Umm, just saying, but maybe Rebecca Traister needs to reread The Odyssey when she wrote “…a hero’s quest in which there is no particular interest in the Penelopes back home.” You know, like before positing a questionable cultural meme, do some serious scholastic work and not condemn a candidate for something he read as a child or young man.

Penelope is a very strong character, every bit as crafty as Odysseus. True, she is beset by suitors but she manages to keep things going, save her son and his birthright, avoid marriage, all while her vainglorious husband struggles to attain consciousness and return home.

Admittedly, her story is the equivalent of ‘meanwhile back at the ranch’ but she runs true to her commitments and incredible character, all within the confines of her culture, and that’s not even getting into reading the epic poem through its incredibly important psychological or archetypal manifestations. Admittedly, Atwood’s The Penelopiad does confront much of the contextual sexism and lack of justice inherent in a 3,200+ year old story.

In a similar vein, Campbell’s impact on psychology as well as Star Wars and candidates like Beto O’Rourke should not be belittled let alone underestimated and this work must also be taken in context: Beto O’Rourke was much younger when he read The Odyssey and watched the Star Wars trilogy. While Homer codified The Odyssey for his times, Lucas took Campbell’s work and did the same for Star Wars.

In short, these incredibly powerful stories remind us that we all must be heroes in our own stories with perhaps the most important lesson being that the process is the prize. It’s imperative to not misuse Epic Poems like The Odyssey and movies like Star Wars to strengthen an intellectually effete and ultimately divisive 2019 take on political discourse.

But, surely Traister would rather have an educated candidate who follows a socio-centric path, like Luke Skywalker, than one who blithely and ego-centrically follows the converse?

I get the double standard in the political realm that Traister rails against but gender and ethnicity and identity and parenthood are even more fair game for the press and critics alike. And whilst complaining about the judgment posited at women candidates, Traister is perpetuating the same ruthless stereotyping against all white male candidates.

In other words, by conflating identity politics with fatherhood, and therefore bringing more ammo to the political realm if you will, she should not wonder why motherhood is still considered a target for the far right.

Therefore, in this changing digital enhanced world of mob rule standards, especially the non-contextualized historical kind, there will be far too many judgements passed on candidates before even looking at the their far more relevant platforms, let alone their prospects of being able to defeat Trump.

And Traister, unaware of the concept of irony in her process of excoriating Beto O’Rourke, is therefore furthering the use of crass sexist and racist and therefore limiting stereotypes without looking at the substance of any candidate’s cause, or heaven forbid, the work they have done for the betterment of society: regardless of their gender.

For instance, using blatant sexist and racist lines like “White men — in life, on streets, in cop cars, within their families, on the pages of magazines, and in politics — are permitted to fuck up, to gain our sympathy and protection” or “It doesn’t matter whether they have kids or how they raise kids; these men who want to lead us get to be kids” are feeding into a limiting if not infantile but most assuredly misandric trap which will ultimately lead to four more years of Trump.