FATHERS WANTED
I have written before about the diminishing role of males in today’s society. My comments included:
1) the treatment of men as buffoons on television sitcoms;
2) the violence exhibited against men on sitcoms and Lifetime Network television;
3) societal assumption of the feminist view that men and women are “the same”, where science has clearly shown that is not the case;
4) the wholesale adaptation of the “feminized” method of teaching in the schools, the result being a marked drop in male achievement scores, college admissions, and degree completion;
5) the legal system’s unequal and unconstitutional treatment of men in alleged sex abuse and rape cases as well as the inequality of sentencing for female sexual predators.
But most disturbing, the importance of the role of fathers has all but been eliminated in today’s society. Modern television shows like Sex in the City, Friends, Roseanne, Queer as Folk and Will and Grace clearly take the position that men are not needed to raise children. The men in these story lines are, best case, considered optional, or worst case, reduced to no more than sperm donors. Even visitation of the father is assumed to be at the largesse of the mother, if given at all. After all, a “wo-MAN” doesn’t need a man to raise a child. The child is not important. What counts is the “wo-MAN" being “fulfilled”. It is a selfish view of life.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle was scorned when he discussed the television character Murphy Brown who deliberately chose to raise a child without the benefit of being married or the child having a father. In the story line, she turned the father away. The media types scoffed and guffawed at Quayle’s antiquated and provincial views of life. Quayle had to be an intellectual light weight. Yet while visiting the Department of Family Services yesterday with a client, I saw lots of single moms, with a parade of children behind them with no father, or various fathers, being supported by the State. What are the life chances for those children? Slim to none. What a sin that this country has allowed this situation to develop while continually sending out the message through the popular media that fathers are irrelevant.
In the category of unintended consequences, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and subsequent wars of poverty threw the fathers out of the house. The system was set up so that the more children Mom had, the more money she would get, and there better not be a man in the house. Although that criteria has been abandoned, the results are irreversible. Out of wedlock children in some minority communities are exceeding 95%. God save us from the do-gooders.
Let me make myself clear. Single women are capable of being good mothers and raising fine children. Situations certainly occur where the single mom through simple living finds herself in that position. Divorce and death happens. In many cases, the child is better off with the divorce. These brave ladies are absolutely remarkable and do a fabulous job. But it should not be something that is glorified as a preferred way of life, or aspired to. It is extremely difficult financially and emotionally for both Mom and the kids. Study after study has shown the traditional family is still the best vehicle for giving children ½ a chance at succeeding in life.
So on this Father’s Day, maybe it is time to bring back Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver, so this great nation can re-learn how it is done.
1) the treatment of men as buffoons on television sitcoms;
2) the violence exhibited against men on sitcoms and Lifetime Network television;
3) societal assumption of the feminist view that men and women are “the same”, where science has clearly shown that is not the case;
4) the wholesale adaptation of the “feminized” method of teaching in the schools, the result being a marked drop in male achievement scores, college admissions, and degree completion;
5) the legal system’s unequal and unconstitutional treatment of men in alleged sex abuse and rape cases as well as the inequality of sentencing for female sexual predators.
But most disturbing, the importance of the role of fathers has all but been eliminated in today’s society. Modern television shows like Sex in the City, Friends, Roseanne, Queer as Folk and Will and Grace clearly take the position that men are not needed to raise children. The men in these story lines are, best case, considered optional, or worst case, reduced to no more than sperm donors. Even visitation of the father is assumed to be at the largesse of the mother, if given at all. After all, a “wo-MAN” doesn’t need a man to raise a child. The child is not important. What counts is the “wo-MAN" being “fulfilled”. It is a selfish view of life.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle was scorned when he discussed the television character Murphy Brown who deliberately chose to raise a child without the benefit of being married or the child having a father. In the story line, she turned the father away. The media types scoffed and guffawed at Quayle’s antiquated and provincial views of life. Quayle had to be an intellectual light weight. Yet while visiting the Department of Family Services yesterday with a client, I saw lots of single moms, with a parade of children behind them with no father, or various fathers, being supported by the State. What are the life chances for those children? Slim to none. What a sin that this country has allowed this situation to develop while continually sending out the message through the popular media that fathers are irrelevant.
In the category of unintended consequences, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and subsequent wars of poverty threw the fathers out of the house. The system was set up so that the more children Mom had, the more money she would get, and there better not be a man in the house. Although that criteria has been abandoned, the results are irreversible. Out of wedlock children in some minority communities are exceeding 95%. God save us from the do-gooders.
Let me make myself clear. Single women are capable of being good mothers and raising fine children. Situations certainly occur where the single mom through simple living finds herself in that position. Divorce and death happens. In many cases, the child is better off with the divorce. These brave ladies are absolutely remarkable and do a fabulous job. But it should not be something that is glorified as a preferred way of life, or aspired to. It is extremely difficult financially and emotionally for both Mom and the kids. Study after study has shown the traditional family is still the best vehicle for giving children ½ a chance at succeeding in life.
So on this Father’s Day, maybe it is time to bring back Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver, so this great nation can re-learn how it is done.
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