I was reading some feminist writing
which spoke of being "committed" to feminism. It said that if you are
committed to feminism, then you will believe and behave in a certain
way. And if you don't believe and behave in a certain way, then you
aren't committed. (And that would be bad.)
I may
speak sometimes of being "committed" to feminism or atheism, but that is
merely a description of how strong my opinions are. I do not believe
in literally committing to a worldview.
Framing
commitment as a good thing is much like framing doubt as a bad thing. It's an obvious overgeneralization. How can it be good to be
committed to X, regardless of what X is? How can it be bad to doubt Y,
regardless of what Y is? Presumably if you doubt something, you think
that thing is wrong and therefore it is good to doubt it. Presumably if
you are not committed to something, you think that thing is wrong and
therefore it is bad be committed to it. Doubt and commitment are both
neutral.
I have a lot of very feminist views, but I do not think they are correct because
they are feminist. When we examine an issue, yes, all relevant
feminist insights should be brought to bear, but I do not ask myself,
"What Would a Feminist Do?" If my view on a subject disagrees with
feminist "tenets", then so much the worse for those tenets. I
would say the same about all my beliefs, no matter how strongly they are
held.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
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