Isaiah Berlin: “Men may be divided into those who are in favour of life and those who are against it. Among those who are against it there are sensitive and wise and penetrating people who are too offended and discouraged by the shapelessness of spontaneity, by the lack of order among human beings who wish to live their own lives, not in obedience to any common pattern.”
That, I think, sums up a big part of the Republican Party and the right-wing both. As Robert Altemeyer wrote in The Authoritarians, hate the idea of people “not in obedience to any common pattern” — there have to be clear, absolute lines saying black is black, white is white and you do not cross the lines! Which, of course, are much sharper drawn and allowing you a much narrower space the lower down the social hierarchy you are. You don’t punch up at leaders who break the rules, you punch down at (in the right-wing social order) women, gays, POC, trans people, etc.
Only you’re not really punching down because you’re putting them in their rightful place. Patriarchy knows what women want better than they do. As witness the pro-natalists don’t ask women what would encourage them to have more babies, they assume they know.
We have psychologist Richard Beck arguing that “We need to ask and answer teleological questions about a host of pressing social issues … Liberalism can’t answer any of these questions. The state is neutral toward questions of “the good,” leaving that up to its citizens to work out for themselves.” As Fred Clark says at the link, this is a good thing: “‘What determines a good human life?’ is a good question and a vitally important question. You don’t want your government supplying the answer to that question. Because any government providing an answer to that question will end up imposing an answer to that question.”
For too many conservatives, government should indeed be imposing an answer, at least for women, as conservative Paul Deneen argues. That makes women’s rights a scary thing: male supremacy is such a sweet deal, if you’re a man. It’s no surprise some men choose to believe that it’s a wonderful thing for women, absolutely! And ditto segregation — that’s god’s plan, to keep a nice, orderly social hierarchy. “He wants each of us to know our place. And to stay in it. Otherwise, there would be disorder. And God doesn’t want disorder.” I don’t see blacks and whites living peacefully together as at all disordered, certainly not as disorderly as lynching blacks to preserve white dominance. I suspect to the speaker, the sight of black and white intermixed was way, way disorderly — much more so than lynching.
More on the fear of disorder here. And I’ll close with a quote from G.K. Chesterton that feels relevant even though I can’t quite articulate why: “Life is a trap for logicians; it looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is.”
For more on patriarchy and unjust social hierarchies check out Undead Sexist Cliches, available in ebook, in paperback, or you can order the paperback direct from me.
Good post.
Thanks. It’s a topic that fascinates me.