Why I Never Wanted To Be A Feminist

I was always one to deny the term, "feminism" in relation to myself.
While I considered myself to be educated advocate for equality, I wanted to separate myself from "feminists" because in my mind and in the mind of popular culture, the label referred to radical extremists who took things personally, discounted the oppression of POC and treated men as if they were evil animals. However, now that I look back I think that while that reasoning was a part of it, an equal if not bigger part of my rejection was the deeply rooted distrust I had of women as a whole.

I was always threatened by other women, and I still feel that way. Not necessarily in the normal ways (their looks or success, though I think EVERYONE has those insecurities) but because I was, like many girls, the target for cattiness and teasing from other girls and felt generally more at home with guys as a result. This turned into my joining the "girls are stupid" mentality of 10 year old boys and though I have long since stopped wearing boys' shoes, playing wall ball, seeing men as solely platonic and sneering at the girls who all went to the bathroom together (that's a lie, I still don't get the group peeing phenomenon) I think that part of my detestation of the idea I had of feminists was largely influenced by my residual disdain for females in general. Admittedly, I am probably still more quick to judge and shorter in patience with women.

However, when I started to get really in depth in my self education and advocacy of anti-racism, I started thinking more broadly about the nature of oppression in general. And, ironically, it was really in the study of the oppressive idea of masculinity that I started finding my feminism. It was a weird (and somewhat sad) twist that it was the male feminists I listened to and spoke with that changed my ideas about who really made up the feminist population. Though I still refer to my beliefs in terms of equality in general and find an upsetting amount of white identifying as feminists insensitive to POC and specifically WOC, I no longer take issue with recognizing that my beliefs are, in general, feminist. Or at least, I'm more comfortable inhabiting my womanhood. I wouldn't be offended or think twice about being called anti-racist or an ally to the LGBTQIA community so why should it make me feel indignant when people call my beliefs feminist? I want equality and to fight against oppression for myself, other women, people of color, the LGBTQIA community, the disabled, and anyone else who is trying to live a full life in the face of a dominant culture that pushes their concerns aside. I'll never be ashamed of that.

“It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying, he was alive just as we were alive. All the organs of his body were working — bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming — all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls, and his brain still remembered, foresaw, reasoned — reasoned even about puddles. He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone — one mind less, one world less.”

George Orwell

I can't be any kind of involved with a guy who doesn't read

So much of my personality, my sentimentalism, my nostalgia, my curiosity, my eccentricity, my reoccurring  hermitism, my addiction to knowledge and pathetically overempathetic nature are all things that derived from my lifelong relationship with books. If you don’t read, then you literally won’t understand anything about me, and will probably be frustrated.

"i’m a murderer by indirect contact 
and by consent but not love"

Saul Williams

Why I Do Not Support Ron Paul

• Take a look at this @RP_Newsletter
• He’s been publishing racist and homophobic newsletters that used fear mongering and conspiracy theories such as an impending ‘race war’ to manipulate people into giving him money for years, and though now he acts like he had no idea (even if that was true, it’s idiotic to sign your name to a newsletter that not only you didn’t write, but that you didn’t supposedly read or agree with) he clearly did. 
• More here, here, and here. 
• He wants to pull out of the freaking United Nations, partly because he thinks the International Baccalaureate program is some kooky mind control.
• He thinks Church and State shouldn’t be separated (“The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers.”)Because apparently Jefferson (“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”) is not a founding father. Or Madison (“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.”)
• He wants to ENABLE big corporations by banishing the minimum wage (“It would help the poor people who need jobs. Minimum wage is a mandate. We’re against mandates so why should we have it? It would be very beneficial.”)
• He is against equal pay for women (“The concept of equal pay for equal work is not only an impossible task, it can only be accomplished with the total rejection of the idea of the voluntary contract. The idea that a businessman must hire anyone and is prevented from firing anyone for any reason he chooses, and in the name of rights, is a clear indication that the basic concept of a free society has been lost.”)
• He is against the ENTIRETY of Planned Parenthood, an organization which gives reduced and free family planning services, birth control, and relational therapy opportunities. 
• He wants to eliminate the Estate tax (which would help the rich avoid taxes since it only counts towards inherited money worth a MILLION dollars or more)
• He wants to cut the corporate tax rates
• He wants to eliminate birthright citizenship 
• He wants to take back the Panama Canal   (WHAT??)
• He’s deluded into thinking that there is a war on Christianity in America (Because it’s not like there’s a zillion foot tall Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center every year, and we totally like to punish Christians for praying in schools and going to Ash Wednesday. And the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t have “Under God” anymore, because you KNOW how America hates Christians! Wait…)
• He opposes the Americans with Disabilities Act
• He’s against the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.
• He’s against rights for any minority groupings
• He wants to go back to the Gold Standard, which, even Winston Churchill said it was the stupidest thing he ever did. 
• He supports authoritarianism on a state and local level
• He wants to leave us at the mercy of the unchecked, unregulated corporation
• Did I mention that apparently if you’re sexually harassed, Ronny thinks it’s your fault and you should get another job?

Lovely

Sorry for the lacking posts. Take a listen to Hunter Hooligan; he is extremely talented both as a singer and writer. You'll want to keep an eye out for this kid.
The Original:

Dreamers by Hunter Hooligan
The video:

Another Track:

No, No by Hunter Hooligan

12 hour shoot for The Lying Game left me pooped

no post tonight <3

Reason #2,642 to Not Vote For Rick Santorum

He's Racist. Period.

#Neutral Milk Hotel Appreciation Blog

Soft and sweet,
let me hold it close and keep it here
with me.

One of my favorite moments in the history of music.

Why Black People Can't Be Racist

Jerry Lavigne, Jr. "Why Black People Can’t Be Racist"


Before anyone tries to argue, just watch the video.

He’s not saying that A person that identifies as black cannot be racist. Anyone can be racist by just believing in a certain doctrine. Racism is the, “belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”

THE POINT IS that racism is CHARACTERIZED by oppression. Even if any single or even a group of black people are racist, there is no real way that they can hurt another race substantially. In American, the majority of their race has no means, no ownership, no power. Just watch; you’ll agree by the end of it.

"Pro-War People: Stop pretending you love God"

Credit

January 2nd, 2012