"I was up against a universal truth. That when it comes to her children, a mother is not messing around. And if she thinks you are a threat to her kids, you are in trouble." Rob Bell, Nooma, "She."
Many conservatives like to deride Democratic Party goals and values, saying they are creating a "mommy state."*
At the same time, many conservatives like to proclaim they are the guardians and promoters of "tradition family values."**
It seems to me that there is a bit of a disconnect here.
What values could be more at the core of family values than those of motherhood and "mothering?" (Or, perhaps i today's world, "parenting" unless your model of fatherhood is exercising strict authority and discipline only)
And yet the concept of mothering is used disparagingly? Is used as a "huge insult?"
I just don't get it - the two attitudes seem to clash.
And it seems to me that the insult-mongers are overlooking the fierce protectiveness of mothers and the value we place on that fierceness.
Of course, as the character Ulysses Everett McGill announces in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou:"
BTW: In that Nooma video lesson, Bell describes an encounter with a mother goose protecting her hatchlings, and laughs about being "shut down by 'Mother Goose." Then he realizes:
"I was up against a universal truth. That when it comes to her children, a mother is not messing around. And if she thinks you are a threat to her kids, you are in trouble."
Conservatives, perhaps you should beware the warrior "Mommy" next time you wish to attack "the "mommy state."
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