political blather

[rm]

I've finally managed to watch some of the DNC, and I saw Kerry's wife speak for the first time. It wasn't a great speech, and she's not a great speaker (and I hadn't realized about the accent -- I wonder how that will play), but she she just radiates power in a way you pretty much never seen from political wives, and really even female politicians or female public figures in general. I mean, there's just this undefinable Bene Gesserit sort of thing about her that leaves no doubt she would be ruthless in defense of whatever she viewed at her domain. Interesting.

Meanwhile, there a controversy errupting over shirts you can buy on the Planned Parenthood website that say "I Had an Abortion." Without touching the actual abortion part of the debate, I think these are interesting, powerful and problematic. In our all-irony, all-shock all-the-time culture I can too easily see them being baby-t's on 13-year-olds trying to look cool, and that disgusts me. But as women who are encouraged to be silent about these choices, who are encouraged to let everyone believe that no matter what they think about abortion it only happens to other people who aren't as good as them... I love these shirts, I love the idea of stark words speaking silently, because I am that sort of marketing person. Of course, my understanding of protest comes from Act-Up, which was shocking, stark and marketing savvy. Anyway, I think the shirts are smart and interesting in a world that can't keep up with them. http://store.yahoo.com/ppfastore/ihadabt.html

How do we say we do not celebrate a thing, while also saying I am not ashamed of it? How do we talk about doing what is necessary in a world that seems broken into craven and lazy? How do we say, life is full of terrible choices and the critical thing is that we remain capable of choice, not just in the law, but in our hearts and minds? When politicians talk about moral education, character education, what they should be talking about, and I think are often talking about in code, are reasoning skills.

I don't believe you can teach morality. I believe you can demonstrate kindness, and love and that you can teach reasoning skills and ethics, and if you're serious about it, morality is the result. But if you seek to solely instill a set of beliefs over a code or framework from which to find beliefs, all you will do is beat fear and lack of thought into a mind.

Finally, I know most of the people reading this are ass broke, and of a range of political spectrums, however I think we can all agree we are fighting for our country's future in this election, and are devided with a hostility and fierceness I don't think any of us have previously seen in our lifetimes.

If you want Bush out of the White House, please give money to the Kerry campaign. If you're ass broke, dig the change out from under your couch cushions, count it up, and make a contribution that size. Even if it's only $10. Kerry may not be the man you want on the environment, or gay rights or whatever your specific concerns are. I know he's not a perfect fit for me, but I also know he will at change the current direction of things that terrify me so much.

To the few Republicans who hang around these parts. To my knowledge, you're all my type of Republicans, which is to say smart, more libertarian than not, and annoyed by your party's constant distraction from important stuff like the economy and national security to wage wars on crap like the marriage ammendment. Vote for whomever you're going to vote for, but do me a favour and take the time to get involved in your party and make it a party that doesn't require me to roll my eyes when you talk about the party of Lincoln. I'm for smaller government, and I could get behind your cause and we could have a lot more unity and civility in public discourse if you would all stand up and take your party back. So do what you need to do, donate money where you need to donate money, but do something.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

How do we say we do not celebrate a thing, while also saying I am not ashamed of it?

Of course, my question is why not celebrate it, it is one of the basic freedoms First World women now have, and also each abortion means one fewer person on an already overpopulated world. On a side-note, Japanese attitudes towards abortion are simply fascinating. Over there, it is far more accepted than in the US (or IIRC, in most of the EU). There is no stigma attached to it and there are ceremonies where women honor the children they did not have. Yet another case where the legay of Christianity is far less positive than some of the alternatives.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah... the weird little abortion statues... totally... things I learned reading Memoirs of a Geisha.

I think asking someone to celebrate what is generally an emotionally and physically taxing (and there's an understatement in the name of neatness) is unreasonable.

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

Of course, my question is why not celebrate it,

Because some women who have had an abortion might not want to celebrate it. They may not be ashamed, but they may not think it something to celebrate. There are those who do want to celebrate it, and of course they can do so.

Even in Japan, honoring a notborn child isn't "celebration"; it's another form of ancestor-worship and a bit different.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Because some women who have had an abortion might not want to celebrate it. They may not be ashamed, but they may not think it something to celebrate. There are those who do want to celebrate it, and of course they can do so.

True, but anyone who did so in the least bit openly would be widely regarded as (at best) vastly insensitive and even many people who are pro-choice would think less of someone who did. I think that such attitudes definitely need to change. It is widely regarded as a shameful decision here and that does no one any good, especially since this attitude is most prevalent in the mass media (on the rare occasions where abortion is even mentioned in mass media entertainment).

Even in Japan, honoring a notborn child isn't "celebration"; it's another form of ancestor-worship and a bit different.

Yes, but these ceremonies show that Japan is a culture where abortion is not viewed with the same shame as it is here.

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

It is widely regarded as a shameful decision here and that does no one any good

I absolutely agree.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I would think less of someone who did... and honestly, I think at minimum you've been vastly insensitive with what you're trying to say here. I know you meant no offense, you honestly never do, but abortion isn't fun, it isn't pleasant and it isn't simple. And just because we should have the legal right to do something, doesn't mean we should be casual about the nature of the act. We also have the right to kill in self-defense (and in some states quite a bit more than others). It's still killing. I won't celebrate that.

My suspicion is that the vast majority of pro-choice individuals, who don't speak out about it particularly because it's not pragmatic, and being pragmatic on this issue is critical, don't believe abortion is murder, but absoutely believe it is killing a thing. I do at any rate, and to me it's at the very core of the ruthless nature of women, all this life and death power over things that are neither.

We love you dearly as a defender of our gender and all that, but but as someone who has never, and could never go through an abortion, it makes you sound insensitive at best to ask a woman to celebrate a situation and a process that is so much and in so many ways about the betrayal of the flesh.

I know no woman who would tell you abortion was easy, even when the choice was simple, clear and without guilt. For fucks sake, it's a surgical procedure. And many women are forced to deal with humiliations like waiting periods, government mandated literature that offends their intelligence and knowledge, and protestors.

I celebrate voting. Wearing an "I had an abortion" T-shirt isn't about celebrating our goddamn rights. It's about saying "I'm your neighbor. I'm just like you. What do you think of me now? Everyone keeps secrets. Maybe you shouldn't."

And to continue on this Japan thing... these ceremonies are not about shame, but they are about mourning, and that's a proper thing.

Celebration is a completely fucked up word to use on this topic. And this is not me be a self-loathing woman. This is just me telling you the world is a lot more complicated than you think, and that's a good thing.

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

If you want Bush out of the White House, please give money to the Kerry campaign.

People need to do it soon (I forget the exact cutoff date) because of the campaign finance laws regulate candidates who are accepting public funds. After the cutoff date, he can't accept any money. It might be too late now, actually.

People can still donate to the DNC or to Moveon, though. And the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is also important, because he can't do much if the House *and* the Senate is controlled by Republicans.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thursday. People have until Thursday.

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

Right. Thanks.

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

If you're for smaller government, I'm surprised you don't advocate the Libertarians more.

I understand certainly why you prefer Democrats to Republicans, and you don't strike me as a single-item voter. I have strived to keep myself from becoming such..although I must say there are a small number of topics that are exceptionally important to me, and smaller (ie. less) government tops the list.

You bring a fantastic way of putting things - how do we say we not celebrate a thing while at the same time we are not ashamed of it? I think that fits a number of issues politics has become involved in. I think I'm going to borrow that line if that's ok?

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

"And just because we should have the legal right to do something, doesn't mean we should be casual about the nature of the act. We also have the right to kill in self-defense (and in some states quite a bit more than others). It's still killing. I won't celebrate that."


I KNEW we thought alike in some instances...

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

You can see a picture of (some of) those statues here. This is part of a shrine in Kyoto. I think they're called mizuko, coming from the Japanese word for water. While there is a patron goddess of sorts whom women petition when they've lost children or had miscarriages, I understand there is still a degree of shame associated with the process. It's all an unspoken thing. You find out how to do your offering and you do it alone. But you see these statues damn near everywhere - in family altars on the street, with Hello Kitty wrapping, or anime fabric. For something people won't discuss it has a very public face.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I will also qualify "a lot of shame" by saying that grieving is a personal process there and, in the literature I've read, it was hard to find women willing to discuss their process. In our culture perhaps that is interpreted as shame; in Japan it may be privacy. The community around this comes out of silent symbology.

and also

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

This week's New Yorker (July 26th) has an excellent profile on John Kerry. I feel better about voting for him now - at least I have a better idea of what I am voting for, and not just against.

LP

[keith418.livejournal.com]

After reading this account of how the Libertarian Party did its nomination, I have to wonder whether it's really a viable option at this point, and not a little club for those who want to vent, but aren't really that serious.

[calieber.livejournal.com]

Re the abortion shirts: there sems to be an idea in our culture that privacy is the same thing as shame. I don't write about my sexual fantasies on my Livejournal, but that doesn't mean I'm ashamed of them. Silence perpetuates stigmas, which is why, for instance, it would advance civil rights if people in stable same-sex relationships had framed pictures on their desks. This even applies to marriage, which is a public declaration of a relationship -- something I think anti-same-sex-marriage people understand.

Re: LP

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this! I've been reading it periodically (I am at work, after all) and still have more to read...but this is the kind of info I seem to have a hard time finding.

Of course, some of it...just goes to show things don't HAVE to go to the one who raised the most money, has their own talk shows, etc...but some of this stuff was unknown. I knew a lot more about Browne than I ever have this Badnarik guy.

Still...wackos aside (every party will have those) a decent showing would hopefully speak to the other parties, particularly the major two. Beyond local levels, Libertarians are going to have a difficult time winning anything largely because of their nature. A buncha people who want to be left alone to do what they want, often wind up not gathering in large groups, and I would think getting them to vote together would be even more difficult!


Thanks again!

More...

[keith418.livejournal.com]

Please check this thread for more of my thoughts on this issue.

When I read that piece in Liberty, I concluded that the Libertarians just aren't a serious party. I can only be serious about people that are themselves serious. The Libertarians might look at what prevents them from getting serious, but I don't think they will ever bother to look at the basic contradictions they have.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I can't tell what side you're arguing for on the abortion shirts.

And on gay rights... yes, coming out helps advance civil rights, but casually exepcting gay people to do this (when when the reality is more and more do), is both naive and rude. It's not a simple. As I said to someone else earlier in this thread -- the world is pretty complex, and in most east coast locations (I see to recall you're in NYC but I am not sure), it's easy to forget the potential costs being out and queer can have, especially when it's not actually your problem.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend peeked over my shoulder and said, in reference to the t-shirts, "I want one of those."

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Looking back, it seems I should add a qualifier to this statement: I like not offending people, but Jason enjoys making others go "eh?"

Where does one donate money to Kerry? Online?

[rm.livejournal.com]

You can donate money at JohnKerry.com and you can only do so until he accepts the nomination tomorrow night, so if you can afford to do it, do it now.

And I can't say I'd be happy with you bf wearing one of those to freak people out in a "look, I'm freaking people out" way, but I think a man wearing one is also a potentially powerful message of responsbility, whether it is truly relevant to the individual in question or not.

Interesting T-shirts. . .

[magicwoman.livejournal.com]

Not exactly on topic, but I would be interested in your take on this marketing blitz that came through our town earlier this month. http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4873008.html

Semi-trucks and plane banners were used to advertise abortion - huge pictures of abortion byproducts were plastered on the sides of the trucks and banners. The main thrust of advertising took place during lunch hour. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, I thought at first it was a good idea to get the idea across (I am pro-choice). However, a co-worker had her 5-year old daughter downtown and she saw the truck and asked questions about it. She was nail biting mad about the advertising.

What do you think?

Susan

Re: Interesting T-shirts. . .

[rm.livejournal.com]

I think it's completely offensive, especially when you're talking about exposing young children to it. Images are powerful tools, lord knows, but any argument that can't effectively be made with words, is, in my viewed, inherently flawed.

Additionally the types of images they are showing are not typical of all abortions, which increasingly happen so early, that that "byproducts" (man, that has got to be the euphemism of the week), don't look like that. Certainly, it's utterly irrelevant to chemical abortion (which granted, is vastly underutilized because of a lack of information that exists in large part due to this administration).

Re: Interesting T-shirts. . .

[magicwoman.livejournal.com]

I agree - words are powerful. These images were not tasteful and certainly not appropriate for children to see - especially during lunch hour. I thought it was irresponsible at best.

With abortion being such a hot topic, I'm actually surprised I didn't read or hear more about this advertising blitz than I did.

Thanks,
Susan

Re: Interesting T-shirts. . .

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's a very common tactic that they've been using for years... it might just be new to your city is all. Most people know where they stand on abortion, and since no one's minds are getting changed, I don't think newspapers are interested in covering it.

Re: Interesting T-shirts. . .

[magicwoman.livejournal.com]

Good point! I haven't changed my mind where I stand on the subject since I first heard about abortion in high school. I've always been the odd one out in my crowd...

Susan

[iamrobertsworry.livejournal.com]

sorry. I just can't vote for Kerry.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

If you want Bush out of the White House, please give money to the Kerry campaign.

My problem with doing so is that everything I read or hear about Kerry indicates that he is another waffling, ultra-wealthy, Clintonian pseudo-liberal with no strong convictions other than the desire to get elected. Edwards seems like he may be a substantial improvement over Kerry, but voting him in as VP means he wouldn't be president for 8 years, if then. Obviously, Kerry is a vast improvement over Bush and I will certainly vote for him, but I'm not inclined to donate money to someone solely because they are the lesser of two evils, even if the other evil is far worse. I'm exceptionally tired of my choice for president being between plutocrats and plutocratic theocrats

[rm.livejournal.com]

You need to be more pragmatic my friend. At this moment, these are the goddamn choices... and you can opt out, or you can do whatever you can to make sure you get the one that will make our national life better. And THEN you can work for better choices.

But don't take your ball and go home. It's immature.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Donating time or money to someone who I consider to be despicable (as opposed to unspeakably horrible) is far too hypocritical for me to be comfortable with. Also, if the majority of the American people can't with a fair degree of ease see how terrible a president Bush is, then it is most definitely time for me to leave the country. As a result, I'd far rather keep my money and use it for moving expenses if things come to that. I am quite aware that I'm being selfish, I am a fairly selfish person when it comes to the insuring the welfare of myself and my loved ones. Also, I regard the US as largely beyond hope of being a decent and humane place to live, for at least the next decade or two.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Then be selfish and do it. But I am sick the fuck to death of people who are fed up with how things are an aren't doing anything to change them or their situation.

I mean... do you volunteer with any political causes at all? Are you actually planning to move? I mean you don't have to be pragmatic, that's my bugaboo, and I'm clearly not going to convince you. But what are you doing other than telling us how you're above it all here in LJ land?

This isn't me saying love it or leave it... but if the source of this conversation is a concern over empty rhetoric, prove to me yours isn't.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I mean... do you volunteer with any political causes at all?

I've volunteered to help stop the various anti-GLBT ballot measures that the rural and suburban bigots keep proposing in this state. Given that these same people have just (I read it in the paper yesterday) gotten an anti-SSM measure on the ballot, I'll be volunteering to help stop that one too (although, I fear this one may actually pass, unlike the other measures that have all failed by fairly narrow margins).

Are you actually planning to move?

If Bush is re-elected, I'll be in Canada within the year (if not sooner), along with Becca, Alice, and Aaron - we are still deciding between Toronto and Vancouver BC. I've been doing a fair amount of research on this. I don't expect Bush to win, but I'm ready if he does.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'd be really shocked if anyone paying actual attention felt significantly differently than I do on this. Certainly, I think the biggest secret of most of the women I know (I don't really live in a world where I meet many people that aren't pro-choice, regardless of their reservations on the subject) -- is that we think gay porn is hot, or whatever our clever little deviance of the moment is.

The big secret is that we do think abortion is kill, and we still thing we have a right to do it. This is me being more philosophical and literary than an essentially political discussion deserves, but I think that it is fundamental to the nature of women to see men as those who can stop things that already exist and themselves as those who can stop things that have not yet happened. It's a weird mix of power and powerless women see in themselves, and I think it translates intensely to our thinking on abortion in a way that is not often discussed in public, because quite frankly, it's not expedient to do so.