| By Dana Goldstein - Mar 15th, 2007 at 2:45 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Tags: culture, family, gender, media, queer issues, radio, women's issues
Ouch, I know it's harsh. And I must admit, I sometimes take a bit of campy, guilty pleasure in Prairie Home Companion. But friend and Campus Progress contributor Ann Friedman is right: Keilor's little Salon peon to the traditional family is puke-worthy. He writes:
Back in the day, that was the standard arrangement. Everyone had a yard, a garage, a female mom, a male dad, and a refrigerator with leftover boiled potatoes in plastic dishes with snap-on lids. ... Under the old monogamous system, we didn't have the problem of apportioning Thanksgiving and Christmas among your mother and stepdad, your dad and his third wife, your mother-in-law and her boyfriend Hal, and your father-in-law and his boyfriend Chuck. Today, serial monogamy has stretched the extended family to the breaking point.
The always excellent Dan Savage (a gay dad) rips Keilor to tiny, quivering shreds, reminding us that this old white dude has been married three times with kids sprinkled throughout. He cheated on one of his wives with his Danish language tutor. Sweet, right? As a child of divorced parents, I really resent Keilor's larger point, which is that parents should grin and bear it, since what's best for children is adults trapped in unhappy marriages who devote every second of their lives to kids' well-being. Good parents are good parents. Period.
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That said, I do want to clarify something. Garrison Keillor is not "camp." Those of us who are fans of his work don't think it's ironic. We genuinely enjoy the music on his radio program. We feel a deep sense of connection with the world that he lives in, a simpler and more pastoral place.
He is also usually a strong and passionate advocate against violence, greed, and intolerance, and has tremendous amounts of credibility with people that we do not. Tradition may not be important to everybody, but to a huge portion of this country, it is what our communities are founded on. Yes, heterosexism is a founding element of this tradition, but so are the truly "Christian" elements of Christianity, i.e caring for those with less than ourselves, striving each day to be a better person, and forgiving those who have wronged us. Attacking someone like Garrison Keillor, who is millions of times more progressive than other cultural populists (Cal Thomas, Bill O'Reilly) seems like a surefire way to alienate a swath of this country. Let's put it this way, if we truly want progressivism to spread through Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, and Kansas, then we'd better be welcoming to folks who left the Democratic Party under Reagan because they saw it as elitist.
This is the Garrison Keillor that I love: Link
Keilor actually lives in a vibrant homosexual community and has many many gay friends; he was merely pointing out the stereotypes they face as they try to become fathers. Much of what he was saying there was sarcastic commentary on this country's stereotypes. All true.
I believe it was a mistake for Keilor to publish this article, because it is clear that most people don't get it. But those who really know and love Keilor can see what he was trying to do. I don't think he's an asshole at all. Take it for what it's worth.