Last week, increasingly unhinged actress Ashley Judd, whom you may recall put on her own bizarre and profane poetry slam at the Women's March earlier this year, posted to social media that the United States ranks 104th in freedom, "behind countries like Burundi, Serbia and Iraq."
Then, a few minutes later, she posed a question to her Twitter followers:
The Daily Wire reports on what this actress was thinking when she posted:
Judd was referencing an article in USA Today revolving around activists attempting to pass a women’s Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The article quoted California Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier bloviating: “If there ever was (sic) a time when it was right for us to finally get serious about passing the ERA, it’s now … We have awakened a sleeping giantess.”
...The USA Today article pontificated, “In countries with an equal rights amendment, women are represented in government in greater numbers. The U.S. ranks 104th, behind countries like Burundi, Serbia and Iraq.”
But wait a minute... Don't we already have something that deals with this? What is it called... Oh right: the Constitution. “The U.S. Constitution treats everyone as equals, regardless of gender," Frieda Powers writes, in Biz Pac Review. "The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guarantees ‘the equal protection of the laws’ to anyone, male or female.” In other words, this clause requires that each and every state provides equal protection to all people within its borders.
However, it was too late -- her tweet had already gone viral and caused many to really scratch their heads. America Now captured a sampling of the responses:
"Ashley is technically correct in that there are no equal rights specifically listed in the Constitution. There is however, another document very closely related that lists quite a few very specific equal rights, about 26 to be exact."
And
"What is WRONG with your THINKING Ashley Judd? These Women in Muslim Countries can be STONED to death on hear say, by a husband or a brother. They can NOT go out into the street alone, drive, or have many of the Freedoms that YOU and I take for granted. EDUCATE yourself. I worked for 10 years with a Muslim Doctor who told me they executed his brother-in-law, also a Doctor for he had a different political belief, all done in one day! Picked him up, dead the next day! Young girls of 10 are forced into marriage."
And, most powerfully:
"She is old enough to know better than that...she has to remember news of when Iraq was overthrown and sharia was enforced...those where the bravest women I have ever seen they were lined up on their knees.and ask if the will bow to sharia, each one said no was was shot in the head one after the other...they said they would die first...that was in '79 ....the horrors those people committed....heartbreaking...now they want that here."
Perhaps the best question posed regarding this social media storm is the one posed by Hank Berrien, when he asked, "All American women who would rather live in any of those countries, raise your hands.... Thought so."
Photo credit: Twitter
