H -°, L 6° | Tomorrow: 
H 18°, L 6°
In belonging to a minority group, you must constantly question who you are, what you believe and whether you have the courage to persistently maintain those beliefs. That’s the easy part. The real challenge begins once you cross the threshold of your front door, go out into the big noise we call society and attempt to actually defend your established principles and morals (or lack thereof).
The primary example of this sort of lifestyle is that of a conservative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It is obviously difficult to sustain a sense of self-confidence when your ideologies are frequently disputed (reasonably by some and brashly by others). Sincere support and guidance for conservatives is hard to come by, but once in a great while you see it happen.
Sarah Palin’s speech in West Allis last Friday is one instance. The speech marked her re-emergence on the national scene after a short hiatus following her resignation as Alaska’s governor. As part of a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Right to Life Education Fund, Palin gave a talk mostly regarding the ever-controversial issue of abortion.
In front of about 5,000 people at the State Fair Park, Palin expressed how important it would be for advocates to continue to press lawmakers on abortion issues. This gathering of supporters was organized as a low-profile affair where there would be no media coverage of the event. Palin notably commended Wisconsin’s fervent anti-abortion movement that has consistently influenced state legislation over time.
“Let’s simplify — we’re pro-children,” Palin asserted to the thousands of attendees. This blunt statement has significant implications for the matter of abortion though. Being ‘pro-life’ is more than determining the extermination of a fetus as murder. It is the upholding of the idea that the embryo has the potential to become a rational human being who, through childhood and into adulthood, has the capability of positively influencing and affecting his or her fellow man.
This statement contradicts the opponent’s notions that have been cleverly dubbed as ‘pro-choice,’ as if to say that the main issue at hand is the baby carrier’s self-determined freedom and not the baby’s right to life. But, as a typical conservative, Palin spent more time passionately maintaining her views than audaciously slamming the opposition.
“We were told to sit down and shut up,” Palin declared relating to the situation of the anti-abortion advocates in attendance. She went on to say, “Wisconsin, you went rogue.” This statement parallels the evident persistence of Wisconsin anti-abortion with the “going rogue” of Palin and the conservatives from the divided Republican Party.
Palin put her short 25-minute speech on a more personal level when she brought up her son Trig, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome while he was still in the womb. Many might wonder why Palin continues to publicly mention her family in the wake of slander by newspapers, magazines and talk-show hosts. Perhaps it is because she individually maintains more integrity than the entire state-run media ever will.
In characterizing the health care reform bill as a “government takeover,” Palin made the appeal that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at least permit a congressional vote that might forbid a federally sponsored health insurance plan from compensating for abortions. This apparently had some sort of effect — late Friday night Pelosi allowed anti-abortion Democrats to try to tighten restrictions on coverage of abortions under the plan. But this was more of a necessary move to get the bill passed than a concession to the conservatives.
All in all, Palin’s speech was more of a rally than a possible beginning of a political campaign. Her words emanate the notion of ideological purity through adherence to morality. Opponents characterize her speech as colloquial, and they denounce her as a quirky, uneducated woman who has no business in politics. But people who tend to criticize a speaker’s demeanor tend to be ignorant of the facts. When they don’t have a legitimate counterargument using concepts and ideas, they resort to vilifying peripheral aspects to discredit the figure’s reputation.
When you don’t have the support of popular opinion, you not only stand the chance of failure, but also utter humiliation. How do you stand up against the rising of the tide? You stick to your principles and morals while maintaining a degree of honesty in every situation you are confronted with. Doing so makes you a truly respectable person in society. It is too bad it also makes you a minority.
Aaron Linskens ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in English and journalism.
IP hash: a323aa00
Good points, however, I should mention that the majority of Americans now identify themselves as pro-life, especially younger people. I wouldn’t call us the minority any longer.
IP hash: 51564633
If you listen closely, the left will thell you who they fear the most.
IP hash: 8cc1ce44
It’s refreshing to see your story! Good job, Aaron. I was also in attendance and noted the emphasis on the sanctity of human life. The point Governor Palin made was that when we begin to look at human life as disposable, what will stop us from “aborting” the elderly and the infirm? Also, she spoke of a recent Gallup pole indicating that 50% of all Americans consider themselves pro-life and 42% are pro-choice. This is an ecouraging shift!
IP hash: b7bc5d09
“The point Governor Palin made was that…”
She is not Governor Palin. She quit on the people of Alaska midway throuh her first term to make money on book deals and speaking engagements. At least insert ‘former’ in your description.
IP hash: 4f85c30c
Thank you for your courage and integrity. We need more clear-thinking and informed people, especially among younger people. Keep-up the good work!
IP hash: 3b9c036d
As a person with a disability I find it insulting that Trig is used as a prop for a political ideology. It is especially distasteful when she advocates for policies that would cut services for persons with disabilities and others in dire need. Thankfully, due to the largess of his mom’s earning power, Trig will never see the effects of those policies. He will have insurance and good schooling to help him grow. Many of us are not so lucky. It is telling that her children have spoken ill of her as of late; I wonder what Trig will say about his mom once he learns how to talk. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Perhaps his first words to his mom will be a quote from Joe Wilson “Mommy, you lie”.
IP hash: ec0d4e81
I particularly like the points you make about popular opinion. I think sticking to your principles and morals takes courage, especially when it opposes popular opinion. Palin, herself, has this problem, and has been attacked like no other because of it. Some of the people who proclaim tolerance, should more accurately say, �I�m tolerant, if you agree with me.�
IP hash: 7f40836f
If Sarah Palin is the best the other major party can come up with it’s a sad day for America.
IP hash: a530dca3
Sarah likes the attention and the money—materialistic, narcissistic, and self-absorbed.
IP hash: ea299c22
It’s interesting to note that in August 2008, all the polls showed that the majority of people described themselves as “pro-choice,” then in April 2009, a repeat of the polls found that for the first time in 15 years, the majority of people identified themselves as pro-life, and recent polling on the subject still finds a majority being pro-life. I suspect that Sarah Palin played a part in that shift.
IP hash: 611626b0
She’s just not very bright….then again, neither was W
IP hash: d90cd3a0
Of course don’t forget that W is smarter than Kerry (grades, raw IQ, certainly common sense). A sock puppet could have beat W in 2004, but the Dems were able to find somebody who could lose.
IP hash: 83b6c53e
Where does Palin get off thinking she can be vice president of the United States? Up against the one million years in the Senate her opponent, Joe Biden, logged in between expensive rides at taxpayer expense on “the Acela”, what can she offer? Mayor of a town of six people and ten caribou [sneer]? Miss Congeniality [sneer, sneer]? Bastard baby-grandma [sneer, sneer, sneer]? Poster chick for “family values” [sneer, sneer, sneer, sneer]?
Sorry, I’m running out of sneers.
But, seriously, just look at the negatives: she was a popular first-term governor, she’s a woman, she’s happily married, she has five kids, one of them with Down’s syndrome, she’s a maverick, she’s from way beyond the Beltway, she’s taken on both the Republican Party and Big Oil, she shoots automatic weapons, she can kill a moose with a butter knife and fillet a sea lion with a smile, her husband’s a roustabout Eskimo snowmobile champ, she’s a hockey mom, she was Miss Wasilla, she looks like she should be playing Cecily, the saucy librarian, in Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, and she doesn’t wear pantsuits. Heck, she hasn’t even appeared yet on Meet the Press! I mean, who in his right mind would vote for her?
Sure, if she were one of ours, not only would we have nominated her by acclamation, since she fulfills every trope of feminism except for her unfortunate and inexplicable opposition to murdering unborn children, we would also have made at least two TV movies about her life, celebrating her choice to have her fifth child and the announcement that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant by a dead-beat teenage father. That’s the kind of heartwarming, inclusive, empowering Lifetime movie we love— she’s like Juno come to life as Juneau, set in Mystery, Alaska.
But she’s not a Democrat, which despite her va-va-va-voom appearance, means she’s not really a woman, which is one of the reasons we’ve spent the past year since McCain unveiled her trying to tear her limb from limb. Just because she was Governor of a state sandwiched between two obscure and unimportant countries, Canada and Russia, and spent more time in her first five minutes visiting American troops in Iraq than Evita Barry did during his entire Rainbow Tour, what could she possibly know about foreign policy? It’s not like she’s John Edwards or something.
But sometimes the mask slips and you can see — whoops! — how much we hate you. Normally we’re against hate in all its forms, and embrace tolerance as one of our defining moral attributes. But when it comes to you conservatives, well, with the best will in the world, we just can’t tolerate you. You’re elitist, you’re judgmental, you’re hypocritical, and we know that deep down you hate us even more than we hate you. Therefore (by any means necessary) we will defeat you. ACORN voter fraud, Black Panther poll-thuggery, “walking around” money, legions of lawyers, as many recounts as it takes — bring it on!
Because we need to take back our country. We need to take it back from fascists like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and give it back to its rightful proprietors, patriots like Henry Wallace, Sidney Hillman, Norman Thomas, Gus Hall, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Saul Alinsky, William Kunstler, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, and, yes, my guy, the Talking Parrot, you know who.
And Sarah Marshall Palin stands in the way of all that. After we sent Bill n’ Hill packing with their twin gold watches in Denver, we thought we had a clear playing field. The sunshine of the uplands was ours. Mother Gaia had opened wide her arms to embrace us, shunning the Orcs and the Uruk-hai of the Anti-Slavery, Anti-Segregation, Anti-Secularism, Anti-Sedition and Anti-Surrender Party. We were going up against Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, Herbert Hoover and Whoever, Daddy Bush and Dan Quayle, Gerald R. Ford and, well, Bob Dole.
Piece of cake, walk on the beach, a Renaissance Weekend in a non-denominational heaven for atheists. Until Sarah Marshall Palin showed up, bringing with her 10 million bucks for the bad guys in three days, a level of enthusiasm not seen since Ronnie was a pup, and a clear shot to Republican dominance with her.
So that’s why we hate you, Sarah Marshall Palin. We hate you because you remind the other side of their wives, their girlfriends, their daughters, and make them want to fight for America against our sneers and our smears. We hate you because you’re smart and accomplished and didn’t make your bones on the back of Monica Lewinsky. We hate you because you’ve made us forget that our last two candidates for vice president were Joe Lieberman and John Edwards, whoever they were.
We hate you because you’re smart and beautiful and we wish we had women like you on our side.
We hate you.
IP hash: 2de3d5f4
Wow, you took that directly from comments on another article:
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2008/09/08/palinsexperiencean.php
Are you really that unoriginal, or just that lazy?
IP hash: 2de3d5f4
Ah, it seems the link was scaled down.
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2008/09/08/palinsexperiencean.php
or http://badgerherald.com/oped/2008/09/08/palinsUNDERSCOREexperienceUNDERSCOREan.php
Inserting a _ for underscore.
IP hash: 83b6c53e
The source was cited in the name space, numbskull. Have anything “original” to add yourself? No? Didn’t think so.
/snark dismissed
IP hash: 85265cac
“since she fulfills every trope of feminism”
A political puppet tokenized by a vagina is still a political puppet.
IP hash: 83b6c53e
Come on now… don’t be so hard on Hillary. She’s doing the best she can playing 3rd fiddle in The Obamateur’s good old boys club. You know boys will be boys. And studs who are used to pick-up games with Duke starters simply aren�t going to challenged by running the pick and roll against old Cankles.
IP hash: 3d6b9578
Nice mug shot.
IP hash: 79d21793
The “state-run” media? Honestly, trying to paint the US as the second coming of communist Russia is getting old.
IP hash: d90cd3a0
What’s getting old is Barry HO trying to turn the entire media into his own version of Pravda.
PS. I can understand why he didn’t go to Berlin to celebrate the Fall of the Wall - his side lost.
IP hash: 92498e8f
Great article. It is great to see conservatives speaking out on this much too liberal campus. Keep up the great work.
IP hash: 355effdc
Wait, did you just used ‘Palin’ and ‘integrity’ in the same sentence? I must have misread.
Wow. You did.
Did you ever consider that she might bring up her downs-child to prove a political point, which is exactly what she did? That does not mean she has integrity - it means she will do what she can to further her opinion.
“But, as a typical conservative, Palin spent more time passionately maintaining her views than audaciously slamming the opposition.”
You must not have seen her (or every other Conservative, for that matter) during the ‘08 election, when all she and McCain did is bombard Obama with (absurd) character attacks. When have Conservatives ever attacked with substance? One fourth of Texan voters thought Obama was a secret Muslim; looks like Palin would be able to quote Bushy with a “Mission Accomplished.” Fear mongering is the only means of attack Conservatives have. This is not opinion, this is fact.
Palin claiming she is pro-children. LOL. You stated “It is the upholding of the idea that the embryo has the potential to become a rational human being who, through childhood and into adulthood, has the capability of positively influencing and affecting his or her fellow man.” So, when the state executes citizens, they are no longer human beings with the capability of positively influencing and affecting his fellow man? Interesting.
Perhaps she is “pro-children” and not “pro-life” because she not only supports capital punishment but abortion in the cases of injury to the mother. That is certainly pro-children, to say the least.
“But people who tend to criticize a speaker�s demeanor tend to be ignorant of the facts. When they don�t have a legitimate counterargument using concepts and ideas, they resort to vilifying peripheral aspects to discredit the figure�s reputation.”
We are discussing abortion, not exit strategies for the Middle East. This is a moral issue. Where would facts come into play in this discussion? You either support the life of an embryo or you support a woman’s choice of having control over her body.
As you can tell, I am a liberal. That being said, there are aspects of Conservative belief that I do not completely disagree with. However, for anyone to attempt to defend Sarah Palin, you instantly lose all credibility. She is a joke. There is nothing more embarrassing than her behavior during the ‘08 campaign. There are so many incredibly brilliant Conservatives out there; why did you have to choose Sarah Palin?
Did you ever see the Happening? Where people started killing themselves for no reason? In the movie, it was some neuro-toxin. However, it is based on true events to come, when Palin announces her bid for presidency, which will result in mass suicide of the world population.
Seriously, you are not giving Conservatives a reason to have more confidence. I mean, Palin? Give me a fucking break.
IP hash: f151ec33
“Her words emanate the notion of ideological purity through adherence to morality.”
But doesn’t morality require adherence to reality? There are a number of facts that anti-abortion opponents seem to ignore:
1) A fetus is not a baby. It is a group of cells. Calling it a baby does not change this fact.
2) A potential baby is not an actual baby. People are potential corpses, but we don’t treat them as the walking dead.
3) Rights apply to actual human beings, not to anything that happens to be alive. (A liver does not have rights.) The (potential) mother is an actual human being with rights, the fetus is not a human being and cannot have rights.
IP hash: 702b3f2f
BABY CARRIER??
You mean, an ACTUAL rational human being who, through childhood and into adulthood, has the capability of positively influencing and affecting his or her fellow man.
how offensive.
IP hash: 5651b3df
“It is the upholding of the idea that the embryo has the potential to become a rational human being who, through childhood and into adulthood, has the capability of positively influencing and affecting his or her fellow man.”
Attempt at gender-inclusive language FAIL.
“…as if to say that the main issue at hand is the baby carrier�s self-determined freedom and not the baby�s right to life.”
Way to humanize undifferentiated cells and dehumanize the “baby carrier”. “Feminist” Sarah Palin would be proud.
IP hash: 3d6b9578
Omg, I so agree. Baby carrier. Isn’t that like, something you buy at Target?
No wonder no “rational human being” takes you seriously.
IP hash: ff7c5566
What is it about Sarah Palin that gets all you liberals more aroused than reading Das Kapital? As a political junkie I actually knew who the woman was before Senator McCain thrust her into the spotlight last fall and I thought she was a great pick for the GOP. She does not have an Ivy League or Big Ten education. She does not rub shoulders with power-brokers. And yet she was able to capture the attention, for better or worse, of an entire nation in much the same way Obama did. She solidified the Jacobins in each party and drew many moderate women into the fold for the Republicans last year. Now, as a private citizen, she is using her still-popular voice to champion causes dear to her, such as the pro-life campaign. As a comment earlier mocked, if she were a Democrat, she would be sainted and there is truth to that. I enjoyed it last year when I told people I was voting for Sen. McCain and her and the visceral reactions I would get. Her election showed me one thing, the most close-minded people I have ever met and probably will ever meet are college liberals and conversely, most of the conservatives I met on campus are some of the most-open-minded, but principled people who love to hear both-sides of a story. In the end, who cares if she is pro-life or pro-choice, liberals would still hate her either way and that is the reason why I love her…because she gets under their skin like nothing else.
What a breath of fresh air this article was. Keep up the good work and I hope to see more from you in the future.
IP hash: bb874224
Your own response is a case in point of your very beliefs. Geez, talk about close minded….
IP hash: 83b6c53e
[I love her… because she gets under their skin like nothing else.] Plus she’s WAY easier on the eyes than old Cankles… or our 1st “lady”.
I still LMAO at those D-Day images of mulish Michelle clomping along in her potatoe sack and heels, next to the elegant (and va-va-va-vooom!) Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/06/article-1191344-053C9302000005DC-710_634x658.jpg
IP hash: c453ef44
Bah. With her grasp of the issues, no one would pay her any attention if she looked liked Susan Boyle.
IP hash: bb874224
hahahaha
IP hash: 5782a2bc
If you’d like me to refer to you as “pro-life” or even “anti-abortion,” and not “oppressive whackjob misogynist asshole,” then don’t ever refer to me as a “baby-carrier” again.
IP hash: 2a0d9beb
for you people that seem offended by use of “baby carrier”: you seemed to have missed his point. he just simply made a parallel in the sentence with baby and baby carrier (i.e. the pregnant woman). its kinda pathetic when you all resort to taking words out of context in order to discredit his writing instead of legitimately analyzing and/or criticizing his ideas. if its intellectually possible for you all, stop and think, then write something meaningful as a comment whether you agree or disagree.
IP hash: 5782a2bc
Word choice matters. If you’d truly like an intellectual primer on dehumanizing language, refer to William Brennan, Judith Butler, or Audre Lorde. If you prefer something more on your own level, think about why you insist on describing a wad of indiscriminate tissues as a “baby.”
IP hash: 75028d4f
none of those names you dropped are of people who actually exist. are you deranged?
IP hash: 85265cac
er? Audre Lorde and Judith Butler are legendary feminist authors. Butler’s writing is incredibly dense, for a more readable essay on a similar topic, look up Foucault’s essay on “bio-power.”
IP hash: e32bec1b
as suspected, you need something more on your own level. i’m not surprised you’ve never heard any of those names, but i would have thought you’d at least do a quick google before posting such an utterly foolish comment.
then again, as mr. linskens points out, an embryo merely has the potential to develop into rational human beings. it’s clearly not a guarantee.
IP hash: 75028d4f
feminists are funny
IP hash: 6ee7f1f4
It is surprising that someone who is not old, and who does not take irrational sensationalism as truth, will put his dignity on the line for the likes of Sarah Palin. It is also discouraging.
“What all this shows is that the G.O.P. has been taken over by the people it used to exploit.” - Paul Krugman in today’s NYTimes.
IP hash: 83b6c53e
I have to go walk the dog and the prospect of picking up his droppings is more appealing than picking up Paul Krugman’s. But duty calls.
IP hash: 06e55555
This was a good article. When people hide what they believe in for fear of mockery, we are no longer living in a free country. Madison is waaaay too close to this point.
IP hash: bb874224
You won’t be mocked for holding logically sound beliefs. Most of the Conservatives in this town are not familiar with ‘logic’ or ‘reasoning.’ This article proves the point.
IP hash: 83b6c53e
[Anonymous a4a9bb93 @ 4:40pm mocked: hahahaha] Thanks for demonstrating your illogical grasp of ad hominem abusive… w/o a hint of irony.
/quod idiocy demonstrandum