You Are a Battered Woman! Yes, You!!

_-=-_disclaimer_-=-_

I am about to make an analogy. A big, gigantic analogy that I believe is both sound and accurate. However, the nature of this one may possibly seem in questionable taste to some people; I don't know. Also, given the topic, you can bet I'm liable to be sorta crude because it makes me so mad. If I offend anybody, I am sincerely sorry; finally, everyone be assured that I use this analogy with absolute respect and I am not trying to be flip. OK? Let's go.

I was thinking today while riding my bike (hmmm...note to self: bike riding = philosophical breakthroughs?) and wondering about why, no matter what is done in our name by Bush and his blue meanies, we never do really rise up as one and say No, That Is Wrong. I mean, people all over the world actually think we must be monsters in America because of the horrors and sickening carnage ordered casually by our **elected representative** with a self-righteous little smirk. And we can't even stand up and say, You Are Not Our Elected Representative. You stole the election twice, you murdering greedy criminal fuck -- and then chase him out of the White House with pitchforks and firebrands. Tarring and feathering optional; although personally I think he would suffer far more from being merely penniless, powerless, and ignored -- like SO MANY of us!!

And I wondered why that is. What is the pathology that makes us sit and take slap after blow after cudgel...just take it, la la la...

And then I thought: We're like a battered woman. All of us, Americans as a whole, we are battered women, we are trained not to give any back talk. Or we get bitchslapped; it's true, truer than you will ever be comfortable with, once you look at it that way.

So when I got home, I made a list of things which are characteristics of battered women. (by the way, I know men get battered too, but they react different.)

their abusers start out deceptively sweet
are trained with violence not to rebel
are threatened with harm to or loss of their children
are controlled with fear
are disrespected, insulted and belittled by abuser
are kept economically dependent
are what the abuser is secretly afraid of