Unacceptable to some

The operators of the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards, hard-working and well-intentioned though they may be, have stepped in quite the steaming little pile by allowing a reasonable request for a "Best Feminist Blog" category to escalate into a blogospheric shitstorm. The CBA operators asked for feedback, got it, and summarily rejected it without even giving a valid reason:

"And “Best Feminist Blog” cannot be done, as it is unacceptable to some."

Oh yeah? Unacceptable to who? And what about those to whom the lack of such a category is unacceptable? What makes us lower on the food chain than than those who deem the category "unacceptable"?

There are many contexts where "unacceptable to some" would be a perfectly legitimate reason to reject a request: a "Best Pron Blog" category would be "unacceptable to some". Or how about "Best Visual Abortion Propaganda" Blog? No doubt unacceptable to most, never mind "some". But this just isn't the case with a Best Feminist Blog category. Not everyone supports feminism -- hey, I don't support conservatism, but I don't shriek and piss and clamour for it to be removed as a CBA category. Whether I support it or not, conservatism exists and its adherents are blogging. Just like feminism. So, just like feminism, it qualifies as a category.

The CBA operators wonder why feminist bloggers are pissed that their request was denied, given that there was no similar category in last year's awards. What they're missing is that over the past year, issues like the Status of Women changes have mobilized feminist bloggers and changed the dynamic completely. What was once a loose network of individual feminist bloggers has evolved into a potent blogging movement as deserving as any other of a CBA category. Maybe the reason the feminist category didn't occur to the operators in the first place is that they're unaware of these blogospheric nuances. Or maybe it's just easier to cave in to the near-psychotic hysteria of those who find a feminist category unacceptable.

Anyway, while we're on the topic of all things unacceptable, here's something else I find unacceptable -- the "Best Blog" category. As CC points out here, the inconsistent quality to be found within the "Best Blog" category is a bad joke. No category that includes TGB and The Vanity Press should also be home to SDA. Though SDA does *what it does* very well, *what it does* doesn't qualify it to stand with high-octane blogs like TGB. To allow it is unacceptable, and not just to *some*.

So yes, there are things that are legitimately "unacceptable". A Best Feminist Blog category just isn't one of them.