Leftist: Let's use coronavirus to eliminate 'the family'

(Pixabay)

A commentary published by a far-left publication funded in part by left-wing billionaire George Soros says some good could come from the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, the total elimination of "the family."

"We deserve better than the family. And the time of corona is an excellent time to practice abolishing it," wrote radical-feminist activist Sophie Lewis on the website openDemocracy.

"Even when the private nuclear household poses no direct physical or mental threat to one's person – no spouse-battering, no child rape, and no queer-bashing – the private family qua mode of social reproduction still, frankly, sucks," wrote Lewis, the author of "Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family.

Lewis describes herself as "a freelance writer interested in queer communism, based in Philadelphia."

She said the nuclear family "genders, nationalizes and races us."

"It norms us for productive work. It makes us believe we are 'individuals,'" she said. "It minimizes costs for capital while maximizing human beings' life-making labor (across billions of tiny boxes, each kitted out – absurdly – with its own kitchen, micro-creche and laundry.) It blackmails us into mistaking the only sources of love and care we have for the extent of what is possible."

Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice reacted to Lewis' piece.

"In a preposterous attack on the conservative agenda, the radical Left is trying using the COVID-19 crisis to call for the abolishment of the American family," he wrote. "At a time when so many are clinging to their loved ones for support and encouragement more than ever, the Left is trying to capitalize on this unprecedented moment in history to tear down traditional values."

Sekulow described the article as "incendiary," pointing to the claim that "our familial homes [are] 'unsafe spaces.'"

"It is unwarranted and unjustified assault at a time when so many are worried and uncertain about the future," he said. "The call to abolish the family is just tragically sad. Many believers hold to the idea that we were literally and specifically created for these relationships; the relationship with our Creator, and then the relationships we forge with our families."

Lewis questioned the government strategy of ordering people to stay home and avoid interacting with others.

Some people, she argued, don't have access to a private dwelling.

"For instance, people warehoused in prisons, detention centers, refugee camps or factory dormitories, people stuck in overcrowded retirement homes, or those held against their will in medical and/or psychiatric facilities," she said.

Even for those in private homes, "a huge proportion are not safe there," because of abuse and domestic violence, wrote Lewis.

"In short, the pandemic is no time to forget about family abolition. … Far from a time to acquiesce to 'family values' ideology, then, the pandemic is an acutely important time to provision, evacuate and generally empower survivors of – and refugees from – the nuclear household."

Sekulow pointed out openDemocracy gets funding from "notoriously liberal billionaire George Soros."

He also noted Lewis' demand for the abolition of private home ownership.

"This is a disgusting attack on traditional family values by the radical Left. It is unwarranted and unjustified assault at a time when so many are worried and uncertain about the future," he wrote.

He acknowledged there are families that break down "and we must hold them up in prayer, and work to prevent the instances of domestic violence that this author disingenuously attempts to hang over all families as an argument to do away with the very convention of 'the family.'"

"But these instances are actually an anathema to the idea of what family is and are the minority. They are not a fair or true indictment. As believers and loving families under God, we must help these broken families, and hold them up in prayer. Not destroy the family as a whole."