Competing Views on the Auto Admit Story: Define “Awesome”

Caps Lock: Awesome?

Portfolio Magazine recently did a remarkably in-depth piece on the Auto Admit story.

Never one to let facts get in the way of a good opportunity to make an unsupported swipe, Ann Bartow at Feminist Law Professors, probably one of the most intellectually dishonest “academics” to ever stain the title, crowed “Brittan Heller and Heide Iravani are awesome” and selectively quotes the parts of the Portfolio article that support her chosen perspective that these were “awesome” people.

Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice isn’t sure that Bartow understands the definition of “awesome.” He brings the other side of the debate forward: That Heller and Iravani were simply throwing a temper tantrum in the courts.

Now I may be a bit blind to something, not being as politically correct as some, or perhaps not being as myopic as others, but I fail to see how anyone, regardless of one’s blind devotion to feminist orthodoxy, can call two women who wrongfully and disgracefully destroyed the life of a young man solely because he was the only one they could find to hurt “awesome”. Is there some disease that infects the feminist law professor mystique that relishes harming an innocent 20 year old male, no matter what? (source)

I too find nothing “awesome” about bringing a lawsuit that, perhaps justified against some defendants, was clearly frivolous against others. These “awesome” individuals had to have known that their suit against Anthony Ciolli, “Beach Body Brady,” and Ryan Mariner (“A Horse Walks into a Bar Association”) had no foundation whatsoever – and the claims were questionable, at best, against others. Worse than that, how they conducted themselves post-suit was clearly worthy of disdain, not praise. Read this complaint and ask yourself if the defendants in this action were “awesome.”

While Heller and Iravani started out as the victims of malicious slurs on the discussion boards, they turned it around and went on the attack. The problem isn’t that they stood up for themselves, though many questioned their motives, calling them two elitist, self-centered brats who couldn’t bear not being in control of others. Some suggested that it was this demeanor that gave rise to their problems, bringing the ire and disdain of their classmates down on them like a hail of feces. After all, the attacks against these young women appeared to come from the same people they sat with daily. Maybe, just maybe, some of their classmates at Yale Law School didn’t think as well of them as they thought of themselves? (source)

Witch Hunting: Not Awesome

I agree that the initial online smears against Heller and Iravani were unfair, uncool, and uncalled for — even if they might have somehow invited them (and I have no reason to say that they did invite them). Nevertheless, I find it impossible to agree that they were “awesome,” for how they dealt with it. If you are a victim of unfair treatment, fighting back is commendable. Simply flinging harm at other undeserving parties is not awesome in the least – unless one uses “awesome” in the context of “awesomely poor judgment” or “awesomely foolish” or “awesomely unfair.”