Palin - Shame on us?
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| Sat, 09-13-2008 - 9:07pm |
I received a forwarded email from a good friend about Sarah Palin written by Eve Enster, the woman who wrote the Vagina Monologues. The email was being circulated by those who dislike Sarah Palin because they feel that as a female, Governor Palin does not represent their own “feminist†views and beliefs. Perfectly understandable.
As neither someone who regularly supports either the Republican nor the Democratic Party the email gave me pause. It made me sad actually when I read it's contents because I realized that election time seems to bring about the worst in us. And, I understand that it’s what those running for office count on.
Now, Palin is certainly not my hero nor does she need defending and that is not the purpose of this posting. But, I think it’s important that we examine our own behavior during a Presidential election. It’s as some of us on both sides are lock step with those who historically and successfully have used fear and non-issue related headlines and meanness to call others to action. When this occurs, we certainly don’t examine the real issues intelligently but instead behave like children on a playground poking fun at the new or the different.
Palin’s (and other candidates’) phrases regularly taken out of context, the cartoon-like portrayals of her expressed seriously, the name calling, the condemnation of her childrens' actions, and the condescending and divisive rationalizations to explain why others may actually like Palin** are not unlike the psychology behind what allowed the Jews to be persecuted during the holocaust. Despite how extreme this may sound and despite how this may insult people who think I’m making light of a clearly evil, horrific period in our history, I believe it’s a comparison that can be made. Why? Because our statements and behavior during election time at present and historically show that we are still indeed inherently capable of intolerance of others' beliefs strictly because they are different from our own. The very fact that we are afraid of her beliefs and feel she ‘might’ be intolerant of our beliefs has made us severely afraid and intolerant of hers. And so, no matter what we hear - even if it's not true, we hear and repeat. Hear and repeat. Read and forward. Click.
Our fear that a woman in power may have power over us (although last time I checked we live in a democracy ) somehow rationalizes treating her badly and somehow legitimizes being downright mean. So, we hear and repeat and read and forward having done no research. But more importantly, it exposes us as the non-thinking ‘public’ that throughout history political parties and political reporting have counted on to spread their messages of fear - whether it be through newspapers or now, via the internet.
Because Governor Palin does not believe in abortion as her personal choice, we condemn her and even make fun of her. (“Her primary qualification is that she hasn’t had an abortionâ€, as said by South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler). Such a sad thing to come out of an elected official’s mouth. Another response on a political blog with regards to the decision Palin made to give birth to as opposed to abort her fifth child was full of loathing as opposed to tolerance. Probably because the blogger just couldn’t possible fathom Palin’s decision – because it was so different then one she would have made. Because Governor Palin has been known to hunt in a state where hunting regularly puts food on the table we condemn her. Hunt?! How common and brutal. Never mind that us city folk eat filet mignon that came from a cow who was hit in the head repeatedly with a mechanical hammer before being put in a pretty package on Gelson’s store shelf. Because Governor Palin believes that drilling in her own state should occur as part of what she’s said is a comprehensive program towards freedom from foreign oil dependency, we say that ���we should be afraid for our children†because somehow she will single handedly be responsible for ravaging the earth and she's completely anti-environment. Fear, fear, fear. The email I referred to in the beginning of this posting, opened with a description of Sarah Palin and her female friends riding around in the snow with Polar Bear Claw Necklaces around their necks. I’m surprised Eve didn’t imply that Palin may have a pair of horns under that puffy bun of hers. Guess that image is outdated.
It’s one thing to say, “I don’t think we should drill because it will only delay our coming up with real energy alternatives which we desperately need even if it buys us time to develop alternatives …†Or, “I’m afraid that Palin’s strict stance on abortion will morph into the government telling me what I should believe and I really need to hear from her and not some tabloid that as a woman who claims to support a party that is anti-big government, she will hold to that and not impose her beliefs on those who feel differently.†How refreshing it would be to hear, read and discuss intelligent instead of sensational divisive banter.
But like soccer fans in a European stadium ready for a fight, what comes out of all our mouths instead is this:
--“Sarah Palin killed 40 Caribou with a single clip†(untrue of course)
--Sarah Palin is a “Jesus Freakâ€. (Bill Mayer).
--Sarah Palin tried to fire the librarian when she wouldn't ban books per Palin's request. (anonymous circulating email - unproven per Urban Legends but wreaks of implying she's the next Hitler, doesn't it?)
--“…a prominent Canadian gynecologist has vocalized his serious concern that Palin's choice (to have a Down Syndrome child) could encourage other women to make the same decision against abortion, to their detriment….†Salon dot com
Hmmmm, is it me – I thought we called it a woman’s right to choose for a reason?
-- “It's like a really bad Disney movie, "The Hockey Mom.' Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska, …..She's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink.†(Matt Damon).
Folksy? Does he mean hick?
Never mind that Governor Palin owned and operated a business, served two terms on the city council from 1992 to 1996, two terms as mayor from 1996 to 2002. Ran a campaign (unsuccessfully) for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conversation Commission from 2003 to 2004 and was elected Governor in 2006. This means that she has been involved and working her way up through public service for 16 years. Can we just say, “I don’t agree with her beliefs at all - but I respect her right to have them.†No, I guess it’s a lot more fun to discredit her as an inexperienced bimbo and discuss the two beauty pageants she participated in over twenty years ago in order to pay for her journalism and political science (minor)degree. And never mind that her experience outranks many of our past Presidents and that the state that Joe Biden represents as a senator has a similar population.
Many psychology books have documented well our subconscious need to find scapegoats for conflicts and frustrations and those vying for power know it. The irrational mob mentality* that is driven by emotion is also well documented. Books like Eric Hoffer’s , ‘The True Believer†explain how even the nicest individuals can be swayed to say and do horrible things as part of a group all in the interest of our family’s welfare and the common good.
Perhaps viewing historical mudslinging helps put our current behavior into perspective:
· During the 1800 Presidential election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Adams was called a fool, a criminal and rumors were spread that he wanted his son to marry the daughter of George III to create a new Dynasty in America , thus implying a reversion back to British Rule. Oh yah, wasn’t he the one who believed in fighting for independence? No matter. And Thomas Jefferson was accused of being a cheat, a robber, a coward, a fraud - you name it.
· When John Quincy Adams ran again Jackson in 1828, Democrats denounced Adams as “corrupt†and emphasized that owned a billiard table and an ivory chess set. It was also advertised that he actually traveled on the holy day of Sunday, had premarital relations with his wife and even pimped for the Russian Czar. Adams’ camp responded that Jackson had executed without justification (that’s called being a murderer) , accused Jackson’s own mother of being a prostitute and exposed Jackson’s wife as an adulterer (Her divorce from her first husband who abandoned her was never officially completed – of course, they left that part out.) Issues anyone?
· In the election of 1844, those who supported James K. Polk alleged that opponent Henry Clay had broken every one of the Ten Commandments. When asked what he had done specifically, they responded that they were, “…too shocking, too disgusting to appear in public printâ€. The public (ahhh…that would be us) actually believed it.
· When, the American Party wanted to take advantage of public sentiment that Irish Catholics were flooding the country (hmmm, sound familiar) they constantly reminded the public that their opponent, John C Fremont was Irish Catholic and implied that he wouldn’t take care of the problem..
· Abraham Lincoln was described by the Houston Telegraph as the “most ungainly mass of legs and arms and hatch face ever strung on a single frame.†Ouch. And we thought our media was mean when they made fun of McCain’s age! I guess history really does repeat itself.
So perhaps I am reading too much into this Sarah Palin stuff since it has been occurring since our country’s birth. I just keep hoping that someday the public which I and you are a part of will somehow collectively rise above the typical political banter and stop following the human herd mentality as described by Dan Akroyd’s character in the movie Tommy Boy, “What the American public doesn’t know is what makes them the American publicâ€. Michael Douglas’ character in , The American President also said it well when he said that his opponent was interested in two things, “…making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for itâ€.
I guess politics can be well compared to the Stock Market which also involves mobilizing “the groupâ€. Let's not forget that Stock Market fluctuations are influenced by only two factors: Fear and Greed.
Along those lines, one woman’s reply** to the aforementioned email actually said that she had heard an ‘expert’ on television who said that the reason women liked Palin was because they had a “Shadow Fear… of black men†and therefore were gravitating towards Palin and McCain instead. Wow. I guess that means that women who may like Palin are what, racists?
The point of this post is NOT to rally anyone for Sarah Palin. It is just to remind ourselves that the political process sometimes brings out the worst in all of us as a ‘group’ or ‘the public’. Campaigns I believe count on it. But, we all ultimately want the same things for the world and our children and might be better served to set an excellent example for our children and treat even those with opinions unlike our own with respectful, intelligent scrutiny. Well, unless they are running for office and we're afraid that they might win.
--------
W. D. Hamilton , "Geometry For The Selfish Herd," Journal of Theoretical Biology, Volume 31, Issue 2, pp. 295-311.

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~I received a forwarded email from a good friend about Sarah Palin written by Eve Enster~
Out of curiosity, was it this article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html
Seriously? I'd be the last to deny that actual sexism - just like actual racism - most definitely still exists in this country. But if you look around, in what I agree is a VERY debased Presidential campaign season and a none-too-noble political process even in the best of times, anyway.....I think you'll quickly discover that it isn't just Palin who's being "treated badly." ALL the candidates (with the possible exception of Biden, so far - and even with him, there's been a resurfacing and flogging of his decades-old semi-plagiarism story) are taking an absolute POUNDING, much of it hardly fair or even accurate.
The ONLY difference I see in the treatment of Palin - and this is keeping in mind the treatment which Hillary Clinton received during the primaries, since it is the closest comparison we have to the effects of gender upon mistreatment of a candidate - is that due to the fact that Palin's name recognition outside of Alaska and Washington (where she's been traveling annually in search of porkbarrel earmark money, since the '90s) was practically zero prior to John McCain's selection of her as VP, she is undergoing a concentrated form of the much lower-intensity scrutiny/vetting/unfair treatment that the other candidates have received. If I give you $1,000, and tell you if you spend it all by the end of the month, you get to keep everything you bought, you'll likely spend less PER DAY than if I tell you the same thing, but give you only a week to spend it. This is what's happening with Palin: the press and the electorate have barely two months - eight short weeks - to "kick her tires," to try to see if there are any rocks in her past worth turning over and examining what's underneath. It doesn't have to do with her being a woman, it has to do with her being an unknown.
Each of the other three people - who just happen to be all male - running for Prez or VP this fall are familiar figures about whom a great deal is already known. In the case of McCain and Biden, they've been around Washington for decades, and have had plenty of time to amass a reputation, for good AND for ill. People - and the press - think they understand and know these men (whether they DO or not is another question, of course - but if you think you know somebody, you're likely to ask a lot fewer questions of them than if you think you DON'T know someone). The third, Obama, was marked as a rising star in the Democratic party as far back as his 2004 Democratic convention keynote address, and people have been paying attention ever since. And he's been under literal daily, intense scrutiny ever since announcing his bid for the Presidency and the commencement of the primary season. Here again, people pretty much feel like they've got a decent handle on him.
But if you took all of the scrutiny and doubt and questioning to which Barack Obama has been subjected in the last four years (and particularly the last two) and crammed them all down into eight short weeks, I think - if anything - you'd find that the "scrutiny-per-day" factor would likely even SURPASS what Palin is currently undergoing.
So don't make the mistake of assuming that just because the public feels (justifiably) like they aren't being given much time to take this potential purchase out for a test drive, it's a result of rampant sexism or anything of the sort. I know that's easy to do because the other three in this race are male....but I can pretty much guarantee you that if Hillary Clinton and, say....well, to keep it simple, let's say Biden again.....were the Democratic ticket instead of Obama and Biden, you'd be seeing the treatment Clinton receives resemble far more closely that of Biden and McCain than Palin.....not because there isn't sexism against Clinton - sexism knows no favorites - but because people think they KNOW Clinton, just like they feel they KNOW Biden, McCain and Obama.
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
Virtually every allegation in that e-mail has been disproved.
However, the biggest lie of all is the lie that the writer wants to empower women.
All I did was offer the actual article (it wasn't originally an email and may have been altered along the way).
Re: equal rights, we've got them here and have for quite a long time.
We've heard this pseudo-feminist crap before!
(with apologies to Helen Reddy, from whom I always preferred "Delta Dawn" anyway, especially as performed by Dash Rip Rock). And hey, if you liked THAT, then perhaps you'll enjoy their cover of Pennywise's adaptation of an old Danny and the Juniors song, originally titled At The Hop! Git down, y'all.
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
After reading this article by Eve Ensler, I am even more thankful for someone like Sarah Palin to look toward as a positive, strong role model for women and girls today. I know many women like Palin - strong, competent, feminine, smart, savvy, happily married, nurturing mothers. Ms. Ensler might be surprised to know how many women actually agree with the very beliefs and stances that she mocked. The ones that were actually true and non-distorted that is!
~Kimberly
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