Damage Already Done

Kathleen Parker deplores the damage the Duke not-rape case has done to feminism -- and the cause of innocent victims everywhere.

Although no doubt it will have an impact in some cases on the margins, however, feminism as a consistent, articulate and honest world view has been in tatters for some time now. The hypocrisy has long been evident to anyone who cares to look -- rife with examples such as NOW supporting liberal Paul Simon in the 1990 US Senate race over moderate Republican Lynn Martin.

Anyone who doubted that feminism (as it's currently practiced) was less about pro-woman principle than left-wing politics and political correctness was forced to confront the truth as all its most visible proponents rushed to defend Bill Clinton in the late '90's.

It's been a damaged brand for a long time, which is why NOW has the credibility of, roughly, Al Sharpton. That's not to say that what's gone on isn't deplorable -- it's just that it isn't a surprise to anyone on either side of the political aisle to find that feminism has gone the way of the civil rights movement . . . as a cause that was once based on real and historic injustices that has devolved into little more than left-wing grievance-mongering.