I have spent an extraordinary amount of time today on the phone with a city manager who thinks it's appropriate to talk to women like they are stupid and use the term "ma'am" with the same intonation that he would use "bitch" in another circumstance.
Well.
I have been underestimated by better men than you. Sir.
Your Milkshake Will So Be Drunken
Recreation Is Re-Creation
Echidne has some very smart thoughts about vacations here. Three-word summary: We needs 'em.
"Dangerous White Stereotypes"
This is a very good article about The Help which makes some excellent points (without explicitly making them) about black women not being a monolithic group, about the complicated experience of enjoying art that you also find to have problematic aspects, and about there not being such a thing as a "good person," full-stop, because we all have the capacity for the decency and the capacity for malice.
The overt content—that the stereotype of the White Racist Who Is a Terrible Person is dangerous, because the suggestion "that bad people were racist implies that good people were not"—is excellent, too. There are a whole lotta white people, among them people I know, who are watching that movie and coming away from it with a very satisfactory feeling of superiority to Those Racist White People.
I have written before about the rape culture being a continuum of behaviors that reflect a disregard for consent, and oppressions work the same way (see Part 3b): Oppressions do not exist as a hierarchy, where only the most egregious acts can be deemed oppressive, lest a word like racism lose all meaning. They exist on a continuum, at one end of which is genocide, and at the other end of which is, say, the use of "Whatta maroon!" because, hey, Bugs Bunny says it, without knowledge of its racial history.
White people like to absolve themselves by ranking racism, by noting that ignorantly using a slur out of context and murdering someone because of hir race are not equivalent things. Of course they're not—but they serve the same oppression.
That's what makes them both racism.
Stereotypes like the ones in The Help allow privileged white people to distance ourselves from racism, rather than encouraging us to connect the "little things" that perpetuate white privilege to the undeniable brutality of unchecked racism, and that is indeed a dangerous thing.
Anyway! Professor Turner worked a hell of a lot of good stuff for thought into that piece. You should definitely read it!
Et tu, deus?
[Trigger warning for fat hatred and eliminationism]
In case you missed it, a hurricane struck the Eastern U.S. this week (Canada, too, although barring some sort of constitutional amendment, they don't have presidential primaries coming up).
Michele Bachmann spent yesterday in Sarasota telling folks that Hurricane Irene was evidence that God is pissed. If you're going to send the message that tropical weather is a sign of the end times, what better place to do so then the subtropics?
As it turns out, the problem isn't that I'm queer. Rather, God is all pissy because I'm a public employee. I work for the government, which according to Bachmann is on a "morbid obesity diet":
I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.Me: Et tu, deus?
God: Adipiscing adipiscing in e!
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by solid vocals.
Recommended Reading:
Atrios: Results
Susie: [TW for self-harm] Moment of Truth: The Widow of an Army Ranger Confronts Donald Rumsfeld at a Book Signing and Is Escorted Out
Jamelle: Saint Martin: Why We Don't—and Can't—Celebrate the Real MLK
Fannie: The Importance of Choices
Penn: [TW for Homophobia] Rick Santorum Says Gays Are On "Jihad Against Rick Santorum"
Pam: HRC's Official Press Release on Joe Solmonese's Departure
Veronica: Call for Papers: Disabled Mothers
The Atlantic has a compelling collection of images of Hurricane Irene and its aftereffects.
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Adele at the VMAs
I don't give a flying flunderton about the MTV Video Music Awards anymore, but OMG here is Adele performing "Someone Like You" at the VMAs last night:
I mean, come on.
And here's a picture of Adele arriving at the show, looking gorgeous and sassy as per usual.
I love her. That is all.
Interesting Theory of Democracy Ya Got There
We were not elected to represent you; we were elected to protect the federal budget from you. Or something:
Despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene this weekend, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) today stood by his call that no more money be allocated for disaster relief unless it is offset by spending cuts elsewhere. The Washington Post reported this morning that FEMA will need more money than it currently has to deal with the storm's aftermath, and is already diverting funds from other recent disasters to deal with the hurricane, but Cantor's comments suggest Republicans won't authorize more funds without a fight.So, let's see if I have this right: The banks are too big to fail, but the US middle and lower classes, and the infrastructure on which they depend, are not. Awesome.
Cantor took the position following the tornadoes that devastated Joplin, MO and elsewhere this summer, and after last week's earthquake, which was eipicented in his district, but the hurricane's level of destruction is far beyond that of those disasters. Still, Cantor told Fox News that while "we're going to find the money," "we're just going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to do so."
Quote of the Day
"We can't rule out the possibility that there will be some areas where it will be hard for residents to return to their homes for a long time. We are very sorry."—Yukio Edano, Chief Spokesperson for the Japanese Government, admitting at long last "that thousands of people with homes near the [Fukushima] nuclear plant may not be able to return for a generation or more," because the damage is much worse than initially thought/predicted/said, and possibly even worse than the Chernobyl meltdown.
Breaking Nooz
Currently on the front page of CNN (US edition):
It leads to this story, which is not so much an assessment of whether storms are actually "God's wrath," but an observation about how most USians no longer regard storms as "God's wrath," even though I don't believe it was ever true that "American society as a whole" agreed that natural disasters were "signs of some coming apocalypse or evidence of some past misdeeds."
In other nooz, 100% of Melissa L. McEwans agree that no naturally-occurring storm is strong enough to blow over a garbage straw-argument that disappears historically unpopular views of religion.
Hurricane Irene Open Thread
Here's what I've been reading this morning...
Guardian—Hurricane Irene claims lives and leaves trail of destruction:
New York breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after hurricane Irene passed over without major damage to the city, but the storm still caused deaths, serious floods and power blackouts affecting more than a million people as it swept up the north-eastern seaboard of the United States.CNN: Irene leaves damaging and deadly floods, rushing waters.
...The biggest impact was felt on Sunday night in upstate New York and New England where many communities suffered devastating floods after rivers burst their banks and Irene's torrential rains fell on ground already saturated by unusually high downpours earlier this month.
...President Barack Obama warned the storm and its aftermath were not over: "This is a storm that has claimed lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones," he said. "Many Americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding which could get worse in the coming days. I want people to understand that this is not over."
AP: Hurricane Irene leads to at least 25 deaths.
Reuters: Irene power outages swell to nearly 4.2 million.
CNN: Hurricane Irene damage could reach billions.
Despite the loss of life, and catastrophic damage the extent of which still remains to be seen, there was no shortage of assholes making jokes about how Irene "failed to deliver" and variations thereof. The grand prize of haughty fuckery goes to Howard Kurtz for declaring the storm "A Hurricane of Hype." See Brad Friedman for everything that needs to be said about that.
My heart goes out to everyone who lost people and/or property in the storm.
When he thought he might lose electricity, Deeky jokingly texted me, in reference to my constantly losing power, "not that I'll get any sympathy from you!" But, seriously, no one has more sympathy for what is erroneously called "an inconvenience" than I do because I constantly lose power. It's not merely an inconvenience (although it's that, too): It can be dangerous, since virtually all communications require electricity now; it can be costly, if your food spoils; it can be scary and frustrating, especially when you've got no idea when the power might come back.
I hope those without it get their power restored soon.
Sunay Shuffle
I also really love this version with Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, & U2.
How about you?
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by pixel villains.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Daily Dose of Cute
Dudley, aka Mr. Doodles
Matilda, aka Queen Cat of Fuck Mountain
Olivia, aka Fatsy Catsy
Sophie, aka Sophie-Sophs
Zelda, aka Zelly Belly
If It's Friday, It's Boba Fett!
A fun Friday afternoon waster of time here is. (Yoda.) The name of each person (or not, if they happen to be non-humanoid) below begins with a letter of the alphabet (Modern Latin). A, B, C and so forth all the way down through Z. (Or "zed" if you're British.) Can you name them all? You can! You're a nerd.
(Click to engage tractor beam.)
Damn. I choked. Fucking prequels. (And ewoks.) Who has seen the ewok movies? Anyone? I sure haven't. But it is my newest goal. See those ewok movies, Deeky! (Netflix?) Good luck, I hope everyone did better than me.
The answers are here.
Hurricane Update
New York City has ordered mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas.
At the same time, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered New York bridges closed to traffic and the New York State Thruway to be closed if sustained wind speeds exceed 60 mph.
Also: "The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority will begin a systemwide shutdown beginning at noon Saturday, the New York governor's office says."
So...that will make evacuations easy.
*squinch-eye*
I have A LOT of friends and family in NYC and surrounding areas, and more along the rest of the eastern seaboard. I know there are a ton of Shakers in the areas likely to be hit by the storm, too. I'm thinking about you and concerned for you.
I know that sounds insufficient. It feels insufficient, too.
