Julie Phillips Quote

Incredible how the top dog always announces with such an air of discovery that the underdog is childish, stupid, emotional, irresponsible, uninterested in serious matters, incapable of learning—but for god's sake don't teach them anything!—and both cowardly and ferocious. […] The oppressed is also treacherous, incapable of fighting fair, full of dark magics, prone to do nasty things like fighting back when attacked, and contented with their place in life unless stirred up by outside agitators. […] Once I learned the tune I stopped believing the words—about anybody.

Julie Phillips

Incredible how the top dog always announces with such an air of discovery that the underdog is childish, stupid, emotional, irresponsible, uninterested in serious matters, incapable of learning—but for god's sake don't teach them anything!—and both cowardly and ferocious. […] The oppressed is also treacherous, incapable of fighting fair, full of dark magics, prone to do nasty things like fighting back when attacked, and contented with their place in life unless stirred up by outside agitators. […] Once I learned the tune I stopped believing the words—about anybody.

Tags: oppression

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About Julie Phillips

Julie Phillips (born Seattle, Washington) is an American writer who writes about books, film, and culture. In early adulthood she became interested in feminism. Her articles have appeared in Newsday, Mademoiselle, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. Her biography of James Tiptree, Jr., titled James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hugo Award for Best Related Book, the 2007 Washington State Book Award for History/Biography, and the Locus Award for Best Non-fiction/Art Book.
In 2017, she was awarded a Whiting Creative Nonfiction grant to complete her book The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem, which was published in 2022. She is also working on a biography of the writer Ursula K. Le Guin.
She lives with her husband and two children in Amsterdam, where she is a book critic for the daily newspaper Trouw and for the website 4Columns.