According to Sally Field, if mothers ruled the world, “there would be no wars in the first place.” This is the sort of thing that can only be sincerely asserted by someone with little – if any – sense of history.

It’s hard to take this sort of thing seriously. Expressed categorically what she said was, “For all mothers and for all wars, if mothers ruled, there would be no wars.”

Is she kidding? Margaret Thatcher, for just a single example, is a mother. Hello? Did Field ever hear of The Falklands War? (To be fair, she was probably busy filming Kiss Me Goodbye that year.) Some mothers (a few are friends of mine, with sons in Iraq and Afghanistan) do just happen to think the present war is both just and necessary. Apparently, they don’t count. Spartan women told both their husbands and their sons to come back with their shields or upon them. And how about those proud mothers who have succeeded in raising suicide bombers. Again, more mothers who don’t count.

Field must believe that the relation between mothers and pacifism is analytic. Anyone who has seen women fight knows better than to think there would be no wars if they were in charge. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.