[Content note: Racism, homophobia]
Thursday:
A winter storm covering 20 states could dump 18 inches of snow in some places and bring parts of the nation's midsection to a standstill.
Flaws have been found in the work of Dr. Fredric Wertham. Whoops!
Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories line of children's books, has a problem with libraries. Boo!
A Turkish court has ruled gay sex is natural. Yay! My weekend is validated!
Chinese cyberspies have hacked most Washington institutions. Oh dear.
A colossal sunspot on the surface of the sun is large enough to swallow six Earths whole, and could trigger solar flares this week. Neat!
An Italian newspaper is blaming the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on the gay influence within the Vatican. Who knew we were so powerful?
Meanwhile, in post-racial America...
In The News
Guns Are the New Wedge Issue
At least, the NRA is trying to make sure that they are: NRA ramps up campaign against proposed gun control measures.
As Vice President Joe Biden heads to Connecticut on Thursday in a bid to generate support for sweeping gun control proposals, the National Rifle Association is trying to flex its political muscle by ramping up its campaign to oppose those initiatives.I don't even know what to say that I haven't already said a thousand times.
On Thursday, readers in local newspapers in five key states - Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina and West Virginia - will see an NRA ad headlined in bold (pdf): "Will Obama's gun control proposals work? His own experts say 'No,'" the group told CNN.
Those states are home to several Democratic incumbent senators who are expected to face tough re-election fights. They include Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
The ad campaign is also focused on West Virginia because Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is retiring and Maine, where moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins is also up for re-election next year.
The NRA is spending about $350,000 on this campaign, a source familiar with it told CNN, which includes not only the local newspaper ads, but regional ads as well as online commercials.
...The NRA has seen its membership rise to record levels as the gun control debate has raged since the Newtown school massacre in December. Group officials man booths at gun shows to not only build membership but to urge attendees to lobby against the proposals.
Besides new print ads, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN the organization is tripling the buy of a web video run on various news sites. Last week CNN was the first to report the group bought $100,000 worth of ad time to air the video on various news web sites in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, South Dakota, and the District of Columbia, Arulanandam said. Each of the five states has a Democratic senator seeking re-election in 2014.
...To help get its message out the NRA is also airing online ads in 15 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia) - many of which will see competitive Senate races next year.
Here's an Idea
One thing on which the Democrats and Republicans can (marginally) agree is that it's A Good Time to talk about immigration reform. (Their proposed policies differ, but at least they can agree we need to talk about it!) I have an idea: Let's make part of that conversation about exactly what role undocumented workers play in the United States, particularly in our economy and food supply, because whoooooooooops "more than half of US citizens believe that most or all of the country's 11 million [undocumented] immigrants should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday."
Which says to me, among other things, that more than half of US citizens have no fucking idea the integral role that most of the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants actually play in US society.
Understandable, I suppose, given the alarmist rhetoric about how "illegals" (nope) come to the States to steal jobs (nope) and commit crimes (nope) and are fundamentally different somehow from Real Americans (really, really nope).
This is another toxic example of projection: Undocumented workers in the US are exploited, often treated poorly, cruelly, and illegally. They are paid far below a living wage in the US, and on the backs of that exploitation, we keep the prices of raspberries low. For example.
And in exchange, half the country wants to deport undocumented workers, instead of giving amnesty (to those who want it) and a living wage (to all).
Guess what? Either way, the price of raspberries will go up.
[Related Reading: "What Makes an American?"]
Headlines of the Day
Bloomberg: Obama Rated at 3-Year High in Poll, Republicans at Bottom.
USA Today: On Issues, Public Is More Aligned with Obama Than GOP.
There are so many issues feeding into this dysfunctional dynamic: Gerrymandering, campaign financing, media deregulation and consolidation, voter suppression, wedge issue politicking, systemic oppressions, Christian Supremacy and conservative Christians' reflexive extension of support to "Moral Values" candidates, etc. That is hardly a comprehensive list. The US' representative democracy is very broken.
But even within that broken system, nothing but avarice and malice is stopping the Republican Party from behaving as obstructionists to an agenda the duly-elected President is proposing and the majority of the public wants to see happen. It certainly isn't principle: Republican ideas on everything—taxation, education, privatization, deregulation, you name it—have been comprehensively discredited. Their policies don't work for 99% of the country.
And they would only work a very short time for the other 1%, because all the money in the world can't protect you if you're driving over a garbage bridge that collapses because we haven't invested in infrastructure. For example.
I get it. The Republicans and their conservative base don't like neoliberal policies. Fine. But when you've got nothing to offer instead but the same old ideas that don't fucking work, it's time to get out of the way. Come back to the table when you've got a proposal, or anything really, other than NO.
Question of the Day
We've done this one before, but not for awhile: What is your favorite film score?
(Not soundtrack. If you need help defining the difference, go here.)
An Observation
I was watching The Big Lebowski again recently, which is one of my favorite films, and it made me think about how many of Jeff Bridges' films I have really loved, like in a very profound way.
When I was a kid, I watched Starman over and over and over, to the point I can recognize it by a single note of its score. Ditto Tron, which makes me nerd out big time. His voice will always invoke Prince Lir, because The Last Unicorn was another favorite of my childhood.
The Fisher King is the only film that I watched, walked out of, purchased a ticket for the next showing, and saw again immediately. The black leather jacket I wore in high school had the chalice that was the film's emblem painted on one shoulder.
And this Lebowski tableau is an actual thing in my actual office:
Those are just the highlights, but I've really enjoyed a lot of his films. I also love him in interviews: Most recently, I saw him leading a zen ohm on Jimmy Fallon's show, which was so great! He is so earnest. He also speaks very frankly about how nepotism worked in his favor in starting his career, and, probably because he has daughters and also because he is cool, he tends to use gender-neutral or -inclusive language in interviews. Enough that I've noticed it.
When people ask me who my favorite actor is, Jeff Bridges never comes first to mind. But maybe he should.
Film Corner!
[Content Note: Quoted gendered slurs; descriptions of tokenism and violence.]
Below, the trailer for The Internship, a zany romp from the comedy duo of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who have previously brought us such masterpieces as Wedding Crashers and Starsky & Hutch. (They also appeared in Zoolander together, but no one remembers that Vince Vaughn was in that. Not even Vince Vaughn. Don't worry—I asked him.) Anyway! The Internship is about "two salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age [who] find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment."
Perfect premise. Almost TOO perfect. I mean, this movie is for everyone: People who like Vince Vaughn, people who like Owen Wilson, people who like computers, the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads—they all adore it. They think it's a righteous concept.
It's destined to be the e-film of our iGeneration. To the trailer!
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are lords of sales! They wear fancy garbage suits and drive around in a slick convertible and listen to rap music while getting PUMPED UP to go sell watches to some dude who informs them that their company has been closed. Ha ha whoooooooops! Nobody told them their company has been closed! That is what they call COMEDY, friends.
"Nobody's Buying," reads text onscreen.
They confront their boss, John Goodman, who is obviously wearing a Hawaiian shirt because why wouldn't he be. "Everything's computerized now!" he tells them, which definitely explains everything. We've all heard the tragic stories about the watch salesmen whose lives have been upended by COMPUTERIZATION thirty years ago. You know what they should have called this movie? Death of a Salesman. That would have been such a cool title.
Owen Wilson counters by observing that "people have a deep mistrust of machines" and wants to know if John Goodman has seen Terminator, which is the point at which I begin to wonder just how much comedy gold can be packed into one movie.
"This Summer," reads text onscreen.
Cut to footage of Vince Vaughn's fingers literally typing G-O-O-G-L-E on a keyboard and staring at the Google webpage. LOL! Who directed this—Fellini?!
"I've got it!" Vince Vaughn tells Owen Wilson. "Google." He says the word like it is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. "You got us a job at Google?!" says Owen Wilson, in a suuuuuuuper Owen Wilsony way. Vince Vaughn tells him it's more like an interview for an internship that could lead to a job. Owen Wilson looks disappointed, but Vince Vaughn tells him straight-up: "This might be the last chance that we got."
Here I want to pause to note how really sort of vile I find a couple of multimillionaires, in the midst of a pervasive employment crisis, making a fun comedy movie about middle-aged men whose "last chance" is an unpaid internship. (See also: Larry Crowne.) OMG WE HAVE NO OPTIONS! HILARITY ENSUES!
I know, I know. I am the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington and I will show myself out!
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson do a joint interview (sure) via webcam to apply for the internship (yep), and they have no idea how COMPUTERIZATION works, so they squeeze in together and shout at the screen (naturally), to be sure the people interviewing them can see and hear them. HA HA THESE GUYS! Inexplicably, they get the not-a-job job.
Cut to the Google campus, where Aasif Mandvi (because Asian nerdz, amirite?) is leading an orientation session, and Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson don't know shit about shit. Don't worry, everyone—I'm sure the fact that Vince Vaughn doesn't know to not use a Sharpie on a wipe-board is really just a secret clue that he's got the sort of INSTINCTS and SAVVY that only being a douche who sells luxury watches can give a man, which are ultimately way more important than COMPUTERIZATION even at an outlet like Google.
Just you wait!
"They're Teaming Up," reads text onscreen, wayyyyyyy past when we even remembered they were doing the intersperse-text-with-footage thing.
A nerd holds out his fist to fist-bump Vince Vaughn and tells V-Square "Come on, bro, fist me! Get up in there!" Oh my aching sides.
"And Playing The Game," reads text onscreen, as "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses begins to play, because no doy it does.
Something something scene of a young intern observing how old Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are, while they are all wearing rainbow propeller caps with the Google logo. How much do you think Google paid to be in this movie? Good investment, Google! You wouldn't have wanted Bing to get in on this action!
"By Their Own Rules," reads text onscreen. They're mavericks, y'all! And I am falling asleep now. GET TO THE GODDAMN MONTAGERY ALREADY.
All the interns are competing in teams in some sort of Mr. Mom-style backyard Olympics. Vince Vaughn gives his team the worst inspirational speech ever, referencing the film Flashdance. I wish Jennifer Beals would dump so much water on my head right now.
Vince Vaughn gets people cheering. Owen Wilson hits on a girl. Aasif Mandvi asks the orientation room if having a beer with your boss is a good idea. Everyone answers no but our two heroes. Aasif Mandvi tells Vince Vaughn he "will not be grabbing a cold one with you," to which Vince Vaughn responds by asking, "Do you get high?"
The mean interns send Vince Vaughn on a hunt for Professor Charles Xavier. And because these two bozos were too busy selling watches and watching Terminator to be aware of any of the X-Men movies, they look for a professor at Stanford who resembles THE ACTION FIGURE sitting on a desk at Google and harass a bald white man in a wheelchair, who punches both of them. I AM SORRY BUT NO VINCE VAUGHN AND OWEN WILSON ARE BARELY OLDER THAN I AM AND THEY GODDAMN WELL KNOW WHAT AN ACTION FIGURE IS AND THAT THEY DON'T MAKE ACTION FIGURES OF STANFORD PROFESSORS.
The end.
Photo of the Day
From the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day for 20 February 2013: Pigeons sit on a wire in the Cabra area of Dublin. [Niall Carson/PA]
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by pupils.
Recommended Reading:
Tressie: Higher Education Ideology Wars: Who Is the "Slave"? [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism.]
Jess: Take Root 2013: Red State Perspectives on Reproductive Justice
Jorge: The 2013 State of Indian Nations Address [Video + transcript]
Trudy: So Lena Dunham Is Your Pathway to Feminism? Ha. [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism, misogyny, appropriation, and white privilege apologia.]
J.E.: Games Imitating Life: Rape Culture in MMORPGs [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of rape culture and harassment.]
HAES Experts: A Health at Every Size® Model for Our Children [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of fat bias, eating, and weighing.]
Flyover Feminism: Practical Feminism with Virginia Pickel
Momo: CAAMfest, Introduced [Of particular interest to Shakers in the Bay Area.]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Discussion Thread: (Anti-)Feminist Tropes
I don't know that I ever heard any tropes about feminism or feminists before I actually came into contact with the concept of feminism, but once I was introduced to it, and began identifying as a feminist, I sure started to hear them then! Most of them I found laughable, like the accusation of seeking dominion over men, or the "fact" that feminist women are humorless, or the nasty pronouncement (as it was intended, but not received) that I must be a lesbian to call myself a feminist.
Intellectually, I knew the whole "feminists are man-haters" chestnut was bullshit, too, but for Reasons, I found that one a little more difficult to not feel defensive about, particularly because, in my early feminist awakening, I was still busily playing the Exceptional Woman, so I felt obliged to reassure my male friends that I didn't hate men.
That's probably the closest I came to believing/internalizing a trope about feminism/feminists.
Many of my feminist friends, both women and men, did not, however, grow up in the absence of discussion of feminism, but in a space actively and explicitly hostile to feminism/feminists, and had to overcome a lot of internalized negative messaging on their way to identifying as feminists/feminist allies.
So, here's the topic for discussion: What, if any, classic stereotypes about feminism and/or feminists did you once believe? Do you remember the moment(s) in which those stereotypes were forever broken?
The Thing About Abusive Relationships
[Content Note; physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence]
The thing about abusive relationships is this:
When they are good, they can feel very, very good. As if someone else loves you with their whole heart and mind, as if the two of you are an invincible team, as if the other person "gets" you like no one has ever, or will ever, "get" you. It can feel like destiny, like unabridged happiness in a storybook, like your entire existence is being validated by the happiness you bring someone else. This feeling has been described as a "honeymoon" phase, but that's misleading in one sense, because these times comes not only at the beginning of a relationship. They can be frequently repeated, and it's easy to feel as if they are the "true" relationship, the real norm. The bad stuff fades in the glow of the dizzyingly good times.
It can feel as if there are only two people in the world. And that is a wonderful thing.
And when things turn bad, they can turn very, very bad. All that closeness and intimacy can suddenly explode, as the person who knows you the absolute best turns that trust into an arsenal of weapons for shame, for manipulation, and for abuse. Whether physically or verbally, or both, the abuser uses all of that knowledge against you to trap you, to defeat you. Someone who knows you that well can convince you that you are crazy, you are wrong, and frankly there isn't even any point in talking to someone else about this, because the fault is yours. You may not even think to look for "help," because the problems are within you (you think). Only you can solve this, by being better, by trying harder.
It can feel as if there are only two people in the world. And that is a terrifying thing.
So please, world, spare me the certainty of outsiders about what Reeva Steenkamp's life looked like behind closed doors. Because the thing about abusive relationships is, they can be very, very hard to recognize, even from the inside, let alone the outside. If you don't understand that, then perhaps you don't understand domestic violence at all.
[See also: Liss' excellent commentary in this post.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Sleepy puppy.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Domestic violence.]
"I found her to be delightful, very friendly...and I found the two of them to be very happy in each other's company."—Ampie Louw, Oscar Pistorius' longtime coach, on the quality of the relationship between Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp, who was dating and was killed by Pistorius.
In the Guardian article whence came this quote, headlined "Pistorius family disappointed by 'sensationalist' media reports," Louw also says: "I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track."
Yikes.
One of the media habits I most despise is publishing comments about how "happy" couples seemed to be after incidents of partner abuse and/or murder. Presumably, Steenkamp was not happy in Pistorius' company when he was shooting her, and eliding her terror in order to talk about how happy they were together is not just seriously gross, but feeds all the abuse-abetting narratives centered around domestic violence that conspire to suggest if a person (especially a female person) ever seemed happy in a relationship, obviously the relationship couldn't have been that bad.
Here, it is clear that suggestion is implicitly being used to bolster the frame that the shooting was an accident. They were happy; he wouldn't have hurt her.
Relationships that feature abuse of any sort are complicated. It is a fundamental (and often deliberate) misunderstanding of domestic violence to argue that happiness and abuse cannot exist in the same space.
[H/T to Cat Neshine.]
In The News
[Content note: Homophobia, racism]
Wednesday:
Emad Burnat, Palestinian director of Academy Award nominated 5 Broken Cameras, was detained at LAX as he landed to attend the Oscars.
Meet the new boss: Cardinal Peter Turkson, one of the top contenders to take over for Pope Benedict XVI, has said gay people are to blame for child sex abuses.
Musician Kevin Ayers passed away this weekend.
A proposed bill in California would strip the Boy Scouts' tax exempt status for discriminating against members and leaders on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
Has Dark Matter finally been found?
D.C. Council introduces bill to allow transgender residents to obtain new birth certificates.
26 major corporations paid no corporate income tax for the last four years, despite making billions in profits.
We're doomed: Subatomic calculations relating to the Higgs boson particle indicate a finite lifespan for the universe.
Swell
Supreme Court to consider limits on individual political contributions:
The Supreme Court reentered the controversial field of campaign finance Tuesday, agreeing to consider a Republican challenge to decades-old limits on the total amount a person can contribute to candidates, political parties and political action committees.Well, this just sounds GREAT. Everything worked out perfectly with Citizens United. And if there's one thing I always say, it's LET'S GET MORE MONEY INTO POLITICS!
It is the court's first major campaign finance case since its 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed unlimited corporate and union spending in elections. By extension, the decision led to the creation of super PACs, whose multimillion-dollar donations transformed funding of the 2012 presidential contest.
The new case, which will be heard in the court's term that begins in October, concerns the federal limit on the amount an individual can contribute to certain campaigns during each election cycle.
For 2013-14, that would be $123,200 — a maximum of $48,600 to federal candidates and $74,600 to political parties and some political action committees.
Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama conservative activist and businessman, brought the lawsuit along with the Republican National Committee because he is seeking to contribute more than those amounts.
...Those who favor limits on campaign contributions were alarmed by the Supreme Court's decision to review the ruling.
"It has become readily apparent that there are a number of justices who are willing to usurp Congress's role as legislator when it comes to matter of campaign finance," said Tara Malloy, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center.
[Full disclosure: I never say that.]
Number of the Day
59%: The percentage of the US public who oppose Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which "prohibits the federal government from offering benefits to legally married same-sex couples."
The poll, commissioned by the Center for American Progress and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, asked registered voters this question amid other inquiries regarding their beliefs on DOMA. The poll was conducted by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research and Voter Consumer Research.I try to resist saying that marriage equality is inevitable, because that tends to suggest that marriage equality will happen by MAGIC! rather than as the result of decades of hard work by advocates for marriage equality. But, acknowledging that work and recognizing it will continue, seriously, marriage equality in the US is inevitable.
Additionally, the poll asked respondents in a more abstract way whether they believe it's discriminatory for the federal government to deny benefits to married same-sex couples. Sixty-two percent of registered voters said they believe withholding such benefits is discrimination.
...The poll also breaks down views on the denial of certain rights and benefits. More than a majority support awarding each of these rights and benefits to married same-sex couples.
The right that the greater number of respondents said same-sex couples should enjoy is hospital visitation. A full 78 percent said the federal government shouldn't deny married gay people from seeing their spouse in the hospital. However, DOMA doesn't prohibit that right and President Obama has issued a memorandum requiring hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid to grant such visitation rights.
But the benefit that the smallest proportion of respondents supported for same-sex couples was Social Security benefits in case of the death of the spouse. Even so, 66 percent said the federal government shouldn't deny these benefits. DOMA prohibits this benefit from flowing to same-sex couples.
...On the same day the DOMA poll was made public, the Respect for Marriage Coalition — a partnership of LGBT groups and others working to advance marriage equality — issued another poll finding promising results for marriage equality.
Three-quarters of respondents to this poll, or 75 percent, believe same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, which is up from 71 percent in 2011. Additionally, 77 percent said they believe same-sex marriage will be legal nationally "in the next couple of years" regardless of their personal views on the issue.
Go home, opponents. Burn your Orwellian anti-gay literature that talks about "family values" in a big fire and use your hate money to buy some hotdogs. Appreciate your life and stop trying to make everyone else's life look like yours. Take a nap. You're done here.
Cool Party You've Got There, Republicans
[Content Note: Sexism; violence.]
The Republican talking point about how OBVIOUSLY anyone would be for the title of the Violence Against Women Act is at least a year old now, a pathetic attempt to explain how they could be against the reauthorization of VAWA despite it's alluring title, in order to segue into their objections to certain provisions of the bill, e.g. extending protections to people other than white cis female citizens in different-sex relationships and allocating funds for sexual violence.
That's the GOP attempt to sound reasonable: Sure, we're ostensibly for protecting women of whom we approve, but come on, you can't expect us to fund the safety of any old person who's been victimized by violence SHEESH.
Anyway. Republican Representative from Tennessee John Duncan Jr. tried to thread this garbage needle in a statement reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and, well, wow:
"Every bill is given a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," Duncan said outside the House chamber. "But if you voted [based] on the title, you'd vote for every bill up here. If we'd all done that, the country would have crashed a long time ago.I am married to a man who is a survivor of childhood violence. I'm not sure I can fully convey the depth of my contempt for this Boys Don't Cry bullshit that serves as secondary trauma in the lives of so many male survivors of abuse.
"So this is another bill with a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," he added.
Passed in 1994 and renewed twice without controversy, the Violence Against Women Act reauthorizes funding for pro bono legal assistance and training programs to help victims of violent sex crimes, stalking and other forms of dating and domestic abuse. Despite the bill's title, the benefits apply to female and male victims.
"Like most men, I'm more opposed to violence against women than even violence against men," Duncan said. "Because most men can handle it a little better than a lot of women can."
I am also a survivor of violence. I'm not sure I can fully convey the depth of my contempt for this Women Are Weak bullshit that serves as secondary trauma in the lives of so many female survivors of abuse.
And that is all I am going to say about that.
