Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Bitter AND Clingy

Original Link: http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/2008/06/bitier-and-clingy.html

OK, so maybe it's because I am older, bitter, and (yet) clingy to hope, that I just seem to have a hard time with Hillary Clinton essentially becoming Obama's handmaiden. Her site now has a place to join up for Obama as soon as you open it. That was freakin' depressing. And then there is the upcoming joint fundraiser Clinton is going to have with him. This is almost too much to bear. I sweear, this just seems to replicate what so many strong, qualified, intelligent women have had to endure for far too long now - being the Executive ASSISTANT to the lesser qualified Executive. Here she is now offering HER fundraisers and donors to the man who treated her like Pure T crap for MONTHS now. How does this HAPPEN?!?!

I guess I should have added "naive" to the list above. I naively thought the USA was better than this when it came to women. I don't know why I did. Maybe because I worked my BUTT off several decades ago for more rights for women. But I really should have known...Back then, people made an attempt at inclusive language. Not any more. Now it is "man" this, and "men" that when talking about BOTH men and women. Maybe it was getting spoiled at my seminary - Union Theological Seminary in NYC - yes, the same one where Jim Cone is a professor of Systematic Theology (and was MY professor, I might add). At Union, ALL discussions, all papers, all chapel services HAD to be in inclusive language. Why? Because language shapes our reality. It does. There is no doubt about it. But I have noticed over time that our commentators, newscasters, tv shows, movies, etc., have returned to exclusive language almost exclusively. That should have been a BIG ol' clue for me right there.

Another place where I have seen a PREPONDERANCE of exclusive language, and this has bugged the BEJESUS out of me, is in WOMEN'S SPORTS. Especially after HOW HARD we fought for Title IX, for girls and women to actually have some tangible scholastic support in athletics. I cannot TELL you how many times I have written ESPN or whoever is covering college and national soccer teams when the announcers are saying things like, "She has a MAN on and needs to get the ball away." Or, if someone is injured and off the filed, "they are playing a MAN down now." There is no MAN anywhere NEAR any of the WOMEN on that field. It is JUST as easy to say "One on" or "Player On!" or whatever. What this does is translate down to the WOMEN or girls that they are basically substitute men. That they are not quite men. That MEN are the gold standard and the women are just men-wannabes. What the heck kind of message is THIS to pass on to our young people, both men AND women?!? It shapes them - it shape US.

And it is just this kind of mindset that leaves us with the most qualified woman, hell the most qualified CANDIDATE, playing handmaiden to the lesser qualified but MALE candidate because he is male. To see Hillary having to submit to Obama is almost too much to bear. Check that - it IS too much to bear. I cannot watch this new drama unfolding, myself. (Heck, I haven't even been able to watch her speech from earlier this month.) And that is why I can only hope that as Obama becomes vetted, as his REAL stance on issues comes out, as his REAL relationship with TUCC comes out, or Rezko, or Ayers, or, oh, you know them all - I'll spare you, comes out, that the Superdelegates will FINALLY come to their senses and realize there is only ONE Democrat who can take back the White House, and that is the one who created all of the policy ideas herself, who knows the issues facing people, who is CONCERNED with solving the real problems that face us, and who WILL get us out of Iraq without all of the doublespeak and backpedaling on EVERY single position. Hey, it can happen!! I am CLINGING to that hope - that their eyes will be opened, and they will see; that their ears will be opened and they will hear (to paraphrase Matthew 13:9). I have to cling to that belief, because the alternative is untenable to me. I cannot stand to watch this great woman be subjugated to this man. So, I will bitterly cling to, and hope for, a revelation to the Powers-That-Be to do the right thing, and to right things, in Denver.

I still believe, I still HOPE, that Hillary Can Rise...

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