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If Mothers Ruled the World

I can't deny the fact that I like Sally Field. I appreciate, too, that she used her Emmy Award as an opportunity to express her (censored) disapproval of the war in Iraq (or maybe for all wars, or for war in general), but in doing so she merely mouthed a platitude. In her acceptance speech she said: "And let's face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."

This is the stuff of pop psychology, along the same lines as the men-are-from-mars-women-are-from-venus mind lures, and rests no doubt on the popular perception of a woman's biological urge to nurture and her apparently more complex social skills. But the contemporary research really indicates that sex doesn't constrain personality, cognition, or leadership abilities.¹

I suppose we don't even have to go that far. Just spend a few minutes with the media pornography that is The Jerry Springer Show and watch the counter examples smash each other on network television.

I find all of this interesting in the context of the 2008 US presidential race. Hillary Clinton, who doesn't regret voting voted for the Iraq War,² seems to favor a similar belligerent path with Iran.³ That hasn't gone unnoticed by the military industrial complex. They are forking over cash to her campaign with haste and generosity.⁴

Perhaps Sen Clinton will join the ranks of other pro-war mothers, such as Madeleine Albright, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meira, and Margaret Thatcher, and other pro-war women, including Condoleeza Rice and the other warrior women throughout history. Of course, if she wins the nomination and the election, she also gets a really big prize, inheriting unprecedented presidential power, thanks to the machinations of the Cheney-Bush administration.

1.  See especially the American Psychological Association online for short survey articles entitled When the Boss Is a Woman and Men and Women: No Big Difference. See also some responses to Francis Fukuyama's article on "Women and the Evolution of World Politics" in Foreign Affairs, September/October 1998.
2.  "Hillary Clinton: No regret on Iraq vote," CNN.com, April 21, 2004.
3.  "Clinton: No Military Action on Iran Without Congressional Authority," Statements & Releases, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator from New York, February 14, 2007.
4.  "Clinton bucks the trend and rakes in cash from the US weapons industry," The Independent UK, October 20, 2007: "The US arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite." Article is archived at Truthout.org.

The Argument for Revoking US Citizenship

At those odd times when I get around to watching television, I especially enjoy Jay Leno's "Jaywalking," the once-in-awhile feature on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC. There you get to be astounded by the common person's (often incorrect) answers to some very simple questions. It's a format that's easily copied.

This copy-cat segment from last month still has me scratching my head. In Macon, Georgia, reporter Travis Fain went around town with a video camera and asked 100 people to find the United States on a world map.¹ Twenty-five percent couldn't do it!

1.  In fairness to the people of middle Georgia, it sure looks like the reporter did his questioning at a Wal-Mart entrance.