Weekly Roundup: Bad Fathers, Nation-Building, and the End of the World
Brad and Dan begin discussing the MAGA freakout over Mayor Pete's paternity leave. They use this to ask what kind of families and what kind of fathers conservatives envision when they talk endlessly about family values. Using the work of George Lakoff, this leads to examining the metaphor of the nation as a family and the political leader as the nation's father. Brad and Dan connect the outrage over paternity leave to the way conservatives value authoritarian styles of leadership based on punishment, force, and discipline, rather than empathy, nurturing, or happiness.
In the second segment they connect this vision of fatherhood and the nation to Joe Manchin's sabotage of the Democrats policies on climate change, child tax credits, and voting rights.
In the final segment, Brad and Dan examine the details of the new "MAGA incubator" property in Tennessee--a 130 acre compound started by the "AR 15 church" in Pennsylvania.
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Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi.
I am faculty at the University of San Francisco.
Our show is sponsored in partnership with the Kapp Center, UCSB, and I'm here today with my co-host.
I'm Dan Miller, Associate Professor of Religion and Social Thought at Landmark College.
As always, it's good to see you, Brad, even though we always spend our time talking about things that are not that pleasant to talk about.
Well, something that is pleasant, Dan, is the fact that we have a new Straight White American Jesus Seminar planned and scheduled and ready to go.
So we announced that last week, we let our patrons know early, and some other folks were on a waiting list.
We've already got just about a third of the spots filled in about two or three days.
So, Dan, You taught the first Straight White American Jesus Seminar last month.
It was called Pure America, Religion, Race, Nation.
What was it like?
I mean, if you sign up for one of these seminars, what happens in terms of the live meeting?
So the live meeting, for me, was the best part.
So what people get, you and I make a video ahead of each thing where we sort of discuss the topics.
People are given some materials that they can read if that's how they want to prepare for that time.
But then it's a two-hour live session.
It's virtual, obviously, but it is live and synchronous.
And that was the highlight.
You know, I talked for a while, but I've learned so much from the different group.
You and I teach classes that are full of students who sometimes don't want to be there, or it's like the only thing that fit in their schedule, or their advisor said they had to, or whatever.
Or they're just entitled college students who kind of don't get what a privilege that is, right?
It was a great group.
Everybody wanted to be there and people participated and we had people from all different kinds of backgrounds and walks of life who are sharing great insights and so really it was sort of a two-hour just discussion for those who listen to the things we do and want a deeper dive or they like it when we kind of get a little bit geekier.
It's really sort of custom-made for them.
Trying to be responsive to what people want.
That's this, and another piece of it is getting feedback about future seminars.
So, it was really great.
It was a great highlight.
People also get the opportunity, if they want it, to have kind of a one-on-one session for half an hour with me.
I've had a number of those, and those have been great.
And again, just great feedback.
So, I'm really, really excited about how it turned out and excited to do it again in January.
So, check out our website, StrayWhiteAmericanJesus.com.
Go to the Seminars tab.
You'll see that there's four Tuesdays in January where this is happening.
Don't be intimidated.
You don't need to have a seminary degree or a master's degree in philosophy or social theory or something.
As long as you want to learn and you want to make new forms of community and have great discussions, that's all you need.
So, check it out and email us or reach out if you have any questions.
All right, Dan, let's jump in, and we're going to start today with a topic that might seem a little different for us, a little change of pace, but it's going to lead to some really important themes, and that is fatherhood and paternity leave.
Some of you might have noticed That last weekend there was a real freakout on the right about paternity leave because Pete Buttigieg has, with his husband, just adopted twins and is on paternity leave.
Has been since August for about two, two and a half months at this point.
And so there was a freakout.
Now, let's just be honest.
Part of the freakout, Dan, is that this is a gay couple and they are taking care of kids.
And so for many on the right, there's going to be a reaction that is negative just by default.
OK?
But I do think that some of the reactions provide a window into important issues about how conservatives and MAGA Nation understand our country and understand what it means to be a community.
And so let's go through this.
You ready?
So Tucker Carlson says, Uh, paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed.
No word on how that went.
He's talking about, you know, Pete Buttigieg, and he's like, basically paternity leave comes down to, uh, well, let me back up.
There's no reason for him to have paternity leave because there's no breastfeeding going on, apparently.
I mean, this is Tucker Carlson conjecturing.
And so there's no reason for Pete Buttigieg to be on paternity leave.
He's not breastfeeding the baby.
And so who knows what he's up to, right?
This is a waste of time.
So that's Tucker Carlson.
Then there's Matt Walsh.
Matt Walsh is a huge voice on the right.
Something like half a million Twitter followers, podcast, is pretty much the embodiment of a troll.
Like if you just wanted to see a right-wing troll in person, you just need to meet Matt Walsh.
Here's what he tweets.
The thing about paternity leave is there isn't much for dad to do when the baby is a newborn, especially if mom is breastfeeding.
His main role is to take care of mom as she recovers.
But of course, that doesn't apply to Buttigieg, so I'm not sure why he needs paternity leave at all.
People are saying dad needs paternity leave for, quote, bonding time.
Sure, a week or something is fine, but the baby isn't going to bond with dad much until he's a little older.
And we shouldn't be paying cabinet secretaries to stay home for two months for bonding time, quote unquote.
Anyway, so there you go.
There's Matt Walsh Now there's Steven Crowder.
Crowder is an even more bombastic provocateur on the right.
Hosts the Louder with Crowder show and agrees with Matt Walsh.
Quote tweets Matt Walsh and says, as a dad going through this right now, everything Matt Walsh has said is accurate.
Paternity leave, and there is graphic language coming, everybody.
Paternity leave is for pussies.
Full disclosure, I provide two weeks paternity leave for my male employees.
So, Dan, I think we want to get into some theoretical components to all of this, but I'll just ask you.
You're a dad.
You have gone through this process of having two newborns in your home.
Was there nothing for you to do while your partner was breastfeeding, recovering, doing You know, fill in the blank, were you just watching football, eating some tacos and just, you know, having a good time?
How did it go for you?
I mean, anecdotally, Dan, how does your experience match up with Matt Walsh and Tucker Carlson and what these guys are saying?
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