Paladin Mailbox - Re: Phyllis Schafly

As a proud 1976 graduate of Furman - back in the halcyon days when there was no Conservative Students For A Better Tomorrow, no FOX News and everyone on campus just got along - I read with interest that Phyllis Schlafly was invited by CSBT to lecture at Furman. I was on campus a few years ago when CSBT protested an appearance by the singing drag troupe "The Kinsey Sicks." The fear mongering techniques used by CSBT were pathetic and laughable - these children who think they know everything but merely parrot nonsense they heard from Ann Coulter only accomplished selling out McAlister Auditorium for the performance. The audience loved the show and left wondering what, exactly, the problem was. Schlafly has been spouting her Neanderthal bilge since before most who will read this were born, and her rhetoric has succeeded in nothing whatsoever but promoting a stomach ache. Her statement that "there is no such thing as a glass ceiling for American women" is an easily disprovable lie - as attested by the payrolls of corporate America, where female executives are still routinely paid less than males. Were it not for the efforts of the feminist movement, the "glass ceiling" would be much lower.

In making the head-exploding statement, "women who are feminists will end up unhappy and alone," Schlafly ignores the reality of feminists such as my friend Joy Behar of "The View," currently with her man for 28 years or the happily married Gloria Steinem, the godmother of all modern feminists. Schlafly has always lied whenever the lie fits her agenda.

Regarding the interpretation of the success of Sarah Palin as proof that there is no limit for what women can do, I say her ascendancy proves nothing other than that every conservative in America is a sucker for a pretty face. If she looked like First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who towered over her in intelligence and achievement, Palin would never have gotten out of Wasilla.

And as to the insulting statement, "If women focus on careers first, they will end up forty, single and desperately wanting a child they can no longer produce," my best friend from childhood has moved into her 55th year on Earth happily married and happily childless. I have yet to meet a middle-aged woman whose life is miserable because she didn't reproduce - but maybe I don't spend enough time in South Carolina.

Schlafly basically sees one role for a woman: that of a subservient wife and mother. For some women, this is a fine and admirable goal. But what about women with no interest in it? Schlafly has no options for them other than a life of misery. Being a loyal wife and mother did a lot of good for First Lady Jenny Sanford, who is feminist enough to come to her senses and leave her philandering husband and head for the hills. If it were up to Schlafly, she wouldn't be able to.

Plus, Schlafly is not exactly "mother of the year" herself. She has preached against equality for gay Americans as long as she has preached against feminism, yet she has a gay son. One can only imagine the confusion of that poor sucker.

The modern conservative movement, rather than being a true advocate for freedom for all, has merely become a business-suited descendant of reactionary organizations like the John Birch Society, the Klu Klux Klan and scores of anti- Communist, anti-immigrant and anti- Semitic organizations. Modern conservatives are interested in two things - silencing their opposition and making money.

Toward their goal of promoting conservative indoctrination, CSBT should just own up to their agenda and change their name to "Fascists Advocating A Reactionary Tomorrow," or FART. After Schlafly's lecture, CSBT member Stephen Sebastian said, "people got to hear it from the horse's mouth as opposed to what they read online and hear from their leftist professors."
At least he got the "horse" part right.

Jim David is a member of the Furman University Class of 1976