October | 2014 | Princess To Patty Cake

Anymore, the headlines are filled with sensationalized stories about weaknesses in our country and around the world. The tension among different factions of our culture is almost palpable: Atheists vs. Believers; Homosexuals vs. Heterosexuals; Pro-Gay Marriage vs. Anti-Gay Marriage; Gun Rights vs. Gun Control; Pro-Amnesty vs. Seal the Borders; Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life…and the list goes on and on. These endless schisms are NOT unintentional. As Americans, if we peel back the cloak of propaganda, I think we will find a commonality: the blood that runs through our collective veins is RED, WHITE, AND BLUE.

As a nation being steered by leaders that profit by focusing our attentions on our differences, we sometimes miss how similar we are because we are nefariously encouraged through our politicians, educational system, and mainstream media to focus on that which will make us choose sides. To keep us stirred up gives them more power. These wrongly-trusted advisors are negligent in their fiduciary responsibility to be honest with the American people. They will even go as far as promoting falsehoods such as the “war on women” or comparing racism today with the days of Jim Crow Laws.

Sadly, the uninformed and apathetic fall victim to these fabrications instead of doing their own research. They don’t use their own anecdotal evidence or experience to make their judgements; they are told what they are to think and they accept it without question. They are merely lemmings ready to follow their often un-vetted leader off the proverbial cliff. What we are told is twisted and shaped to promote their agendas. I was in church yesterday and saw a video that flipped this propaganda on its ear and it prompted me to write this post.

I became relatively interested in the news during the 2000 Presidential Election. I had my candidate, “my team”, and I wanted him to win. The suspense of the recount following the election prompted conversations and I started watching the news hoping to see my choice for the next President of the United States be victorious. I was spending a good part of the year in Sarasota, Florida at the time, and it all boiled down to the Secretary of State in Florida making the state’s results official and giving the win to George W. Bush. I had voted in every election after turning 18, but as publicized as that election was, I found that I, too, was holding my breath over the hanging chads.

In the months to follow, I kept myself pretty well abreast of what was in the news, but September 11, 2001 changed all that. As a result, to say that I listen to Conservative Talk Radio/ News a lot is an understatement. I want to be in-the-know so that I can inform others. I feel that as a stay-at-home mom, it is the least I can do, and I feel a certain sense of civic responsibility. Between the radio, emails, television, and internet, I know almost everything that is going on in real time. Thus, what I saw in church yesterday had me perplexed.

The church I attend has themes that last 4-5 weeks, and this week kicked off the theme “We Are (Fill in the Blank)”. At the end of the message, a video was shown of the 9/11 Boatlift rescue. After being summoned by the U.S. Coast Guard, boats of all shapes and sizes transported 500,000 stranded people from Manhattan to safety as the World Trade Center buildings were toppled in a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people…IN NINE HOURS!!!!!! It was a colossally successful mission!

I sat there watching the video as it rekindled the feelings that I had on that horrific day. As the video progressed and I heard the accounts of those involved, I began to feel such an inspirational pride that I hadn’t felt in quite a while. It was like steak to a starving man!!!! As it ended, I thought, “Why have I never seen this? Why isn’t this story told over and over again?” This film shows who we are as Americans. The fabric of our nation’s DNA was so obviously knitted into each of these heroic boat captains! Instead of our politicians, educators (it goes without saying this does not apply to all of them), and mainstream media cultivating disdain and divisiveness in our country, why not promote the amazing triumphs in her history? Are we flawed? Yes! Are we fabulous? Absolutely!!!! After all, WE ARE AMERICA!!!! Now, let’s start acting like it!

“I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART THAT STANDING UP FOR AMERICA MEANS STANDING UP FOR THE GOD WHO HAS SO BLESS OUR LAND.” -RONALD REAGAN

(This amatuer photograph was taken on the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11. Amazing!)

Every morning during the school year, I drop my daughter off at the front door of her Middle School and ask Siri, on my iPhone, to call my mom. I sometimes check in with her again in the afternoon or evening. We have a very close relationship…it’s what we do. I talk with her about dilemmas either of us may have (I admit, it is usually me that has the dilemma), current events, recipes (we both have a passion for culinary creativity) and a host of other things that might come up.

Last night, while waiting for my daughter to finish her dance class, I sat in the car and decided to call Mother to check in. She asked me if I had seen the commercial with 6-year-old girls dropping the “F-bomb”. I told her that I hadn’t seen it. When I phoned her again this morning, I could hear the news in the background, and twice during our 15-minute conversation, the subject regarding the ad was brought up. My mom was appalled to say the least. I could hear some of the discussion on the news which wasn’t very positive. I decided to check it out myself. I mean, REALLY, just how bad could it be?

WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

IT IS THAT BAD!!! At least, it is to me. The commercial in question is a pro-feminism ad about women’s inequality featuring little young girls, rumored to be around six years of age, and one boy, dressed in princess dresses. Hat tip to the cross dressers! After all, in our current culture, we must be diverse and tolerant of everyone and everything! I can’t imagine where a mother’s mind is that commends exploiting her child and glorifying the use of language like is on display in this ad. Do they really think it furthers the cause of equality for women? I think the “geniuses” behind this marketing campaign look like nothing more than ugly, trashy, and desperate women with no taste or sensibilities. To what end are they creating a video showing their children using such potty language? For posterity’s sake? Have they even given it any thought? If these classless women, who clearly lack any discernment, would like to humiliate themselves and it be put into the annals of internet history, go right ahead! Don’t exploit children! It is the unspoken rule of decency!

Thirty-two years ago this fall, I started my freshman year at the University of Georgia…GO DAWGS! My roommate and I were late getting in our application for dorm selection, so we were relegated to live in a co-ed dorm named Creswell, known more familiarly as “The Well”. Being from a small intimate town on the south side of Atlanta, I lived a pretty sheltered life. My roommate, from the same hometown, and I were both what I would consider “protected” in our upbringings. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the “F-bomb” for the very first time.

Her name was Edna…Edna from New Jersey. She was drunk (again) and walking through the dorm hallway shouting something. She continued on her rant and my roommate and I were in our dorm room sitting on our beds looking at each other over the tops of our studying material. We both agreed that Edna was “at it again”. After she shouted out what we thought was a resounding, “SHOW YOUR BALLS!”, Shelly and I bolted from our bunks to look out in the hallway. It was anyones guess what was taking place! Seiously, we were living in a co-ed dorm! After we two Southern Belles figured out what she was saying, we realized that her enthusiasm for the upcoming home football game “between the hedges” was uncontainable. She was actually shouting “Shug-ah Bowl!” That is how out of place profanity was back then. It certainly hadn’t become a cliched part of our everyday language!

I am not going to sit on any high horse and act like a swear word is totally foreign to me, but I must say it did give me a warm fuzzy recently when my daughter was in utter disbelief when I spontaneously let “Shit!” slip when someone almost T-boned me while going through an intersection. “MOM!!!!!!” When my daughter hears profanity, I try to explain to her that they are merely words. It is OUR choice to use DIFFERENT words. I explain that anyone can use those words but they are ugly and trashy and make the person speaking it look similar. Why would these crass feminists use little kids as a means of pushing their agenda? Why not cultivate a child’s innocence instead of promoting vulgarity? To encourage young children to profusely use profanity that will be viewed by millions to promote something they have yet to experience is beyond despicable.

In the offensive video, its message is to denounce inequality of women. Does repeating the “F-bomb” make us more equal? Does having little girls using words like f@#*, penis, and ass stop women from being raped and victimized by violence? This commercial is a disgrace to our gender and will not further the feminist agenda. It simply trashes them. I don’t know if the two crude loud-mouths in the video are mothers of these children or not, but if they are, they are the antithesis of a good parent, and I wouldn’t consider them worthy of equality in the parenting realm. I wonder if they behave in the work place like they asked of these children. If so, they don’t deserve equality! Nice work, Ladies!

Ladies…oh yeah, I forgot that you amazingly find the moniker offensive UNLIKE you deem the language in your advertisement…Women, your absurd attempt at promoting equality is so unimpressive. But then again, feminism has worked so well for these two ladies: