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Writings and Publications by Joseph B. H. McMillan
PALIN HYSTERIA
by
Joseph BH McMillan
The Scottish philosopher Tobias Smollett once said: “I think for my part one half of the nation is mad – and the other not very sound.”
I wonder what he would have said if he had had the misfortune of witnessing the present fiasco-tragedy that is the 2008 presidential campaign?
Perhaps, like von Schiller, he would have exclaimed that “with stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain.”
Never before have I witnessed such a wholesale sell-out of values and principles which, until the appointment of Palin, had been proclaimed the ‘sacred’ foundations of conservative values and principles.
That hideous ideology of “isms” and “phobias” was the preserve of Liberal Fundamentalists. Yet, following the appointment of Palin, it is hard to find a Republican or Conservative commentary that does not band about accusations of sexism like confetti.
At a stroke, McCain has put the final nail in the coffin of the family. All those women who have put their principles into practice by devoting themselves to the upbringing of their children have had their noses rubbed in the dirt (many willingly). All their efforts to instill in their children the importance of sacrificing for the benefit of their children have had their efforts squandered. The new standard that has been raised proclaims ‘me first’ - children can be sacrificed on the altar of their mother’s vanity and ego; they are happier to play the role of window dressing to their mother modeling her vanity!
When conservatives are hailing Palin as some kind of super-hero, how can any parents, especially if they support Palin, tell their own children that their primary obligation lies in bringing up their own children one day? Their children will treat such hypocritical instruction with the contempt it deserves.
Until now, it has been a conservative ‘truth’ that many, even most, of the social problems in the world (including, or especially, teenage pregnancies) are due to children not having a mother at home – and I subscribe to that view. Rather than dispelling that conviction, Palin proves it.
But worse, having got herself pregnant, other teenagers will see that rather than being stigmatized, Bristol Palin is feted as some kind of Prima Donna. Bristol, and the boy who put her in that condition, are paraded on the world stage as though they were ‘celebrities’. And then there will be the offers of book deals, perhaps even a film!
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when some conservative Palin-supporting parents try to tell their children to be abstinent until they marry. ‘Why should we?’ will come the retort, there is always redemption; perhaps even fame. ‘If it’s good enough for Bristol, then it’s good enough for me!’
I have already set out in my articles titled The Ten Principles of Freedom (see article 3 – The Purpose of Life) how and what obligations attach to men and women when they bring a human being into this world, and even those obligations that predate any union of a man and a women, so I won’t repeat them here other than to say that the obligations of those who bring a human life into the world are more fundamental than any other human obligations, and take precedence over all other human obligation. Principal amongst those obligations is the obligation to sacrifice our own egos and vanities for the benefit of our children.
So how, I wondered, could any right-thinking person professing ‘conservative values’ support McCain/Palin? Remarkably, some are now proclaiming her a latter day Deborah - the ‘prophetess’ - , who persuades Barak - no, not that Barack – although then again perhaps it is that Barack - to slay the baddie Sisera (an early version of bin Laden perhaps?), who, in the end, is betrayed by one of his own by having a nail thrust into his temple. Sisera (bin Laden?) is then delivered up to Barack. That’s all in the book of Judges, by the way; Chapter 4.
So we now see that we can all support Palin, even though she is really the epitome of the modern day feminist and antithesis of conservative values, because she is a ‘prophetess’. She is allowed to abandon her children; her teenage daughter’s pregnancy is something to be celebrated; she can groom her vanity and ego at the expense of her family; all because she is a ‘prophetess’.
And, oh yes, she is pro-life. And if the reports are to be believed, she is a pro-lifer who believes there can be no exceptions, including rape.
Now I am also anti-abortion, but not of the fanatical, mindless variety. So let’s see what Palin actually said when the revelation about little Bristol emerged.
Sarah Palin and her husband issued a statement saying that they were "proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby…"
I see, so Bristol should have the choice of making a “decision” about her pregnancy yet, according to Sarah Palin, other women (including young girls) should not, even if they have been brutally raped?
And let me just venture for a moment to imagine what a twighlight world of an absolute prohibition of abortion would look like – the sort of world Sarah Palin reportedly supports.
A bunch of scumbags break into a home in the middle of the night. They herd the husband, wife, and children into the sitting room at gun point. There, in front of the husband and children, each takes his turn to brutally rape the wife and mother. They scuttle off laughing and joking leaving the family traumatized and horribly violated – scarred for life.
The family is taken to hospital, and the wife and mother to the rape clinic. There, behold, stands a Palin look-alike with a little clipboard, designer glasses, and stern face. She is there to ensure that the genes from those scumbags, if any have impregnated one of the woman’s ovaries, are protected. The look-alike dishes out stern warnings to the woman not to do anything that may harm that scumbag’s genetic image that has been forced into her. Thereafter, on a weekly basis, the little Gestapo lady pitches up at the home of the family to ensure that no one is doing anything that may harm the scumbag’s genetic image that is developing into a mini-scumbag. Each time the women has morning sickness, she and her family are reminded of that traumatic night; each time the scumbag’s genetic image kicks in the mother’s womb, she and her family are reminded of that traumatic night.
If, perchance, the woman, due to the trauma of the rape and the harassment from the Palin look-alike, should miscarry, I then see her, and no doubt her husband, being prosecuted for manslaughter for not taking sufficient care to ensure the wellbeing of the scumbag’s genetic image. I can see husbands, wives, even children, taking their own lives to escape the hell that the likes of Palin would compel them to endure.
Given that Palin thought it wonderful that Bristol could make her own “decision” about what to do with the baby she conceived by consent, I doubt that she would welcome that kind of intrusion into the life of her daughter should such a terrible tragedy befall her – but, it seems, Palin judges it good enough for the rest of us. Oh yes, but I forgot – she’s a ‘prophetess’. I wonder what that makes McCain?
But this ‘prophetess’ thing is also perplexing. Since when do prophets, or even ‘prophetesses’, have some special exemption from The Law in order to proclaim The Law (because that is what prophets do)? I had this naive idea that God only chose certain people to proclaim His Law because of their scrupulous and exemplary observance of The Law.
The bottom-line is thus very simple, notwithstanding all this ‘prophetess’ nonsense – Palin subscribes to conservative values in word only (if that), not deed, and sets an ‘example’ that undermines the entire basis of conservatism – the family.
So for all those who have so eagerly discarded their ‘deeply held family values’ in order to support Palin, and thus McCain, perhaps they should remember that a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for the demise of the family. It is that simple.
But this Palin hysteria has also manifest itself in another peculiar way – it has seen male feminists, Republican and Conservative male feminists, come crawling out of the woodwork. So now we witness the unedifying spectacle of these men, men of the limp-wristed wimp variety, proclaiming their admiration for “strong women”. If we are brutally honest about them though, I expect these are the ‘men’ who fantasize about, or physically indulge in, bondage; the sort who get a sexual kick out of being bound up and whipped by a woman wearing a nurse’s outfit, or pretending to be a schoolgirl.
Women like Palin are not the real “strong women”; they are simply pathetic imitations of the worst aspects of what Nietzsche called “masculine stupidity”.
Real strong women do not trot along with the feminist herd mentality; real strong women do not march behind feminist standards and banners proclaiming their vanity to be the highest ideal; real strong women do not succumb to peer pressure to imitate the worst and most primitive instincts of men; real strong women do not cower at the scorn the male-imitators pour upon them; real strong women do not abandon their independently thought out principles in the face of cowardly mockery; real strong women recognize the obligations that attach to them when they bring a human life into the world, and are not deterred by ridicule from the herd; real strong women do not succumb to their primitive instinct for pleasure just because the consensus dictates that sexual experimentation is somehow ‘liberating’; real strong women pay heed to the guilt they know they would feel by abandoning their children before they are ready to face life on their own – they do not latch onto studies in order to justify ignoring the inner voice that warns them against such neglect; real strong women do not feel humiliation in doing the most menial of tasks in order to ensure that their children are clean, comfortable, and secure; real strong women will one minute be changing a nappy, the next minute discussing Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the next brushing up on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity for the next physic’s lesson; real strong women see no need to compete with their husbands – they know it would be an unfair contest – instead they have a measure of pity for their husbands whose qualities limit them to being bread winners, and occasional dispensers of discipline; but real strong women will also recognize men’s weakness and susceptibility to serving their vanity at the expense of the family, so they will put their foot down when their husbands’ vanity wants that new sports car, or set of golf clubs, to impress their friends; real strong women also have pity for those women who think they can find some ‘fulfillment’ in imitating “masculine stupidity”, but, as Kipling said, will make allowance for such stupidity, and even tolerate the taunts of the ignorant.
Real strong women do not find self-worth in the adulation and empty flattery of a boss, or client, or patient – their worth is deeply rooted in the knowledge that they are meeting their obligations towards their children. These women, these real women, these strong women, they are fiercely independent, not swayed or detracted by the vacuous currents of ignorance and vanity. These women, the real and strong women, are highly educated, often self-educated, and utterly devoted to their children, to their families, and to their principles. Not those principles taken ready-made off the rack by the ignorant imitators of “masculine stupidity”, but those principles that are a product of deep reflection and reasoned judgment.
And nothing detracts these really strong women for their destiny. These are the women who are the bulwark against the relentless onslaught against the family. These women are the last stand against civilization descending into a nightmare of depravity, decadence, and moral disintegration. These are the women who resolutely refuse to sacrifice their unique and wonderful qualities in order to imitate the worst indulgences and vanities of “masculine stupidity”. But these are not the women you will find childishly chanting “Sa-rah, Sa-rah” at some ridiculous political rally. These women don’t need logos; these women don’t need slogans; these women are not imitators, nor imitations – they are the real thing. They are women – and they celebrate their femininity by being women, not pathetically imitating men.
And Sarah Palin is not in their ranks; neither are those women who are falling all over themselves to worship at Palin’s feet. So let those men who fantasize about the nurse smacking their blubbery bottoms remember that! Admiring a woman as a ‘strong woman’ because you are a feeble fetishist does not make such a woman strong – it only reveals your own pathetic weakness.
Finally, let me address Palin’s fiscal ‘qualities’. ‘Conservatives’ were beside themselves with hysterical jubilation when they discovered that Palin had put the governor’s luxury jet up for sale on Ebay. They become orgasmic when Palin mentions the ‘bridge to nowhere’ – even though the taxpayers now have neither the bridge, nor the money for the bridge.
These ‘conservatives’ think that so-called fiscal conservatism is something that can stand alone, free of any rational principles to inform its ideology. They simply fail to recognize that fiscal policy can only be the product of fundamental principles.
At least the Democrats understand this basic fact. They subscribe to the Utilitarian ethic of the ‘common good’, or “the greatest happiness to the greatest number” as Bentham put it, and tailor their fiscal policy to bring about that objective. For them, high taxes are not an end in themselves, but a means to a higher ideal – the common good, or as the Constitution puts it, the “general Welfare of the United States”, or as the Declaration of Independence would have it, the “right to the pursuit of Happiness.”
So-called ‘fiscal conservatives’, who see the objective of low taxes as some sort of ethical objective in itself, are simply morally vacuous. Their ethic is greed, and passing on the other side of the road. To them, the “good Samaritan” is a dork, and the “rich man” can buy himself a place in heaven. In short, they are the antithesis of all Biblical teaching, and plain old commonsense.
If there is such a thing as conservatism, then it can only find meaning in fundamental principles which inform its ideology. I have set out those principles in my series of articles The Ten Principles of Freedom, which principles also happen to reflect precisely the Ten Commandments – the Law of God.
So when we talk about issues like taxation, those issues must be founded in principles that give credence to the policy which flows from them. Otherwise they are just that – policies; policies without any substance – banging on the table.
I’d rather pay tax at a rate of 90% if I thought it would best serve the objective of restoring the family to the position of preeminence it deserves, than pay no tax and see those last vestiges of decency, morality, and honor – the mother bringing up and educating her own children – being destroyed.
So for me, better a short time of Obama – at least the less fortunate may get some measure of health care for the billions of wasted tax dollars (and perhaps some innocent children won’t die for lack of health care) – and wait until a true conservative comes along. A McCain/Palin presidency will create a political consensus that denigrates and diminishes the family, making it well nigh impossible to convince future generations that they ought to sacrifice for the sake of their children. And if I were to thus poke a little fun at those who claim that Palin is some kind of ‘prophetess’, well, perhaps she is a ‘false prophetess’? Think about that!
But alas, I expect that the gods are in for another vain struggle as conservatives fall all over each other to prostrate themselves at the feet of their newly discovered ‘prophetess’.
Copyright © Joseph B.H. McMillan 2008 All Rights Reserved
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