High life
Women and horror
Taki
New York he first column of every new year requires by definition a bit more gravitas. It is like getting a good start in a foot-race. Being Greek and superstitious as hell, it counts double where your correspondent is concerned. Last year I began by writing about classical music and the great Dimitri Mitropoulos. It turned out to be a banner year for fun and games, and I even man- aged to beat the odds at Aspinall's. Is there a connection between serious matters and Lady Luck? Search me, as they say in Brooklyn. For the start of 1997 I will switch to the subject I love even more than fun and games, the fairer sex. In looking at the his- tory of the 20th century — in which more than 100 million people were exterminated by their own governments — I was struck by the thought that, if women had been in charge of governments, the world would have been far better off. Consider the fol- lowing: Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, Milosevic, Castro, Ceaucescu, all inhuman monsters and soi disant socialists, were of the male persuasion. Very few of the gentle sex were major participants in the crimes which enveloped Eastern Europe, the Sovi- et Union, Communist China and Germany. Madame Mao was as evil as she was ugly, but she only rode on the coat-tails of her hubby, a bit like our Hillary at present. Few women were appointed to top posts in those evil regimes and their policy-making powers were minimal.
In fact, one can safely state that women were among the strongest opponents of totalitarian regimes, with Yelena Bonner, Anna Akhmatova and Eugenia Ginzberg springing to mind. Margaret Thatcher, of course, did more than oppose the Evil Empire — she helped to break it up. She stood by Ronald Reagan as no other West- ern leader dared to do, and in the process upped the ante enough to bring the bad- dies crashing down. One hates to think what John Major or Tony Blair would have done during the cruise missile crisis of 1982-83, as hundreds of thousands demon- strated all over European capitals and CND and Guardian effetes hogged the headlines. A worse nightmare would have been Clinton winning in 1980 rather than 1992. The draft dodger would have thrown in the towel quicker than one can say coward.
But back to women. Two of RR's most forceful backers were Midge Decter and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. I have always believed Golda Meir to have been the greatest Israeli prime minister, and that also goes for Indira Gandhi in her own country. These women entered a vacuum left by males suffering a low testosterone count. Socialists, Guardian readers, CND backers and intellectuals are notoriously lacking in testosterone.
Mind you, perhaps I'm being too kind to the fairer sex. Women were latecomers to political power, ergo the male monopoly of horror in this century. They are catching up fast. Just look at the dreadful types ema- nating from the good old United States. Gloria Steinem, Andrea Dworkin, you know the type. Even worse, Hillary Clin- ton. Still, compare them to nice guys like Lenin and Stalin and they come up smelling like roses. Even Lillian Hellman, in my book a bigger liar than the Clintons and as evil a person to be found outside those in prison for murder, would never have done what men did to their fellow human beings this century. I imagine it all has to do with nurturing and the fact that women give life. This is why women have never been warriors and those who were had simply inherited their fathers' traits.
No, the horrors of this century could only have been perpetuated by males and I say this fully aware that the way we're going Barbra Streisand could one day become president of the United States. Oy veh!
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