...but who isn’t?So Andrew Sullivan just tweeted out this thread, which is absolutely James Lindsay level of insane, as the responsible conservative alternative to accusing teachers of being pedophiles. pic.twitter.com/DQPdu1TvWi
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) March 31, 2022
This is the fairly predictable outcome of the fear of child abuse that started in the ‘80’s with the McMartin preschool and led to fear of anyone touching children, their own or anyone else’s, which led to a fear that teachers would touch children (the lurid horror stories around McMartin were finally proven false, so we all stopped believing in Satanic rituals), which leads here. 👆
It leads, also, to Q-Anon, which replaces Satanic ritual with international pedophilia (thanks, Jeffrey Epstein!), but keeps the conviction that any adult showing the slightest interest in a child is only interested in sexual intercourse with said child. Because thanks to popular culture we are all convinced that everyone not us are all sex mad 16 year old boys. And because children are our responsibility, but as a culture we see them as objects, not people. And our responsibility is not to protect them, but to carefully exploit them. As extensions of our ego or our anxieties (they must excel, achieve, graduate from the “right “ schools!), if not for some kind of physical gratification. They must reflect well on us. You will say you are not like that, that you love your children more than that; and you do. I address the stereotype, not the particular. But the stereotype is grounded in reality, not wild fantasy. And the stereotype rules our public expectations, and our fears. The fear for our children’s future is a deep one; almost as deep as the fear of our children being touched by …well, any adult.
You may not share that one either. But ask a teacher. Ask anyone who works with, or whose workplace includes just the presence of, children. Somebody shares it, and enough somebodies to make it a universal rule: thou shalt not touch a child. At. All. As a society we are terrified of what may happen to our children. Is it really such a surprise then that so many people seem to subscribe to the Q-Anon fear of rampant, secret, pervasive and universal pedophilia?
We have again met the enemy; and he is in the mirror. This is what we asked for, starting 40 years ago; and now, again, we have it. And now again we refuse to recognize it. Who is doing this to us?
Who else but us?
Sullivan went from Catholic school to a private school to Oxford, he's never spent a second as a student or teacher in an American public school, the ass knows absolutely nothing about what he's talking about.
ReplyDeleteHe's also the man who was caught advertising for sex with lurid descriptions of his preferences and neck down nude photos after he'd been diagnosed as HIV positive. He's the kind of Brit prep-Ivy equavalent right wing reactionary who the phony moralists of the American right don't mind that about. He's also the racist who promoted The Bell Curve at the low point of The New Republic, when the racist Marty Perez owned it. Apparently Perez overlooked his long term and published animosity for gay men when he hired the Brit. The gay bashing at that rag was overt for much of his ownership of it.
“Grooming” is the new “Satanic ritual”. Actually it’s the new “black men want our fair white women.” Nothing ever really changes. We just think it does, and then are surprised to find out we were wrong.
ReplyDelete