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Shorter Caleb Posner: Give me my porn, and please stop making me share my water fountain with the dark people

Sometimes I think that dipshit college freshmen PoliSci majors write newspaper columns simply to entertain the feminist blogosphere — and Caleb Posner is no exception. He is really, really angry that “radicals” have overtaken the feminist and the civil rights movements. Feminism, he said, went downhill after 1848, as soon as the little ladies started trying to take away his porn:

In 1848, when the first women’s rights conventions were taking place in America, there was real purpose to them. Women did not yet have the right to vote, nor was there true equality in the law. Early feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought for something noble and worthwhile. But the days of rational, purposeful feminism are long gone.

The insanity began with the second wave of feminism, starting in 1963 with Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, which condemned homemaking as a waste of a life. If that had been the worst thing to come out of it, then I wouldn’t be such a staunch critic of feminism. But it is much worse than that. We saw the passage of Title IX, which now forces schools to make financially and logistically unsound changes to their athletic programs to placate the whims of the fringe. And efforts to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution began, even though the 14th Amendment already ensured female equality with respect to legal and citizenship rights. But perhaps most sickening was their attempt to wipe out the right to free expression by pushing for a ban on pornography. Their justification was based on claims, which to this day remain unsupported by facts or research, that pornography causes rape and sexual deviance, and that the industry is based around coercion and violent threats against female participants, who are unwillingly exploited. This lunacy only lent credence to the platform of religious fundamentalists who were also looking to quash free expression based on logically unsound positions. But the souring of a once legitimate cause is not unique to feminism.

The misinformation is staggering, although I find it most interesting that schools are forced “to make financially and logistically unsound changes to their athletic programs to placate the whims of the fringe” in the name of Title IX. In fact, Title IX only requires that schools show that they’re at least trying to introduce athletic opportunities for girls and women — and no school has ever been penalized for non-compliance.

But what really chafes Caleb is the porn thing. Of course, anti-porn feminists didn’t have much success in outlawing pornography and the Sex Wars created a giant rift within the feminist movement itself, but that’s all peripheral; all Caleb knows is that somewhere, some hairy bitch is wagging her finger at him for touching himself. And that makes all of feminism’s other goals — equal pay, reproductive justice, health care, legal reform of sexist laws, gender equality — totally useless.

And our little friend Caleb doesn’t just dislike the fact that he can’t dominate teh bitches anymore; he’s pissed that black people are getting all uppity too:

The same is true of the African American community of the United States. Slavery is abhorrent, and something which this nation’s history is blighted by. And, even after slavery was ended, the level of inequality that would persist for more than a century afterwards was shameful. Segregation and inequality before the law were both wrong, and organized opposition to them was a worthwhile cause. Leaders from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King Jr., who suggested peaceful and rational ways of obtaining racial equality and harmony, were men of great courage that deserve our admiration

Sadly, the legacy of these fine men seems to have long been forgotten. Instead, we’ve reversed the institutionalized racism, such that being Caucasian is now to one’s detriment. What private industry chooses to do is its own concern. But for federally funded schools to practice affirmative action, and for laws to be passed pressuring businesses to do likewise, is just wrong. Naturally, it gets far worse. Political correctness is now so rampant that suggesting that affirmative action is wrong, that the Jena Six are criminals, or that thug culture is repugnant is now seen as racist. Anyone with the audacity to question the standard rhetoric of ultra-liberal organizations like the NAACP can expect a verbal lynching by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Not even Bill Cosby was allowed to question the logic behind blaming all of the African American community’s present day problems, few of which existed until recent decades, on past inequality and fabricated modern racism. Instead, they made it a class issue to deflect attention from the validity of his point.

Because “verbal lynchings” are pretty much the same as the real thing.

Poor Caleb Posner. I mean, he has totally free access to all the pornography he wants, but someone, somewhere, back when he was still in diapers, tried to take that away. And he attends college at a good university, but he has to share the classroom with blacks, who probably took a seat that one of his white high school friends wanted, and should have gotten because, well, that’s what white people are entitled to. It’s a hard life that Mr. Posner lives, with all these radical feminists and crazy black folks fucking up his God-given privileges. So on behalf of all of us, Caleb Posner, you have my apologies — and I hope that future employers who Google your ass (at least some of whom will be the dreaded women and people of color) feel the same way.


53 thoughts on Shorter Caleb Posner: Give me my porn, and please stop making me share my water fountain with the dark people

  1. Is he any relation to Judge Posner, the conservatarian who came out in favor of a return to decent, old-fashioned, centrism (instead of this radicalized blogosphere hurly-burly) in the NYT last year or so, AND in favor of torture in an editorial published in an Oxford University Press anthology ?

    Because if so, then apples and trees and all that.

  2. Checking out Posner in Case’s search engine shows that his columns are regularly incindiary.

    And, in the interest of providing further context for discussion, some stats, provided by CWRU.

    Racial stats at Case are relatively difficult to come by. This is what I was able to find after a bit of poking around:
    http://www.case.edu/president/cir/fafpdfs/studethnicbyschool.pdf
    Case Western Fall 2007 Enrollment by Ethnicity
    Undergrad- African American 6%, White 60%

    In this same Freshman class, men outnumber women, 60%/40%
    http://www.case.edu/president/cir/fafpdfs/studenrollbygen.pdf
    (I give those 2 in the prejudiced assumption that Posner is white, and African Americans are the racial group he specifically attacks. Those interested should check out the pdf and see the full racial breakdown).

  3. Instead, we’ve reversed the institutionalized racism, such that being Caucasian is now to one’s detriment.

    This would be HILARIOUS if so many people didn’t actually believe it. As it stands, it’s just completely and utterly depressing.

  4. If Caleb Posner is a traditionally-aged college freshman, then he was born in 1988 or 1989. Was he even in diapers–was he even a gleam in anyone’s eye–when someone tried to take away his access to pornography?

    Karen (who was not all that politically aware herself, back in the late 1980s)

  5. Not surprised he loves him some Booker T. Washington.

    While Washington was a leader and against the racism and prejudice of the day, they didn’t call him “The Great Accomidator” for nothin

  6. I find it amusing that the Posner’s of the world are so willing to praise feminists and the civil rights struggle as long as the people involved are conveniently dead. Had he written this forty years ago MLK would be a dangerous radical. Here in California affirmative action is dead thanks to insecure little twerps like Posner

    What a annoying whiny putz he is

  7. Well, maybe he has a bright future ahead of him as a political talk show host, like Tucker “it’s okay that the U.S. is way behind in representation of women in government, since women don’t really want to get involved in politics because they have real things to do” Carlson.

  8. I just sent his newspaper a politely worded request that he should not be published until he rectifies his profound ignorance of modern history by taking a couple of courses.

    I don’t expect a reply, but really. Has this little fool been living unde a rock? And what is someone who isn’t even twenty doing spouting off about pornography? He’s barely of legal age to view it, let alone complain about the alleged lack thereof.

  9. What private industry chooses to do is its own concern. But for federally funded schools to practice affirmative action, and for laws to be passed pressuring businesses to do likewise, is just wrong.

    *headtilt* You know, I had to read that like five times and it still doesn’t quite make sense.

    Doesn’t the standard “I know jackshit about anything” argument run: “Well, I don’t care what the public institutions like schools and the government do but the private sector should be able to do what it likes!”

    ???

  10. Ever noticed that the worst ones seem to be the freshmen? There are two regular op-ed writers in my campus’s paper — one is an upperclassman with a fairly centrist (really center, not the ‘new center’) viewpoint, the other is a freshman who writes the most shrill conservative screeds full of logical holes…

    Maybe there’s something to the whole ‘liberalizing influence of colleges’?

  11. Just out of curiosity, why is he so exercised about Andrea Dworkin’s attempts to ban pornography in the ’80s when there are perfectly good examples of conservative white men attacking pornography today? And how is Andrea Dworkin the real issue, when most of her political allies in that fight were conservatives?

    This kid is a perfect example of why we need more affirmative action: he’s just taking up a chair that some bright working class African American or latino teen wasn’t able to afford. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, people.

  12. I know they don’t teach much law to freshmen poli sci majors (and Caleb is only in his first semester), but his argument that the 14th Amendment solved everything [“And efforts to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution began, even though the 14th Amendment already ensured female equality with respect to legal and citizenship rights.” has some significant roadblocks. Like Minor v. Happersett (1874) (14th Amendment does not protect a woman’s right to vote). And the fact that the 19th Amendment was required to protect women’s suffrage.

    Let’s not kid ourselves that the 14th Amendment was the same thing as the ERA.

  13. The majority of people with graduate degrees are liberals for a reason: education has an incredible ability to liberate the mind.

    And yes, this fool will go far. He is the perfect mascot for the WPM (white privileged male) crybaby posse.

  14. Goodness. He’s a piece. Erm, I mean, a piece of work. I’m sure the AEI has a fellowship waiting for him, once he graduates and deals with whatever indiscretions might or might not have occurred.

  15. Rant time!

    “Instead, we’ve reversed the institutionalized racism, such that being Caucasian is now to one’s detriment.”

    How can being in an unequivocal position of power be to ones detriment? How can you deny the inequalities you see daily and still try to make out you’re the victim! It beggars belief.

    “What private industry chooses to do is its own concern.” And therefore absolved of all responsibility? I would sincerely hope not.

    “their attempt to wipe out the right to free expression by pushing for a ban on pornography.” Well if that’s your idea of ‘free expression’ then democracy is wasted on you, since the only thing you’re ever likely to have a valid opinion on is playmate of the month.

    Is it 1950 already? Where does the time go….

  16. Huh…

    I always wondered what one of 4chan’s /b/tards would sound like in the off-line world. I now know.

    What a Wackadoo. Undoubtedly in the running for posterboy of white male private university student privilege.

  17. Woo hoo! My alma mater is finally catching up in the publically-outed offensive student newspaper stakes!!! Totally not suprised by this guy. Case is full of kids from small Midwestern towns who never saw a non-white person in real life until the day they arrived in Cleveland. The racial stats posted sound WAY more diverse than when I went there (the gender is also a bit more even), but even then I heard the white kids talk about how campus was sooo diverse. Also a very conservative and Christian campus. National Coming Out Day postings were defaced every year to say that teh gays were going to hell.

  18. Well, he certainly knows how to write a freshman essay. Except for an awkward sentence or two, he does pretty well.
    Unfortunately, the content is weak. On that basis, I can only give it a C-.

  19. What a moron. The CWRU poli sci majors were always the ones suffering from head up ass syndrome.

    Being an alumnus of CWRU, I will share a few fun facts:

    The pr0n loving boys at CWRU have nothing to whine about…sadly, at least in my day the network was always full of free, shared, easily accessible pr0n.

    The gender breakdown seems even worse than it is, especially in engineering
    In my day, ignorant people would call security on the African American male students because they assumed they were not students.

    So, in sum, the environment of my alma mater probably doesn’t help this tool very much…

  20. If you’re looking for douchebags who write for college papers look no farther than UNL’s Luke Fischer, who writes for the Daily Nebraskan. His latest column was all about how pacifism doesn’t lead to peace.

  21. As a former Case student….God in heaven, Caleb would do well to look around the neighborhood he goes to school in. He would do well to notice who serves him his food in the dining halls, who sweeps up and dusts the lecture buildings, who cuts the grass, who takes his pass in the parking lots. If he got his head out of his ass, he would notice that Case is located in an almost entirely low income black area, yet almost none of the students or faculty are black. Almost all of the people doing the grunt work of keeping the campus running ARE, though. The incredible racial discrepancy of white and Asian kids filing along being served by black people always made me want to throw up a bit.

    What a fucking fool.

  22. Laughable essay considering that porn has been available on college campuses when I was present in the mid-late 1990s. As far as most of my older friends and Profs who attended colleges in previous decades were concerned, there has been an explosion in the level of access, quantity, and variety of pornography since the 1950’s along with increasingly open tolerance of its use. They’d be wondering what’s he fussing about.

    As for his rant about “reverse racism”, I detect possible bitterness caused by his/his White friends rejections by a higher ranked/Ivy-level institutions along with jealousy at seeing other kids, especially “undeserving minorities” gaining admission with lower grades/standardized scores. Like the White and Asian-American high school classmates who ranted along similar lines, they never bothered to consider whether there were other weaknesses in their applications such as crappy/trite essays or exaggerated/”faked” extracurriculars detected by admissions.

    Incidentally, I attended a small liberal arts college outside of Cleveland. Once there were two college classmates from one progressive human rights group who were mercilessly hounded in forms ranging from loud campus protests to students screaming in their faces everywhere they went for putting up posters saying “Genocide Sucks” by another progressive group on the grounds that this trivialized genocide when the classmates concerned were actually trying to initiate an anti-genocide protest. If Caleb Posner was dumb enough to write that screed in the college paper when I was there, I can’t begin to imagine how much more hounding he would be subjected to as a result.

  23. I am wondering if he is any relation to Gerald Posner, the WANKFEST who wrote the LAFFABLE tome “Case Closed”.

    Probably the young man is grooming himself to get paid big bux for disinformation work, just like his old man.

  24. Yup. Speaking as a porn positive feminist male, I’ve seen several feminists criticize pornography, but in recent years the only efforts I’ve seen to actually outlaw it have come from right wing, white, male, Christians.

    Like, for example former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who, prior to 9/11 had made anti-porn crusading one of his top priorities, and following 9/11 continued to put agents who could have been employed in finding terrorists to work looking for ways to prosicute porn producers. Yet Mr. Ignorance there is throwing a hissy fit about feminists.

    Like the pro-lifers, it simply shows that his goal isn’t keeping porn legal, but keeping women “in their place”. If you like porn, oppose the Republicans, not the feminists.

    Of course, he, like so many conservative twits, seems to equate “criticizing something” with “wanting to outlaw something”.

  25. Wow. He is the epitome of white, male privilege. There should be an award.

    I’m pretty sure that in this society, being the epitome of white, male privilege is its own reward.

  26. But for federally funded schools to practice affirmative action, and for laws to be passed pressuring businesses to do likewise, is just wrong.

    Oh, it’s just wrong. Thank you, Caleb, for your intense reflection and eloquent prose; the strength of your complex analysis has swayed my silly lady brain, and I am forced to agree with your conclusions.

    I mean, it’s just wrong. Can’t argue with that!

  27. I’m glad a few people pointed out Case’s location–right on the edge of East Cleveland, which is essentially the “ghetto.” I’m really stunned by the low level of African American students there…but I don’t know why. I shouldn’t be surprised. 🙁

    (exholt, which small libarts school outside of Cleveland did you attend? B/c I went to one in that area, too.)

    The myth of “reverse racism” needs to die now, pls. Ditto the “privilege” of being female (though there are a few–I’ll admit that much). I would like to make every person who bitches about being white and male have to spend the day as a woman of color. Or just a person of color.

  28. It’s not particularly better in the so-called progressive left. Check out this old open left thread

    I really liked your points on that thread, bittergradstudent.

  29. But Mommy, I want to get into the best college and jerk it to big titties and never have anyone criticize me!

  30. alsojill,

    I went to Oberlin College, a liberal arts college with a politically active progressive radical left student body.

    I added the radical part mainly because I sparred with quite a few upper/upper-middle class suburban American Marxist/Maoist classmates in Chinese history and politics courses who attempted to downplay the negative effects of Mao Zedong’s policies such as the Hundred Flowers Campaign, The Great Leap Forward, and The Cultural Revolution. This was galling as I had family who lived and suffered through such events. The Profs on average were quite open minded and welcomed my comments, however irksome it was to those “Gucci Marxists/Maoists”.

    Considering how politically active and radically left the majority of the student body were, I cannot begin to imagine how much more hounding they would subject him to given the amount of hounding I saw two progressive anti-genocide classmates were subjected to for the “Genocide Sucks” posters at the hands of another progressive group. Nevertheless, if this hounding does happen at CWRU, I can think of few people more deserving than Caleb Posner for the idiotic essay he wrote in the school paper.

  31. I’m so happy to see this being covered.

    On Friday my sorority sisters tried to keep me from reading the paper so I wouldn’t be any more irritated than I already was (I was stressed out because I was running an event for FMLA)…but eventually I got to reading it and…well. I don’t think I need to explain my reaction.

    I rather want to write a response to that, but I’m not totally sure what to write. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

  32. also, maria, as a current student I would say that the environment might be a little bit better than when you were here, not much, but a little. There are more women in general than there used to be…though, I don’t know how long ago you were here so…maybe it isn’t better. But please, don’t hate on the poli sci majors…sure there are a lot of assholes…but we’re not all that bad, really.

  33. I’m glad a few people pointed out Case’s location–right on the edge of East Cleveland, which is essentially the “ghetto.”

    We put some of our toniest inner-ring suburbs right around East Cleveland, bus accessible so the help can always get where it needs to be. So if you’re thinking this guy is an oblivious douche, multiply your disdain by about 10x to make sure you’re feeling enough. You can’t not notice it in that part of town; no one’s even trying to hide the race/wealth disparity. It’s really, really, really obvious.

  34. We put some of our toniest inner-ring suburbs right around East Cleveland, bus accessible so the help can always get where it needs to be.

    Oh, God. I’d laugh if it weren’t so hideously true. My best friend lives in East Cleveland, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the area over the past six years. It’s…what’s really sad is how gorgeous many of the houses are, and how run-down it is. But what do you expect of a city that’s been in a financial emergency for more than a decade? (Of course, even the slightly more upscale inner suburbs–I’m thinking University Heights and Cleveland Heights (arguably)–are still more diverse than Case’s whitewashed campus would allow you to believe. Shaker, I imagine, is probably very pale.)

    I went to Oberlin College, a liberal arts college with a politically active progressive radical left student body.

    Ah, Oberlin. Didn’t go there–didn’t even apply, though I can’t remember why not. Wooster wasn’t exactly a bastion of radical progressive politics, but I was mostly okay with that, since I’m not a radical. What was less okay was the utter lack of diversity, but that’s a little more explainable when the college is basically in the middle of a cornfield.

  35. Ah, Oberlin. Didn’t go there–didn’t even apply, though I can’t remember why not. Wooster wasn’t exactly a bastion of radical progressive politics, but I was mostly okay with that, since I’m not a radical. What was less okay was the utter lack of diversity, but that’s a little more explainable when the college is basically in the middle of a cornfield.

    Alsojill,

    How was Wooster? What did you study? Coincidentally, the college convocation speaker at my college one year was Ronald Takaki, a renowned Asian-American Studies Prof at Berkeley who is an alumnus from your school.

    Ahhh…cornfields. Actually, we had them too….a 10-15 minute walk from campus. That along with its isolation due to a lack of reliable public transportation was one reason along with its reputation for being a bastion of progressive radical left student activism for many high school classmates to immediately dismiss the college from consideration.

    In my case, the combination of a substantially generous college sponsored scholarship, its strong academic reputation in the fields of History and East Asian studies, and its long historical association with China all served as a huge draw. It also didn’t hurt that there was a nationally renowned Music Conservatory and College Art Museum…though an obnoxious minority of the resident “Connies” and art enthusiasts had a tendency to be extremely condescending to those of us who were not aspiring professional musicians or art connoisseurs.

    Ironically, while Oberlin’s administration has seriously tried to encourage and support more diversity, the campus was still mostly White and upper/upper-middle class. Though most students attempted to be supportive and accepting of people’s differences, I’ve encountered instances of strong class tinged with a smidgen of racial privilege. This often took the form of their patronizingly assuming that working-class classmates like myself who attended public schools in urban areas, especially racial minorities, may not be as well prepared for Oberlin’s rigorous academics. Some were not too happy when they found that we could more than hold our own in class discussions, exams, and papers. Assuming Caleb Posner has the same mentality, he is in for a very rude awakening.

    As for CWRU’s campus, I’ve only seen it once when I was passing through the campus while on a rare weekend trip to Cleveland. Don’t know too much about it beyond what I’ve heard from one college friend who dated someone there.

  36. Jill my only respectful disagreement with you is on your implicit premise: that this fellow merits a response and linkage on your part. Other than my disagreement about the “subject matter jurisdiction” of this Mr. Privilege’s tripe to reach above his college newspaper, bravo.

  37. So, we’re picking on 18-year-old college freshmen now?

    Seems a bit unfair. On the other hand, he’s probably thrilled that *finally* some women are paying attention to him.

  38. I guess Caleb does not know that 15% of each class at the averege Ivy is made up of white students with lower grades and SAT’s than the rest of the class but who are legacies, rich, well connected, etc. I’d like to see him write a column railing against THAT practice which has been going on for hundreds of years.

  39. I guess Caleb does not know that 15% of each class at the averege Ivy is made up of white students with lower grades and SAT’s than the rest of the class but who are legacies, rich, well connected, etc. I’d like to see him write a column railing against THAT practice which has been going on for hundreds of years.

    Agreed. One Ivy language Prof from whom I took a course has told me that some of the worst students he has taught in his 20+ years had been upper/upper-middle class legacy and athletic scholarship students who could not be bothered to put in more than the bare minimum effort in their studies.

    A younger WOC classmate had the displeasure of having her middle and upper-level econ courses dumbed down at my college due to the lack of adequate preparation/effort by several upper-class White kids who seemed more interested in discussing their vacation trips to exotic locales under the cover of “volunteering” than in applying themselves academically.

    These cases among others is one reason why I think being admitted solely/mostly due to one’s legacy status should be completely abolished. If upper/upper middle-class kids with all of their family resources are not able to compete on their own merits in the application process without resorting to this form of academic nepotism, they have no business being admitted.

  40. BINGO, Brad!

    Yes, the anti-porn feminists have complained about Playboy and Playgirl. But I don’t see NOW and the other anti-porn feminists trying to outlaw the material. In case if you’re wondering, there are feminists who are also part of the National Coalition Against Censorship. The only ones I’ve seen trying to outlaw porn has been the far-right lunatic fringe. And the far right thugs have effectively outlawed one form of porn in two states: sex toys. Of course, you all know about the sex toy bans that rogue state governments in Austin and Montgomery rammed through a few years ago, only to have equally rogue activist judges on the Supreme Court to uphold both bans just last month. This is more proof that it is the neocons want to ram their views down our throats against our will.

    Here is proof that censorship of any kind hurts women:

    http://www.ncac.org/sex/Censorship_Hurts_Women.cfm

    And Caleb must be part of the KKK. He is furious because he and his racist, sexist ilk is getting pwned by us progressives. And Caleb would love to see black people go back to Jim Crow and women be subjugated in America just like they are in Nicaragua and Iran.

    BTW, Kristen, there is an award of Caleb. In fact there are three. They are called Asshole of the Week, Asshole of the Month and Asshole of the Year. Caleb is definitely an Asshole of the Week nominee.

  41. THE FRINGES???? Female athletes are THE FRINGES? Tell that to the 10% of my former high school’s population who ran cross country. And that’s just one sport. Title IX and the related gains in sports for women in high school and college are part of the reason I’m a (reasonably) self-actualized human being. Not only that, but it’s not as if Title IX keeps dudes from playing sports, an assumption that gives me urges towards violence. Women’s basketball at my university will never have as much money as the men’s team, but since women have the opportunity to play field hockey (where skirts are part of the uniform) we’re suddenly overpriveleged.
    And Spungen, I’m 20, and am therefore totally allowed to “pick on” an 18-year-old.

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