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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