By (O)CT(O)PUS
I don’t think Greta or Megyn will be fetching coffee for Erick and his sidekicks anytime soon. Here is the latest imbroglio from Fox News, a gender comedy in five acts:
Act 1. Breadwinner Moms: Mothers Are the Sole or Primary Provider in Four-in-Ten Households with Children:
“These “breadwinner moms” are made up of two very different groups: 5.1 million (37%) are married mothers who have a higher income than their husbands, and 8.6 million (63%) are single mothers” (Pew Research Center).Act 2. Fox News: Rise In Female Breadwinners Is A Sign Of Society's Downfall:
“You're seeing the disintegration of marriage, you're seeing men who were hard hit by the economic recession in ways that women weren't. But you're seeing, I think, systemically, larger than the political stories that we follow every day, something going terribly wrong in American society …” (Juan Williams).Act 3. Fox News Host Rips Sexist Male Colleagues:
“When you look at biology, look at the natural world, the roles of a male and female in society, and the other animals, the male typically is the dominant role” (Erick Erickson).
“Have these men lost their minds? (and these are my colleagues??!! oh brother… maybe I need to have a little chat with them) (next thing they will have a segment to discuss eliminating women’s right to vote?) …” (Greta Van Susteren).Act 4. Some Women Believe They Can Have It All, And That's The Crux Of The Problem:
“ I also noted that the left, which tells us all the time we’re just another animal in the animal kingdom, is rather anti-science when it comes to this. In many, many animal species, the male and female of the species play complementary roles, with the male dominant in strength and protection and the female dominant in nurture … One notable exception is the lion, where the male lion looks flashy but behaves mostly like a lazy beta-male MSNBC producer” (Erick Erickson).Act 5. Fox News Host Demolishes Erick Erickson and Lou Dobbs Over Sexist Comments:
"I didn't like what you wrote one bit. To me you sound like somebody who's judging and then wants to come out and say 'I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, and now let me judge judge judge, and by the way it's science it's science it's science it's fact fact fact fact. Well, I have a whole list of studies saying your science is wrong and your facts are wrong” (Megyn Kelly).At Fox News, you can always count on the slogan "Fair and Balanced" to serve as a cover for "stupid." Here is how other networks covered the Pew Research story: Unlike Fox, CNN And MSNBC Turned to Female Panelists for Comments on "Breadwinner" Study. Instead of R-2, E-2, and Lou-too, perhaps what Fox News really needs is a comment troll:
“Because who better than men to comment on women's issues? Sheesh, you libtards understand nothing. Obviously a noted mysoginst [sic] like Eric Ericson's [sic] opinion is far more germaine [sic] to the debate than some broad's. oh, and tell the dames to vote Republican, if they know what's good for them, rant, rant, foam, foam, blather, blather, my old man's a chipmunk, etc, etc... " (remKuzucu).
Anyone looking for one simple conclusion from that farrago of data is probably (can you say Fox) selling some crock of something and using the data as wrapping paper. Not that that isn't true of virtually everything you see on the cable news circus.
ReplyDeleteUm, yes, in single parent households the single parent is likely to be the "breadwinner" (if we must use words like that) tautologies being what they are.
I do think families with children benefit from having two parents, but it's not the government's business to mandate such arrangements, nor to support gender roles nor to support gender based and religious notions of who gets to do what with their lives.
But yes, I think too many people fear legal entanglements and commitments even when they provide a safety net for all concerned, children included, and if one watches People's Court or any of the others, you can see how unmarried couples have little legal support with questions of property and custody, but society changes without much respect to what Fox folk or Godbothers like and all they can do is squawk and pretend anyone cares or notices.
It's the one size fits all nature of Foxfart conservatism that bothers me. To sell it, one has to avoid specifics, and as generalization is a form of simplification and simplification is distortion and distortion a form of lying. . . wel, you know.
So more women want to work and perhaps supporting a family in the way we now think a family needs to be supported is easier with two earners -- so what?
Sure the economy makes life harder for the have-nots and the have somes but what do these dipshit weasels want women to do -- stay home and be hungry? Of course they do and they think that's "natural" and therefore God likes it, 'cause God's a dude, you see and the eternal and biblical bullshit about decline is all about God's dislike and distrust of women.
You know how I feel about people who tell you what god wants.
Every change in history since we learned to make fire has been condemned and as we have to admit, people in general live better and longer in the long run than they did in the traditional world of traditional values and moral authoritarianism, it's apparent that this ancient attitude is just an ancient tool of power and repression.
All I can say is that I think parents have a responsibility to their children and the law needs to make sure this is enforced to an extent but how they choose to live up to it is a personal one and the freedom of personal choice, as long as no one is harmed by it, is our birthright, nicht Wahr? I mean Tea Twits and Foxwits and Republican shits are all about personal responsibility, aren't they?
Oh, and by the way, the Pew People might want to consider that perpetuating the journalistic habit of calling women with children "Moms" is stereotyping if not denigrating them as well. It's not quite as obnoxious as calling them "Grannies" and all of us older than 50 as "seniors."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Juan Williams, there is something going terribly wrong in American society… and it is that wages haven't kept pace with productivity or inflation. One breadwinner used to be able to support a family. That is no longer the case due to policies like free trade, outsourcing, insourcing, etc. All policies supported with gusto by Republicans and Conservative Democrats. That probably isn't what Juan was talking about though.
ReplyDeleteI'm fully supportive of a women working, but believe that if a couple decides that one of them (the husband or wife) should stay home and care for the children -- that option should be open to them. Sadly, more often than not, it isn't. Ironic that it's the Cons who most often yearn for days gone by when the man was the sole breadwinner, but it's the policies they support that make it impossible today.
These are the policies I previously mentioned that are enabling the rich to get richer at an even faster pace while the rest of us are falling behind. IMO it is Conservative greed that is causing the "moral decay" of society, and not Liberalism at all.
I'm not disagreeing with you but I wanted to say that the Moral Decay meme is older than the hills or at least as old as the Bible and it's a tool of oppression. Tolerance, decency and most of all freedom are what they really mean by 'decay.' To these people everything from the Spanish Inquisition to slavery were moral.
ReplyDeleteThat morality they talk about is usually defined as having much more to do with obedience than how you treat other people, but about one person being able to support a family -- I think it's complicated. Back in the '50s we accepted much less as a standard for middle class life. A "two car family" was a big deal. Air conditioning? Dishwasher? a second TV? please, 1950's houses were cramped and of course there were far fewer options for women and a hell of a lot more housework. All those after school activities -- soccer, karate, Bachtrian Oud lessions? Not really. But it felt good after that long Depression and there was a lot of optimism, despite the outrageously high marginal tax bracket. You were less likely to lose the house if Junior needed an appendectomy and for the first time, middle class people had a chance to retire without the traditional poverty.
We expect a whole lot more these days.
But that longing for a happy, male dominated Ozzie and Harriet (if you're old enough to remember them) paradise is a fraud. More people lived like Ralph and Alice and I think what passed with conservatives as "moral" would be considered backward today. The 'good old days' were the days of misogyny laws, segregation, restricted housing, 'sodomy' laws and lynchings and yes, I am old enough to remember it. Liberalism has brought us closer to the end of such things and conservatives fought it with tooth and bloody nail; fire hoses and dogs and guns and billy clubs and tear gas and Bibles and filibusters and propaganda and voter suppression.
Conservatives were just fine with the world of the Great Depression: a world they built with orphans, broken families, hunger, poverty, disease and homelessness and blamed it on moral decay and laziness. It takes a lot of dishonesty to present it as an era of morality and righteousness, but that's what Conservatives are all about and have always been about.
Captain,
DeleteThank you for your comment, which sums up my thoughts on the declining fortunes of the middle class since the post-war period – and the role of trickle-down in the meltdown.
No doubt, the burden of income inequality has fallen disproportionably upon women as suggested by the Pew study.
The misogyny in the message is an attitude of “victim blame” represented in the remarks of R-2, E-2, and Loo-too. Instead of acknowledging and validating the data, they are blaming women:
Erick Erickson (aka E-2): “Some Women Believe They Can Have It All, And That's The Crux Of The Problem.” Really!
Here again is Megyn Kelly asking: “ What Makes You Dominant And Me Submissive?” Then Kelly compares the fallacy of male dominance to the pseudo-science that justified miscegenation:
Kelly: “And they said it was science and fact if you were the child of a black father and white mother or vice versa you were inferior and you were not set up for success. Tell that to Barack Obama.”
Quod erat demonstrandum!
Instead of blaming women, R-2, E-2, and Loo-2 should be thanking breadwinners for keeping intact what little shred of civilization is left – despite the trickle-down mess left behind.
" Instead of acknowledging and validating the data, they are blaming women:"
ReplyDeleteI think if we looked at a great number of these peremptory declarations being passed off as either "God's word" or "nature's way" you'd find that examination of the data is anathema. Very few people who chatter about science, nature, evolution and the like in order to prop up their prejudice have any real knowledge of it and they want to keep it that way.
For what it's worth, I've been reading ancient Egyptian literature again and I find a remarkable consistency in the depiction of women as conniving, devious, dishonest and dishonorable. As with much of our Western Biblical traditions, the sources are far older.