Twice today, in the comments here and in a department meeting, I heard the name Eva Herman. I had no idea who she is but have since learned that she is at the center of a German anti-feminist backlash. Despite, or maybe because of, three divorces, Herman has made a career of her mommy-ness, authoring a number of books and attracting outrage for her praise of Nazi family policy (the Nazis also promoted whole wheat bread and exercise, but that's neither a reason for Nazi praise nor for processed bread and cartoon network). In fact, given Herman's worry about declines in the German population, her bright side of the Third Reich seems symptomatic, an indication of the actual truth of her position rather than an ill-chosen comparison.
What else can we learn from the Nazi-symptom? Perhaps the appeal of Herman's celebration of mommydom and advocacy of women's return to the home: yet another attempt to have capitalism without capitalism. The capitalist economy continues as the realm of men while women produce a sheltered domesticity to which men can retreat. Women can then protect men from the horrors, the reality, of labor under capitalism. Possible evidence for this view: Herman's characterization of the sphere of paid work as cold, heartless, an angst-ridden (although I thought Germans viewed everthing as angst-ridden, particular the interior blackness of one's mortal soul). So, she presents women with a way to escape from capitalism without having to give it up its benefits.
It's hardly surprising that this kind of message is appealing. Who doesn't want a place of retreat from the pressures of work? But, that's a fantasy, isn't it? When we spend too much time at home or on vacation (neither of which is an option for most Americans, particularly since over half of women with children under five work in the paid workforce, only a quarter of households are compromised of a straight married couple with kids, and the majority have no paid vacation time) we get sick of that, too, and want to get out, go talk to adults, do something different. The fantasy is that we can escape, that there is a refuge, and that we can have this haven and the heartless world of capitalism, too. It's what fascism promises--kind of like a promise that we can have revenge, preemptive war, and the delights available with endless credit.
I have been arguing with Ron Paul supporters, some of whom are Nazis, all day on You Tube. Ron Paul supporters have been swarming me (I'm bobbyusbombs on you tube) and there seems to be a real attraction for Nazi values right here in the good ol' USA. I'm now 13th most discussed video on news and politics, the "anti Ron Paul vid". Hundreds of attacks, ugly ones. No freindlies.
Posted by: Bob Allen | October 17, 2007 at 09:57 PM
Bob--which video is it? I glanced briefly and didn't see one with bobbyusbombs.
Posted by: jdean | October 18, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Jodi - Just had a look at the comments thread to this anti-Ron Paul video... don't even bother. Not a meaningful word exchanged throughout, a straight grade-D flamewar. Avoid! We've got better things to talk about.
Posted by: Seb | October 18, 2007 at 10:46 AM
grade d flamewar,true, but Ron Paul is a huge story, bigger than
Howard Dean And with far right mojo and anti-war cover. The ferocity and sheer number of Ron Paulbots was frightening. Yes, I was a Troll, yet I didn't even know it at first!
Posted by: bob allen | October 18, 2007 at 10:31 PM
random paul
Ron Paul contours an uncommon complex. Ron Paul defects opposite white supremacist. The power applies the disappointing hatred below the recipient. White supremacist postpones the canonical treat on top of the fairy. Against the priest strays the vacuum. Why does white supremacist shadow Ron Paul?
Posted by: Bob Allen | October 21, 2007 at 03:57 AM