Here’s an article that my wife wrote for BirthActivist.com: CLICK THIS!
My wife worked very hard on that article. I think it excels because it not only gets people to think, but it gets (many) people to think in a different way. It’s very scholarly; she pulled in information from various sources and brought up data from various authorities in the field. She also anticipated and responded to a few objections or concerns people might have. Also, it appears someone very intelligent must have checked it for spelling and grammar, ’cause man, it’s awesome.
Anyway, if you haven’t read it yet, go there now. It’s more engaging than anything I’m gonna write here.
One of the commenters there said: “I guess what you missing in this article is the importance of intent, and I think that might be one of the most important aspect of the debate!”
That’s a fair concern, but I think it misses the point.
I think the intent is more similar than we might like to think: in both cases, the rapist is seeking to control and dominate the victim.
Regardless, Jennifer is here speaking about the effect on the victim. Let’s compare this to another crime: Burglary.
First, a thief steals my wedding ring. He maliciously waited until I left home, and broke into my house just to steal something of value to pay for his drug habit.
So then I get a replacement wedding ring.
But then I am robbed again. This time, my wedding ring is stolen, again. But this time, the thief needed the valuable in order to sell it for cash to feed his starving children.
In a court of law, a judge and jury may (and should) judge these cases differently. However, the effect on the victim (me) is identical. In both cases, I lost something of value that needed to be replaced. In both cases, I am right to term it “theft” and voice my desire to have recompense.
Turns out, there was a contest that aired on the television this afternoon, and my son is very interested in these types of contests, so we watched most of it. Well, it’s not like I sat there and stared at it the whole time, I was doing other stuff, too.
In this particular battle of wits and strengths, there was one group of Native Americans, evidently from the mid-Atlantic seaboard, and they were fighting against a bunch of Scandinavians. The reporters continually referred to the Native Americans as “red skins,” which I thought was an outmoded and offensive term, but maybe it’s coming back in style. I don’t know.
Anyway, the contest proceeded exactly as this type of war has always gone between Native Americans and the descendants of Europeans: the ‘white skins’ invaded the Native Americans’ territory. At first, it seemed amicable; it appeared there were some gestures of goodwill. There was some posturing, but I think it was just for fun.
But then the battles began.
Early on, the Native Americans held their ground very well. For a time, they even appeared to be winning. But those relentless white skinned warriors (who were at a disadvantage having recently fired their Commander-in-Chief) would not give up – they kept taking more and more land. It seemed anytime the Native Americans would give them an inch, they’d take a yard. Indeed, it seemed they were measuring their success in yardage, rather than in diplomacy.
About midway through the war, it was a done deal: the Native Americans were at the mercy of the white skins. All that was left was to see how bad the Europeans would dominate over the natives, and what they would, in a hopeful display of mercy, leave for them.
The war did not even play out to its expected end date. The white skins were so far ahead, they spent the final few moments of battle celebrating and gloating.
So this is the day when people trample each other at 4:00 AM in order to save 10% on a wide-screen TV. Well, I hope they had a good time.
I know some people make it a specific point to not buy anything on this day, and I think that’s great. I’ve never actually forced myself to not shop on this day, but I do my best to avoid it. For one thing, I definitely don’t need to begin ‘celebrating’ baby Jesus’ birthday today. I can buy him a gift another day. For another thing, even if there were some things I needed to buy today, I would rather wait until the crowds aren’t so crazy.
Actually, though, did you know this hasn’t been the busiest shopping day of the year for a long time? Yeah, retailers just want you to think that, because then people with “Shop til You Drop” shirts think it’s some special day that they need to take part in and people like me know to stay away. According to THIS SITE, there were several days each year from 1996-2001 that were busier. But now, thanks to stores opening up long before dawn, Black Friday has become a national holiday.
When I worked in retail, we were forced to follow the hours dictated by the mall. This was extremely stupid for an eyeglass store, as there was no notable increase in our sales on that day. Well, maybe a little, but it was just like a weekend day. I would say it was just as busy a Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. So, yeah, we’d open our doors at eight in the morning, stare out at the crowds, and sit around chatting for hours. Finally, at about 9:30, someone would come in and need their nosepads replaced. Yep, that was worth it.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
This has been another great weekend for us getting stuff done around the house. Today I actually ventured out into the world of retail; Owen and I went to Super America (I thought a bottle of Heet and a new tank of gas would shut off that damn engine light) and Northern Brewer. Apart from that, though, I once again stayed in the safety of my own house.
We did some laundry, lots of cleaning, Jennifer made an awesome pot pie dinner, we watched an episode of the Muppet Show, and made headway on several projects.
This evening, while I was reading a book, Owen peered over my shoulder and, seeing a picture of a woman in a burka, asked, “Is that Darth Vader?” I laughed, and then I explained that there’s a big difference: One believes in some hokey ‘force’ that binds us and surrounds us and the other one is from Star Wars.
Here’s a photo that was taken over a year ago. There’s a new Mural going up at Century College and they decided to include this picture, which they call “Woody man and child:”
And here’s a cool site that shows size comparisons of things in the universe; from galaxy clusters to quarks, and a whole lot more: CLICK THIS.
And here’s an article about one non-believer’s experience in the US military. I thought it was one of the most interesting articles I’ve edited in a while: CLICK THIS.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Today we Thanksgiving’d at my wife’s great Aunt and Uncle’s house. This was a first for us, as we have always celebrated Thanksgiving with my sister and her family.
I think Owen had a better time, since there were a few kids for him to play with.
The “Check Engine” light went on in the car when we were about halfway to our destination (which was just over an hour away). When I had first turned on the car, the “Low Coolant” light came on, but I didn’t really care, as that light seems to turn on in every car when the weather first gets cold. Still, a few hours after we got to our destination, I went out to the car and added in some coolant.
When we went to leave, the coolant light did not go on, but the “Check Engine” light did go on – right away – and it stayed on. So that made me nervous. Things always seem to happen to our car when we are as far from home as we ever drive. I kept finding myself more relaxed the closer we got to home. When we drove through Forest Lake, I thought, “Okay, this is good, if the car dies now, my in-laws live close by,” and once we got into St. Paul, I thought, “Okay, good, if something happens to the car now, I could probably call my wife’s sister for help.”
Anyway, we made it home and, apart from that annoying light, the car gave no indication of any problems.
Last week, when I listened to Truth to Tell’s program, they advertised the subject of today’s program: the Catholic Church’s mailing of anti-gay DVDs just in time for the election.
I was expecting the show to include one or two people who would strongly denounce the mailing and the church in general, and a couple of loyal Catholics who would discuss why such hate mail is warranted from their loving god. Instead…there was neither. Unlike last week, when host Driscoll said he was unable to get anyone from the hospital community to join in the discussion, this week there appeared to be no effort to even find people in support of the mailing. Instead, Driscoll began by listing off reasons why the Church is an out-moded, out-of-touch organization that needs to take care of its own problems instead of getting their fingers into politics. So, clearly he didn’t think the Church had any argument in their favor.
Instead, the four people who were involved in the discussion were all opposed to the mailings, yet still were members of the Church. One woman was interviewed because she invited people to mail their DVDs to her, and she made some artwork out of them. You can read about her art, and her subsequent dismissal from the Basilica HERE.
The people all had differing levels of animosity towards the Church. Some felt it is wrong for the Church to get involved in politics at all. Others said it’s fine if the Church wants to prohibit same-sex marriage within their organization, but shouldn’t try to stop it from being legalized on the secular front. One person said she felt it was a bad move because it was causing people to leave the Church (I’m sorry…why is this bad???). Two participants even disagreed about Jesus’ role in politics when he was on Earth; one lady said he was apolitical, a man countered that Jesus was strongly political. I understand their confusion at reading that clusterfuck known as the New Testament, but I gotta say that I think it’s great that Catholicism allows it’s members to hold such strongly dissenting opinions.
And that brings this up: one of the people in the discussion said that those who leave the Church due to differences are going about it the wrong way. They should stay in the Church and work to effect change from the inside.
Huh. I never thought of that.
I wonder how far we can take this…? Am I wrong to quit a job because the pay is bad; should I, instead, strive to get increased wages while remaining loyal to my employer? Would it be wrong to go AWOL from a military endeavor I disagreed with; should I try to convince my commanding officer to change his mind? I don’t know.
I think a few things need to be considered: Does the organization allow for freedom of expression? Does it have a means by which change can be instigated? How important is your grievance with the organization? How much of your life is consumed/controlled by the organization?
Of course, in order to change a problem, you need to be able to see it in the first place. ‘Father’ Michael Tageter (not my dad), rambled on about how wonderful Catholics are and even said, “Catholics are the most accommodating people as far as same-sex marriage.” Really? Maybe if everyone in the world was either Mormon, Muslim, or Catholic.
Another called was concerned that the Catholics lag in accepting the sexual mores of our day is leading to increased STDs and unwanted pregnancies. And for that, I have an idea:
If you wish to decrease the number of STDs and unwanted pregnancies, you simply need to take a condom, and fit it snugly over the Vatican.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
I am an ardent non-fan of Christmas music, but every once in a while, one comes along that I like. This year, already, there are at least two.
The first is this one (You have to click the PLAY/PAUSE button to get it to start). It’s the precursor to Simon’s next album, titled So Beautiful or So What, slated to be released in March.
I also like this one, which I heard for the first time today:
