Rantings and ravings on politics, philosophy, and things that fall into the ether of 'none of the above'.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Sometimes there aren't words
I'm having an incredibly hard time forming a coherent response to this Rolling Stone article.
This is an important thing for people to read, because this is happening, here, in America. This isn't happening off in some third-world hellhole where they live under religious law and stone adulterers; this is happening here in America where our religious freedom is enshrined in our Constitution and adulterers run for the highest office in the federal government. This is modern America. This is a town that might be pretty similar to where you live, and unspeakably horrible things like this are happening there. We need to know about this, because we need to make it fucking stop.
Most of my reaction involves obscenities directed at people who wage idiotic, baseless emotional war against children. If I need to explain why it is completely and wholly unacceptable for anyone to ever try to emotionally compromise a child, then I have nothing to say to you.
Ah, yes. Arizona. Home of Sheriff Arpaio. A quarter of Arizonans are of Mexican ancestry. A third of the population identifies as Hispanic. The state of Arizona has the highest concentration of speakers of Native American languages*. A state which has not just cut but banned the teaching ethnic studies. And in order to comply with this, the largest school district in the state is now is banning books from the schools in order to avoid potentially teaching about ethnic studies.
Outraged yet? You should be, because telling teachers they can't teach something is a despicable act meant only to perpetuate the willful ignorance (which ultimately hurts the democratic process and, in turn, America). Banning books is absolutely nothing more than a harmful act of absolute cowardice; to ban books is to attempt to ban free communication of ideas. The
Oh, and one of the texts being thrown out of schools includes Shakespeare's The Tempest, so I'm going to go ahead and throw away civilized discourse and say this: fuck you, Tucson Unified School District.
I'm not hugely worried about this. It's deeply, deeply upsetting - oh, hell, yes, I'm going to play this card: I am an American soldier. I swore an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution (which, since most people seem to need a refresher, boldly includes amongst its purposes "...form a more perfect union," and "...promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves..."). Things like this - banning books, banning the teaching of certain ideas - is in every way contrary to the American Constitution. We want to talk about keeping our nation safe? It's things like this that we need to be vigilant against; seemingly little things like banning certain classes in our public schools, things that slip under the radar at Board of Education meetings the way termites slip into a building's walls.
But it's not going to work. Whatever their goal is (and I honestly couldn't possibly guess as to what, exactly, they want to accomplish by this) they won't reach it this way. You know why? Because for every kid that shrugs and says, "Eh, whatever," there's going to be another who says, "Wait, what books aren't we allowed to read? Why not?" And then that kid is going to go to the library, or Amazon, or their parents, or a friend, or someone. They're going to find a copy of that book, and they're going to read it. Why? Because A) teenagers are teenagers and a great way to get them interested in something is to tell them no, it's too mature/dangerous/whatever, you can't see this, and B) teenagers are not half as dumb as we'd like to think they are. Those books will still be read. (Hell, if there's a student from the Tucson Unified School District who sees this - let me know if you want and I will order you any of those banned books on Amazon.)
Here is the contact information for the board of the Tuscon school district. More importantly, here is the contact information for the state Superintendent of Schools, who was the one to ultimately decide that Tucson had to cut their ethnic studies classes or lose funding. Arizona, like all states, gets a fair bit of federal funding for their public education system. As a taxpayer, even if you're not an Arizona resident, I'd say you still have a vested interest in the situation.
*I'm not entirely sure what the most accepted terminology is - indigenous languages seems like it may be better here?
As a soldier, all my medical care is provided by the Army. I don't have health insurance so much as the understanding that in most situations the Army will provide whatever care I need - but if they can't, they'll send me to civilians who can, and the Army will pay the tab.
Unless I'm raped and don't want to carry and birth the child of my rapist; in that case the Army doesn't give a fuck about me. Civilian government workers? Yeah, we'll cover that. Federal prisoners? Sure. Service members? Nah, they can just go ahead and suck it up, because fuck them, right?
My favorite Texas governor has a new campaign ad! I keep trying to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist but it's like they said in Inception - once an idea is in your head it's awfully hard to get rid of it. Perry's latest oeuvre is a thirty-second spot entitled "Strong", which doesn't even start off crazy and go downhill; it just sort of spawned into existence at the bottom of the Great Right Swamp of Idiocy and thrashed around in the mud a bit. Let's take a look:
Okay. First of all, before you start considering killing yourself after watching this, note that as of right now it's got 17,732 'likes' and 597,744 'dislikes'. It also, in my opinion, constitutes hate speech, which means you can report it as offensive to YouTube. Now let's break it down piece by piece.
1. Rick Perry is not ashamed to be a Christian. This is outstanding! This is America, where we pride ourselves on our religious freedom and tolerance. Freedom of religion is explicitly spelled out in the Constitution and no one should ever be made to feel uncomfortable when it comes to professing a particular faith. And he's right - you certainly don't need to regularly attend a Christian church to see that there's something wrong with this country...
2. "...when gays can serve openly in the military." I will freely grant that Gov. Perry is wholly entitled to think that gay people are wrong/creepy/sinners/etc. However, I personally don't see what is wrong with allowing fully-capable volunteers to serve in our all-volunteer military, and I really don't see why in the world it would be acceptable for gays to serve in the military so long as no one knew they were gay. Do you think it's some sort of mentally-transmitted disease, where merely being aware that Joe's going on a date with Mike this weekend will do harm to heterosexual soldiers? Somehow, whatever risk Joe and Steve's date poses is contained by them never mentioning it to their colleagues and going to a movie theater two towns away?
3. "...but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." I was quite unaware that there were any laws anywhere in the United States prohibiting children from openly celebrating Christmas (whatever that would even mean - banning Christmas music?) or praying in school. In fact, while public schools themselves cannot lead organized prayer, it's generally considered to be a violation of the Anti-Establishment Clause to forbid students from praying, so long as the prayer is not disruptive. You want to bow your head in homeroom? Go for it. You want to wear a Christmas sweater to school? Go for it. Your school tried to break up group of students who decided on their own to pray before the first bell? I imagine the ACLU would like to hear about it.
4. "As president, I'll end Obama's war on religion." Good grief, I am literally the worst soldier in the US Army, as I had no idea we were even fighting a war on religion! Actually, no one at any of the three Army bases I've been assigned to thus far must have heard, because I've met chaplains - ordained ministers, all of them - at each place! And been in chapels! And been at events where, despite the questionable first-amendment implications, the event is opened with a brief prayer! This war is going even worse than Afghanistan.
5. "And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage." You do that. Meanwhile I'll be over here hanging out with our religious heritage, including the Jefferson Bible and some of Dr. Benjamin Franklin's writings, like this:
The Faith you mention has doubtless its use in the World. I do not desire to see it diminished, nor would I endeavour to lessen it in any Man. But I wish it were more productive of good Works, than I have generally seen it: I mean real good Works, Works of Kindness, Charity, Mercy, and Publick Spirit; not Holiday-keeping, Sermon-Reading or Hearing; performing Church Ceremonies, or making long Prayers, filled with Flatteries and Compliments, despis’d even by wise Men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity. The worship of God is a Duty; the hearing and reading of Sermons may be useful; but, if Men rest in Hearing and Praying, as too many do, it is as if a Tree should Value itself on being water’d and putting forth Leaves, tho’ it never produc’d any Fruit.
6. "Faith made America strong." Sure did! You mean things like "faith in the ability of a small colony to break free from the yoke of a tyrannical regime" and "faith that the democratic process would work" and "faith that, no matter what happened down the line, the Constitution would always be held as the most important document in the nation," right?
7. "It can make her strong again." Attention everybody: According to Gov. Perry, America is no longer strong. The nation which has the second-largest active-duty military force in the world, which has the third-largest population in the world, has the seventh-highest GDP in the world, and has the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal, is no longer strong. Good to know!
Hey, Texans...can you all please do something about your governors? Like keep them from running for president, because that just seems to lead to a heap of incoherent crazy?
Hey, Army: you say it's just a "holiday semi-formal." Attendance is optional but those who go get released early the day of and come in to work late the next day, and those who don't go will work regular hours doing shitty details in the motor pool.
Knowing this I chose not to attend, largely because I don't celebrate Christmas and generally try to avoid giving the appearance that I do. Yes, I go to my cousin's Christmas eve party, and exchange gifts with my family, but in my mind that's a rare chance to see everyone together (ten cousins plus a sister, spread across four different states, none in the same country as me), and the fact that sometimes I can take off from school or work during Hanukkah but other years I cannot.
So here's the thing: I'd buy your story that it's not a Christmas party were it not for a few minor little points:
1. December 8 is awfully early to celebrate New Year's.
2. The graphic on the official invitation card thing shows a Christmas tree and Christmas ornament.
3. I'm quite certain that were I to ask the higher-ups who organized this when Hanukkah starts this year - to say nothing of asking for a brief explanation of what the holiday celebrates, or how it is observed - I would be met with blank stares*.
4. Each company was apparently to put together a little skit, based on a Christmas movie. (Number of Christmas movies I have ever actually sat down and watched from start to finish: one.)
5. If you offer a choice of main dishes at a catered event and one of the choices is pork** then, uh, don't be surprised if the idea that you're somehow including Jews in your Christmas celebration isn't really taken very seriously.
I have no problem with having a Christmas party***. At my last two jobs there were Christmas parties. i chose not to attend. Fine. But if you want to have a Christmas part - have a fucking Christmas party. If you want to have a "Happy everyone's going on leave soon, it's dark and gloomy and German weather sucks, let's go dress up all pretty and eat a nice meal," great - but skip the Christmas theme and the pork.
*Note: this is fine. I'm willing to bet a significant amount of money that neither the commander nor sergeant major of the squadron are Jewish, and I don't expect anyone to know about other people's holidays. HOWEVER, if you don't know, don't claim to be celebrating it.
**I didn't realize until fairly recently that while I don't, nor have I ever come remotely close to truly keeping kosher, there are certain things that somehow absorbed into me. For instance, as far as I know I have never in my life eaten any pork, and even when I was being the worst vegetarian in the world during basic training, the idea of eating pig is kind of horrid.
***It gets a bit..squidgy, ethically-speaking, when we're talking about the military, but I'll let that go for now.
Mr. Gingrich, a few minor points you seem to be unaware of:
1. "Food stamps" are not issued as a cash benefit.
2. "Food stamps" are not issued as a credit card.
3. You cannot use 'food stamps' to purchase anything other than food.
The program once known as food stamps is now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Here is how it works: you are eligible to receive SNAP benefits if your income is 130% or less of the national poverty line. When you begin to receive benefits you are given an EBT, or electronic benefits transfer card.
In many senses the EBT card works as a prepaid debit card. An amount of money, calculated based on your income and household size, is deposited on the card every month. You have a PIN. At the grocery store, instead of hitting 'debit' on the PIN pad, you hit 'EBT', type in your pin, and the total is taken out of your account and given to the grocery store.
You cannot use your SNAP EBT card to purchase anything other than SNAP-eligible food, because it is not a credit or debit card. This means that at the grocery store, you cannot use your EBT card to purchase napkins, or diapers, or alcohol, or hot food*. Understand that it's not a "you're not supposed to", it's that you can't. The computer system will not allow it; if your order includes $25.00 of SNAP-eligible food and $10.00 of beer and paper plates, and you pay by EBT, it will say you still owe $10.00.
Please, please, please, let's next do food policing and whether or not other people should be allowed to dictate what someone can buy with their SNAP funds. (Spoiler: no, they shouldn't.)
*I'm not sure why hot food is prohibited - you can buy frozen meals all you want, but no hot rotisserie chickens.
Attn: certain Army officers
Re: your recent briefing
1. There is not, as far as I'm aware, any particular correlation between "going to church" and what we colloquially refer to as "being a shitbag". There are plenty of churchgoers who do things like beat their spouses and drive drunk and don't change the toilet paper roll after it's empty. There are plenty of good people who do not ever and have not ever gone to church.
2. You said that when soldiers are called into your office for disciplinary reasons you ask them if they go to church. Since we do not work for a religious organization, this is - to put it bluntly - none of your fucking business. If you encourage soldiers to go to church or any other religious service, you are wrong.
2a. To illustrate, let's flip this situation around and pretend you are speaking with a soldier who is facing UCMJ action for, let's say, slapping his wife around. "Do you go to church?" you ask. "No sir," PFC Snuffy says. "Well, did you growing up?" you ask. "No sir, my family never really did." "Well, maybe you should stop, because it's obviously not doing you any good." Would this be okay to you?
3. A mandatory briefing for a group of enlisted soldiers is a grossly inappropriate time for you to discuss or even mention your belief in God, or a higher power, or lack of belief in that, or anything of the sort. You want to make sure we're all aware of the religious services offered on-post? Great, hand out pamphlets or put it in your PowerPoint presentation. For one, it's highly likely that none of the soldiers sitting in front of you are interested in your beliefs. Two, you don't seem to understand that some of us do not in any way agree that there's something 'outside the laws of science' driving the world, so no, it is not something we have to acknowledge.
4. This was a briefing for soldiers who are new(ish) to this unit. Congratulations! Your weird proselytizing-lite made this secular Humanist Jew feel distinctly uncomfortable!
5. I don't know, maybe you were just deeply confused. Just because the briefing happens to be in the chapel does not mean it's okay for you to preach to us.
