Monday, January 21, 2008
MLK,Jr. Day
While LK & I were road tripping to family this holiday we listened to Parting the Waters: American in the King Years, 1954-63 and Pillar of Fire : America in the King Years 1963-65 (America in the King Years) by Taylor Branch. These books give great context for the political and the social changes that MLK,Jr helped usher in.
Branch claimed that King was influenced by Reinhold Niebuhr the Protestant Theologian best known for his relating his faith to the reality of politics, and for his work on just war theory, as much as he was influenced by Gandhi.
One wonders what MLK,Jr. would think of the role of religion and politics today.
Branch claimed that King was influenced by Reinhold Niebuhr the Protestant Theologian best known for his relating his faith to the reality of politics, and for his work on just war theory, as much as he was influenced by Gandhi.
One wonders what MLK,Jr. would think of the role of religion and politics today.
Labels: Jr., Martin Luther King, politics, Reinhold Niebuhr, religion
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Which is worse?
The campaign pundon'ts are having at it (sort of): Which is worse: Racism or Sexism? And, since most of these pundon'ts are male, they have arrived at the answer: racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Labels: misogyny, politics, racism, sexism
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sleeping at Night or Flip Flopping Away
I am not sure how some people sleep at night, except that I do know that there sure are a lot of commercials for sleep aids on the telly--well there are also a lot of ads for erectile dysfunction and restless leg syndrome ;there must be a crude Craig joke here somewhere :) .
I am not only writing about the presidential hopefuls who seem to change their positions depending on either who they are addressing, or who is holding the money, but sitting politicos.
The President -that lame duck who seems to be doing more harm everyday, yet the Dems who were elected to at least put a check on his unilateral power grab, and end that very expensive hunt for WMDs (oh, sorry, that was 3+ years ago reason for invading Iraq) have done NOTHING.
And when the people try to voice their opinions--they are relegated to "free speech zones." If there was a major protest in Washington, for instance would most of America even know about it? Or if some other crucial to our nation's democracy was happening, would we know about it?The news stations have a habit of becoming "All Britney/Paris/Nicole/and once again, OJ, All the time."
Here's a link to George Lakoff's latest piece on issue framing
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/17/3899/
I am not only writing about the presidential hopefuls who seem to change their positions depending on either who they are addressing, or who is holding the money, but sitting politicos.
The President -that lame duck who seems to be doing more harm everyday, yet the Dems who were elected to at least put a check on his unilateral power grab, and end that very expensive hunt for WMDs (oh, sorry, that was 3+ years ago reason for invading Iraq) have done NOTHING.
And when the people try to voice their opinions--they are relegated to "free speech zones." If there was a major protest in Washington, for instance would most of America even know about it? Or if some other crucial to our nation's democracy was happening, would we know about it?The news stations have a habit of becoming "All Britney/Paris/Nicole/and once again, OJ, All the time."
Here's a link to George Lakoff's latest piece on issue framing
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/17/3899/
Labels: framing issues, media, politics
