Ladies, we are walking incubators, Part 2
Oct. 29th, 2012 10:48 amThis entry is with regards to yesterday's entry on Professor Louise Howard. I thought about doing another Edited to Add, but sufficient time has elapsed that I doubt it would get read. LegionsEagle makes a strong case that the original interpretation was the correct one, and the Telegraph article was probably reporting Professor Howard's remarks correctly.
I managed to have an emotional reaction to the text twice. First reading the link LE provided, and then after![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
minim_calibre brought up the possibility that Professor Howard might have been misquoted. I re-read it, and latched onto the possibility Minim had brought up like a lifeline. My internal thought process was along the lines of, "Maybe she didn't mean it! If she didn't mean it, then I don't have to worry that she's passing this crap along to vulnerable patients, and is generally being someone in a position of influence in women's mental health, peddling crap!"
At no point did I engage critical thinking skills or look outside of the article to see whether another news outlet was reporting Professor Howard's views differently. I screwed up. And I putlegionseagle in a difficult position, associating her with my own emotional rather than critical reaction to the text, thereby unintentionally implying that she too had engaged with the text solely on an emotional level, rather than an emotional and critical level. My utmost apologies to her.
My apologies as well tominim_calibre. She suggested a different possible interpretation of the text, but I was the one who glommed onto it and ran with it. For reasons which had little to do with the nuts and bolts of Minim's suggestion and had a lot more to do with making myself feel better.
I'd like to point out that I'm probably playing into gender stereotypes when I 'fess up that I find it difficult to look at something critically at the same time that I'm having an emotional reaction to it. That's something that's commonly attributed to women. I know lots and lots of women who can have a strong emotional reaction to something they read and still evaluate it critically. Alas, I'm not usually one of them.
Short version: I screwed up. Like the Cylons, it has happened before, and it will happen again. Be warned!
I managed to have an emotional reaction to the text twice. First reading the link LE provided, and then after
minim_calibre brought up the possibility that Professor Howard might have been misquoted. I re-read it, and latched onto the possibility Minim had brought up like a lifeline. My internal thought process was along the lines of, "Maybe she didn't mean it! If she didn't mean it, then I don't have to worry that she's passing this crap along to vulnerable patients, and is generally being someone in a position of influence in women's mental health, peddling crap!" At no point did I engage critical thinking skills or look outside of the article to see whether another news outlet was reporting Professor Howard's views differently. I screwed up. And I put
legionseagle in a difficult position, associating her with my own emotional rather than critical reaction to the text, thereby unintentionally implying that she too had engaged with the text solely on an emotional level, rather than an emotional and critical level. My utmost apologies to her. My apologies as well to
minim_calibre. She suggested a different possible interpretation of the text, but I was the one who glommed onto it and ran with it. For reasons which had little to do with the nuts and bolts of Minim's suggestion and had a lot more to do with making myself feel better. I'd like to point out that I'm probably playing into gender stereotypes when I 'fess up that I find it difficult to look at something critically at the same time that I'm having an emotional reaction to it. That's something that's commonly attributed to women. I know lots and lots of women who can have a strong emotional reaction to something they read and still evaluate it critically. Alas, I'm not usually one of them.
Short version: I screwed up. Like the Cylons, it has happened before, and it will happen again. Be warned!
