Its Time

Alright, now for that BHL post I was promising. This is just a warm up and I will try my best to keep my language under control. But there are a few things I need to get off my chest, and have recently been on my mind, since Iam fortunate enough to live in one of the most conservative places in the US.

1. If you are a WASP, especially a male, you cannot be discriminated against. I am so sick of hearing men tell me that they are being persecuted because they are men, or white or christians. Boo hoo. I would like them to try being a white woman, a black man or a bhuddist for a few days and then tell me how unfair their lives are. Sorry, boys. When people look at you, chances are, there aren't many snap judgements being made. Of course, I recognize that there are some exceptions, but as a rule, WASPs - I don't want to hear it.

2. Having a cunt (yes, I said it) does not make you inferior. It does not mean you need help with doors all the time, you can't make your own decisions, or that everytime you disagree with a male you are menstruating. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate being treated well as much as anyone else, but does this mean I am incapapble of carrying a briefcase? No, it doesn't. An office I recently worked at would not allow me to carry any briefcases, folders, or plans because it 'made them look like pigs.' See, in my mind, they looked more like pigs because they required me to wear a skirt every day and offer coffee in meetings I attended, even if it wasn't at our offfice, or I was runnign the meeting. This particular office told me I looked "more professional" if I wore makeup. Please.

3. Human rights are a good thing. This means we don't get to barge in to other countries without asking, kill a bunch of their people, violate religious pratices (such as burning a Muslim's dead body for "hygene purposes") and in general treat them like shit. It is not right to dress prisoners up, imprison people without charges, or beat them. Note I say beat them, npt 'beat them without cause' or 'beat them unless they attack you'. We're human,s not animals, and I am tired of hearing that "our boys" are over in another country representing me and my freedoms by beating the crud out of helpless people, or terrorizing citizens who didn't ask us to be there in the first place. Recently, Rush Limbaugh justified the actions of our soldiers by saying that they were just "blowing off steam" because they were in a high pressure situations. Sure, and I suppose running a country was tough on Hitler, so its okay he let off a little steam towards a few Jews, too, right?

4. Religious freedom is religious freedom. There are a ton of conservatives out there bitching to no end about how they can't pray in school and how this is a vilation of thier rights; or that not teaching creationism is wrong. However, these are the same people who won't allow Halloween parties but will allow "harvest celebrations" because they aren't a celbration of a pagan holiday. These are the people who want a Bible available in the library but are clamoring to keep Harry Potter, the Koran and other religious works behind a library counter for "parental approval" or out of the libraries at all. My thoughts on the issue are as follows, go ahead, pray in school, but let me go ahead and worship satan or celebrate kwanza or practice witchcraft on my own in schools as well. Equality to all, right? I have nothing against Christians, or their religion, as a general rule, but I think that if they deserve to be able to practice their religion freely,everyone else should too. I hear the argument that this country was 'founded on christian principles' and that the pilgrims came over here so they could 'practice their religion freely'. I agree. But the whole idea was that if you wanted to be different in your religious practices, you ought to be able to. Not that if you wanted to be a christian you should come to America. I know this may come as a shock to some people, but the pilgrims were trying to escape being told what to believe, which, ironically, is a bit like the problem we have now.

5. Free press. This is a big one for me. See, I think I should be able to write what I like, when I like and if people want to read it, they should be able to. Now, if you go check out Fox's and Red's blogs (check my links on the left) you can see a large bit of crap that the British (and if you ask me the American) govenment want to keep quiet. The beauty of the pres to me has always been that they are able to tell the truth when no one else can. A journalist is willing to do what it takes to keep the press running, and sources confidential, so that people can know what is really happening. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, there are a lot of people with a lot of different (and sometimes incorrect) opinions out there. The beauty of the press is that you can read many opinions and decide for yourself, something a lot of conservatives argue against. I have heard arguments in the last few weeks that there are rarely truth tellers in the media anymore because they are liberal and thus have an agenda. I am of the opinion that anyone who reports anything has some kind of agenda. The trick is sorting out fact from fiction and reliability and honesty from lies and bias.

I by no means want to act like all liberals are good people, or that they don't have an agenda. There are bad apples in every barrel. The problem for me, lately, is that it seems more and more it is the conservatives who are pushing agendas full of dangerous bias and discrimination. I have always believed that we should err on the side of giving people more rights. I don't see that happening, and the more freedoms aI see restricted, the more I worry.