Leave it to Beaver was in much the same vein as Father Knows Best. What makes the latter more interesting as a historical artifact was its inclination to moralize. One famous episode, for example – “Betty the Engineer” – had Betty making the distinctly non-feminine career choice of wanting to be a civil engineer. It was bad enough that a young woman wanted a career at all, but this was a man’s profession!
So naturally the other young men made fun of her and Betty was very sad. But everything turned out for the best when one of the engineering students asked her out on a date. With her parents’ help and encouragement, Betty gave up her silly career idea, her mother bought her a nice dress and dressed her up real pretty, the prospective boyfriend came by with a bouquet of flowers, and voila! Betty is now groomed to be a cooker of meals, washer of dishes, pusher of vacuum cleaners, and doer of laundry, as befits the female of the species. And everyone presumably lived happily ever after, 1950s style. /s
There’s another one where Betty meets a USAF fighter pilot, and of course immediately falls for him because he’s, like, a USAF fighter pilot. But then the guy finds out that he may be transferred to Alaska. He tells Betty that if he is indeed transferred, he’ll fly over her house and do the old wing-wave (apparently telephones hadn’t been invented yet, or something). And that’s what happens. Not exactly sure what the moral of this one was supposed to be but judging from how stoically Betty accepts it, I guess it’s that “Patriotism” is more important than personal shit like love, and boyfriends are a dime a dozen anyway. The main thing is that the erstwhile boyfriend is Keeping the Country Safe from the Commies, so Betty has no regrets.
I used Leave it to Beaver rather than Father Knows Best as a cultural reference because I never really watched the latter (and given my age when they were on probably wouldn’t have understood the subplpots).
But in retrospect you are correct regarding “proper” women’s roles. And since we were brought up RCC, there were only two respectable career paths for girls: mother or nun. It was borderline acceptable for a young woman to have a job — not a career — as a shop clerk or typist, but only until she found Mr Right (or he found her); after that, she was expected to drop everything and support him in his career.
(The above only applied if she was white. Otherwise she would have to join her male counterparts in a distinctly subservient role.)
ETA: It occurs to me that we’re engaged in a sidetrack, if not an outright hijack. Apologies.
Back on topic, Trump et. al. seem to have stirred up at least a minor hornet’s nest in Florida:
“Let’s be clear: Haitians and other immigrants come to this country committed to education, hard work and building a better life, not just for themselves but for all of us,” said Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Haitian American Democrat from South Florida, in a statement. “They contribute to our economy, enrich our culture, and strengthen our communities. Trump’s comments are a distraction from the real issues we face, and we won’t be fooled.”
Of course, the impact shouldn’t be overstated:
“In Florida, we’ve seen the state and the presidency decided by 537 votes so any group can potentially sway an election or the presidency for that matter,” said [Miami-based pollster Fernand] Amandi, referring to the margin of victory in the contested 2000 election that came down to the Sunshine State. “I just don’t think it’s in the cards in 2024.”
Amandi said it’s “plausible, probably not probable” that Florida would turn blue in the case of a landslide victory for Harris at the national level.
The small college town I have Dialysis has this problem every fall.
You should hear the locals go on and on about traffic, noise, restaurants are full, Walmart is jammed with useless students roaming about. Crime goes up.
Rental properties are snatched up. And, “You just know they won’t pay the rent!” /s.
I wonder if, say, a Senator from Ohio might be well placed to actually try to solve these problems? Nah, I guess the job description for Senator from Ohio does not include doing anything positive whatsoever for the people of Ohio. Just attacking them and spreading lies about them.
Republicans: We support legal immigration and immigrants who obey the law and work hard
Haitians: We have legally immigrated and are happy to take these jobs the locals don’t want
Republicans: Not like that
There are also rumors this is actually all the doing of Trump’s new Nazi girlfriend Laura Loomer. I mean, they are only rumors but I’ve not heard anything disproving them…
