I'm almost certain it was Rachel Maddow who brought up this point: If rights were really rights, how can you decide, all of the sudden they're up for grabs? If it is my "right" to exist, to pursue happiness, liberty, etc, then there ought to be no exception whatsoever to that deal. I think it's important to note that no group of oppressed people has ever gained rights denied by their oppressor without both a long fight, and some power transfer from the oppressor to the oppressed.
The big bully in the playground who is always stealing the lunch money from the nerdy kid (OK, me), always wins. Because the bully is stronger than the other kid, the weaker kid loses. The bullied do not get to decide on what terms they may be bullied. Albeit a farcical example, I maintain that it is a prime example for what is going on today in civil rights issues, women's rights, and bi-partisanship politics as a whole. The money never belonged to the bully, and the bully's own lunch money was never at risk to begin with. Against all good judgement whatsoever, I watched a clip of Ann Coulter regarding the repeal of DADT on YouTube. "Putting girls and gays in the military, we're not taking the military seriously," are actually words that came flying out of her mouth.
Warning! This clip may cause you to have a severe anxiety/rage episode, before playing, remove all sharp objects from arm's length.
Girls and gays are going to ruin the military? The problem I have with this is that when you have someone whose function is to say outlandish things, and you are passing that off as news, the uninformed people who watch "entertainment news" are not even close to getting the actual truth.
I must also add as a disclaimer that I'm an avid Rachel Maddow Show fan, because even though I'm super-liberal, the information she presents is the truth, not just some insane opinions.
But back to the clip. They're saying that most of the people who wanted DADT to be repealed are against the military. Seriously? Most of the people who fought so hard for DADT are or were IN the military! How can someone be a vocal advocate for a policy that discriminates against who they are?!
For the purposes of continuing with my analogy of the schoolyard bully, the LGBT service members who are subjected to unfair, discriminatory policy never tried to take away the rights of the heterosexist patriarchal oppressors. They just did their jobs, lied about who they were, faced losing their careers, and died on the battlefield along with their straight peers. The bully's rights were never in question, so why should the other kid's?
*It is also important to mention that I am also vehemently against bullying, and that in the end, the bully almost always ends up divorced, overweight, unhappy, and with a terrible comb-over.
Showing posts with label DADT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DADT. Show all posts
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Time Flies
I have absolutely no clue who penned "time flies when you're having fun," but I've found to be half of the truth. Time passes when you're not having fun, as well. This past Saturday, the senate voted to repeal the Army's seventeen year policy, Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The actual policy is still in place, but President Obama is expected to sign on this Tuesday. After that, there is a 60-day Congressional review time, before the law is no longer effective.
These next two months will probably feel impossibly slow, but like all things waited upon, it will probably seem like the blink of an eye. It feels like the eternal wait for the minute hand to finally reach the clock-out time at some terrible, mundane factory job. I add that, as I've worked in a factory once. It felt like voluntarily coming to the seventh circle of Dante's Inferno on a daily basis.
Anticipation. I am probably one of the most impatient people I know. I can't really hunt or fish (mostly because of the killing animals part) but it requires long hours of waiting. Meditation is semi-calming, but I can't do it very long. An hour is about all I can handle before I either fall asleep or think about too many other things.
I've waited for my fingernail polish to dry, only to realize I hate the color, as well as the shape of my fingernails, so with gobs of cotton balls and acetone, I erase my mistake, and start over again. It reminds me of the writing process. The thoughts that whirr around in my mind seem to flow together in a conscious, coherent, and relevant way, until I pour them into text. It is only after reviewing them, I usually wipe it all away with "CTRL + A" and the backspace key. I don't like using the delete button. To me, "delete" seems like I've made a terrible decision and must fix it. Backspace, however, is like a golf mulligan. I get a "do-over." As I am not a complete idiot, I am aware they both perform the same function, but to me there is a matter of aesthetics that I just do not get with "delete."
Speaking of writing, I am finally continuing my story. I am still not convinced that my story would be entertaining, translatable, or even possible, but I'm doing it anyhow. My "Intro to Women's Studies" professor told me she can't wait to read it. It was somewhat endearing. I've looked at some of my grades from this semester. I was pretty appalled. I've received grades far higher than I know I deserved in several classes, and two that could have been substantially higher than they were. I am appreciative, but feel that the impending semester will be another feat of academic endurance. This one should have been one also, but I kept waxing and waning between overdrive and idling. I really AM terrible with balance. At least I know of one class that I will enjoy pushing myself for.
On that note, I'll address the rest in my next post.
Shayna
PS I've added "meet Janeane Garofalo" to my bucket list.
These next two months will probably feel impossibly slow, but like all things waited upon, it will probably seem like the blink of an eye. It feels like the eternal wait for the minute hand to finally reach the clock-out time at some terrible, mundane factory job. I add that, as I've worked in a factory once. It felt like voluntarily coming to the seventh circle of Dante's Inferno on a daily basis.
Anticipation. I am probably one of the most impatient people I know. I can't really hunt or fish (mostly because of the killing animals part) but it requires long hours of waiting. Meditation is semi-calming, but I can't do it very long. An hour is about all I can handle before I either fall asleep or think about too many other things.
I've waited for my fingernail polish to dry, only to realize I hate the color, as well as the shape of my fingernails, so with gobs of cotton balls and acetone, I erase my mistake, and start over again. It reminds me of the writing process. The thoughts that whirr around in my mind seem to flow together in a conscious, coherent, and relevant way, until I pour them into text. It is only after reviewing them, I usually wipe it all away with "CTRL + A" and the backspace key. I don't like using the delete button. To me, "delete" seems like I've made a terrible decision and must fix it. Backspace, however, is like a golf mulligan. I get a "do-over." As I am not a complete idiot, I am aware they both perform the same function, but to me there is a matter of aesthetics that I just do not get with "delete."
Speaking of writing, I am finally continuing my story. I am still not convinced that my story would be entertaining, translatable, or even possible, but I'm doing it anyhow. My "Intro to Women's Studies" professor told me she can't wait to read it. It was somewhat endearing. I've looked at some of my grades from this semester. I was pretty appalled. I've received grades far higher than I know I deserved in several classes, and two that could have been substantially higher than they were. I am appreciative, but feel that the impending semester will be another feat of academic endurance. This one should have been one also, but I kept waxing and waning between overdrive and idling. I really AM terrible with balance. At least I know of one class that I will enjoy pushing myself for.
On that note, I'll address the rest in my next post.
Shayna
PS I've added "meet Janeane Garofalo" to my bucket list.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
"Don't Ask, Don't Care!"
Admittedly, I stole the idea for the title from Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC yesterday. On his program yesterday, he had military consultants who were senior military leadership who essentially said that it's sort of ironic, because for the most part the CURRENT philosophy is that not only don't they ask, but nobody cares!
Well the amendment to the Defense act was passed in the house, so as long as the whole kit-n-caboodle makes it through, and the culminating Dept of Defense study, which is I'm sure just a series of "command climate surveys," we will finally have an end to probably the dumbest law ever.
I will now go back and explain a bunch of jargon one may not necessarily be familiar with without a military background. A command climate survey is a battery of annoying emails that get repeatedly forwarded out that almost every participant fills out, but all feel it never actually gets read or tallied on any scorecard ANYWHERE.
I posted a thing on facebook a while back which loosely said, "when did the beeswax of my sex life become the government's sex-life to mind?" I am sick of this even being an issue at all.
Today on Countdown, some moron from the American Family Association, which is, I'm certain another benign title for some Pat Robertson-esque right wing ridiculous regime, actually had the stones to say that if DADT is repealed, we will have a bunch of Cpl Klingers (of MASH) running around and destroying the military.
Seriously? Are you out of your freaking mind? In case you were unaware, I can assure you, when one joins the military, there is no clothing option for drag. Everyone gets issued the same hideous uniform that we all hate collectively. It's ugly, but we're all the same. We come from different cities, backgrounds, education levels, languages, family dynamics, but the only thing that matters is that we all get trained to do the job we volunteered for, and we all wear the clothes that our employer assigned us to wear. Nobody cares who you sleep with, so long as it doesn't conflict with your mission.
I'm traditionally the type of individual who remains remarkably opinionated, particularly with matters that don't concern me, but on this one, get a grip...
Below is my post:
Well the amendment to the Defense act was passed in the house, so as long as the whole kit-n-caboodle makes it through, and the culminating Dept of Defense study, which is I'm sure just a series of "command climate surveys," we will finally have an end to probably the dumbest law ever.
I will now go back and explain a bunch of jargon one may not necessarily be familiar with without a military background. A command climate survey is a battery of annoying emails that get repeatedly forwarded out that almost every participant fills out, but all feel it never actually gets read or tallied on any scorecard ANYWHERE.
I posted a thing on facebook a while back which loosely said, "when did the beeswax of my sex life become the government's sex-life to mind?" I am sick of this even being an issue at all.
Today on Countdown, some moron from the American Family Association, which is, I'm certain another benign title for some Pat Robertson-esque right wing ridiculous regime, actually had the stones to say that if DADT is repealed, we will have a bunch of Cpl Klingers (of MASH) running around and destroying the military.
Seriously? Are you out of your freaking mind? In case you were unaware, I can assure you, when one joins the military, there is no clothing option for drag. Everyone gets issued the same hideous uniform that we all hate collectively. It's ugly, but we're all the same. We come from different cities, backgrounds, education levels, languages, family dynamics, but the only thing that matters is that we all get trained to do the job we volunteered for, and we all wear the clothes that our employer assigned us to wear. Nobody cares who you sleep with, so long as it doesn't conflict with your mission.
I'm traditionally the type of individual who remains remarkably opinionated, particularly with matters that don't concern me, but on this one, get a grip...
Below is my post:
Shayna King: If YOU ran an essentially volunteer organization, whose primary purpose is to "fight and win wars" as we are taught, AND had massive shortages of people, why then would you want to exclude potentially helpful personnel? I love that they liken DADT to the fact that it took 5 years to integrate races. I'd go to war wit...h ANYBODY as long as they could do their job. I personally think that the beeswax of my sex life should never be my boss's burden to mind, REGARDLESS.
See Morenews.yahoo.com
A proposal to step up the repeal of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military but still allow the Pentagon time — perhaps even years — to implement new policies won the White House's backing on Monday after administration officials met with gay rights activists.
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I received only one question from the nearly 450 people who have access to my page. Have I ever been assigned to a line unit or to Division? No, I have not. I'm a reservist, and my job is pretty specific to medical units. I understand that it still happens, but I've only ever been assigned to my reserve unit and to a few medical centers as part of an involuntary activation.
With regard to deployment, when a soldier is deployed, they are instructed not to have sex anyhow, so I really don't see what the homophobic hubbub is all about.
At any rate, I'm going to bed before I have either some form of aneurysm burst or break something. ;-)
Peace,
Shayna