Thursday, January 04, 2007
Leftists should be nastier. Discuss.
A recent court decision gave child custody to a three-parent family: the biological mother, her female partner and sperm-donor father.
It'll be anarchy! - not that that's a bad thing
When I heard about this story, I thought, "Great, whatever makes them happy," and thought a few evangelicals might get upset, which made me happy. The family is creation of class society, and its current form is only a few hundred years old. It changes according to what capitalism needs - and capitalism needs nuclear families less and less.
Because I'm a Marxist, I see this as a good thing that capitalism does: provide the space to explore different human relations, by destroying older, fixed ones (by creating work & life patterns that disrupt the nuclear family.) It's about time the law recognized what, in fact, is going on.
How would you like another mommy?
Today I heard a director of REAL Women debate a legal analyst about the decision. REAL Women is a right-wing, anti-feminist women's group. The rep sounded like my grade 6 math teacher; she cut off the host numerous times by rasping "Just a minute," with the same authority my teacher used on me, when I couldn't measure an isosceles triangle.
But she was far more clever than that. She said the decision was the thin edge of the wedge; "Soon we'll have children with 3, 4, 6 parents, and then how will the law figure that out?" Then, those crazy relationships would break up: "same sex relationships last an average of 2.3 years," she said. I'm sure adding the ".3" made it sound scientific, though I have no idea how you'd calculate that. Finally, she said the decision had to be legislated, instead being made through "politically appointed" judges.
Soon they'll be kissing 4 men! Then 8! Then 16...
You'll notice that this is, in fact, a contradictory argument. First the problem is that the law creates administrative hassles; then the problem is that the law encourages same sex marriage, which somehow hurts children; then it's that the law wasn't passed properly. Her inconsistency just points out her real agenda: hatred & bigotry masquerading as concern for children. You can't call gays serial killers and pedophiles any more, but you can still say they're "irresponsible", which is code for the same thing. How many straight marriages break up in 2.3 years? How many kids are damaged by straight parents who hate each other but stay together 'for the childrens' sake?' The bottom line is that, when parents are happier, kids are happier too. Gay means happy, after all.
The analyst countered her - sort of. She said families were changing, that the law would only be applied on a case-by-case basis, and she mentioned that peer-reviewed studies show children raised by gay parents are happier and more tolerant than those raised by straights. At which point the REAL lady leapt in and said, "Those are advocacy studies!" As if hers weren't.
"Must... suppress... latent homosexuality... must... renew Focus On The Family membership..."
So, we've got an aggressive, obnoxious right-winger, spouting reactionary platitudes. Why didn't the analyst call her a bigot? Instead, the analyst just remained calm and didn't challenge her.
Part of me respects this: we're mature adults, we're supposed to rise above name-calling. But the Right didn't get where it's at by playing fair. It won the culture wars by scaring working people into believing there's a conspiracy of feminazi assaulting the family.
You don't beat a bully by turning the other cheek: you face her down. I'm tired of hearing debates between pleasant leftists trying to explain their points, and right-wingers demolishing them with rhetoric. Where are our pitbulls? Why shouldn't we put them on the defensive? I wanted to hear the REAL lady answer why most abuse, incest and alcoholism happens in straight families; why most women are raped and murdered by their male ex-partners, often in the home; how the straight nuclear family is supposed to cope with the ever-growing pressures of low wages, urban decay and high costs of living from the capitalist system REAL Women love so much.
Let's be kinder to each other, and nastier to the bigots. Let's stop playing nice.
It'll be anarchy! - not that that's a bad thing
When I heard about this story, I thought, "Great, whatever makes them happy," and thought a few evangelicals might get upset, which made me happy. The family is creation of class society, and its current form is only a few hundred years old. It changes according to what capitalism needs - and capitalism needs nuclear families less and less.
Because I'm a Marxist, I see this as a good thing that capitalism does: provide the space to explore different human relations, by destroying older, fixed ones (by creating work & life patterns that disrupt the nuclear family.) It's about time the law recognized what, in fact, is going on.
How would you like another mommy?
Today I heard a director of REAL Women debate a legal analyst about the decision. REAL Women is a right-wing, anti-feminist women's group. The rep sounded like my grade 6 math teacher; she cut off the host numerous times by rasping "Just a minute," with the same authority my teacher used on me, when I couldn't measure an isosceles triangle.
But she was far more clever than that. She said the decision was the thin edge of the wedge; "Soon we'll have children with 3, 4, 6 parents, and then how will the law figure that out?" Then, those crazy relationships would break up: "same sex relationships last an average of 2.3 years," she said. I'm sure adding the ".3" made it sound scientific, though I have no idea how you'd calculate that. Finally, she said the decision had to be legislated, instead being made through "politically appointed" judges.
Soon they'll be kissing 4 men! Then 8! Then 16...
You'll notice that this is, in fact, a contradictory argument. First the problem is that the law creates administrative hassles; then the problem is that the law encourages same sex marriage, which somehow hurts children; then it's that the law wasn't passed properly. Her inconsistency just points out her real agenda: hatred & bigotry masquerading as concern for children. You can't call gays serial killers and pedophiles any more, but you can still say they're "irresponsible", which is code for the same thing. How many straight marriages break up in 2.3 years? How many kids are damaged by straight parents who hate each other but stay together 'for the childrens' sake?' The bottom line is that, when parents are happier, kids are happier too. Gay means happy, after all.
The analyst countered her - sort of. She said families were changing, that the law would only be applied on a case-by-case basis, and she mentioned that peer-reviewed studies show children raised by gay parents are happier and more tolerant than those raised by straights. At which point the REAL lady leapt in and said, "Those are advocacy studies!" As if hers weren't.
"Must... suppress... latent homosexuality... must... renew Focus On The Family membership..."
So, we've got an aggressive, obnoxious right-winger, spouting reactionary platitudes. Why didn't the analyst call her a bigot? Instead, the analyst just remained calm and didn't challenge her.
Part of me respects this: we're mature adults, we're supposed to rise above name-calling. But the Right didn't get where it's at by playing fair. It won the culture wars by scaring working people into believing there's a conspiracy of feminazi assaulting the family.
You don't beat a bully by turning the other cheek: you face her down. I'm tired of hearing debates between pleasant leftists trying to explain their points, and right-wingers demolishing them with rhetoric. Where are our pitbulls? Why shouldn't we put them on the defensive? I wanted to hear the REAL lady answer why most abuse, incest and alcoholism happens in straight families; why most women are raped and murdered by their male ex-partners, often in the home; how the straight nuclear family is supposed to cope with the ever-growing pressures of low wages, urban decay and high costs of living from the capitalist system REAL Women love so much.
Let's be kinder to each other, and nastier to the bigots. Let's stop playing nice.
