Most of American right-wing broadcaster Rush Limbaugh's invective is seen for what it is: the misanthropic rantings of a hate-monger. This, after all, is the man who explained the victory of a Mexican runner in the New York marathon by the fact that "an immigration agent chased him for the last 10 miles".
This is the idiot who had to be sacked from TV coverage of American football because he couldn't stop himself making racist comments about a black quarterback.
Yet his concept of Feminazis (a term equally offensive to women and to the victims of the Nazis) was somehow allowed to enter respectable political discussion - in Ireland, regrettably, through this newspaper some years ago.
This matters because cartoon language helps to create cartoon thinking. What could have been dismissed five years ago as nothing but the ravings of extremists looking for notice now helps to shape public discussion, and therefore public perception, of a major issue - violence against women.
The bringing into the mainstream of extremist language has blurred our common understanding of the issue. The issue is no longer the violence itself but the feminazis in the "highly lucrative violence-against-women industry".
The thump of a head against the wall, the raped woman, the scarred children, the man who is ashamed to admit that his girlfriend beat him up, are replaced by Pow! Smack! Oooff! Kerrang! of Superman versus the Feminazis.
In this world of caricatures, concern about violence against women is a denial of violence against men.
Since the "highly lucrative violence-against-women industry" is so obviously in the ascendant, there can be no possibility that violence against women is in fact being ignored or that responses to it might be seriously inadequate.
It is inconceivable that violence against women - who, oddly enough, tend to be our mothers, sisters, daughters, friends and colleagues - might also be rather upsetting for men.
To say that violence is a bigger issue for women than it is for men is not to occlude the suffering of male victims. It is simply to recognise a reality. Women feel a lot more vulnerable in our society than men do.
The National Household Survey, which is the best databank we have, showed in 2003 that 40 per cent of men feel very safe walking home after dark, compared to just 15 per cent of women. Fifty-five per cent of men feel very safe alone at home after dark. Just 34 per cent of women do.
These fears are rational. Eighty-five per cent of callers to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's helplines are women. The vast majority of both male and female victims of childhood sexual abuse are abused by men. According to the recent National Study of Sexual Abuse, 213,000 women and 88,000 men in Ireland have been severely abused by a partner at some point in their lives.
While one man in 16 has been a victim of severe abuse, one woman in seven has suffered. Women's injuries as a result of domestic abuse tend to be more serious than men's - women are nearly twice as likely as men to require medical treatment for their injuries and 10 times more likely to require a stay in hospital. And it is simply not true that this endemic violence has been recognised and dealt with by the State.
Far from the image of hysterical women rushing to the guards every time their husband looks crooked at them, the real problem is that women (and men) who are beaten tend to make excuses for their attackers.
The National Study of Sexual Abuse found that "people are reluctant to involve the gardaí in cases of domestic abuse, with only a very small percentage of severely-abused respondents having reported the incidents to the gardaí.
"Many of the reasons for non-reporting stem from a minimising of the behaviour at the time, a belief that the behaviour was not serious enough to warrant Garda involvement and a reluctance to instigate criminal proceedings against a partner or ex-partner."
And for those who do report, the legal system is proving to be ever more inadequate.
In the 1980s, for example, there was a 20 per cent conviction rate in sexual assault cases. Now, the rate is down to around per cent.
We need a proper national discussion about these realities and what can be done about them.
The men's rights movement could help to create one by dropping the cartoon language, recognising that a real concern for male victims of violence might start with an attempt to learn from the fine work of groups like Women's Aid and the Rape Crisis Centres, and coming back to earth from the planet Femnaz.