Mean Girls

When I was a lieutenant, I read the Oxford history of Ireland. It was a LONG read. I noticed there was a disappointing historical theme about the history of Ireland; they screwed themselves over and over again. It seemed every single time the clans were banding together to revolt against the English, one of them would betray the rest. The English would figure out which head of clan was the most vulnerable or the greediest or the most selfish and offer that man land and title to betray the rest. Time after time he agreed, and the revolt would fall apart and any progress for Ireland to gain independence from England would be lost. In most cases, due to the betrayal by one of the clans, things would actually regress.

What does that have to do with Mean Girls? That type of betrayal seems to be happening with women right now and it reminds me of the movie Mean Girls.

If you haven’t seen it, the movie is the pinnacle of Lindsay Lohan’s career and gave us such iconic phrases as “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”. It’s actually a pretty funny movie. If you have daughters who are in or approaching high school, I recommend it. The heart of the movie is really about how awful high school girls can be to each other. It is rife with cliques and jealousy and meanness and betrayal.

We are seeing Mean Girls unfold in real life, right before our very eyes, on mainstream and social media. Very prominent women are tearing down other very prominent women for the pettiest of reasons, for seemingly no reason at all except to make themselves feel better.

It’s shameful.

Let’s take Megyn Kelly for example. Up front, I am a Megyn Kelly fan. The other day, she went on one of her famous rants, but this time it was targeting Kristi Noem, the Secretary of DHS. Why? Not because she is doing a terrible job. Not because she is incompetent or incapable or absent from her duties. No. She attacked her because she was out with agents within DHS and did a social media and photo opportunity.

Kelly decided to pass judgement on Noem because she said she “was a distraction” and “no one wanted her there” and that she was doing “doing cosplay”. Keep in mind, Megyn didn’t interview a single agent. She didn’t get a quote or do any investigative journalism to come to those conclusions. This was pure opinion. She also attacked Noem for her “forty pounds of hair” and “thirty pounds of makeup” and her “false eyelashes”. Megyn has decided none of those things belong out on an operation and neither does Kristi Noem.

Catty. Really low class from Megyn Kelly. And completely unnecessary. Very “Mean Girls”.

Monday, an all-female flight from Blue Origin went into suborbital space. Why was it significant? It was the first spaceflight of any kind since 1963 to NOT have a man onboard. Pretty rare, if not unique, if nothing else.

Here are some facts about that flight. The seven women onboard all had to pay a ridiculous fee to make the 11-minute flight. Blue Origin doesn’t publish the cost, but we know they auctioned a seat off a few years ago for tens of millions of dollars. Three of the women could be classified as “celebrities” including Katy Perry and Gayle King. The other four have some pretty awesome resumes including a rocket scientist and a civil rights activist. None of the women actually piloted or controlled the spacecraft, even though all the press coverage says they were “crew”. The flight was completely autonomous.

After the flight was over, what did we get? Mean Girls. Female celebrities took to social media to attack the seven women. Olivia Wilde, Amy Schumer, Emily Ratajkowski, Olivia Munn, and others decided the thing to do was not celebrate women or find ANY good in what they did. They decided the best thing to do was attack them and make fun of what they did.

Never mind that some little girls, or teenage girls, or women in their 20s, 30s, or 60s, or 70s saw some inspiration in this flight. Forget that. Don’t worry about the four non-celebrities who have amazing accomplishments including a nomination for a Nobel Prize. No, these celebrity women decided to lump all seven women together and attack them, degrade them, and talk shit about the entire operation.

Why? Jealousy. Personal beefs. Catty bullshit. Because they are Mean Girls. So much for girl power.

I am sure all these women will attempt to justify why they said what they said. I am sure it will be some high quality gaslighting, saying something like “they are making all women look bad” or “it is a step backward for women” when in reality, they are the ones who are holding women back. Sure, there was some absurdity in Katy Perry kissing the ground after the 11-minute flight. She’s a performer, yes, but you don’t know how terrified she was or wasn’t during those 11 minutes.

For all the women who think they are “defending” women by “attacking” women, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate. Really. Take a minute and decide if what you did, what you said, and what you are doing is helpful or hurtful to women. Maybe you should reallocate your time to find some women you THINK are doing a better job of representing women.

Might I recommend First Lieutenant Gabrielle White. Lieutenant White just completed one of the most physically grueling events you’ve probably never heard of: The Best Ranger Competition. The competition is 72 hours of running, shooting, jumping out of planes, swimming, carrying a heavy pack, and obstacle courses with very little rest along the way. The competition started with 52 two-person teams. 16 finished. FINISHING is an achievement and Lieutenant White finished.

Did I mention she is the first woman EVER to compete, let alone finish? Or that she is a West Point graduate? Or that she is one of a VERY small pool of female Infantry officers? And an even SMALLER pool of black female Infantry officers? And that she graduated from Army Ranger School?

How about all of you female celebrities that want to spend your time dragging other women through the mud spend your time BETTER by finding women like this and celebrating them? How about that? Why don’t you try NOT being Mean Girls and NOT circumvent the progress of women to benefit your own ego? Why don’t you try HELPING instead of HURTING?

Try not being a weak, vulnerable, selfish leader of your clan. Try that. Try not being a Mean Girl.

SIDE NOTE: For all of you “tough guys” that will reflexively talk shit about Lieutenant White, I can promise that 99.9% of you cannot do what she just did and NEVER COULD. Any human being who attempts Best Ranger deserves some admiration. Any human being who COMPLETES Best Ranger deserves serious respect. Period.