Not only that, but the way so many people have talked to me… there’s often this deep disapproval and condescension as if there’s something inherently wrong with me.
It’s not you, it’s them. Americans as a whole are a mean, selfish lot, but especially, in my experience, Fox News Christians, which it sounds like you’ve had a lot of in your environment. The small town where I live is mostly the same type. They would let their own families starve to death if it would keep you from receiving Food Stamps. They routinely die from treatable illnesses for lack of health insurance, but they would take up their AR15s to keep you (and them) from getting Medicare for All, because “that’s socialism.” These people represent the most serious mental health crisis facing America. Their disapproving, condescending view results from seeing you in contrast to themselves and their “ideals” —both of which are far, far away from healthy, normal, sane , or right.
Yay for you, Shannon! You are doing what you know is right for yourself and for your child. You are playing the hand that was dealt you with integrity and strength. Nobody but you is entitled to an opinion about that. Fox News Christians and Men’s Rights Activists can all go fuck themselves, really. You’re good. Their inability to see your goodness, and their sense of entitlement to making pronouncements about you, is a sign of their disease, not of their righteousness.
Full disclosure — I was raised by a single mother in the ’60s and ’70s. Everything you describe here was true then as well, and I experienced the unreasonable community hate from the perspective of a child rather than a parent. But I know what it feels like. You’re right, they’re wrong, Shannon. That’s the bottom line.
