Don’t Speak….

June 26, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Every time there is a story about Kanye or Britney or a mass shooting, mental illness becomes the topic of conversation in Facebook comment sections. It never ceases to frustrate me that I, an individual with bipolar disorder (Type II) and ADHD (Predominantly Inattentive type) who…

has been in and out of therapy since age 7
was admitted to the juvenile psych ward at least four times
spent 1.5 years in a residential treatment center
has a long history of various addictions (luckily none related to smoking, drinking or drugs but I did have a self harm habit) that was fueled by my depression/hypomania
has had two years of intensive outpatient behavioral therapy and pretty much indoctrinated with CBT
undergone several sessions of ECT that I had to stop due to anxiety and not reacting well to the anesthetic
has had many complicated friendships and relationships with others who have a mental illness
sees a therapist weekly
takes medication daily and will have to for the rest of my existence on this planet

….will give my thoughts based off my own experiences with mental illness and my knowledge of the mental healthcare system and get a couple “likes”.

In comparison, another commenter, usually one I am responding to to correct them on their inaccurate depiction of mental illness or the stigmatizing nature of their comment, and whom based on the naïveté of their comment have no first hand experience with mental illness, will get hundreds of “likes”.

This troubles me for multiple reasons none of which have to do with the actual amount of “likes”. I don’t comment for the “likes”. I comment to share my opinion.

What troubles me is that…

1. People are getting knowledge of the illnesses from anecdotes

Everyone’s experience with bipolar, schizophrenia, schizoaffective, BPD, and other serious mental health disorders are vastly different. When it comes to bipolar there are four subtypes so my bipolar II experience will not be the same as that of another person with bipolar disorder. It might not even be the same symptoms. You also aren’t able to take into account any factors of a dual diagnosis. When you get secondhand information from someone who only has anecdotal commentary on psychological disorders you aren’t getting any of that context. You are just getting “Oh, Bobby was paranoid and depressed and all schizophrenics are like that” or “Stacy was so violent, overdramatic and emotional. But what can you expect from someone who is bipolar?” when in fact many people with mental illness are not violent. Statistically those with a mental illness are more likely to be the victim rather than the abuser. Summarizing it all up with anecdotes does a disservice when there is so much nuance and complexity in the field of psychological disorders and the discussion surrounding mental health.

2. People are gaining information about mental illness from those who have absolutely no understanding of the personal and impactful effects it can have on an individual’s day to day life.

If you don’t know what it’s like to not be able to trust your own thoughts, to distort basic interactions and events to such a point that interpersonal relationships suffer, if you don’t know the unpredictable ups and downs of moods that comes with bipolar or the difficulty separating reality from fiction that comes with schizophrenia then you shouldn’t be the one explaining conditions in which these symptoms are very much the norm.

3. When someone who does not have a mental illness provides commentary it is very VERY easy for that person to minimize the severity when they don’t live with it.

Saying “Well, we all do that” is downright ignorant, insensitive and denies the existence of a legally defined disability. Denying the very clear reasons why a person should be put under a conservatorship is denying the detrimental affects mental illness can have on a person’s life. Drug addiction, problems with the law, going into debt from reckless overspending, suicidal ideation and many other byproducts of mental illness can lead to or become part of a person’s downward spiral or even death.

No one should be denied their basic rights forever with a conservatorship if they are stable and can maintain their mental health. Just like when you go to the psych hospital: if you are no longer a harm to yourself and others you can go home once you are stable. You are given back many of your basic rights. Well, if you no longer engage in destructive behaviors that are detrimental to your well being and you are able to manage your symptoms and illness you shouldn’t be under a conservatorship anymore.

2021 Britney is not the same as 2007 Britney. However, the reasons for her conservatorship in 2008 were completely justified. Saying they were not is dismissing the severity of her symptoms and illness.

If you personally haven’t come close to having your rights taken from you as a result of your mental illness you will not understand how serious a point you have to be at for conservatorship to be even a remote possibility (speaking in general terms, not just about Britney Spears but the system overall).

SIDE NOTE: Conservatorships are NOT a rich people thing. They are a mental health thing. People from all walks of life can be placed under a conservatorship if they are incapable of caring for themselves.

If you read one part out of this very long post it should be this:

The voices of those who are not diagnosed with a mental illness SHOULD NEVER be louder and more impactful than the voice of someone who endures it and lives with it everyday. Mental illness is not something that ever leaves your consciousness.

You are reminded of it when you have to take your pills in the morning, noon or night.

You are reminded of it when you have to manage the weight gain, the tics, the nausea or the slew of other side effects that come with daily medications.

You are reminded of it when you are incredibly excited and in a great mood but can’t 100% tell if it’s hypomania/mania or if you are just genuinely happy. As a result of this uncertainty you always keep a look out for the signs of a possible upcoming depression.

You are reminded of it when you feel the effects of depression, can’t maintain your hygiene or get out of bed. When can you can’t spend time with your kids or pets. When you’d rather stay in bed all day and avoid the world.

You are reminded of it when you struggle to keep a job.

You are reminded of it when your spouse, colleagues or friend says something that upsets you and you don’t know whether they were being rude or if it’s just your cognitive distortions at work so you ruminate over it all day.

You are reminded of it when you feel inadequate compared to all the other “normal” people and wonder why can’t you just live life as easily as they do.

Take into consideration that you don’t have what some may see as a psychological burden weighing on you, influencing your every thought, feeling and action.

For those who speak for others (and this includes the family members too because while they are affected by their loved one’s diagnosis it still is not their’s to live with and may even be biased towards mental illnesses as a result) it is not your place to share the experiences of people with mental illness or to explain to others what it is like. You are not in a position to speak about something you don’t personally experience or likely even understand. I can speak for myself and my experience after 35 years of living with bipolar disorder and ADHD. Many others might have the courage to speak up as well if you allowed them the opportunity to without the stigmatization and delegitimization of their experience holding them back.

So please…

Politically Incorrect, Randomosity

Wait…I Thought All Lives Mattered?: Republicans and the Restricting of Trans Rights

April 14, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Republican legislators while in the midst of national issues such as the pandemic, racial unrest, and mass shootings have decided they want to be a part of the problem instead of being a part of the solution. So now, aside from fighting every method to control the virus and refusing to enact any police reform or common sense gun laws, Republicans have decided to target one of our country’s most vulnerable groups: trans youth.

More than 200 pieces of anti-LGBT legislation by Republicans have been under consideration in state legislatures. Half of this legislation targets trans youth. The focuses of the legislation touch on many points: preventing trans girls/women from participating on sports teams that align with their true gender identity, blocking gender-affirming medical treatment, as well as protecting “conversion therapy”, programs. While the two prior topics of gender-affirming health care and trans sports teams have been topics of recent public discourse “conversion therapy” has not. Conversion therapy attempts to “convert” trans people to their born gender or to “convert” gays and lesbians to be straight. This form of therapy is rarely successful and can actually be damaging to LGBTQ youth who are already at an increased risk of suicide.

“The Trevor Project found that young people who participated in “conversion therapy had higher rates of suicide attempts than their peers, who are also extremely vulnerable. Fifty-two percent of transgender and nonbinary youth said they seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Ten percent of LGBTQ youth reported undergoing conversion therapy ― 78% of whom said it happened before they were 18 ― and youth who went through this practice reported attempting suicide at more than twice the rate than those who did not.” (Amanda Terkel, HuffPost)

Given these factors it’s disturbing that Republicans would push for such harmful legislation and try to enact laws that are so dangerous given that trans people have such a significantly high suicide rate.

Republicans can’t claim All Lives Matter and then endorse and support policies that negatively impact people’s lives and can push those impacted to actually end their lives. Republicans can’t play the victim and say they don’t want the government in their lives, that they won’t allow the government to tell them what to do or have the government infringe on their rights and how they live their life (in some cases to the detriment of the overall public’s health and safety) and then turn around and support legislation that attacks the rights and controls the lives of marginalized groups.

Republicans claim they don’t want the government in their lives. Yet they have absolutely no qualms in having that government control what everybody else can do with their bodies, who they can marry, who can adopt, who can vote, who should be allowed to come into this country, who can serve our country etc. And many of the policies Republicans want to enact negatively impact so many and directly benefit close to no one.

How many Americans will be directly affected by a trans person simply living their life?

Only the trans person.

How many Americans would be directly affected by a woman having an abortion?

Only the woman and her partner.

How many Americans would be directly affected by a gay or lesbian couple marrying and adopting?

Only the couple and a child waiting to be adopted.

That’s it.

How many Americans are negatively impacted by guns not being regulated and common sense gun laws not being passed?

Answer: Close to everyone. The thousands of victims of gun violence and mass shootings every year as well as their families who suffer the loss. Businesses and schools that have to amp up security for protection. Children who are forced to walk through metal detectors each day and practice school shooting drills.

How many are negatively impacted by not enforcing health laws and by Republican legislation and lawsuits that prevent proper measures to be taken to manage a virus?

Answer: Everyone. The people who have or will get COVID, the people who die from COVID, and their families. The elderly, school teachers, essential workers and others.

How many are negatively impacted when legislation to provide financial support to struggling Americans during a pandemic is held up for months because one party wants to provide less support than the other?

Answer: Pretty much every person who has been affected by the pandemic, economy and unemployment.

Republicans are passing legislation that directly affects only those in the marginalized and vulnerable groups of this country who are the few and refuse to endorse and pass laws that actually would affect every citizen in this country.

Politically Incorrect

“You Can’t Handle the Truth!”: Opinion vs. Truth

March 17, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Jack was right you know. Some of us just can’t handle it.

In this day and age there is cause for concern when people seem to have forgotten just how the truth and how our relationship with media and journalism work. However, such mistrust and confusion is not at all surprising and certainly some media outlets (Fox News and CNN most notably) have not been doing much to curb the suspicion of inaccuracy when it comes to reporting. With the amount of disinformation, misinformation and distortions of the truth spreading and sparking like wildfires (not the ones set in California by Jewish space lasers mind you) it can be hard to know what to believe. Accusations fly on the left and right over how “the mainstream media (MSM)” skews the truth. To be fair, most news sources do tend to have a bias. It’s difficult not to. But there is a significant difference between presenting the truth with a biased perspective and presenting a complete fabrication, a blatant falsehood, a lie.

Many find it easier to deal with a world when the world makes sense; when there is a reason and explanation for everything no matter how ludicrous and outrageous that explanation may happen to be. It’s easier to wrap your head around a vast plan of Democrats plotting to take away human rights and bring about a socialist/communist/fascist uprising than it is to handle the reality of a once every hundred years global pandemic that upends your entire way of life. This leads many to the territory of conspiracies (I’ll save my thoughts on that topic for another time).

With advances in technology we have become so inundated with constant news cycles and notifications that people are bombarded with truths they just can’t handle. (I know there have been multiple times this writer has locked her phone away in her car just to get a break from the never-ending onslaught of constant information). When there is a virus, salmonella outbreak, economic crisis, natural disaster—news organizations tell people about it so people can protect themselves and be informed. However, now people are so used to being told predominantly the scary parts of life and the tragedies that this is misinterpreted as every piece of news simply being used to strike fear, to manipulate their emotions and actions or to fit an agenda. Real news, the sharing of information is not fear mongering. It’s simply journalists doing their job.

People for their own benefit should take a step back and observe what media they are consuming and if it consists of predominantly News or Opinion. To be crystal clear, Opinion is when someone gives you their interpretation of an event or their judgement of someone. Opinion can lead to fearmongering. Someone can take facts and build them up with what they think will happen and create a fearfulness that journalism isn’t supposed to project. Examples of such opinion based journalism would be pundits such as Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham on the Right and Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon on the Left.

News is when you are told the facts. News tells you the who, what, when, where, how and why. There is no spin, no bias. There’s no long monologue of what is right and what’s wrong. No calling out of Democrats or Republicans or placing blame upon politicians or political parties. No preaching from the soapbox or clutching of pearls. No personal interpretation or judgement of any kind.

There are those who do report on news while adding their own thoughts on the topic or solutions to the problem. John Oliver of Last Week Tonight comes to mind as a responsible comedian whose staff does thorough research and actually cites their sources. He validates his information which is what actual journalism is. Oliver as a comedian, an entertainer, is under no obligation to provide his sources or even to present the counterarguments or statements from those agencies or individuals he focuses his episodes on. But he does so and that is being a responsible journalist. As stated previously, it is difficult to avoid complete bias in such a politically divided country and world, but nonetheless news sources need to work on maintaining accuracy and the Truth, so that viewers are capable of clearly identifying when that Truth shifts to Opinion.

While it can be difficult to cut through the crud in a 24/7 digital media era, a few organizations that stick simply to the facts are the AP (Associated Press) and Reuters. Many other news organizations cite their information from AP. It really is important to know your sources and finding a media bias fact checker helps. There is nothing wrong with reading Occupy Democrats posts or Fox News so long as you are able to comprehend their bias and have the ability to separate what is the Truth from the Opinion.

Some media consumers, through no real fault of their own, simply aren’t capable of making such a division. One subsection incapable of making this distinction that you see spreading misinformation or repeating verbatim the talking points they hear spouted from biased sources (specifically Fox News) are of the baby boomer generation, otherwise known as “boomers”. One can only assume that many boomers grew up in an era of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Kronkite. They could turn on the news each evening and listen to the days or weeks events knowing that these men of journalism they allowed into their homes were being honest and truthful with them. An unspoken trust that has gradually deteriorated over time with the advent of 24 hour news networks. A trust that no longer exists in the journalism of today. When you think about it, why should these Boomers not place trust in the news networks of today such as OAN and Fox News when those of yesteryear gave them every reason to believe in accuracy and truly “fair and balanced” media?

It helps to be aware of the facts AND bias of the sources that feed your news diet.

The important thing is to know the difference and if it’s opinion consider the source. It’s also important to note that an organization calling themselves news (Fox News, OAN, and even CNN) does not mean they provide 100% news. It’s confusing but true. Networks that are 24/7 are not all news because there simply isn’t enough news coming in all day long. They have to fill up all that extra time and they fill it up with opinion. CBS News, NBC News, ABC News—they don’t need to fill it all with opinion because they are only an hour or so long on TV. They only have enough time to tell you the basic details of the top stories. Additionally, it is important to make note of not only the media organizations but the corporations whose bias and influence not only exists in the networks they own but also branch out to other divisions of their media enterprise.

With how the world is now, where you can find any article, news source, research paper to back up an argument its important for us as media consumers to know who is telling us the Truth, knowing how to admit when we are wrong and when presented with the Truth being able to accept it even when it doesn’t conform to our preconceived or biased narrative. We can’t be right all the time even if our media environment attempts to convince us otherwise.

Randomosity

Strategies, Actions & Rules for Conversations About Social Matters (SARCASM)

March 17, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Here are some pieces of advice I’d like to share with those striving to win the respect of the Facebook comment section and truly engage in an intelligent, thoughtful and productive debate against the opposition.

First, claim you want to engage in a friendly discussion. That you are the civil and rational one, mature enough to discuss these matters as adults. If they don’t reply immediately, call them a troll (or libtard, snowflake, demoncrat, communist, Marxist—your pick) before they can even respond. You can also tell them they should be deported because they don’t agree with you. It really doesn’t matter that that is 100% illegal and is what autocrats do. They aren’t real Americans who practice freedom of speech like you do.

Make sure that right off the bat you demand that they give you data instead of providing your own. This is vital when you are the party who in fact broached the topic without any data of your own.

Make sure that whenever they disagree with you that you point out how racist their political party is. It doesn’t matter whether they are Libertarian or Green Party. If they are against Trump they are 100% Democrats. ALWAYS assume they are backing Joe Biden who although considered a centrist by many is such a progressive socialist that he will lead us into a 1984 communist dystopia. That reminds me! Make sure you use fascism, communism and socialism interchangeably. It really doesn’t matter that they are completely different.

Deny that the political parties switched views decades ago and that there wasn’t always a two party system. Even though you think “all lives matter”, don’t think white privilege exists because you were poor and that systemic racism and oppression of POC isn’t real it is really your opponent who is the truly bigoted racist.

If the opposing side does bring you scientific data claim it was fraudulent or biased and then point to a random paper by a doctor who has no experience in viruses or research and claim there is some conspiracy theory with China and Bill Gates because you saw an “entertaining” video about it on Youtube but you never actually read the research paper the video was about. It’s okay that you didn’t even skim the abstract because there is no reason why you can’t trust what Fox News and Youtube tell you the research paper says.

You may then proceed to tell them if they do “deeper reading” they will find out about how true everything you have told them is. Be sure not to direct them to any sites or provide links but just give them vague theories. It doesn’t matter if you are the one who brought up these conspiracy theories first and be sure to make it clear to them that you don’t do the research for others. They have to find it on their own. Give generalized details all about the “deep state” and what our government has planned for us. Make sure to ignore the fact that Google and Facebook’s algorithms present us with what we are searching for and not what is in fact accurate information and that using either to search for information will only confirm what we already think or believe.

If that doesn’t get your point across bring up anecdotes about how your friend’s cousin’s brother’s girlfriend had COVID-19 but it really wasn’t that big of a deal and it’s just like the flu. It’s only about 2% of 328 million who will die in the U.S. That’s not bad at all!

Make sure you rationalize the deaths as just being the elderly and immunodeficient who were going to die anyway. If that doesn’t work blame the deaths on pre-existing conditions. Whenever they bring up a death toll inquire about pre-existing conditions even though that type of data isn’t recorded. If they can’t produce the data they are wrong.

When your opponent brings up the long lasting damage to one’s health after suffering from COVID-19 make sure to ask for studies even though the virus has only been around 7 months and they only started reporting about long term health issues in June and it’s now the end of July. If they can’t produce the research they are 100% wrong about it.

Be sure to mention that you’ve “read studies”. Oh and if you do share scientific data, articles and research papers make sure that they are from 6-8 years ago. Given how long ago it may have been published and that it is in no way current or accurate it might possibly prove your point if they don’t notice the date.

Make sure to clarify that they can’t ignore the scientific data that‘s been around for decades even though science is an ever-changing field of study and new information about a 7 month old virus is emerging every day.

After that proceed to quote Orwell out of context or paraphrase Niemöller and compare taking down Confederate statues to the rise of the Third Reich and compare wearing face masks to what the Jews did before they were sent to the concentration camps. Make it very clear that this “isn’t communist Russia or North Korea or Haiti” (that Haiti doesn’t have a communist government is irrelevant).

Make sure you throw in some memes that present 8 year old events as having happened this July. It doesn’t matter that the rapist was convicted and is serving four consecutive life terms. Don’t worry about the fact that a simple Google search will disprove your meme. Memes are never accurate ways to get the news but make sure your opponent knows that it’s really the media’s fault and they are unethical because they didn’t cover an 8 year old story written about in a meme.

IMPORTANT: when you want to emphasize a point you are making, TYPE IN ALL CAPS. It will not make you any more right than the one holding an opposing view but that doesn’t really matter because your caps lock will let them know YOU ARE DOMINATING THE CONVERSATION. If they call you out on your excessive use of caps lock blame it on your failing vision.

Don’t worry about blatant and repetitive spelling errors. Everyone makes them even though there is Google, dictionary apps and autocorrect fixes your spelling for you as you type.

If all that fails just type TRUMP 2020 with a bunch of random emojis but mostly American flags because don’t forget—even though everything you say contradicts the Constitution you are a true patriot 🇺🇸

I’m almost positive that will be the way we will bring together this fractured nation and become united once again.

Bookie Wooks, Politically Incorrect

Is This a Thing?: Cancel Culture (J.K. Rowling edition)

March 17, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Is there really much of a difference between “cancel culture” and the good old fashioned boycott of a company or a public figure’s products? Is “cancel culture” just prescribing a name to an old concept to trigger some new outrage?

In the past if people didn’t like something they simply didn’t buy it or they protested it with signs in the streets and loud (albeit catchy) chants. If someone said something truly offensive people would call or write to the higher ups in charge wanting that individual fired or their show taken off the air. How is that any different than the “cancel culture” of today? With the innovation of social media and the reaction much more massive and impactful in scale, companies, studios, publishers, etc. hear directly from the consumer. The complaint doesn’t go through letters and phone calls now. It comes pouring in from e-mails, tweets, and trending hashtags. The method is different but the hoped for outcome is the same.

Even Trump’s tweets and his use of “boycott” lead one to question where the line between a simple boycott and “cancel culture” begins and ends. It’s difficult to not acknowledge that the line tends to be drawn by political parties.

As a society we shouldn’t accept or allow racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and overall discrimination to persist. These contemptible concepts are completely unacceptable for where we are as a society. We are living in the 21st century. Humanity has been on earth 200,000 years. We have come to a point where that kind of shit just isn’t acceptable anymore and for very good reason. Having an individual not be held to account is not an option. If people don’t recognize that there are consequences to their words and actions and that what they are saying or doing is wrong they won’t realize they need to change. Like many things in life people don’t see something as worth changing unless they see a need to or are directly impacted by it.

On another point why should people in positions of power or influence who say or do offensive, racist, transphobic things not be held to account for their actions and words? As many on the Left have stated it is not “cancel culture” but is instead “consequence culture”. You are facing consequences for your words and actions. Should the wealthy be spared because of their notoriety or power? For millionaires who believe they are untouchable from penalties the most effective measure you can take against their reckless actions (actions that are not always considered illegal but are morally or socially frowned upon), is in their pocketbooks. You can’t take away their fame or power or influence. There will always be people who support them, agree with them, or enable their offensive views. What you can do is take away their income that as entertainers is reliant upon mass public consumption.

What alternative would there be to reprimand a person who holds power, fame and wealth so that they be held accountable for discriminatory behavior when the behavior in itself isn’t illegal but still viewed as reprehensible? In what meaningful way can the overall public say “We will not stand for this” than by saying we won’t watch this actor on TV, we won’t read this author’s book and we won’t buy this company’s product? No one can force a consumer to buy a product and consumers strongest and most effective impact is in denying companies the consumer’s most important purpose—consumption.

Let’s use an example of J.K. Rowling (I’m saving Dr. Seuss for another post). When Harry Potter first came out some religious parents demonized the book as encouraging and promoting unchristian, pagan sorcery. Many parents protested the books and later the movies, refusing to let their children read and watch them. Groups pushed for the book to be completely banned, to not be sold or available in libraries (they failed as it is impossible to ban a book). Despite all of that, those who still wanted to read the books read them.

New York Times article describing Christian outrage over the children’s series.

Flash forward two decades later. Rowling begins to tweet transphobic remarks to millions of her followers, many who grew up with her books and some who are transgender themselves. People called out her behavior in all the ways that they could. Rowling is beyond wealthy, famous and as such has the platform to have her opinion and view spread far and wide to millions of Twitter users. Having such a platform she, like others, needs to weigh what she says carefully as her words carry significant influence. The most important aspect with the example of Rowling, compared to other notable figures, is she is predominantly recognized as a children’s author with many young and impressionable followers. So how would it be recommended someone who holds such prosperity be held accountable for spreading messages of intolerance and hate? How is it that people refusing to read or buy her works and inhibit her success are any different than those two decades before? Those who disagreed with the content of her books so strongly that they wanted them banned? The only differences are the reasons and the accessibility to outlets that allow a collective united voice to able to say “This is not okay.”.

Rowling, can deny being transphobic without realizing how her words and actions re-enforce transphobia (implicit bias). However, she cannot play ignorant or dumb in this regard. Many of her followers and readers have strived to explain to her how her views are inaccurate, misguided, go against science and are hurtful to many of her trans followers. Even those who made their careers as part of the Harry Potter universe have called out her perspective as transphobic. Yet still she continues, unwilling to accept the reality of others and placing her experience over theirs. When you are part of a marginalized and stigmatized group acceptance is important, especially considering that the suicide rate within the transgender community is incredibly high. That acceptance by all is important and vital so one does not feel ostracized by the majority. Rowling is pushing against such acceptance and inclusiveness by denying the transgender experience.

In one instance Rowling denounced an article that used the inclusive description of “people who menstruate”.

Not only was her statement viewed as transphobic but is also incredibly condescending. Despite being informed that those who are intersex and transgender menstruate she was adamant about her view that only women should be viewed as menstruating without considering anything biologically to the contrary.

In another instance she supported a woman who went to court after refusing to use the proper pronouns among her coworkers. A court ruled against this woman yet Rowling maintained her support. While she can claim she is the furthest thing from transphobic those she supports, the messages she spreads and the views she holds are completely contrary to that.

However, this highlights an important point: people don’t have to accept this behavior. They don’t have to give her their money and if they disagree with her they won’t. Success isn’t a guarantee and just as difficult as it is to rise to the top it’s just as easy to fall to the bottom. So if people stop buying her books or speak out against her how is society “cancelling” her? If people disagree with someone are they “cancelling” them if they don’t buy their books? Throughout history those who were embroiled in controversy faced public backlash. How is it any different in this case? Because there is a new word for backlash and boycotts its something new and different? Just as Rowling is given the freedom to insist upon reinforcing her outdated and inaccurate views so to are people allowed to say she is wrong and call her out on it.

If the offender who committed the egregious action comprehended the gravity of their actions, admitted that they did something wrong and worked to change their behavior in the future there likely wouldn’t be such a thing as “consequence culture”. In many instances celebrities who acknowledge their mistakes have been spared real consequences for their actions and to their careers. But with some they instead stubbornly stand by their actions, further digging their hole even deeper while blaming diabetes or Ambien usage instead of accepting responsibility for their own racist implicit bias. It begs the question, “How is there an empathetic conversation to be had though when one side can’t even admit they are at fault?”. To show and admit that it was an honest mistake is a start but actions speak louder than words.

People who are supposedly being “canceled” are not being forced to change or pushed into silence. Decades ago many didn’t accept the gay community. Homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder with gay men given lobotomies in an effort to “cure” them of their homosexual nature. Now we have gay marriage legal in all fifty states and laws have been created to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+. Decades ago Jim Crow laws and segregation were commonplace. People of color were lynched. Now segregation is unconstitutional and lynch mobs are a thing of the past. This isn’t to say homophobia and racism ceased to exist. Both still exist but in modern times they are looked down upon and penalized. This transformation didn’t come out of nowhere. Society’s tolerance and acceptance took time. Humanity is continually progressing technologically and socially. To hold people accountable for their actions isn’t “cancelling”. It’s progressing.

Politically Incorrect, Randomosity

Accountability? What’s That?

February 13, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Well, Trump has been acquitted. AGAIN.

This is so incredibly disappointing. It’s like a small part of you knows the Senate would mostly vote along party lines but a bigger part of you really hoped that Republicans would come to their fucking senses and realize the brevity of their actions and the responsibility they have to their constituents and the oath they swore to uphold. I’d expect this shit from representatives, many who are just starting out in politics and are still getting their feet wet, but senators, some who have spent so many decades in office that they were around during the Clinton impeachment, I expected better. These senators just set a precedent for a president to be allowed to plan and execute an insurrection on the Capitol and escape with ZERO consequences. Republicans went after Clinton for lying about a blowjob. Who was physically hurt by that? Who was killed by that? Not to mention almost everything that has ever come out of Trump’s mouth has been a lie or a twisted distortion of the truth.

It’s especially frustrating when you consider the thousands of people who are arrested each year and actually held responsible for their actions. Peaceful protestors arrested for violating a curfew suffered more penalties for their actions than the President of the United States did for inciting an insurrection that threatened the safety of every member of Congress, their staff and resulted in the deaths of 5, suicides of 2, and 100+ cops being injured. One officer had an eye gouged out, one lost three fingers, another suffered a heart attack after being tasered multiple times. Others were beaten with flag poles. The Capitol building was draped in Trump and yet he somehow holds no blame and suffers no consequences for any part of this?

Pro-Trump insurrectionists gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The senators who voted to acquit Trump essentially said fuck you to Blue Lives Matter, fuck you to their Congressional colleagues, fuck you to their Congressional staff and fuck you to their constituents. “All lives” clearly don’t even matter anymore to Republicans. Even their own.

You cannot tell me that a man who was one of two people (the President and Secretary of Defense) who had the power to send the National Guard in to protect the Capitol as the insurrection unfolded and who failed to do so does not bear responsibility. A man who organized a rally for months, continually spouting toxic rhetoric of distrust towards the government and telling people to “fight” for the country dozens of times on Twitter, who spread elaborate campaigns of disinformation, that he did not incite an insurrection, did not intend for this to happen

A president who held a rally blocks from the Capitol on the day of the verification of electoral votes and who directed people to walk to the Capitol building to “support” their members of Congress, that he did not contribute to what unfolded. Who laid out the groundwork prior to the election and admitted that if he didn’t win that meant the election was rigged against him. Unless he won, it was rigged. There were no other explanations for his election loss according to Trump.

A man who while the Capitol was being attacked instead of calling out his supporters immediately on Twitter and telling them to stop the violence and leave spent the time calling members of Congress trying to convince them to side with him. A man texted his own VP stating that if Pence didn’t side with him he was “a pussy”. A man who later told his supporters, the same supporters who had chanted to “hang Mike Pence”, that “You’re special and we love you”.

A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of Donald Trump gather outside the Capitol. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Trump has escaped real consequences for every despicable crime you can think of and now he can add inciting an insurrection, the deaths of seven people and the brutal assaults of 100 Capitol police officers to his resume. And all of these Republicans who voted along party lines, who were too scared of their extremist constituents to keep their oath, are at worst co-conspirators, and at best, enablers. The ones who spent the trial ignoring the evidence. Who met with Trump’s defense team. Who didn’t even consider being impartial. The ones who even after the People’s House was attacked still persisted with false claims of election fraud. The same Republicans who have defended Trump every step of the way these past 5 years. Excusing his crimes, offenses, dangerous actions and harmful policies and allowing extremism and conspiracy theories to contaminate whatever legitimacy there was left within Conservatism.

I’m honestly disgusted and nauseated by all of this. We have laws for a reason. It’s a fucking shame that some of the people voted in to uphold those very laws are morally incompetent and un-American in their actions.

Randomosity

American Consumerism, Christian Nationalism and…Bruce Springsteen?: An Analysis

February 8, 2021 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

During the 2021 Super Bowl (an event where, during a pandemic, sweaty men spend hours slamming their bodies into each—no social distancing here folks), Jeep decided it would try to bridge the nation’s division with gaslighting rhetoric on religion and Americanism through the method of commercials, consumerism and Mr. Bruce Springsteen. These are my thoughts…

“Here I go driving my Jeep down a Midwestern road and exposing myself to the elements in the freezing cold winter.”

First things first: Bruce looks really uncomfortable in that Jeep. Like he’s not in his natural environment.

Secondly, you can’t make an ad about “the middle” and fill it only with Christian imagery and expressions. “Climb the mountaintop”? “Cross the desert”? A sun setting behind a chapel with the outline of the cross as the focal point?

26% of Americans are religiously unaffiliated. Where is their “middle”? How is their freedom to not believe displayed through an ad that highlights a biased emphasis on Christian religious beliefs that Atheists and Agnostics do not adhere to?

What about Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists in this “middle”? They make up 5% of the U.S. population yet I see no Star of David? No mosque? No Buddha?

Where’s the “middle” for the LGBTQ+ community? 4.5% of the U.S. population identify as LGBT. I see no rainbow flag. If unification is Jeep’s secondary intent (the first being to subliminally push consumers into buying their products) you can’t achieve that by failing to even acknowledge LGBTQ+ citizens existence in this country.

What about people of color? 42.1% of the US population are not white.

And immigrants? 13.7% of the US population are immigrants.

Where is their “middle” expressed in all of this? It simply isn’t. This is due to that the “middle” for the Right (which is clearly who the target audience is—interesting since they routinely complain about politics in Super Bowl ads and football games) doesn’t include any of these diverse groups. According to this ad the “middle” actually doesn’t include anyone except Bruce Springsteen.

I’m not pro-religion but if you are going to make an ad about reuniting the United States you should not begin by using religion, an institution that since it’s origination has done nothing but divide believers from non-believers (in some instances leading to genocide and war) as your starting point for bridging the divide when it has largely contributed to so many of the problems our country now faces:

-Religious mass gatherings being legally allowed during a pandemic that has a death toll of 463,000.

-Attempts to get rid of Roe v Wade and doing away with access to safe abortions fueled by religious beliefs of Catholics and Evangelicals and the debate over when life begins.

-Attempts to strip LGBTQ+ communities of their civil rights and deny them marriage and the ability to adopt because of some archaic and inaccurate line of scripture

Christians are incredibly overly represented in Jeep’s ad and by not including a diversity of religious beliefs or symbolism the messaging reinforces the distorted belief that the US is a “Christian nation”. Many of the founding fathers (notably Jefferson and Adams) did not want to be subjected to a mandatory religion, which at the time was the norm, thereby developing and instituting the concept of the separation of church and state into our Bill of Rights. That we have actually become a country largely focused around religion is not what the founders intended.

Additionally if you are hoping to reach some “middle ground” it is counterproductive to voice that message of unification through a straight white man who by his own admission falsely represents “the working class” and has become the stereotype of “the American Everyman”. The U.S. was founded by (presumably) straight, white, wealthy, male landowners. This group of men instituted divisions in the formation of our own government (e.g. African American slaves were equal to 3/5 a person and women couldn’t own land or vote). It’s pretty tone deaf to have a straight white male millionaire giving a lecture on “what it means to be American” when straight, religious, wealthy, white men have had a dominant influence in American history and as having been in positions of power for so long clearly have worsened a multitude of America’s problems over the past two centuries.

Where was this request for unity over the summer when peaceful BLM protestors were beaten in the streets for advocating for changes to the systemically racist justice system of the United States? Where were calls for unity to bring us together in order to defend our country against a potentially deadly virus (that has killed 463,000 and sickened 27 million, a virus we still don’t know the long term ramifications of) with the goal of protecting the public health? There are so many points I could list in these past five years where we could have unified.

It is difficult to not see this ad as White America’s edition of equality and foolish encouragement for the Right’s argument of a need for unity. This ad really seems to serve as a mechanism in gaslighting the country into minimizing the death, destruction and volatility of 1/6 and dismissing the responsibility of those who encouraged this animosity over five years that led us to where we are today. It is diminishing the impact of the heinous acts of right wing extremists when they attempted to bring about the downfall of our government and democracy (or republic if you are talking to a conservative/Republican). It is essentially saying “Well after everything that’s happened between us let’s forgive and forget and come together” negating the responsibility, accountability, negative impact and ownership of the divisive destruction encouraged by the conservative-Republican side of the political aisle.

You don’t get to tear down this country and then bemoan the fiery division that you poured the gasoline on for the past five years. You don’t get to the gaslight the nation into pretending it’s all in our head.

Randomosity

Don’t Want To Wear A Mask? Fine.

August 16, 2020 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

In the past months as local and state governments have begun to mandate mask wearing in public there have been those who have responded with an entirely volatile and irrational reaction to these health laws put in place to protect the general public. With most private businesses abiding by the state and local government’s rules and restrictions in order to keep their businesses afloat each day we bear witness to some new “Karen” or “Ken” throwing a fit (sometimes staged other times authentic) in Costco and Trader Joe’s. Young teenage retail workers bear the brunt of this aggression by grown adults who simply think the rules don’t apply to them. In more extreme documented instances employees of these stores, many who work for minimum wage, have been assaulted or verbally abused by anti-maskers who for some strange reason feel they are exempt and above the laws that apply to literally every other person of this United States.

The difficulty many find in enforcing the public health measure of a mask mandate is just how do you possibly enforce mask wearing on those so vehemently against it? You can’t simply pin them down and strap a mask around their face. That would be assault. So what do you do to punish those who break health laws? You treat them like any other lawbreaker. You fine them.

You can’t arrest the people who won’t wear masks because that would crowd up the jails and with COVID-19 it just isn’t a logical solution. So you give them a fine the same way you would ticket someone for a traffic violation, jaywalking or parking in a handicapped spot without a placard. If they don’t pay the fine then you get a warrant for their arrest.

Businesses need to continue not to allow people in if they aren’t wearing a mask. If people do push their way in, throw a fit or destroy merchandise they should be held responsible for their actions and if need be arrested for disorderly conduct. Anti-maskers are not above the law. They are not special. Denying them access to a grocery store is not denying them food or sustenance. There is instacart, grocery delivery or they can have family members or friends (who WILL wear a mask) shop for them.

At one point anti-maskers were producing these fraudulent cards falsely proclaiming they were protected by the ADA accommodations and didn’t have to wear a mask in a store. Some anti-maskers even went so far as to threaten stores with lawsuits should they fail to comply with these fabricated laws.

Those who have actual disabilities that find it difficult to wear a mask are usually the same people who either stay at home because they are at risk anyway or work through it and wear the mask because it’s for the greater good. They are not the same people we see throwing temper tantrums at Whole Foods.

Those with disabilities and familiar with disability laws know that making accommodations is not the same for everyone. Stores are not going to go against the law to accommodate. They are also not going to provide an accommodation for one person if that accommodation is going to negatively affect the well being of everyone else in the store.

Given that many law enforcement agencies have publicly stated that they will not enforce mask mandates it will be incredibly difficult to push communities, cities and states to take the virus seriously and protect their citizens health and safety. Police need to do their job and begin to fine those intentionally violating the health laws put in place by many states. They cannot simply stand by and “monitor” the situation as so many Sheriff’s and Police Departments have done throughout this pandemic. Their job of enforcing the law is so much a part of what they do that it is literally in their job title. Mask mandates cannot work if those who are in LAW ENFORCEment don’t enforce those laws.

The main thing is wearing a mask needs to be normalized just like how wearing a seatbelt was. We didn’t always have seatbelts in cars and now we do. We now expect others to wear a seatbelt when they drive because society has conditioned us to do so. They even have that saying: “Click it or ticket”.

Unfortunately people only care about what directly affects them. That’s why so many don’t take COVID-19 seriously until someone they are very close to gets seriously sick or dies from it. If an anti-masker does not have a personal consequence (like paying a fine) for not following a law and wearing a mask they will continue to go about doing what they do because they think it’s not hurting them and they are the only one’s (in their mind) who matter. However, once they have to pay a fine there is a personal consequence to their actions

Bookie Wooks

A “Night” to Remember

June 19, 2020 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical novel, or as he refers to it his “deposition” of his year in Auschwitz and Buchenwald while brief in length is dense in tragedy. Before beginning Night I read up on Wiesel having known very little about him aside from knowledge of his time in concentration camps.

After his period in the concentration camps Wiesel went on to write 57 books and became a Nobel laureate in 1986. He received the Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1996. Having worked to spread education of the Holocaust, Wiesel received knighthood by the United Kingdom. A professor of the humanities at Boston University, Wiesel also helped establish the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and was a founding member of the New York Human Rights Foundation. As a political activist Wiesel fought for the rights of victims of oppression. From those suffering from apartheid in South Africa to the refugees of the war in the Darfur region of Sudan, he was an advocate for the unheard, those who had been silenced by their governments, by the impactful wars or dictators wielding power.

Despite Wiesel’s extensive career as a journalist after his liberation from Buchenwald, for ten years he refused to discuss or write about his period of being held under Nazi control. It wasn’t until he was befriended by French Nobel Laureate of Literature Francois Mauriac that he began to see the value in documenting his experience. When first published in 1955, La Nuit (translated to Night) sold few copies but it did interest reviewers which led to an increase in readership. It has now been translated into thirty languages.

A manuscript originally 862 pages in length written in Yiddish and complete in 1954, what later would go on to become Night was published in Argentina as the 245 page Un di velt hot geshvign (“And the World Remained Silent”). Published in France in 1958 as La Nuit the book was then slimmed down to 178 pages. At last by the time it was translated in English and released in the U.S. Night had been reduced to 117 pages. It would be very interesting to not only read the original manuscript but even to be able to read Un di felt hot geshvign. It seems a shame that so much was omitted from such an experience and it has been stated that what was once a piece of literature filled with anger and the violence of war was sanitized for an American audience.

“In the Yiddish edition, for example, when Buchenwald was liberated: ‘Early the next day Jewish boys ran off to Weimar to steal clothing and potatoes. And to rape German shiksas [un tsu fargvaldikn daytshe shikses].’ In the 1958 French and 1960 English editions, this became: ‘On the following morning, some of the young men went to Weimar to get some potatoes and clothes—and to sleep with girls [coucher avec des filles]. But of revenge, not a sign.’”

The most interesting part of Night when reading the text was the complicated relationship that Wiesel has with his own personal faith after experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust. It is not surprising that one would question their faith after witnessing so much brutality. One’s relationship with their faith is a part of the Holocaust that sometimes isn’t considered: just how much Jews had their faith shaken and would question a God that would allow such atrocities to take place. Wiesel later throughout life declared himself to be Agnostic and it is interesting when reading Night to see how this boy went from practicing and studying Judaism everyday to questioning and evening abstaining from practicing it simply out of principle.

Another part I found interesting within the book was just how much the Holocaust transformed these men who were victimized by the Nazis. Psychologically one would imagine it would be devastating. Throughout the book there is a pattern as the Nazis gradually take the rights away from Jews. There is a common mindset of perseverance, a continual view of “Well we are now through this experience. It can’t get any worse.”. As they are depicted by Wiesel, the Jewish communities try to make the best of each situation. Upon being pushed into a ghetto by the Hungarian government, the people of Sighet view this change as an opportunity to establish a type of Jewish republic. They create their own committees and leaders. They construct their own government within the ghetto. Once they are told to evacuate they assume that this is because the war is getting closer and they are being moved for their own protection and safety. As their rights are gradually taken away from them they try to view it through an optimistic lens that while beneficial to survival does them a grave disservice.

As Wiesel depicts the events, the men surrounding him within the concentration camps shift from being men to savages. Many times Wiesel actively acknowledges his disgust with some of these men who abandon their fathers, leave their fathers and at one point even kill their fathers. Wiesel even feels immense and immediate guilt of even for a moment viewing his father as dead weight, as holding him back from maintaining his own survival. Throughout the text he repeatedly reprimands himself from having such thoughts, vowing to not be like these other men who would mistreat their fathers. Fathers who search for their lost sons out in the snow and cold or who fight tooth and nail to acquire a ration of bread from a mob only to be killed by their own son. It’s difficult and hard to understand as one not in the experience how in the grips of maintaining survival one would sacrifice their own family or feel their own kin to be such a burden. That the young civilized boys and men were contaminated by the toxic inhumanity of the Nazi, SS and the Kapos is a difficult concept to confront. When we view photos of Holocaust survivors and victims we see the starvation and the abuse but its difficult to see in a photo the lengths and sacrifices taken to simply stay alive, to keep oneself from death.

I think it’s important for anyone wanting to know more about the Holocaust experience to read not only Night but many of the other works by Elie Weisel, such as the two novels within the Night Trilogy, Dawn and Day.

I recently read Maus and Maus II two graphic novels by cartoonist Art Speigelman, written and based off the accounts given to him by his father of the experiences and suffering his father endured during the years of being held in the concentration camps. If wanting to learn more of the experience within a more visual context I would strongly recommend reading both books as they are compelling and really grasp the experience whereas Wiesel’s Night I feel describes more of the religious, philosophical and psychological transformation that changed generations of Jewish men, women and children.

Politically Incorrect

Black Kids Matter: Nickelodeon & White Privilege

June 12, 2020 misfitglory182 Leave a comment

It was reported that at least two children witnessed the tortuous death of George Floyd. Those children saw it. They saw a man die before their eyes. It can be said that many, many more children of color witness this type of police brutality regularly, are victims of it themselves or have lost parents and loved ones at the hands of police. Black children go to school everyday where they are watched over by cops patrolling the halls. They are disproportionately punished in schools in comparison to their white peers and thus pushed into a cycle that’s been referred to as a “school-to-prison pipeline”. These are issues black children face EVERY SINGLE DAY. Nickelodeon is a channel that is for ALL children and as such should represent all children. Black children and other children of color need to know that they deserve to be treated as equals.

Nickelodeon televised a PSA about Black Lives Matter with this Declaration of Kids’ Rights that lasted 8 minutes and 46 seconds—how long former police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on the neck of George Floyd, a black man in police custody.

While privileged parents may want to shelter their children from the chaos of life, many children have not had the option to just ignore what is going on in the world, whether they come from the inner-cities of America or the war zones of Syria. Sad to say we can’t treat kids like kids forever. We can’t have kids with privilege grow up thinking everyone has it as good as they do, everyone has a safe home, food on the table when they come home from school, a safe neighborhood to play in. It’s understandable parents don’t want their children to see the chaos of the world, they want their children to maintain their innocence. But this does children a disservice. Censoring the parts of life that are scary or hard will allow privileged children to grow up ignorant and lack empathy as they will not have seen anyone who is outside their own little bubble of protection.

90’s kids grew up on Linda Ellerbee providing them with information on kids issues like how to help in their community, the election process and conservationism

It should also be mentioned that this is not the first time Nickelodeon has been outspoken on social issues. Many millennials will recall when Nickelodeon had Nick News with Linda Ellerbee that informed kids on current events and politics and what they could do to help and make a difference in their communities. Most millennials are now parents of these young kids and should realize that Nickelodeon has always been not just a source of entertainment but of education for children.