The Shame Game!

If you're actually here for the knitting - hahahahaha! Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I meant to say "Please skip to the bottom of this entry." But, seriously, you're here for the knitting?

The Shame Game. It's not to be confused with the Blame Game, or what those of us in the grownup world call "Accountability." You know, like when you are given a task and expected to carry it out and produce results, and if you don't, your boss asks you what the hell happened, often publicly, and holds your feet to the fire to fix it or else. This is how it is for grownups in the working world, and that's why so many of us are utterly baffled by the framing of the questioning of the Katrina Klusterfuck as "the Blame Game." Jesus, people DIED of DEHYDRATION! In a major American city in the 21st century, babies went days without food and clean diapers after a disaster we saw coming on the goddamn Weather Channel. We lost control of an American city for several days - not to enemy combatants, not to "TERRA!" but to confusion and poor communication and bad management of a problem anybody with a clue knew was coming.

Lots of questions need to be asked here, and at the end of the day there may be Democrat heads on a chopping block too and that will be quite okay with the grownups. But the federal (Bush-crony-controlled) role in this disaster can't be ignored - under their own DHS guidelines, they were supposed to step in and take charge, and they sent Horse Boy. They had put Horse Boy in charge of an agency that can kill innocent civilian old people and babies if the agency screws up. It's very nice that he fell on his sword, but who really cares? You can bet your ass he'll land a nice quiet job at one of the Bush-crony outfits that are already profiteering over this tragedy as payment for taking one for the team. The accountability doesn't stop with "Brownie." He didn't put himself into a job he was patently incapable of handling.

But enough about that - my point - and I did have one - was actually about how I made a connection today - the penny dropped. Our beloved Crazy Daisy has been getting drive-bys from people scolding her for her political views, her mothering, anything these "good Christians" felt like sharing. And the theme of the scolding is shame. You are being BAD! You are saying BAD things! I've gotten a few of these myself, but I'm far lower on the knitblogger food chain so I get a lot less of it - but the theme was consistent - SHAME ON YOU!

Like we're, what, naughty children? We are adults over 40. We are educated and we read, we absorb and comprehend information from many sources, we form opinions, we talk about them, because it's our right and our responsibility as Americans. Who the hell tells a 40-something woman to be "ashamed" of herself, like scolding a dog? (Not that people who know how to train dogs to be nice companions actually do that, but raising dogs and raising kids have a lot in common, as both turn out better with positive reinforcement and gentle correction. The same people who can't do one usually can't do the other.)

So anyway, I was musing about the concept of disagreeing with grownups by using words like "shame" and "bad" instead of objective facts. We'll leave the "how much free time do these people have?" issue for another day - I barely have time to skim blogs I actually WANT to read, I sure as shit don't seek out the ones that annoy me. But I digress....

Anyway, the penny dropped, and it dropped via a quote from Al Franken, used as a commenter's tagline on Daily Kos:

"Conservatives love America like four-year-old kids love their mommies."

That's it! That's what I was picking up between the lines in all of this "shaming" us (into silence). I had this weird sense that I was supposed to respond like a guilty child who had displeased the adults. (Weird because I'm 47 and AM one of the adults.) And suddenly it all made sense - why it all comes back to "shame on you!" Why, when they're pissed off, they revert to using childish words and try to invoke a childlike fear response in their targets.

Thank you Mr. Franken. And whoever you are using it for your tagline. It all makes sense to me now.

Knitting.

I love feather and fan in a way that is quickly becoming a sick obsession, like felting was still is. I have several projects in the works, I should be finishing socks, I should be finishing two sweaters on the needles, and instead I'm freaking obsessed with a feather and fan linen baby blanket for a child who isn't even a gleam in anyone's eye yet - and I can't wait to start another, in pink Softball Cotton, because dammit, one of these kids better give me a granddaughter eventually. Because girls are so much fun to knit for - Debbie Bliss dresses could keep me amused for two years, easily. (And thank God for those high-def ultrasounds, I'll pop for one myself just to know what I'm knitting for, because we know how long it takes me to finish anything, and if he/she wants a toddler sweater I need to start about 20 minutes after conception is confirmed.) But seriously, how stupid is this? I'm making baby things for an un-child. I need to make some for actual children, which is why the stash of the sadly discontinued Cotton-ease is going to become blankies and sweaters for charity. Because this baby stuff has to be channeled somewhere, and Dudley is NOT getting a linen blankie. He loves the fleece baby blankets from Target - adores his yellow blankie and drags it around with him. Too cute.