On Sarah Palin

Why is the media obsessed with trying to humiliate Sarah Palin? Why are women in the media the most critical of her? Well, there are certainly cultural reasons. The woman's father taught her to hunt in order to help provide food for the family over the winter. That kind of nontraditional role for a woman in such a rustic setting offends the jet-setting vegans who work in the media. When media women conceive of a strong woman, this is not the model they had in mind.

A lot of this is city mouse, country mouse stuff. But there is an underlying values difference which mirrors the striking differences between our country folk and our city folk these days. The starkest values difference is on the question of life, and particularly, on abortion. Here, Palin is unforgivable in the eyes of the media. First of all, she has five kids. City folk just don't do that! Just the fact that she has not planned out her 1.5 child family like city folk do, makes her suspect. And, having had five children, she still turns heads when she wears a skirt! She also looks happy! How can that be? Could there be an element of envy underlying this? Can women who have put off or forgone opportunities to have a family and children for some perceived career necessity avoid allowing envy to color their view of woman who appears to have it all, and have it all in abundance?

But the biggest reason is abortion. For most city women, there are three cases where you have an abortion. There is no question, no doubt about it. And you are crazy if you don't. First, you are a teenager and end up pregnant. If your daughter is a teenager and ends up pregnant, you quietly take her to an abortionist and hope no one finds out. Next, you are carrying an unhealthy child. Who brings an unhealthy child into the world? Especially one with Down's Syndrome? And last, you have been raped. In the view of city folk, abortion must be kept available as an option to cover these situations. The Palin family has opted for life in two out of three of these cases, and done so, smiling, without a single apparent regret. The Palins have audaciously placed their full measure of hope in life, unapologetically, unabashedly, and with no hint of doubt. Where city folk find only despair, the Palins have discovered the greatest of joys, and that is unforgivable. City folk watch this spectacle with all the dismay of the Grinch, who having stolen all the Christmas toys, looks down on Hooville and finds the Hoos singing with joy. But there has been no Christmas miracle for our beloved city folk. Only a redoubled effort to prove that this just cannot be. That it must be fake. That Sarah Palin must be a stupid, country rube, grabbing for all the fancy clothes and shoes she can, while she has her moment in the limelight. Let we country folk all pray that our city folk brethren may come to remember that thing that they seem to have forgotten: that life is beautiful.