Nobody's dummy [Palin]

Salon ^ | Camille Paglia

[Lorianne]

What a powerful letter -- which I am pleased to share with Salon readers. Yes, let us not forget the tragic series of dubious political judgments that led the U.S. to lurch into Southeast Asia after the French had prudently packed up and left. The debacle of the Vietnam War still haunts American politics and has produced deep partisan fissures that have never healed.

However, I would appeal to you and to all Americans to acknowledge that the preservation of our liberties ultimately depends on the enormous dedication and self-sacrifice of our military men and women. I am very concerned about whether our professional class, buffed all shiny and bright by the elite universities, will ever have the will or stamina to defend this nation in a major crisis. As I've predicted for years, we're heading down a path similar to that of the Roman empire -- with a sophisticated, self-absorbed upper class enjoying a comfortable lifestyle whose security is maintained by a career military (increasingly foreign or mercenary as Rome declined). Soldiers must do or die by the good judgment or shallow caprice of a nation's leaders, who are the ones who bear all moral responsibility in this matter.

[a continuation of comment on Palin from Paglia's initial Salon article on her and feminism]

As I see it, the Palin Effect is a double-headed hydra. On one side you have Todd Palin, who is clearly a vibrant, macho force in his family’s life. Just as clearly, he has effectively embraced the role as a primary caregiver. What does it say that he and Sarah have a mutually aggrandizing partnership/marriage? A successful professional woman who embraces a masculine male rather than castrate him? Heaven forfend! Personally I see it as the benign (and noble) conclusion of the feminist movement.

[...]

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Also don't forget the treaty “SEATO”.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Camille Paglia: [Sarah Palin] Nobody’s dummy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2105886/posts

[EggsAckley]

I have a feminist friend who is a professional woman and she seethes over the fact that Sarah is neglecting her children, it’s child abuse, yadda yadda yadda. And the things she said about Sarah chosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature” instead of aborting Trig........I can’t describe how angry that makes me.

[EggsAckley]

I have a feminist friend who is a professional woman and she seethes over the fact that Sarah is neglecting her children, it’s child abuse, yadda yadda yadda. And the things she said about Sarah chosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature” instead of aborting Trig........I can’t describe how angry that makes me.

[EggsAckley]

I have a feminist friend who is a professional woman and she seethes over the fact that Sarah is neglecting her children, it’s child abuse, yadda yadda yadda. And the things she said about Sarah chosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature” instead of aborting Trig........I can’t describe how angry that makes me.

[EggsAckley]

Stupid mouse. He needs a vacation.

[RobRoy]

So, I understand you have a feminist friend...

;)

[Monterrosa-24]

I would tell your friend that I’ve never met a Downs child or adult that I did not think was more valuable than the average high IQ type. I would then talk about the dangers of the Nazi philosopy of “useless eaters”.

I would conclude by citing Bonhoeffer’s “the weak need the strong and the strong need the weak” meaning in part that it hurts a society where there are no “different” people of limited self-relient abilities.

[TAdams8591]

Camille is such a talented writer. Such creativity and wit! She makes an article about current political thought read like an interesting and fascinating novel.

[merry10]

“And the things she said about Sarah chosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature” instead of aborting Trig........I can’t describe how angry that makes me.”

I think I’d draw the line at being friends with this person when she talks about people with Down’s Syndrome being a freak of nature. I think just not be her friend; she does not value life as you do.

I work with a really liberal guy and he himself was appalled by the treatment of Sarah Palin’s family in the media. He had polio as a child and his brother had muscular dystrophy and his mom ran herself ragged caring for the two of them. He does see the value in life, as we have another coworker, in his 60s, who is brought to tears every time he talks about his younger brother who died a few years ago who also had Down’s Syndrome.

[kenavi]

I had a feminist friend
Who would oft hold forth and contend
That a child's disability was only a liability
So no children for her, I'd say “amen”.

[Lorianne]

I know people exactly like that too.
It’s so maddening, they don’t see how sexist they are.

[GloriaJane]

"I have a feminist friend who is a professional woman and she seethes over the fact that Sarah is neglecting her children, it’s child abuse, yadda yadda yadda. And the things she said about Sarah chosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature” instead of aborting Trig........I can’t describe how angry that makes me."

I would tell your feminist friend that Gov Palin isn't neglecting her children any more then any other working mother is neglecting theirs. And that what she said was actually a slap in the face to all working mothers. And after that I would tell your friend that after she said what she did about little Trig, that she would no longer be a friend of mine. And believe me, I wouldn't have any problem telling her why.

[Lorianne]

The next phase of feminism must circle back and reappropriate the ancient persona of the mother -- without losing career ambition or power of assertion. Betty Friedan, who had first attacked the cult of postwar domesticity, had long warned second-wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem about the damaging exclusion of homemakers from their value system. The animus of liberal feminists toward religion must also end (I am speaking as an atheist). Feminism must reexamine all of its assumptions, including its death grip on abortion, if it wishes to survive.

[FelixFelicis]

>>...Sarah choosing to give birth to what my friend calls a “freak of nature”...<<

Funny, I think those were almost the same words Kate Michaelman of NARAL once used to describe abortion survivor Gianna Jessen. Or it might have been “circus freak.” In any case, it’s amazing the mental acrobatics pro-choicers will perform to justify their views. Such as insisting a person who “should” have been aborted is still - in his or her post-birth, eminently viable state - something less than human. This vile treatment of people with disabilities by the “party of tolerance” is shocking... or would be if it weren’t so common.

[Cecily]

Speaking of which, who was taking care of the Obama girls while Michelle was working as an attorney at a big time law firm, and later in the hospital system in Chicago?

Always the libbie double standard.

[bukkdems]

I checked and Camille had 52 pages of comments and most were hateful. She likes to think she has the guts to swim upstream, but I would like to see the reaction if she praised Bush for bringing unprecedented equality, education and legal protection to 27 million women in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Khost province of Afghanistan, the number of girls in school went from zero to 50,000 since 2002.

What do feminists have to say about honor killings, polygamy, wife-beating, stoning, being raped with impunity and devalued legal status? Nothing. They are Ellen Jamesians who cut off their tongues with Bush Derangement Scissors.

If you are “pro-choice”, why is it wrong to “choose” to have Trig? I’m a successful conservative businesswoman. Those liberals who lay claim to feminism and exclude women like Sarah are intellectually bankrupt.