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Melania and equality

(361 Posts)
thatbags Thu 26-Jan-17 08:07:12

Certain pictures and 'stories' about Donald and Melania Trump are appearing repeatedly on Twitter. It's interesting to compare interpretations.

This one, where Donald gets out of the limo and goes up the steps to meet the Obamas while Melania gets out of the far side of the vehicle and walks up by herself has provoked a lot of discussion reaction.

The most common interpretation is that Donald is a boor/ungentlemanly for not waiting for Melania and walking up the steps with her. I suspect this is based on the premise that he's a boor anyway and, besides, people hate him.

Another interpretation is that he is more of a gender egalitarian than we think because he was behaving just as he would have done if Melania were a man.

The latter interpretation made me wonder if Theresa May 'waits for' Philip May in similar circumstances or whether he just 'follows' in due course?

Ana Sun 29-Jan-17 18:24:55

I'm showing compassion towards Melania - shame you can't do the same.

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 18:21:32

It is, Ana. Not surprised you can't see it, though.

Ana Sun 29-Jan-17 18:20:39

Oh for goodness sake nightowl it's nothing to do with 'moral standards' but everything to do with sneering at Melania Trump.

Get off your high horse.

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 18:15:43

My grandchildren are brought up to believe that lying is wrong, and that we are all equal whatever our race or religion.
Very difficult to explain about Trump and his wife.

Good to see you valuing all the hard work that goes into people getting degrees, Ana. I presume most people who have degrees do not like those who lie about it.
Anyone in your family got a degree?

nightowl Sun 29-Jan-17 18:05:12

Is lying really no big deal? I was brought up to believe lying was wrong, but I suppose even people of our generation have different moral standards.

Ana Sun 29-Jan-17 18:00:14

Yes, she really shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. Lying about Having a Degree...shock, horror!

Firecracker123 Sun 29-Jan-17 17:51:43

You could do a citizens arrest durhamjen when she comes over to see the Queengrin

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 17:43:52

sentence, sorry.

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 17:34:01

Yes, Melania Trump who lied in court about having a degree. It's called perjury in this country,and gets a prison snetence.

rosesarered Sun 29-Jan-17 17:11:58

Otherwise, case closed, move on ( to more bitching about Melania Trump.)

rosesarered Sun 29-Jan-17 17:11:18

Now, if anybody else is sufficiently interested in the Manchester case, find the website and read it.

rosesarered Sun 29-Jan-17 17:07:17

Picking holes in djen posts......dont make me laugh Rigby there were so many holes it was sieve.
You don't get three years in the slammer here for lying as he did about his cv! Can anyone not understand that?
It did prove that he was dishonest from the off, so says something about his character,
But the sentence reflected the cash that was stolen and also perverting the course of justice ( altering a doctors note to prevent the trial) which is taken very seriously in a court.
...and it's pot and kettle btw if you want to use that phrase, not kettle and pan.You need to man up ( you don't know what this means?) and realise that not everyone agrees with you either.

nigglynellie Sun 29-Jan-17 12:28:55

What I think is rather sad is that these days people feel that they MUST have a degree or two or three, even to the point of making it up in order to be taken seriously! I don't remember former Presidents wives being quizzed about their educational qualifications,or being thought any the less of for lack intellectual prowess. Poor Melania probably felt she needed to lie in order for people not to label her as a fortune hunting bimbo! Although lots of people find it hard to believe, there are people in the world who aren't particularly academic who do have views and interests which, shock horror, are at times interesting and relevant and not ridiculous and ill informed. Apart from sad, it's SO patronising!

Rigby46 Sun 29-Jan-17 12:07:35

Wow dj

<gets popcorn, draws up chair, waits for apologists to come along>

Rigby46 Sun 29-Jan-17 12:04:55

roses - I really don't understand your posts sometimes. What on earth have I got to 'man up' about - whatever that ridiculous phrase means. Of course not everyone agrees with me about MT - it doesn't mean that I will change my mind or not mention it again As for picking holes indj's point about lying yes lying on a cv. Of course this was a tangent from MT's behaviour but arose because your post completely minimised her( or someone in her team) putting it on her personal website. Agsin if she's that bright, you think she'd check what was being said in her name wouldn't you? . Honestly your posts often make digs at posters you consider one sided and blinkered - well kettle and pan I think re your views on MT

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 11:57:49

"But no campaign reboot is capable of fortifying a campaign built on fictions. This time, the problem stems from the candidate’s wife, Melania Trump. In a report exploring the fate of the former model’s caviar-based skin-care line, Racked inadvertently stumbled upon a 2013 court deposition in which she said, under oath, that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

“Would you please explain to the Judge your formal education including what schools you attended and from which you graduated?” an attorney asked, according to a transcript pulled by Racked.

“I attended and graduated from design school, from Fashion and Industrial Design School and also attended, graduated from architecture degree, bachelor degree,” she responded. (I attempted to find the same section of transcript through court filings, but the documents online were truncated. I did find a portion in which a lawyer seemed to have just asked her about her education in an October 2013 deposition, since his follow-up question was, “between the time you completed college studies around 1992 until the formation of Melania, LLC in 2009, could you tell us about what other business activities you were engaged in?”)"

Melania's full website had to be deleted after she claimed to have a degree. Of course, being First Lady will let her off the hook for lying under oath. After all, he does it, so why shouldn't she?

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 11:48:15

Pc Ryan Mackenzie from the Volume Fraud Team, said: "Wade Jordan is every employers worst nightmare.

"He was dishonest from the off, claiming to have a Master's degree in HR Management which we found to be a complete fabrication.

"Not only did he lie to his employers he stole, over a prolonged period of time, a significant amount of cash.

"There are many people who would welcome the kind of job opportunity handed to Wade yet he showed nothing but contempt for his employers, throwing the opportunity handed to him back in their faces." "

You do not know, roses, what sentence he would have got. You are just making it up. You must not twist facts to suit yourself.
The police Fraud team thought the lie about his degree was important enough to mention it in their report.

rosesarered Sun 29-Jan-17 10:40:25

djen if he had been in a job and not lied about his degree, and had gone on to embezzle as he did he would have still got his prison sentence.That's the thing, you must tell the whole story and not twist facts to suit yourself.

rosesarered Sun 29-Jan-17 10:36:02

Nothing to do with 'minimising' Rigby I thought the whole truth of the matter in the Wade Jordan case was relevant.If anybody is interested they can go to the Manchester Police site and read it.Had he just been an honest worker( and lied about his degree) and been found out, he would not have got a long custodial sentence, it's as simple as that.
Not everyone agrees with you either on Melania Trump, so you will have to man up about that.

durhamjen Sun 29-Jan-17 10:31:20

Roses, he wouldn't have been able to fiddle £50,000 out of his employers if he hadn't lied about having a degree, would he?
He wouldn't have had the job if he hadn't lied about the degree.
I also resent being told first degrees are two a penny. I worked bloody hard for my degree, as did all the people in my family who have them. Some ofthem even have MAs or MEds.
Wade Jordan was jailed for having lied about having an MA, not a first degree, which is still a BA, I believe, or are they so devalued now that they don't count.
Even people who lie about having A levels have been sent to jail for months.

Anniebach Sun 29-Jan-17 10:16:29

Remembering how my grandson worked to get his degree I am cross to read his hard work dismissed with a few taps on a keyboard

Rigby46 Sun 29-Jan-17 10:07:50

roses your posts continually minimise serious issues that those you don't agree with bring up and reject evidence. Re claiming fake qualifications - I posted a reputable link which you ignore. Yout posts then implicitly minimise the disgusting, vile, racist birther movement that DT and MT supported - she on national TV - again I posted a link. Do I hate her and him - I hate their views on this issue and if she is as intelligent as some of you think, then she must have known exactly what she was doing and saying in that interview. And I mean hate not dislike or disagree with

whitewave Sun 29-Jan-17 09:41:54

People who say degrees are two a penny, have no appreciation of the work and effort put in to obtain that degree.

People who say degrees are two a penny may quickly change their mind if they need expertise at any stage in their life. How else do they think this expertise is obtained.

People who say degrees are two a penny don't know what they are talking about.

Iam64 Sun 29-Jan-17 09:37:55

absent - you may feel that " 1st degrees are two a penny these days" but I find that sweeping statement distasteful. I could write a long post about how hard I've seen many young people work in order to qualify for university and to achieve that degree.
If Melania felt she had to claim to have a degree in order to be taken seriously, maybe she shares the widely held belief that going into higher education, achieving a degree or professional qualification gives folks both more status and higher earning power.
Sorry for going off at a tangent but this is a subject I feel strongly about.

nightowl Sun 29-Jan-17 09:27:46

Wade Jordan is not the only person to have gone to jail for lying on a CV. It is a criminal offence, and prosecutions are rising according to various news sources. That has nothing to do with 'spreading hate' about Melania Trump, it's just a fact.

I think she will inevitably face criticism for all sorts of things, because she's in the public eye. All First Ladies have had to put up with it, even the now sainted Jackie Kennedy (who I think she has chosen as a role model). I hope she can find a happy life for herself and her son, who is the true innocent in all of this circus.