No Doubt: "Hella Good"
Whoa
[Trigger warning for sexual violence and rape apologia.]
Actual Headline in the New York Times: Is It Rape? It Depends on Who Is Asking.
No. No it doesn't.
[H/T to @GABblog.]
"An erosion of standards of living for an enormous portion of the population"
Bob Herbert hits another one outta the park:
I keep hearing from the data zealots that holiday sales were impressive and the outlook for the economy in 2011 is not bad.Read the whole thing here.
Maybe they've stumbled onto something in their windowless rooms. Maybe the economy really is gathering steam. But in the rough and tumble of the real world, where families have to feed themselves and pay their bills, there are an awful lot of Americans being left behind.
...There is a fundamental disconnect between economic indicators pointing in a positive direction and the experience of millions of American families fighting desperately to fend off destitution.
Herbert gets to a fundamental truth of the divide to which John Edwards referred as the Two Americas: It's not just that the Haves and the Have-Nots have different standards of living and qualities of life; it's that the difference is so vast it's like living in separate countries, complete with separate economies and separate cultural attitudes about the US' ability to provide sufficient opportunities to its people.
This chasm, of course, has always existed. There has always been an underclass of endemically impoverished people—blacks and ethnic/immigrant whites in urban areas, Latin@ migrant communities, many Native American reservations/pueblos, rural communities of whites and/or people of color across the country, etc. Young single mothers are more likely to live in poverty. People with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty. People who are trans are more likely to live in poverty. This is not a comprehensive list.
The middle class provided a buffer so that privileged people didn't have to think about the US' permanent underclass, and breathed life into the fantasy that all it takes is bootstaps to succeed in this nation. Now that it's eroding, that story's getting harder to tell with conviction.
And, the reality is, the middle class did provide a path out of poverty for marginalized people who had the right combination of opportunity, luck, talent, and the personal ability to exploit all of the above.
But there's increasingly no more Third America anymore. No safety net for people falling down; no higher rungs for people climbing up. It's just the Haves and the Have-Nots, and a bunch of people who are tourists in the middle, awaiting their fates in one destination or the other.
Chipping Away at Roe
It's really too bad that the Washington Post decided to run this important article about the erosion of Roe on the state level, with SCOTUS' help, during a week that's essentially one long newshole. But I guess all the good days were already taken up with whitewashing profiles of anti-choice terrorists. Ahem.
[Related Reading: The discussion following Point 3 here.]
Question of the Day
Do you speak more than one language? What languages do you speak? Are there any languages you'd like to learn?
English is my first language. I had five years of German, from eighth to twelfth grade, and I remember enough that I can have a totally awkward conversation with a native German-speaker who knows as much English as I know German, lol.
I also learned the alphabet and a few key signs in ASL when I was a kid; fingerspelling has come in very handy (pun unintended) on several occasions.
I had some Spanish in elementary school, and I can't speak a lick of it (aside from a handful of random words and phrases), but I can usually suss out what's being said if I'm listening/reading Spanish. I'd like to become fluent in Spanish, at some point.
Assvertising
I must have also seen this Tide commercial ten thousand times in the last week:
Video Description: A white middle-aged man oiling his gate spots a short white skirt hanging on the laundry line. He frowns, looks at his grimy hands, then grabs the skirt and uses it like a rag, then goes inside and throws it in the hamper. Cut to a white teenage girl digging through the hamper and finding the oil- and rust-stained skirt. She shows it to Mom, who throws a side-eye at Dad, now obliviously reading the paper. Mom throws the skirt in the washer, where Tide's "Acti-Lift Technology" removes the stains. Cut to daughter wearing clean white skirt; Dad looks horrified and Mom nods happily at evidence of her mad cleanin' skillz. Dad looked perplexed by the MAGIC OF LAUNDRY. Daughter ruffles his hair as she walks by and sails out the door in her short skirt. A female voiceover says, "Dad may try to ruin your style, bur dry stains won't."
The entire thing is set to Studio B's rape culture anthem "I See Girls," the lyrics for which can be found here.
I don't even know where to begin. Suffice it to say, if Tide thinks that 1950's gender roles, patriarchal body policing, and rape culture narratives are hilarious fodder for their advertising, then Tide must not want my business. Done and done.
Email Tide.
Assvertising
I must have seen this Vizio commercial ten thousand times in the last week:
Video Description: A young white man sits on a couch in front of a Vizio television in a research lab. Behind an observation window, a white man pushes a button and says, "Vizio true LED powering up." Beyoncé appears on the television screen; the young white man leans forward, staring intently at the screen. From behind the window, the other white man says, "Vizio internet apps on." Logos for Facebook, Netflix, etc. appear on the television screen. The researcher then says, "Activating comparability test," and Beyoncé comes walking down a staircase into the observed area, taking off a coat to reveal a short, sexy, silver dress, which she is also wearing onscreen in the video. She begins to dance, and the young white man glances over at her and smiles, then looks back at the television, where she is also dancing. The researcher says, "Increasing Beyoncé," and turns up a big dial labeled "B." The real Beyoncé begins to dance faster and harder, and sings, "Why don't you love me? Tell me, baby, why don't you love me?" The young white man glances between the real Beyoncé and the onscreen Beyoncé, but settles on the screen, staring dreamily at the Beyoncé onscreen. The real Beyoncé frowns and walks away disgustedly.
The gist is this: Young white man prefers onscreen image of sexy black woman dancing just for his pleasure to the real live flesh-and-blood black woman (who is literally controlled by another white man) also dancing just for his pleasure (but presumably with feelings and expectations and humanity that he would have to respect or whatever).
There are, perhaps, fully dozens of ways this advert is fucked up, and I shall leave it to you to dissect them all in comments.
Contact Vizio.
Daily Dose of Cute
One of our Christmas gifts from Mama Shakes was a portrait she did of Dudley, based on a picture I took of him—the second image posted here. In the above picture, Dudz hangs out on the couch at Parental Manor, where he hopped up behind his resting portrait after we'd opened it. (If I'd tried to stage something so perfect, I couldn't have!)
The picture is now hanging just above the stair on which he's sitting in the picture.
Sotomayor:Awesome::Water:Wet
I am passing on this article about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor leveraging her position on behalf of prisoners for two reasons: 1. Because she is awesome. 2. So we can all gaze contemptuously upon the continuing double standard that makes Antonin Scalia "aggressive" and Sotomayor "demanding."
If your reflexive reaction is to argue that "demanding" doesn't play into misogynist tropes, consider the difference in what "a demanding questioner" versus "a rigorous questioner" actually convey, especially regarding a woman.
Obama Is Gallup's Most Admired Man. Again.
For the third consecutive year, President Barack Obama is Gallup's Most Admired Man of the Year: "Obama first became Americans' Most Admired Man in 2008, shortly after his election as the nation's 44th president, and has held the title since then."
Clinton Is Gallup's Most Admired Woman. Again.
For the ninth consecutive year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is Gallup's Most Admired Woman of the Year: "Clinton has dominated the Most Admired Woman title for most of the past two decades, earning 15 No. 1 rankings since her first appearance on the list in 1992."
Let us recall with bitter irony that the most pervasive meme about Hillary Clinton during the 2008 election, even among liberals, was that she is unlikable.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Spudsy Brand Bowling Balls.
Recommended Reading:
Tami: Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa Cake and the Problem with Being Inclusive
For those who don't know much about Kwanzaa, but are interested in learning, I encourage you to visit Renee, who's got a good primer and links to further resources here. (Please note that is an encouragement toward listening and self-education, not a recommendation you go to Renee's space and demand that she personally educate you.)
Autumn: On Transgender Servicemembers and DADT; On Community Activism Ahead
Steve: DC Cardinal Says Catholic Church Won't Evaluate DADT
adurhamtamu: Do we need a body count to count?: Notes on the serial murders of Black women. [TW for violence, dehumanization, and racism]
Brad: New Science Committee Chair Ralph Hall Praises 'Tremendous' BP Spill
Echidne: On Ballerinas and Football Players
Fannie: Lady Director Thingy
rho: AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Feelings [TW for sexual assault]
Leave your links in comments...
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Teena Marie: "Lovergirl"
Teena Marie was found dead on Sunday at her California home. The singer and songwriter was found by her daughter after apparently dying in her sleep. She was 54.
OMGLOLWTF WHUT?!
Buried deep in a CNN article about the "new political reality" Obama and Congressional Democrats will face now that Republicans have recaptured the House majority (that new reality, I suppose, being that Obama will have to capitulate HARDER, or something), is this priceless tidbit:
Republicans have made clear that cutting spending is their top priority. Incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is promising weekly votes on spending cuts, and conservative Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma warned of a national catastrophe if the deficit doesn't get reduced.LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Yes, EVERYONE will be called on to sacrifice, and the wealthy will have to sacrifice to a greater extent, says the man who vociferously advocated extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest USians and who now wants to pay for them by slashing social programs that serve the poorest USians.
"There will not be one American that will not be called to sacrifice" under the needed spending cuts to deal with the deficit, Coburn said on "FOX News Sunday."
While acknowledging that "those that are more well-to-do will be called to sacrifice to a greater extent" -- a traditional Democratic stance -- Coburn said the increased spending of the past decade under both Obama and former President George W. Bush required immediate and significant cuts to show financial markets and investors here and abroad that the United States is serious about balancing its books.
That shit would be fucking hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.
Think Progress has video.
From the Frontlines of the Third War
So, as I've mentioned previously, we're fighting a not-war in Pakistan as an outgrowth of the war-war we're fighting in Afghanistan. And I'm increasingly reading news, care of the ubiquitous Anonymous Officials Who Are Not Authorized to Speak to the Media, about all the people we're killing in our not-war in Pakistan via remotely-controlled drone strikes. Like this one, for instance:
Two suspected U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region killed 18 alleged militants Monday, intelligence officials told CNN.Of course not. That might entail having to comment on the fact that we're AT WAR IN A THIRD COUNTRY.
It was the latest in a series of aerial assaults targeting insurgents in North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
In one attack, a suspected drone fired four missiles on a militants' vehicle in the Mir Ali area of the district, two intelligence officials said. Six people died in the attack.
In the second attack, a suspected drone fired two missiles at a militant hideout in the same district, killing 12, officials said.
Based on a count by the CNN Islamabad bureau, Monday's suspected drone strikes bring the number to 108 this year, compared with 52 in all of 2009.
The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The United States does not comment on suspected drone strikes.
I know it's not supposed "to count" or whatever, because, hey, it's on the Afghanistan border and shit! And I know killing unnamed people via remotely controlled weaponry is supposed to be clinical enough that I'm not supposed to care, especially when I'm assured—ASSURED!—that the dead people were totes terrorists. And I know I'm supposed to just sit back and relax, since we're OBVIOUSLY the good military-industrial complex in the Michael Bay film of life.
But, for some strange reason, I'm still itchy about this whole thing.
Film Corner
1. No, I still do not want to see Little Fockers, no matter how many times I must see that goddamn trailer, no matter how many ads are served while I'm playing Angry Birds, no matter how many talkshows Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman do, no matter how many posters, billboards, flyers, and other marketing detritus I see, no matter how ridiculously cute Ann Meara and Jerry Stiller are on Jimmy Fallon, no matter WHAT.
2. Tron rules. "It's bio-digital jazz, man!" is the greatest movie quote of this year, and possibly any other.
