Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it would be providing its employees with realistic parental leave benefits that put the welfare of the family above the profits of the company. The result? People were outraged OUTRAGED about it:
But less than a day after the company’s announcement, the tone changed and I started seeing these actual headlines: “Why Netflix’s unlimited parental leave is probably a bad idea for your company”; “Why Netflix’s ‘unlimited’ maternity leave policy won’t work”; and “Netflix’s New Parental Leave Policy Could Make Things Worse for Women.”
You’ll be shocked to know that one of those headlines (on Time.com no less) is from Suzanne Venker, a far right advocate of women leaving the work place so they can make their men a sammich. But it wasn’t just pundits and columnists:
“So what happens when someone pops out a baby annually? There should really be a cap. Being an expecting mother, maternity leave is appreciated; however, a year is ridiculous in my opinion.”
Annually? What? Is everyone suddenly going to turn into Michelle Duggar?
“I want to know why my husband should pay for others to stay home with their children. It is taking money away from me and our children. If you want me to pay for them, give them to me. Respect me as a stay at home mom. The government is not there to take care of me. The government is we the people. Do you want to pay the female CEO’s salary do she can stay at home with her three babies? I do not. And please do not tell me that it takes two incomes. Have less stuff and more time with your kids.”
This is response to Netflix giving its employees more time off.
“Simply unfair to non parents. Non parents should have access to the same rights to time off.”
“Time off”? It’s astonishing how little value people put on the immense amount of effort involved in raising a child. Funny side story about that: A hardcore conservative soon-to-be-ex-friend of mine once told me, a stay-at-home father, that I should get a real job. I casually asked him if his stay-at-home wife knew how little he thinks of her as a parent. His response was incoherent rage. L. O. L.
We, as a country and particularly conservatives, pay a lot of lip service to the idea of “family values” but when push comes to shove, most of the right-wing despises the idea of parents actually being able to raise their kids.
This might seem like a contradiction until you look at the world through the eyes of a conservative. In the world of the subservient right-winger, corporations and the 1% are the final arbiters of what is good for the country. If Corporate America says that low wages and no family leave is “good for the economy” then, dammit!, who the hell is Netflix to say otherwise?!
This is why Republicans block every attempt to make paid maternity leave mandatory like every other country in the world except for, according to Politifact, “the U.S., Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and 4 small Pacific islands (Nauru, Palau, Samoa, and Tonga).”
Think about that: The richest and “most awesome” country in the whole world doesn’t have maternity leave but evil, horrible, Commie China and Russia have it. All the third world nations of Latin America we’re supposed to sneer at have it. The entire African continent populated with “those” people that are supposed to be inherently inferior has it. North fucking Korea has it.
But America has been deeply brainwashed by the 1% to think of anything that hurts the bottom line as pure idiocy. Worker safety regulations? Sick time? Vacation time? Medical insurance? Pensions? Days off? 40 hour work weeks? Weekends? Unions? A living wage? Hell, even a MINIMUM wage? All terrible for “the economy.” “The economy” in this context always ALWAYS means, “Corporate Profits.” Letting parents take paid time off to raise is therefore anathema to the right wing. After all, that baby isn’t a fetus anymore so who gives a damn about them?
The next time you hear a conservative demanding America return to “family values,” tell them you agree and expect them to join you in making at least 6 months of paid paternal leave mandatory. Then sit back, kick up your feet, and watch their head explode in sputtering outrage at the very notion of paid time off. Because, you know, “family values.”
Feature image courtesy of Wikimedia
