How Conservatives Attack the Small-Town, American Values They Pretend to Love
The Right's latest freak-out over the Girl Scouts of America is beyond
hypocritical.
March 2, 2012 |
Last week Indiana State Rep. Bob Morris claimed, in an open
letter magnificently disdainful of facts, that Girls Scouts of the USA
financially supports Planned Parenthood and is a force of pro-sex,
pro-abortion, pro-homo indoctrination, determined to reach our
American daughters. Since his original refusal to sign an Indiana
statehouse resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the GSUSA,
Morris has made a nonsensical apology, saying that he “should never
have written the letter,” while holding to the counterfactual argument
that the GSUSA is partnered with Planned Parenthood.
Now, a Catholic church in Virginia has banned Girl Scout meetings and
Girl Scout uniforms from the church and its affiliated school, and in
January the Family Research Council’s president and resident,
dedicated witch hunter called for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies.
These aren’t the first instances of conservative anti-Girl Scout
hysteria based in misinformation, and, unfortunately, they’re unlikely
to be the last. Past its false premises, condemnation of the Girl
Scouts shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the organization
works. Most important, it betrays an ideological hypocrisy on the
right – one that conservatives seem to be leaning on with ever greater
zeal.
Rep. Morris’ concern was with an organization that is “quickly
becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.” The anti-Girl Scouts
website Speak Now is based on the idea that unwitting parents and
girls across the country are being brainwashed from above. The site’s
author describes the “eye-opening” experiences that led her to accept
that she “had unknowingly been promoting and supporting a group that
stands for the opposite of [her] beliefs…”
The Girl Scouts are portrayed as an indoctrinating, monolithic,
top-down liberal organization: Conservatives took the Girl Scouts’
inclusion of a transgender girlin Colorado as the creation of a
national policy that could be imposed on their local troops. But, the
truth is, the Girl Scouts doesn’t function top-down. It’s run from the
ground up, and that’s what makes this controversy so ludicrous. It’s
run by the parents of girls in the troops, by teachers, by community
leaders, and by aunts, uncles and big sisters. It’s run by the same
“regular” people Republicans rely on each and every time they create a
fictional portrait of the “true Americans” that support their social
policies.
GSUSA Headquarters doesn’t, and by policy can’t, push a political or
“lifestyle” agenda on local troops through national decisions. Leaders
and parents have a huge amount of flexibility in all of their lessons
and activities. Even the “badges” pursued, marking the achievements of
the little, uniformed, flag-saluting ladies, are chosen by local
leaders and the Scouts themselves. It takes about three minutes of
rooting around on the GSUSA’s National Program Portfolio page to give
up on your ability to track how many different ways a Girl Scout could
be spending her time (and to be mildly creeped out by the silent
animated elf-girls in the “Girl Scouts GPS,” an interactive feature
designed to help kids choose their activities). An example of just how
rigid the Girl Scouts’ agenda is? How about the badge category “Make
Your Own,” described as “Whatever a girl is interested in!”
The GSUSA also has something neat called a Statement of Trust. It
states directly that local communities should decide how to run their
organizations. Here is a portion of it:
“At Girl Scouts of the USA, we know that not every example or
suggestion we provide will work for every girl, family, volunteer, or
community.
In partnership with those who assist you with your Girl Scout group,
including parents, faith groups, schools, and community organizations,
we trust you to choose ‘real life topic experts’ from your community,
as well as movies, books, music, websites and other opportunities that
are most appropriate for the girls in your area and that will enrich
their Girl Scout activities.”
Since Rep. Morris’ little spell of hysterics, GSUSA has made it as
clear as possible to all those that can read that their organization
does not impose beliefs, but in fact does the opposite: It allows room
for them.
In attacking values they perceive to be held by the Girl Scouts,
conservatives actually attack the autonomous decisions and values of
local communities. These are, by definition, the American values
Republicans love singing about. If the “True America” and the “Real
America” don’t live in towns and cities in the United States, I am
shit out of ideas for where to look. And as in the fight over
contraception, a unified push against the effectively libertarian but
open-minded GSUSA would show the right battling against local and
individual choice, while screaming at the top of their lungs for
greater personal liberty. As in so many cases, conservatism becomes
the intrusion.
While Rep. Morris has had to apologize for the vehemence of his
remarks against the Girl Scouts, other right-wing politicians will
certainly ride the coattails of this hot topic. But the “free America”
Republicans champion would in theory be one that allows communities to
choose how to raise their daughters. While Rick Santorum babbles on in
confused religious imagery about how he’s going to create jobs so that
“people can remake their children into their [own] image, not his,”
(i.e., Obama’s image), the right could at least pretend to allow the
rest of us the same liberty: the liberty to raise our own kids, with
the help of our own community organizations.
More:
http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/154390/how_conservatives_attack_the_small-town%2C_american_values_they_pretend_to_love/?page=entire
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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