Current Events

[pugmama]

So many people and animals have been affected by this oil spill. I am sickened by all of it! Even before this current spill, I've been upset that our government wants to drill in our oceans and in Alaska.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04134.html


I can sit here and complain all day, and that won't do much good. What I did do is draft a letter to my senators and send them my thoughts. They are supposed to speak for me, and vote with me in mind. Now they will know what I think and how I feel about this huge issue.

It was very easy to find my senators, I just googled "senator [my state]", clicked, the contact button was very easy to find, I pasted my letter, hit send, and off it went.

[pisquita]

I learned about this in the morning, such a tragic event
http://www.spinner.com/2010/08/20/swell-season-suicide/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Spinner+%28Spinner.com%29

[Stephanie]

^^^Oh my god! That is really terrible! Who would want to do that to themselves? Especially at a Swell Season concert?

[kookie21]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ero-mosque

charlie is a journalist, comic writer and broadcaster - he doesnt take any shit - as this article comes across as proving. he is though, very funny with his observations...

[galtuesday]

Somebody please remind me that it is really 2010...

This story made my physically nauseous. People can donate here.

I seriously don't even know what to say about crap like this.

[zipthistle]

Somebody please remind me that it is really 2010...

This story made my physically nauseous. People can donate here.

I seriously don't even know what to say about crap like this.

There are no words...

[PJ]

wow just wow.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/pros ... se-victim/

[Stephanie]

^^^ As a former WI resident and having a lack of confidence in ALL politicians, this does not surprise me.

[colleen1]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... tml?r=news

Filibuster blocking the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. I'm beyond disgusted.

[starkicker]

This is absolutely disgusting: Nazi symbols not noticed before displayed in window


How does something so explicitly connected to the Holocaust just slip through the cracks like that? Even if the symbol weren't clear (and truthfully at first glance I had my reservations -- "it could just be a coincidence that they look the same, after all"), but to have the words Luftwaffe and the Luftwaffe slogan on the shirt as well?? Oi.

~It's 19 in the 40s sometime what be it of a girl who's in the way of all the race they're runing? She can almost hear them now, she closes up her eyes but just the same. She hears their boots and knows that her days are short and she'll die before she wakes

[ShadowOnTheWall88]

Did anybody see the Assistant Attorney General from Michigan on Anderson Cooper last night?

[llaura]

You watched that on purpose?

[ShadowOnTheWall88]

You watched that on purpose?

No, it was on repeat during the night. What a sad excuse for a human being.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/28/michig ... tml?hpt=C1

[lookingout86]

I saw a recap of it this morning on CNN...what an a-hole lunatic. At least he's under legal investigation by his office, which has called him immature and unprofessional. I sincerely hope he gets fired, like, today. They also said the student assembly leader probably has enough grounds to sue him. Please, please, please!! What IS it with these types of people??

[Stephanie]

"Satan's representative on the student assembly."

That's so stupid it's funny.

"Mr. Shirvell's personal opinions are his and his alone and do not reflect the views of the Michigan Department of Attorney General"

Well I certainly hope so.

Yeah, this guy needs to step down or get fired. He's entitled to his opinion, but the way he went about it as an Attorney General (and in MY opinion as a human being) is just sick.

[kadtoo19]

Wow, I don't even know what to say about that. After watching that I just felt sad. Wow, just wow.

[kadtoo19]

You watched that on purpose?

Thats funny.

[snowshoe]

what's with all the gay kids offing themselves due to bullying recently? And, how come they are all males? Meaning, I know that bullying exists across the board for gay kids, but I also know that males tend to bully in more overt ways than females do. So, this brings my question to why is it that you don't hear of more gay girl deaths? Are they just not a prevalent, do they just not make the headlines, do they not get bullied as much, or do the victims not just take such drastic measures?

[faye]

I don't have the answers, but it makes me so fecking angry!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/0 ... e_con.html

[starkicker]

I was wondering that myself (with the increase of suicides this month: 4 in the US that have made major news). I've come to a few conclusions on the topic. They're theories and ideas, so obviously open for debate/discussion/argument/disagreement/etc...

1. I imagine that the start of the new school year (for many it's the first month (or so) back to school) has a lot to do with the increased news on this topic. I imagine after a summer off from bullying coming back to it is difficult; why suicide, I don't know.

2. I think it's generally understood that it's more okay for women to be slightly queer. That is, the relationship between girls, especially in high school, is very different from the relationship between boys. Also, it's endearing for a female to act boy-ish. It's a phase, or she's athletic, or she's tough, but by no means does acting a little less femme and a little more butch point to a problem in women. Because of our cultural stereotypes and the powers that be, a male who acts more feminine is 'inherently defective' -- this of course speaks to our cultural views of masculinity and femininity. For us (as a society) to say that it's okay for a woman to be like a man, but absolutely not okay for a man to be like a woman shows just how much we devalue the feminine and how much we value the masculine (not a man-hating feminist rant, for the record, just an observation about gender inequality).

3. (warning: theory, not fact, open for debate. could be wrong on this poing). . .
Not to essentialize based on gender (because that would be wrong), but boys and girls do seem to bully/tease differently. Boys are very upfront in their bullying. This often takes the form of physical and verbal abuse first which has a negative effect on the psychological/emotional (physical and verbal move into emotional/psychological). girls, it seems, primarily stick with emotional and psychological (they are more "caddy") bullying. This is not harmless (as any girl who was treated this way in high school), but it is, for the most part, more livable than all forms of abuse. There are, as always, exceptions to this idea.

4. Lesbians are more acceptable than gay men. This connects, in many ways, with point #2 I made. Lesbians are "hot," gay men are "disgusting." It's cultural approaches to homosexuality; many people believe women are lesbians until they find "a real man" but what is the excuse for gay men? They've found a "real man" and if we say they're just gay until they find a "real woman" then that undermines the view of women as passive and puts value on our sexuality (rather than privileging the man's sexuality).

~I'm drunk off your kiss for another night in a row. This is becoming too routine for me, but I didn't mean to lead you on and it's alright to pretend that we still talk. It's just for show isn't it, it's my fault that it fell apart

[Mis]

I think you hit all the nails on the head there, Starkicker.

Jen, the sad thing is, this isn't new. For whatever reason, it's just been reported more lately. There are almost weekly stories of gay teen suicide, or of hate crime violence against these kids, in a number of the gay news publications that I read. I hope that if nothing else, this wakes people up to the fact that kids are really, really struggling and need support - ESPECIALLY at schools. For chrissakes, figuring out sex is weird and difficult enough when you're young...but when you're gay...it could get you beaten up or killed. As someone who had a full beer bottle hurled at her head in college for turning down a guy who didn't like the reason I wouldn't give him my number, I can attest to this.

We need to keep making noise about this, guys. This shouldn't be happening in 2010.

[mamahippy]

My daughter's school has an anti-bullying policy. However, it doesn't really deal with kids calling others (usually boys) gay. That still seems to be acceptable for some reason.

Also, there is a stigma for girls being too much like boys - Lydia is embarrassed to admit she likes Legos because she is afraid of being labeled a tomboy.

[snowshoe]

The sad thing is, I don't know how you can really stop it. Kids are so crafty and will always be bullying even if they know what they are doing is inherently wrong. A friend of mine is a teacher and one of her co-workers is getting sued over "racial discrimination" (meaning that kids in the school were making fun of her for being African American) and the teachers apparently did nothing about it. But, from an Administrative standpoint, how can you punish what you don't see, what you don't have proof of unless you see it? As well, if it's a gay related issue, if a kid is already hesitant about being bullied, sometimes the fear of telling the teacher to get those kids in trouble is enough to make him even bullied more.

Some kid will always be an ass. It's always happened and I fear it always will, it doesn't make it right. I think the only way to make this problem less prevalent is more gay social acceptance. This will come with more gays in the media in positive light, the right for gay marriage, and more or less - more of those bullies having gay people in their life. Sadly though, you can't really control stuff like that. What you can do though is enforce the message, just like that Dan Savage thing, that it does get better, there is a while wide world out here once you get out of school and you can make your life the life you want it to be. But, when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they hate you, you're gonna believe them ... and that acceptance seems like everything.

[Renegade_Pilgrim]

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/i ... ol_di.html

This is obviously a case of bullying, not racial discrimination. However, there are two sides to every story, so I am interested to see what comes of the lawsuit and if the school district decides to settle. If they do, then there is probably some truth to it. Quite honestly, I am not surprised, considering Oregon's "whiteness" and history of blatant racism. Does that make it right, no. But until we learn our history, we can't change our future. Too many of us think we are such a "liberal" place to live. Well, historically, that is not the case. You'd never know it since it's all been pushed under the rug. Racism in Oregon is not in your face like other parts of the country. It's more discreet, which makes it even worse.

[starkicker]

@mamahippy: I agree; I don't know many young girls that want to/like to be labelled a tomboy -- but it's far more acceptable to be a tomboy than it is to be (the term is escaping me, but basically) a feminine boy.
I wish I could say let's just do away with gendered stereotypes (specifically in education systems), but that's damn near impossible based on the curriculum I've seen -- especially in the younger grades. If we as a society starting stripping away the cultural biases that come with gender -- stop gendering our children with colours, toys, behaviours -- and just let them figure things out I think we'd have a lot more happier, healthier kids and it's certainly a step in the right direction to dealing with issues of sexuality.

Playing with lego is awesome and I totally don't understand why it's a "boys" toy! My partner still plays with lego!


@snowshoe: Again, I agree. It's a matter of visibility -- to some extent; but people aren't born homophobic, this is culturally and socially taught. Visibility in the media can help with culturally, but a big part of it is social as well -- this comes from parents, other adults, and the education system. What I think there needs to be is a "genders" or "equality" component to classes. call this class what you will (most call it women's studies, gender studies, sexuality studies, etc...), but the basic model of this class would be to teach kids about difference and that it's OKAY. and from an early age. A component like this would also bring up issues of sex/sexuality, gender, equality, race, all the things we're pretty much too afraid to talk about.
But you can't just rely on teachers to do this. In fact, parents are a huge road block to a lot of this. The province of Ontario try to create a new component to elementary and high school education that included, among other things, discussions of sex/sexuality, gender studies etc... and parents got their panties so in a twist the government backed down a few days later and said they'd "re-evaluate it" Not only that kind of road block where they stop anything before it even happens, but what happens when Little Jimmy gets mixed messages between school and home?

As for bullying, there needs to be legislation. I'm usually not all for adding more laws to an already overburdened legal system (in North America anyway), but this is something that flies in the face of civil liberties, human rights, and boarders on issues of harassment, abuse, and other already existing laws.

~sex sells everything, but I don't buy it