Harrison Butker | Commencement Address 2024

[Dill]

(06-09-2024, 07:38 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Does he NOT say that women's thoughts about careers and so forth were the consequence of "diabolical lies"? Surely that degrades life choices based on those lies?  How could that NOT be so?  Aren't women orienting their lives to careers outside the home among those things we are supposed to stop "pretending" are normal? 

Again, no he does not, the Diabolical lies are what you perceive them, i perceive them differently. I see it more as he's talking about how people have been told to be selfish. You can't be selfish when it comes to children. That's my view about his diabolical lies. We can argue it all day, but only he knows what he means by that. 

If "only he knows what he means" then Butker is a very poor communicator. And his words are just Rorschach blots, of no value to anyone.

But I say we can go by what it SOUNDS LIKE he means when he says "ladies" instead of "people."

If he is addressing "people" then why is he at pains to single out the "ladies" as target of "diabolical lies"? Here are his own words:

For the LADIES present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.

He does not say "people" have had "the most diabolical lies told you." Or men. It is not "people" he expects to be excited about marriage and children. Or men. It is the young women who have been "lied" to.

So what are the "diabolical lies"? Why mention them if not to correct them in the next sentence? Marriage and children are the "ladies" real career. The "lie" was that women can find real satisfaction in careers.  

To get your interpretation of this passage, I'd have to believe he meant "people" when he went to great pains to single out "ladies." And I'd have to believe the "lies" were about people in general. Men too have been lied to etc. Not just women.

Seems to me you don't want to grant that he said what he said, so you are telling me he really meant something other than the words he chose, and the difference between our views on what he said are a matter of "perception" and not actual words on the page like "ladies" or "women."