Augusta National and the female question
Two rites of spring for many Georgians arrive today: the first round of the Masters in Augusta, and opening day for the Braves (albeit in New York this year). I’m a bigger fan of football than baseball or, especially, golf. But whether it’s because of the length of the season, the arguably greater unpredictability of the game, or simply the fact that it takes place in nature’s own season of renewal, there’s nothing quite like the blue-sky optimism of game No. 1 of 162 for a major league baseball team. (For the record, I like the Braves’ chances of making the postseason as long as we get health from the pitchers and merely average years from the hitters.)
As for the Masters, for the first time in awhile part of the storyline there centers on the Augusta National’s lack hitherto of female members. This once hot discussion was rekindled when a woman, Virginia Rometty, became chief executive of IBM — a position that, because of IBM’s longstanding role as a sponsor of the golf tournament, traditionally comes with the green jacket of club membership. Augusta National’s leaders have long said the club would accept a woman as a member at a time of its choosing. Will Rometty’s ascension at IBM trigger that choice?
Frankly, I couldn’t care less. Many women have played golf at Augusta National, so this isn’t even a question of access. The club is a private organization, and it has as much right to stick to an all-male membership as the Boy Scouts have to accept only boys, and the Girl Scouts only girls. As someone whose own chances of joining the club are only infinitesimally greater than the chances of every woman in the world, I have a hard time getting worked up about it either way. Augusta National can maintain or change its ways and deal with whatever public criticism comes its way. No skin off my back.
What I do find interesting, however, is that this discussion about equal standing for women would be renewed during our era of demonizing “the rich” and “the 1 percent.” Could there be any less meaningful sign of equal standing for any group than the acceptance of one of its members into a private club for the 1 percent of the 1 percent of the 1 percent?
– By Kyle Wingfield
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190 comments Add your comment
Linda
April 5th, 2012
4:03 pm
Obama is a disciple of Saul Alinsky. Organizing the South Bronx quotes:
“Increase militancy by polarizing the situation, by identifying the enemy and by developing the situation in terms of good guys and bad guys.” (p. 89)
“It is absolutely essential to select a ripe target [a person] and build animosity toward him or her.” (p. 228)
This is the basis of Obama’s class warfare, as well as all the other wars he’s started to divide America.
BuckeyeinGa
April 5th, 2012
4:05 pm
It’s a private club..it’s the club decision, which the President bascially said as well. The only thing that can really be done is the PGA stopped having a major there..and that won’t happen.
BuckeyeinGa
April 5th, 2012
4:07 pm
Obama is a disciple of Saul Alinsky
what is your source for this?
ByteMe
April 5th, 2012
4:10 pm
what is your source for this?
Sean Hannity.
Of course, there’s this ironic item in Wikipedia:
Adam Brandon, a spokesman for the conservative non-profit organization FreedomWorks, which is one of several groups involved in organizing Tea Party protests, says the group gives Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals to its top leadership members.
jewcowboy
April 5th, 2012
4:10 pm
“Obama is a…”
I must have missed something…what does Obama have to do with Augusta?
Junior Samples
April 5th, 2012
4:18 pm
Every year it’s the same thing.
Look how pretty the course is.
How will Tiger do?
Green jacket.
Fried chicken.
No women.
Jefferson
April 5th, 2012
4:20 pm
You can’t have class warfare without classes.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
4:21 pm
A fisherman friend of ours bought a cabin on a lake. His wife spent hundreds of thousands of dollars “fixing it up,” using an expensive interior decorator. It was exquisite within 6 months. As soon as she finished, he listed for sale & told the real estate agent to find him a replacement. He had 2 requirements: it had to be on a lake & it had to have dirt floors.
His wife refused to step foot in the replacement. (Thank God!)
Smart women know when it’s appropriate to give space & not to intrude.
HIPPOCRIT
April 5th, 2012
4:24 pm
what if the master’s accepts hot women and they must golf in bikinis………………… then rating would go up………… maybe let half of the LPGA in
MarkV
April 5th, 2012
4:24 pm
Most people commenting here seem to have focused on the legal aspect of the membership. I do not see any effort of the government to force the Augusta National to open the membership to women.
On the other hand, the restriction of the membership there to males only is an anachronism, and sooner or later it will change. There are all kinds of possible valid reasons for any organization to limit the membership based on specific criteria, but the gender separation is rapidly becoming morally indefensible in most cases.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
4:25 pm
Buckeye@4:07, Here’s one. Read under Legacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky
getalife
April 5th, 2012
4:25 pm
“To pay for your retirement??”
Nah, President Clinton’s bubble took care of that.
Love that President.
getalife
April 5th, 2012
4:27 pm
The gop waged class, gender and race wars.
If they attacked you, stand up and fight Americans.
Churchill's MOM
April 5th, 2012
4:27 pm
My sisteris married into a members family. I grew up & my parents live in a house a few hundred yards from the back of the masters. Mother, my kids & I are on our way to Hilton Head for a fun long week end. My Sister is stuck in Disgusta putting up with the party season. My Father & Husbandhave tickets but will probably stay at the house on Clark Hill & drink beer. You could not pay me enough to spend Master’s week in town.
PS I would NOT want to be a member, I think there are only 7 Augusta menbers is is mostly outsiders who simply have big egoes.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
4:29 pm
Buckeye@4:07, Here’s another one.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/294454/still-alinsky-playbook-john-fund
Linda
April 5th, 2012
4:36 pm
Buckeye@4:07, Here’s another one.
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2012/01/23/the-msm-barack-obama-saul-alinsky-and-the-price-of-denial/
carlosgvv
April 5th, 2012
4:48 pm
md – 2:52
We live in such a distorted country that I expect to see talking rabbits and Cheshire cats grinning any day now.
carlosgvv
April 5th, 2012
4:51 pm
Churchills MOM – 4:27
From the spelling and grammer of this post, I’d say your Father and Husband aren’t the only ones drinking beer.
md
April 5th, 2012
5:00 pm
“I thought md was a capitalist, so why are cops underpaid ?”
Because they chose to work for the gov’t……..and we as a society are clueless in our prioities.
I say let them go private and charge as much as their services bear……..and if folks don’t want to pay for their services, so be it……they can do it themselves.
md
April 5th, 2012
5:07 pm
Yep, the gender moral issue is going to eventually force guys to join bachelorette parties and girls to bachelor parties……after all, there really is no difference.
Might be fun getting to join the little hen club when they go en mass to the ladies room for long periods of time………
md
April 5th, 2012
5:09 pm
Next thing you know, some of the above are going to cancel poker night with the guys……it just can’t be moral.
Intown
April 5th, 2012
5:11 pm
“Could there be any less meaningful sign of equal standing for any group than the acceptance of one of its members into a private club for the 1 percent of the 1 percent of the 1 percent?”
I think it still has some meaning. I mean, it’s like even if a woman becomes CEO of one of the top companies in the world she STILL can’t obtain some things. It’s a really really high glass ceiling but a ceiling nonetheless.
BuckeyeinGa
April 5th, 2012
5:16 pm
@Linda 4:36.
He was not a disciple. per your own source
Obama was profoundly influenced by his years as a community organizer in Chicago, even if he ultimately rejected Alinsky’s disdain for electoral politics and, like Hillary Clinton, chose to work within the system.
Just because you agree with SOME things doesn’t make you a disciple.
Whatever
April 5th, 2012
5:28 pm
Same here. Who would want to be there anyway? I like my current friends just fine.
Whatever
April 5th, 2012
5:29 pm
Intown,
These highly successful women can start their own rich club and keep the men out. Who cares?
BuckeyeinGa
April 5th, 2012
5:31 pm
Along the same lines of thinking if someone learned how to drive a golf ball from Tiger Woods..they must be his disciple and will start having affairs with people from all over the country
getalife
April 5th, 2012
5:35 pm
“Obama Solidifying Lead Among Independents in Swing States
April 4, 2012
Barack Obama’s positioning against Mitt Romney among independent voters in 12 key swing states has steadily improved since last year, with Obama now leading 48% to 39% among this group after trailing in December.” Gallup.
Game over.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
5:39 pm
Buckeye@5:16, My source? I gave you 3 sources & could produce more. Evidently you did not even read my sources. The last source quoted several folks from the main stream media. Clinton’s thesis was on Alinsky. Obama TAUGHT Alinsky tactics. They were both community organizers from Chicago. Obama would have never been elected had it not been for ACORN, community organizers.
You were shocked that Obama had ever even been associated with Alinsky. What have your sources of news been for the last 4 years? The book I quoted above was endorsed by Bill Ayers, the radical from whose home Obama launched his political career.
Obama speaks as a moderate, but his actions have absolutely nothing to do with his words, & if he is re-elected, both his words & his actions will coincide, for the first time.
Hillbilly D
April 5th, 2012
5:48 pm
Put me squarely in the who cares column.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
April 5th, 2012
5:53 pm
“Barack Obama’s positioning against Mitt Romney among independent voters in 12 key swing states has steadily improved since last year, with Obama now leading 48% to 39% among this group after trailing in December.” Gallup.”
Sorry to burst your bubble, getaclue, but Gallup polls “registered” voters, not “likely” voters, where the numbers are significantly different.
In addition, polls this far out mean absolutely nothing.
Kinda like your posts.
midtownguy
April 5th, 2012
6:04 pm
Saul Alinsky is required reading in most college sociology, social work, and clinical psychology courses, especially graduate level courses. His use of group dynamics to alter behavior is as classic as Freudian ego psychology.
Cynic
April 5th, 2012
6:15 pm
Getalife, don’t worry the KKK will be at the voting sites dissuading potential Oblamer voters just like the Black Panthers did.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
April 5th, 2012
6:15 pm
What about lib women that used to be men?
getalife
April 5th, 2012
6:15 pm
willard, the newt and his wife agree with our President on this issue.
The gop lost the war on women and now will pander to try to get their votes.
Independent women in the swing states are crushing willard and supporting our President.
getalife
April 5th, 2012
6:19 pm
Not worried cynic.
I am confident with our competent President and happy he brought our country back.
He deserves respect and honor.
MarkV
April 5th, 2012
6:29 pm
“…just like the Black Panthers did.”
Have they found a fourth one, or are they still just three of them?
Linda
April 5th, 2012
6:34 pm
midtownguy@6:04, Alinsky was evil. Your give more proof that our college & university students are being brain-washed by liberal professors, not to mention our elementary & high school students by the progressive doctrine.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
April 5th, 2012
6:36 pm
Respect and honor are earned, getaclue.
At least from people of principle.
The rest of you fawning sycophants can throw things you clearly don’t value at our current Disaster-in-Chief all you want.
gm
April 5th, 2012
6:42 pm
Come on Lets face it, the rep party our still living in the 20th century America can not move forward until these old white rep males die off, Obama is hated by the right because he is not the typical good old boy white male chauvinist pigs.
The first bill he passed was the Lilly Ledbetter act for women, Bush cared less about passing any bills or standing up for women because he was one of those good old boys. Thank God we have a President who has morales, family values and thinks every one should be treated with respect, this is why good with defeat satans rep conservative party””””’
Linda
April 5th, 2012
6:50 pm
Tiberius, would you argue with an empty coat hanger?
Whether you know it or not, you are doing just that.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
April 5th, 2012
6:55 pm
Gary Tuchman at CNN, “We took it into a different room and we listened to it, and now it’s pretty obvious he didn’t say what we thought he said. There was no racial slur.” As a result of this, the entire basis on which the mainstream media has been reporting this story has been shown to be a total lie and made up. They wanted there to be a racial component to this so bad that the New York Times referred to Zimmerman as a white Hispanic for only the fifth time that anybody could find in the New York Times archives.
Another lie exposed and they crawl back under their filthy rocks.
Real Athens
April 5th, 2012
6:56 pm
“would you argue with an empty coat hanger”
Exactly why most contributors on this blog ignore you.
Hillbilly D
April 5th, 2012
7:01 pm
I Report
Whenever I heard the first airing of what you’re talking about, I didn’t have a clue about what was said and after I heard the enhanced version, I still didn’t have a clue. It reminded me of back when they played Beatles’ records backwards. People heard what they wanted to hear.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
7:23 pm
gm@6:42, Until you can realize that blacks are USED by the self-appointed black thugs, such as Sharpton & Jackson, you & blacks will forever be engrossed in the bondage & slavery that these thugs MUST maintain to keep their irrelevance relevant. When have these thugs ever stood up for morals or family values that you find important? Preachers who do not condemn the number of innocent black children murdered by their mothers’ live-in boyfriends? When has Obama ever stood up for the cause that MLK stood for that has been exploited by your new-found “leadership?”
Linda
April 5th, 2012
7:26 pm
Real@6:56, Are you referring to me or Tiberius? If contributors are ignoring me, why are you not among them?
nelson
April 5th, 2012
7:27 pm
There is a kernel of truth wrapped in a shell of over simplification. It makes a great deal of difference whether women ARE to become members of the Augusta Country Club. Just as boys[should belong to the girl scouts and girls in the boy scouts This country was founded on equal opportunity. Constitutional medicine is equal opportunity
Real Athens
April 5th, 2012
7:41 pm
thug [thuhg] noun
1. a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter ) one of a former group of professional robbers and murderers in India who strangled their victims.
Linda
April 5th, 2012
7:47 pm
Real@7:41, You are getting close, but wrong country.
gm
April 5th, 2012
7:47 pm
Linda
If it was not for Sharpton, Jessie the Martin case would have been sweept under the rugged like so many other cases, 2rd Obama is the President of the United States of America and not a civil rights leader.
I never heard Bush come out when white mass murders go on killing spree, have you?
At least Al is out on the front lines with the people, when have you seen the scum of Rush Limbaugh taking to streets and standing up for anything? he makes millions off of low self esteem whites, he gets them fired up while he sits behind his mic and take millions.
Real Athens
April 5th, 2012
7:52 pm
Linda why don’t you tell us how you really feel? It’s OK. You’re among the like minded.