Having A Baby Would Turn Even Ben Shapiro "Woke" - Politically Homeless
Real people, real letters, real problems, no solutions.
Politics these days have become so divided and divisive that it’s become the norm to view the other side of the aisle as “the enemy”. People are being told to “pick a side” and that there’s no room for middle ground. We here at Phetasy believe that there are a lot more people in the middle than politicians and the media would have us believe.
We’re collecting stories from the ever growing number of people who are finding themselves Politically Homeless and posting them here on Substack. If you have moved from conservative to liberal, or liberal to conservative, if you feel you’ve stayed in the same place and your party has swerved drastically away from you, if you had a moment that awakened you to the insanity and hypocrisy on both sides, if you keep your mouth shut anytime a political topic comes up because you’re afraid your opinion will cause you to lose friends or your job, you’re not as alone as you might think.
Our goal is to shine a light on people’s earnest, individual experiences and show them they’re not alone.
Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you’re politically homeless and would like to share your story, please email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.
Letter 58:
August 2, 2023
Hear me out. I don’t really mean “woke” as woke is currently often used. I mean “woke” in a sense of reasonably recognizing there are in a lot of instances there are still massive effort imbalances between men and women when it comes to raising children that, at least to me, resembles a patriarchy, albeit modernized to our current living standards and technological innovations.
I listened to Ben Shapiro from about 2015 to still today, although less frequently recently. I listened every day from about 2016 to spring of this year. I watched Ben Shapiro go from being a unique, informative, and succinct reporter to now what I see is someone who seems to be very often captured by his audience and nearly unwatchable for me now. I thank Ben Shapiro for what I now jokingly refer to as my “conservative walkabout.” I’ll still listen to his podcast for certain topics, but on many topics, he comes off so out of touch with what so many Americans believe, and what’s worse is that he seems to now want to arbitrarily impose his beliefs, including religious beliefs, on the rest of us. Calm down, Ben.
When I had my son my whole world changed in so many ways. My son was born almost a year ago today. My husband has had a lot of health issues and surgeries in the last year as well, so our family has been strained by his health issues and adjusting to raising our first child. However, even considering the health issues, my husband often completely derelicts his fatherly duties. It very often comes down to me for everything to take care of our child and our home. I’m also working full time as a paralegal at a law firm and I’m also finishing up law school. I’m hopefully graduating from law school in May. Yet, my husband sleeps all day on weekends, and if anything, does some yard work, but that’s rare. My husband relies on me to take our son to daycare, pick up from daycare, feed our son, bathe our son, change our son’s diaper, do the household chores, cook, clean, make and clean our son’s bottles, put our son down for bed, play with our son. What else do you call this besides a patriarchy?
It wasn’t clear to me until becoming a mother that the patriarchy is still very present although modernized somewhat. I’d be fucked without formula that’s for sure. Thank god for my IUD I have now lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking care of my son. He’s the greatest blessing I could’ve ever imagined and I love him more than anything. But I’m not going to keep quiet about the bullshit lie that “~the patriarchy doesn’t exist~” spread by men like Ben Shapiro, who I fully believe if they could birth a child, would also come to the same conclusion. They couldn’t take birth though. Thus, I’m more politically homeless than ever. But I’m so thankful for your podcasts. You guys rock!
Sincerely,
Politically Homeless
Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you'd like to share your story, email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.
“What else do you call this besides a patriarchy?” - ummm, I call that a crappy husband. Also, I don’t know your circumstances, so maybe age is a factor, but why would you have a baby when you’re already up to your eyeballs in law school?
This is the first nonsensical piece I have seen published here, Bridget. Clearly a crappy husband as others have pointed out. And perhaps related to his health issues...cannot speak to those. Those can sap you unduly.
My wife had health issues before, during, and after her pregnancies (unrelated to the pregnancies, mostly). She did what she could, but I picked up all the other pieces (driving the kids to school, after school activities, room Dad, getting all the meals -- you name it) because, even though she would have liked to (and sometimes tried) it just wasn't in the cards. Sometimes she could, but mostly not.
Having said all that, I never felt bad nor bitched about it like this current correspondent. It was my lot in life and hers and we all do the best we can with what we have. The fact that her husband is either too ill or too lazy to do any work has nothing to do with patriarchy or matriarchy...it has to do with him (and to a lesser extent, her).
Trade him in if you have complaints...but don't make broad societal conclusions based on your individual case, please.