This has nothing to do with “feelings.” We’re talking about real-life experiences, real-life actions, words, and behaviors.
And a person who experiences these things doesn’t just know a “bit” more, they know a lot more than someone who has never experienced something.
While those of us who’ve studied the mortgage crisis for many years might know more about what led up to the crisis, and we might even be able to name the major players who facilitated the events, we don’t necessarily know more about the actual process of being foreclosed on than someone who has gone through it themselves. I can tell you that, after reading about and talking to some of the individuals involved in the process, there are different perspectives and different experiences with the foreclosure process and the larger credit bubble. We might know a lot about it, and we might have studied it, but there is no doubt that our knowledge would grow and our perspectives would be changed by listening to the people who actually experienced it.
Again, original sources matter. There isn’t a single credible social scientist out there who would claim that you can understand a social concept without getting the information directly from the people who’ve experienced it.
But, again, we’re talking about people who have studied AND experienced something rather than someone who has simply experienced it (without any attempt to further educate him/herself). That is not the case with ZK and myself — he is obviously not an expert on sexism, and I’m definitely not a half-wit nor a person with an IQ of 70. There is no question that I have spent far more time researching, reading about, and thinking about sexism and misogyny than ZK. Add to that the fact that I have lived with sexism and misogyny my entire life, and the claim that he would know more than I do is laughable on its face.
And while I cite specific examples of sexism and misogyny, ZK has only stated his *opinion* that my perspective is too biased to be valid because of my personal experience with sexism. He has made no other points, he has not brought any original perspectives to the table; he has only made ad hominem attacks without addressing the issues I’ve brought up (just says that I must have “imagined” them). If anyone is arguing based on feelings, it is ZK.
