Augusta May Have To Admit Its First Woman Member

[brocks]

Well, this should settle it: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/obama-believes-women-admitted-augusta-16079667#.T34LmrL3CJk Obama and Romney, asked separately, agreed that Augusta should open its membership to women.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by brocks

Well, this should settle it:

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/obama-believes-women-admitted-augusta-16079667#.T34LmrL3CJk

Obama and Romney, asked separately, agreed that Augusta should open its membership to women.

Does Augusta National accept money from or provide services to either the US federal government or the State of Georgia? If not, who cares what Obama thinks? I happen to agree with him, but I'm just saying.

[brocks]

Does Augusta National accept money from or provide services to either the US federal government or the State of Georgia? If not, who cares what Obama thinks? I happen to agree with him, but I'm just saying.

So you're saying it doesn't settle it?

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by brocks

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Does Augusta National accept money from or provide services to either the US federal government or the State of Georgia? If not, who cares what Obama thinks? I happen to agree with him, but I'm just saying.

So you're saying it doesn't settle it?

So your post wasn't the long version of "'nuff said"?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by brocks

So you're saying it doesn't settle it?

No. Why the heck would it?

Plus, what, either of them (politicians in a current race) are going to say NO? C'mon. They're gonna give the politically correct answer.

[k-troop]

Well, this should settle it: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/obama-believes-women-admitted-augusta-16079667#.T34LmrL3CJk Obama and Romney, asked separately, agreed that Augusta should open its membership to women.

Smells like sarcasm to me.

[brocks]

Smells like sarcasm to me.

And the gentleman wins a kewpie doll!

[Bullitt5339]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the truth when it comes to Augusta is that no matter what the President says, no matter what we say, no matter what the media says, they are an exclusive private club and can choose their own members.  No-one knows what their criteria is, so they can just say that no female has met their criteria yet.  We all know that as the old membership dies off, the rules are going to change anyway.

There's many groups in the United States that are "men-only".  I am a member on one of those groups, and I would dare to say that a lot of the most powerful politicians are as well.  So while they will say it's wrong to discriminate in these clubs, they will not make any laws or serious challenges towards the legality of Augusta because it would affect their standing in their own "boys club".  Most of these organizations, and Augusta is no different, have a women's auxiliary that consists of the female family members of members.  They are pretty powerful in their own right and influence a lot on what the membership supports and does, although that is more behind the scenes.  The one thing they won't do is to try to gain actual membership, since being in the auxiliary is as prestigious as being a member.

To go beyond that, if the government for some crazy reason decides to force groups to accept both genders, that affects a lot of groups and businesses.  Women's only gyms are a big thing and don't admit men.  Hell, one of the Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor  belongs to a group called The Belizean Grove, which is a highly selective club (kind of like Augusta, huh?) that is "Women Only".

[zipazoid]

And, to repeat, we don't know if they presently have or don't have female members . They are that secretive.

Would totally change everything if we came to find out they already have female members wouldn't it?

[brocks]

And, to repeat, we don't know if they presently have or don't have female members . They are that secretive.

And, to repeat, they weren't reluctant to let the public know about it when they admitted their first black member. Do you really think they would rather continue to be portrayed as troglodytes in the news media, than to just say they have a woman member and take all the air out of the story? Do you really think it means anything to them to score future points on some reporter nobody even knows by name?

[VMAN]

Originally Posted by brocks

And, to repeat, they weren't reluctant to let the public know about it when they admitted their first black member.

Do you really think they would rather continue to be portrayed as troglodytes in the news media, than to just say they have a woman member and take all the air out of the story? Do you really think it means anything to them to score future points on some reporter nobody even knows by name?

I agree, if there was a woman member they would disclose it.  But they might not disclose it until the Masters was concluded.   That is what they typically do.  Personally, I don't think that they have a woman member.  Will they eventually have one?  most likely, but who knows when.

Do they have locker facilities for women there?  They must since a number of women play there fairly regularly, or are women relegated to the Butler Cabin?

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by brocks

And, to repeat, they weren't reluctant to let the public know about it when they admitted their first black member.

Do you really think they would rather continue to be portrayed as troglodytes in the news media, than to just say they have a woman member and take all the air out of the story? Do you really think it means anything to them to score future points on some reporter nobody even knows by name?

I believe they don't give a damn how they're portrayed in the news media. What they value, from what I can discern, over anything else is doing what they damn well want to do.

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by VMAN

I agree, if there was a woman member they would disclose it.  But they might not disclose it until the Masters was concluded.   That is what they typically do.  Personally, I don't think that they have a woman member.  Will they eventually have one?  most likely, but who knows when.

Do they have locker facilities for women there?  They must since a number of women play there fairly regularly, or are women relegated to the Butler Cabin?

I would expect that if this was the week they were going to "announce" a woman member, it would be via a lady in a green blazer at the trophy presentation on Sunday.  A public presentation of a female member that's not an outright announcement, as if she's always been there.  And Sunday means they don't have to answer a zillion questions during the tournament.  (Well, they're already getting questions, but they can just pretend to not hear them like they always do.)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by brocks

And, to repeat, they weren't reluctant to let the public know about it when they admitted their first black member.

You keep bringing that up as if it somehow makes your point, so tell me this: what exactly did they do to "not be reluctant" or shy about letting people know about their first black member (of which they now have, what, ten or more)? Did they hold a press conference? Did they send a press release out? Did they take out a full-page ad in the major Atlanta newspapers to welcome the guy to the club?

My recollection is they did none of these things. Perhaps someone tipped a reporter or two, but I don't even know that you can really find many quotes from club members who were interviewed at the time and answered questions about it. So I contend that they didn't do a whole lot to "let the public know" anything back then, which changes the foundation of your argument right now.

I also agree that I bet they don't really care how they're portrayed in the media. What effect is it going to have on them, really? Billy said "thanks for your question, sir" and that was that. Not exactly a whole lot of hassle.

[brocks]

You keep bringing that up as if it somehow makes your point, so tell me this: what exactly did they do to "not be reluctant" or shy about letting people know about their first black member (of which they now have, what, ten or more)? Did they hold a press conference? Did they send a press release out? Did they take out a full-page ad in the major Atlanta newspapers to welcome the guy to the club? My recollection is they did none of these things. Perhaps someone tipped a reporter or two, but I don't even know that you can really find many quotes from club members who were interviewed at the time and answered questions about it. So I contend that they didn't do a whole lot to "let the public know" anything back then, which changes the foundation of your argument right now. I also agree that I bet they don't really care how they're portrayed in the media. What effect is it going to have on them, really? Billy said "thanks for your question, sir" and that was that. Not exactly a whole lot of hassle.

I'm here to pass the time, not to do research. Your lack of recollection of a minor press release in 1990 is good enough for me, so I withdraw my analogy to black membership, and I apologize for repeating it once, after about a dozen posts (a rough estimate which I am also not going to research) in the last few days saying we don't know whether they have women members. As for what they think about getting a lot of annoying questions and negative coverage over something they could squelch in five seconds (if they had already admitted a woman), I'm just assuming that they are normal human beings and would rather not have had several questions about their alleged sexism during a press conference where they wanted to celebrate the Masters, but I admit I could be wrong.

[brocks]

On the other hand, you made me curious, and it turned out to take just ten seconds of research: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hlBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid;=pUwNAAAAIBAJ&pg;=2946,4794885&dq;=augusta+black+member&hl;=en

[brocks]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hlBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid;=pUwNAAAAIBAJ&pg;=2946,4794885&dq;=augusta+black+member&hl;=en

Based on that article, I think I can speak for all Americans in saying, we were wrong about Augusta, and we apologize. We thought that the reason they didn't have any black members before 1990 was racism, but it turns out that the standards for membership are really, really tough, and it's hard to find anyone, of any race or sex, who can meet them: "It's not an easy thing. We hope we can find a man who is interested in golf and thinks the Masters is worth preserving."

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by brocks

Based on that article, I think I can speak for all Americans in saying, we were wrong about Augusta, and we apologize. We thought that the reason they didn't have any black members before 1990 was racism, but it turns out that the standards for membership are really, really tough, and it's hard to find anyone, of any race or sex, who can meet them:

"It's not an easy thing. We hope we can find a man who is interested in golf and thinks the Masters is worth preserving."

More sarcasm?

Honestly, I don't care who they exclude--they can do what they want.  But I'll agree this article is pretty patronizing.