This week's open threads have been brought to you by bread.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
(See what I did there?)
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Fat hatred.]
"I can only repeat what I have said before—that I do not have, nor have I ever had, anything personal against people who suffer from obesity. What I object to is the disgusting attempt to pretend obesity is funny. It is not remotely humorous, and every obese comedian who ever made jokes about the disease are now dead from strokes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. As a critic whose opinions are constitutionally protected by law, I stand by all of my original remarks about Melissa McCarthy's obesity, which I consider about as amusing as cancer, and apologize for nothing."—Rex Reed, brave free speech hero, refusing to apologize for a review of Identity Thief in which he referred to its star Melissa McCarthy as "tractor-sized, a "female hippo," and a "screeching, humongous creep."
This entire week can kiss my big fat ass. And so can Rex Reed.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by tomatillos.
Recommended Reading:
Jessica Luther is covering the goings-on in Texas regarding the omnibus anti-choice bill at her blog and on Twitter. UPDATE: Also see: Dan Solomon.
BYP: Lawyer for Trayvon Martin's Family Speaks Out on Jury Selection and Equal Justice
Michelle: On the AMA Declaring Obesity a Disease [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of fat hatred; disablism.]
Tami: A Rundown of What's Going on with Penny Arcade Now [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of transphobia; misogyny.]
Trudy: God Is Handing Out Coffee Money! Act Now! [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of religious supremacy.]
Andy: Legislation Proposed to Restore Honor to Veterans Discharged from Military for Being Gay
Jamilah: Here's 16-Year-Old LeBron James Talking About How Good He Is at Basketball
Leave all the great links to stuff you've been reading and/or writing about in comments!
In The News
[Content note: Police brutality, transphobia]
Friday Newsies:
Delaware Governor Jack Markell has signed into law a bill aimed at protecting his state's transgender residents by adding gender identity and expression to the state's anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws.
75,000 residents have been forced from their homes as Calgary floods.
In 2011, the multibillion-dollar nonprofit Goodwill Industries paid Pennsylvania workers with disabilities wages as low as 22, 38 and 41 cents an hour. Note: This is perfectly legal.
Oregon cops tasered a naked, autistic child found wandering along a highway. Obviously.
The largest full moon of 2013, a supermoon, will light up the night sky this weekend. Neat!
Watch the BBC's The Secret Life of the Cat.
Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley was spared a felony conviction over the killing of a 7-year-old girl after a jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared.
I Write Letters
[Content note for linked segment: Fat hatred, classism, disablism, racism]
Dear Daily Show staff involved with this segment on Paula Deen:
Fatness? Not the problem with Paula Deen.
Working class food? Also not Paula Deen's problem.
Butter? Hahahahahahaha NOPE.
Diabetes? Is certainly a problem for Paula Deen, but is definitely not the problem with Paula Deen.
Racism? AH YES! That is, in fact, the problem with Paula Deen.
Perhaps in future you'll bear that in mind. Deen's racist remarks are a serious issue, not an excuse to exercise your own biases. If you're fighting one prejudice by entrenching others, then you are doing it wrong.
No Love,
Me
P.S. Special to John Oliver: If you find you can easily crack jokes on a topic "all night," then you might double-check to make sure that isn't because they are cheap shots fueled by prejudice.
You can contact the Daily Show here. You can also Tweet @TheDailyShow. John Oliver, who is filling in during Jon Stewart's hiatus, can be Tweeted @iamjohnoliver.
H/t Liss w/special thanks to SKM and M.
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelly in the garden: "It's a day!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Content Note: Misogyny; reproductive policing; rape culture; classism.]
Actual Headline of WaPo columnist Kathleen Parker's latest: "On fertility, and the flauntingly fecund Sarah Palin."
Actual line from this column: "Lately, a strange shift has occurred among female politicians as they have resorted to flexing their womb-manhood. Rather than try to out-man the men, women have begun to celebrate—or exploit in some cases—their higher purpose."
Another actual line from this column: "Palin is nothing if not fertile. Or, perhaps more accurately, she is nothing if she isn't fertile."
And then there's this:
The most flauntingly fecund female politician in U.S. history, Palin made the most of men's imaginations as John McCain's running mate—even winning over the fantasies of the politically opposed. Most memorable of these was Christopher Hitchens, who, though no Palin fan, once confessed to me: "Even I have wondered what it would be like to change her expression."Lest you miss Hitchens' courtly, gentlemanly meaning, "change her expression" means "fuck her."
Hitchens knew how to be provocative and/or insulting while still seeming courtly, a gentleman's art nearly lost with his passing.
You know, it isn't even that I totally disagree with Parker that the increasing emphasis on female politicians' reproduction (or lack therof) is problematic. Where we differ is that I am eminently capable of discussing that idea without resorting to garbage misogynist tropes.
Parker talks about female politicians—including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a mother of five whom she accuses of hiding "behind the skirt of her own bassinet" to avoid questions about late-term abortion—"exploiting" their motherhood, as if the privileging of motherhood is new (nope) or exists in a void.
If there is a resurgence in female politicians who center motherhood as a key part of their bios, gee, maybe it's because we are in the middle of an enormous backlash against reproductive choice. Maybe it's because publicly policing female politicians' reproduction is all the fucking rage these days. It seems spectacularly unfair to criticize Palin for centering her role as mom, when she is part of a party that features as a centerpiece of its platform forcing unwilling women to be mothers, and when reprobates like Andrew Sullivan have been obsessively crawling up inside her uterus trying to find evidence that she's lying about to whom she's given birth.
If we have a problem with the disproportionate focus on female politicians' reproductive résumés, we need to make a serious examination of what cultural imperatives are driving that narrative. Both parties tend to reward national female politicians who are mothers. Voters do. We are in a moment of extreme backlash. It is not a coincidence that attorney and former First Lady Hillary Clinton is identified with businessy pantsuits, and attorney and current First Lady Michelle Obama is identified with homemakery modern A-line dresses with a retro feel. There are not-incidental race issues, especially about what kind of motherhood is culturally privileged, wrapped up in that meaningful difference, too.
I am barely scratching the surface. There are layers upon layers of social context in which female public figures—not merely politicians, but entertainers and athletes and so forth—are obliged and inclined to focus on their reproductive destinies. It's hardly as simple as "Sarah Palin exploits being a mom. What a jerk." And yet...
Actual conclusion of Parker's garbage column: "[Palin's] coquettish reminders that her field is still tillable diminishes her credibility as anything other than a one-liner comedienne. Perhaps Palin recognizes this herself and is auditioning for her own show. She may have a fertile future as an entertainer, though Honey Boo Boo will give her a run for her money."
Just a quick classist dig, right at the end, in case you'd forgotten that Palin was herself once a beauty queen who had the unmitigated temerity to be born outside of one of the two cities in the entire US that matter to people like Kathleen Parker.
* * *
I would direct you to the Washington Post's ombudsman, but, of course, they eliminated that position earlier this year. You can contact their part-time "Reader Representative" at readers-at-washpost-dot-com.[H/T to Shaker Richard Gadsden. Previous Kathleen Parker: The OFFS Awards; Bravo, WaPo; But What About the Men?! Not a comprehensive list of the coverage here of her special brand of garbage. Just a few fun examples.]
Shaker Garden Thread: Solstice Edition
Hey Garden Shakers! It's Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere (and Winter in the Southern), and that seemed like a good time to catch up on gardening. If you're celebrating a holiday now or around now (Litha? La Fête nationale du Québec? Midsommardagen?) I hope you have fun. Me, I'm mainly marking it by spending the weekend in the garden (what else?)
The word for this garden edition is RAIN. We've had tons of rain, so much that it's been kind of a mixed blessing. It's fantastic not to have to water, and I'm very grateful that our temperatures have been cooler than usual for June (which means the days are hot and humid, but not so much that you need a portable air conditioner and snorkel gear to walk down the street). Plus, it seems to really have encouraged our flowers, and my herbs look totally fantastic. On the other hand, our conventional zucchini (c. pepo) are rotting on the vine, and some of our our still-green tomatoes are getting blossom end rot, and our corn stalks have developed very shallow roots. The latter is especially problematic, since the storms bring high wind that's knocked over a lot of corn. Our sunflowers have made it, but most of them need some support. The ones in the cucumber patch I just let lean on the cages we're using for trellises.
Speaking of trellises, I'm using a lot of them this year. In part, this is due to an accidental surfeit of tomato plants. I had seeds started and starts ordered when a colleague gifted me with a nice packet of heirloom seeds, including this mix of heirloom cherry tomatoes in a wide variety of colors (brown! green! Orange! white! pink bicolour!). So add in the bell pepper, eggplant, and ground cherry plants and our tomato bed is looking....full. In addition, I'm using them for some of our squash crops, our loofahs, and our cucumbers. The cucumbers really seem to like being trellised, and they develop nice and straight when they hang.
On Moral Mondays
by Shaker OtherBecky
[Content Note for all the typical hostilities intrinsic to the Republican platform.]
A May demonstration at the North Carolina General Assembly building in Raleigh
in support of 49 people arrested for peaceably protesting. [Photo via HuffPo.]
The genesis of Moral Mondays, the grassroots protests against the devastating actions of the legislature and governor of North Carolina, started in 2006 with the formation of a group called HKonJ, which stands for "Historic Thousands on Jones Street." (The North Carolina General Assembly is on Jones Street.) Every February, on the second Saturday of the month, thousands of people gather in downtown Raleigh and march to the General Assembly building.
For a full explanation of the need for Moral Mondays, placed in historical context, see this video of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, who makes the case with his signature wit and humor. (Sorry, no transcript available.) If you don't have 80 minutes, and don't mind the fact that I'm way less eloquent than Dr. Barber on his worst day, keep on reading.
HKonJ was born out of the leadership of Rev. Dr. Barber, who is the president of the North Carolina NAACP, and the observation that those individuals, factions, and parties that support policies that are harmful to one oppressed group usually support policies that harm other oppressed groups, too. The HKonJ coalition now includes 147 advocacy groups (a list can be found here), representing a wide range of interests, from immigrants' rights to LGBT equality to environmental advocacy.
The current state government hasn't been contenting itself with targeting just one group. Thanks to the latest
Because Math Is Hard
A six-person jury was picked yesterday to sit on George Zimmerman's trial. The jury is made up entirely of women, none of whom are black.
The prosecution has refused to comment on the glaring omission that there are no black people on the jury. The defense had this to say on the subject:
“People can look at it and have this response, that there’s no blacks on the jury, or no this or no that, or no men on the jury,” he said. “Tell me that we did something wrong in the process and I’ll agree with you.”Sure. That seems reasonable. You could look at a case that has been and continues to be tried in the press on racist narratives about a Scary Young Black Man who was once photographed wearing a hoodie and may have flipped someone off at one time in his life and note that not a single black person is going to be on the jury that decides whether his murder was legally murder or not. Or you could note that the jury appears to be made up entirely of lady-persons and how terrible that is. Both of these things seem pretty equally bad here.
It needs to be said that one marginalized group (such as, for example, white women) is not the same as another marginalized group (such as, for example, black men). They're not interchangeable, and white women are fully capable of being racist.
Possibly my favorite part of this story, though, is the statement in the Washington Post that:
The central Florida community of Sanford is in Seminole County, which is 78.5 percent white and 16.5 percent black, roughly mirroring the jury’s racial makeup.Roughly mirroring the jury's racial makeup. As long as 16% is the new zero. Or to quote Melissa in private conversation: Math is hard.
An Observation
It's interesting how many men will dismiss out of hand any number of women reporting some iteration of misogyny as our lived experience, because lived experience "proves nothing," but then will take as definitive proof one Exceptional Woman saying, "That's never happened to me."
Millions of women saying: "This is my experience, and it is misogyny" = Nope.
One Exceptional Woman saying: "Never happens to me" = SOLID GOLD.
Happy Birthday, Portly Dyke!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!
Let's crack open a little beeee-eeeer!!!
And eat a cheeseburger, toooooooooo!!!
Happy birthday, grrl! I love you!
Question of the Day
If you could bring one fictional character into reality, who would it be? And why?
Poppy, because I think we'd make great friends.
[Originally suggested by Shaker BlueJean.]
This is just a great letter to the editor in our local paper.
[Content Note: Christian supremacy; heterocentrism.]
Read it—maybe you'll LEARN SOMETHING:
God's laws were created to help us love GodMarriage is based on biological FACT. It's SCIENCE. Look it up. In THE BIBLE.
In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and the union as husband and wife, is ordained by God (Genesis 2:23-24). And as husband and wife, to be father and mother to any children they produce.
Marriage is based on the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and the reality that children need a mother and a father.
God's moral, civil and ceremonial laws were given to help people love God with all their hearts and minds, but were often misquoted and misapplied. Jesus said obedience must be from the heart (attitudes and intentions) rather than just technical observance. For instance, Jesus said no food can defile a person. Bad attitudes and actions are what is wrong.
Every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, Who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts.
- Margret Brenn, Chesterton
The cool thing about local letters to the editor is that they don't have to be about anything in the paper. Just, you know, whatever's on your mind, I guess.
Still
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
119 hits today from a site, which hasn't been updated in more than a year, detailing the Penny Arcade "dickwolves" debacle and subsequent fallout. Which was three years ago.
Just sooooo many people still interested, especially whenever some other criticism of PA or PAX is made. And, yes, I still get emails about it, too. All of which instruct me that I am wrongity-wrong-wrong. And those are the polite ones.
Again I will note the irony that "get over it" is the go-to mantra of rape apologists.
On Paula Deen
[Content Note: Racism; anti-Semitism; homophobia; violence.]
Reports surfaced a few days ago that TV cooking icon Paula Deen is facing a discrimination suit centered around "racially discriminatory attitudes" at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, a restaurant owned in part by Deen and her brother Earl "Bubba" Hiers. The transcript of a videotaped deposition Deen gave last month as part of the suit has now been made available online, and it is terrible.
I have not read the entire thing, but, of the bits I've read, two parts in particular struck me:
Lawyer: Have you ever used the N-word yourself?Two things that lots of white people do: 1. Use mistreatment (real or perceived) by a person of color as a justification to whip out racist epithets. 2. Use racial epithets in the privacy of their own homes, or in any other space they perceive will be "safe" to let fly the racial slurs.
Deen: Yes, of course.
Lawyer: Okay. In what context?
Deen: Well, it was probably when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.
Lawyer: Okay. And what did you say?
Deen: Well, I don't remember, but the gun was dancing all around my temple … I didn't — I didn't feel real favorable towards him.
Lawyer: Okay. Well, did you use the N-word to him as he pointed a gun in your head at your face?
Deen: Absolutely not.
Lawyer: Well, then, when did you use it?
Deen: Probably in telling my husband.
I shouldn't need to say this, but there is a problem if racist epithets come to your mind when you're angry. And that problem is that you have granted yourself permission to use those epithets. The idea that we only use epithets if we say them aloud, directed at someone to whom they apply, is bullshit. If you're using them to redirect your anger at another human being's individual behavior into an expression of hatred for their race, you're still using epithets.
In your head, under your breath, in the intimate space between you and your spouse—it doesn't matter. This shit is in your lexicon because you've allowed yourself to believe that these words, and the monolithizing thoughts of hatred they represent, are justified in certain circumstances.
If you don't allow yourself that permission, the word that comes to mind when anyone cuts you off in traffic, say, is "asshole." Or "jerk." Or "reckless nightmare whose license should be put in a cannon and shot into the sun!" Or whatever. Not a slur.
And, depending on our individual backgrounds, and how deeply we were immersed in bigoted language by virtue of our immediate environments, killing the reflexive call of bigoted language, even when we don't want it there, might require some effort. Socializing ourselves out of the shit with which we were indoctrinated is work. It doesn't happen by magic or mere will.
I was raised in a deeply racist culture that privileged my whiteness and offered me fewer positive images of people of color than stereotypical or straight-up negative ones. When I first took an implicit bias test centered around racial prejudice, it revealed there was shit lurking in me that needed to change. I made a conscious decision to resocialize myself, and I stepped outside the well-tread grooves of my socialization and resolved to remap my path so that I would encounter way more positive images of people of color than I would ensconced in my unexamined white privilege.
And that path of resistance never ends, because the white privilege-upholding culture in which I live never stops exhorting and enabling me to be fucking racist.
My implicit bias score has changed, but, more importantly, I have. I'm not sharing that to try to say I'm fixed (I'm not) or to pat myself on the back; to the contrary, it's fucking embarrassing I had to do that. I'm sharing it because it is important to address that practicing racism, actively or passively, is a decision that white people make. And so is not practicing racism.
But Deen will almost certainly be defended on the basis that it's somehow acceptable, or different, to engage in racism when you're angry or aggrieved. Because you don't really mean it. Because you can't help it. As if racism is not a choice.
Of course, that is not the only time Deen practiced or indulged racism:
