I am writing in response to Carl Mumpower’s letter regarding the Women’s March [“Women’s Marches Lack Mature Focus,” Feb. 1, Xpress]. I appreciated the responses of the women and I want to respond as a man. My letter will provide contrast and show why we need women running things. Their responses were thoughtful, calm, and clearly conveyed their distaste of Mumpower’s remarks without being nasty. They left me with a sense of maturity and gentility.
My response, however, is more typical of how we men do things. I was embarrassed to be a member of the same gender as he, when I read Mumpower’s letter. I don’t know what kind of doctor he is, but if he is a medical doctor — yikes! …
There is an unavoidable truth to evolution that you cannot deny, just like you cannot deny gravity, no matter how much you choose to dislike it. Just as we used to think Neanderthals were stupid and eventually died off, science shows they may have been just as evolved as our current lineage and, in fact, may still be with us.
I do believe, however, that there is a line of humans who have not evolved and they are also still among us. For some reason, their brains just have not been able to keep up and still want the Earth to be flat. They still want to believe the fairy tales that were written by Stone Age people who thought stars were holes in the sky. … It’s just that we have to stop letting them (stupid people) run things, and we need to stop treating them as if they are smart and pretending their stupid ideas are relevant and credible.
I suspect … [Mumpower] enjoys tweaking the “liberals” who are so misguided.
Thank you, women of Asheville and of the world, for standing up to the men who make the rest of us look bad. We need you, we need your voices and we need your leadership.
Your example will ensure that my next letter will be more gentle, calm and loving.
— Ron Greenberg
Weaverville
Editor’s note: Former City Council member Carl Mumpower is a psychologist. Also, a note to our online commenters: Though the argument above isn’t particularly civil, it is a point of view and we want to give readers an opportunity to discuss it. In light of our continuing civility challenge, however, we hope those comments can be made in a respectful way.
I’ll tell you what I find scary. That so many adults in this town have such poor reading comprehension!
Several letters have come to this paper from people complaining about Mumpower’s letter but, it’s clear from what they wrote that they did not accurately comprehend what he was putting forth.
Either there’s something in the water here affecting local brains or it’s a matter of too much arrogance floating around from people all too willing to assign to others their intent. Doesn’t seem very civil to me? Accurate reading comprehension is not difficult; you just have to want to be a reasonable and decent human being.
Calling people stupid – always a strong persuasive tool.
LOL….wow…..you just proved my point! I didn’t call anyone stupid. You decided all by yourself to infer that.
Methinks you should tell us why you think they are? Also, why is it so difficult to comprehend accurately? Inquiring minds want to know.
Sorry, too stupid.
More confirmation…..it’s clearly arrogance that prevents the comprehension, in this case.
Good golly, ain’t civility grand!
very few people are on an intellectual par with Dr. Mumpower … they should be so lucky to be as smart as he …