My goal with You Need To Know About… was to expand the content of my blog beyond my usual topics (travel, style, etc).  Current events and politics are two passions of mine that I’ve blogged about sparingly.  And while I’m not looking to change that drastically, I do plan on introducing news stories that I think you really do need to know about in this series (not too often – one post every few months or so).  Also, if you just want to see a gorgeous woman take down two old fuddy duddies, with grace and intelligence, then keep reading!
Let me kick this off by saying I’m not a Fox News fan.  If I watch a news network, it’s MSNBC, and only Morning Joe or Hardball at that.
So color me shocked when Sheryl Sandberg shares this link on her Facebook page. Â It’s none other than Megyn Kelly, questioning conservative pundits Lou Dobbs and Erik Erikson, on some disarming statements they made.
In a nutshell – a recent Pew study states that women are the primary breadwinners in 40% of American households today. Â Compared with the 11% in the 1960s, it’s a drastic change. Â A good one, some would think. Â #leanin
Not Dobbs and Erikson. Â They see this statistic contributing to the apparent demise of the traditional American family. Â It’s pretty evident that Dobbs and Erikson don’t watch the hilarity that is Modern Family.
So when Kelly took them on, facts and rebuttals in hand, it went quite a way to change my perception of Fox News – and Kelly herself. Â Not only was it the most entertaining 10 minutes of news coverage I watched recently (save The Daily Show and Colbert), but the segment simultanously appalled and thrilled me. Â I find it appalling that Dobbs and Erikson, who seem to be stuck in the America of yesteryear, take what I believe to be an encouraging statistic and twist it into something so negative (and alarmingly defend their views with “science”). Â Watch Kelly in action below:
I applaud Kelly for her responses to Dobbs and Erikson. Â Going against two popular contributors of her network to defend women, parents of all sexual preferences, and true science could not be easy. Â I haven’t agreed with Kelly in the past (neither has John Stewart, apparently). Â But my heart warms to conservatives who look to this statistic as a positive development. Â As a moderate, I’m completely disgusted by the state of American politics today. Â I hope Kelly uses this appearance to spearhead an intelligent conservative movement to work across the aisle and help bring about substantiative change.
Or things can just continue as they will. Â At the very least, it makes for entertaining television – both in real-time and when Sorkin recreates it for The Newsroom.
