Posted on by Abe Austin

Faulty Premises- Campaign Slogans

What a Man Can Do)

Today we are looking at an example of a campaign that was built on a faulty premise that led to extreme results beyond its original intentions: feminism. This movement has had a few campaign slogans, but arguably the most prominent were the ones that begin with “What a man can do…”

Interestingly, there have been three variations of this slogan, each going further than the last. In the late 19th century it was, “What a man can do, a woman can try.” Then, at the start of the 20th century, under the suffrage movement, it became, “What a man can do, a woman can do as well.” Then, still later, it became, “What a man can do, a woman can do even better.”

Obviously, the last two versions of the slogan are explicitly untrue. In reality, we understand that biological differences make certain things possible for men and impossible for women and vice versa. Of course, the falseness of the statements was part of the design, making them provocative and controversial. One might say these statements were never meant to be taken literally, just as a rhetorical flourish.

Fair enough, but that raises the question, “what are the long-term effects of founding a movement on a faulty premise?” Even if the faulty premise is tongue-in-cheek, can it really portend good things down the road when that is your foundation? Perhaps it is effective at getting the changes that you want today, but what sort of changes are likely to follow later on?

From Twisted Beginnings)

A movement that accepts a lie at its origin is a movement with a twisted foundation. It is somewhat misaligned with reality at the very beginning, and it is sure to become even more misaligned as more and more structure is built on top of it. This is especially true when we realize that yesterday’s rhetoric becomes tomorrow’s dogma. In my experience, there are many that have taken the provocative, tongue-in-cheek message of “what a man can do, a woman can do as well,” and actually believe it literally. They take it as an undisputed fact that men and women are totally equal in all regards, and that leads to some shocking conclusions.

Most recently, this line of thinking was clearly a main contributor to the transgender movement, which fully embraced the idea that there was little or no difference between a man or a woman, and that one could become the definition of the other at will. I think it’s safe to say that such a notion was far from the mind of old-time suffragettes, but this is simply the long-term consequences of the seeds that they, themselves, planted.

This is an example of a campaign built upon an explicit lie, but what about a campaign built upon implicit lies? We’ll look at an example of that tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 35:25-26

25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.

26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.

In the last passage we heard how the men brought raw materials and now we hear how the women used their craft to spin and create thread and canvas. Once again, each demographic is bringing what they can, using their God-given talents and their learned expertise, devoting all of these to the Lord that He might have the best of them.

What is more, see how the purpose of the Lord is unifying the separate talents of the people. What man does on his own, and what woman does on her own, are being brought into one whole, to create something that neither of them accomplished individually.

Of course, men and women can unite together for other reasons, such as survival or to prosper, but today’s verses show that the cooperation of the two sexes is one of the specific objectives of the Lord also. Today’s passage reinforces God’s original intent, which Adam summed up nicely for us: “a man shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Thus, any philosophy or ideal or trend that would divide the two, and set them at odds to one another, and advocate for one side going it alone or just not needing the other, is spiritually perverse. It is arguing for the one thing that God pronounced “not good” in all of creation: that “man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 15:20-21

20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

We have not heard of Miriam since she followed baby Moses floating down the river as a baby (the common assumption being that Miriam was the unnamed sister in that story). Now we hear that she had grown to be a prophetess in her own right, and apparently a leader of women. At her example, all of the women joined in music and song and dance. I would assume the song that they sang was the same one we were given over the last nineteen verses.

I find something very appropriate in it being the voices of women that sang praises for the miraculous avoidance of war. War is antithetical to the female instinct to put down roots and build a home. War undoes the miracle of life that emerges from the body of the woman. War and womanhood are completely at odds to one another, so it is very fitting that it was the voices of women praising that war, itself, had been defeated that day.