So I got on Twitter on Friday just as it was announced that the GOP didn't have the votes, and was so relieved for the sake of friends in the US. It was a good point in the midst of a toxic week.
Women Killing It (where 'It' is the Repeal attempts by the GOP)
Here's the thing; the system may be broken, it may not be perfect, it may not work 100% of the time. But it works for some people; covers the gaps that they can't fill themselves, and the alternatives amount to "just let the sick and poor suffer and die" when the rubber hits the road, which may be okay for some folks, but is not my avenue at all.
--
Sometimes I feel like I'm one of the very few people who ask the question: "But what if tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade, next century isn't like today?"
And most people shrug and don't think about it.
I’m a nonwhite female in a male-dominated job, unmarried, and childless. In the current state of our society, I have all the advantages and few of the disadvantages; if we revert to ‘traditional western values’ and ‘traditional female roles’ then I have zero social status or value. So yes, I’m fully invested in a society that sees women as equal to men and treats them that way, both explicitly and implicitly, in a society that treats someone the same whether they’re pasty pale or ebony-skinned, and in a true meritocracy, where the fact that I can outthink a man doesn’t require me to pander to his ego in recompense for a woman outdoing him.
My white women friends mostly tell me I’m being overdramatic. But they’re white, many of them are married and mothers. That affords them value in “traditional western society” – none of which I would receive if we look at the situation historically. And even my value to the men I know is solely because they know me as an individual; not because the type of person I am is of value - or, in many cases, even worthy of 'personhood'.
So, yes, I worry about the direction western society is trending, urged on by wealthy white guys and people who see value in me as an individual but don’t see people who are 'like me but not me' as worth valuing.
And yes, it’s going to get worse before it gets better - if it gets better.
There have been times and cultures where things got briefly better for a span of years. Women in Tang Dynasty China could own property, choose who they married, and even divorce their husbands. And yet Neo-Confucianism (the historical Chinese equivalent of Neo-Conservatism) rescinded these advances and Chinese history tends to paint the standout women of this time as 'harridans' and 'unwomanly' - at least in literature.
Plus, white people are experiencing and encouraging a resurgence of racist nationalism and a whole bunch of those that aren’t egging it on certainly aren’t standing in its way (see the #NoConfederacy tag). So, yeah, I’m not hopeful about the timeline.
--
I donated to the #Ham4All "Immigrants Get The Job Done" Prizeo and sang one of my favourite songs from Hamilton: "I Know Him". Weirdly, my favourite songs are the King George ones, The Room Where It Happens, Burn, It's Quiet Uptown, and The Election of 1800. I think it's to do with the style. While I appreciate and am in awe of the complexity and cleverness of the rap songs that Miranda has written, I gravitate towards the songs that I can actually sing and are less likely to trip me up.
Anyway, here's me singing "I Know Him", which I call "the 2016 Election remix":
I probably should have linked back to Prizeo.
--
I have a thread in the![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ficpositivity feedback meme.
COME PLAY @ THE [ FIC POSITIVITY FEEDBACK MEME ]
my thread here
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I'm working on another quilt - a commission for a friend's daughter.
That's the first draft. Needs more rainbows, so I've got blocks cut out and will be sewing them tonight.
--
Crossovering is matching!
*crosses fingers*
--
Sometimes I really wonder about all those people who claim the “war on Christianity”. Like, do they know what Christianity actually is? What the Christian church in Acts (which is always pointed to as the one we should identify with) actually did? Acts 3 & 4. “All the believers were as one, and shared all their belongings with each other, so no-one was in need.” Literally nobody I have ever seen wail about the war on Christianity would be good with sharing their belongings with ‘all other believers’ (the term “all other” includes believers in China, Ethiopia, and Syria, as well as people in the poor parts of town that go to church). Like, not one.
Incidentally, Paul points out the very real dangers of capitalist “Christianity” with the oft-misquoted words: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Also: the Reformation? Happened because the church of the time got into bed with politics and didn’t just get corrupted but happily played about in its corruption.
Finally, anyone who understands anything about Jesus’ mission to Earth, and the whole Christ-in-Christianity thing knows that there’s been a war on Christianity ever since Satan failed to convince Jesus that shortcutting his way to glory would get him all gain with no pain.
Women Killing It (where 'It' is the Repeal attempts by the GOP)
Here's the thing; the system may be broken, it may not be perfect, it may not work 100% of the time. But it works for some people; covers the gaps that they can't fill themselves, and the alternatives amount to "just let the sick and poor suffer and die" when the rubber hits the road, which may be okay for some folks, but is not my avenue at all.
--
Sometimes I feel like I'm one of the very few people who ask the question: "But what if tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade, next century isn't like today?"
And most people shrug and don't think about it.
I’m a nonwhite female in a male-dominated job, unmarried, and childless. In the current state of our society, I have all the advantages and few of the disadvantages; if we revert to ‘traditional western values’ and ‘traditional female roles’ then I have zero social status or value. So yes, I’m fully invested in a society that sees women as equal to men and treats them that way, both explicitly and implicitly, in a society that treats someone the same whether they’re pasty pale or ebony-skinned, and in a true meritocracy, where the fact that I can outthink a man doesn’t require me to pander to his ego in recompense for a woman outdoing him.
My white women friends mostly tell me I’m being overdramatic. But they’re white, many of them are married and mothers. That affords them value in “traditional western society” – none of which I would receive if we look at the situation historically. And even my value to the men I know is solely because they know me as an individual; not because the type of person I am is of value - or, in many cases, even worthy of 'personhood'.
So, yes, I worry about the direction western society is trending, urged on by wealthy white guys and people who see value in me as an individual but don’t see people who are 'like me but not me' as worth valuing.
And yes, it’s going to get worse before it gets better - if it gets better.
There have been times and cultures where things got briefly better for a span of years. Women in Tang Dynasty China could own property, choose who they married, and even divorce their husbands. And yet Neo-Confucianism (the historical Chinese equivalent of Neo-Conservatism) rescinded these advances and Chinese history tends to paint the standout women of this time as 'harridans' and 'unwomanly' - at least in literature.
Plus, white people are experiencing and encouraging a resurgence of racist nationalism and a whole bunch of those that aren’t egging it on certainly aren’t standing in its way (see the #NoConfederacy tag). So, yeah, I’m not hopeful about the timeline.
--
I donated to the #Ham4All "Immigrants Get The Job Done" Prizeo and sang one of my favourite songs from Hamilton: "I Know Him". Weirdly, my favourite songs are the King George ones, The Room Where It Happens, Burn, It's Quiet Uptown, and The Election of 1800. I think it's to do with the style. While I appreciate and am in awe of the complexity and cleverness of the rap songs that Miranda has written, I gravitate towards the songs that I can actually sing and are less likely to trip me up.
Anyway, here's me singing "I Know Him", which I call "the 2016 Election remix":
I probably should have linked back to Prizeo.
--
I have a thread in the
ficpositivity feedback meme.my thread here
--
I'm working on another quilt - a commission for a friend's daughter.
That's the first draft. Needs more rainbows, so I've got blocks cut out and will be sewing them tonight.
--
Crossovering is matching!
*crosses fingers*
--
Sometimes I really wonder about all those people who claim the “war on Christianity”. Like, do they know what Christianity actually is? What the Christian church in Acts (which is always pointed to as the one we should identify with) actually did? Acts 3 & 4. “All the believers were as one, and shared all their belongings with each other, so no-one was in need.” Literally nobody I have ever seen wail about the war on Christianity would be good with sharing their belongings with ‘all other believers’ (the term “all other” includes believers in China, Ethiopia, and Syria, as well as people in the poor parts of town that go to church). Like, not one.
Incidentally, Paul points out the very real dangers of capitalist “Christianity” with the oft-misquoted words: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Also: the Reformation? Happened because the church of the time got into bed with politics and didn’t just get corrupted but happily played about in its corruption.
Finally, anyone who understands anything about Jesus’ mission to Earth, and the whole Christ-in-Christianity thing knows that there’s been a war on Christianity ever since Satan failed to convince Jesus that shortcutting his way to glory would get him all gain with no pain.
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At any rate, that quilt is totally lovely and I'm always impressed and astonished by your cool designs.
1whatever the F that means, I hate the term. I'm always out when I'm not at home, that doesn't mean I want to perform lesbianism for anyone.
no subject
The drama is just the icing on the cake; the cake is the attitudes and the silence and the belief that "democracy and freedom will win" and all I can think of is "better doesn't mean better for everyone" - which is true even for things like civil liberties. (The idea that there's an equal playing field offends some people so ferociously that they'll take the government to court for the right to discriminate. UGH.)
no subject
Exactly. You can't trust the majority to make laws that don't place them above the minority. I'm so tired of having this conversation with other white women. Sisterhood means all our sisters, everyone of them. Color/race/sexual identity/birth gender. We have plenty of people listen to us by benefit of skin color. We need to use our voices to help others up. But then they throw back that it's wrong to call them privileged and how black women (always black women) don't trust them and are mean to them.
Girl, we've been standing on their throats. Get up off and earn kindness and respect by showing it yourself.