I was shopping for Father’s Day cards today, and was a little troubled that so many cards I saw portrayed fathers as lazy, flatulent beer guzzlers whose lives revolve around golfing or their TV remote. There were a few sentimentally wholesome cards, but the vast majority I saw were sort of insulting to fatherhood and men in general. They were kind of funny, but kind of not.
I wonder what Freud would say about those cardmakers' parent-child relationships.
Bizarrely, one of the few cards that was funny without being demeaning was a Father's Day card from the family dog (there were at least a dozen Father's Day cards from dogs or cats--no parrots, alas).
4 comments:
That's really sad. It probably is a reflection of conditions in society, since not many people would buy a card like that without feeling that it was at least somewhat true.
And you don't see nearly so many negative cards about mothers. I wonder why people are more willing to disrespect dads than moms?
Maybe it's the whole 'males are inferior' type of attitude that seems to be getting around these days. I think in certain circumstances society just kind of expects less from men than from women, at least as far as being a good, upstanding moral example.
That attitude makes me nuts, actually. Stupid society.
I think it is funny that Phillip is reading and commenting on his own card... :)
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