Whither Martha Burk

Granddaddy Long Legs (blog) ^

[cchandler]

It's about time we had a serious discussion about Martha Burk. Come on, you know who she is. She's the woman that, in 2002, inanely tried to compare Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters with racial segregation because it is a male-only private club.

Never satisfied with the publicity, Martha exploited everything newsworthy to reintroduce her plight to the world via the Op-Ed pages. She tried to marry her cause to other issues in a vain attempt to remain relevant. She lost many supporters when she requested that The Masters be cancelled out of solidarity for the war in Iraq, and she lost even more when she repeatedly claimed to be speaking for every woman. As of now, her crusade for gender equity at Augusta National has morphed into an anti-corporate/anti-capitalist rant.

Whither Martha Burk?

In a way, Martha succeeded. Her name is now synonymous with contemporary women's rights, and people assume she heads and powerful, experienced civil rights organization. And she's making waves again right before the 2005 Masters. You can decide for yourself if she's doing it out of passion or for publicity. Coincidentally, she has a new book coming out the same week as the tournament................

[cchandler]

I totally agreed with this part: "What angers me is the double standard and selective outrage at work here. How many women-only sports facilities are there in this country? How many are under fire for being sexist institutions? Would we read about it if they were? Do the same editors who put this story on the front page also see inequality when they take advertising dollars from 'Curves,' a women-only fitness chain?"

[Blzbba]

I wish Martha would protest to the point that the Masters would be 100% Pay Per View. I'd happily pay whatever cost required, especially since that would hopefully mean wall-to-wall coverage (we all missed the entire end to the 3rd round) and less coverage of Tiger sitting on his golf bag at the range, rather than showing the actual golfers on the course.