Sue Grafton Quotes
There are laws for everything except the harm families do.
Grafton, Sue. M is for Malice. Henry Holt and Co., 1996.
“Political correctness” is a loosely defined concept of not discussing political issues in terms that are derogatory and/or might be offensive to particular groups or nationalities. Many orthodox Muslims (and orthodox Christians) are of the opinion that their religion calls for the male being the dominant figure in the household and having the right and obligation to discipline the children and the wife or wives. To state that such a practice is sexist, barbaric, undemocratic, and damaging to family and society is an insult to some of these religious believers. The Egyptian law was passed to reflect God’s commandments and so to question it is to some, blasphemous and for other nations to criticize it is insulting to some ultra orthodox Muslims. However, in cases like these, Ms. Eltahawy argues for ignoring political correctness and most Americans would agree as would most of the modern and generally educated Muslims in Egypt.
This was an amazingly controversial quotation. At first glance it seemed like a typical position that a very conservative, anti-government politicization might take—the government should not interfere with a parents bringing up their children. However, there was a more ominous part of the quotations. While everyone in America would certainly agree with Paul that the Government does not “own” the children, there are few who would agree with the point that follows—that the Parents “own” the child. Paul reveals the normally hidden aspect of his politics—that he is highly influenced by the extreme, Biblical Literalist Fundamentalist Christians and Jews. In the Old Testament, the Father really did OWN the child. The latter was his chattel. A father had the legal and duty-bound power of life and death over his children. Most American Christians and Jews have long since abandoned the literal biblical notion of children being owned by a father and today see a child as a person who can sometimes need the protection of the state just like any other citizen. And there are occasions where the child must be PROTECTED from the parents who may be acting within their fundamentalist notions of Biblical rights and duties, but not with their civil rights and duties. Ownership, of a child is not one of the modern civil rights of parents.
Sue Taylor Grafton was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" ("A" Is for Alibi, etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she said the strongest influence on her crime novels was author Ross Macdonald. Before her success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies.
