This blogaround brought to you by black ink.
Recommended Reading:
stavvers: On the UK Elections: Now Is the Time for Solidarity
Teddy: [Content Note: War on agency] Alabama Legislators Move Closer to Further Restricting Abortion Access
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred; body policing] The Problem with Calling People Overweight
thekooriwoman: [CN: Racism; violence] Aboriginal War Memorial
Leigh: [CN: Misogynoir; murder; sexual assault; whorephobia] Tales of the Grim Sleeper and The Central Park Five Show Whose Lives Matter
Anna: [CN: Racism; violence] Unburied But Forgotten: Asian Bodies in Agent Carter
Diamond: [CN: Police brutality; racism] This Update to Nina Simone's 'Baltimore' Is Chilling
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
The Friday Blogaround
I Love This
Four couples who had been best friends for 20 years decided they were going to trump living in the same town. No way were they going to let the business of life keep them from enjoying that special connection that they'd grown to love. So they decided to literally create their own "Bestie Row." They all were fans of the tiny house movement, and decided to build their own little compound based around that idea.Not something that everyone can afford, obviously, but a lot more affordable than many traditional home-owning options. Plus: BESTIE ROW! Love.
...At first they considered one large house. However, they realized that personal space is necessary for even the closest of friends.
Still, they wanted a space to commune together. So they built a 1,500 sq. ft. community building with a kitchen, dining area, and space for guests and activities.
Their individual homes [built with sustainability in mind] are 400 sq. ft. cabins, running around $40,000 each.
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie in the sunshine.
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: Class warfare.]
"America is the richest country on Earth because we've been able to put capital together, and we've been able to make our poor somewhat the envy of the world."—Republican Congressman from California Darrell Issa, who is the single richest man in Congress. "Issa's personal wealth is by far the greatest of any congress member. His net worth in 2013 was $448.4 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and stems from a car alarm business he built."
CNN Money Anchor Cristina Alesci: As one of the wealthiest members of Congress, do you feel personally responsible at all to address income inequality here in the US?I love the way he pivots from Alesci pointing out that comparing people in poverty in the US to people in poverty in other nations is bullshit (because the only relevant comparison is how people in poverty in the US are doing compared to wealthy people in the US) to defend the comparison by essentially saying that corporations make those comparisons in order to best decide which people are simultaneously the most profitable and exploitable, and then victim-blaming US workers by saying they have to be more competitive.
Representative Darrell Issa: Absolutely.
[Text Onscreen: "Darrell Issa on income inequality."]
Issa: America is the richest country on Earth because we've been able to put capital together, and we've been able to make our poor somewhat the envy of the world. Uh, if you go to India, or you go to any number of other third-world countries, you have two problems: You have greater inequality of income and wealth; you also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have-not to the have—the quality of public education, the availability of that access. So, you know, I think America is a good example. Can we do better? I think we can.
Alesci: Yeah, I don't think the comparison really is the one we want to make, right? We don't wanna compare ourselves to India; we wanna set the bar pretty high, right? We wanna set the bar—
Issa: Why shouldn't we? No, no, it's— I appreciate your, your comment, uh, but you're wrong. You do have to compare yourself with the rest of the world. We compete with the rest of the world. If we're going to have people, uh, produce automobiles, they have to compete with the rest of the world. Uh, can we be better, smarter, and produce cars in, in Georgia, uh, that compete with Japan? Yes. Uh, can we produce certain things, uh, in spite of our high cost of labor? Absolutely. But we're in a global economy, and it's extremely important that we be able to amass capital, have a trained workforce, and, quite frankly, if we wanna get paid more, we have to be able to produce somehow better than many of those countries, including India.
The richest man in Congress, everyone. The Republican Party, friends.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
The Trammps: "Disco Inferno"
This week's TMNS has been brought to you by DISCO
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Worker exploitation; class warfare] Sigh. President Obama "will seek to rally Democratic support for free trade on Friday with a visit to Nike headquarters designed to allay fears of further offshoring of US jobs. Amid fierce opposition from the president's own party in Congress, White House officials are aiming to flip perceptions by staging the speech at a shoe giant notorious for its use of low-cost Asian labour but which claims the proposed transpacific partnership (TPP) trade agreement will allow it to create 10,000 new US jobs." Repeat ad infinitum: Good for corporations; bad for workers.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Today, the US Justice Department has announced "a federal civil rights investigation into the legality of the Baltimore police department's use of force and whether there are patterns of discriminatory policing. The investigation is being launched at the request of Baltimore's mayor in response to the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man injured in police custody, and the outrage it sparked in Maryland's largest city." I don't honestly know how effective these federal investigations are. I mean, they seem to be effective in identifying discrimination, but I'm not sure they're very effective in yielding lasting, meaningful change. Which is because the system is just so profoundly broken that way more than incremental change is required.
[CN: Homophobia] Goddammit: "A 'religious freedom' bill opposed by both gay rights supporters and Democratic-Farm-Labor Party members has been introduced in the Minnesota State Senate... [The bill] would provide a 'sincerely held religious belief' carve-out in the state's law prohibiting discrimination against sexual orientation, meaning religious organizations and small businesses involved in the wedding industry would be free to refuse service to same-sex couples." Jesus Jones. GROW UP.
[CN: Disablism; misogyny; racism; classism] This is a terrific profile of Helen Keller: "The Radical Dissent of Helen Keller."
[CN: War on agency] Pope Francis "will send 'missionaries of mercy' to absolve women of abortion 'sin': Last year, Francis told Catholic bishops in South Africa that 'abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds.' He noted, however, that reconciliation 'must be rediscovered as a fundamental dimension of the life of grace.' [Rino Fisichella, an archbishop at the Vatican and president of the Pontifical Academy for Life], now the president of the council organizing Holy Year events, said the Pope's decision was intended 'as a concrete sign that a priest must be a man of mercy and close to all.'" Nothing says "merciful" like shaming women and girls for taking control of their own reproduction.
RIP Guy Carawan.
[CN: Environmental harm] Fucking hell: "Oil and Gas Wells Are Leaking Huge Amounts of Methane, and It's Costing Taxpayers Millions." Not to mention our health.
Neat! "Retailers Are Now Selling Frilly Bras and Panties Specifically for Men." Loooooove. (I'll note that although these are being identified as "for men," there are women's bodies for whom these cuts will work better, too.)
Wow: "Scientists have discovered a massive halo around our nearest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, a finding that could shed light on the structure of majestic spirals in the universe. Using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the dark, nearly invisible halo was calculated to be about six times larger and 1,000 times more massive than previously measured. The halo stretches about a million light-years from its host galaxy and halfway to our own Milky Way galaxy."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Paul Feig talks about his new movie Spy with Melissa McCarthy. "I just love spy movies, ever since I was a little kid I loved the Bond movies and the Ian Fleming books. I love thrillers. I love action and I love thrillers and I love the spy genre because it's figuring things out—it's not all brawn, it's brain too. And also I love the international settings of things, I obviously love men's style. I just love going into that world and always wanted to do one but obviously as a comedy filmmaker I knew nobody would ever let me direct a Bond movie, as much as I would love to. ...I had all these funny women I like to work with and so it was why don't I write my own version that's for a female spy. It was simple as that."
And finally! "A pet rat and a therapy dog have the cutest Instagram you've ever seen." Pretty much!
Primarily Speaking
![image of Jeb Bush making a silly face while hugging his brother George W. Bush, to which I've added text reading: 'He's not just my brother...he's my best friend [best friend is struck through] top advisor on Israel](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/shakespeares_sister/apix/jebisrael.jpg)
I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it! I love I love I love the primaries and I just can't hide it! Are you as excited as I am! I BET YOU ARE! If you are so excited about all the cool people running for president, please check this box: □
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush continues to convince me that he is an awesome candidate "by naming his brother, former president George W. Bush, as his most influential counselor on U.S.-Israel policy. 'If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it's him,' Bush said Tuesday, speaking to a crowd of high-powered investors at the Metropolitan Club, according to four people present." GOOD CALL, JEB BUSH! If there is one thing I always say about US politics, it's MORE GEORGE W. BUSH FOREIGN POLICY IDEAS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
This is what happens when people who hate government run for head of government: "Disparaging Congress is nothing new in today's Republican Party, which has thrived on a hearty strain of antigovernment, anti-establishment intensity. ...Some of the most unforgiving criticism actually comes from [the Republican senators running for president], who are just as eager to dissociate themselves from their line of work as their opponents are to remind voters of it. 'Washington is broken. Trust me, I've seen it firsthand,' Senator Ted Cruz of Texas often says, whether on the Senate floor or at rallies in Iowa and New Hampshire. ...Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky prefers 'horribly broken.' But he does not stop there. His campaign slogan for president is 'Defeat the Washington Machine.'" They sound terrific!
Speaking of Republican Senators who hate Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham is telling donors, i.e. the most important Republican constituency, that he'll probably announce his candidacy on June 1. I CAN'T WAAAAAAAAIT!
In super bad news for Professor of Bible Bigotry Mike Huckabee, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC survey has found "that more Americans would be comfortable with a gay or lesbian president (about 61 percent of respondents) than they would with an evangelical Christian president (only 52 percent)." NOT READY FOR HUCKABEE.
Hahahahahaha: "It has been only three weeks since Hillary Rodham Clinton declared her candidacy for the White House, but she already looks more confident than she did during the almost 17 months of her last campaign. ...Now, she is projecting a scandals-be-damned attitude and barreling ahead with her agenda." Stay tuned for next week's narrative, when Hillary Clinton will be a monster who is paralyzed by scandal and doesn't even have a coherent agenda!
Senator Bernie Sanders is basically the opposite of liberal on gun control. Yuck!
In other news: A bunch of other Republican bozos are still running for president. Jesus, taxes, immigrants, Hillary Clinton is an old lady. Etc.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Dispatches from the Conservative Legislation Lab
As you may recall, Glenda Ritz is the Democratic (and democratically elected) Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Indiana, who the Republican state leadership are trying to get rid of, because she is trying to stop them from destroying the state's public education system.
Ritz is the first Democrat to serve as Superintendent in 40 years.
Republican Governor Mike Pence was elected during the same election. One of his first acts as governor was to remove Ritz from the union-centered Educational Employment Relations Board. And then the Republican-controlled House Education Committee proposed a bill to "strip the superintendent's position as chair of the State Board of Education. ...The bill would allow Republican Gov. Mike Pence's 10 appointees to the 11-member board to elect their own chair."
In other words, as soon as a Democrat was elected to an influential state position, the Republican governor and legislature set to rendering her office utterly without power.
And so they have:
Measures that shift authority over Indiana's standardized testing and other education policy matters from Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz have been signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.Two sides to every story! No way of telling who is right! Republicans say it's just to "clarify control of education policy," a "clarification" that somehow wasn't necessary until a Democrat was elected to the position. Democrats says that it's antidemocratic despotism in direct contravention of the will of the voters. WONDER WHO IS RIGHT OH WELL WE'LL NEVER KNOW IT'S A MYSTERY LOST TO THE SANDS OF TIME.
GOP lawmakers pushed through the changes during this year's legislative session but delayed until 2017 a change in state law allowing the board dominated by Pence appointees to replace Ritz as its leader.
The actions were included in the state budget plan and a separate bill that Pence signed Thursday.
The changes also take away two of Pence's 10 appointments to the board, giving one appointment each to the Indiana House and Senate leaders.
Republicans say the charges clarify control of education policy, while Democrats maintain it undermines the will of voters who elected Ritz in 2012.
Just to be clear: There are a lot of Republican Hoosiers who are deeply unhappy with this shit, too. A lot of them voted for Ritz.
Again, this is what we're up against in Indiana. It's an absolutely incredible and horrifying abuse of power, and a prime example of how Republicans rule the state government with zero regard for the will of the people they're meant to represent.
It's also a prime example of why Indiana progressives desperately need outside influence, resources, pressure, attention.
If only progressives across the country cared even 10% as much about the quality of democracy in Indiana as they did about the quality of our pizza.
UK Elections: Conservatives Win
British Prime Minister David Cameron has won a second term, and is bringing a Conservative majority with him: "This time Cameron looks set to be free from the constraints of coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems, Cameron's partners in office since 2010, were almost wiped out, and their leader, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, resigned on Friday morning. Cameron's victory in Thursday's general election obliterated opposition leader Ed Miliband's hopes of eking out a small win for Labour. Miliband also resigned in the wake of the defeat."
The result was a vindication of Cameron's much-criticized decision to run a largely negative campaign, stressing the risks to Britain's still-fragile economic recovery of a Labour government that would overspend and drive away investors through taxes aimed at the wealthy and their tax-avoiding practices.Welp. Voting for austerity and privatization and unfettered capitalism has worked out great in the US. I'm sure it'll work out great in Britain, too.
But the prime minister's victory was partly the product of a relentless Conservative campaign to highlight the dangers of a Labour minority government propped up by the left-leaning SNP in Scotland – and this polarizes Britain in an unprecedented way. Critics have protested that the outcome, a tactical success in England, could accelerate the breakup of the United Kingdom.
...The Scottish result may be the more significant overnight development. The SNP, which lost a referendum to end the 308-year union with England last September, won all but a handful of Scotland's 59 seats, dozens of them from Labour in a region that was once a stronghold for the party and opening the way to significant influence in Britain's 650-seat Westminster parliament as Cameron's Conservatives seek to govern with a slender majority.
My condolences to British progressives.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker plot_thickens: "When was the last time you said 'no' to someone to convenience yourself, and not them?"
What a great question!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Rape culture; heterocentrism.]
"Men used to marry to have sex and a family. They married for love, too, but they had to marry the girl before taking her to bed, or at least work really, really hard to wear her down. Those days are gone."—Anti-feminist bozo Suzanne Venker, arguing "in a recent column that feminism and contemporary sexual mores have eliminated men's incentives to marry."
Alas and alack, the good old days of men having to "work really, really hard to wear down" a woman to get her to sleep with him are no more. What a tragedy for us all that feminism has ruined all-American, old-fashioned sexual coercion and replaced it with the expectation of meaningful consent between equal partners.
Mike Huckabee's Serious Bible Solutions For Women
[CN: misogyny, Christian privilege, sexual coercion]
So apparently Mike Huckabee has an awesome guide to women's economic problems: the Book of Ruth.
Minister Jennifer Danielle Crumpton asked him a question during his recent appearance on The Kelly File, which inquired "which female character in the Bible best helps you to understand the struggles of women and why equal pay is so critical to the social and economic stability of families?" His response, in her words:
Huckabee, without hesitation, answered "Ruth," citing her loyalty to her deceased husband's family, her willingness to leave her "old God" behind and accept the family's "new God," and her decision to follow her mother-in-law.
The Rev. Crumpton has a nice commentary at her post about better messages one might glean [yeah yeah, pun intended] from the Book of Ruth. But I'm just wondering, what Serious Bible Solutions to equal pay does Mike Huckabee's answer even add up to?
I mean, her decision to follow her mother-in-law? Did I just hear Mike Huckabee approve of same-sex relationships as a solution to equal pay? He knows that Ruth's words to Naomi are used all the time at weddings, right? "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." It probably would help some women economically if they could marry the women they love, so, uh, thanks for the endorsement of equality, Mike!
Hahahahaha of course he wasn't endorsing marriage equality! He was endorsing drunken sex outside of marriage as the answer to women's woes! Because totally the best part of that book is where Naomi tells Ruth to get all SEXXXIFIED ("Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor"), then go down to the threshing floor where Boaz is partying, wait until he passes out,("Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn") and then hop in bed and uncover his feet... er, genitals. Gather round kids, this is the best Bible story evah! As a bonus, we'll also learn what "euphemism" means!
What on earth is Huckabee even talking about? Ruth leaving her old god for a new one--I get that he thinks non-Christians should convert before they deserve financial equality, but what about good Christian ladies? Do they get to pick new gods too? Or can we maybe get a goddess? About her loyalty to her deceased husband's family--does he mean that ladies need to marry their dead husband's family members? I mean, that sounds like a GRRREAT antipoverty program to me! What's your opinion on Genesis 38:15-19, Mike--do you think that getting ladies to have sex with their fathers-in-law while disguised as sex workers would be a serious remedy to child poverty? ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!
(As the Reverend Crumpton points out, there are actually messages in this story that highlight women's economic vulnerability and the need for egalitarian, non-patriarchal solutions. Trust Mike Huckabee to get none of that! Trust him to think that not only should individuals solve systemic problems, they should do so in as patriarchy-affirming a way as possible!)
What other Biblical women can Mike misconstrue in his quest to understand the need for equal pay? Vashti, queen of NOPE? Deborah, "you're really going to need help from a lady, dudes"? Judith? Maybe she can help Mike get AHEAD (groan) in the race. Have at it in comments, Shakers. What Biblical or other scriptural or historical ladies does Huckabee need to meet? How laughably terrible will his interpretation of their tales be?
Daily Dose of Cute
Olivia doesn't frequently offer her belly up for rubbing, but, on the rare occasions when she does, it isn't a cat-trap: She will lie beside me purring away for as long as I am willing to rub her belly and her armpits.
If, however, I just reached for her belly without her specifically lying beside me and rolling onto her back with a plaintive look, she would greet me with undiluted contempt. "What are you even doing? You know the belly is invite only!"
* * *
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
* * *
"Wonder Woman Flying Tee" by Torrid.
So, I love wearing t-shirts, and one of my favorite places to get tees is Torrid, because their t-shirts are good quality (in my experience) and they tend to have a pretty decent selection of tees I'd want to wear (alongside lots of tees that I wouldn't wear). The only thing is that $30 is more than I want to pay for a t-shirt, but, fortunately, Torrid has sales pretty regularly, so I was able to grab this one last week for 30% off.
There's not a lot of choice in cool plus size tees cut for women. I can find plenty of men's tees in my size, but they don't fit me right at all. So when I find a good tee in my size that is specifically cut to accommodate boobs, I hang onto it like it's the last nugget of gold in Ronpaultown.
Anyway! As always, all subjects related to fat fashion are on topic, but if you want a topic for discussion: Where are some of your favorite places to snag plus size women's tees?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Surveillance] A federal appeals court in New York has ruled "that the once-secret National Security Agency program that is systematically collecting Americans' phone records in bulk is illegal. ...In a 97-page ruling, a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a provision of the USA Patriot Act permitting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to collect business records deemed relevant to a counterterrorism investigation cannot be legitimately interpreted to permit the systematic bulk collection of domestic calling records." Welp.
[CN: Earthquake] Residents of Nepal's Langtang Valley are having to beg foreign people for whom rescue helicopters are being sent to allow injured locals to be evacuated before healthy foreigners are: "'Most helicopters were coming to pick up the foreigners, who were healthy, not our injured people,' said Lhakpa Jangba, a local baker who was interviewed at a monastery in Kathmandu after his evacuation from the valley last week. 'We said to the foreigners: You are healthy. Stay one or two more days and let our injured people go.'" There are separate camps for mountaineers and displaced locals, and, although there is definitely some cooperation, what's happening there is reflective of the disproportionate local and foreign resources.
In related news: "Four of the six dogs on the rescue crew [in Nepal] were rescues themselves, who were given second chances when they were taken from shelters and put into training at California's National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Five days after the earthquake hit, one of the dogs on the team was part of a search group that discovered a teenager who was trapped beneath the rubble of a fallen building."
[CN: Racism] Cops who aren't racist dirtbags discuss the problem of white people calling in "suspicious behavior" on people of color. This is a really important issue, because, of course, it's not always cops who understand the racist dynamic who show up. It isn't just racist cops about whom we have to worry and whose actions we need to address; it's also the paranoid, racist white people who call the cops.
[CN: Class warfare; food insecurity] Not only is Wisconsin Republicans' proposal to restrict how food stamps are spent cruel and patronizing; it would also be expensive as hell. Doing great as always, Republicans!
Speaking of which: "Republicans hadn't even finished patting themselves on the back for passing the first budget in six years—a resolution that would add nearly $40 billion to the Pentagon's war-fund request—when the Defense Department's top brass slammed their 'budget gimmick' as a 'road to nowhere.' Rather than addressing the looming budget caps that will snap back in January, the fiscal 2016 budget resolution the Senate passed Tuesday on a party-line vote uses the Pentagon's Overseas Contingency Operations fund—a war chest not subject to the caps—to simply go around them. The budget conference report sets about $523 billion for national defense, plus roughly $90 billion for OCO, for a total of $613 billion."
[CN: Exploitation; racism; misogyny; classism] "The Price of Nice Nails: Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse."
I don't even know: "Three people have been charged in California with impersonating law enforcement officers after claiming to operate a police department with jurisdiction in 33 states. They said they belonged to a group called the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, which they claimed dated back to the Knights Templar. ...Los Angeles County sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida told the Associated Press news agency that there were no indications that the group had carried out any law enforcement activities."
[CN: Sexual assault] Professor of Bible Bigotry Mike Huckabee compares a trade agreement supported by President Obama to US workers being raped: "When there's cronies involved and getting a special deal, and when other countries are cheating, and Americans lose jobs, I'd like to think the US government would stand up for the US workers rather than let them take it in the backside." This fucking guy.
Tom Brady's dad thinks he's innocent. Oh.
Wowowowow: "Watch an Enormous 'Plasma Snake' Erupt from the Sun: Over the course of April 28–29, a gigantic filament, briefly suspended above the 'surface' of the sun, broke off and created an enormous snakelike eruption of plasma that extended millions of miles out into space. The event was both powerful and beautiful, another demonstration of the incredible energy and activity of our home star…and it was all captured on camera by two of our finest Sun-watching spacecraft."
And finally! "From Life in a Cage to Life on the Road: My Adopted Dog's Adventures." Awwww.
Conceding the Narrative
[Content Note: Classism.]
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have co-authored an op-ed for the Washington Post on "How to Revive the American Dream," in which they lay out some very solid and necessary proposals for mitigating the increasingly cavernous class divide in the US.
However, here is one word that never appears a single time in the piece: Poverty. And here is how the piece ends:
Rebuilding our middle class won't be easy, but real change rarely is. It's time to be bold.I really hate everything about that. And the reason I hate it is because it concedes two grossly destructive conservative narratives.
The American Dream depends on it.
First: The American Dream is a garbage fantasy used to deny the existence of privilege and rooted deeply in the myth of bootstraps. Warren and de Blasio are right as rain that "it's time to be bold," and they should boldly throw the entire concept of the American Dream in a dumpster where it belongs.
Second: The disproportionate focus on the middle class implicitly, even if unintentionally, upholds conservative narratives about people in poverty being lazy moochers who just aren't working hard enough to "lift themselves" out of poverty. By constantly focusing on the middle class, rather than a truly bottom-up model of social and economic justice which centers people in poverty, politicians tacitly suggest that a permanent underclass is acceptable.
I'm sure there's some strategist somewhere being paid obscene amounts of money to tell Democrats that focusing on the middle class plays well in Peoria, and who would tell me for free that I just don't understand how politics works so STFU, but progressives can do better than this. And we must.
With Allies Like These
[Content Note: Misogyny; anti-feminism.]
Background: Joss Whedon, who is considered a feminist ally (ahem; cough) leaves Twitter, in the midst of a lot of feminist criticism of Age of Ultron. People speculate that he left, at least in part, because of that feminist criticism. Whedon offers a comment saying that was not the case, but also makes sure to note that feminists (who criticize him) are definitely the worst:
"That is horseshit," he told BuzzFeed News by phone on Tuesday. "Believe me, I have been attacked by militant feminists since I got on Twitter. That's something I'm used to. Every breed of feminism is attacking every other breed, and every subsection of liberalism is always busy attacking another subsection of liberalism, because god forbid they should all band together and actually fight for the cause."If that argument sounds familiar, perhaps that's because it's exactly the same "marginalized feminists who criticize privileged feminists are toxic" rhetoric that white feminists use against feminists of color all the time, and exactly the same "circular firing squad" rhetoric that progressive men use against feminists all the time, and exactly the same "criticism of privilege is divisive and marginalized people who won't shut up are the people who are preventing unity" rhetoric that we are obliged to deconstruct around here all the time.
..."I've said before, when you declare yourself politically, you destroy yourself artistically," he said. "Because suddenly that's the litmus test for everything you do — for example, in my case, feminism. If you don't live up to the litmus test of feminism in this one instance, then you're a misogynist. It circles directly back upon you."
Whedon says he has been "attacked by militant feminists," which is a very particular word choice that plays into a very particular stereotype which is used to demonize and delegitimize feminists. He hasn't been criticized; he's been attacked. Not just any old feminists, but by militant feminists.
They have to be militant feminists, you see, because Whedon is a feminist, and thus Doing It Right. To acknowledge that maybe just regular old feminists could have disagreement with him, and he with them, is to implicate himself in the divisive lack of unity that he explicitly condemns: "God forbid they should all band together and actually fight for the cause." The singular cause. The one cause that he is definitely getting right, unlike those militant feminists who attack him.
Anyway.
Mark Ruffalo, an actor in Age of Ultron, who also identifies as a feminist, was asked during a Reddit AMA yesterday to address the criticism of Whedon. He responded thus:
I think it's sad. Because I know how Joss feels about women, and I know that he's made it a point to create strong female characters. I think part of the problem is that people are frustrated that they want to see more women, doing more things, in superhero movies, and because we don't have as many women as we should yet, they're very, very sensitive to every single storyline that comes up right now. But I think what's beautiful about what Joss did with Black Widow – I don't think he makes her any weaker, he just brings this idea of love to a superhero, and I think that's beautiful.I (obviously) agree with Ruffalo wholeheartedly that there are not enough women in superhero flicks, but criticisms of filmmakers who participate in that dynamic is not "misplaced anger." I can "really be upset" about the cavernous void of equitable visibility and "really be upset" that the filmmakers who are not sensitive enough to that cavernous void of equitable visibility are woefully underserving the precious few female superheroes we actually have.
If anything, Black Widow is much stronger than Banner. She protects him. She does her job, and basically they begin to have a relationship as friends, and I think it's a misplaced anger. I think that what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women.
The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow. But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hyper-critical of every single move that we make because there's not much else to compare it to.
So I know Joss really well. I know what his values are. And I think it's sad, because in a lot of ways, there haven't been as many champions in this universe as Joss is and will continue to be. And I know it hurts him. I know it's heavy on him. And the guy's one of the sweetest, best guys, and I know him – as far as any man can be a champion for women, he is that.
So it's been a little disheartening.
But I also see how much people love that aspect of it. There's an equal amount of people who find the love interest between Banner and Black Widow to be a big standout. And it's very satisfying to people. So it's a movie. People are going to have their opinions. And that's actually a great thing. The fact that this is a debate that's coming out of this movie is probably a positive thing.
I just don't think that people should get personal with Joss, because he really is – of anyone – an advocate for women. He's a deeply committed feminist.
It's always terrific to have a man 'splain at me what I'm really angry about, though.
But what really bothers me about Ruffalo's comments is his defense of Whedon on the basis that he is "a champion for women" and "an advocate for women" and "a deeply committed feminist." That, because of those things, Ruffalo "just [doesn't] think that people should get personal with Joss."
Really? If I shouldn't direct feminist criticism at a man who is a champion and advocate for women and a deeply committed feminist, simply because he asserts himself to be those things, then at whom should I direct feminist criticism?
Whedon has communicated, again and again, that he is someone of whom I can and should expect more. If he identifies as a feminist ally, then I expect him to be receptive to feminist critique; otherwise, that identity is nothing more than a petition for cookies, with no accountability to the community with whom he identifies.
Every time I make a criticism of the work of a man who identifies as a feminist ally, or who produces even the most marginally feminist content, I get the same pushback on social media: Feminists are never happy. You're hurting the very people trying to help you. Who even cares what you think?
Well, someone who tells me he's a feminist, someone whose friends assure me that he's "a deeply committed feminist," should care what I think. And he should understand that criticism from members of a marginalized community with whom you're allied is not an "attack," but a gift.
Expecting more is a brash act of courage, and it is also an extraordinary act of generosity. I am a better person than I once was because people gave me the gift of expecting more of me, of setting a higher standard and encouraging me to reach for it, of challenging me not to settle into the well-tread grooves of my socialization, of admonishing me to reject the vast and varied prejudices and myths with which I'd been indoctrinated, of urging me expect more of myself and persuading me to believe I could be the change I want to see.
Being "a deeply committed feminist" is not supposed to be a suit of deflective armor against criticism from people who take that declaration in good faith. It is supposed to be an invitation to dialogue.
I don't waste my time and energy offering feminist criticism to reprehensible misogynists who aren't receptive to feminist ideals. If I'm now not meant to offer feminist criticism to "champions of women," either, because I'm supposed to be grateful for whatever crumbs they offer me, that means every man who creates content is unreceptive to feminist criticism.
Either they're unreceptive because they are hostile to feminist ideals, or they're unreceptive because they are already "feminists" and thus don't need any input from ungrateful militant feminists.
This dichotomy of silencing is upheld by anti-feminist and feminist men alike.
Ruffalo defends Whedon on the basis of his feminism, but you know who else is "a champion for women" and "an advocate for women" and "a deeply committed feminist"? Me. Like many other of Whedon's feminist critics.
But somehow those same descriptions, employed in defense of Whedon, are used to dismiss us as divisive militant attack feminists who refuse to get in line with the cause.
If only there were a vast, vibrant, cacophonous ideological movement which could address the fundamental injustice of the very same qualities being used to lionize men and marginalize women.
Oh well.
Stormy Weather
[Content Note: Extreme weather.]
Tornadoes, storms, and flash floods hit parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska last night, doing a lot of damage and injuring at least 12 people. So far, there are thankfully no reports of deaths from the devastating storms.
Authorities are investigating the damage left behind by spring storms carrying more than a dozen suspected tornadoes that swept across the southern Plains, bringing floods, forcing the evacuation of an international airport and destroying homes near Oklahoma City.You may have read that some animals escaped a zoo because of damage to the structures, but they have all been found safe.
...The Oklahoma City area seemed to be the hardest hit. A twister destroyed homes in Grady County, southwest of the city, and it appeared another tornado touched down in the area later Wednesday evening when a second storm came through.
"We do strongly think there was a tornado on the south side of Oklahoma City," meteorologist Michael Scotten said after the second storm that hit around 8:40 p.m.
The storm flipped vehicles on Interstate 35 and left power lines strewn across the roadway, Scotten said. Officials twice evacuated the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, sending passengers and staff into a tunnel outside the security zone.
How's everyone doing?
