The Tone Argument is sure being flung around here a lot lately. [View all]

I guess the real problem is, feminists just keep getting so angry about feminist issues. It makes people decide they don't want fight to misogyny after all, because those angry feminists were so impolite.

Then someone comes along and hurls the tone argument, trying to silence the angry feminists, saying that anger about feminist issues isn't productive.

Apparently, the most important thing when fighting misogyny isn't addressing actual oppression, it's really more about not hurting the feelings of those who don't see the misogyny to begin with.




The fact that the people using the tone argument have worked so hard to ignore gazillions of thoughtful arguments in order to pick on the people who are fed up with having to explain the same basic things gazillions of times? Well that's not exactly a convincing act. Not by a longshot. Not likely to inspire many to extend any effort toward kindly and gently leading anyone to any knowledge when it's been ignored plenty of times already before the angry uppity feminists get all mean and hostile.



What really stands out to me is the incredible privilege of those who assume that their hurt feelings and irritation should outweigh a discussion of oppression. If they really cared about the issue, they'd focus on the content. They'd understand that it's not about them.