In general, I am not very vocal about my politics anymore. I was once fairly strident in my views but have always been a bit out of place: far too conservative for my college and grad school associates, a relative liberal in South Carolina, somewhere in the middle in my family, and way, way over on the left with my in-laws. Even almost two years happily at home in blue Ohio was not enough to shake the habit of keeping a low political profile out of me. Now, of course, I live in Qatar, where I can be, if I choose, blissfully out of politics at home.
But this week, there has been something flying around Facebook and the web that I simply have to mention, but it's not primarily a political issue for me, actually, though it is definitely a political hot button out there in cyberspace.
So there has been a lot of hullabaloo about a speech Obama gave on Halloween. Most of the posters/sharers that I have seen include this excerpt from the speech: "Sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that's not a choice we want Americans to make." And then people have gone all sorts of crazy declaring that this sentence is proof that Obama has dismissed or put down or even declared war on stay-at-home mothers.
I'll admit this is a sloppy sentence. The antecedent is not very clear, but grammatically, the "choice" referred to here is the "choice" to earn a lower wage for the rest of her life, not the choice to stay at home. Really, this is partially a problem of speech writing (I hope whoever is responsible for this little gem has learned his or her lesson about the importance of clarity) and/or folksy, off-the-cuff speeches that always leave open the possibility for sloppy mistakes, no matter what your politics. Grammar can be so helpful when used correctly, people!
But this is also a problem of context, in that there is none. This sentence is taken by itself out of the middle of a speech, the full text of which is available here. This particular speech at Rhode Island College (where the enrollment is 70% women, by the way) begins with him talking about trick-or-treating with his daughters later that day, lamenting the fact that they are getting a little old to go out. He goes on to talk about some economic gains in the country but then segues into talking about those who aren't able to feel the effects of those gains, people like his single working mother. He discusses the socioeconomic inequities felt by women still today, even after so many gains for women in contemporary American society. So he calls for paid family leave, paid maternity leave, and better day care for families who work to support their families because they have to, given the economic realities they face. And then he says "And too often, parents have no choice but to put their kids in cheaper daycare that maybe doesn't have the kinds of programming that makes a big difference in a child's development. And sometimes there may just not be any slots, or the best programs may be too far away. And sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that's not a choice we want Americans to make....So we need family leave, we need better child care options, and we need to make sure that women get an honest day's pay for an honest day's work." The choice he is talking about here is the untenable choice mothers who feel they are forced to work must make between inadequate child care and being penalized for the rest of their lives for "choosing" not to work and the fact itself that our economy forces women to make such choices in the first place.
Really, have we fallen so far that we cannot even read for ourselves before we jump to judgment? Are we so partisan that reading is really beside the point? And how very like us, as a nation, to skip right over the part about continuing social and economic inequities that are forcing women into positions where they cannot make any real "choices" at all and jump right to the part where we decide to proclaim our disapproval.
Sigh. Just...sigh.
But this week, there has been something flying around Facebook and the web that I simply have to mention, but it's not primarily a political issue for me, actually, though it is definitely a political hot button out there in cyberspace.
So there has been a lot of hullabaloo about a speech Obama gave on Halloween. Most of the posters/sharers that I have seen include this excerpt from the speech: "Sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that's not a choice we want Americans to make." And then people have gone all sorts of crazy declaring that this sentence is proof that Obama has dismissed or put down or even declared war on stay-at-home mothers.
I'll admit this is a sloppy sentence. The antecedent is not very clear, but grammatically, the "choice" referred to here is the "choice" to earn a lower wage for the rest of her life, not the choice to stay at home. Really, this is partially a problem of speech writing (I hope whoever is responsible for this little gem has learned his or her lesson about the importance of clarity) and/or folksy, off-the-cuff speeches that always leave open the possibility for sloppy mistakes, no matter what your politics. Grammar can be so helpful when used correctly, people!
But this is also a problem of context, in that there is none. This sentence is taken by itself out of the middle of a speech, the full text of which is available here. This particular speech at Rhode Island College (where the enrollment is 70% women, by the way) begins with him talking about trick-or-treating with his daughters later that day, lamenting the fact that they are getting a little old to go out. He goes on to talk about some economic gains in the country but then segues into talking about those who aren't able to feel the effects of those gains, people like his single working mother. He discusses the socioeconomic inequities felt by women still today, even after so many gains for women in contemporary American society. So he calls for paid family leave, paid maternity leave, and better day care for families who work to support their families because they have to, given the economic realities they face. And then he says "And too often, parents have no choice but to put their kids in cheaper daycare that maybe doesn't have the kinds of programming that makes a big difference in a child's development. And sometimes there may just not be any slots, or the best programs may be too far away. And sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that's not a choice we want Americans to make....So we need family leave, we need better child care options, and we need to make sure that women get an honest day's pay for an honest day's work." The choice he is talking about here is the untenable choice mothers who feel they are forced to work must make between inadequate child care and being penalized for the rest of their lives for "choosing" not to work and the fact itself that our economy forces women to make such choices in the first place.
Really, have we fallen so far that we cannot even read for ourselves before we jump to judgment? Are we so partisan that reading is really beside the point? And how very like us, as a nation, to skip right over the part about continuing social and economic inequities that are forcing women into positions where they cannot make any real "choices" at all and jump right to the part where we decide to proclaim our disapproval.
Sigh. Just...sigh.
Ha! I never even read this (most popular) post before. Do you follow news much? B/c this kind of out-of-context stuff happens ALL the time. I don't even have the patience to address it anymore. It's annoying how anxious folks are to misunderstand and feel outraged.
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