MSTed: Feminism--Mask for Marxism? 2/3
M Sampo
Tom: Heh-heh. That was fun!
Mike: Yeah, but my throat hurts now. How does he DO that every week?
>We are *live*, again. And on the other end of the telephone is
>Andrea Pearson.
Crow: From where?
Mike and Tom: Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
> And we're gonna be continuing to talk about the
>Gender Equity in Education Act. I profess a great deal of
>ignorance here on this subject.
Mike: As in most things...
>Andrea, I believe you put out a little newsletter or something on
>this, don't you?
>PEARSON:
>Yeah, I sure do.
Crow: Hey, she's Editor in CHIEF!!
>VALENTINE:
>Tell me about that, too.
>PEARSON:
>Well, anyone who's interested in obtaining the newsletter can
>either write to me or call me. The address is: Americans in
>Exile, P.O. Box 2636, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 01202. And my
>phone number is (413) 499-3593.
Tom: Alert the Jerky Boys!!
>VALENTINE:
>Oh, I have that number! I thought maybe you had a different
>number for that. O.K. It's "Americans in Exile". Ah-hah! Are
>*you* an "American in exile"?
Crow: This guy has no clue, does he?
Mike: Apparently not.
>PEARSON:
>I think that most people who have the traditional belief systems
>about what marriage is, what the parents' role is towards their
>children, and so forth and so on, *are* "exiled" in America
>today.
Mike: Also, if you live in Wisconsin...
>VALENTINE:
>O.K. Andrea, will you send out a sample if people write to you
>and say that they'd like to see it?
Tom: ...as unlikely as that may seem?
>PEARSON:
>Yeah, I sure will!
Crow (in woman's voice): Heck, I've GOT 150,000 copies in my living room!
>VALENTINE:
>O.K. Good. We got that done.
>Now, this Gender Equity in Education Act. (I *should* know all
>about it.) I don't know a thing about it.
Mike: Hence the piercing, laser-like nature of my questions.
> When did they
pass this?
>PEARSON:
>It was passed in 1993.
>VALENTINE:
>Oh, last year!
Tom: Mike, I'm gonna kill him. Please let me kill him!! Please!
Mike: Easy, boy, easy.
>PEARSON:
>Yeah. And what it does is, it allows, first of all, for the
>connection of major government systems: Health and Human
>Services, uh there's... They call it "The Link-up for Learning".
>And what it does is, it puts together a *huge* federal-level
>method for tabulating where students are: their socio-economic
>status, their race, their sex, and so forth...
Crow: Sounds pretty sinister, so far...
VALENTINE:
>Oh, is this the thing that Beverly Eckman has helped uncover in
>her book about education?
>PEARSON:
>It's very likely that it may be related to that.
Tom (woman's voice): Because I have no idea what you're talking about.
> I don't
know if
>she's aware of this or not. But one thing that it says here (I'm
>reading), it says, "improve inter-agency communications and
>information sharing, including developing local-area
>telecommunication networks, software development, database
>integration and management." And this is with major areas of the
>federal government. There's a federal inter-agency task force
>that's been set up "consisting of the Secretary of Education,
>Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and
>heads of other federal agencies, as appropriate."
Crow (whispers): My God!
Mike: They ADMIT to that??
>
This
is a huge
>bill. It's $360 million in the first year.
Tom: Spending money on education??? Insanity!!
>VALENTINE:
>All right, now, this is strange. Most Americans, including
>myself, would think that's awfully innocuous
Crow: Because it is.
> --
telling the
>bureaucrats of our government to get together and computerize.
>But what you're saying is, by having government bureaucrats get
>together and computerize, they are micro-managing lives in a way
>that is detrimental to our traditional society.
Mike: Well, an inefficient, wasteful bureaucracy IS more traditional...
>PEARSON:
>Well it *is* invasive to the family. But it's also particularly
>disturbing that the kind of things that they're paying attention
>to are the gender role socialization within a particular
>student's family. And also, you know this bill provides for so
>much, it's difficult to talk about *all* of it. But...
>VALENTINE:
>Well, wait a minute: gender role socialization inside a
>particular family??
Tom: What a great idea! I'll call it "The Real World"!
>PEARSON:
>That's right.
>VALENTINE:
>How do they go about doing this? What do they do?
Crow: Well, first they start kissing lightly...
>PEARSON:
>Well, one thing is to change the textbooks so they're considered
>to be "gender equitable".
Mike: So they don't go making any little baby textbooks...
> Another thing that they do is, they
put
>moneys into different parts of the country: "At least one grant,"
>(and I'm quoting here), "in each of the ten federal regions."
>That's *their* words.
Tom: And damning words they are!
>Also, in the U.N. [United Nations] treaty, they talk about this
>same sort of thing being put into the education system. We're
>getting into conformity with U.N. law here.
Crow (as the old guy in Teenage Caveman): The word is the law!
>VALENTINE:
>All right, does that mean... I'm trying to get this in a
>practical, down-to-earth, 1950s mentality -- which I'm stuck with
(Tom, Crow and Mike snicker)
Tom: ...'cause I'm an idiot...
>when it comes to education and school. That means that boys don't
>go to wood shop anymore, and girls don't go to "home ec." [i.e.,
>home economics]
>PEARSON:
>Uh...
Crow: Even Andrea's stunned by his cluelessness!
>VALENTINE:
>They all go to sex education.
Mike: All this guy thinks about is sex, sex, sex.
>PEARSON:
>Well... It's not that simple. There's "set-asides" for pregnant
>teenagers. It allows for the erection of day-care centers --
>either next to the school or nearby the school, with
>transportation provided. It provides for all kinds of special
>privileges for girls...
Tom: Will the madness never end????
>VALENTINE:
>I got ya. All right.
>Andrea is my guest, Andrea Pearson and the American in Exile. And
>we're gonna open up the phone lines to you.
Crow: THAT should be informative...
>I'm Tom Valentine. This is *Radio Free America*.
>[...break...]
(Tom, Crow and Mike relax)
Tom: I could use one because--
>All right. We are back,
Tom: AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
Mike: It's an ambush!!
Crow: I'm losing it, Mike...(All begin crying.)
> live. My guest is Andrea. Andrea
Pearson,
>the producer of "Americans in Exile" newsletter, out of Post
>Office Box 2636, in
Crow, Tom and Mike (sobbing): Pittsfield, Massachusetts
> Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 01202.
>And Andrea, this Gender Equity in Education Act sounds like a
>massive thing, sort of like the crime bill.
Tom: The Crime Bill??!!
Tom, Crow and Mike (openly weeping): NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
And it
slipped
>through in 1993. There wasn't a lot of fanfare, was there?
(Mike and the bots continue weeping and trying to console one another.)
>PEARSON:
>There wasn't a lot of fanfare. I'd be surprised if most Americans
>knew about it. I think that they'd be *horrified* if they knew
>what was in it.
Crow (pulling himself together): Guys, c'mon. We can make it.
Mike (doing the same): You're right, Crow. Let's stay focused.
>VALENTINE:
>Well I'm... I don't even fully understand yet. We've been talking
>about it, but um...
Tom (attempting to riff, still a little weepy): But I wasn't really
listening.
Mike: There ya go, Tom. Back on the horse.
> It's a big bill, and you say it's horrifying.
>Yet I don't sense the urgency. Somehow, we're not getting it
>across, of how bad it is.
Crow: Maybe if you explained it through interpretive dance.
>PEARSON:
>Well, one thing that seems to me like a real whopper is, that an
>"at risk" student is defined here. And this is the definition.
>(I'd like to read it, 'cause I think it's so serious): "Many 'at
>risk' students suffer the effects of inadequate nutrition and
>health care, overcrowded and unsafe living conditions and
>homelessness, family and gang violence, substance abuse, sexual
>abuse and child abuse, involuntary migration, and limited English
>proficiency, that often creates severe barriers to learning" the
>knowledge and skills, and so forth.
Mike: Right about now, I'm guessing this guy is starting to really have
second thoughts about the whole "let's have Andrea from Pittsfield as a
guest" idea...
Tom: Yep...
>Then it later... This is one thing that they're going to give
>grants to support, is grants to local education agencies to
>improve educational performances of "at risk" students by
>removing barriers to their learning.
Crow: And now his mind is wandering to yesterday's golf game....
>The trouble is, is with Bill of Rights, is that what *happens*
>is, the government starts stepping in and saying that poverty,
>and someone who's unemployed, may in fact be... uh, that
>constitutes "dysfunction" within a family. And you know as well
>as I do that this monstrous "child protective services" industry
>that's been set up, [it] gobbles up people.
>VALENTINE:
>They abuse it. I mean, we have had... We've had people (and
>you've probably heard 'em on this show) that are *very* concerned
>about the social welfare abuse system, where a child can actually
>point a finger at the parents and yell, "Mommy and daddy are
>treating me bad!" -- and the State's gonna come in and throw
>mommy and daddy in the slammer and put the kid in a foster home!
Mike: Utterly bored with Andrea's line of discussion, Tom LEAPS on to the
first chance to change the subject...
>PEARSON:
>Oh sure. And what it does is, it integrates services,
>regulations, databases, eligibility procedures, and funding
>sources, "focusing school and community resources on prevention
>and early intervention strategies, to address student needs
>holistically."
Mike: ....buuuuut, Andrea fails to pick up on it..
(Tom and Crow sigh)
>Now the trouble is, is that what's happening in this country is
>we are having Marxism imposed with the force of law on the
>people. And Marxists believe that children should be in the care
>of the State.
Crow: Those guys can't even write a good sketch!
Mike: I did that joke already, Crow.
Crow: Oh, sorry...
> Now the forcible removal of children is one thing.
Tom:....Newt Gingrich approves of.
>But the coercion of the child away from the American culture and
>values, their Christian, or Judeo-Christian values,
Mike: Whoops!!
Crow: That was a close one!
Mike: Almost gave away the store, there.
>
is something
>that I think would disturb a lot of people. And the roles of
>husband and wife are something that our government has an
>unhealthy interest in.
Tom: Especially when they play "The headmaster and the stable boy."
>VALENTINE:
>Well frankly, the federal government especially has *no* business
>in *any* of these things, that you're Talking' about.
Crow: They should stick to deporting foreigners!
> The
schools
>should be run by the local school districts, or the people who
>are sending their kids to that school ought to run that district.
Tom: He really hasn't been listening, has he?
Mike: Oh, he has, he's just desperately flailing around to find a way to
make
her drab little paranoia controversial.
>If you'd like to join us (my guest is Andrea Pearson),
Mike: ...and I can't tell you how sorry I am about that....
>
and if
>you'd like to join us, it's 1-800-878-8255.
>Did you know that this Feminism, that she's talking about, had
>this Marxist agenda?
Tom (as Sally Struthers): Sure! We all do!!
And it's been insidious! You know,
they...
>What was it that somebody said?
Crow: You're a dink?
> "You don't lose your
freedom in
>one big fell swoop. You lose it little by little." I think that's
>what's happening here, Andrea.
Mike: Work with me on this, honey.
>ANDREA PEARSON:
>Absolutely, I think it is. Also, when Congress considered passing
>this U.N. treaty, they talk about how "patterns of conduct" is in
>article five of the treaty.
Crow: Again with the U.N.!
Tom: Well, the U.N. is just so fascinating, Crow!
>TOM VALENTINE:
>All right. Now this U.N. Convention, this treaty, is this the one
>that goes clear back to 1957, in establishing the U.N.?
>PEARSON:
>Uh...
Mike: Once again, Andrea is stunned at what a bonehead he is.
>VALENTINE:
>Or is this something new?
>PEARSON:
>Well, actually, it was signed on behalf of the united States in
>1980. It has not been ratified yet. But one provision in the
>document is to say that the different States' parties can bring
>their own federal laws into compliance.
>Now what this treaty does,
Tom: And Tom drifts off again.....
in lots of ways, is it regulates
>conduct, it alters culture... It talks about how the State should
>provide for health care, and women should have equal opportunity
>for all sorts of things -- that I don't think the American people
>*want* women to have equal opportunity, say, for military
>service.
Crow: Now I get it! She doesn't want to get drafted! THAT's what this is
about!
> Or we don't necessarily feel that our "patterns of
>conduct" or our culture are something that we want changed.
Mike: If squalid was good enough for our grandparents, it's good enough
for
us!
>What disturbs me the most about this is that there was no public
>debate about this [e.g. The Gender Equity in Education Act]. And
>I believe that anyone who's a historian or who has studied
>American history *knows* that people like Thomas Jefferson,
>George Washington, and so forth, were not "white male dictators"
>in general, and certainly did not abuse their wives. And yet
>Marxists believe that they did.
Tom: Whoa! Did she shift gears on us again???
Mike (laughing): She sure did! Wow!
>Just this one piece of evidence of that: if you look at the
>*Notes on the State of Virginia* by Thomas Jefferson... And he's
>writing, in this case, about the American Indians. But he's
>talking about how *they* relate, in terms of men and women. And
>he says, "It is civilization alone which places women in the
>enjoyment of their natural equality."
Crow (in woman's voice): It's completely out of context, but it's also
meaningless in it's own right.
>And I believe that, in America, women were free creatures who
>were very happy the way they were. And not only that, they worked
>when they wanted to.
Mike: Like when they were hungry.
> There was, in fact, no discrimination
>against women.
Tom (in woman's voice): That Susan B. Anthony ruined it for everybody!
>VALENTINE:
>Well if they wanted to [work], they certainly could.
Crow (cheerfully): For sixty cents on the dollar!
>All right. If you'd like to join us, 1-800-878-8255. Andrea
>Pearson is my guest. "Feminizing and Marxizing Us".
Mike (trying to say it): Marxiziziziz...
Tom: We gotta go, guys... (They get up to go)
> I'm Tom
>Valentine, *Radio Free America*.
Tom, Crow and Mike (as they leave, variously trying to say it):
Marxizizeiz... Marxizzeezzz...Marxizzzizeizz....
>[...break...]
1......2......3.......4........5.......6.......Clunk!
[SOL]
(Tom, Mike and Crow are gathered at the desk)
Tom: So, Mike, let me see if I can summarize our Ms. Pearson's little
theory...
Mike: Oh, sure! Give it a shot, Tom.
Tom: Okay, it goes like this (clears throat). The entire federal
government
is infested with Marxist radicals, working together and bent on destroying
our way of life.
Crow: Check.
Tom: So any federal government program, no matter how benign it may seem
on
the outside, is simply another tool in this massive government conspiracy.
Mike: Exactly.
Tom: And the BIGGER the federal program is, the more evil it must be
spreading.
Crow: Bingo.
Tom: So if a program benefits, say, little girls, it must REALLY be a plot
to
turn them into feminist man-haters.
Mike: Uh-huh. That's about it. I think you've got it Tom--
Tom (continuing): AND based on some obscure writings of Thomas Jefferson
about INDIANS or something, no woman in the history of America has ever
been
discriminated against.
Crow:....iiiit kinda falls apart for me, there, Tom ol' buddy--
Tom (continuing): AND, of course, Marxists want to take kids away from
their
parents and put them in orphanages, but then so does Newt Gingrich...but
that
would make Newt Gingrich a Marxist, but we know Newt Gingrich isn't a
Marxist...
Crow: Uh-oh...
Tom (starting to lose it): ...but the government is FULL of Marxists and
Newt
Gingrich is IN the government, so that means he IS a Marxist....
Mike (getting worried): Tom, take it easy...
Tom: ...but he says he isn't...but that would mean Newt is a liar, but if
he's lying when he says he isn't lying than he's telling the truth...but
he
can't be telling the truth if he's a liar.....(voice slowing
down)...daisy,
daisy....(and Tom's head explodes).
(Crow looks at Mike, annoyed).
Crow (imitating Mike): "Oh, sure! Give it a shot, Tom."
Mike (flustered): I didn't know it would...[commercial sign lights]
Crow (calling): GYPSY!!!
Mike: (to the camera) We'll be right back.
[commercial]
End of Section 2
Sampo
=======================================================
I've undergone a complex personal evolution wherein painful confusion has
given way to what I like to think of as some degree of wisdom, culminating
in my current Zarathustrian sense of self. Is that it?
=======================================================