Apparently when I recently decried Sarah Palin's use of the word "feminist," I gave some people the mistaken impression that I kill and eat babies for dinner, from the remote sleek black confines of my underground lair where I use men as coffee tables and laugh maniacally - HA! HA! HA! - while shaking a bottle of barbecue sauce over said babies.

Honestly, people.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I love babies!  They go great with fries!  OH CRAP OKAY YOU GOT ME.  

The truth is that, despite what the media frenzy would have you believe, we're all just people.  We're making our way in this world one way or another.  Some of us like one thing, and some of us like another.  Some of us believe one thing, and some of us believe another.

Unfortunately this kind of broad, realistic, "shades of gray" view of the actual world does a darn poor job of getting eyeballs.  I ask you, is that the kind of thing that's going to get people's attention?  No.  What gets people's attention is demonizing the opposition.  

Be suspicious when someone uses the word "they," is what I'm saying.

I'll give Sarah Palin credit for having the guts to call herself a feminist.  As near as I can tell, by her logic Meg Ryan is a plastic surgeon, and mama Duggar is an OB/GYN.  Which is to say, Palin has never done anything to advance the cause of women, although she has greatly benefited by those who have.

Part of the reason the right wing is confused on this topic is that they have been using the word "feminist" to mean "baby-eating maniacal man enslaving supervillain" for the last twenty years or so.  It's only understandable that now that their darling has decided to willingly co-opt the phrase, there should be some scuffling of feet and puzzled expressions.

After all, it was the right's most vocal mouthpiece, Rush Limbaugh, who coined the term "Feminazi."  One of Rush's famous "35 Undeniable Truths of Life" is that "feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."  

I wonder what Rush thinks about all this?  Is he ashamed?  Has he apologized to Sarah Palin for retroactively calling her unattractive and feeble?  I doubt it.  Rush has been slobbering all over Palin's boots ever since the last presidential election; if the man has any capability for cognitive dissonance, I'm sure it's long since been eradicated.

Personally I'm wondering which blatant untruth Palin is going to co-opt next.  Will she claim to be "street"?  From the hood?  Ghetto fabulous?  Will she refer to herself as gay?  Hispanic?  It's hard to say!

So far all Palin has done is tell women that they're strong, like grizzly bears.  Rawr!  Is that doing woman-kind any good?  I don't know; I guess it could be worse.  But personally I kind of think that if you want to do woman-kind a favor, you need to go a little farther than encouraging women to get up on their hind legs, you know?