Let’s jump right on in, shall we?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – slavery was slavery and slavery is slavery.
But what slavery was…what it is…well, some conservatives are working with a fucked up from the floor up definition.
Behold, the vow-based pledge!
No, not the pledge of allegiance…this is the vow/pledge some conservative group asked wanna-be GOP presidential nominees to sign in order to get some love from conservatives.
This vow/pledge included the usually shit – mythical code language blaming gays for marriage failures, rejection of Sharia law, and a vow to remain true to one’s marriage vows.
But there are a couple of other things that this mess contained…in it’s original pre-scrubbed form…that I’d like to delve into here.
"Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President."
Pause…sip coffee…continue.
After years of enduring rancid slavery analogies it should be hard to get pissed off at this conservative trend du jour, but amazingly its not!
“Slavery had a disasterous impact on African-American families”
Um, slavery tore black families to bits…prevented black people from being married or families or united…valued black people as property…tolerated the rape and molestation of black women and children…sold children away from their parents, sold parents away from each other, sold and purchased people…and, some black people were bred under slavery like cattle.
A slave does not consent…a slave does not have a say in their family unit…a slave does not read nursery rhymes at bed time…and slaves did not cuddle together and whisper about their dreams for their children’s lives.
Slavery was and is bondage…contrary to popular belief, many slaves did not want to bring children into a system of degradation, violence, and relentless toil.
They had to….were forced to...because they were SLAVES, for the love of accuracy.
That’s the thing about slavery…it was and is a cycle of "have to" and force.
To assert that children born into slavery were likely to be raised by both parents and thus were better off is to perpetuate a lie.
This lie attempts to spruce up slavery and that’s beyond disgusting...absolutely disgusting...so damned disgusting that it makes my stomach lurch.
This lie attempts to erase the sexual oppression that was present under slavery – that a slave is denied consent, that white masters roamed the slave quarters and "used" their “property”, that black women had their children sold as property…and that black mothers knew their female children faced nothing but the same.
And this lie perpetuates the myth that all the problems within some black communities (cause it also doubles down on the whole black monolith bullshit) are due to a lack on man-on-woman sanctified marriage.
Pause…sip coffee…go on.
Oh but wait…there’s more!
“Presidential candidates who sign The Marriage Vow will sign off on support of personal fidelity to his/her spouse, appointing faithful constitutionalists as judges, opposition to any redefinition of marriage, and prompt reform of uneconomic and anti-marriage aspects of welfare policy, tax policy, and divorce law.”
On that personal fidelity to one’s spouse shit…um, how fucked up is it that these people think their organization has a stake in anyone’s marriage to the point that they also want a promise? Isn’t this vow-based bigamy?
On the faithful constitutionalist judges…I’ve just gotta ask how a conservative group can demand that shit when you know and I know that you know and they know that they want judges to get liberal as hell on the Constitution when it comes to reproductive justice. I call bullshit!
But that other stuff…the “prompt reform of uneconomic and anti-marriage aspects of welfare policy, tax policy, and divorce law.”…yeah, that shit should give the masses a serious pause.
See, conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and her minions think that women being able to survive sans a man threatens traditional marriage…by survival I’m talking about a roof over one’s head and $160/ month worthy of food on one’s table.
These people also think that tax policy should favor the married…and by “married” they mean the richest 1% of the population.
Oh and divorce…Lawd knows they want to make it harder to get divorce because misery, incompatibility, or violence are no reason to end a marriage when marriage is all about a woman being able to survive.
Ah…ah yes…do you see it?
If marriage is about a woman being able to survive…and social programs that assist in that are destroyed…and “reforms” revise the tax policy and divorce policy…and those constitutionalist judges do away with Roe v. Wade…
…ah…ah, yes…then these wretched conservatives will have created a modern system of forced pregnancy that they are certain will benefit the masses...
...yeah, yeah...just like slavery did!
...yeah, yeah...just like slavery did!
Ugh.
Bachmann and Santorum signed this shit in a hurry.
And now the same group that said they would not endorse a candidate that didn’t agree with the entirety of this vow-based pledge has revised said pledge to remove the reference to slavery.
Cute.
But why?
Its not like mainstream political journalists (I’m looking at you, Candy Crowley of CNN) are going to actually question a candidate who signed the vow/pledge in its original form about the ting they signed.
Its not like mainstream political journalists (I’m looking at you, Candy Crowley of CNN) are going to actually question a candidate who signed the vow/pledge in its original form about the ting they signed.
So fuck it.
Why change it at all?
At this rate of analogy, slavery will have been the best thing that evah happened to anyone evah.
15 comments:
I'd like to suggest Bachmann, Santorum, and Michael Medved's rancid-ass bodies be donated to medical research.
What's that, you say? They're still alive? Details, baby, details. (wink)
Holy crap, that is offensive as hell. Seriously??
Being white, there are "dog-whistle" issues that I sincerely am not aware of. And I cringe and apologize when I learn I've used one. But this?? This is inexcusable. How can anyone actually think this "statistic" is true?
Don't answer that. Because it makes me sick to know that some people DO think it's true.
This is disgusting. I've definitely heard about this from the blogosphere, but has any major news organization covered it? CNN, MSNBC, New York Times...anybody?
Sadly, I would not be surprised if the answer was "no."
Anybody who signs this should just be booted from office immediately. This whole uber-conservative backlash is getting old; they can go away now.
A bell cannot be unrung and any candidate who signed to the original pledge is unsuitable since that is the foolishness they will use to lead.
Yes. Well done Shark-fu.
That pledge is a pile of hot, runny garbage, and I hope they run with it when they have their debates. You know - actually explain it in public! GEESH!
Great post, Shark!
Yeah, this pledge is one of the most offensive political things I've come across in a contemporary democracy. And I'm not even "black", but pink. You guys must be outraged, rightly so. Then, of course, there is the lesser type of slavery, wage-slavery. Oh yes, but you are free not to work for peanuts, as long as you don't mind starving. You are free not to participate, as long as you don't mind there not being an alternative. Is that freedom?
Sometimes one has to wonder whether we are living in Superman's bizarro world.
When supposed serious people can not see the disconnect between reality and fantasy, the dumbing of America is complete.
Infotainment has become the major currency of our discourse.
Sad for us all.
Guess whaat the folk at Booker Rising are saying about it? THEY APPROVE OF IT! What's worst Whites or Blacks longing for the days of slavery?
And you know what else it tells me, it tells anybody who signed this AND then says they didn't know the slavery reference was included is either:
A) A first classless liar and/or
B)An idiot who signs anything that's put in front of them WITHOUT first reading it.
and if that's the case...we've got enough liars in house now, we don't need any more thank you.
And I'll be damned if we need another stupid person who will sign whatever is put in front of them because it contains the words family, God, tax breaks and values.
When the new world racists (formerly known as the GOP and Tea Party) can get educated enough to understand the difference between Party Ideology and the Bill of Rights, tell them to give me a call.
Until then, they can take their so-called "new" value agenda (which is really the same old values agenda but it doesn't include the names of any GOP who have recently run amok) and they can......you know what I'm saying?
Always a pleasure, Sistah. Your blog goes great w/ my first Cup.
yeah? the kids were raised by their slave mothers and rapist white slave master fathers. these people are so sick that it is unbelievable. did you know jefferson did not free any of his slaves i his entire lifetime? this man wrote the decalration of independence and had slaves. talk about being of two minds. these folks who wish to continue having a slave society for that is what they really want at heart are insane!
This white European woman has never read anything more stupid than that quote about African-American families in her life.
And I've read a lot of stupid from different parts of the world... but alas, human stupidity knows no bounds, so there is always something to surprise me.
Darina
If you haven't read it yet, may I suggest A Handmaids Tail by Margaret Atwood. It is horror at its best. We are headed right there.
"Oh and divorce…Lawd knows they want to make it harder to get divorce because misery, incompatibility, or violence are no reason to end a marriage when marriage is all about a woman being able to survive."
Oooohhh they hate that. Rave on
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