Letter to the Women's Media Center -- some things never change

The ladies in my life are so important and intelligent, I just had to post this blog by my friend and mentor Jane Bonvillain.

Thanks, Erica

I first posted this note on February 11, 2009 and it is seems relevant to RE-POST this again tonight after watching O'Reilly's segment. This was actually a letter I sent to the Women's Media Center the same evening. Re-posting for your reading pleasure.

My name is Jane Bonvillain. Call me a feminist. ….. a conservative feminist. Just several days before this nonsense with Bill O’Reilly, I was watching the daily White House press conference at which Madame Helen Thomas posed a question to Press Secretary Gibbs asking if the President “believes in the separation of Church & State….?” To which Mssr. Gibbs responded “yes, he does.” Then, the esteemed and aged Ms. Thomas pressed on asking why, then, does the President not close the Office of Faith Based Initiatives?

Legitimate question…..perhaps. However, it came on the day that President Obama spoke at the Prayer Breakfast, and it just seemed to me to be a trivial and a “gotcha” question in a time when this country is dealing with some very, very serious problems.

I was so irritated by her demeanor and question that I proceeded to post to my Facebook status, that I thought “…..Helen Thomas is a troll and should lay off the booze.” (The latter part of that phrase is personal knowledge.)

And, I still stand by comment. Was it meant in jest, allbeit, with a hint of truthfulness? Absolutely.

You all, at the Womens Media Center, have absolutely NO credibility with me, and I dare say, millions of women LIKE ME, who are feminists in our own right but happen to have varying viewpoints of the world and on issues, and can actually not take ourselves TOO seriously.

Where were you all when Sarah Palin, as well as her daughter, were being ripped apart, mocked, and ridiculed, during the election because of their looks, style, circumstances and cadence?

Aaahhh ..... the silence is deafening.

Believe me, there are many more of ME out here than there are of you. The only reason you all get the air time, print, etc., is because the rest of us women – the SILENT MAJORITY – are too busying raising our families, working, volunteering in our kids’ schools, juggling home and work, and running the kids around to their activities.

So, keep up the good work and keep exposing yourselves for the hypocrites you are and next time, try taking on a truly worthwhile issue.

Respectfully,

Jane Bonvillain
Summerville, SC