- Why do Americans refer to George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson as our Founding Fathers? When Christians recite the Lord's Prayer,
why does the phrase, "Our Father" immediately tumble out? Why
did a generation of Americans grow up watching the TV series, Father Knows
Best?
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- In days past, "father" evoked notions of goodness,
wisdom, steadfastness, and self-sacrifice. And with good reason.
-
- According to the Father Facts report from the National
Fatherhood Initiative, children with involved dads get better grades in
school, have fewer emotional problems, enjoy better physical health, and
are less likely to live in poverty -- it's an impressive inventory.
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- When the Industrial Revolution swept through the United
States, fathers left the farm to work in the factories, the steel mills,
and later the corporate highrises. A void was created, which was soon filled
by their wives.
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- Even though Dad continued as the titular head of the
family, the reins of the daily operations of the house rested firmly in
the hands of the wife. But that common-sense division of labor didn't satisfy
the radical feminist agenda.
-
- Beginning in the 1970s, feminists launched a ruthless
campaign against the family and fathers. Maybe you're asking, What's wrong
with the family? And why would they target fathers?
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- To answer those two questions, we must turn back the
hands of time to exactly 120 years ago.
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- In his 1884 classic, the Origin of the Family, Frederick
Engels wrote: "The first class opposition that appears in history
coincides with the development of the antagonism between man and woman
in monogamous marriage, and the first class oppression coincides with that
of the female sex by the male."
-
- This passage, and others like it, were used by Lenin
and his minions to convince impressionable women that they would be better
off leaving their families and taking up the hammer and the sickle
-
- But fem-socialists knew better than to wage a frontal
assault on fatherhood. They would have to find a new boogeyman.
-
- Soon after Lenin seized power in 1917, he set out to
destroy religious belief and practices. To do this, Lenin banned and humiliated
the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church.
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- So when the Sisterhood decided to put fathers in their
crosshairs, it's no surprise that they seized upon the "patriarchy"
as the historically-convenient scapegoat.
-
- It was Kate Millett's 1970 book, Sexual Politics, that
gave the green light to the onslaught. The book is replete with hateful
calumnies about men. Millett offers this pithy paraphrase of Frederick
Engels earlier indictment of fathers: "Patriarchy's chief institution
is the family."
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- No one could really define patriarchy. But patriarchy
became an oft-repeated epithet that soon evolved into a circular argument:
patriarchy was bad because it caused the oppression of women. And women's
oppression was self-evident because of the existence of patriarchy.
-
- The feminist assault on fatherhood harnessed the mass
media to disseminate their destructive message. Feminists portrayed fathers
as deadbeats and abusers. And single moms became, well, chic.
-
- This campaign was remarkably successful in dismantling
the cultural authority of fatherhood.
-
- By 1992, it was acceptable for TV sitcom character Murphy
Brown to have a child out of wedlock. So commendable, in fact, that when
Vice President Quayle chided Brown for "mocking the importance of
fathers by bearing a child alone," Quayle was the one who endured
the firestorm of criticism.
-
- Three years later, a stunned David Blankenhorn was compelled
to write in his book Fatherless America, "The most urgent domestic
challenge facing the United States...is the re-creation of fatherhood as
a vital social role for men. At stake is nothing less than the success
of the American experiment."
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- The deconstruction of fatherhood continues to this day.
Turn on your TV and you will see the sitcoms and advertisements that portray
dads as speechless dolts in the face of the superior wisdom of their wives
and 11-year-old children.
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- So when feminists attack the institution of fatherhood,
they are rending the very fabric of families, and of Nationhood itself.
-
- - Carey Roberts is an analyst and commentator on political
correctness. His best-known work was an expose on Marxism and radical feminism.
Mr. Roberts' work has been cited on the Rush Limbaugh show. He now works
as an independent lecturer, writer, and consultant. E-Mail: CareyRoberts@comcast.net
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- © 2004 Carey Roberts - All Rights Reserved
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-
- Comment
- From CoyoteSue
-
- Hey Corey -
-
- I am female disser...I believe that is what you will
call me. Corey what is happening is a revolution. Women are beginning
to think for themselves. The lazy couch potato Dads are becoming sore
losers; women are out- pacing men in every branch of life and this is bringing
out the woman bashers like you. What I have learned most about males is
they hate change because they are in control.
-
- Women are becoming equals in America for the very first
time in their lives. The road to freedom from domination has been a long,
hard struggle. Equality is not a bad thing - it is a good thing. With
women being equals the entire world will become a better place to live.
Corey, embrace and support women; we are going to make the world a better
place to live. Isn't the quality of life the most important thing right
now? Sue
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