Another “first” for women—only now does Venice become a just and equal city

Howard Sutherland writes:

So it isn’t enough for women to win the “right” to be underqualified fighter pilotesses, policepersons and fireladies. Now a German frau has forced herself on Venice’s association of gondoliers, which has never included a woman since gondoliering began in 1094 (surprisingly precise date, that). Even though she failed the required test three times and, by her own admission, cannot sing the tunes gondoliers are supposed to offer their fares, a regional court in the Veneto has forced the gondoliers to accept this unqualified alien in their midst.

So typical of the liberal/feminist attitude at work. Frau Hai wants to be a gondolier because she loves Venice, the gondolas—the whole gondoliering thing, presumably. It either never occurs to her that by forcing herself into that milieu Frau Hai will change irrevocably what she claims to love, or she simply doesn’t care (and if that’s true, how can she claim to value the traditions of gondoliering?). Selfish, stupid and reprehensible as Frau Hai and the grandstanding fool who hired her are, what can one say of the judges of the regional court who have allowed her to take to the canals despite being both unqualified and unwelcome? Presumably they are not simply Italians, but actually Venetians. They are cultural traitors, but very good EU-ropeans. Under the good old days of La Serenissima the Doge probably would left these idiot judges shorter by a head. Not anymore. Their masters in Brussels must be very pleased.

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Edward D. writes:

You’ve got to be kidding, Larry. They haven’t yet hired a deaf, blind, transgendered, quadriplegic, albino, Eritrean midget who stutters and has a lisp. Those Venetians sure have a long way to go.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 02, 2007 03:28 PM | Send