Tag: voting

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Anger Is Not Apathy

This morning, before beginning my work day, I logged on to Twitter to check the feed. I know – I know – I probably shouldn’t log on in the morning for it could ruin my whole day, but I am just addicted to information and I needed my fix. As I scrolled through my feed, I noticed a few people I follow retweeting a video with a woman calling 911 because an employee at a boutique pet shoppe was not allowing her entry without a mask. She told the 911 operator that “yeah – as per the 1964 Civil Rights Act – I cannot be discriminated against – I have a right to breathe O2, not CO2, and I’m being discriminated against right now”.

Okay – so let’s deconstruct this.

First – this woman called 911 – the emergency line – for people who have actual emergencies. She took up the time of this operator while another person who is suffering from a life threatening medical condition or a fire or any number of other issues was waiting for assistance with an actual emergency.

Second – White people are not the demographic for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The rights of White people have never been restricted in America and citing this Act as your reason for calling 911 is bullshit.

Third – “I have a right to breathe O2, not CO2” gives her away as a conspiracy theorist. Why do people believe this garbage?

Fourth and MOST IMPORTANTLY the worker at the store, along with everyone else who needs to buy groceries or pick up medicine at the pharmacy actually DO have the right to be protected from a communicable disease that is highly contagious. If we wear masks, we won’t spread it. FULL STOP. So why do some people think they are better than the rest of us? Why do they think that their rights are more important than the rights of the rest of the humans on the planet who just want to get through a day without getting sick.

It is my right to not contract a preventable disease. It is my right to not die from a cause that could have been resolved by a simple face covering on the part of ALL humans. It is my right to not have long term effects from a virus that I didn’t need to contract in the first place, but if I survive I will be dealing with for months and years to come. It is my right to walk freely in America without having conspiracy theorists decide that their rights override the rest of humanity. These are the real rights of humans in America.

So – if you are someone that believes that wearing a mask forces you to breathe in CO2, please, just stay home. If you refuse to wear a mask in public, ask someone else to pick up your groceries or medications or, in the case of this lady above, dog food. Please – at least have the decency to stay away from others as you practice your maskless existence. Stop putting frontline workers and other shoppers at risk. Take risks for yourself, but don’t impose those risks on me. Being safe in public spaces is actually the real right that is at risk and maskless shoppers are restricting the rights of the rest of us to exist in public.

And for those readers that get to the end of this piece and think – “wow – she is an angry bitch” – that’s cool. I’m fine with that moniker. I used to read tweets or watch the news and then go ‘calm down’ by playing a video game or listening to music or watching a youtube video, but those days are over. And for this I must give a shout out to Rebecca Traister. I started reading “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger” over the weekend and I am not going to hide my agitation any longer.

I have been angry for the better part of my life. Not for myself, as a White woman with privilege, but for the injustice of this country and this world. The anger continues to bubble up in me, making me see the world through a lens of agitation. But I’m good with it. Anger fuels movements. So I will continue to be angry and I won’t sugar coat my feelings. Not here and not IRL.

Having said that – let’s get angry together, starting with the voting booth and continuing on, after the elections are decided. We need to use the anger we feel over injustice to fuel the movement that will hold our leaders accountable and make real, lasting change for the majority. Let’s put this anger to good use by showing the minority (yes – those White, cis-het, affluent, dudes) that the rest of us give a shit about this world and we don’t want to continue to see injustice be the norm. We can channel the energy of anger into something good. Female leaders have been doing this for decades – let’s support them and ourselves by fighting for the greater good. Anger without action turns to apathy. It is time to RAGE on!

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Choices

You have two choices. Would you rather live in a Christian nation or a free country?

In a free country, you are free to be Christian, but in a Christian nation, only Christians are free. Let me rephrase — In a free country, everyone is free to be Christian or not, but in a Christian nation, only White, Protestant, cis, straight, affluent, men are free. Everyone else lives as beholden to that minority.

So let us rewind, for a moment, and talk about how we have always lived in a Christian nation, despite the founders supposed belief in freedom. White Protestant dudes have been running the show and oppressing everyone else, since they landed here, while they claim to be persecuted in America. The claims of persecution are merely a way in which to maintain their power over everyone else.

Whenever a man from this group is sad, we rush to make sure he feels okay. A good example of this was the #metoo movement and the backlash that followed. It mattered, for a moment, that women were calling out powerful men, but eventually the callouts turned back on the women. How dare they call out men. How dare they try to be equal. How dare they tell their stories of horror and make men uncomfortable.

When women stand up for themselves and call out men, a rush to check on the men is inevitable. Think pieces flow like rivers assessing the state of men in the workplace or men after harassment laws or the future of men. After all, checking in on the oppressors is SUPER important to maintain the order and we have been brainwashed to believe that even when they are fully and completely responsible for terror (slave masters, rapists, lynch mobs, supreme court justices, affluent movie execs with unlimited power) we still need to make sure that they are okay. We need to check in and check up on them. We need to coddle them. We need to feed their egos and let them know that we don’t believe ‘all men’ are bad. We need to make sure they are not feeling oppressed or persecuted. This is the beauty of minority rule. The White, Protestant, cis, straight, affluent, dudes have duped us all into believing that they should be prioritized. Even when they do the most heinous things. In the end, we all suffer in order to maintain the continuity of the freedom myth.

So, then, what can we do? How can we ensure the freedom of all moving forward? How can we turn the tide so that people will stop voting against their best interests? How can we make sure that everyone has an equal chance to succeed and that everyone is setup for success, regardless of their identity?

Step one is to stop believing the persecution myth of the White, Protestant, straight, cis, affluent, male minority. In a free country, individuals are able to practice their religion or not practice religion at all, without fear. In a free country, White supremacy is not a driving force and class solidarity can make change. In a free country, we can live our lives without fear of oppression from Christians who believe they are on a mission from g-d. In a free country, we each have autonomy and we can make decisions about our bodies without the opinions of religion destroying that freedom. In a free country, BIPOC people can live without daily fear of violence, terror, and potential death.

America should be a free country. Not a Christian nation. Christians are welcome to practice freely, in their churches, without persecution, but so are Muslims and Jews and Hindus and Atheists and all other forms of spiritual practice or abstention from those practices. All religions are welcome and no one practice takes precedence over any other. This is true freedom.

But when have we actually been free? From the moment the pilgrims landed here and began annexing land by slaughtering aboriginal people, this land was not free. From the moment the ships started arriving with enslaved people to work the land and be treated as less than human, this land was not free. From the creation of a document that was supposed to give equality and justice for all and left out people of color and women, this land was not free. Even in the midst of eight years with a Black President, this land was not free. As long as this land is run by the minority, who seek to deny rights to everyone else in favor of their own freedom and supremacy, this land will not be free.

We can only make this land free by voting and marching and demanding that we are all equal. That the majority of us want to see a future that is better for everyone, not the small few who hold power. I mean, that future will also benefit the minority, but not at the expense of the rest of us.

We cannot be free as long as we have an autocrat in office.

If you sit out the election or you vote for Trump, you are allowing the persistence of a Christian nation where the smallest minority of people will ever be truly free. And, most likely, you are not one of those people. So why would you vote against your own interests?

Don’t believe the lies and fake promises of a wannabe dictator. Vote for Biden/Harris. Vote for Democrats down the ballot. Vote to save our lives because another four years of Trump in the White House is not just an inconvenience. It is a nightmare. It will be the end of democracy as we know it. And not for the better. We do need to upend the system in real ways, but not through a dictatorship. We need to make the promise of the people real. That we control our futures. That this land truly is OUR land. And that with our votes, our voices, and our dollars, we can make it equal and just for all.

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The Case For Primary Day

Last night was a lot. Super Tuesday is always a crazy day for the candidates in primary races, and for the voters who support them, but the addition of social media (specifically Twitter) and the media commentary with stations calling winners as soon as polls close made it even more frenzied. And although there are clearly two candidates pulling ahead at this point, it could still be anyone’s game.

On Twitter last night, there was a rash of Bernie supporters (or bots – it is hard to tell the difference between them and bros at this point) attacking Warren supporters. The conversation went basically like this:

Warren supporter: I am so disappointed that Biden is winning.
Bernie supporter: Your candidate needs to drop out.
Warren supporter: There are still 2/3 of the delegates remaining after tonight so, no, my candidate can continue on in the race just like everyone else.
Bernie supporter: Your candidate needs to drop out. She is ruining the race. She is going to be the reason Bernie loses.
Warren supporter: Bernie is the reason Bernie will lose, if he loses. Why aren’t you telling Biden or Bloomberg supporters that their candidate should drop out.
Bernie supporter: …
Warren supporter: I figured. Misogyny. Blocked.
Bernie supporter: One vagina down – 169 million to go

So yes, the above is an over emphasized version of real twitter conversations, but you can see what is happening here, right? Even if these are bots that are interfering with twitter feeds, they are acting as trolls for Bernie. And they are energizing real Bernie supporters to continue the toxic rhetoric.

We saw a surge for Biden last night because many people are not on Twitter (lucky for them) and they are not seeing all the vitriol that gets spewed during online disagreement. But many of the people that are not on Twitter are certainly still on Facebook and that platform can be just as rough when it comes to political discourse.

The solution? Primary Day! Instead of dragging this process out over many months, why not have a few debates, early on, with the full candidate field present and then, in late winter, have ONE DAY where everyone goes to the polls and chooses their candidate based on the information each voter has gleaned from the campaigns, up to that point. This would close the door on Twitter discourse as it is now because the opportunity to smear each other between primary days would be removed.

Voters would have to be informed in the voting booth and truly vote their personal preference, rather than being swayed by earlier primary outcomes.

Yes – this might ruin the strategies of candidates like Biden, who got a huge boost from South Carolina and the suspension of the Buttigieg and Klobuchar campaigns on Monday night, but it would make it more fair across the board. This would also remove all the media commentary that happens between primary days and unite us behind the one candidate that prevails. Candidates are talking a big game about uniting behind the front runner, but pushing people out prior to even 50% of the delegates being assigned proves that they are not willing to stand behind their claims. Again – this would be alleviated by assigning all the delegates on one day. Primary day!

Also – sidenote – I truly believe that if everyone who likes Elizabeth Warren as a candidate, voted for her in the primary and the general we would have a President Warren. But, unfortunately, people still don’t think that a woman can win. The thing is if we all voted for her, she could, but if we keep believing a woman CANNOT win, she will never win because everyone is too scared to just vote for the MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE. You know? Seriously. Disappointing.

I would also like to say THANK YOU to Rachel Maddow for attempting to bring some levity to the discussion on MSNBC last night. When she saw that Biden and Sanders were the only two faces that kept coming up for the visuals during the calls for each State she pushed the producers to show the full field so as not to box out Warren, which is what generally would happen in that case. This also showed the full field, which is important for the country to see. We can’t keep showing two dudes over and over and over on the screen and expect people to ever envision a woman as a feasible candidate. As you know, representation matters.

Primary Day is a feasible plan and fairest for all candidates. It would prioritize party unity over trolling for one candidate. Twitter will always be twitter and the trolling will continue, but at least it wouldn’t effect the one day primary in the way that it has during these staggered events. Also – candidates like Bloomberg wouldn’t be able to jump it at the last minute in order to be on the ballot. Everyone would have the same deadline and have to make the case for themselves in real time, at the same time as every other candidate.

I think this would solve a lot of the speculation and infighting that is caused by the current system and help us all have less blood pressure spikes throughout the election season. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. I look forward to a lively discourse on this. We can’t solve all the issues now, but we can start coming up with plans to fix things and then follow through with the plans. Hmm – plans – what a NOVEL concept, right?

Peace, Chantale

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How To Make Things Better

What Happened?

We could have had it all. We could have had a leader that would understand our place in the world and act accordingly. A President that would have led us to a better place as a society. A President that understands America’s place in the world and would have governed accordingly. We could have had a President that cares about social justice and human rights for ALL. Instead – we got the opposite of all that. We got a dud. The Electoral College math was in favour of the worst human possible for the job and he slimed his way into the highest office in the land. Now, we are slowly moving toward demise as a ‘great nation’. Our status in the world has been diminished by someone that has no clue how to be a successful businessman, let alone President of the United States. A President that would rather tweet about the media and how he feels they attack him. A President that just says whatever comes to mind, no matter how detrimental it might be for the citizens of this country. A President that only cares about being liked, which, in turn, has led us down a path of horrible outcomes. A President that has tarnished the highest court in the land by adding a second accused sex offender to it’s ranks.

Hillary

What Do We Do Now?

Vote! Vote like your life depends on it (because it does). Vote like the lives of your family members and friends depend on it (because they do). Vote for peace and justice. Vote to remove the disgusting old, white, dudes that are clogging up the system with their misogynistic views of the world. Vote to turn the House blue. We need it. The only way to right the ship that is America is to vote out these horrible people who have been killing our country with their rhetoric. Vote to remove those that do not believe in freedom for all. And then, after you have done your civic duty and voted, take to the streets and raise your voices! Find a protest and MARCH! Civil disobedience shows the world that we are on the side of right and that we do not agree with the people who are currently in power.

Find Your Polling Place

If you have not already, please check here to see if and where you are registered to vote. The deadlines are mostly passed, but hopefully, you are registered in your area. Take a look at the requirements and be prepared at the polls. There may be voter suppression at your polling place, so take special care to be prepared (both mentally and with proof of residency).

See You On The Other Side

If we all band together and raise our voices – both in the voting booth and on the streets – we can bring our country back to where it needs to be. We can move forward in a positive direction. We can find peace and justice for all. This experiment in democracy is not at the end, but the beginning. We can make this a better country and, by extension, a better world.

Additional Resources

Rock The Vote
The 2018 Midterm Elections
24 Acts of Self Care Perfect for Concerned Americans

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Leaving Senseless Fear Behind

Each one of us, as an individual, is a product of the environment that we were raised in. We carry with us the information that we received as children and we take that data and use it to navigate our lives. Some of us receive messages of hope and love, while others receive messages of fear and danger. For some of us, the messages can get jumbled up and we have to decrypt them in order to move forward. I received many competing messages as a child and this required my critical thinking skills to be honed at an early age. I needed to take in everything and move forward with the information that seemed the most rational.

I was lucky to have open-minded parents who did not judge people based on their race, religion, gender, etc. but with my extended family, I was not so lucky. My Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents on both sides of my family each had their own understandings of other humans and they were extremely biased toward white people. Some of them were outright racist, while others were passively racist, but not one among them was open to the possibility that people of color could be good humans. After all, you can spend your whole life never saying a bad word about another person, but if you let others degrade a group of people in front of you without speaking up, you are just as complicit as the outwardly racist individuals among us.

I learned early in life that I was to fear certain people – specifically black men. I would say that I do not know where this fear came from since we lived in a segregated city, but now that I am older I know exactly what it was about. It was drawn from the myths that surround black men in America. Myths fueled by the fact that my Nana grew up in Andalusia, Alabama, where Jim Crow was the norm. Myths fueled by my grandfathers and uncles feeling slighted by Affirmative Action and supposedly losing their jobs to the [word I refuse to use here]. Myths instilled in me so that I would not bring home any black friends to watch television or swim in the pool at my grandparent’s house. Myths that would make me afraid to walk alone at night on campus for fear of being jumped by a random person of color. Myths that would frame my views on white men and make me let go of any damage they may have done because they were seen as the protectors. Myths that continue to fuel the racist actions of Americans that see a danger in faces of color when, at the end of it all, white people are really the danger.

White people have been oppressing all other races of humans since the beginning of time. Myths of people of color being dangerous were touted in order to protect the power that white people have always held. If black and brown people are deemed dangerous, then white people can continue to hold on to the structures that keep these people enslaved. If the myths surrounding people of color continue to be upheld by racist whites in America, then men of color (and women of color and children of color) will be tagged as dangerous and, therefore, considered dispensable. If this is a thought that has never crossed your mind, you are not paying attention.

Here are some of the names of victims of this power struggle that you might want to look further into if you have no reference for them: Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Jordan Edwards, Alton Sterling, Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland. And these are just the people that were reported on the national news. For an even wider view, take a look at this page on the Mapping Police Violence page that lists all the unarmed people of color killed in 2015. There were over 100 people. If this is not an epidemic, I do not know what is. White privilege has caused the horrible disease of racism to fester in this country for far too long.

When I was a child, I had a few friends at school that were people of color. Although I lived in an area of town that was almost fully inhabited by white folks, I went to an integrated school. It may seem odd, since I lived in Niagara Falls, NY, but the city had to bus kids from one end of town to the other in order to integrate the schools. This meant that although we went to school together, we rarely interacted outside of that space. The entire time I was growing up I never attended a birthday party for one of my friends of color and they never attended mine. There was a black family that lived on my grandparents street and I would go over to their house to play with the girl that was my age, but when I invited her over to swim in my grandparent’s pool, my grandparents told me they didn’t want her to swim at their house. It was sad and demeaning for my friend and it made me see clearly that my grandparents were not the wonderful humans I had always thought them to be.

Up until that point in my life, I had seen them as perfect rather than human beings who are fallible. I was shielded by my mother from their racist attitudes and as a child I was not observant. Until that day, I never noticed their racism, but after that, I saw it everywhere. After that day I started questioning them at every turn. When my uncles would make racist comments I would yell at them. When my grandparents would complain about people on television that were not white, I would question them. I became the annoying little kid that was always making a fuss over what they perceived as nothing.

As I grew into a teenager, my questioning went from being precocious to annoying. They hated that I was always telling them how to ‘behave’. They continued to instill fear of black bodies in me, but I began rejecting that fear. In high school, I started hanging out with a more diverse crowd of friends. I stopped bringing my friends over to my grandparent’s house, no matter their race because I no longer wanted to incorporate my friends into my family. I started to compartmentalize my friend groups and stopped overlapping in order to appease everyone.

By the time I went to college, I had successfully separated my family from my friends. I had one friend, in college, that I brought home for events, but other than that I kept my friends at arm’s length from my relatives. This, I believed, was the only way to have a diverse set of friendships without the torture of having them be around my family members. Of course, this was also a way for me to be comfortable in the situation and, I admit, it was a cop-out. I was trying so hard to make everyone happy that I was ignoring the fact that my family was not improving their understandings around people of color. They were remaining in that space of fear and myth that they had always been in while I was evolving away from them. I pretended that everything was fine when I was around them, but inside I was tearing myself apart to make everyone happy.

Now, as an adult, many of my racist relatives have passed away or I have drifted from them. My younger cousins have turned out to be more open-minded than the older members of my family, so I continue to interact with them. I have one uncle, in particular, who was one of my closest relatives growing up that I have almost completely cut ties with. I text him on his birthday and on major holidays, but that is where our interactions end. I do not see him in person anymore because I cannot handle his views on life in general, and more specifically his views on people that are not white.

That is my personal origin story of fear. How I have come to understand the ways in which I was inundated with misinformation at a young age and how I slowly came away from that bad intel. But I am only one white girl. What about the rest of us? What are we doing? Why are there black men being killed in the streets, for no reason, while white men who inflict terror are safely captured? Why are black bodies feared? Why are criminals who are people of color branded as terrorists, while white criminals are framed as disturbed? There are many answers to the questions above, but there is one thing that can connect it all. The struggle for power. Gaining and holding on to power. Grabbing the power that many white people feel is their God-given right and never letting go. If this means that everyone else must suffer, well, they just do not care about that. Power is all engrossing and can flood the world with misinformation that allows horrible events to take place on a grand scale. Power is what has led to us having the worst possible person as POTUS and power is what will continue to keep unqualified, sexist, bigots running the world.

Power is what caused white men to purchase black people and bring them across the ocean to work the fields. Power is what caused white men to rape black women and then turn their own offspring into slaves. Power is what caused white men to lynch black men for acts that were almost never criminal offenses. Power has been the catalyst for every bad thing that has happened in this world and power continues to drive all the decisions that are made in this country by white men.

The struggle for power has created myths around the powerless. Myths like the ones I mentioned above that made me believe in theories about other people that were beyond incorrect. Power has caused white people, and straight white men, in particular, to strive to be number one at all costs. And that cost has created a caste system in America that is predicated on the rich maintaining the power and continuing to oppress everyone else.

So how do we fix this system of abuse, terror, misinformation, and fear? I do not have an immediate answer to this question, but what I do know is that we must bond together as humans. We must use collective action to drive the forces of power that oppress those with less power into the darkest recesses of human history. We need to protest and vote. We need to listen to each other’s stories and take action directed by the oppressed. As white people (and white women, in particular) we need to be mindful of each person’s story and not just work in our own self-interest. We need to learn from others how to move forward. We need to be silent and allow a space for women of color to lead, but we also must speak up when it is clear that we can move the narrative of life in America to a better place.

We need to STOP being complicit in the oppression that is inflicted by the straight, white, men in our life. We gain nothing from being on their side. Because, in the end, those that seek to retain power will see us as a hindrance to their agenda, even if we are their sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, daughters, wives, or friends. We must speak up when necessary, listen and defend when needed, and use our vote to move policy to a more progressive place. Conservatism and capitalism are the siblings of oppression and the only way to make the Constitution of America a true reality is to dismantle the patriarchy that has oppressed us for eons and move toward an equal and open society. With liberty and justice for ALL.

 

Peace and resistance,

Chantale aka hippiegrrl

 

Appropriate links:

Mapping Police Violence

Black Lives Matter

Refuse Fascism

ACLU

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Patriarchy, MRAs, and Dismantling the Current System of Oppression

Over the years, whenever straight, white, men feel threatened, they band together in groups to discuss the situation and ‘right’ the ship. See – when dudes feel like they are losing grip on the control that they have ALWAYS had over women, they freak the fuck out. This is evidenced by the backlash against moves toward gender equity in the tech workplace. Women, in Silicon Valley specifically as well as other areas of the country with a heavy concentration of tech jobs, started speaking out last year about the harassment inflicted upon them within the male-dominated field. At my own place of business, I have witnessed dudes that have gotten away with low levels of harassment with a slap on the wrist and a ‘just try to be better’ or ‘avoid that girl from now on’. This amounts to a wink and a nod between dudes and we, as women, continue to suffer under this horrible system of misogyny.

In 2010 there was a similar backlash within women’s studies departments on college campuses. The MRAs (Men’s Rights Activists) got all twisted up about women’s studies being biased toward women. They felt the need to have male studies as well (this was in contradiction to the formal men’s studies wing of sociology that had already been incorporated into what is now called gender studies). As if all the other things that are studied in college weren’t already MALE studies. Good grief. The HIStory of the world has always been taught from the perspective of men. Women’s studies departments were created to bring some equity to the world of education and suddenly some men were getting nervous. This is what happens when people get scared. They start a backlash against the thing that scares them. And when men (specifically white, straight, cis and mostly wealthy men) get scared, the rest of us better ‘get in line’ because they have to get things back to the status quo. The patriarchy must survive and if it looks like it is being dismantled in any way, that’s when the MRAs appear to prop it back up again.

The best question we can ask ourselves, at this point in human history, is what would the world look like if the system of patriarchy that we have lived under, for all of eternity, was dismantled?

If we had a true and lasting system that was not skewed toward one sex (in this case the male sex), we would ALL be better off. Feminism works toward making EVERYONE EQUAL, not making women more powerful than men. That was never the cause of feminism. Women need more power in order to be equal to men, yes, and this is where those who are afraid of losing their grip on the full scope of power get nervous. Men who speak up against feminism are afraid of losing their power over women. They do not want to be equal because they want to continue to hold ALL the power. They want to be able to make all the decisions for the women in their lives and not allow those women to gain any traction in the movement.

This isn’t about losing equality, it is about losing the top spot in all areas of life. It is about losing the boy’s club and the ways in which the patriarchy support their policies of subjugation. If the patriarchy was dismantled, we would all be free to be ourselves and live our best lives. Women and men would both have the same opportunities and have to compete with their brains on an even playing field. Men would not be given preference, as they have for all of HIStory, in business. We are a long way from dismantling the patriarchy, but we chip away at it a little each day.

Patriarchy is not an American invention. You would not know this if you read the comment sections of any article pertaining to dismantling it though, as most Americans think that 1) our system of patriarchy has only been around for 100 years or so and 2) it’s all quite fine and dandy here in America and the misandrists (a bullshit term that denotes people who hate men and boys) need to stop trying to change things. See, when feminists (or anyone that wants to make things better for any group of people) try to make changes in society, those that benefit the most from the status quo start screaming as loud as they possibly can. Often, they find ways to back up their claims with arguments that look, on the surface, to be valid, but with a little bit of research, these arguments can be quickly dispelled.

The difficulty with research though is that many people do not want to hear facts unless they align with the position they already hold. So they listen to non-experts that spew garbage on the internet and regurgitate this crap for their ‘friends’ on social media. We used to live in a society where research and reason ruled the day, but it feels like those times are quickly diminishing. I am hopeful that we can turn the tide and stop the stupid among us from claiming expertise, but hope is not enough to make lasting change. Voting for progressive candidates that understand how to assess information is super important. If we don’t get smart people in office in 2018, we will continue down this path of stupidity that has been cultivated by the current POTUS.

So – what can we do to move toward a world where patriarchy is a thing of the past?

VOTE! Get to the polls and choose the smartest and most informed candidates, regardless of their place on the spectrum of gender.

MARCH! Attend marches in your local, regional, and national community to show support for the issues that affect you and yours the most. March with women when they gather to demand equal rights. March with people of color when they gather to demand equal rights. March with LGBTQQIA folks when they gather to demand equal rights. March with immigrants when they gather to demand a path to citizenship and equal rights. March with people of conscience when they gather to demand equal rights for all, regardless of the distinctions above.

WRITE! Go online and send a letter to your representative on issues that you find important. Hold these leaders accountable. You can even do this through text messaging with Resistbot! To setup, simply text RESIST to 50409 to get started. It is simple and awesome!

STAY INFORMED! Continue to read up on the issues that are important to you and research articles before posting/reposting on social media. The ALA has a comprehensive set of rules for evaluating sources listed here: Evaluating Primary Sources. Assessing the Authority, Audience, and Accuracy of the source will allow you to determine it’s credibility and worthiness. Let’s work together to improve the nature of what is shared on social media and on the internet, in general. Improving the reliability of sources will help EVERYONE.

So – are you ready to join me in dismantling the patriarchy to improve the world for everyone? It’s time to get to work! Leave comments below to tell me how you will work toward a world of equality for ALL humans!

Peace and Down With Patriarchy!

Chantale (hippiegrrl)

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2006.11.8 – the day after – and the sky didn’t fall

The pins and needles are gone. Election night is over. Now what? The Democrats have taken control of the House and the Senate still hangs in the balance.

The big story of the night, at least for feminists like myself, was the rejection of the South Dakota ballot initiative to Ban Abortion. Thank goodness that the good people of South Dakota had the sense to not pass such a stringent and dangerous measure. If passed, this ban would have covered all abortions, including rape and incest related, except in the case of the mother’s imminent death from delivery. The basic idea was to pass the ban in South Dakota and then push that toward a wider measure reversing Roe V. Wade. There is, ofcourse, a legal route that the ban would have had to take in order to overturn the 1973 legislation, but we don’t need to worry about that now.

The unfortunate fallout of the ballot measures was the passing of Bans on Same Sex Marriage in 7 more states. In 2004 bans were passed in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon and Utah. This year we see Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin following suit. States that passed this same type of ban in previous elections have been Alaska (1998), Hawaii (1998), and Nebraska (July 2006) bringing the total overall to 21 states with Same Sex Marriage Bans currently on the books. The only bright spot this year was Arizona defeating the ban on election night and becomming the first state to put forth a ban and defeat it. All the other states have passed these bans on the first try.

Perhaps Arizona turning down a same sex marriage ban is just a preamble to the wonderful things that can now happen in this country. With control of both the House and Senate we will be able to do such great things. Although we are simply waiting for a concession speech in Virginia to seal the deal on the Senate that should come by the weekend.

Now what?
Democrats need to find a thoughtful, yet progressive and swift way to get out of the Iraq war and bring home our troops. They need to look long and hard at the branches of government and root out corruption at it’s source. They need to get back to the humanitarian feeling of the United States and caring for our own people as well as those around the world.

The best part of today has been Rumsfeld stepping down. I suppose it was required, otherwise he would have most likely been pushed out. This is just a great day all around. Hopefully the momentum will continue on and we can all rest a little bit easier tonight knowing that the Democrats are filling their new seats and starting the strategies that will bring our country back to the great level we should be at. The light of a new day brings a great opportunity for all of us to come together and begin cleaning up the mess of the past 6 years. Now that we have the power there is nothing we can’t do!

Peace –
Hippiegrrl

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2004.10.20 – 14 days and counting…

Yes, it is almost time to step into that polling place and cast your ballot for the next President of this great land we call the United States. It is time to put aside all the political smear campaign tactics and look at the facts. To consider the ideals and policies of each candidate and make a truly informed decision.

In your quest for good information, I would love to help you with a little bit of great information. I realize that my opinion is not always what the mainstream enjoys, but I have a great hypothetical scenario for each of you to consider. It is on my number one issue – Choice. Whether you are pro or anti choice, it is always good to consider all the facts. So – without further ado – one girl’s sad story of the days after Election 2000.

It is a dreary night in December of 2001 and Clara, (for lack of a better name) a 16 year old high school junior, is sitting silently in her bedroom. This afternoon she visited her doctor and received some shocking news. The news was twofold and both pieces of information would be taken badly. First, the doctor did not want to grant the request of Clara to administer her birth control pills. The doctor remarked on the fact that it was a moral decision on her part. She felt, as a Catholic, that it was immoral to give birth control to anyone, because it was just as bad as abortion in the eyes of her God. Clara, did not understand how the doctor could inflict her religious beliefs on her patients, but she was willing to overlook it and find another doctor who would prescribe the pill. The second piece of information was slightly worse. Clara had contracted HIV. A look of horror came over Clara and she asked the doctor how this was possible? The doctor told her that she had most likely contracted it from sexual intercourse, seeing that Clara was neither an intervenus drug user or had had any surgery in the past 10 years that would have involved a blood transfusion. Clara thought back to 2 months ago when she did have her first sexual experience and still didn’t quite understand. The doctor told her that it would be best if she discussed the matter with her parents and Clara left the office.

Let us stop here to consider that Clara was attending a public high school that had recently (in the last year) instituted an “abstinence only” sex ed program, signed into law by our newly appointed President. Clara’s parents were not forthcoming with sexual information and had absolutely no intention of ever speaking to her about it. They figured that “out of sight, out of mind” was the best defense, but obviously this tact didn’t work.

Clara begins treatment for her HIV infection in January of 2002 and thankfully (because of her young age and the good condition of her body) she is able to take well to the medication. She is, however, forced into a feeling of shame and ignorance from her classmates and doesn’t have another intimate relationship through the rest of her high school career.

November 2, 2004 – President Bush is re-elected as the leader of the United States.

May 29, 2007 – Clara attends her College graduation and gets a job offer from a non-profit organization that helps HIV patients deal with the disease. They feel that Clara’s background in dealing with her own symptoms and the fact that she has a bachelors degree in psychology will make her a perfect candidate for the position. The pay isn’t fantastic, but Clara jumps at the chance to work with others and use her personal experience and college education for a good cause. In light of the fact that the job is somewhat low-paying, Clara is forced to move into a somewhat less desirable neighbourhood, but she is not deterred.

One night in 2008, Clara is walking home from work and suddenly is grabbed from behind and dragged into an alleyway. The attacker rapes her and then flees. Clara, although shaken and certainly upset about what has happened, immediately goes to the emergency room. After the rape kit is done, Clara requests a morning after pill, so that she will not have to worry about becomming pregnant from this incident. The doctor informs her that due to new laws, they are no longer able to give the morning after pill to patients. It has been taken out of circulation by the FDA under the provisions in the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, which had passed in 2007 under the current President.

Upset over the incident and enraged over the fact that a drug previously available to victims of sexual crimes is now not available, Clara returns home and crosses her fingers that the incident will not fertilize. Unfortunately, Clara’s prayers go unanswered and a few weeks later she returns to the local women’s health clinic that she attends to find out that she is, indeed, pregnant.

At this point Clara inquires about the possibility of an abortion. Obviously, if they won’t give her the morning after pill, she is sure that safe and legal abortions are not available either. She is right. Overturning Roe vs. Wade was the first step in the rewind of the clock. In the court decision there were no provisions made for rape victims or individuals with life threatening illnesses. Remember, although the disease is pretty much under control, Clara still has HIV. Rather than attempting to find a cure for HIV, the government has concentrated it’s efforts on turning back the clock on women’s rights, which has left Clara in a horrific situation. HIV positive and pregnant, with no health care available to her that would relieve either of these problems.

The doctors tell her that it is possible, in some cases, for HIV inflicted patients to have healthy babies, so once again Clara crosses her fingers, says a few prayers and hopes that everything will turn out fine.

8 months into her pregnancy and Clara visits her doctor. A problem has been detected with the fetus and the doctor informs Clara that the child appears to be dead. A few more tests are done and it is determined that, in fact, the child is not living. Clara inquires as to what the next step is and the doctor informs her that there isn’t anything they can do at this point. The partial birth abortion ban that was passed in 2001 forbid the practice to be done in any circumstance, even if it meant the demise of both child and mother. Since it was a procedure that was esentially outlawed, medical schools stopped teaching it within the curriculum. This meant that there were most likely no doctors in her area that were able to perform the surgery. Clara was floored by this news. What was she to do? The doctor was telling her that her baby was dead. There was not a doctor able to take care of the problem and because she was HIV positive she most likely would not be able to carry the baby for longer than 24 hours before Clara’s own immune system began to deteriorate.

In the end, Clara and her baby are lost.

This is a hypothetical example of many different situations that could be prevented by simply leaving the laws the way they are in this “free” country and not trying to oppress women by taking away civil liberties. The President thinks that by passing legislation to roll back Roe vs. Wade, he is saving lives. He is WRONG. More lives will be lost by virtue of the fact that women will still seek out abortions. Making them illegal will not end the practice and both woman and child will die in the process.

We have already begun this cycle with the passing of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. This ban did not take into consideration cases where the mothers life is at risk. This isn’t a rare case. Women have trouble late in pregnancy more often than we can imagine and telling them that they have no recourse, no healthcare for these situations is akin to something that would happen in an underdeveloped country. Somewhere that women are still looked upon as second class citizens.

We are better than this.

Vote Kerry and look toward a future with equal rights and healthcare for all!

Peace,
Hippiegrrl

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2003.11.5 – green party blues

Another Election Day has come and gone.

The Green Party had no representation in our little corner of Western New York, but that was no problem. Voting is a privilege and definitely not something to be taken lightly. Yes, I read up on the candidates before stepping into the booth this evening. It may have only been hours prior to my final decisions, but I was still informed.

The thing that irks me the most are the people that simply vote across party lines with no knowledge of the candidates or their platforms. Just because you register in a specific party does not mean that you are required to vote for those candidates.

Sometimes I actually do vote Republican **hush now** but only if the candidate is well deserving. Being in a new party makes it difficult to follow party lines. Although, sometimes I will vote for another candidate even if a Green Party person is on the ballot.

Speaking of the Green Party…here is a fun little story about trying to present alternate views to staunch Republicans and Democrats. A few nights back, the filmmaker and I went to dinner with some family members. The discussion (inevitably) turned to voting, as the election was pending, but there was no heated debate of candidates. The table was split about 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats, excluding the two freaks (that would be us) that are registered Green.

When presented with the idea that any individual would choose to register in a third party the table burst into laughter. Taunting us for being “tree-huggers” (which I actually do not find offensive, trees need hugs sometimes) and acting as if the Green Party was not worthy of our vote, the family began to turn on us. Slowly the conversation slanted away from the voting issue, mainly because there was no argument from the two of us as to whether or not our party was “real” as they put it.

I believe that voting is something that every American citizen should take part in, regardless of political beliefs or which party one registers for. We should have been praised for even getting off our butts to vote, rather than being mocked for our political affiliation. Most people in the 20-something generation are so disillusioned that they don’t even bother to vote, let alone register and inform themselves of political happenings.

Of course, letting the table know that we had come back from an environmental fundraiser the night before sealed our fate as the weirdoes. This is not right, but if I let it bother me I would be just like everyone else. Being a hippie means that people are going to pick on you. There is no way around it. So, the best defense is none at all, at least when dealing with Democrats and Republicans who feel that their parties are the only parties that should be allowed on the ballot.

Happy voting to one and all! Go out there and make a difference…It is truly the only way to affect change!

Peace,
Hippiegrrl

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Are you registered?

It is almost time to select our next president. If you are not registered yet, please use this form to do so. We need to band together and keep moving forward.
Our country cannot afford four years of another Republican. We had eight years that got us to where we are and now that we are finally coming out of it, we need to keep going on this better path. Obama will get us further down the road to improvements in our economy while maintaining our rights. Romney, as surrogate for the right wing, crazy conservative, tea party influenced, Republican Party, will take away the rights of women through policies that harm EVERYONE!

Register and then get to the polls! It is your right, your privilege, and your duty to do so.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)