Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
Sometimes an idea hits me leading to an epiphany. Epiphanies for me usually take the shape of the realization that a 
belief I’ve held for a long time, is actually more important in the scheme of things than I had previously thought about. This happened with me some few years ago when the opposition to gay marriage defeated a voter initiative. I had been a believer in the need for equality for Gay men and women since I was a teenager. After all the bullies who were beating me up kept calling me a “fag, or “queer” and while I wasn’t, I got insight into what it must be like to be homosexual. In life you have the choice of identifying with the bully, or those who are bullied. I’ve always chosen the latter. So as a young adult I cried tears of joy when “Stonewall” happened and the police found that Gays would no longer be easy targets. Working for NYC’s Human Rights Administration and then living in Manhattan gave me the privilege of meeting and befriending Gay people of both sexes. When AIDS hit the scene I had many friends die and I worked to help the Division of Aids Services as a Budget Director. Yet while I always completely supported LGBT rights, for a while I believed the focus on Gay Marriage, shouldn’t be in the forefront of the movement. The argument over Proposition 8 in California http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_8 gave me an epiphany that led me to see that not only was the right to marriage an essential part of ensuring the Constitutional Rights of Gay people, but it was the key element. Being unable to assist in the health care choices of long term partners, in some cases even being barred from the funerals, or participating in ones’ partners Health Plan are important Constitutional issues and the essence of the battle.
Last night my wife and I saw and were very moved by Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”. There was a scene in it during a congressional debate where one congressman said in effect “If we grant Blacks freedom, then we’ll have to give them the right to vote……and if we give them the right to vote we will have to give women the right to vote. In truth it was another six decades before this country bestowed upon its’ women the basic Constitutional Right of voting as my wife pointed out to me. Later in the evening we watched the Bill Maher Show and during the discussion reference was made to the frequency of abuse and murder of women throughout the world and suddenly my epiphany. While I’ve always supported women’s rights, it is so easy in a world where so many wrong things occur daily to not place the abuse and murder of women particularly at the top of an agenda decrying unjust war, drone attacks, racism, economic disparity and torture, to name a few. As it became clear to me last night, the murder, rape, bondage and the degradation of women is part and parcel of all these issues of evil and not merely one aspect of them. Considering that women comprise at least half of humanity, the mistreatment of women worldwide is actually the most important issue humanity faces. We must solve this before we can even hope to solve any other great issue. Because I’m not really a great thinker, many of my “epiphanies” are ones that are obvious to many. However, when they do occur I am willing to reconsider the hierarchy of my beliefs. Unlike my other guest blogs I will not tire you with the evidence of what to me is self-evident. Do you agree, or do you have other world problem solving priorities?
Blouise,
“Occupy Wall Street was about progressive tax policy changes . . .”
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you mean the reinstitution of progressive tax policy.
Tony,
Just read your posts and would like to differ with you on the impact of Occupy Wall Street but have to leave shortly for dinner.
Suffice it for now to suggest that Occupy Wall Street was never about “Where’s the beef” (lukewarm example of “unnecessary barrier to sales” … like I said, I’m rushed) and that it takes years to effect real change. Occupy Wall Street was about progressive tax policy changes and accountability and I give you a most unlikely impact that could never have been achieved, in my opinion, without the Occupy Wall Street crowds … the election of Elizabeth Warren. Nobody in either party wanted her anywhere near actual legislative influence.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/12/its-on-elizabeth-warren-versus-wall-street/
More later and my apologies for running off.
Idealist: I do not think the media is a government mouthpiece, certainly not the Internet or cable TV fiction, which is what I was talking about when I said “exposure.” Being exposed to homosexuals as otherwise normal people in fictional drama and comedy, and finding out that admired celebrities are homosexual, or powerful and wealthy heterosexuals that are widely admired have great disdain for homophobics and think it stupid will all change the culture so that the tables are reversed on homophobes: Now they are frequently “in the closet” and become much weakened vectors for the disease of homophobia. A similar thing applies to racism; when it becomes socially unacceptable, the transmission of the disease from one generation to the next can be greatly diminished. Being openly racist, bigoted or anti-Semitic is currently seen as a sign of low class, low education and/or low intelligence, and being homophobic is joining that class quickly. That is partly due to the portrayal of homosexuals as non-stereotyped normal people in our fiction (like Smash, Lost Girl, Chicago Fire, off the top of my head), partly due to the existence of real homosexuals that are celebrities people enjoy (like Ellen DeGeneres or Jody Foster or Matt Bomer).
I think the media is a profit machine, and largely a sociopathic one (like any other big corporate enterprise). They make money if people watch them or read them and get exposed to their ads, one of the ways to get people to watch them is to curry favor with the rich and powerful (including those in government) for privileged access; like interviews, book research, appearances on their shows, attendance at their parties. In return they tread lightly, do what favors they can, write puff pieces, and withhold damaging pieces in order to preserve access.
In the cases where a politician is going to lose power and preserving access no longer matters, the swords are drawn. They aren’t a mouthpiece, it is a mostly open agreement to deceive the public for profit, and the public does not seem to care very much, they still watch the politicians appear on shows and believe they are seeing something real. The oft-admitted or accidentally revealed deceptions of the news media has no impact on their ratings, and what goes unpunished just gets magnified. That goes for the news media, corporate America, and politicians. The actions they take that deceive us or hurt us or betray us benefit them, and if they learn that we do not punish them for that then they will just do as much of it as will maximize the benefit they receive. That is just part of our animal nature.
TonyC,
Your perception may well be correct—-all of it.
But what do you suggest? Who can say “I have a dream”, now and inspire change.
The idea of media broadening perceptions may also be true. I’m not there to judge. but it does not jibe with the “media as governments mouthpiece” idea. A firm conviction of mine after reading a little on “Mocking Bird”
Reading the “balanced”** crap that the NYTimes puts out and knowing all the stuff they DON’T mention is enough to convince me.
They judge the Brennan first day as “good” putting it concisely. Where is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
Any suggestions? I forget now if you had any. Speechs and media won’t get us there. Now they have us by the nuts or ovaries.
**”Balanced” means a little skit from both sides gets space. Where are the facts. Words, words, but no facts in sight. Op Eds and editorials are equally balanced (maybe) Conservative versus equal number of Liberals.
Idealist: I am not sure taking to the streets accomplishes any change; look at the Occupy (Whatever) movements. They get some press but nothing really happens. And that whole finger wiggling BS, and inventing their own lingo makes even those sympathetic to their cause laugh at them (AT them, not with them) and ultimately dismiss them as naive children playing games, which is the death knell of a movement. If people outside your movement, with regular jobs and lives think you are just forming a fun little clique to play in, forget doing anything.
Where is their legislation? Where are the bankster prosecutions? Where is the restraint on foreclosures and usury and stock market shenanigans? Where are the Occupy supported Representatives and Senators?
Nothing has changed, they added some phrases to the lexicon (like “the 99% vs the 1%”) but that will not do anything, and I think the Occupy movement has been large enough that if IT can’t do anything, even after years, it is safe to assume nothing else will either. The times have changed, and the OWS folks made the mistake of developing solidarity by inventing their own “culture” of jargon and rituals which alienates them from those that might support their cause. In marketing, we call that an “unnecessary barrier to sales” (demanding that customers learn your jargon in order to understand the benefits of your product or service).
The proper approach was taken in the civil rights movement; because you want solidarity with ideas, plainly communicated. I think it is why the “I Have A Dream” speech was so epic and transformational (besides the poetry of it), it could be understood by anyone even if they had only a sketchy familiarity with the civil rights movement, it uses no special jargon, and that maximizes the chance of being understood by outsiders and gaining their sympathy with your goals.
I doubt any “taking to the streets” protest will work anymore in the USA. It just doesn’t have enough economic or political impact to make anything truly revolutionary (like the civil rights legislation) happen.
Even the gay rights movement, the most recent focus of revolutionary changes in legislation, was not a result of a 10% minority protesting, but the entire culture shifting their perception of homosexuality due to more information and exposure, due partly to technology (the biggest interacting factors IMO being cable producing much-relaxed standards for television’s fictional portrayal of gays, a large get-out-of-the-closet movement for gays, and the Internet).
AY and AP,
Seriously, AP has established a consistent profile, liking no other.
And proof that he is for “real” is that he is the first (as I recall) THE FIRST to offer a way that all can join in and fight this fight. Short of rebellion OR being picked off as we are seen as effecitive opponents to the PTD, what else is left to us? We do what people have always done through the ages.:
TAKE TO THE STREETS!!!!!! Only this time in such numbers that it is an event which can not be ignored. It may force Obama’s hand. It will certainly test our fortitude. I say Obama because he is part of the problem and we need a figurehead to rally against. Better were we had an issue so no one could feel that they had to defend it. Obama HAS his supporters.
Solve it AP, or how are they doing it?
AY, agreed. Such talents don’t grow on every tree. Suggestions?
AP, consider yourself revealed. AY played this game with me for months.
GeneH, you don’t use sockpuppets, except perhaps in the interest purely of not tiring your audience, to change the “voice” delivering. A known presentation technique.
Sorry if I name your names. No answer asked for. But the comments make no sense standing alone so long after the material commented is posted.
When the timezones are 6 hours different I sleep when you spout, (no snark).
A shame that NC was not on the VAWA list of infamy. Better, I fear,next time.
Texas, part of deserting LBJ it is said. Ofhers said Rove did it.
And then some (Baker) give credit to Poppy for starting the conversion when Poppy decided to enter, and started by becoming district R chairman. At any rate (rage?), the Solid Blue South changed color when their buddy LBJ started effing them.
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Reading ‘Guardian’s’ comment above. Then I looked over at my cute little 5’3″ daughter sitting at her computer in the next room. I could sell tickets to the event if Guardian tried to beat her. She would rip his lungs out first, then shoot him. I think all women should study Wing Tsun Kung Fu.
I have a friend who had an abusive first husband. She is now a college professor in one of the hard sciences. I asked her how she got her first husband to stop beating on her.
She said she told him only one thing: “Never forget that I can take you out with a head shot at two hundred yards.”
He never touched her again. Shortly thereafter he filed for divorce.
Guardian may talk tough, but there is some gal out there who would be more than willing and able to kick his butt all over the house. He also should never forget that he has to sleep sometime. He could ask John Bobbitt about that.
I’ve been in some very hairy situations but refused to carry … I don’t count the bat as carrying. 😉
Gene,
That is true … women do abuse men but the physical injuries are much less severe which is in all the documentation … excepting murder but even then, far more women than men are beaten to death by their partners.
Forcing Judges and D.A’s to accept criminal indictments was a real struggle for a good 20 years … it started getting easier in the 90’s.
That’s an admirable cause to foster, Blouise. There are a lot of animals out there and the worst have two legs. It’s also important to recognize though that even though the preponderance is male on female, that it works the other way around too (although probably under reported) and that as a percentage of the populace, DV is as likely to occur in homosexual couples as it is in heterosexual couples. Abusive, toxic relations cover the entire spectrum.
Gene,
We help to maintain 2 shelters for women (and their children) who are victims of domestic violence and have done so since the ’80’s.
I can spot an abuser by written word alone.
Guardian’s post is a fake … note I said the post is a fake. 😉
And Blouise? Blouise can kill a rhino at forty paces with her sarcasm alone.
The truth? Are we speaking truth here? There is only one reason and one reason only to hit a woman: self-defense. And I don’t mean when she slapped you or called your mom a cow or laughed at your penis. I mean she’s trying to kill or permanently injure you. Then and only then it is justified and it’s like dealing with any other serious attacker: game on. Besides GoT, I know some women that could kick your ass and a couple who could kick mine and I’m a fairly scrappy fellow. I know a gal named Jenny who can beat down three or four larger than her male attackers at a time and she’s a perfectly normal sized normal looking gal. Cute too. Remember that next time you’re tempted to strike not just a woman, but anyone, “Guardian”.
There is always somebody who can kick your ass and it may not be who you expect.
And that’s the truth.
Violence is a last resort, not a first resort.
Hey there Guardian … figured someone would crawl out of the weeds.
It’s all about control isn’t it? Ever heard the term “FEK”?
Here’s a good quote for you, from Commander G H Hatherfill, Scotland Yard, 1954:
“There are only about twenty murders a year in London and not all are serious — some are just husbands killing their wives.”
Your kind of guy?
Guardian,
No one deserves to be beaten. You need to get a life. Maybe a job where you can learn how to live and not spread such drivel….
I think I know who AP is now, not that it matters….
Swarthmore mom,
Idiots abound, we know. (Guardian of truth? I think not.)
ap, And yet we have a poster on this blog that says, “some deserve beating”.