Despite rumors to the contrary, vigilantism against suspicious, tea-weilding black kids in hoodie sweatshirts IS against the law! This is good news, because for a while there, I had to turn down the hip-hop music in my car for fear of getting shot by some neighborhood watchman with a boner for street justice. The state of Florida is charging George Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the toughest charge possible without premeditation. Is that too strong a charge? I don't think so. Say what you want about using the law to send a message, but it cannot become anything even resembling okay for the average gun-toting citizen to go around killing people with nothing more than a gut feeling. This can't be what the average gun-toting citizen wants, can it?
More Americans than we would like to admit are racist assholes too. As for Zimmerman, it would appear that the scary black kid in a hoodie sweatshirt was too much for him to cope with, so much of a threat that he decided to tail him, confront him, and fatally shoot him despite numerous police warnings not to go anywhere near the guy. Something about that smells racist and malicious to me, and although I do know that George Zimmerman is a piece of shit, I have no idea whether he was acting based on conscious feeling of malice toward black people or not.
However, the way that the whole situation was "handled" has been ... well, fucked up. First, there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone, despite the fact that one guy was dead and it was perfectly clear who had done it. But it was a black kid who got shot, so the story about Trayvon Martin being a threat and a menace seemed reasonable to the authorities. Then, lo! Martin might have had some weed on him at some point in his life, or some crap like that, which proves he was a menace, and that Zimmerman was being honest in his assessment of the situation. This is a completely bullshit perspective - that is unless we're planning on opening the door for hunting season on recreational drug users. And we ought to include nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine on that list if we're going to include marijuana, so we'd all be screwed - many of us would be screwed several times over if the charges were additive. It was all a lot of bending over backwards to justify the actions of people like Zimmerman, and that's the real frightening part.
So what I'm saying is, go for the gold - and by gold, I mean the murder charge. Let the people decide whether the shoe fits. I mean, the fucker killed a guy in the street because he "felt threatened." We'll see what happens - stuff like this tends to bring the real creeps out of the woodwork, both in and out of the courtroom.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Doublespeak or mental dysfunction?
When I first heard the butchered version of the American-English language that Sarah Palin speaks, I was appalled at the offensive way it felt to actually say these words aloud, as I often would while reading the news and talking politics over waffles with my hyper-intelligent, super sexy wife. I mean seriously, watching this woman resign the Governorship of Alaska for the good of the state, and acting like she was all the more righteous for doing so, was kind of like watching a Good Night Moon get torn apart slowly by several pissed off cats.
As it turns out, this lack of eloquence is common among Republicans resigning from things. Rick Santorum had this to say today about his political aspirations:
The fact that a person who speaks like this, and who believes in ridiculous things like the absolute superiority of man over all things without a human penis, could actually convince as many people as he did that he's qualified to be president is a despicable commentary on modern America.
As it turns out, this lack of eloquence is common among Republicans resigning from things. Rick Santorum had this to say today about his political aspirations:
The fact that a person who speaks like this, and who believes in ridiculous things like the absolute superiority of man over all things without a human penis, could actually convince as many people as he did that he's qualified to be president is a despicable commentary on modern America.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Institutionalizing sexism, for my daughter and yours
I could care less about golf - let me be very upfront about this. Golf has a long and proud history of discriminating against a great many people who are neither rich, white, nor male, and this has a lot to do with why this whole sport leaves a bad taste in the back of my mouth. The fact that I am even writing something even vaguely related to golf is sort of a surprise to me.
Tradition for the sake of tradition is, in my experience, often dangerous because it leads to thoughtless perpetuation of stereotypes and other bad ideas. Such is the case with the Augusta National Golf Tournament and IBM's continued sponsorship of this event. The short story goes like this: It is tradition for the major television sponsors of Augusta National to be given a green jacket and honorary membership to this exclusive club. It is also tradition for Augusta to exclude women from membership, and as the double-edged sword of democracy dictates, it is their right to do so as a private organization. Let me be very clear about this: I completely agree with their right to do so, but I also believe that each and every one of us has an equal right (and maybe an obligation as people of conscious) to be absolutely fucking outraged by it.
IBM has sponsored the Augusta National Golf Tournament for years, despite their long history of progressive employment policies, is continuing to do so despite the fact that the current CEO is a woman, and there is no indication that she will be granted membership to Augusta National Golf Club.
Maybe it's not the responsibility of current IBM CEO Virginia Rometty to take this up as a cause, and certainly Augusta is within their legal right to treat Virginia Rometty as if she were less of a person than your average male CEO television sponsor, all of whom have been granted membership whether or not they actually like playing golf. But in the year 2012, shouldn't we all be sort of pissed off that this kind of institutionalized sexism continues to exist? People who defend Augusta are really just apologists for, and facilitators of their poor behavior, because as long as we allow this kind of shit to exist, it will exist.
Again, I'm not saying we should write any laws, or force Augusta to start granting membership to women in any state-mandated kind of way. Despite the fact that I will be a registered democrat for the foreseeable future, and most people seem to think this means I want to legislate the hell out of every situation, I think we have way to many laws as it is. But people are stupid, so we need many of these laws because we simply cannot count on people to make good decisions. However, the way out of the legislate-everything, nanny state situation is pretty clear - if you disapprove of something, don't support it with either your time or your money. It's like bitching about how terrible and employer Wal-Mart is, then turning around and shopping at Wal-Mart. Those $100 dollars that you spent were 100 votes for the status quo.
Augusta is another perfect example. Granted, with only 300ish members, the average person cannot show their disgust with outdated, sexist ideology by withdrawing membership, but you can choose not to watch, and people like CEO Virginia Rometty can choose not to financially support this kind of institution. Watching the tournament at Augusta, either on TV or in person, is turning a blind eye to their choice to value women less than men, as is IBM's choice to continuing to support them with millions of dollars in sponsorship money.
It is for these reasons that I completely agree with the sentiment expressed by Eileen Burbidge in this open letter to IBM CEO Virginia Rometty. Word.
Happy fucking easter by the way. Today, let's celebrate the fact that all those people who "don't believe in evolution" think that it's perfectly reasonable to claim that a dead guy to came back to life to live forever as some sort of father/son/holy ghost chimera, and then choose to celebrate this ghastly debasement of nature with another fucked up chimera - the rabbit that lays eggs. I mean, you can't make this shit up can you?
Tradition for the sake of tradition is, in my experience, often dangerous because it leads to thoughtless perpetuation of stereotypes and other bad ideas. Such is the case with the Augusta National Golf Tournament and IBM's continued sponsorship of this event. The short story goes like this: It is tradition for the major television sponsors of Augusta National to be given a green jacket and honorary membership to this exclusive club. It is also tradition for Augusta to exclude women from membership, and as the double-edged sword of democracy dictates, it is their right to do so as a private organization. Let me be very clear about this: I completely agree with their right to do so, but I also believe that each and every one of us has an equal right (and maybe an obligation as people of conscious) to be absolutely fucking outraged by it.
IBM has sponsored the Augusta National Golf Tournament for years, despite their long history of progressive employment policies, is continuing to do so despite the fact that the current CEO is a woman, and there is no indication that she will be granted membership to Augusta National Golf Club.
Maybe it's not the responsibility of current IBM CEO Virginia Rometty to take this up as a cause, and certainly Augusta is within their legal right to treat Virginia Rometty as if she were less of a person than your average male CEO television sponsor, all of whom have been granted membership whether or not they actually like playing golf. But in the year 2012, shouldn't we all be sort of pissed off that this kind of institutionalized sexism continues to exist? People who defend Augusta are really just apologists for, and facilitators of their poor behavior, because as long as we allow this kind of shit to exist, it will exist.
Again, I'm not saying we should write any laws, or force Augusta to start granting membership to women in any state-mandated kind of way. Despite the fact that I will be a registered democrat for the foreseeable future, and most people seem to think this means I want to legislate the hell out of every situation, I think we have way to many laws as it is. But people are stupid, so we need many of these laws because we simply cannot count on people to make good decisions. However, the way out of the legislate-everything, nanny state situation is pretty clear - if you disapprove of something, don't support it with either your time or your money. It's like bitching about how terrible and employer Wal-Mart is, then turning around and shopping at Wal-Mart. Those $100 dollars that you spent were 100 votes for the status quo.
Augusta is another perfect example. Granted, with only 300ish members, the average person cannot show their disgust with outdated, sexist ideology by withdrawing membership, but you can choose not to watch, and people like CEO Virginia Rometty can choose not to financially support this kind of institution. Watching the tournament at Augusta, either on TV or in person, is turning a blind eye to their choice to value women less than men, as is IBM's choice to continuing to support them with millions of dollars in sponsorship money.
It is for these reasons that I completely agree with the sentiment expressed by Eileen Burbidge in this open letter to IBM CEO Virginia Rometty. Word.
Happy fucking easter by the way. Today, let's celebrate the fact that all those people who "don't believe in evolution" think that it's perfectly reasonable to claim that a dead guy to came back to life to live forever as some sort of father/son/holy ghost chimera, and then choose to celebrate this ghastly debasement of nature with another fucked up chimera - the rabbit that lays eggs. I mean, you can't make this shit up can you?
Sunday, April 1, 2012
I Found Jesus!
Praise the lord!
Despite years of doubt, skepticism, and mountains of evidence that casts a dark shadow over the very notion of god and divinity, I have found savior in Jesus Christ. And I think I'm really willing to go the whole nine yards on this one. For starters, I'm going to have all my dead relatives retroactively baptized, or whatever the fuck it is the mormons are doing to their dead relatives because, even though it doesn't really apply to middle-of-the-road Christianity, both groups claim to worship Jesus, and I figure it would be really sweet to meet some dead relatives in heaven since many of them were dead looooooong before I was ever born. It's gonna take some time though. I mean I probably have, like, a thousand dead relatives worth meeting in the eternal afterlife, what with all the time I will no doubt have on my hands, considering that shit like masturbating and watching Dexter is probably off-limits in heaven. I wonder if Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon were baptized... Better have them done too, since they are probably considerably more interesting than at least several of my dead relatives.
Also, I figure I'm going to have to divorce my wife. I mean, we had all kinds of sex before we were married. ALL kinds of sex, for like 9 fucking years (literally "fucking-years," kind of like "man-hours,") before we were married. Clearly all that fucking was sinful, unproductive, and unholy, and I don't want that shit coming back to bite me on the ass while I'm talking to Jimi Hendrix and my great-great-great grandmother on some puffy cloud in heaven. I haven't told my wife about it yet, but since she's an atheist, she probably won't want to put up with my bullshit anymore anyway.
And finally, I think I'm gonna have to get into this whole church thing too, since I hear that this god person is kind of self-absorbed, and insists that all his followers devote considerable time, lip service, and good-faith money to the cause in order to buy their way into heaven. I mean, the guy did throw this whole mess together in, what, like a week or something? A couple of hours of church per week, some good works, and 10% off the top for eternal salvation, and the opportunity to meet some dead relatives and musicians? Shit yes! Sign me up!
Just kidding, that stuff is for suckers. But it's April Fool's day, and it's a Sunday - one of few days important enough to devote an hour and a half to this god person with whom church-goers seem to think they are in communication - so I found the notion of a complete about-face acceptance of a self-contradictory dogma to be just the kind of practical joke that made me laugh that dirty laugh I save for crude sexual humor and religion in general.
Instead, I spent the morning making fruity homemade waffles for good friends whose newborn daughter I was lucky enough to meet for the first time. My wife made these cute little crocheted blocks with the kid's initials on them, and brought those up to her as well. But that's only because we're bad, sinful, godless people, who only care about ourselves, and worship satan for some reason... or so I've heard.
Did you follow any of the links in the post above? If not, maybe you should.
Despite years of doubt, skepticism, and mountains of evidence that casts a dark shadow over the very notion of god and divinity, I have found savior in Jesus Christ. And I think I'm really willing to go the whole nine yards on this one. For starters, I'm going to have all my dead relatives retroactively baptized, or whatever the fuck it is the mormons are doing to their dead relatives because, even though it doesn't really apply to middle-of-the-road Christianity, both groups claim to worship Jesus, and I figure it would be really sweet to meet some dead relatives in heaven since many of them were dead looooooong before I was ever born. It's gonna take some time though. I mean I probably have, like, a thousand dead relatives worth meeting in the eternal afterlife, what with all the time I will no doubt have on my hands, considering that shit like masturbating and watching Dexter is probably off-limits in heaven. I wonder if Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon were baptized... Better have them done too, since they are probably considerably more interesting than at least several of my dead relatives.
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| Inside the Vatican | Feel the love, people Photo credit: Me! |
Also, I figure I'm going to have to divorce my wife. I mean, we had all kinds of sex before we were married. ALL kinds of sex, for like 9 fucking years (literally "fucking-years," kind of like "man-hours,") before we were married. Clearly all that fucking was sinful, unproductive, and unholy, and I don't want that shit coming back to bite me on the ass while I'm talking to Jimi Hendrix and my great-great-great grandmother on some puffy cloud in heaven. I haven't told my wife about it yet, but since she's an atheist, she probably won't want to put up with my bullshit anymore anyway.
And finally, I think I'm gonna have to get into this whole church thing too, since I hear that this god person is kind of self-absorbed, and insists that all his followers devote considerable time, lip service, and good-faith money to the cause in order to buy their way into heaven. I mean, the guy did throw this whole mess together in, what, like a week or something? A couple of hours of church per week, some good works, and 10% off the top for eternal salvation, and the opportunity to meet some dead relatives and musicians? Shit yes! Sign me up!
Just kidding, that stuff is for suckers. But it's April Fool's day, and it's a Sunday - one of few days important enough to devote an hour and a half to this god person with whom church-goers seem to think they are in communication - so I found the notion of a complete about-face acceptance of a self-contradictory dogma to be just the kind of practical joke that made me laugh that dirty laugh I save for crude sexual humor and religion in general.
 |
| Westminster Abbey Beautiful building | Crazy fucking ideas Photo credit: Me! |
Instead, I spent the morning making fruity homemade waffles for good friends whose newborn daughter I was lucky enough to meet for the first time. My wife made these cute little crocheted blocks with the kid's initials on them, and brought those up to her as well. But that's only because we're bad, sinful, godless people, who only care about ourselves, and worship satan for some reason... or so I've heard.
Did you follow any of the links in the post above? If not, maybe you should.
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