With Special Guest...Brian McLain

Posted by Jason Easley on 07.17.2007

Brian continues his discussion of the Fourteen Points of Fascism with points 5 & 6, rampant sexism and a controlled mass media.

Part 1 of Brian's series can be found here, and Part 2 is right here.

5. Rampant sexism

Now mind you this isn't simply male dominated sexism. While it is explained as such, that is a very rigid explanation that doesn't truly account for all those who are targeted here. I would rather call rampant sexism a much focused attack on anything regarded as outside the scope of normal gender roles. During the 1940s and 1950s the United States was absolutely fixated on gender roles as the boys started coming home from the Second World War Rosy was told to put down her riveter, take off her shoes and get back in the kitchen very explicitly by the federal government and popular culture. All of a sudden, Donna Reed and Betty Crocker were placed as those women, who had attained the perfect American Nirvana and those who continued to do things like work in manly jobs, or came out against having the apron latched back on them, was Communist.

That's right, everyone, Communist. If a woman was sexy and seductive in any way, she was labeled dangerous. If she wanted to get into politics in anything more than a bake sale, it could potentially destroy the American way of life. I'm not making this up, folks. Now we have much looser leashes on the topic of gender roles, however there is still enough sentiment that two guys watching football and talking seriously about toilet cleaners is comical. The government and media has already started using this sentiment to their advantage in some cases, by coming in at the other end and focusing on a man's inept ability to do normal household duties that a homemaker would typically do. This is a practice that has been used consistently since the 1970s, but has intensified enough to get the ire of some fathers up to protest the actions.

Homophobia is also a very strong part of this rampant sexism. I don't really need to explain that too vividly, since I would figure that the federal government has made this pretty clear by attempting to forcefully usurp the states' power over marriage and regulate in through the United States Constitution.

6. A controlled mass media

I bet you are thinking of people like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan and Glen Beck right now. Well, you are half right, since the real issue on my mind is the reinstitution of the "Fairness" Doctrine. This topic had come up occasionally over time, but has intensified since the first defeat of the now defunct amnesty bill that President Bush attempted to pass. The resurrection of the "Fairness" Doctrine would very much regulate mass media, now including internet blogs and news sites such as 411mania, under guidelines laid out by whatever the federal government would consider fair.

In the past this meant the requirement for mass media to make available all viewpoints of an issue or candidate. The only problem with this is even though it was meant to make all viewpoints available, only the Republican and Democrat sides often received such consideration and any other ideas in the middle often were overcast. Given how general this particular government likes to make things, I could easily see government officials playing fast and loose with the rules, fining and removing the licenses of anybody who dare express an undesirable viewpoint. This is an extremely dangerous bit of legislation being pushed under the guise of offering relief to the ears of those who can't seem to figure out their radio enough to turn it off of Rush Limbaugh.

That's it for this week, everyone. Thank you so much for reading and remember to educate yourself on all the candidates. Should anybody be interested in the big Iowa Strawpoll the GOP is putting on, just go to Brownback's website for some freebie tickets.

Sincerely,

The Angry Scotsman

Editor's note: I am wondering what you, the readers, think of Brian's series? Would you like to see more series like this? Drop me a line and share your thoughts.