All right ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement. My back F’ing HURTS.
And one again, my boss has removed every picture of a non-white person from the piece I’m working on. He claims he “doesn’t even notice” the race or ethnicity of the people in the artwork. Really? Then why hasn’t a single picture of a blond been replaced? Yet every, and I mean EVERY, picture of a black or Hispanic person been removed? That’s called “covert racism.” You’ll notice that the word “racism” is still part of the term? Yes. That’s because EXCLUDING PEOPLE FROM YOUR ADVERTISING BASED ON RACE IS: RACIST.
Ok, moving right along.
All three kitties went to the vet this week. No real problems, just check up and immunization time. Just guess the final bill. Nope, not even close. $424. Seriously. These are INDOOR only cats. They have no health problems. They eat better than 90% of Americans. This is beyond ridiculous. I don’t think they’ll be going to the vet anymore. Ever.
If you write a blog, and were thinking you might want to give up posting, have me start reading. Seriously. Every time I start reading someone’s page, they decide to stop writing. What have I done to offend, people? What? I get bored easily, and need a few blogs on hand to lighten up my day. Is that so much to ask? Le sigh.
In other news: someone sent out an email today reminding everyone that Daylight Savings is this weekend. “At least we get an extra hour of sleep and sun earlier in the day!” Umm, I’m pretty sure you have that EXACTLY wrong. Geez, she’s got to be 55 years old, has she never dealt with Daylight Savings before? Fuck, man.
As we can all tell, I’m just a mite irritable today. I think the constant, searing pain in my back is not allowing me to absorb any happy goodness. Maybe some drugs are in order…
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Sometimes, I'm smart. Other times, not so much.
Yeah, a couple days late and at least 42 cents short: I’d like to give a shout out to MLK, without whom that really scary street in the ghetto would only be called “12th Street.”
Oh yeah, and also, the guy who mobilized a nation, fought for human dignity, and worked toward the rights I currently enjoy. Specifically the right to be married to someone whose skin is a different color from mine. So that we may make dozens of tiny little brown babies.
I know I joke about how fucking racist a lot of people are, and how Xtian and I are often stared at, glared at, or otherwise singled out because we’re different colors. But, seriously, at least we can’t be arrested for the express reason “You’re with a black man.” And that is saying something pretty frickin’ significant.
Oh yeah, and also, the guy who mobilized a nation, fought for human dignity, and worked toward the rights I currently enjoy. Specifically the right to be married to someone whose skin is a different color from mine. So that we may make dozens of tiny little brown babies.
I know I joke about how fucking racist a lot of people are, and how Xtian and I are often stared at, glared at, or otherwise singled out because we’re different colors. But, seriously, at least we can’t be arrested for the express reason “You’re with a black man.” And that is saying something pretty frickin’ significant.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Who you know fresher than Hove, riddle me that.
A lovely weekend up with the family. As always, wish it could last longer, but for what it was, I had fun.
With my complicated history and relationship with food, I find myself having the following conversation with myself at least 12 times a day:
“Hmm, it’s noon. But, am I hungry? Well, I feel vaguely nauseous. Does nauseous mean hungry? Ooh, I think I might be hungry. But am I just bored? Well, kind of but, shouldn’t I eat about now anyway? I should only eat if I’m actually hungry. Am I just saying that to deprive myself of food? Or, GAH!”
Yeah, I guess what I’m trying to say, is that on a normal basis (that is not those random occasions when I don’t get around to eating for more than 24 hours) I am no longer capable of recognizing hunger for what it is. Just awesome. I think I’ve officially analyzed by behavior beyond that which is appropriate.
In other news, I had an actual GOOD conversation with my sister over the weekend. A good conversation being one in which I was only put on edge during the last 20 minutes. I often disagree with my sister, but try to explain where I’m coming from, but without fail, I always feel put on the spot, and like I’m being forced to defend myself on pain of death. I know a lot of this is in my head, but not all of it.
For example, all that garbage with my MIL, most people who know me at all have been smart enough to refrain from DEFENDING THAT MEAN BITCH. But, clearly, my sister (who hasn’t had any experience with this particular brand of nonsense) is unable to just say, “That sucks. What a bitch.” Nope. Clearly, I’m being coerced into sympathizing with the MIL. I finally had to say, “Sis, you may be right here, but I’m not really in a place where I’m ready to understand her point of view. Right now, I’m more into the ‘why won’t this bitch just fucking die’ phase.” But, she pushed the point further, and so I just shut down. I love my sister, and a lot of times she’s one of my favorite people. But, it’s like she just can’t figure out that sometimes, she just needs to be on my side. (You all know you have friends who get a little crazy, but even then, you just have to girlfriend it up and be on their side. "No girl, he's just an asshole, you're right!")
I was talking to Xtian this weekend, and the big topic was covert racism/prejudice. Xtian takes particular offense to people who have gone so far around the PC wheel, they’re almost members of the KKK. Don’t understand? Let me show you:
White man is looking for an apartment. He finds one, but it would mean a black woman’s lease wouldn’t be renewed. He doesn’t take the apartment. Now this just might sound like this person is doing the kind thing. But, I challenge you thusly: would he have chosen differently if it were a white man losing the lease?
A white woman is irritated that her friend (also a white woman) is dating yet another man in a string of men. She loudly voices her concern, until, one day, she discovers that this man happens to be black. Immediately, her tune changes and she’s the epitome of support.
I go back and forth with myself on this stuff. It’s kind of like, from a sociological perspective, I can rationalize a lot of shit non-white people do/say. (raised with racism all their lives, lower socio-economic upbringing, cultural values etc). But, at the same time, the fact that I’m taking someone’s racial/ethnic background into account means that I’m making different rules for people. There’s something to be said for respecting cultural differences. But, if skin-color comes into the equation, you’re showing some amount of prejudice. And, we all have prejudices; so don’t give me that liberal crap.
I don’t really know where I’m going here. I just feel like I have to wrap up my own prejudices or at least get comfortable talking about them by the time I have kids old enough to ask questions like this. Kind of an interesting exercise to do with yourself. ”Would I be behaving differently if this person were white/black/Latino/Asian etc?”
With my complicated history and relationship with food, I find myself having the following conversation with myself at least 12 times a day:
“Hmm, it’s noon. But, am I hungry? Well, I feel vaguely nauseous. Does nauseous mean hungry? Ooh, I think I might be hungry. But am I just bored? Well, kind of but, shouldn’t I eat about now anyway? I should only eat if I’m actually hungry. Am I just saying that to deprive myself of food? Or, GAH!”
Yeah, I guess what I’m trying to say, is that on a normal basis (that is not those random occasions when I don’t get around to eating for more than 24 hours) I am no longer capable of recognizing hunger for what it is. Just awesome. I think I’ve officially analyzed by behavior beyond that which is appropriate.
In other news, I had an actual GOOD conversation with my sister over the weekend. A good conversation being one in which I was only put on edge during the last 20 minutes. I often disagree with my sister, but try to explain where I’m coming from, but without fail, I always feel put on the spot, and like I’m being forced to defend myself on pain of death. I know a lot of this is in my head, but not all of it.
For example, all that garbage with my MIL, most people who know me at all have been smart enough to refrain from DEFENDING THAT MEAN BITCH. But, clearly, my sister (who hasn’t had any experience with this particular brand of nonsense) is unable to just say, “That sucks. What a bitch.” Nope. Clearly, I’m being coerced into sympathizing with the MIL. I finally had to say, “Sis, you may be right here, but I’m not really in a place where I’m ready to understand her point of view. Right now, I’m more into the ‘why won’t this bitch just fucking die’ phase.” But, she pushed the point further, and so I just shut down. I love my sister, and a lot of times she’s one of my favorite people. But, it’s like she just can’t figure out that sometimes, she just needs to be on my side. (You all know you have friends who get a little crazy, but even then, you just have to girlfriend it up and be on their side. "No girl, he's just an asshole, you're right!")
I was talking to Xtian this weekend, and the big topic was covert racism/prejudice. Xtian takes particular offense to people who have gone so far around the PC wheel, they’re almost members of the KKK. Don’t understand? Let me show you:
White man is looking for an apartment. He finds one, but it would mean a black woman’s lease wouldn’t be renewed. He doesn’t take the apartment. Now this just might sound like this person is doing the kind thing. But, I challenge you thusly: would he have chosen differently if it were a white man losing the lease?
A white woman is irritated that her friend (also a white woman) is dating yet another man in a string of men. She loudly voices her concern, until, one day, she discovers that this man happens to be black. Immediately, her tune changes and she’s the epitome of support.
I go back and forth with myself on this stuff. It’s kind of like, from a sociological perspective, I can rationalize a lot of shit non-white people do/say. (raised with racism all their lives, lower socio-economic upbringing, cultural values etc). But, at the same time, the fact that I’m taking someone’s racial/ethnic background into account means that I’m making different rules for people. There’s something to be said for respecting cultural differences. But, if skin-color comes into the equation, you’re showing some amount of prejudice. And, we all have prejudices; so don’t give me that liberal crap.
I don’t really know where I’m going here. I just feel like I have to wrap up my own prejudices or at least get comfortable talking about them by the time I have kids old enough to ask questions like this. Kind of an interesting exercise to do with yourself. ”Would I be behaving differently if this person were white/black/Latino/Asian etc?”
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