In case you’ve missed them, some headlines:
1. David Duchovny, who I’d watch in Red Shoe Diaries on mute in my bedroom before I was old enough to be watching softcore porn on cable while the rest of my family was sleeping, has gone to rehab for sex addiction. Definition of sex addiction, as stolen from Wikipedia:
- The Mayo Clinic uses compulsive sexual behavior for sexual addiction, and identifies characteristics of the sex addict as “an overwhelming need for sex and are so intensely preoccupied with this need that it interferes with your job and your relationships. [...] You may spend inordinate amounts of time in sexually related activities and neglect important aspects of your day-to-day life in social, occupational and recreational areas. You may find yourself failing repeatedly at attempts to reduce or control your sexual activities or desires.”[6]
Getting help for any addiction is commendable. Personally, I think rehab for sex addiction is more legitimate (not that there’s an addiction scale of legitimacy that I manage on an everyday basis or anything, but, if there were, I’d place sex addiction as a more legitimate addiction for which to seek treatment) than exhaustion (paging the past of Britney Spears).
2. VP nominee Sarah Palin is to feminism what George Bush is to intelligence: a terrible pretender. He’s not smart, and she’s an asshole. Sorry, I’m sorry, maybe she’s not an asshole, maybe she just wants to force me to have a baby when I don’t want to. Maybe she just thinks that controversial books should be banned. Maybe she forgot to check out the Guttmacher site when she absentmindedly decided that abstinence only education in any way does justice to the future our children deserve to live. Maybe she’s become the darling of the conservative asshole right by accident, and therefore is not an asshole herself.
Maybe not.
Here’s how I see it: Conservative values are sexist, homophobic, racist, and classist. Thus, they should not be treated as “hey, we have different opinions and I should respect yours and you should respect mine.” No. I do not respect the view that I, as a dirty little homo, am less of a person and less worthy of rights as anyone else. No, I do not respect the view that poverty is a choice that poor people make and if they maybe got a job they wouldn’t complain so much. I do not respect the view that I do not own my own body. I hate that these assholes (no sorry this time. Assholes are what they are, assholes is what they will be until they get some human compassion and common sense) are given as much time on news shows as people who have both brains and hearts.
I will be very, very, very disappointed in American women if Sarah Palin gets elected. We need to stand up for ourselves, our bodies, our children, and our fucking intelligence and not elect this woman. Yes, she has a vagina, and a vagina has never had power in such a high White House position. But I will not give up my own vagina for the position hers could be in.
I like sex too much to let her (and those who support her) make decisions about what sex I should be having and what rights I should and shouldn’t get because of where I stick my fingers when I want to.
yours in hope of a rational democracy that won’t let Fox News dictate who wins this election,
jameson.
Leave SARA PALIN alone !
Political theory reveals that conservatives believe that gradual change is essential for social and political stability. It’s not so much that they don’t anticipate certain social backwardness to change, but that they want to ease into this change. Obviously, there have been defining moments in American history when sudden change is thrust upon the social infrastructure, but generally speaking, America has been slow to respond to necessary changes. Unfortunately, there are a few neoconservatives using religious fundamentalism as a gimmick for vote. Even scarier, some actually believe the rhetoric that falls from his or her venomous tongues.
Palin is representative of an “old guard” or elite society that believes government knows better than the masses or collectives or individuals. We’ve seen her views before, dressed in different language, with a different face – the same arrogance, pseudo-confidence, and bullying. She is the female version of Bush, though slightly more to the right in her views. It’s a scary notion to recognize that the VP candidate doesn’t have ANY foreign affairs experience, yet is certain how to handle Russia, Iran, and Iraq – while at the same time is completely unfamiliar with the Bush Doctrine, which has caused an international stirring not seen in decades.
Duped. America, duped. Again – it seems. The Jerry Springer political nightmare continues.
Loved your post. I am rambling now … so time to go.
“I hate that these assholes (no sorry this time. Assholes are what they are, assholes is what they will be until they get some human compassion and common sense) are given as much time on news shows as people who have both brains and hearts.”
Do you really think every conservative you know is an asshole? You don’t have ANY conservative friends, people who you love and who love you in return?
Have you ever looked at a pro-lifer and seen a kind, compassionate person who doesn’t want babies to die? If you saw a woman drowning her newborn in the bathtub you would stop her, wouldn’t you? That’s how so many of us feel – even in the most horrific circumstances, we believe the baby is as important as the mother, and that any solution that leaves them both breathing is the best one.
I understand that when it comes to certain things like gay marriage, no one that doesn’t share my religious convictions will understand my position, or even want to. But Christians, Jews, Muslims, and so many others believe in a moral law that supercedes whatever we may want for ourselves (or our friends) – is every person raised in one of these faiths an asshole?
It hurts me every time I see a Jerry Falwell running his mouth or those crazy people protesting at soldier’s funerals, or abstinence-only Sarah Palins, etc, because I know that they are representing me whether I like it or not. I want to stop every liberal I know and explain that I’m against socialized healthcare systems because in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, etc the implementation of these systems has RAISED the mortality rates for people with cancer (particularly breast cancer), that they always come with a cut-off age at which elderly people stop receiving any healthcare at all and are left to die. I could go on, but the point I’m trying to make is that I do care about people, I don’t feel like a heartless asshole, and that a lot of my conservative beliefs come from my desire to truly help people and make like better in the way I think makes the most sense. Please don’t see a Sarah Palin in every conservative or a Jerry Falwell in every Christian. If you do have any conservatives in your life that you trust and respect (and I hope you do) maybe you could ask them about some of the issues and find out why they feel the way they do. You’ll almost certainly disagree with them, but you might find compassion and kindness and love in their viewpoints you won’t see by lumping us all together.
I’m sorry you’re girlfriend’s mother believes you won’t go to heaven. It’s not what I believe, and just so you know, it’s not Biblical either.
I don’t think that all pro-lifers or those who are against gay marriage or socialized healthcare hold their beliefs without reason. I understand that many people believe those reasons are rooted in compassion and faith. But I don’t believe denying civil rights is compassionate, regardless of what ones faith dictates. I also don’t believe outlawing abortion is compassionate, because women will seek and attain abortions regardless of legality. I believe there are a lot of pro-choicers who really dislike abortion, and wish it was never an option that gets chosen. But they fight to keep it legal because that’s the only way to keep it safe. (For the record, I am not one of those pro-choicers secretly against abortion). And yes, maybe socialized health care does raise mortality rates among specific populations (I haven’t read that, but I’ll take your word for it), but the health care system we have now –if you can afford to be healthy, you win– both adversely affects everyone without coverage and costs more. I don’t think we should have to choose between poor people or women with breast cancer and old people. But right we are choosing, and working class America is left with nothing.
I guess maybe asshole is a pretty strong word, and I apologize if it offended you. Maybe you are a great person who also takes care of their friends when they’re sick and picks up the mail for the neighbors, and does a really good job loving those that matter to you. But the conservative way of “making life better in the way [you] think makes the most sense” includes a lot of values I completely disagree with, and which might seem logical within a fiscal or faith-based framework, but are not compassionate in an everyday, letting people live as they choose to and love who they want to and do what they need to in order to survive, reality based framework.
Lastly, I know I’m pretty damn far left. I also know there are many, many people who are trying really hard to make a middle ground from which bridges can be built and compromises can be made. But when it comes to basic human rights, for myself and for others, I will not be up for a compromise.
Thank you for your comment.
While Jameson’s use of the word asshole may be strong and may offend some, I can fully understand her use of it and her strength of feeling behind it’s use. I believe the people it is directed at are those individuals that not only believe their way is the right and only way, but they go one step further and IMPOSE those beliefs on others. To live your beliefs is very commendable; to impose those beliefs through the placement of laws is reprehensible.
To Jameson: My hat is off to you in your writings. You are a very talented young lady whose writing impresses me to no end, even if I do tend to scan past some of your more intimate writings; TMI. When will we be able to see some of your writing published, Jamie girl?