PC or Not PC? That Is the Question.

On different issues I know in an instant what my position is because I can identify its substance to one facet or another of my own life like the anti-choice movement. Or, in its infancy, I quickly know how I feel because it's just a given, like the Black Lives Matter movement. From day one I had a connection so passionate as to think, "I will absolutely meet you in an alley out back over this."

There are some things that I have to spend time in reflection before I really know how I feel because the debate, itself, encapsulates my own inner turmoil about variables of either side, like the death penalty debate. It is obvious that our system is a clusterfuck where innocent people are sentenced (or worse) and it is questionable, at best, if a 'civilized' society would have a government that has killing human beings on its agenda. On the other hand, from the day I met and instantly loved my daughter I knew that if anyone brought the irreparable harm to her as finds so many of America's children, I would not want them to enjoy a moment in this realm where my child could not.

So with this discussion about our present definition of political correctness and whether or not it has been stretched so thin as to disallow our own societal growth, I have been back and forth on the subject and struggled while on both sides. I certainly will, for the rest of my life, disavow the ideas of political correctness offered by the meme creators on the right whose only obective is to denounce everything and everyone the basic tenets of political correctness uplift and celebrate, but I have questioned recently if we have found a way to take those ideals to extremes.

Yesterday, before I saw this video from Bill Maher I think I had pretty much found my answer, but as with all things in my mind that passionately demand definition, I still needed to understand why or how we found ourselves in this place. We can all point our fingers at problems and lament those who perpetuate them, but without understandings of their origins and implementations, nothing will ever be done to resolve them. Our own defensiveness will instigate theirs and leave no room for growth.

For me it was nice to have been afforded this perspective on the same day I felt pushed over the edge on the political correctness question I was teetering back and forth about because I now won't have to drive myself crazy trying to figure out the 'whys' and 'hows' for myself. The thesis offered by Caitlin Flanagan makes a lot of sense. There may be a few caveats I will need to manipulate a bit for my own belief structure, but the basis of why we find ourselves in this place is quite clear. And, having been a parent who raised a child during this age with steadfast absolutes regarding how to embrace and promote variables in society, the causation is evident. (So is my own complicity. Sorry).

If any good will come from people dismissing the Black Lives Matter mantra with generic reminders that all lives matter, it is our reaction to that dismissal. Our reactions are visceral. They are innate and genuine. We have raised ourselves and our children not only to know that truth but to demand it of society. But when we condemn those who agree with us on our embrace of humanity but either do not understand the definitions the same as we see them or with the same limitations, we begin creating more problems for our defined cause than maybe even solutions.

Below, please find my last straw. I realized our own failures yesterday and the dangers which come from our very narrow expectations of those who define themselves similarly. Quite simply, we alienate those who are our allies in the universal struggle and we, possibly, take that struggle to such an extreme as will never be accepted by a society whose progress is generally slow and whose identifications of variables will never come from the same places and experiences as another.

I am a feminist. I have had countless arguments with others who say I am not a feminist because I do not meet their definition. It is childish and I always let them know that. I will never question or be uncomfortable defining myself as a feminist and I will never need to reach out beyond myself to determine if it should change. It always pisses me off that someone thinks it is their responsibility to define it for me. Feminism is about equality. I can take it from here. Really. Thanks.

I always get very defensive when someone tries to define feminism for me. And here I am openly acknowledging that I am pissed off about the definitions of another. Beyond that acknowledgement, I am not really comfortable with the fact that I am doing it, but I do not feel apologetic for it, either. I will allow these people to not share my definition, I suppose, but I will say that my interepretation of their projections will make the movement even more difficult than it already is. I want my grandbabies to grow up in a world where the ERA has passed. I want them to have laws specifically not just to protect their rights to their own bodies, but on the books saying that no politician or judge can determine otherwise. The farther away the cause of equality comes from the mission, however, the fewer accomplishments we will have had for my grandbabies future. Frankly, that is unacceptable to me.

Has anyone else struggled with or questioned the political correctness debates, lately?

Dammit! Bill Maher, There is A Difference

I love Bill Maher. I do. I look forward to him every week and agree with him on a lot of things. But this is the second time recently that I have been so put off by something he said that I was compelled to write about it. I wonder if I will be able to piss off as many people as I did last time?

Last night in a quick aside when he mentioned the question from the GOP Debates the night before about whether or not any of the candidates had ever spoken to God (giggle, I know if there had not been a national audience at least Cruz and Huckabee would've answered in the affirmative and offered the myriad conversations full of the good Lord's glorification of their own good deeds), Maher said 7.5 million Americans are atheists and 9.8 are agnostics. He then said, "By the way, they're the same thing. People try to make a difference, there is none." There most certainly is, dammit.

I take it personally that I would be considered an atheist. I think that the non-existence of God is as knowable as the existence. I am not sure. I wouldn't ever want to be in a theological discussion and be misunderstood as an atheist because that would mean that I am negating the possibility of whichever beliefs another person holds true. I don't know. I do not believe that anyone has a way of knowing (aside, of course, from Cruz and Huckabee, I suppose).

I was raised a Methodist. I went to church and took classes to be confirmed because my parents said I had to. I was 13 so I did what I was told. I didn't really pay attention in the classes and the confirmation to follow meant nothing to me. I don't mean to disrespect anyone who thinks that is a poignant moment in their lives, but it was not one in mine. When I went to college I was excited to take the Comparative Religion class because I thought the idea of so many different ideas about faith would be cool to learn about, much in the way I am interested in many other aspects of history and sociology. The thing I walked away from at the end of that semester was the number of commonalities of most religions. Many had strikingly similar stories and offered the same basic tenets. My mind wandered off to question, "Well, maybe there is a God and he/she/it sent prophets with similar messages to different times and places when and where they were needed."

The nice thing about not having any personal investment in supporting the ideas of a specific ideology is that I can embrace any of them. I do not need to be right. I don't care who is right. It is curious to me that religion, for some reason, is the only thing I have yet come across in my life that I do not HAVE to understand. I honestly don't care either way. I tell people that I want to be a good person even if there isn't a hell. And I mean it.

I am offended by people of any religion who insist that I am wrong not to follow their faith and insult me for not believing what they do (or worse, insult me for not allowing them to believe what they do, which I would never consider but when you are offered too many opportunities to dismiss all other people with different beliefs, sometimes you end up with the arrogance that those who aren't 'on your side' are against you). Similarly I am offended by those who condemn those of faith to ignorance for having a belief in something which contradicts their atheist views. Its just shitty, in my mind, to tell someone they are ignorant for believing (or not believing) in something no one can prove.

Having faith doesn't make you stupid. Faith can be a lovely thing. I remember when my dad was dying over 3 weeks in the hospital. Countless times I wished I knew what it meant to have faith. I wanted to have a place to lay my heavy heart and feel my pleas may be heard. I would've done absolutely anything to go down to the chapel in the hospital and make a deal with God. There is very little I would not have promised to God in trade for alleviating my dad's pain. If having the capacity to pray and believe that there is hope makes people feel better or safer in their lives, wonderful. If they sincerely believe that it is a positive influence in their lives, who am I to tell them they are wrong? I've never seen God. I've never had proof either way. And I don't need it.

This will probably end up being a pretty irrelevant entry for most of my readers. The distinction was important for me. It is crazy o'clock in the morning, however, and I cannot even really be sure if I made my point. I am adorable like that sometimes.

Another Day

I woke up this morning and determined that I was going to take a minute off from writing. My depression has me exhausted. I can hardly think or keep my eyes open to write. I watch the news and bitch about it to distract myself from my own life (brilliant idea, Ang!) but find I just kind of hate the world and wonder: What's the use? Who gives a shit?

This morning I logged into Facebook and the first thing I saw in my feed was a video shared by J.b. Fisher (thanks, dude). I'm not even sure why I opened it, to be honest. The only reason I even logged in was to find a picture of my cat saved in my album.

Depression is a monster, there's no telling what it'll have in store for you from day to day. I was reawakened, even if only for this moment, by this video to participate in the world today.  This made me feel connected to and inspired by life. It depicts the sweetest, most natural and genuine love imaginable using no words. Honestly. I am certain this is the most beautiful thing I have seen. My heart paused. I hope you all find a quiet moment where the world isn't whizzing by to breathe and take this in. And I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.

Kiss Kiss...

I, Carly, Can't Fucking Stand You!

Oh, Charles and David, you refuse to see what you are doing. I would be embarrassed for you, probably, if I considered you human beings. It kills me how gullible you think Americans are. I wonder if your present Trump debacle will be the thing to make you finally reconsider your motives? Maybe it will be the miserable support found for the sheep in skins of color or the sheep in the skirt? I don't know but I feel confident that by the end of this week you will start to realize that the dynasty you have created built on a foundation of dog shit has finally been assessed at a fair market value.

Today Carly Fiorina is the one to earn my ire. She is hard to take seriously because I know that she will not be in the race much longer, but the fact that she is only out there because she is a woman is the thing I can't bear. Really? You think the government should be shut down if the Regressives don't get their way in defunding Planned Parenthood? You don't give a shit about fetuses. I'm sure you don't give a shit about children. Shut the fuck up.

The (not so) funny thing is, they hear confidence coming from a woman and determine she would be a great way to get votes for the GOP because they think that is what we little ladies are looking for. Of course, we are wiser than they give us credit for (and we can open our own pickle jars, too) and the confidence they hear is the condescension we receive.

As Ed O'Keefe, a commentator on the Fox cable channel with the word 'news' in its title tells us, Carly Fiorina is the perfect candidate to oppose Hillary Clinton. She can 'distinguish herself' because of qualities none of the others in the vast GOP field have. Apparently, the rest lack ovaries? And mammaries? I don't even know a single variant beyond that and O'Keefe doesn't offer any.

I knew and cared little about Fiorina until May when she went to South Carolina to hold a press event outside of a speech held by Secretary Clinton. I can't believe that her objective was to embarrass herself, but I also can't tell you what else she accomplished, either.  I won't call it a nasty tactic, because Clinton does it often. The difference is, of course, people actually want to hear what Clinton has to say. Who are the imbeciles that planned this catastrophe? Nevermind... Its the same ones who believe that we need to have a woman on the right in order to feel like we are respected over there, too (regardless of what comes out of the mouths of all on the right, including their women?).

While on her trip to South Carolina to prove her irrelevance, I saw her interview with Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC live and found myself screaming at the television telling Mitchell how to follow up. Fortunately, she heard me (wink). First Fiorina rambled on about how all of the candidates on the right had to answer the question about Iraq (remember the one Jeb fumbled over repeatedly?) and that no one bothered to ask Clinton that question. And she has avoided discussing Iraq. Dumbass.

Then, this woman whose hubris helps her fit comfortably into the 2016 candidate field, tells us that Secretary Clinton isn't qualified to run for President even though she has been a Senator and Secretary of State by offering us, "Titles are just titles and talk is just talk." This from a woman who reminds us about her having been a failed CEO (she doesn't remind of the 'failed' bit, of course) of a major Fortune 500 company.

See Interview Here

What, I can only assume, these people on the right don't understand, is the fact that a woman who blinks her eyes and bobs her head constantly while the other person in the conversation is speaking means that she is both not listening to what the other person is saying because she is impatiently waiting for them to shut up so she can counter whatever it is she thinks they will end up having said once they're through, and she has already assessed her superiority over that other person. As a woman, I won't try to speak for all of us but I am certainly better qualified to do so than any GOP strategist, I can tell you that when you put that on the television and ask me to get excited that I could have a chance at leadership by that type of woman, I will reply with a resounding, "Ummmm. No!," like most women, I'm sure. Again, that is only the intelligent among us. Those sheep you have wrangled on the right who thought Palin was a good idea because she was all 'mavericky' and shit, they might want to be talked down to, but I bet even they won't like her much, either.

Here, in an interview with Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe, which I will startlingly give respect to Mika for actually being the hardass she should be, Fiorina explains her profound superiority over Clinton because of her 'track record.' She condemns Clinton for really having had no accomplishments and dismisses the fact that Fiorina, herself, was fired from Hewlett Packard and the stories surrounding that. Her contention was that she was a profound success there because, shit, I can't type the whole thing, she basically offered a lot of statistics and numbers of percentages of growth which were all in direct correlation to the fact that she fired 90,000 human beings to create those profits. David and Charles, I know that you sincerely do not understand the minds of those in America who aren't your sheep, but I will offer you a hint and hope you don't use it against my people in the future: We are not fucking idiots. We can listen to her prattle on about statistics and understand that it is all due to scores of thousands of people being unemployed. We are on the left. We are here because we actually give a shit about other people. You will not get any of us to vote for your side if you offer us your talking points in a skirt. Only your selected base lacks the capacity to crest that shallow depth.

Over the last few weeks I have heard countless pundits from the right opine as to the necessity of having Carly Fiorina in the debates (I can only assume that's why the ball licking lap dogs at the National Review gave her the cover last week) because otherwise Americans might be offended by the idea of a group of 10 men all attacking the left's leader, a woman, Secretary Clinton. God. Damn. We are still stuck on that female hysteria, huh? Roll in a fainting couch, get us our smelling salts and I'm sure we will get through it okay. In fact, I imagine she will still come out looking better than all of those doing the attacking because, regardless of whether or not anyone wants to acknowledge it, the country is growing more tired by the day of having unsubstantiated rumors come out and linger for years after having been disproved. Americans who are mindful of the absolute mess the Regressives have created and continue to manipulate are finding it hard to listen to them continue to blame President Obama, and Secretaries Kerry and Clinton for failings which clearly came from the right. As we continue to educate our brothers and sisters, you all on the right will have to start with some new tactics. 

Might I offer some suggestions? Start with giving us women to admire (I can't imagine there being one in a party that promotes and perpetuates patriarchy, but maybe you have some I haven't heard of.). Build your party out of politicians with actual ideas instead of threatening them to offer us yours because we actually know they are too afraid to say otherwise. It makes it hard to take any of them seriously when they just spent the weekend trying to win your favor. Find a platform that isn't necessarily from the left, but at least not as far right as one can go without actually starting to bring to mind the atrocities of those hardest right regimes of the last century. Never forget, the left will always be smarter than your lot. And unless you decide to veer farther right and try to amend that the way your predecessors on the far right have done, you will have to start behaving as if your opposition is going to catch on and foil your every move. It really is all falling apart for you now. And you created this. All of it. You built a movement built solely on hate. You allowed that movement to hijack the Republican party. You forced so many distractions as to negate many of the accomplishments of the right. And you created the long list of those they were supposed to hate out of all of the other people in the country, which alienated too many (Hitler, lets just say, took more time with the same plan and had many more people who fit in his 'collective'). Fucking progress! Goddamned melting pot! I know, guys, but take solace in this, you are both in your twilight years and will be gone soon. It always makes me feel better, anyway.

Kiss Kiss,

Mean Progressive

It Is Our Time

As mothers, we fight for the Black Lives Matter movement because they are all our babies and it is nonsense that anyone could think otherwise. As mothers, we fight for the LGBT community because they are all our babies and no one should dismiss them. We fight for everyone. We forget to fight for ourselves.

Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. This is a VERY BIG deal. This is the womens movement. This is their attempt to get abortion on the agenda and to take away healthcare for American women. Last week Mike Huckabee suggested he would do anything he could to stop abortions and when asked if that meant using the FBI or federal troops to stop abortions, he said the use of troops to enforce was not out of the question. Abortion is legal. It has been legal for 40 years now. It is a right for women.

Is that what it would look like if a woman wanted to get an abortion in Mike Huckabee's world? Is this an acceptable idea? We have to speak out. We must demand that our rights are not disposable. I would never have an abortion. I had a choice when I had my daughter. Having been adopted and knowing how hard it is to grow up adopted, I knew I couldnt make that choice. Because of the way my brain works I knew I couldnt have and abortion. I knew that I would beat myself up for the rest of my life and focus on the "what ifs" until I made myself crazy. I chose to have a child. I CHOSE to allow the fetus inside of me to grow into a human being that I gave life to. THAT WAS MY CHOICE. No one can take any of the choices away from women. I will fight for the rest of my life to make sure that all women have the right to decide what is best for them and what to do with their own bodies.

Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, their biggest target for their War on Women. They have threatened to shut down the government. They use Planned Parenthood as a boogey man. The monies that Planned Parenthood uses from the government goes toward cancer screenings, sex education, protection, and health care for women.   All of the things they provide enable women to make healthy choices about their bodies and their families. This is what the Regressive party wants to take away from us.

We are treated as children. We are the mothers of this country. We are the mothers of the politicians who demand we should not have a right to make our own choices with family planning. Today we have a right to our own bodies, it has been in question since we decided it was so and it became legal, but it is legal. And it is our right regardless of how other people see it. They simply must not be allowed to take our rights away.

Please do not confuse this as anything other than a very deliberate attack on womens rights. There are many things in the news this weekend that are interesting. Please do not let any of them distract you from the one issue that you can have a voice in. Demand that your Senator know your view. Demand that this issue is not about abortions but about womens rights. Demand that as a woman you will not accept anything other than a "Nay" vote which is the only way your Senator can actually represent their constituency. Planned Parenthood offers healthcare to millions of women. We are demanding that all Senators represent all women.

The best way we have is to fight by demanding the Senators actually think about the women they are supposed to be representing. Email, tweet or go on the Facebook page of your Senators. Let them know and all of the people who follow them that you demand your rights be protected. Give other people in their tweets or on their Facebook page something to think about. I also suggest contacting the big corporate donors who support Planned Parenthood and demanding that they compel the Senators represent women properly.

That is all that this is about. This is not about anyone wanting to 'save lives.' This is just another attempt to take away the rights of women. These are the same leaders who have yet to allow the ERA to pass. Please fight. Today. Compel others to do the same. Our rights must be part of the revolution we are finally seeing in America! We can fight for our babies of color and our babies in the LGBT community while we fight for ourselves, too. This is the chance. NOW is the time.