The Double Standard which
Keeps our System Alive
Last week, Paul Kengor had an interesting commentary on Barack
Obama’s giving of the Medal of Freedom to feminist attorney Gloria
Steinem. The interesting part of the
whole thing was what Steinem said upon receiving the award, that she hoped it
would be an honor to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger.
Even for pro-abortion liberals, Sanger is a bit of a
problem. It is well known that she was a
pioneer of the eugenicist movement. She
intended reproductive control to be used in order to stop the breeding of
“undesirables,” most notably the intellectually inferior, the poor, and blacks.
Mr. Kengor points out the irony of an African-American like
Obama giving an award to someone who, upon receiving it, hoped it would honor a
woman who had desired to wipe out African-Americans through eugenic policies.
To me, it called to mind the end of the career of former
senator Trent Lott. If you recall, on
the occasion of fellow senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday
celebration, Lott spoke admiringly of Thurmond and said that, had he been
successful in his run for President in 1948 (as a Dixiecrat), we wouldn’t be in
the mess we are today. These were
nothing more than (stupid) hollow words meant as a blind tribute to a man that
everyone was honoring at the event.
However, the media firestorm was fierce. In 1948, Thurmond was a segregationist (a
position he later abandoned), and Lott was painted as a racist for his
comments. The damage was more than he
could fix, and his political career had been dealt a death blow.
What struck me was that, outside of Mr. Kengor, I have heard
nothing about Steinem’s comments.
Segregation is bad, but eugenics is worse. Lott praised a man who held segregationist
views; Steinem praised a woman who wished to see African-Americans disappear
from the planet. Lott’s career is over;
Steinem’s is untouched. It’s not
necessary to sit in judgment over Sanger’s soul to say that public praise of
her “accomplishments” is utterly inappropriate.
(Hillary Clinton was given the Margaret Sanger Award by Planned
Parenthood in 2009.) Sometimes I think
liberals make comments that so blatantly flaunt the double standard which they
enjoy just to show they can.
My concern is not about either Trent Lott’s position or
Gloria Steinem’s. It is about a media
that has become worse than a bad joke.
It is intentionally making our populace ignorant. How can we affect change? Our choices of media consumption and economic
consumption are important. But so is
speaking out, making sure the knowledge of the double standard is taken for
granted as much as its practice. And, as
in everything else, first and foremost, prayer.
