North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative: "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative: "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"
Discussion Thread: Halloween Costumes
Are you dressing up for Halloween this year? Are you looking for a costume idea? Can't find a good costume for your body shape? Need advice on how to execute a costume idea? Want to grouse about appropriative "costumes"?
This is the place! Have at it.
If You're An Economy Voter...
...you should be reading Paul Krugman. Hell, you should be reading Paul Krugman anyway, but especially if you're an economy voter.
Barring a huge upset, Republicans will take control of at least one house of Congress next week. ... This is going to be terrible. In fact, future historians will probably look back at the 2010 election as a catastrophe for America, one that condemned the nation to years of political chaos and economic weakness.lolsob. Read the whole thing here.
Start with the politics.
In the late-1990s, Republicans and Democrats were able to work together on some issues. President Obama seems to believe that the same thing can happen again today. In a recent interview with National Journal, he sounded a conciliatory note, saying that Democrats need to have an "appropriate sense of humility," and that he would "spend more time building consensus." Good luck with that.
Because of where I live and the options on my ballot, I am almost certainly going to vote a straight Democratic ticket. My only other options for me are voting for the GOP (yeah, right) and not voting, and I'm not personally feeling inclined to decline to use that right in protest (yet). The GOP will be, as Krugman quite rightly points out, devastating for the US economy, and I am an economy voter: I've always been, and always will be, an economy voter, in no small part because I genuinely believe with the whole of my being that the economy lies at the root of every. single. issue. that's important to me as a progressive.
If there were well-funded women's health clinics with affordable contraception, including emergency contraception, in every town in the US, abortion would not be the compelling issue that it is. If poor white conservative evangelicals weren't struggling to survive, same-sex marriage would not be the compelling issue that it is—and race- and gender-baiting wouldn't be the effective political strategies that they are.
Most people are most inclined to be generous when they feel like they have what they need. Contentment and personal security allows people to open their wallets, but it also allows them to open their hearts and their minds. Conferring cultural privilege—whiteness, maleness, straightness, able-bodiedness, cisgenderness, etc.—is a way of mitigating the insecurity bred by classism. When a poor white straight man has nothing else but his sense of entitlement, he is reluctant to yield equality to others. That's why wealthy conservatives tend to be way more socially liberal in their personal lives than their politics would suggest; it's why, during the last presidential election, John McCain figureheaded a platform of intolerance, but had an openly gay chief of staff.
Clearly, a more equitable and supportive economy would not alone solve every social problem, but it would render many of them virtually impotent, stealing away the frustrations and furious feelings of injustice in which support for intolerance is bred.
That's why I'm an economy voter. Because I am a feminist. Because I am disabled. Because I am queerish. Because I am an ally to people of color. Because I am a progressive. Because I care passionately about social justice—which is tied in big and small and inextricable ways to economic justice.
So long as the vast majority of the wealth is concentrated among a very few people, so long as corporations are granted personhood and workers' rights given short shrift, so long as we don't have universal healthcare and the other fundamentals of a solid social safety net, our economy is not as strong as it could, or should, be.
And the GOP will happily undermine what security our already precarious economy grants us, because chaos and desperation serve their goals. Their corporate masters are never happier than when people will work longer hours for less money and fewer benefits because they're in desperate fear of losing their jobs, and the healthcare coverage attached to them. Their cultural masters are never happier when the oppressive futility of our corrupt political system boils in fearful people's guts and comes steaming out in hot blasts of hatred and intolerance.
All of this serves the conservative elite agenda to dismantle what domestic security our government provides.
So I'll be voting defensively. And I'll be pissed that it probably won't make any difference, because the Democrats have not done enough to give lots of voters something to vote for, and too many people across this nation will thus give their votes to the other guys, with foolish hopes of something better.
While casting my vote, I will nonetheless understand the decisions of progressives who have the opportunity to vote for a third party and take it, and of progressives who don't vote at all, who argue that things have to get much worse before they can get better. I'll understand that because it's not people privileged enough to insulate themselves from disaster who make this argument to me, but people already on the precipice, or people who have already been left with nothing more to lose.
And because I am less certain with every election that they're wrong.
[Commenting Guidelines: Before commenting, please familiarize yourself with Shakesville's policy about voting discussions, and be sure to utilize "I" language. By way of reminder, "I think you should vote this way" does not count.]
Radio Shakesville
Halloweentown
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Question of the Day
Who is the last person that inspired you to make a positive change in your life?
An Observation
When I defend a conservative woman like Christine O'Donnell from misogynist attacks, inevitably I am accused of failing to see anything but her womanhood.
But the problem is not that I fail to see anything other than her womanhood; it's that her attackers fail to see her humanity.
Because she's just a woman.
That's a fun little bit of projection, now, isn't it?
Holy Shit
[Trigger warning for slut-shaming, body-policing, ageism, misogyny.]
Somehow I doubt that Gawker's intent, when they decided to publish the anonymous recollections and cropped photos of some dude who claims to have had a sexless "one night stand" with Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell three years ago, was to make me feel profound sympathy for and a fierce protectiveness of someone whose politics and personal philosophies I find utterly loathsome, but, on the off-chance that was the intention: Mission Accomplished!
Publishing this despicable, woman-hating passage has to be one of the most horrendous personal smears I have ever seen in US politics, against any candidate:
[T]here were signs that she wasn't very experienced sexually. When her underwear came off, I immediately noticed that the waxing trend had completely passed her by.And Gawker is so proud of that passage, it's highlighted in a pull-quote. Because, of course, it's the worst thing you can say about a woman: Christine O'Donnell is unfuckable.
Obviously, that was a big turnoff, and I quickly lost interest. I said goodnight, rolled over, and went to sleep.
Who cares about her politics. Who cares about her competency. Who cares about her policy proficiency. Some random dude who doesn't even have the spine to share his Very Important Insights under his real goddamn name thinks Christine O'Donnell's snatch was too hairy.
I can think of few things that underline how profoundly misogynist a culture we live in than the decision to consider that worthy of publication.
What an absolute disgrace.
And what a very pointed message to send to women who might be considering a public career: Don't get too uppity. This, too, can be done to you.
This piece will almost certainly be defended on the basis that Christine O'Donnell holds policy positions that are not female-friendly. But that is not how feminism works. This piece is comprehensively unjustifiable.
Shame on you, Gawker. Shame on you.
Headline of the Day
"65% Favor Getting Rid of Entire Congress and Starting Over." Whoops, Congress, you suck!
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Quote of the Day
This inspires me to point something out to my more liberal readers. Remember that particularly clueless right-wing acquaintance of yours? The one who believes that anybody in America can become rich, because he thinks about poverty in a completely unscientific, anecdotal way, which allows him to treat the exceptional case as typical? The one who can't seem to understand the simplest structural arguments about the nature of social inequality?—Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth.
The next time you see some fat people and get disgusted by their failure to "take care of themselves," think about your clueless friend.
This is actually an old quote from a column Campos wrote back when he was writing for the Rocky Mountain News (and the column itself no longer appears to be online).
I just had occasion to dig out the quote for a friend, and I thought I'd post it, for those who'd never seen it. 'Cuz, no doy, it totes rulez.
I Write Letters
Dear Jon Stewart:
"The Rally to Restore Sanity" is disablist shit.
That the politics in this country have become extreme, absurd, and increasingly dangerous is not a result of mental illness; it's the result of ignorance and bigotry—and opportunistic fuckheads willing to exploit the same, without a modicum of regard for any consequences aside from their personal gain.
The "crazy" thing (see what I did there?) about your framing what is a legitimate threat to this democracy as "insanity" is that, because of the stigma against mental illness, the issue is being taken less seriously than it ought to be. These people aren't nutty outliers; they are knowingly and deliberately and rationally complicit in a campaign to undermine both the credibility of the democratic process and the efficacy of the US government.
It's a comprehensive strategy crafted by intelligent people who fervently believe in ideas like government should be small enough that "we can drown it in the bathtub." (And constantly vulnerable to that possibility.)
Because we live in a culture where people with mental illness are to be dismissed out of hand as the hopeless lunatics they are, your disablist frame is actively counterproductive.
"Crazy" turns this steaming mess into a joke—a joke that doesn't have to be taken seriously. And more deeply entrenches the marginalizing narratives that created that dismissability in the first place.
Snake. Tail. Yummy yummy. Fail.
Contemptuously,
Liss
OMGWTFLOL WHUT?!
The Hangover 2 cameo fuckery gets even fuckier:
Mike Tyson is one 'Hangover 2' cast member who wouldn't have had any problem acting alongside Mel Gibson, according to Page Six.LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Literally, all I can do is laugh uncontrollably at this point.
"I'm not going to ever in my life point my finger at anyone. I don't live in a glass house. None of us do. I work with anybody, as long as they're respectful," Tyson said, adding he would "100 percent" have worked with Gibson. The former heavyweight champion will fly to Thailand next month to reprise his role in the comedy sequel.
Number of the Day
Nine. The number of female Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks would be "enough." (Nice question, Diane Sawyer. Yeesh.)
[Full transcript below the fold.]
This has been your periodic reminder that Justice Ginsburg totes rules.
[Via egalia.]
Transcript:
[Text onscreen: "The Women's Conference / October 26, 2010. / abc.com" Cut to video: Three women are sitting on a stage in front of a banner reading "The Women's Conference 2010," and below a graphic reading "Legendary Architects of Change." The women are, from left to right, ABC News' Diane Sawyer, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.]
Ginsburg: It's the first time the public can see we are really there—really there to stay. Not one at a time curiosities. [applause] You know, one important sign is, in the years that I served with Sandra, every term, without fail, one lawyer or another called me Justice O'Connor [O'Connor nods her head in agreement] because they were accustomed to a woman, and that woman was Sandra—and you can see we really don't look alike, do we? [Laughter; O'Connor laughs and shakes her head and makes a funny gesture] Well, last year, not one person called Sonia Sotomayor Justice Ginsburg, and this year, I am confident, that no one will call Justice Kagan either Justice Sotomayor or Justice Ginsburg. [applause]
Sawyer: Landmarks along the way, yeah. So, have you thought—how many women is enough?
[pause]
O'Connor: What? [laughter]
Ginsberg: How many women—?
Sawyer: How many women would be enough?
Ginsberg: Nine.
[laughter and cheers and applause]
O'Connor: We're not there yet. [Sawyer laughs]
Ginsburg: Well, there've been nine men there for a long, long time, right? So why not nine women?
[cheers and applause]
Top Chef: Just Desserts Open Thread
[Image from last night's episode: Chefjudicator Johnny Elvisface declares Team Diva a bunch of (sore) winners.]
Last night's episode will be whipped and folded, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, pack your cream filling and go...
Discussion Thread: When Fat-Shame Stopped Me
[Trigger warning for fat-shaming and discussions of body image and body policing.]
Following up on yesterday's discussion threads about being fat-shamed and engaging in fat-shaming, this is a thread in which to share stories about when the fear of being publicly fat-shamed stopped you from doing something you wanted to do.
Have you ever avoided going out to dinner with friends because you were worried about someone commenting on your eating in public? Have you ever avoided going to a particular club because you were worried about someone commenting negatively on your body size? Have you ever not taken a trip because you didn't want to deal with the possibility of being asked to buy a second seat on a flight? Have you ever not gone swimming because you didn't want to be seen in a swimsuit? Have you ever declined a formal occasion because it would have necessitated a shopping trip that was likely to elicit fat-shaming?
This isn't a thread about failure or weakness. This is a thread in which we bravely speak about the effects that the ubiquity of fat-shaming, and the strong possibility that we will be publicly fat-shamed, has on the decisions and lives of fat people (and/or thin and inbetweenie people who have also come to expect fat-shaming in certain situations). We are not admitting defeats; we are testifying.
The companion thread with a discussion of the times fat-shame didn't stop us is here.
[Commenting Guidelines: Engaging in fat-shaming and fat hatred here is off-limits, as it is in any other thread, and will be removed and its purveyors banned. This thread is for people who want to be engaged with ending fat-shaming, not for people interested in perpetrating it.]
Discussion Thread: When Fat-Shame Didn't Stop Me
[Trigger warning for fat-shaming and discussions of body image and body policing.]
Following up on yesterday's discussion threads about being fat-shamed and engaging in fat-shaming, this is a thread in which to share stories about when you had to overcome the internalized narratives of fat hatred in order to do something you wanted to do.
Have you ever stood in front of a mirror wearing something you've never worn before, like a sleeveless dress, and made a conscious decision to feel good about yourself and go out and have fun? Have you ever hesitated before sending a reply to a personals ad, deciding if zie doesn't like fat people, well, that's hir problem? Have you ever posted a picture of yourself online, even though you know it might elicit negative comments? Have you ever fought through panic just to walk out the front door?
This is a thread about what it takes to Live While Fat, whether it's a small thing or a big thing. It's about the times we recognize the possibility of being fat-shamed, and maybe even expect it, but go ahead and do what we want, anyway—even if, and especially if, on some other day, we might not have had the emotional reserves and steely psychological armor to do the same.
The companion thread with a discussion of the times fat-shame did stop us is here.
[Commenting Guidelines: Engaging in fat-shaming and fat hatred here is off-limits, as it is in any other thread, and will be removed and its purveyors banned. This thread is for people who want to be engaged with ending fat-shaming, not for people interested in perpetrating it.]
