I need to express a little emotional rant (feeling regressed as psychology might say) but Riane's writing is so darn rational and grounded. What's a woman, an Italian American woman, to do, sometimes, but write and hope friends understand?
It seems that my thrill and alarm about Chapter 3 in Real Wealth of Nations is a emotionally hot in other venues. Is it the material or is it, oh, my goodness, the way we language it all?
I just spent some time on the wonderful Alternet site which posted an interview with Riane Eisler. On Alternet, which I believe offers a place for those of us who believe in a world based on care, I found a very recent interview with Riane that deals with dollars, cents and equity. This article is much of what I found in The Real Wealth Chapter 3 and into 4.
The Altenet article, while excellent and free, was mis-titled in my view. The article is important, reiterating from the book that indeed there is an incredible illogic of our economy. Yet even dear Alternet gave in to inflammatory journalism. The sense of the title is correct: Indeed, how we pay our plumbers more than teachers and other care givers is an important, even outrageous topic. But I suggest we all read Chapter Four in Real Wealth en-titled: The Economic Double Standard.
I feel the incendiary title, which I choose to not repeat, led to some less than useful comments, leading me to wonder if I should open this blog to comments, even though all the consumer advice is, yes, invite controversy.
As I scanned through the comments, one caught my attention. This one spoke about some of us not understanding how hard it is to bend under a sink and do plumbing. It was in fact responding to the title NOT the content of the article.
Forgive me deeply, dear brother who made this comment but my own husband is a builder who has often bent over a menial job and I am a woman. While I have not given birth, I would like to ask you to consider what skills and attention to detail motherhood, nursing, doctoring etc. require? And I ask you to consider that yes, I do know what plumbing requires (reification if you want to ask my liberal intellect) and skills of nurturing are worth more than plumbing, damn it. Now I degenerate to this level of argument and rage.
TOO BAD I too succumb to this kind of journalism and that such a decent deep thought provoking article generated to this level simply through a name, a title. (As Voodoo says: naming gives one power over).
This experience leads me to re-appreciate how subtle Riane has had to be to present her "arguments." (Personally I love it when she points out that this kind of communication and economy are pathologic but then we need to begin a conversation and practices to deal with issues of why the so-called left are considered "intelligentsia" and snobs...and this is my area of interest. Emotional health, anyone? So, you may read more here.)
In case you would like to read it and consider in your own good time what Riane has proposed, here is the link again: http://www.alternet.org/stories/54885/
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