den_down_unda, posts by tag: people - LiveJournal

Apparently, some waitstaff in a restaurant in Orange County California were bigoted assholes to a regular customer at their establishment, who happens to be black. This is, of course, disgusting and reprehensible behavior and all people on conscience should shun them forever more. That's not what's got me had, though. Read the first paragraph of the article.

I'm going to go way out on a limb and say that beginning an article on racist behavior by trading in sexist stereotypes is Missing the Point with a capital M, a capital P, and random other capitals strewn throughout the words for emphasis. During the 2008 election, there was an appalling amount of sexism leveled at on both sides of the campaign, at Senator Clinton and Governor Palin, even by people who excoriated the racism directed at President Obama. (Throw in the ageism directed at Senator McCain, which I have to cop to, and maybe it wasn't our finest hour.) This is pretty idiotic, because sexism and racism are rooted in the same place: the need for people with any kind power to protect it and express it by beating down people without power. And it's got to stop. And you don't get a free pass for pointing out the one (racism) if you're going to indulge in the other (sexism).

So, not everyone who reads this (if in fact there is anyone who still reads this) shares my political or social beliefs, so I'd like to offer this one up to anyone who wants to field it, or just call me names.

I fail to understand the fascination with the idea that buttsex makes the baby Jesus cry. But apparently, the idea of homosexuality and especially, God forbid, the idea that the state mandate that gays be treated as human makes otherwise rational-seeming people go completely insane. Exhibit A is Orson Scott Card, who still describes himself as a Democrat, despite the fact that in an essay in 2008, he advocated the overthrow of the government if same sex marriage was no longer outlawed.

I can understand people being opposed to or uncomfortable with gay marriage. I can't understand it being the raison d'etre for changing one's entire political worldview. Suddenly, because Democrats don't want to outlaw the buttsex, someone who still describes himself as a Democrat is writing near-future techofantasy where liberal cause the fall of the Republic. All because as a Mormon, he feels obliged to hate homos.

In my view, marriage is two states. There's the sacred, with the candles or the hoopah or whatever and the guy in a dress (or woman in slacks, if your religion is progressive enough) asks a God or gods to bless your union, possibly with children. The other part, the state part, is the "power vested in me by the state of... Massachusetts, New York, Montana, a big X where Mississippi would go if any of its residents could spell Mississippi, Intoxication, or whatever. The two don't really have anything to do with each other, but they do share a name. One gets you into heaven or wherever; the other comes equipped with about a thousand rights.

But here's the thing. The secular state of marriage predates the sacred by thousands of years. Seriously, look at the Old Testament. Jacob buys his wives... from his Uncle, no less. In Greece and Rome, marriage was about keeping land in the family. I'm not denying that marriage can be a sacred state, but that's all after the New Testament. And I'm not talking about right after, either. Know when marriage became a sacrament? Fourteenth century. Look it up. But if churches don't want to marry gays, they shouldn't have to. That's the other side of separation of church and state.

But can someone please explain to me (without using Leviticus, unless then they plan to burn themselves for wearing clothes, since almost all clothes are made from blended fibers now; and without accusing everyone in the world of being closeted) why two dudes fucking causes life-altering freakouts?

Okay, the idea that a bill requiring school uniforms to prevent kids walking around in loose pants will help create jobs seems pretty fucking laughable to me, but hey, there are people who buy into the idea that uniformity and dress codes increase performance. They may even be right.

But the second to last paragraph in the article needs to be called out. A representative by the name of Kathleen Passidomo—a person devoid of empathy if her statements here are to be believed—tied the need for this bill to the case of an 11-year-old girl in Texas who was gang-raped by 18 men. Rep. Passidomo says that the bill will prevent kids from getting raped for dressing like '21-year-old prostitutes' and prevent parents from tacitly supporting rape by letting their kids dress 'that way.'

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the rape had a hell of a lot more to do with male entitlement than how the girl was dressed, because well, men who don't feel entitled to sex don't rape women no matter how they're dressed. And I just don't see how you get from 'kids wear baggy pants' to 'an 11-year-old got raped by 18 people because she dressed like a slut.' Nope, an 11-year-old got raped because 18 people suspended their humanity long enough to do something heinous and horrific, and how she was dressed is at most a side issue, and really not even that.

And now Rep. Passidomo suspended her humanity long enough to blame a preteen for getting raped. I can only hope that the men involved all go to jail for a very long time and that the victim (note word "victim"—i.e., the person who didn't do anything to deserve what happened) is able someday to find some sort of healing. And maybe someday Rep. Passidomo will realize what a horrible thing she said and why it's so reprehensible. But I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure this is in Revelations somewhere.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Aside from the question of why Tom DeLay isn't in jail for racketeering, I can only paraphrase Douglas Adams: The Tom DeLay? The Dancing with the Stars.

This is obviously evidence that the whole world has gone irretrievably insane.

Here's an awesome story about living your beliefs. Four Vietnam veterans protested a Joan Baez show to raise awareness of her antiwar views in the '60s. Joan Baez has been a nonviolent protester for over 40 years, and her heroes are Gandhi and MLK. So, before the show, she went out and talked to them.

Read the story and she why she's got a permanent spot on the Cool People the Rest of Us Should Use as Examples list.

Congratulations to Californians, who have enjoyed marriage equality since yesterday. Here's hoping they continue to do so for as long as the institution of marriage exists.

I think it's symbolic that the first couple married had been together for 56 years. Think how much our society has changed in the past 56 years. And then sigh, because a more sensible society wouldn't have had to.