JD Vance was and probably is still in trouble with presidential candidate Donald Trump because he made an enormous faux pas and criticising independent women living with cats by insulting them as "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they've made". Plainly misogynistic. He is now backpedalling as is Donald Trump by saying that he is just concerned about Americans not creating families because the country needs families and a family way of life.
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| 'Cat lady' interest surged. This is a Google Trends chart. Click on the image to see is much larger (desktop). |
And Donald Trump supported his running mate by saying the same thing namely that JD Vance is a family man and thinks that the family way of life is very important to America. This is to be expected from a declared Christian which is what JD Vance is but I've argued that he doesn't behave like a good Christian.
That's the introduction but the interesting aspect of this is that Google tells us that there was a massive surge in people searching for articles about "cat lady". The search term "cat lady" became incredibly popular and I have embedded on this page Google's trends graph which shows you that in America it climbed steadily and then peeked out on July 26, 2024. Unsurprising perhaps but nice to see it confirmed.
Cat ladies have never been more in the news thanks to the misogynistic, potential future vice president. But they've always been in the news one way or another and they always been denigrated. This means that JD Vance was repeating the same stereotypical image of independent-minded women living with cats without a husband. It was so stereotypical it was a cliché. It was tiresome. It was thoughtless. It was mindless and as mentioned misogynistic.
If you asked childless cat ladies living in America if they were miserable or not the vast majority would probably say that they are not. Some are probably happier than women living with a husband and family pets. They might not be but independent childless ladies living with cats are just as likely to be content as anybody else.
Living alone with domestic cats, with friends in a social circle, is a very nice way to live. People do need to network in my opinion, to have human friends as well as feline friends but when you go return to your home having engaged in a bit of socialisation with your friends, it is nice to be alone with your cats, reading a book or watching television or sitting in the backyard soaking up the setting sun.
It is nice to enjoy a bit of solitude. A lot of people like living alone, with themselves. Although the human is essentially a social creature, we are not wedded to that cultural and inherited characteristic.
Also, J.D. Vance's remarks are very hurtful for people who can't have children. And there are many women and men who find it difficult to live with a partner. Maybe they want to live with a human partner. They would prefer if they could but their personality and character prevents it for one reason or another. Perhaps they have tried living with a person of either gender and has not worked out so they decided to live alone and fill that void with a companion animal. That's okay and their lifestyle should be respected.
Vance should not be unkind towards these people. They are doing their best. And they find a lot of solace and enjoyment in living with a domestic cat or cats. We should be sensitive towards them not insensitive and thoughtless as is the case with J.D. Vance.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.
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