Not really a political rant, per se, but more of an observation I've made over the last decade and wanted to share: why is it that the most die-hard 'conservative' men, the ones who honestly believe that the Republican Party can do no wrong, are consistently prone to speaking to (and about) their wives and adult daughters as though the women in question are idiots?

I'm not naming any names, of either the men or the jobs we've worked at together. But it's been true in every job I've had for the last decade!

One man had to instruct his sophomore-in-college daughter in the process by which she could get the oil changed in her car. And I'm not talking about a situation where she would change the oil herself -- no, I'm talking about an event where she would drive the vehicle to the nearest quick-change oil place and turn the car over to the mechanics. It sounds simple, but it took no less than 17 phone calls over 3 days before the car ever got near a mechanic. Apparently in her 18+ years on the planet, not only had the girl-child never heard of such a thing, she couldn't imagine how it would work, or believe her father when he assured her that it always worked before. (She also reacted angrily and with disbelief to the idea that cars have oil that must be changed at all -- I guess her dad never, ever mentioned basic car maintenance in her hearing before this point.) It probably says a lot about their relationship that he alternated between calling her 'sweetpea' and 'dummy.'

Another man took not one, but four, phone calls (while in a meeting!) from his stay-at-home wife who was having an absolute panic attack -- a full-on meltdown -- over the fact that the VCR was flashing '12:00'. She apparently believed that the entire house had some sort of electronic virus.

One more man refused to tell his wife when he'd been laid off. He didn't want her to be 'stressed' -- as though finding out about it only when the rent check started bouncing and the bill collectors started calling was less stressful!

It can't be that every single one of these women are really too stupid to walk and chew gum, is it? And if it is that 'conservative' men feel compelled to marry (and rear) stupid women, what does that say about their own mental abilities?

Or is it (as I like to believe) that these men have trained the females in their families into such passivity that they seem stupid, so the man in the equation can feel like he's riding to the rescue of his women-folk on a regular basis? Could it be that these women, if they were unable to turn every ruddy decision in every blasted day over to the 'lord of the manor', would turn out to have perfectly acceptable coping skills?

Their female counterparts at work -- women with the same political and social beliefs -- are not stupid. Nor do they speak to or about their spouses and adult sons as though the men are any smarter (or less smart) than they are -- they tend to expect other adults to act like adults.

So why do the men do this? And why do their wives and daughters let them get away with it?

Just something I've been wondering lately...