I’m watching George W. giving his acceptance speech tonight and he gives the obligatory Republican phrase about supporting “family values” and I ask myself the question I’ve been asking since our first divorced president starting using that phrase some 20 years ago. What exactly are these family values?
I have to ask this because I’m a liberal and, according the the Republicans at least, I don’t have any of them. Any help would be appreciated.
Family values is one of those neato burrito fuzzy terms that means whatever it is you want them to mean. For most people in conjurs up images of good parents raising good children. Who can be against something as neat as family values?
Another fuzzy word I remember thrown around was extremist. You could use a label like extremist in an effort to scare people.
Marc
Everytime I hear them use the term, I assume they mean “nuclear family”; father, mother, kids. Their platform seems to support this view.
What confuses me is what they mean like they will continue to support family values. How do you support something like that? Outlawing single parenting? Forbidding divorces? Taking away children if the parents aren’t married?
Clearly, they’re not going to do anything that drastic. Will they do it by giving tax breaks to married coupls and not single parents?
Or is all just rhetoric? It has a nice ring, so they repeat it over and over.
These are legitimate questions. I honestly have no clear idea whta they mean by “supporting family values”. Anyone here know?
Maybe get rid of the marriage tax penalty?
I get the image of the “perfect” family of a 1950s TV sit-com. The two parents with their perfect children in a perfect house living in their perfect world of the surburbs.
Implicit in that is the idea that anything that doesn’t fit into that image or challenges it is obviously wrong. Single parents, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, any member of the “trans” community, drug use (other than alcohol 'cause we all know alcohol isn’t a drug, it’s the way to relax after a hard day at work), any non-judeo/christian religion, etc. all don’t fit into the neat concept of “family values.”
When people use the term “family values” that’s the concept I get. And often, by their words and actions, I believe that’s what they mean.
Don’t forget Internet censorship. Dubya has already showed his true colors regarding that issue:
http://www.gwbush.org/gwtv/limits_to_freedom.mp3
More crap from the dual-party system.
Yours,
jahn
An interesting aside : I’ve read that the word “value” was never used as a noun until the early 80’s.
(Well, I thought it was interesting anyway!)
> I’ve read that the word “value” was never used as a noun until the early 80’s.
I think you misread! Maybe you meant the term “family values” wasn’t coined until then.
Marriam Webster (www.m-w.com/dictionary) dates the noun form of value to the 14th century.
Since the emergence of the phrase “family values,” the word “family” has taken on new meanings. Now, it seems, “family” is a euphemism for “young children,” or “appropriate for young children.” You hear the word “family” more and more, but it seems to be losing its real definition.
This change in connotation has important implications. While it increases the importance of children and nuclear families with young children, it tends to downplay the importance other types of family relationships and also the importance of the adult members of the family. Things advertised as “family,” from TV stations to restaurants, are really things for children. Where does this leave families without young children? And why are the wishes and tastes of the adult members of the family so unimportant?
Perhaps this was a slight hijack. But I had to get that off my chest.
“Family” and “children” have become to Congress what interstate commerce is to the judiciary.
The judiciary learned that if they want to allow the federal government to do something all they had to do was find an claim to interstate commerce being involved. Voila!
Congress has learned that people will do anything to protect children and families, thus anything they want passed just needs a family hook. “Hey, I support random euthanasia for the children, how can you be against children?”
Well, contrary to the Christian Coalition, my idea of family values include parents being involved in their childrens lives and taking an active role in their education, teaching children respect for others and showing that in your family, teaching equality for all people, holding children accountable for wrongdoings, supporting your children’s emotional problems, decisions, and so on.
Many ultra-conservative nutzos seem to think families have something to do with all the fags, single mothers, and people who have abortions destroying the country.
What would “family values” mean if used in a political speech in Iran? Or in India?
To me, the word “family” means the largest size pizza they serve at Shakeys.
But what kind of family?
After all, there coudl be the Manson Family Values…
Robert Boston, of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, wrote a recent book called Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics.
One topic he hits on numerous times is the Religious Right’s claim to have a lock on “family values.” He notes that his young children keep him grounded in what real family values are. He cannot understand how “censorship, attacks on public education, gay bashing, criticism of our public libraries, forced religious worship” and similar causes can possibly be seen as “family values.” He also says: “Being ‘pro-family’ is not determined by where you stand on school prayer, vouchers, or the right to choose abortion. It is determined by where you’re standing at 3 A.M. when your child is sick or wakens frightened from a bad dream and calls out for you.”
[Excerpted from a longer review of the book, available at http://www.sj-r.com/news/00/04/30/t.htm ]
When I think of family values, I think “things people used to deny for the sake of their families”.
For instance, if you were gay, you might have denied it to save your family from embarrassment, or to keep them from disowning you. Same goes for co-habitating, or admitting to pre-marital sex. Someone who did any of these things openly might have been said to not “value their family”.
Now that most of these things are, if not more common, at least more out in the open, it can similarly be seen as a corruption of “family values”. In reality, families are just more accepting of these things.
This is just wild speculation on my part. I think “family values” is most often a euphemism for “Christian values”. Politicians can thus bemoan the lack of these values without invoking SOCAS issues. “Family movies/TV shows/restaurants” could be described as “Movies/TV shows/restaurants that should not offend parents who are trying to give their children a proper Christian upbringing.”
Dr. J
Thanks for that. I am a stay at home married mom with two kids. We live in the burbs, own our house and so on. I am also liberal, pro-choice, athiest/pagan, a feminist, anti-racism/homophobia etc. I hate the repubicans who seem to think that all parents believe in their “family values.” If people want to teach their children christian values, whatever you think is right. Just keep that kind of rhetoric away from me & my kids. Intolerance is not a virtue.
I’m sorry if that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but this issue really cuts close to home, and I have a hard time staying logical.
oops
Makes me think about my family. We are… so… whitebread.
My household is myself, my brother, and my parents. Also a dog and three cats. (Can’t forget the hermit crabs, either.)
We’re devout Methodists. My brother and I are very good students. Mom and Dad are both well respected teachers.
I’m a very active out of the closet lesbian. My whole extended family knows. My parents informed me that they didn’t want me to live in a plastic bubble.
Oh, and the fifth member of my family, although she doesn’t live here… my girlfriend of a year and a half. And after she graduates from hs (I graduated this year) she will live here.
George W. Bush would have a hemmorage.
Incidentally, Dick Cheney’s daughter is gay. (One of them. Mary.) I think that’s… well, I’m not quite sure what to think about it.
Family values seems to mean “Those values that I hold.”
andygirl