Interesting Read about Carrie Nation (prohibition axe wielder)

I think this article makes a difficult argument...

Let's say Carrie Nation went wielding an axe to fight the evils of abortion (rather than the evils of drinking). This is not difficult to imagine, there are lots of Christian women who are willing to break laws and even commit violence to stop abortion.

The article is arguing that this is justified because...

1) She had a sisterhood (the pro-life movement has a similar sisterhood).
2) She helped downtrodden people (which fundamentalist activists often do).

She was a religious extremist with a mission. I think trying to turn her into a feminist icon is an awfully big stretch. The temperance movement she pushed was a historical failure, and progressives are now pushing in the opposite direction to legalize marijuana.

Carrie Nation has far more in common with Phyllis Schlafly then she does with Gloria Steinem. She would feel comfortable with the strong conservative women who fought against abortion and pornography.

It certainly was an interesting read, engineer, thank you. I had never heard of her. If this rendition be true, she certainly was devout in her beliefs, unceasing in her care of others, and indefatigable in her efforts. She is to be applauded. Finally.

This article implies that men who batter their wives should be "seen as victims" rather than criminals. I thought that was strange disconnect. Did this jump out at anyone else?

I don't know if she's to be applauded. She was resorted to violence to make her point so she's no Ghandi or MLK, but she's not the Amazonian demon she was portrayed as either.

she didn't hurt anyone, she just damaged the booze and the bars... i don't necessarily agree with this method, but this was 1900 - 1911... a different world. I think she thought she was protecting the addicts and their victims. At least she did something.

If she had simply asked and not acted we likely would not know of her today.

That is just as true about Carrie Nation as it is about Jeffrey Dahmer.

(I am not a fan of moral crusaders).

It definitely makes an interesting story and I've never heard that she injured anyone (but was injured herself several times). Still, someone going around burning down abortion clinics would make the same argument.