that, as a two-times adjunct professor at two state universities, as an administrator at two state colleges, and as the father of a full-time academic professor now in his second major university post, I know from first-hand that Mike Adams' observations ring true. Chapter and verse. Been there and done that.

His wit is sharp, his logic unassailable, his facts clearly substantiated and his targets fairly skewered (usually by their own words and deeds), Mike Adams is in top form. If you have a child heading for college - or if you pay taxes that support a state college - this book ought to be required reading. And, if you have a real concern about today's cultural moral relativity - and want some facts to support that concern, Read This Book!

Here is the Amazon listing: http://www.amazon.com/Feminists-Say-Darndest-Things-Politically/dp/1595230424/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204140512&sr=8-1