laurenfelton

villiljos:

laurenfelton:

Even his campaign is problematic if you ask me. I’m more fond of the “MAKE it better” campaign created in response to it…

I’m really out of the loop here. What has he done to earn disrespect, and what is the problem with the campaign? I’ve only seen a couple of videos, but I thought they were quite moving, and with a positive message.

I dislike him largely because of his unrepentant racism, transphobia, misogyny, and white, male, gym-body privilege — qualities that are hardly redeemed by this campaign. While there are people out there who find the videos inspiring, the ones I most appreciate are coming from those who recognize that “it” DOESN’T get better — especially not for those who lack the white, male, middle-class, gym-body privilege that “good gays” like Dan Savage have. The fact that he’s preaching to us that “it gets better,” all the while remaining defensive of his biases and oblivious to his own privilege demonstrates exactly what’s wrong with this campaign and gay rights causes in general: same-sex marriage and the repeal of DADT doesn’t mean that it’s getting better — all this means is that our community is hindered by the same problems evident in social movements throughout history: black people were left out of the women’s suffrage movement and gays were left out of the Civil Rights Movement in the same way that people of color, trans people, working class people, and others are left out of the LGBTQ movement. 

In my opinion, it doesn’t just get better. Through the tools of social action, political organizing, and community building, we have the power to make our society better, and in the process, we get better. But as long as there is racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of prejudice in the world, no member of our community is free, and “it” hasn’t gotten better. Queer liberation will not happen until we see human liberation — until we stop meeting homophobia with racism and classism, until women are no loger blamed for being sexually assaulted, until our country stops fighting these endless wars, until Palestinians have stood at their very last checkpoint, until trans people are no longer cheated by organizations HRC, until intersex infants are no longer mutilated, until queer youth stop turning up dead… this campaign doesn’t address any of that. It simply suggests that somehow, magically, it gets better all on its own, despite the fact that we continue to live in an unequal society. 

Here’s one of my favorite “it gets better” videos — from a woman of color who points out that the campaign videos are well-intentioned, but problematic: 

(Source: bi-in-alberta)

I’m all for telling off the ~haters~ when they deserve it, but Rebecca Black’s new video about how big and famous she is such a joke. The lyrics might as well be “I’m a privileged little white girl who can get anything she wants, so all of you low-lives can suck it.”

Newsflash: You’re not better than everyone else just because people know your name. They know you’re name because you have rich parents willing to finance your joke of a music career.

I know I said something defending Rebecca Black when she was receiving death threats over Friday, and I stand by that, but she’s just as blind and pathetic as the “haters” if she thinks being a bad singer with enough privilege and wealth to make up for it is somehow groundbreaking. The music industry is already full of bourgeois fucks who are famous for being famous.

Honestly, I don’t give a shit about Rebecca having a terrible singing voice - I’m certainly no singer myself. But this song should seriously be renamed “Throwing My White Privilege in Your Face.”

Unlike many others, I’m not distraught over the Casey Anthony verdict. I’m sick of how the media sensationalizes stories about “bad” mothers, and on the off chance that the defense’s story was true, I’m glad she’s not facing the death penalty based on the world’s gut feeling about a case with very little evidence beyond hair fibers and an unknown cause of death. This country has sent enough innocent people to death row based on evidence that SEEMED obvious but didn’t tell the whole story.

What I find most absurd about public reaction to this case is the constant comparisons to the O.J. Simpson trial. Their similarities begin and end with the fact that both Simpson and Anthony were acquitted of first-degree murder. Anthony is not Simpson in white, female face—in face, those characteristics alone change everything about this case. The O.J. trial was complicated by his celebrity status, a racist cop, and irrelevant evidence, while Casey’s case was instead underscored by the kind of misogynist slut-shaming that is common in cases involving women (rape cases in particular). The prosecution couldn’t prove that Caylee was murdered—and instead, Casey’s abilities as a mother, her lifestyle, her clothing, and her sexuality were on trial. While there was more than enough evidence, in my opinion, to prove foul play in Caylee’s death, there is no objective proof that she was murdered or how she was murdered, or that Casey played a part in it aside from her subsequent cover-up—which is certainly deplorable, but still not proof of murder.

All in all, I’m glad she was convicted of lying, especially given the implications of her lies, but I’m also glad she was not convicted of first-degree murder. Beyond that, all I can say is that I don’t know for sure whether or not she’s guilty—and although I’m inclined to believe she is, I don’t know this for a fact. There’s nothing more that can be said of her case when we don’t know. On another note, everything about her screams abuse victim and major personality disorder to me, and for that, I sincerely hope she seeks help. While I understand that her obvious lies anger people, I’m bothered by how quick people are to discard the defense’s allegations of childhood molestation simply because they do not like her. That’s all I’ll say about that, because it truly sickens me when people minimize that kind of trauma in such a heartless manner. 

I’m not writing this in support of Casey Anthony, nor am I trying to argue that she was, in fact, a “good” mother. I’m more concerned with the larger implications of this case for the countless innocent victims who have been convicted based on shoddy evidence and for any woman who has ever had her sex life put on trial. As for the public’s reaction to the jurors involved with this case, I’m going to end with a quote from a Facebook friend who very insightfully and succinctly summed up her thoughts in this post: “I have no opinion about the Casey Anthony jurors. I wasn’t one of them.”

theinbetweenie:

It’s not even creative. How hard do you have to think to regurgitate the standards?

• Fat people are scared of food running out.
• Fat people are scared of having to eat “healthful” foods.
• Fat people are scared of exercise.
• Fat people are scared of getting stuck places.
• repeat ad nauseum.

I’m curious if any of these people have ever tried critical thinking. Are they even capable of it?

Probably not. Twitter has at least 5 horribly offensive TTs a week.

(Source: entre-deux-femmes)

Even his campaign is problematic if you ask me. I’m more fond of the “MAKE it better” campaign created in response to it…

(Source: bi-in-alberta)