Why Are the Right-Wing Media Obsessed with an Imaginary Woman's Success Story?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/why-are-right-wing-media-obsessed-imaginary-womans-success-story




Conservatives talk a lot about "dependency," but it's not clear that they know what the word means. Consider, for example, the right's bizarre reaction to a rather benign online campaign the White House pushed briefly earlier this year called “ The Life of Julia ,” a slide-show featuring a fictional Everywoman that was meant to highlight how Obama's policies might improve the lives of average Americans.

It follows the Julia character from age 3 through her retirement. She's self-sufficient, hard-working and entrepreneurial; the embodiment of what conservatives are supposed to applaud. Although she isn't born into a wealthy family, her perserverence is ultimately rewarded with success.

If you're not a consumer of the conservative media, you may not have even heard about Julia, but the right is obsessed with her to an extent that's kind of creepy. Rush Limbaugh described the campaign as “a perfect illustration of liberal cradle-to-grave care for every citizen with the government making every decision, making everything possible, and leaving nothing to chance.” At Hot Air, Ed Morrissy bemoaned “the cradle-to-grave, government-supported existence of 'Julia.'” A diarist at Red State called it , “cradle-to-grave socialism for America.” There are thousands of columns and blog-posts decrying Julia's supposed “dependency” on the government. Perhaps the American Power blog summed up the right's reaction best : “What we are left with is a celebration of a how a woman can live her entire life by leaning on government intervention, dependency and other people's money rather than her own initiative or hard work.”

They've come to believe that Julia is dependent on the government, but nothing could be further from the truth: as a child, Julia is dependent on her family; after she graduates college, she is dependent on nobody but herself. The point of the campaign – and something that should be obvious to anyone – is that good governance affords her opportunities to carve out a better life for herself.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. What's WRONG with cradle-to-grave socialism ??

Beats the Hell out of being at the mercy of the volatile, plutocratically controlled Free Market for every aspect of your existence.