Why blog?

Every day a new outrage.  So, why blog?  I began in 2014.   Two events: one personal, one political.  A need to, at the very least, shout into the wind.  But with the internet, a new wind tunnel opens up.

I hoped revealing my struggles might touch someone else who is struggling.  There is a whole supportive community now, so we don’t have to be alone.  And comments and conversations tell me it is a good path.

The bigger questions remain.  Inequality, racism, alternative facts, bizarre interpretations of religious texts.  Trump looming over all that is good like a schoolyard bully looking to dominate weakness and to exploit divisions for his own gain.  I thought perhaps I had some good arguments people could use against the bullies in power or to convince those who are uninformed to join the good fight.

But right now everybody and their brother is putting forth those same arguments, and the result is a digging in and doubling down of the ignorant and the privileged.

I’d Like To Ask The Moon Landing Conspiracists…

I want to ask the moon landing conspiracists 3 things…

People Unclear On The Concept: Mother’s Day Edition

Barbara Kay of the National Post admits she has not read The Handmaid’s Tale, nor has she watched the new television show.

“Pious Christians are the last people on earth to dream up a system in which the state has control over everyone’s sexual and reproductive lives…”

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/barbara-kay-the-problem-with-handmaids-tale-is-that-its-not-a-believable-dystopia-its-sci-fi

It’s pretty clear she doesn’t know the story.  In Margaret Atwood’s book, there is a plot reveal halfway or maybe two-thirds of the way into the story that made me foot stomping mad.  Because… of course!  The men in charge of Gilead are certainly not pious, they are hypocritical oligarchs.

Was it surreal?

I like the evolution of language, and I like slang, and new ways of using words specific for the times we live in (i.e. “woke”).

But real words have real meanings.  My ears get tired of the filler words “actually” and “literally” which are often used in the wrong context.

Live

This morning I found out a dear friend lost her young niece by suicide: the permanent solution to a temporary problem.

If you are at all sensitive, perceptive, or empathetic, this world seems very cruel because you are keenly aware of suffering and inequality.  Most of us do not have the power to easily alleviate suffering or correct inequality.  It leads to a state of impotent frustration.

Here are some questions and answers for those pesky white supremacists

Their mantra is Asia for Asians, Africa for Africans, and Europe for Europeans. When someone says that to you, the obvious retort is:  Then you must believe that the Americas and Australia are for Aboriginals!  Then you must believe that European Colonialism was very wrong, and upset the “balance” of the continents!  (Perhaps the Europeans venturing into the other continents set up the history and politics that result in the current immigration from those countries back into Europe.)

Peace be upon you

It has taken almost a week to order my thoughts on the atrocity committed in Québec City on January 29, 2017.  Similar to the Polytechnique Montréal Massacre, I began with denial (this can’t be real) and slowly sank into the realization that of course it is real, and more than that, predictable.

©2001 Marion Pennell

Québecers came out by the thousands to mourn the men: Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry,  Azzeddine Soufiane, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, and Aboubaker Thabti.  The majority of people are sympathetic to the victims and their families and find the actions of the killer deplorable, shameful, and literally hate-filled.

Hate, hate, hate

All around the world, people are loaded with hatred.  Young men in particular are taking their hatred and finding something to align it with (and there are plenty of “causes”) in order to feel justified in expelling their rage.  When recent events have targeted any community you can think of, there is no common target.  The only commonality is hate and rage.

Pulse, Orlando

As if a contest, now the worst mass shooting in US history is the Pulse nightclub killings the early hours of Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando.

As I read many times, if Sandy Hook didn’t change the American culture, nothing will. And even with this death toll, there are sick people on predictable websites making jokes about the fact that gay people were targeted this time.  The people who died had family and friends who cherished them and who are now wounded deeply.

Oscars: Chris Rock Matters

“This year, in the in memoriam package, it’s just going to be black people that were shot on their way to the movies.”

There is no analysis of the Oscars needed beyond reading transcripts of Chris Rock’s monologue, and subsequent bits through the evening.  (Stacey “Clueless” Dash was a you-got -it, or you-didn’t joke.) I’ll cover all 24 awards presented.