A progressive writer and author has declared that “parents are tyrants” and that to be one is to be a member of an “oppressive class.”
In a handful of tweets earlier this week, Noah Berlatsky labeled those who are the mothers and fathers of children as a ruling class “like rich people or white people.”
parents are tyrants. "parent" is an oppressive class, like rich people or white people.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 14, 2020
“there are things you can do to try to minimize the abuse that’s endemic to the parent/child relationship, but it’s always there,” Berlatsky went on.
there are things you can do to try to minimize the abuse that's endemic to the parent/child relationship, but it's always there.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 14, 2020
Unsurprisingly, Berlatsky’s epically bad take was contested by several folks on social media who suggested he was vastly exaggerating by equating chores or house rules with abuse.
Berlatsky’s response wasn’t any better than his initial statement.
asking people in your home to contribute to upkeep is fine. but sentencing them to solitary confinement if they don't cater to your whims or preferences is less okay, as if hitting them.
the fact that capitalism is awful is not an excuse for abusive familial relationships. https://t.co/iXJXngw7fB
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 14, 2020
“asking people in your home to contribute to upkeep is fine. but sentencing them to solitary confinement if they don’t cater to your whims or preferences is less okay, as [is] hitting them,” he said. “the fact that capitalism is awful is not an excuse for abusive familial relationships.”
“do people just not know how kids are treated?” Berlatsky went on. “parents routinely prevent children from speaking to friends, leaving the house, identifying as queer. parents regularly hit kids and emotionally abuse them.”
do people just not know how kids are treated? parents routinely prevent children from speaking to friends, leaving the house, identifying as queer. parents regularly hit kids and emotionally abuse them. the mechanics of the family and of capitalism are not separable. https://t.co/2QPj30lelr
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 14, 2020
“the mechanics of the family and of capitalism are not separable,” he concluded.
While Berlatsky drew sharp criticism from conservative pundits like Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, even New York Times columnist Elizabeth Bruenig, a self-described socialist, called Berlatsky’s rant “very troubling vibes.”
socialists should be wary of the nuclear family; Marx is pretty definitive about that.
Liz's catholicism trumps her Marxism here. and perhaps other places, which is why some on the left are mistrustful of her investments.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 15, 2020
“everyone from Ben Shapiro to Liz Bruenig hates the idea that parents have tyrannical power over kids which…is not that surprising given their religious commitments,” Berlatsky said in another tweet, hinting at Shapiro’s Judaism and Bruenig’s Catholicism.
everyone from Ben Shapiro to Liz Bruenig hates the idea that parents have tyrannical power over kids which…is not that surprising given their religious commitments.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) December 15, 2020
That was far from the end of Berlatsky’s diatribe.
He went on in several other tweets:
parents are charged with indoctrinating children into an abusive and unjust society. how do they do that? in part by teaching them to stay in their place and accept injustice without question. again, these are not particularly new insights. does anyone read shulamith (sic) firestone?
if someone had the right to beat you unconscious, imprison you for using a cell phone, prevent you from going to college, prevent you from seeing friends…you’d see that as tyrannical, even if they didn’t do any of those things. and rightly so.
nothing like Marxists insisting patriarchy is fine because they want to be able to feel good about how they treat their kids.
patriarchy is instantiated most directly through the family; lots of feminists have talked about how the family is exploitive. I’d point you to Firestone if you need the case made at greater length. parents aren’t a benevolent dictatorship. there is no benevolent dictatorship.
Folks, this is about as clear as the radical, Marxist left is ever going to get. The destruction of the family by any means possible is a massive piece of their endgame. Don’t let them have it!
If you appreciate the work we are doing to fight the leftist assault on our values, please consider a small donation to help us continue. Thank you so much!
