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The more I think about the Oprah interview with Sarah and Bristol Palin, the more I realize the gravity of the situation.
Feminism, in all its waves and adjustments, has proven itself to be an inhuman and narcissistic movement. The road to equality for women, however that is defined, is strewn with dead bodies.
Such was the case with Sarah Palin's bright and harsh predicament for her daughter. For the sake of her ideological position, she has thrown Bristol out of the cycle of life.
Bristol, looking older and wiser at nineteen than her mother, decided to take the harder route. Her staunchly determined position has a religious vigor to it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where she gets her confidence.
All around her Bristol sees young girls languishing on the wayside: Pop stars who enter drug rehabilitation as teenagers; divorced twenty-three-year-olds; rampant promiscuity. Many have their toddlers at their side and still continue with these destructive behaviors.
Yet, despite the limelight and a famous mother, Bristol decided to take the less glamorous path. And this is the time she needs her mother, and all those other mothers, the most. In fact, without them, she might very well fail. Traditional families cannot occur at the will of an individual. They really need whole villages, to borrow Hillary's phrase. Fathers with shotguns and vigilant mother are not fictional roles for Hollywood films. Those were the ways that real families were kept together, if need be.
Sarah had her chance at redemption. Like her daughter, she could have changed her course. After all, she also has an infant son at home. Instead, she continues to be seduced by her career and public life, leaving her brave young daughter to battle this out utterly on her own, as was so clearly evident on Oprah.
Feminism has come full circle. Its granddaughters are imploring for a life back to normalcy. They, in their wisdom wrought by suffering, understand what they are asked to give up for mere chimera. Their mothers cavort sprightly along with the old mantras, and in fact repeat the same songs and clichés without blinking an eye.
We have reached a terrible moment in the history of feminism, where daughters know more than mothers, and mothers cannot humble themselves to resume their tried and tested roles.
