but lately on the my alumni board, the big "to do" has been this mess about Obama and his pastor. About which my basic feelings are:
- Since when is it my responsibility to make sure someone else thinks the same way I do?
- I have some family members who don’t think the same way I do. Should I write off any and all of their good qualities because of their bad ones? Or because I should be afraid of what other people may think of me for being associated with them?
- Why hasn’t the Catholic church crumbed to the ground in the wake of a bunch of priests jerkin’ off little kids behind the lectern? Because as warped and dangerous as I think it may be, there are plenty of people out there who believe in the message of the church despite whomever "god’s representative" is who is giving the message.
One of the responses to me today was:
Go to Obama's church website, www.tucc.org, then go to the about us, read that, then tell me that it doesn't sound similar to a Ku Klux Klan message.
To which I responded with:
Easy enough. It doesn't sound similar to a Ku Klux Klan message. The message of the Ku Klux Klan is based on the idea that whites are the ones responsible for building the greatness that is this country and that whites should be the only ones to benefit from said greatness. A concept that is inherently false, thanks to the fact that for a period of time, those who did build this country’s foundations were forced to until someone finally spoke up and said, "oh my god, black people are people, not property." Nowhere in the "about us" section did I get the impression this church thinks blacks should be the ones running the show because they deserve it and because they're the superior race. Which is pretty much the opposite of Ku Klux Klan thinking."
Yet another person responded to me with:
So what do you think the headlines would be if a white candidate was a member of the congregation that "trust in God through cultural expression of a WHITE worship service and ministries which address the WHITE Community" It is exactly KKK-ish. It also runs against the premise that the black/African-Americans have been demanding. Equality. Yet this church seeks to specifically separate blacks from other individuals. Apparently, after all this fighting for equal rights, they found out that it was a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence - now that the fence was taken down, they found out its only greener because of the weeds.
What the hell? Am I the only one who sees some similarities here with the whole Bush / Hitler comparison? The simple sight of W’s face makes me violent and I think he’s the most incompetent president this poor country’s ever seen. But I think the Bush / Hitler comparison is kinda nuts. Kinda like this one. In what world does comparing this guy’s church to an organization who, throughout history, has used pure violence to accomplish their mission of racial purity, make any sense?
Is it just me? I’m entirely open to hearing other arguments here so hit me with whatever you’ve got. But right now, I’m just not understanding.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
what's it worth to ya?
I try to keep up a bit with politics in New York simply because they affect people I love. Even if that weren't the case, I would have still heard about the latest political scandal: Eliot Spitzer having had some involvement in prostitution.
Usually, I can't even articulate how little I care about what other people do in their bedrooms (or whatever rooms in which they decide to get freaky). I care in the sense that it fascinates me the way others view and relate to sex but I don't care in the sense of, "oooh, did you hear what those two did?" What the fuck do I care? My general outlook on all things sex-related is "if it's consensual, have at it." This applies to everyone, including those constantly in the public eye. Actually, especially those in the public eye. Before we're anything else; mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, political folk, celebrities, employees, etc...we're people. People with parts that feel good when they rub up against someone else's parts. They don't feel good because they're about to make a baby, they feel good because that's just the way our bodies work. Hell, even if good ol' Bill had shoved cigars up the bajingos of every intern in the place as part of a white-house-wide orgy, I wouldn't have cared less, provided each and every one of those interns was capable of making the decision to take part in that orgy. Had he and Hillary been in a marriage that they had agreed would be monogamous, it would have perhaps been...less than classy of him to have a white house orgy, but it wouldn't have been anybody's business but his, Hillary's, and whomever else part of the orgy.
I do, however, have mixed emotions about prostitution. I used to think it should be legal. I understand the idea of its regulation helping toward de-stigmatizing it but I don't necessarily think paying someone to spread whatever hole you pay them to spread should be de-stigmatized. And I understand that perhaps if it's regulated, prostitutes wouldn't be at such risk when it comes to their health. But to me, my mental health is equally as important as my physical health. And for society to tell me day in and day out that my time and my body and the person I am is only worth the orgasm it can help someone else have is absolutely damaging to my mental health. I'm not about to place that little value on myself and I'm surely not about to support society doing the same.
Even though I can understand the arguments given by those who think it should be legal, I'm no longer able to wrap my head around the idea of placing monetary value on my naughty bits. Which is a belief that can sometimes be difficult to stand by because I'm not against porn and let's face it...porn's all about what some woman's snatch is worth to a consumer and what seeing a gazillion different things happening to that snatch is worth to that consumer. During our rape crisis training, I said very little on the anti-porn day because I was the only woman in the room who doesn't think it's heinous. I read quite a bit about the anti-porn movement, thinking that perhaps I'm not understanding something or perhaps I'm just not as knowledgeable as I should be but I haven't changed my views on it yet. It'll always be something I'll question but I'm not sure my views on it will ever change much. Whether or not it's logical to separate my views on porn from my views on prostitution, I don't know. But for right now, I do.
To physically go out and say to a woman, "this hole is worth this much to me, that hole is worth this much to me" makes me want to wretch. I hesitate a bit to make the comparison, but it seems like we fought a pretty significant war over the idea of placing monetary value on human beings. To me, prostitution isn't much different than slavery. You're still putting me up on a block, showing off what you consider to be the worthiest parts of my body and auctioning them off to the highest bidder. At which point, they now own me, those body parts they thought were worthy of cash, and can use me, share me, or toss me aside in whatever way they see fit. Any way you look at it, it's pure cash for pure cunt. And any time you say that's perfectly acceptable, you're telling me a living, breathing human being can be broken down into nothing more than dollars and cents. Which I cannot. Nor should any woman. Nor should any man.
Had he gone out and simply had an affair that the media discovered, I wouldn't really care. I'd perhaps feel sorry for his family if sex outside of marriage wasn't something he and his wife had agreed upon beforehand. But it still wouldn't be my place to judge his choices.
But he didn't. Prostitution is illegal in New York State and personally, I think it's revolting. The fact that he actually put away people for taking part in the same thing in which he takes part is what I think is most revolting.
Usually, I can't even articulate how little I care about what other people do in their bedrooms (or whatever rooms in which they decide to get freaky). I care in the sense that it fascinates me the way others view and relate to sex but I don't care in the sense of, "oooh, did you hear what those two did?" What the fuck do I care? My general outlook on all things sex-related is "if it's consensual, have at it." This applies to everyone, including those constantly in the public eye. Actually, especially those in the public eye. Before we're anything else; mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, political folk, celebrities, employees, etc...we're people. People with parts that feel good when they rub up against someone else's parts. They don't feel good because they're about to make a baby, they feel good because that's just the way our bodies work. Hell, even if good ol' Bill had shoved cigars up the bajingos of every intern in the place as part of a white-house-wide orgy, I wouldn't have cared less, provided each and every one of those interns was capable of making the decision to take part in that orgy. Had he and Hillary been in a marriage that they had agreed would be monogamous, it would have perhaps been...less than classy of him to have a white house orgy, but it wouldn't have been anybody's business but his, Hillary's, and whomever else part of the orgy.
I do, however, have mixed emotions about prostitution. I used to think it should be legal. I understand the idea of its regulation helping toward de-stigmatizing it but I don't necessarily think paying someone to spread whatever hole you pay them to spread should be de-stigmatized. And I understand that perhaps if it's regulated, prostitutes wouldn't be at such risk when it comes to their health. But to me, my mental health is equally as important as my physical health. And for society to tell me day in and day out that my time and my body and the person I am is only worth the orgasm it can help someone else have is absolutely damaging to my mental health. I'm not about to place that little value on myself and I'm surely not about to support society doing the same.
Even though I can understand the arguments given by those who think it should be legal, I'm no longer able to wrap my head around the idea of placing monetary value on my naughty bits. Which is a belief that can sometimes be difficult to stand by because I'm not against porn and let's face it...porn's all about what some woman's snatch is worth to a consumer and what seeing a gazillion different things happening to that snatch is worth to that consumer. During our rape crisis training, I said very little on the anti-porn day because I was the only woman in the room who doesn't think it's heinous. I read quite a bit about the anti-porn movement, thinking that perhaps I'm not understanding something or perhaps I'm just not as knowledgeable as I should be but I haven't changed my views on it yet. It'll always be something I'll question but I'm not sure my views on it will ever change much. Whether or not it's logical to separate my views on porn from my views on prostitution, I don't know. But for right now, I do.
To physically go out and say to a woman, "this hole is worth this much to me, that hole is worth this much to me" makes me want to wretch. I hesitate a bit to make the comparison, but it seems like we fought a pretty significant war over the idea of placing monetary value on human beings. To me, prostitution isn't much different than slavery. You're still putting me up on a block, showing off what you consider to be the worthiest parts of my body and auctioning them off to the highest bidder. At which point, they now own me, those body parts they thought were worthy of cash, and can use me, share me, or toss me aside in whatever way they see fit. Any way you look at it, it's pure cash for pure cunt. And any time you say that's perfectly acceptable, you're telling me a living, breathing human being can be broken down into nothing more than dollars and cents. Which I cannot. Nor should any woman. Nor should any man.
Had he gone out and simply had an affair that the media discovered, I wouldn't really care. I'd perhaps feel sorry for his family if sex outside of marriage wasn't something he and his wife had agreed upon beforehand. But it still wouldn't be my place to judge his choices.
But he didn't. Prostitution is illegal in New York State and personally, I think it's revolting. The fact that he actually put away people for taking part in the same thing in which he takes part is what I think is most revolting.
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