Tag: politics

Protests, First Night and Boston Getting it Wrong

I’ll tell you right up front as I start this that I’m as much of a fan of First Night here in Boston as I am of the 4th of July.  Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I hate the crowds and accompanying stupidity for both just as much, but what the 4th stands for matters more to me.  And, I’ve never been able to figure out why they call the celebration of the last night of the year First Night.

Anyway, New Year’s Eve here in Boston is celebrated with a giant city-wide party.  You can buy a button that will get you into all kinds of things for free.  There are concerts, ice sculptures, fireworks, skating, dancing, face painting, puppet shows, museums, all sorts of things.  The list is almost endless and it is entirely impossible to do it all in one evening.  This has been happening as long as I’ve been living here and, though it nearly went bankrupt and stopped happening a year or so ago, it is back with a vengeance now.

Enter politicians and police to screw it all up.

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When good causes go awry

Good people make mistakes.  It happens.  No one is perfect.  How we acknowledge those mistakes, and how we try to make amends, that is what’s critical to getting along with everyone, especially those who are harmed by our mistakes.  It makes a world of difference whether we recognize the harm we sometimes do as individuals, as organizations, and even as nations.

And that is why it truly pains me to see groups that I believe in make bad, even horrible mistakes, and then fail to do the right thing afterward.  It is just heartbreaking.  And lately it seems like it is one after another.

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@amandapalmer, @neilhimself, & @GeorgeWBush walk into a bar…

Neil & Amanda sit down and have a drink.  George says OW.

Ok, bad joke.  But it was inspired by this tweet from Goodreads this afternoon.

11.6.14 Goodreads Twitter

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Please vote today, everyone

I loved George Carlin,  and I thought he was a brilliant comic and social commentator.  But on one major point, I have always vehemently disagreed with him…

voting.

Your vote matters.  Because EVERY vote matters.

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So much going on this past week. Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Perhaps, now that things are finally starting to calm down somewhat (and I am getting some sleep), I can get back to posting regularly on here.  It has been an eventful week.

First, a hearty congratulations to my nephew Will, who earned his Eagle Scout rank this week.  He worked hard for it, and deserves a lot of credit for being a pretty disciplined young man.  He was also fortunate to get a lot of support from friends and family, especially his mom (my sister Liz) and his dad (my brother-in-law Dan).   He’ll be off for college next year.  Eeek, I am old.

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So… Scotland… I hear you might be single soon…

Wow.  Just, wow.

I am amazed, truly amazed, that this movement for Scotland to gain independence may actually succeed after all.  The referendum is set to take place this Thursday.

And it is an extremely complicated issue, one that I would imagine the overwhelming majority of Americans (including myself) understand very little, outside of having seen the superb (but historically inaccurate) movie Braveheart.

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Today’s Craigslist Horror

Regular readers will know that I use the Free section on Craigslist to amuse myself.  As today is a sort of vacation day for me, I popped over there just now to see if there was anything funny worth tweeting.  I found something absolutely totally and completely NOT worth tweeting.  It was so awful, especially in light of all of the horrible racist atrocities happening in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere right now, that it merited its own blog post.

What could possibly be that bad you might ask?  I’ll show you.  Be prepared.

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Whitesplaining- don’t do it

I’ve been in a couple of situations lately I’ve witnessed the racial equivalent of Mansplaining.  That is, Whitesplaining.  In short, it’s when a white person explains to a non-white person how they should react to the use of a particular racially loaded term or epithet.  It also happens when a white person explains how non-white people should react to said to said terminology in an all white group.  In short, “this should offend you/them more or less than that” or, “that shouldn’t offend you/them at all.”

Awesome.

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I am a Second Class Citizen – This is what I am going to do about it

Today the Supreme Court decided to enshrine in law the idea that 1) if you are a rich, business owning, angry, ostensibly christian white man you are sexist special and 2) if you are a woman you’re not a real person.  God forbid you be a person of color, non-Christian, and female, war has just been declared on you.

Coupled with the unanimous decision from last week that killed the 35-foot buffer zones around women’s clinics that provide abortion, among other services, I’m ashamed to be an American right now.  Free speech, my ass.

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Yes, you can be a man and a feminist

Feminism does not exist because women want special treatment or special rights.  It exists because even after nearly a century of suffrage and other societal reforms, women still do not have a truly equal position in our society.  Not an opinion, fact.  There are still a lot of people out there convinced that women should not have any roles in society outside the kitchen or the bedroom: they shouldn’t vote or run for office; that they shouldn’t be in the military or serve in combat; that they shouldn’t get an education; that they shouldn’t be single mothers; they they shouldn’t be able to practice birth control; that they shouldn’t be in the workplace, much less executives or political leaders; and that they should always be subservient to men.

Go ahead, Google any of these ideas and concepts I just listed and see what you find.  See the kinds of people defending these ideas.  Be prepared to turn over a few rocks and see what’s underneath.

I don’t recommend doing it on a full stomach.

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