Assorted Rants

"I mean well I’m well well I mean I’m in hell well I still have my health at least..."

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:10:55 -0600

“I mean well I’m well well I mean I’m in hell well I still have my health at least that’s what they tell me
If wellness is this what in hell’s name is sickness?”

- Amanda Palmer, “Runs in the Family”

One of the most horrible things I've heard about recently.

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:42:25 -0600

I read alot of blogs, on alot of different issues: homosexual rights, feminism, weight activism, etc. It’s the main way I get my news. Today, browsing my usual blogs, I learn that while Palin was mayor, the town she governed charged rape victims the cost of their rape kits, approximately $1200. Palin also doesn’t support abortions for victims of rape.

I’m flabbergasted that several news stations insist on calling her a feminist. Having a vagina does not make her a feminist. Laws such as those that place the cost of the rape kit on the victim further the blame-the-victim mentality many hold towards rape, including “She was dressed provactively” or “She was drinking”. Mindsets like these already lead to the underreporting of assauts, much less a law placing a $1200 burden on a woman just to have a minute chance to catch the perpetrator.

IT IS NEVER A WOMAN’S FAULT IF SHE IS RAPED. Stop telling women how to prevent rape, such as “Watch your drink” and “Don’t go out alone at night”, and teach men how not to rape. Men are the rapists; men are the criminals; Men bear the burden of NOT RAPING. Women should never bear the burden of the cost of providing evidence in criminal proceedings that may get them justice. And women should certainly have the right, after being violated, to decide what to do with their own bodies.

Fuck you, Sarah Palin. Fuck you, those that blame the victim and place the burdens on women. Fuck you.

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction..."

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:21:00 -0600

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?”

- Mohandas Gandhi

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were..."

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:33:28 -0600

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”

- George Bernard Shaw

Patriotism

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:32:16 -0600

Okay, I absolutely hate patriotism and nationalism. These concepts are absolutely superfluous and fractious. “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw [1]. This quote basically sums up my feelings on the issue. I can understand the feeling that one’s nation should be free and not raped by imperialism (the United States currently colonizes Guam and Puerto Rico by many standards [2]), but the absolute belief that the country into which one was born is the best on the planet and should be “as a city upon a hill” [3], or a moral standard for all the rest of those poor, deluded creatures unfortunate enough to be born in other countries, is ineffably ridiculous. Each country has its faults and flaws, freedoms and restrictions.

Many, many wars could have been prevented if not for patriotism. World War II could have been prevented if the German people didn’t have a strong sense of nationalism that Hitler manipulated, allowing the rise of fascism, as also happened in Japan at this time [7] [8] [9].

Chauvinism was a major cause of the Cold War and led to the overthrowing of multitudinous democratically-elected governments by both the USSR and the United States [4] [5]. These actions led to several of the diplomatic problems the United States currently faces, such as hostility from Iran [6]. Our world would be a much different place if these two powers had remained allies following World War II rather than battling over ideological differences.

In my humble opinion, we as a globe need to eliminate overbearing patriotism to ever achieve a semblance of peace, an undercurrent of tranquility, or a future with hope.

***I may possibly edit this later***

1. http://www.dreamslaughter.com/BTB%2001.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony

3. http://www.kosmicki.com/234/cityhill.htm

4. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/US_Interventions_WBlumZ.html

5. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppet_state

6. http://www.iranian.com/History/2000/April/CIA/

7. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/6916/unification.htm

8. http://chr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/43/1/57

9. http://www.boloji.com/rt2/rt172.htm

"Do you see now that your self-righteousness was nothing more than breeding and years of privilege?..."

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:45:28 -0600

“Do you see now that your self-righteousness was nothing more than breeding and years of privilege? You know, we are one nation under a god. Yes, you were right. An angry, crack slinging god who decorates with bullets and spent condoms, a blind god whose eyes are just like yours.”

- Solipsist by Henry Rollins

"A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension..."

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:04:56 -0600

“A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be … surer of the noose than a private homicide.”

- H.G. Wells

"Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the..."

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:47:43 -0600

“Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”

- Howard Zinn

So, peer pressure

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:36:53 -0600

convinced me to get this. I think I may use it more as a rant space than for personal stuff. I like ranting about shit that pisses me off, even if no one listens. I’m sure I’ll look back on this in several years and be deathly embarrassed. Oh well. It passes the time.

First rant: Pink’s song “Stupid Girls”.

Overall, it is a very good song, telling girls to be as they please and not just a piece of meat for men to ogle, to be “girls with ambition” and not just a “stupid girl”. However, I don’t agree with the way she portrays those with eating disorders as self-absorbed bimbos with only three brain cells left from bleaching their hair.

Not every girl with an eating disorder is “only concern[ed] will they **** up my hair.” Some are, but many women with eating disorders are highly intelligent, perfectionistic people, such as Marya Hornbacher, the author of the the brilliant books Wasted and Madness: a Bipolar Life. In Wasted, she explained her eating disorder, not as a quest to get skinny, but as a skewed method of coping with life. Rachel Richardson, author of the blog the-f-word.org, currently works towards fat acceptance after herself recovering from anorexia and bulimia. These women are not “stupid girl[s]” just trying to be skinny and attract men.

White, middle-to-upper-class young women are not the only ones that get eating disorders, despite the stereotypes. Men also get eating disorders, as do women of all ethnicities. Eating disorders are seen as a woman’s disease, making men ashamed to get help, and less likely to be diagnosed, just as are women of color.

So please, don’t generalize about eating disorders and lump those with them into the category of “self-centered bimbos”, or just white suburban women. Eating disorders can affect anyone.

Photo

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:46:58 -0600