Feminist POV on Palin

[mklsgl]

This hit my wife's 'inbox' this morning:

*EVE ENSLER, playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of THE

VAGINA MONOLOGUES*

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a

member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned

and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for

polar bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact

that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or

touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.

Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a feminist and have spent my life trying

to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is

hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all

the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the

goodness and solidarity of feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to

feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth,

ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our

minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices

of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out

may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may

never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would

have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my

lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the

presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her

world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or

evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic,

the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of

cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar

bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be

taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and

plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be

taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task

from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are

raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to

determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine

her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that

makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has

tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people

who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and

difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next

president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse

populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She

has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves

from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But

when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared

in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the

end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America

has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in

our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of

the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies

to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will

determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or

whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It

will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest

our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction.

It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether

we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America

is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism

and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to

get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin

spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think

of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I

think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the

brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of

the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and

peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

[BlindMessiah]

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her

world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or

evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic,

the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of

cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar

bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be

taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and

plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be

taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task

from God."

I'd really love to be offered proof that the hurricane that took my house out in '04 was caused by global warming. The world has always had horrible storms. And she misrepresented her position on God's relation to the Iraq war.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She

has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves

from the air.

Believes in guns? Meaning the right to own them? Meaning supporting the constitution?

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But

when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared

in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the

end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America

has ever tried to be.

She didn't say she supports the war because God does. She said she hoped the country was doing God's will in Iraq.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to

get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin

spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think

of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I

think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the

brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

It's a good thing she wrote this paragraph, because the polar bears just aren't going to influence my vote.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of

the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and

peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

And I'm sure she has done tons of research on the ozone.

[MasterPo]

Well said BM!

[Bill Hill]

Feminist POV on Palin?

That's what I like about Feminists, they're always trying to tell other women how to think...

lol

[Leonardo]

And she misrepresented her position on God's relation to the Iraq war.

She didn't say she supports the war because God does. She said she hoped the country was doing God's will in Iraq.

It is those who are taking that one speech of Palin's out of context with the rest of her beliefs and her support of 'the mission' in Iraq who are misrepresenting Sarah Palin's stance on the Iraq War being a 'Holy' war. I have pointed this out previously but those who wish to believe something will often ignore evidence to the contrary.

* Sarah Palin would support the Iraq war if it was part of God's Plan. (from her speech in 2008)

* Sarah Palin supports 'the mission' (the war) in Iraq. (from an interview in 2006)

Conclusion: Sarah Palin believes the mission in Iraq is part of God's Plan.

[IrishAidan07]

And Barack Obama wants us to be God's soldiers. I really wish people would bring that up when they bring up Palin and her God's plan comment.

"(Evil) has to be confronted squarely, and one of the things that I strongly believe is that, now, we are not going to, as individuals, be able to erase evil from the world. That is God's task, but we can be soldiers in that process, and we can confront it when we see it."

Here

I'm just having a hard time figuring out why it is acceptable to crucify Palin for her God comment, but make no mention whatsoever of Obama's.

Is that fair? No.

And because Obama was being asked about terrorism when he made this comment, one can deduce that fighting terrorism is part of God's plan. I see no difference between the two statements.

War on Terror - God's Plan.

War in Iraq - God's Plan.

War in Iraq To Some Is The War On Terror - God's plan.

Let's be fair.

Edited October 1, 2008 by IrishLexie

[BlindMessiah]

It is those who are taking that one speech of Palin's out of context with the rest of her beliefs and her support of 'the mission' in Iraq who are misrepresenting Sarah Palin's stance on the Iraq War being a 'Holy' war. I have pointed this out previously but those who wish to believe something will often ignore evidence to the contrary.

* Sarah Palin would support the Iraq war if it was part of God's Plan. (from her speech in 2008)

* Sarah Palin supports 'the mission' (the war) in Iraq. (from an interview in 2006)

Conclusion: Sarah Palin believes the mission in Iraq is part of God's Plan.

Right. I'm ignoring evidence, and by that you mean reading her quote in context right? Once again, she said she hopes our country is doing god's will in Iraq. Your conclusion is wrong.

[Jack_of_Blades]

And Barack Obama wants us to be God's soldiers. I really wish people would bring that up when they bring up Palin and her God's plan comment.

Here

I'm just having a hard time figuring out why it is acceptable to crucify Palin for her God comment, but make no mention whatsoever of Obama's.

Is that fair? No.

And because Obama was being asked about terrorism when he made this comment, one can deduce that fighting terrorism is part of God's plan. I see no difference between the two statements.

War on Terror - God's Plan.

War in Iraq - God's Plan.

War in Iraq To Some Is The War On Terror - God's plan.

Let's be fair.

Yes I agree its ridiculous how no one has been unfair to Obama

Fighting Terrorism is not the same as = Fighting in Iraq

You name one fair election in the past 100 yrs and I will

I don't care who you like McCain or Obama, but the thought of Palin as the president

is one the scariest things I've ever heard in my life.

[Leonardo]

And Barack Obama wants us to be God's soldiers. I really wish people would bring that up when they bring up Palin and her God's plan comment.

Here

I'm just having a hard time figuring out why it is acceptable to crucify Palin for her God comment, but make no mention whatsoever of Obama's.

Is that fair? No.

And because Obama was being asked about terrorism when he made this comment, one can deduce that fighting terrorism is part of God's plan. I see no difference between the two statements.

War on Terror - God's Plan.

War in Iraq - God's Plan.

War in Iraq To Some Is The War On Terror - God's plan.

Let's be fair.

Indeed. I believe I agreed with your comparison in an earlier thread. My point here was to highlight how those supporting Palin (with respect to the accusation of her belief that the Iraq War is part of God's Plan) are using her quotes out of context to attempt to alter public perception of what she believes.

[IrishAidan07]

Yes I agree its ridiculous how no one has been unfair to Obama

You seriously believe the media has been fair in this election thus far?

Fighting Terrorism is not the same as = Fighting in Iraq

Perhaps you'd do well to go back and read what I actually said. "To Some" was two of the most important words in my statement. Some people like, say, Palin? Republicans? Therefore, there is no difference in the two statements.

I don't care who you like McCain or Obama, but the thought of Palin as the president

is one the scariest things I've ever heard in my life.

So because you think Palin would be a bad president, that's a good enough reason to treat her unfairly?

[IrishAidan07]

Indeed. I believe I agreed with your comparison in an earlier thread. My point here was to highlight how those supporting Palin (with respect to the accusation of her belief that the Iraq War is part of God's Plan) are using her quotes out of context to attempt to alter public perception of what she believes.

I know you agreed with me. My point is to highlight for the highlighters that their candidate maintains a similar world view.

[MasterPo]

I don't care who you like McCain or Obama, but the thought of Palin as the president is one the scariest things I've ever heard in my life.

My goodness! Up until a few weeks ago you didn't know Sarah Palin walked the Earth. Now you're terrified of her. WTF?!