re: Chief's Harrison Butker delivers an unforgettable commencement address

quote:

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Telling women they've been told it's a diabolical lie to pursue a career during their commencement speech is ridiculous.

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That’s not what he was implying. The diabolical lies include that being “only” a homemaker/SAHM is unworthy/unfulfilling, and that titles/promotions will bring more joy and fulfillment and are more important than a family.

He was also talking specifically to women at a conservative, Catholic college. Many/most of whom have a primary (not sole, but primary) goal of being a wife/mother and many who likely would want someday down the line eventually to be a SAHM/just a “homemaker”, and he was emphasizing that’s okay, even if the world says it’s not. He actually was the commencement speaker at Georgia Tech the year before and talked about the importance of marriage/family and putting that over career, too (including for himself). It had a lot of the same message but the delivery/points of emphasis was different at Benedictine than GT, because he catered it to a different audience.

(I would also venture to guess - to be fair - that he does believe it’s better for the development of children to have a traditional nuclear family structure, with one dad who makes the money, and one mom who’s a SAHM. But I also do not think he was saying that women can’t/shouldn’t be allowed to pursue careers at all if that’s the path they choose.)

I don’t agree with Butker on 100% everything, there were definitely some moments of the speech that were odd and I think delivery/presentation most certainly could’ve been better and clearer, but your post illustrates how out of control this has gotten with people who don’t understand his message (particularly in the context of the school he was delivering it at).