I have to say, when it comes to values in the U.S., I must have missed a ship sailing somewhere along the line.
Now, I do not want any governments, local, city, county, state or federal to do any real work. None. Don’t pay attention to debts or deficits, don’t pay attention to crime (Chicago), don’t pay attention to urban blight……..don’t fuck with any of that stuff. INSTEAD, I want governments to pay attention to the urgent, nay CRITICAL position of Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy on gay marriage.
Now, clearly the left has gone over the top about something that none of us give a shit about and as several have pointed out, have established a straw man argument, a “false narrative” about the seriousness of Dan Cathy’s views. Now, I won’t re-hash what most of the informed know on this issue now; hell if you didn’t know better you would swear that the only two things happening in the world that mattered were the shooting in Aurora, CO and Dan Cathy’s views on traditional marriage. And the latter is not a small thing, and I will explain my view on this.
The mayor of Chicago has stated that Chick-fil-A’s values are NOT Chicago values. The mayor of Boston has vowed to keep the restaurant out of Boston. The city council of Philadelphia is taking up a resolution condemning Chick-fil-A for its’ “anti American attitudes that promote hatred and bigotry.” And the mayor of San Francisco has expressed disappointment that Chick-fil-A does not share that city’s values.
Okay, let’s step back and get our collective acorn around this argument. If you tell me, or others like me that my values are not the same as those of Chicago I would have to let out a sigh and say “thank the LORD.” Imagine my relief that I do not share the values of almost unstoppable violence and corruption. Imagine my relief that that I do not exist by feeding off of the taxes of the entire rest of the state of Illinois. My point is that the mayor of Chicago is not insulting me, but rather praising me, by saying I do not share Chicago values. As for Boston…..you people, or your leaders, are idiots. In THIS economy you are going to forbid a business in your city because of the CEO’s personal beliefs? Let me posit this. The Billy Graham ministries have a rule among the staff. Among the staff, one man and one woman, not married to one another, shall not be alone in a room together. Now, I wouldn’t have ever thought of instilling that rule among my staff, but it certainly makes sense to me, and frankly, I would probably be far better off today if I had observed similar rules earlier in life. You will notice that the Billy Graham program is relatively scandal free, and NOBODY has pointed a finger at them accusing them of promoting hatred and bigotry. What’s the difference between the BG ministries position and that of Dan Cathy? Hell, if anything, among the BG Ministries, that is the OFFICIAL position, and Dan Cathy was merely expressing his OPINION. On Philadelphia; it is a large, illogical leap of the mind to believe that the CEO’s opinion, his personal opinion, fosters hatred and bigotry and somehow denies people their rights. Were it not for the leftist media that argument would collapse……promptly, because it makes no sense. San Francisco? Who gives a shit if the mayor is offended because the values of the CEO, not the store, but the CEO, are not those of the shining, gay city by the bay. My values are not those of San Francisco, will the mayor express umbrage if I chose to move there? To work there?
Now, my opinion, and my opinion ONLY. For Chick-fil-A, this too shall pass; I am not worried about the nations’ leading chicken sandwich maker; they will be fine. And the reason that they will be fine is that the mayors of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and the council of Philadelphia are all…..WRONG. For most Americans you do not make a good argument by staking out a position that traditional marriage is not in keeping with established values. I know a lot of married people, I know some that are married and divorced, remarried and remain married, and all of them are heterosexual marriages. I know no married, gay couples; I don’t give a shit, I just do not know any. And I’ll be honest…..I look at San Fran, which is so fucked up financially and politically, Boston, a bastion of the left, Chicago, the model for Gotham City, and Philly, where the city actually dropped a bomb on a city block to oust racial radicals, and I have to compare their values to my own. I don’t think I come out looking so poorly.
The BIG problem is not that those people in leadership have those opinions, because everyone of them are far left libfucks, intent on destroying the nation as we know it, so we expect them to have those opinions. The BIG problem is that we have allowed these idiots to get into leadership positions and that now they are dictating what our “values” are to be. There is a reason that most states reject gay marriage when the issue is put to the voters; because that is not keeping with the people’s values. And it is as simple as that.
I do not approve of gay marriage. My opinion does not foster hate or bigotry……it is my opinion. The left refuses to accept that. And it actually boggles my mind that a political thought process that fought equal rights for minorities for over a century, has now taken up this banner for a distinct minority.
Now, one last issue and I SWEAR I will let go of the Chick-fil-A thing. The CEO of Amazon.com just gave $2 million to the nation’s largest gay marriage advocacy group (who knew that there was such a thing?). Other than one article doing straight reportage, you haven’t heard a peep from the media or conservatives.
Because we do not give a shit.
The left can try to define our values all that it wants……but that doesn’t make them our values…….it makes them THEIR values…..and continues to show that the left is the part of the population that is out of step with the rest of America.
H/T to my friend BATMAN on Multiply.com
Well said. I’m glad you said “illogical leap.” Those who say the left is not trying to destroy traditional families are either deluded or liars. (More on left wing liars HERE.
Every reasonable, objective person knows that, all other factors being equal, an intact biological family provides the best environment and outcomes for raising children. Research has supported this for years, as well as evolution. However, it is easier to implement ever increasing government controls over the populace when the family structure is crumbling and more people are poor and in need, physically and mentally.
Of course, the left wants us to ignore their hatred of traditional families. I’ve yet to see a single liberal, left wing organization that actively supports the traditional, intact biological family. Maybe someone can provide me a link. In the same way, the left hates men. Show me a link of a liberal, left wing organization that actively supports man and masculinity.
Self-righteous hatred is part of the foundation of left wing politics.
Show me a link of a liberal, left wing organization that actively supports man and masculinity.
http://goodmenproject.com/
I’ve heard of them. Checked out their site. They seem rather centrist. Which makes them liberal to some. I see they support the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers – Big Sisters, both excellent organizations. I worked for Big Brothers – Big Sisters for a couple of years between undergraduate and graduate school.
Our local Boys and Girls Club is underwritten by a wealthiest family in town, who happen to be Republicans. Membership costs each child $1 per year. Virtually all the younger age local basketball, soccer, baseball, softball and other sports programs run through them, plus after school programs that include tutoring and computer access.
Thanks to the link. I’ll check it out some more.
When you live in rural East Texas, what is nationally centrist tends to look leftist :-)
Glad you liked the link.
Here’s a link to a site that looks non-partisan, but is a much-needed example of traditionally masculine behavior for the early twenties set:
http://artofmanliness.com/
I have more relatives in Texas than any other state. If you ever meet anyone with the last name “Rick,” the odds are nearly 100% they’re related to me. I rode a motorcycle through Texas in 1978. Texarkana to Dallas, down to San Antonia, the up to El Paso, as part of a trip to California and back.
The ride from San Antonio was the worst day of the trip, although not terrible, hot, hot and hotter. It was hot and, then, every once in a while I would hit a pocket of hotter air that felt like I had opened an oven door. I thought it was funny that the Pecos River didn’t have any water in it where I crossed it.
Yeah, West Texas is like that – hot, hot, and dry!
the left wants us to ignore their hatred of traditional families…
Hollywood has been ridiculing traditional families in general, and emasculating fathers as role models in particular for 30 years. Nearly every sitcom became the brilliant wife/stupid husband format. Everybody Loves Raymond the Idiot comes to mind. Dan Quayle was demonized for saying that Murphey Brown’s pregnancy was bad television and it’s been downhill ever since. Not since the Bill Cosby Show has there been a positive strong FATHER on network television. Life imitates art imitates life…. well maybe something POSITIVE in art would be a place to start. If it had not been for ABC’s ‘Revenge’ this past season, my TV wouldn’t have EVER been set to one of the three alphabet networks. One only has to read the description of the television shows to see what’s happened in real life.
I rarely watch one of the three major networks, lately “The Mentalist” is the only show I watch on one of those networks.
;-) I dont know anyone on the left who wants to destroy traditional families. Please cite some real writers, not TV shows. I guess we should go to Fox and watch Family Guy for a strong father type? Maybe Homer Simpson?
Query- Why do you hate your fellow Americans? The degree of vitriol is pretty amazing. I seriously cannot imagine writing anything that full of hate about any town, city or state. I’m kind of guessing maybe you dont like being called un-American, but coming from the right which practically has a TM on the term “real American” it just seems ironic.
Steve
Allow me to point out for any who may be unfamiliar with the American popular culture of Hollywood and television – the focus of the comment – that the real writers in those milieus invariably write in and for Hollywood and television.
Like our good Steve, I, too, would prefer more Hollywood and television culture were written by real writers outside that milieu – I myself always thrilled to the writing of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and others, but, alas, they are all dead, and so when it comes to popular culture I have resigned myself to Aaron Sorkin, Seth MacFarlane, Jim Brooks, Matt Groening, John Swartzwelder, Dan Castellaneta, Conan O’Brien, Al Jean, and the like.
Steve, what real writers in the milieu of popular American Hollywood and television culture – the focus of the comment in question – do you prefer?
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
The assertion was as follows……
“the left wants us to ignore their hatred of traditional families…”
FB then used a few Hollywood shows to, apparently, demonstrate that the left hates traditional families. I think that if you are going to claim that half of the country hates traditional families, you should have stronger proof than MUrphy Brown. If true, you should be able to find plenty of writings in academic literature and on the left side of the blogosphere to support this claim.
Steve
I think that if you are going to claim that half of the country hates traditional families, you should have stronger proof than MUrphy Brown.
My good Steve,
But only you are claiming that half of the country hates traditional families.
Here is what is confusing you and leading you to introduce that straw man, on the erroneous basis of which you then demand extraordinary proof:
It is only the case that half of the two word word pair “left” and “right” is left (the other half, obviously, right).
But out in the real world, plus or minus forty (40) percent of people consistently identify themselves as independent thinkers and voters, leaving both left and right to perennially attempt to push the margins of their respective remaining thirty (30) per cents.
“The Left” is at best a third of the polity and, as consumers of popular culture (which may indeed not include you) consistently recognize is over-represented in Hollywood and television – an understanding which DAD and FIREBIRD obviously share and which experience you still have the opportunity to look forward to.
Whether our good Sara is right or not about Hollywood and television giving consumers what they want rather than leading them (and I am quite prone to agree with her: Dwight MacDonald recognized the post-Golden Age of television slavishness of both what he dubbed Masscult and Midcult in his seminal collection of essays Against the American Grain published back in 1962), with a few exceptions (chiefly in the genre of Westerns), since the days of Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver conservative traditional family themes and values have simply not sold as well as their progressive competitors: quirky, free-spirited and rebellious youth culture, progressive visions of the present and future, and anti-heroics. By contrast, conservative entertainment attempts these days appear authoritarian, thuggish, and a drag, man; CSI’s Mac Taylor gets by because the female audience wants to mother him.
However, if academic literature and the relatively recent blogosphere provide the sorts of catechisms on popular culture you are seeking in lieu of actually experiencing it directly, by all means, seek them out and enjoy them for what they offer you.
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
I am always amused by the assertion that Hollywood liberals are out to destroy families via television shows. Whatever their personal politics may be, the networks and network executives are out for one thing and that is profits. Those profits come from advertising on popular shows. The networks will put on TV whatever the American public wants to watch. And they will remove anything that is too controversial. They do not lead the public, they follow it.
I can’t stand the “stupid dad” character, but I’m not the target audience for Everybody Loves Raymond. Neither are the “Hollywood Elite” or The Gays or the Rich Jews or whoever it is who is supposedly trying to destroy families. Those television shows are produced because that’s what middle-America wants to watch.
My good Sara,
Imagine my surprise to find that 1990′s Schwartzeneggerian Total Recall, while inspired by the great Philip K. Dick, not exactly Citizen Kane, is now in – allow me to coin the term: re-production.
It would appear that not only is Hollywood driven by profit to give the public what it wants, it has now become an even more pecuniarily inspired vendor, like a restauranteur who, having served the 7 PM crowd what it desired, collects their bussings in order to repackage them and serve them up fresh and steaming to the just arrived 9PM set.
The logical end of this sort of infinitely regressive reductionism is fascinating to imagine: all cinema ultimately reduced to one eternal, endless loop ten nanoseconds long.
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
I had similar thoughts when I learned that Dallas has been resurrected.
Imagine my relief that that I do not exist by feeding off of the taxes of the entire rest of the state of Illinois.
I know this is a minor point in this post, but I’m not entirely sure that’s true and I’ve been surfing the web now for some time trying to find out what the facts are. I was under the impression that on the federal level at least most major cities pay more into the tax system than they get back whereas rural and suburban areas receive more per capita than they put in. Does anyone have a link with more information?