This message was self-deleted by its author

[Warren DeMontague]

34. I didn't say I didn't understand WHY she might be uncomfortable with a man in an elevator.

What I did say was, if she was going to be uncomfortable anyway, why would him asking her if she wanted to get a cup of coffee make it MORE uncomfortable, and why should we pillory him for it?

It sounds like his real offense was being a man in an elevator, period. Anything above and beyond that, well, she apparently had every reason to be uncomfortable no matter what.

Would it have been better for him to lurk silently in the corner? He struck up a -by all accounts, friendly- conversation with her. He made an overture, she turned him down, and that was (and should have been) the end of it.

I do understand. I think it probably wasn't a good place for him to try to ask her for coffee. He sounds like a fairly socially inept putz. As I said elsewhere, when I am in public, or, say, in a situation where a woman might feel vulnerable in that fashion, I go out of my way to make that person feel as secure as I can.

So let's be clear: When you come in here and address me directly, it's not about me "not trying to understand", it's about me not toeing your ideological line on this, sort of like how I don't toe your ideological line on how pictures of naked people fucking are supposed to be the greatest instrument of oppression and societal harm since slavery. Let's not kid ourselves.

And let me get this straight; if I don't take this AS SERIOUSLY as you demand I take it, I'm somehow being hurtful? But it's okay for the HoF group to high five and cheer and gush ecstatic about the "brilliance" of Valerie Solanis fantasizing about killing billions of men?

How the fuck does that work?