Hypocrisy in the War on Women's Health

Why does hypocrisy look like it's spelled wrong? Odd... alskdjf--okay just making sure the red dots still show up when I misspell something... MOVING RIGHT ALONG


First of all- we live in a beautiful world. I feel like we all forget that from time to time because of how much we seem to mess it up or bring it down with negativity.


But now... drum roll please... the topic of this blog post:


The Hypocrisy in the War on Women's Healthy.


So today I see, on reddit, that conservatives are trying to attack birth control by using the linguistic strategy of adequation (or the construction of socially recognized likeness [Bucholtz and Hall 2004]). This is done through the linkage of the term "abortion" to ALL birth controls, though birth controls are, generally, not considered abortions. Specifically, they (CPAC members) suggest calling the Obama administrations birth-control-coverage mandate an "abortion mandate." 


Now, conservatives have a long history of using this type of political adequation successfully to their advantage. We've seen the construction of sameness across the "terrorism" scope, as the perpetrators of 9/11 were linked with Saddam Hussein of Iraq to successfully undergo a (n unnecessary?) war. We've seen intelligence demoralized as elitism or "wishy-washyness." Point is, although I do think these methods are f#$%ed up, I understand some people truly believe they're making the world a better place. I mean... manipulation is wrong, but whatever. That's politics. Living in such a large country, I don't think anyone could get anything done without tools of persuasion. 


Now--the hypocrisy. Back to the issue at hand: birth control as abortion. Although I am a pretty diehard agnostic (I believe I even go as far as extremist har har) and I believe a person's body is their own to do with as they wish, I also understand that some people truly believe birth control and abortion is horribly wrong for whatever reasons. Yes, though I am pro-choice, pro-lifers make sense to me. At least the ones who get really sad about a little baby not being given the chance to make it in this crazy mixed up world. And--full disclosure--I've never actually been put in the position to have to make a personal decision on that. But, I also think that's the beauty of being prochoice; the acknowledgement that it is a woman's body (still) and her own decision on what to do with herself. 


Those individuals who do not want any birth control pills to be legal are basically saying any one having sex should have babies. Now, I think a lot of us can agree that some conservatives (and liberals, I'm sure) are living in La-La Land, hope that one day all those individuals engaging in sexual intercourse will be good little heterosexual couples in a happily married relationship. Yeah. That definitely seems likely... 


Now, those of you who do not believe in birth control, are you going to keep fighting for those children's rights once they are existing in our own reality? Are you going to willingly contribute the (most likely) NECESSARY mandated social programs, such as education, healthcare etc... that these children will need? I'm guessing, based on the whiney b*tching and complaining we hear from the right about "entitlement programs" and "paying for some fat kids healthcare," you will not take responsibility for the situation that your very conservative policies created... Think about it! If you have a right to determine what happens to a woman's body, or, more broadly, what happens in the American citizen's bedroom, taking away their own personal freedoms and individual rights, then you are claiming a sort of collective existence. That same stance should translate to a "we've all in this together!" attitude when those same children need support that their mother may not be able to provide. If we all have the group responsibility to dictate what happens in all the bedrooms or dark alleys of all the sexual situations, then we also have a group responsibility to accomodate the repercussions of these situations.


Adequation my friends... real-life adequation. 






The article on the "abortion mandate": http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/10/1063663/-Conservatives-suggest-defeating-birth-control-by-calling-it-abortion-No-nbsp-really-


A cool clip on the hypocrisy of adequation AND distinction: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-11-2011/lactate-intolerance

The Holidays from an agnostic perspective

Food. Gifts. Giving. Family. Friends. Lazy afternoons. Warm fires.

The holidays seem pretty great to me. Like I've written about previously, the thing that annoys me is the random preaching that comes out of the woodwork. People try to claim religious monopolies on Christmas.

I mean... Let's just enjoy time off! 

Rick Perry's "Strong"

Recently, a campaign video for Rick Perry went viral over the internet. The clip spread like wildfire because viewers noticed the ridiculous contradictory "logic" and hateful message employed by Perry.


This was Perry's message:

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. 

As President, I'll end Obama's war on religion. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. 

Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. 

I'm Rick Perry and I approve this message.

The first segment of the text, "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian..." asserts Perry's view that a large number of individuals are Christian, but do not speak out regarding their religious beliefs because of feeling "ashamed." 

He then claims that the majority of the Christian public, no matter how devout, can see a correlation of moral inconsistency when: 

…gays can serve openly in the military

But…our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.

Uhmm... What? How is dropping a discriminatory policy regarding admittance into the armed forces related to family religious rituals and prayer in school?

If anything, their is a correlation between tolerance in the military, and tolerance in the school. Not all religions pray and not all individual's are religious, so why force prayer onto a public institution? 

The "liberal attacks" are NOT "on your religious heritage"... the "liberal attacks" are on religious intolerance and those pushing for an American state that forces one dominant religion onto it's citizens: aka RELIGIOUS ASSIMILATION. Children not praying in school is to protect the religious heritage of ALL the people in the school, not just the Christians. 

No, Rick Perry. Just... No. 

Potential Projects

I think one really cool thing about anthropology is the attempt to tell people's stories, to capture their voices as objectively as possible. Too often qualitative data is discouraged in favor of easy to analyze statistical information. Stats are easier to make decisions based off of. Ah, column B is larger. Clearly we must find a way to raise the values within column A. (Er... whatever).

Voices are real. They illustrate the complexities, individualities and vast dynamics of any given situation, problem or reality. There are so many circumstances where just listening might bring decision makers, politicians, or whoever holds the power to bring about change (everyone and anyone) to better understand an issue, leading to a more informed decision making process.

However, I'm beginning to have TOO MANY goals within the anthropological realm. I have a project in the works, involving Sudan and the ongoing violence within the region, but I'd also like to capture the voices of women dealing with weight issues in America. Both issues are often framed with statistics, western ideologies and broad, sweeping judgements. Where are the voices of those truly living within these realms? I want to explore more.

Race, Gender, Sexuality

It's interesting how issues that are socially constructed seem to be more concrete or 'natural' in the eyes of those who prefer simplicity, or subscribe to a strict moral/ethical code. With myself, I love complexity. Being a student in the study of humans and culture (anthropology) it is hard to ignore the various things around us that are accepted as universal facts, but are actually socially constructed.

For example, scientists have proven that race does not exist biologically. Seems simple enough. However, the long historical struggles of oppression and power reaffirm many racist belief systems. Also, humans seem to cluster with those that make them feel comfortable, and the more an individual is conditioned to believe humans are racially divided, the more they are likely to associate mainly with members of their own race. But the truth is, on the inside, our physical makeup, our brain capacity, our athletic ability, we are all given (generally) the same thing. It is just our society that tells us we're different, and conditions us to make us believe it.

Sexuality is much of the same thing. Many other culture's acknowledge more than just two genders. The lines are blurred and the spectrum is extensive. Love is love, and it is something we should be cultivating, sharing and spreading. Hate is the principle we should be condemning and doing our best to eliminate.

We must remain conscious to the truths of the world, and the falsehoods that are spread under the guise of truths to reaffirm institutions of power and oppression.

Religious Imagine On My Bath Mat

Hahaha This is real and it just happened. Obviously its a weird footprint of mine from after my shower, but it looked like such a perfect question mark that I had to share it with the world. 

Censorship/Manipulation

  I think most of us assume that we, as Americans, are able to access a wealth of information because we live in the land of the free. Censorship, we believe, is something those poor citizens of 'other' countries have to endure. How we pity them, those without knowledge of their own ignorance. If only they could understand how much their government/state/elite kept them in the dark.

Oh wait, that happens here too.

Beyond examples that plague us in the broad daylight-- the dismissal of the fact that we stole an entire continent from indigenous peoples, then systematically destroyed most of their population and attempted to destroy their culture-- sneakier examples of censorship and manipulation are taking place.

This article --
http://www.bvblackspin.com/2011/01/14/tea-party-wants-slavery-removed-from-student-textbooks/ -- explains how the tea party is moving to remove slavery from our history books. Quite manipulative, but without much uproar from the people with the censorship of Huck Finn, why not?

Another fact that I find fascinating about the Tea Party is the push for further tax breaks and the support this gets from individuals from the 'working class.' Don't they understand these tax breaks benefit the top percentage of American? Why are they fighting for the benefit of the mega-wealthy when it ultimately leads to further inequality and poverty within their own community, country and world?

Oh the world today...