The NY Times Backs the Oppressive Father

I am one of those who firmly believes that we as a society have every good reason to recreate the concept of a family in anyway we see fit to do so. Since for thousands of years some civilizations have been polygamous while others have been monogamous, why not just declare that gay and lesbian marriages are really the same thing? Hey, who is to say that a single parent situation isn’t just as good as a so-called “normal� two parent situation? What if in this classic supposedly superior two parent family the father is a completely psychotic abusive heroin addict prone to cannibalism? Would you want that? No? So you see? Don’t assume that two parents are better for everyone, and stop pushing your nuclear family bullshit on the rest of us, you fundamentalist fascist pricks.

But just as I was about to write fathers off completely, since they are probably the major culprits in continuing white male hegemony (which as we know, is the worst option possible for any society on planet earth), I read this quote in a story in the NY Times about the continued deterioration of black men in this country.

Joseph T. Jones, director of the fatherhood and work skills center here, puts the breakdown of families at the core.

“Many of these men grew up fatherless, and they never had good role models,” said Mr. Jones, who overcame addiction and prison time. “No one around them knows how to navigate the mainstream society.”

Who would have guessed! I mean, sure -among my buddies, most of us really look up to our fathers, and we find the contempt for fathers and the idea that their role specifically in the Jewish community has been oppressive to be a bit foreign on a personal level, and yeah, we find the anger and resentment hurled at them as a group (in the guise of “Jewish communal leaders� or women as “second class citizens�) nothing short of bizarre, but go figure – overall, children of all peoples apparently do better with fathers.

Well, I’ll be.

Maybe we can find a way to blame this situation on racism alone? Cause I’d sure hate to lose any momentum for reinventing the American family!

Full Story