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Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

Freedom of Speech

Posted in Rants on December 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been avoiding social media this week because of the Duck Dynasty fiasco.  It’s not because I harbor any ill will against Phil Robertson.  I generally find him amusing (or at least I did, before reading his unsettling remarks about how he could tell the slaves were happy because they were singing…that gives me considerable pause), and I have watched and enjoyed the show.  I mean, I have absolutely zero need for duck calls or any hunting-related paraphernalia in my life, but the show is entertaining, for what it is.

I’m not even shocked by his statements.  For a white man his age who grew up and has lived his whole life in the South, those are unfortunately not unusual opinions.  Horrible and wrong, sure.  But not unusual.  In order to despise him, I would have to despise most of the elderly people I know, and I’m not prepared to do that.

What, then, irks me beyond my tolerance threshold when situations like this arise?  Seeing statements such as this – “I guess A&E doesn’t believe in freedom of speech.”- in my Facebook feed.

*sigh*

Once again, the Internet has been faithful to reveal the piss-poor state of our educational system by throwing out hot button phrases such as “freedom of speech” and “violation of rights” in order to rile people up without going to the bothersome trouble of learning what those freedoms actually entail and what those rights actually are.

So let’s discuss what the First Amendment says about your freedom of speech.

The First Amendment, truncated for our purposes (but you can read the whole thing here if you want) states, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.”

That is the entirety of what the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees you as a citizen regarding freedom of speech.  With very few exceptions, you can say what you want to say, and it is not against the law.

It protects you from being arrested for simply speaking your mind.  That would be a violation of your rights.

It protects you from being imprisoned for what you say.  That would be a violation of your rights.

It protects you from the law – that is, the government – not from private entities such as individual citizens or, say, a television network.

It protects you from legal ramifications.  I suppose, of course, that a person or company could sue you, but, provided that what you said cannot be proven to be libel or slander (examples of those exceptions I mentioned), they would not win unless you have a stunningly crapulous attorney and an idiot judge, because for them to win such a case would be a violation of your rights.

Now let’s discuss some things from which it does not protect you.

It does not protect you from people disagreeing with you and saying so.  That’s just other people exercising their freedom of speech.

It does not protect you from criticism.  Again, that’s just other people having the same rights as you do.

It does not protect you from a professor throwing you out of class when you say something disrespectful or otherwise inappropriate, and the professor gets to decide what is appropriate and what is not, because the professor is the one who is held responsible for what happens in his or her classroom.

And finally, it does not protect you from being reprimanded, suspended, or even fired when you say something that opposes the values of your employer, especially if you, knowing that your values differ, are dumb enough to say it at work, in a highly public forum (for example, an interview to which you were invited specifically because of your job), or while being recorded and/or reported.  That is not a violation of your rights.  That is your employer being true to the values to which they have committed, regardless of what it might cost them in terms of viewers or money.That is your employer exhibiting integrity, and their response to your behavior is called consequence, not persecution.

It could be argued that speaking one’s religious convictions is worth whatever consequences it might bring.  That is a generous way to look at this situation.  This cynic has questions, though.  If one’s convictions on an issue are really so strong, would one work for an organization that not only blatantly disagrees with those convictions but also actively asserts its opposition to them?  If one is truly concerned with taking a stand, can one still in good conscience take a paycheck from said organization?  If the answer to either of these questions is yes, in word or deed, I have a hard time believing the conviction is real.  I find it more likely that the so-called conviction is really more of a publicity stunt or an offhand, thoughtless comment.  It makes it look more like he was just trying to use his privilege (because being famous and being paid to say things on TV and to reporters are indeed privileges, not rights) to promote his platform, and it backfired.

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Unpopular Opinion of the Day

Posted in Rants on November 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

So, a lot of people have used “literally” wrong.  They will say “literally” when they actually mean “figuratively.”  So many people have done this that dictionary.com includes this caveat in their definition of literally [my commentary in brackets, because I just can’t help myself]:

“Usage note: Since the early 20th century, literally has been widely used as an intensifier meaning “in effect; virtually,” a sense that contradicts the earlier meaning ‘actually, without exaggeration’: The senator was literally buried alive in the Iowa primaries.  The parties were literally trading horses in an effort to reach a compromise.  The use is often criticized [*ahem*]; nevertheless, it appears in all but the most carefully edited [read: literate] writing.”

This is annoying to me.

But it’s not nearly as annoying as the disturbing trend, seen mostly on Twitter, of saying, “What the actual fuck…”

Do they mean that?  Do they REALLY?  Because what I imagine when they say/tweet this is an unfortunate scenario where they were just walking along, minding their own business, when BAM – people suddenly copulating right there on the ground in front of them.

Because that’s what “actual” means, kids.  That whatever follows is literally (the traditional usage) what happened.

I mean, if it is what actually happened, then by all means, report that shit (figurative).  If something like spontaneous public sex happens right in front of you, all of Twitter needs to hear about it, because that is indeed remarkable and the exact sort of thing for which Twitter was created.

But let’s stop saying “actual” and “literally” when we mean the opposite. Let’s talk/tweet like we actually know the language.

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Longing for Fall

Posted in Rants, Seasons, Work on August 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It’s so hot here.  I know I should be used to it.  I’ve lived in Texas my whole life.  But every year, it’s surprising that it’s so very, very hot and that humans are actually expected to live and work in it.

It’s also the first week of classes.  Living and working just got active.

I see the words “Fall 2013” on my syllabus, and I look outside and think, “LIES!”

I want to do all the Fall things:

I want to see pumpkins at the farmers’ market.  I want to pick some out for carving and soup-making and seed-roasting and pie-baking and puree-canning.

I want apples to be in season here.  I want bushels of them, again, for pie-baking and soup-making, but also for applesauce and having the smell of roasting apples in the house.

I want to go to my one football game of the year and remember halfway through it when the buzz from tailgating wears off that I don’t really like football.

I want to start getting invitations to Halloween parties.  I already have costume ideas.

I want to see the leaves turn on that one tree that doesn’t know that it’s in Texas and that trees don’t really do that here so much, so it goes ahead and turns anyway.

I want Thanksgiving.  It’s my favorite.

So I anticipate the changing of the wind, and I long for apple cider and other warm, snuggling drinks to show up on menus at my favorite coffee shop.

See you soon, Fall!

 

 

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Unholy morning

Posted in Church, Rants on August 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

I’m unsettled this morning.

Maybe it’s residue from saying too many feelings about too many true things yesterday.

Maybe it’s the three shared “inspirational” photos that I saw in the first five minutes of scrolling through my Facebook feed with captions simultaneously telling me how to get a man (put all of your energy into becoming the mighty – but not too mighty, because then how will you be a submissive wife – woman of God you are eventually supposed to be so that you can actually be lovable) but how not to worry about it in the process (just focus on God – don’t think about it – don’t look for a guy.  Just.  Focus.  On. God.).  Then God will knight-in-shining-armor his way in and give you the desires of your heart (i.e., a husband, which is still your desire…only deep, deep down – because you’re not thinking about it, if you’re Doing It Right).

Maybe I just need more coffee.

My gut reaction to these posts in the past has been to scoff at the fresh-faced, dewy-eyed, child couple in the photo.  You know, the couple who look like they weren’t even old enough to toast each other legally at the reception.  My old crone reaction used to be, “It’s easy to wait for a husband when you’re twelve.”  And I still feel that tugging at my mind, particularly when I am being given unsolicited advice from people twenty years younger than I am.  Also, God is not a gumball machine.  You don’t put in your time and pull out a spouse.  That’s not how it works.

But then I remember when I was twelve (and eighteen and twenty-five and thirty), and it wasn’t easy.  Nothing was easy about twelve.

Uncertainty and relationships – maintaining the ones you have and longing for the ones you lack – are never easy.

I don’t want to frighten anyone, but it doesn’t get easier as you get older.  At least the longing part doesn’t.  It’s never easy to be without something you want.  It doesn’t hurt any less.  You don’t get used to it.

There can be grace and joy in the midst of your lack.  Your life doesn’t have to be all about finding someone to share it.  Please let there be more to your life than this.  You really are enough – at every age.

There are also unholy mornings, when you’re done with temporary roommates, but you want someone to be there when you get home, so that every magic thing of your day doesn’t die unspoken when you go to sleep.

These are the mornings that I want to call in sick, go back to bed, and hide from the world.

These are the mornings when it is especially important not to do that.

So hello, world.  Hello, my unholy morning.

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FemFest Day Two: Why It Matters

Posted in Church, Feminism, Hope, Rants, Work on February 27, 2013| 4 Comments »

{Day 2} Why It Matters: On Wednesday, February 27, link up at Danielle Vermeer’s blog, and write about these questions: What is at stake in this discussion? Why is feminism important to you? Are you thinking about your children or your sisters or the people that have come before you? Or, why do you not like the term? What are you concerned we’re not focusing on or we’re losing sight of when we talk about feminism? Why do you feel passionately about this topic?

Feminism is important to me, because I can’t do it alone. I need the world to want equality in both word and deed – for everyone. And I need feminism, because lately, I’ve been angry.

I want to be hopeful, and I am (sort of) – it’s just not the prevalent force in my life that I want it to be.

I am angry that…

– Too many women still have to work harder to earn the same respect, money, position, or insert-your-desired-compensation-for-work-here that men do, and that’s ridiculous. Don’t know any woman who has had that experience? Welcome to me. I can name four specific times in the last ten years of my career when I have been passed over for a job, only to find out that the man who got the job not only had less education than I do but more importantly, significantly less experience. And I would like to be able to say that those specific men chosen performed those jobs just as well as I would have, so it all worked out, but that’s only true of one of them (who was great at it, and I’m so glad that he got the job). The other three performed exactly how any rational person would expect someone with their limited skills and experience to perform. It’s frustrating enough to lose a job where I know I’d be an asset, but to lose it to someone who does not excel at it is maddening. I’m not naïve enough to think that the choice to hire them rather than me was merely institutional sexism – there were probably many factors involved, some of which were likely my own doing – but I am also not naïve enough to believe that sexism wasn’t one of the factors. And it needs to stop being one of the factors.

I don’t want to seem ungrateful. I do have two jobs that I generally like, while a lot of people are having problems finding any job at all. And there could be more cards stacked against me. I could be a woman AND a minority. I suppose I should see myself as one of the lucky ones. But do you really want to defend the position that working sixty hours a week, just to make ends meet, is lucky? Is that what a system that works looks like to you? That’s certainly not what it looks like to me, and that it works even less for some people than for others is wrong.

– Too many people are bound by rigid, socially constructed gender roles, and their unhappiness that they can’t seem to conform to them, despite constant pressure from church/family/media/society to do so, is unnecessary. I want a world where people can grow into themselves, especially the part of the self where their gender makes sense to them, without being told who they should be and being punished for violating some absurd norm from some imaginary world that was birthed so that the limited number of people who actually fit the stereotypes could feel superior.

– Too many people live in fear. I hate rape culture. I hate that, as a single woman living alone, I have had to take self-defense classes, and that I have various tools that can easily be used as weapons (and yes, I’ve practiced) stashed around my home, and that I have an escape plan – from my own damn home – the place that should be the safest place in the whole world for me – should it become compromised or violated. I hate that I am terrified that I just announced on the Internet that I am a single woman living alone. I hate that education on the subject tends to focus on how not to get raped instead of how to choose not to rape, assuming that prevention is a lost cause or worse – assuming that some people somehow deserve to be degraded. I hate that, twenty years after being a first-year college student myself, our culture is still so stunted in its awareness of this problem that I still have to explain to first-year college students why it matters whether or not they laugh at jokes about rape or abuse – why it is a big deal, always and every time –that that’s how desensitization works and that the complacency created by their desensitization is a big part of said problem. I hate that survivors of violence and abuse are silenced because their real and personal trauma seems like nothing but a big joke to our culture, which leads them to think that no one cares or will believe them and that, more often that you would believe, they’re absolutely right. I hate that rape culture is “just the way the world is,” and I refuse to let it stay that way.

– Too many people – mostly women and girls – are sold into slavery. I need feminism, because sex trafficking exists, and that’s not okay. I need feminism, because it pisses me off to live in a world where I have to say that sex trafficking – specifically, the selling of someone without her/his free consent (i.e., without threat of punishment, abuse, homelessness, ostracism, personal rejection, etc.) – is not okay. I need feminism because this is a problem in my country, in my state, not just “elsewhere.” And if somehow you manage to live in this world and you still didn’t know that, then you need feminism, too, because clearly your churches and your classrooms aren’t even talking about it, and that’s a problem.

– Too much of the world has too many problems, and too few people are whole enough to see far enough outside themselves to resolve them. There are people whose lives are defined by realities that I merely fear. There are people who work themselves to death and still go hungry and homeless. There are people who have to resort to illegal means or means that we, the richest 1% in the world, judge from afar as unethical in order to feed their family, because making an honest living doesn’t actually make a living at all (but it sure does make it possible for us to get great deals at Walmart, so for all our judgment, it seems that, once again, we’re the problem). There are people plagued by disease and poverty who have a voice but don’t have anyone to listen to it. We need to stop being selfish, sexist, controlling, thieving, abusive assholes to one another, because the world needs all the help it can get, and there are only so many hours in a day, and sometimes it’s too much to ask that we overcome our trauma and everyone else’s trauma, too. I am embarrassed that I ever accept that as an excuse not to try.

I am angry that people can see problems right in front of them, hurting people they claim to love,and still not understand or care.

I am angry, because I REFUSE to be apathetic, and most days, those seem like the only two choices.

I’m fed up. I’m tired. I could have written this post twenty years ago, because so little has changed. That’s exhausting. It’s disheartening to work so hard – to teach so much – and see it make so little difference. And I’ve only been at it twenty years. I think of those who have worked toward these goals for two or three times as long as I have, and I sometimes wonder how they get out of bed in the morning.

But between Jesus and feminism (which I suspect Jesus has a bit of a hand in), I have learned how to hope, so I can’t wait until I’m fixed to help others. There might be many pains outside our control, but there are enough pains that are fully within our grasp to alleviate or prevent. So let’s alleviate or prevent them. Let’s all cause each other less trauma. I need feminism (and my Jesus who taught it to me), because at its core is the theme that everyone benefits not only by our being less terrible to one another but also by our being good to one another.

So I am angry. But there is hope. Reading other FemFest posts this week has refreshed some of that hope in me. More on that tomorrow.

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Construction is not constructive

Posted in Rants on January 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I get that constructions sites are loud.  I really do.  I don’t expect that the construction next to my apartment will never be heard.  I even understand that it will get REALLY loud and that this cannot be helped.  You know, because of physics.

But would it kill the construction workers to be a little considerate?  Is it too much to ask that they take into account that people live there?

Is it really so much to ask that they keep their stuff (e.g., their trucks, supplies, etc.) on their construction site and not in the middle of the street (or, more importantly, in my preferred parking space on said street)?

Is it really so much to ask that they give us notice when they are going to shut down the street?

Do they have to yell at someone across the site, who probably can’t hear them anyway (see: OMG THE NOISE) at 7:00 in the damn morning?  Haven’t they heard of texting?  You can put those things on vibrate, you know.

And most of all, how difficult would it really be to hire about five times as many people so that they can get shit done and go the hell away faster, thus avoiding the apparent need to spend a whole year completely ruining my previously peaceful (read: the whole reason I moved there in the first place) neighborhood with their noise?

One of these days, I am going to flip out when one of them asks me to move my car.  I will exhibit extreme levels of batshit crazy, because that is precisely where their existence next to my home has driven me.  They will stare at me incredulously, but I will not care, and it will not slow down the crazy.

Sometimes, I fantasize that one of them gets hurt.  Not badly, of course, but enough to bleed a bit and maybe require stitches.  I would call 911 for them, but I would giggle, too.  Because karma is a funny bitch, and that’s what you get for being inconsiderate.

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