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.

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading

Make America Great Again, please

Elect a Democrat…  or a Republican that is not a racist or a religious nut.

CBC had a good documentary on last night: “The Mad World of Donald Trump”.  His slogans stir up the latent anger in Americans.  Conservatives have a fear of  change, where liberals have hope for  change.  The conservatives in America who love Trump now, might be the ones most angry at him later. Continue reading

Politically correct

Trump supporters are said to like him because he “tells it like it is”, and “says things people think but don’t say”, and of course because he is not “politically correct.”  If you define yourself as politically incorrect, what is actually happening to you beyond people speaking up and calling you out on it?  Are there laws about thought and attitude being passed?

Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015.  REUTERS/Dominick Reuter

Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter

Continue reading