Other Fox Nation Headlines For Obama's Gay Marriage Statement
Fox News will always be ripe for parody- today they were farmers market fresh.
Future U.S. History Students: 'It's Pretty Embarrassing How Long You Guys Took To Legalize Gay Marriage
Now I’m not an avid onion reader- but this is PERFECTION.
Ginsburg, Legal Status of Women Under Federal Law
This is my favorite kind of time capsule. It’s like immersing yourself in the eye of their self-worth storm. Sure, it’s a piece of dry academia- but really it’s a badass & unapologetic demand- one that plays pragmatism and passion off each other as if Catherine MacKinnon and Judith Butler were playing in the ping pong world series. Even more so, I’m inspired by their proactivity. A group of students undertook a huge project, collecting an insane amount of documents, involving painstaking reading and analysis, and they did this because well, someone had to it. Someone had to do it, even if no one would use it, or use it enough, or use it in the right way. It’s an example of hope and faith that happened in the midst of cultural kindling for a future era’s cynicism and apathy. So…I guess…way to make 200 pages of commentary on statutory construction make someone feel things almost 40 years later. Good one.
Yup, I'll be seeing this- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Reached that point during the end of the school year, where everything makes me cry.
It is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.
—John Stuart Mill
This is very flowy pants-granola-free trade-drum circle-hippie sentimental, but I’m allowing it.
I very much enjoy this prose.
“f you were born in May, I will probably rip pages of poetry out of books for you and put them in my pocket to give to you when I see you. I will steal books from the Strand bookstore and from the library for you. I will make you things, like journals and collages and animals out of Sculpey clay and I will clean my room when you come over. You will be the only reason I will ever clean my room. I will do drugs with you. I will give you a typewriter. I will not be able to keep my hands off of you. I will pick flowers and bring them to your windowsill. I will want to borrow your things. I will talk a lot around you because that is what I do around people I like. I will like you and I will maybe even love you. I will snoop through your shit because I will think you are amazing and creative and communicative. I will pick fights with you out of insecurity and neuroses. I will want to smash glass and kill flowers and kill you. I will move across the country to make sure I can live without you. I will move across the country to find you. You will be all I will meet.”
- Chloe Caldwell, “Long May You Run”
This is only a small excerpt from this piece, which I think is a great example of those rare narratives that are both intimate and universal. I think you should probably read the rest of this essay and use it like a rowboat through your own nostalgia.
Read the rest here: http://www.smalldoggiesmagazine.com/features/long-may-you-run-chloe-caldwell/
“The particularity of our problems can only be made bearable though the recognition of our universal humanity. We suffer uniquely, but we survive the same way.”
This seems to me, the answer to every problem, ever.
—Dear Sugar at http://therumpus.net/2011/09/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-84-the-distance-of-the-leap/
Disdain for ‘political correctness’ is often positioned as a concern that some important truth is not being spoken for fear of offending someone. But that concern is nothing but smoke and mirrors. To invoke “political correctness” is really to be concerned about loss of power and privilege. It is about disappointment that some ‘ism’ that was ingrained in our society, so much that citizens of privilege could express the bias through word and deed without fear of reprisal, has been shaken loose. Charging “political correctness” generally means this: ‘I am comfortable with my privilege. I don’t want to have to question it. I don’t want to have to think before I speak or act. I certainly don’t wish to inconvenience myself for the comfort of lesser people (whoever those people may be—women, people of color, people with disabilities, etc.)’
—What Tami Said: http://www.whattamisaid.com/2010/02/conservatives-political-correctness-and.html?m=1
Soapboxing & Social Networking
I’ve had a lot of discussions with friends recently about people posting provocative opinions on Facebook. There seem to be 2 camps of thought, or at least two ideas on opposite sides of the spectrum. (1), that Facebook is supposed to be an easy breezy social space where friends can look at each other’s pictures and get the jist of what they’re up to these days & (2), that Facebook serves multiple purposes, one of them being a place for meaningful discourses on important cultural and political issues. These viewpoints aren’t necessarily exclusive and people can change their position depending on the specific topic & how it’s handled. As anyone who reads my status updates or Facebook comments can attest, I am almost always inclined towards camp (2).
I enjoy talking about issues that make people feel uncomfortable, or passionate, or principled and I think Facebook is a great way to incite discussion with people in my life about those issues. Usually these topics cover gender & sexuality, most notably pro-choice advocacy. When I post an article or opinion about pro-choice ideology or the anti-choice movement, I fully expect people who disagree with me to bite back. In fact, I’d love them to do so. I don’t harbor any disillusions that what I say will change their mind or even that what they say will change mine. I just think communication is good. You and I disagree about something? Great. Let’s talk about it. Let’s do it respectfully, stay calm, & remember that people are more than their stance on an issue. Maybe I won’t ever agree with you- but I think there’s still goodness that can come from trying to understand the other side with the hope that they’re trying to understand you too.
Some people don’t think this way. (and that’s ok!) They believe some people are posting their opinions about controversial issues in order to add another dimension to their Facebook identity, in the same way someone might post pictures of their quirky fashion sense or favorite movie. They think these people aren’t inviting comment, they’re just declaring something without any need for others’ approval or disapproval. Therefore, when someone like me comes along and says “Hey! I don’t agree with that for x, y, z”, then I am imposing MY viewpoint on them. Perhaps those people weren’t looking for a fight & perhaps those people don’t feel I’m entitled to say shit about what they believe.
Well…perhaps. Personally, I think if you post your opinion about a “controversial” issue, like abortion, you know what you’re doing & you’re implicitly seeking approval while simultaneously preparing yourself to address any disapproval. That being said, it would be really egotistical for me to claim I have a personal responsibility to fight back every time someone says something with which I don’t agree. So instead I’ll say that we all have a responsibility- to keep the conversation going.
Even if Facebook isn’t the perfect forum & even if you’re both imperfect volleyers- keep talking. If you post something that I feel passionately about, expect a comment. If something I say makes you think something, tell me. If, unlike the late Michael Jackson, you don’t want to be startin’ something- there are polite ways to ask someone on your Facebook to move the conversation elsewhere or that you’d like to end the conversation. I’m not providing any examples because I think each situation & person is different, but I’d be happy to brainstorm with you about some of those ways.
In conclusion, I acknowledge that my view on healing & understanding through a Facebook Newsfeed requires, at minimum, a base level of naivete. Also, I know that my idealistic position makes me a “troll” magnet. (for those that don’t know what trolls are- here.) Finally, I just want to end with a couple of tips/reminders:
- Always take the highroad. A person isn’t stupid or hateful for believing what they believe. I think there are stupid ideas & hateful ideas, but it’s harder for me to take the logical leap that having those ideas makes you stupid or hateful. However, you probably shouldn’t call the ideas stupid or hateful either- it’s just not constructive. The quickest way to get someone to stop listening is to demean them.
- Listen. (duh?)
- End on a good note. You don’t want to discourage people from engaging in these discussions in the future and you don’t want to lose friends.
- This might seem like backtracking, but it’s also important to know when to quit. I find this recent blog post helpful. Here.
That’s all!
