I live in Alabama, home of Southern Baptists, "judge" Roy Moore, NASCAR at Talledega, Junior Leaguers, Rick & Bubba afficionados and Nick Saban worshippers. In Alabama, white Christian equals Republican. Here, Christian also means anti-abortion, anti-gambling and anti-homosexual. It also means you believe in creationism; that a white guy (God) with a long white beard made a white man out of clay that looked just like himself. Then He nicely yanked a rib out of this new human guy and made a woman (helper) for him. Don't know who's image she was made in.
I received this email from a (typical Southern white male) co-worker. It was sent using the office email system.
A little girl wrote to Sarah Palin and asked; 'How did the human race start?'
Sarah Palin answered, 'God made Adam and Eve; They had children; and so was all mankind made.'
Two days later the girl wrote to Michelle Obama and asked the same question.
Michelle Obama answered, 'Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.'
The confused girl went to her father and said, 'Dad, how is it possible that Sarah Palin told me the Human race was created by God, And Michelle Obama said they evolved from monkeys..'
The father answered, 'Well, Dear, it is very simple, Sarah Palin told you about her ancestors and Michelle Obama told you about hers.'
(We'll assume the author of the email means apes, not monkeys. The fact that the writer doesn't know the difference is another discussion entirely.)
Let's briefly compare the two women:
Sarah spent fall of '82 at Hawaii Pacific, spring and fall of '83 at North Idaho, a 2-year college, fall '84 to spring '85 at U of Idaho, Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna College in fall '85, then back to U of Idaho for spring and fall '86 and spring '87. She received a degree in journalism, though she didn't spend any time with the school newspaper or television station. She eloped 8/29/1988 and gave birth to her first child less than eight months later. Oh, and she almost won Miss Alaska (third place).
Michelle graduated cum laude from Princeton University, which she attended on an academic scholarship, and received her JD from Harvard Law School. She married Barack in 1992 and had her first child in 1998.
I am a white woman who received an academic scholarhip, has degrees in business and mechanical engineering, and had been married 7 years before my child was born. Which of these women do I want my 12-year-old daughter to emulate? The one who went to 5 colleges in 7 years, then apparently "had to" get married? Or the one who had an academic scholarship to an Ivy League school, graduated from Harvard Law, and was married for 6 years before having her first child?
The answer is clear to me. The woman who evolved from apes.