Letter from God by Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip
The video is fan-made. There is a ordinary one, but it’s easier to keep up with the lyrics in this one. If you’re not a fast reader you’re kinda fucked either way though.
I agree to parts of the message, but not all of it. It’s still good, and gives you things to think about.
Obama! Give America Better Sex!
“
Dear President Obama:
For months, I’ve been predicting that when you win, nothing will
change regarding sex. I’ve said you won’t stop the government’s War On
Sex; you won’t demand respect for sexual rights as human rights; you
won’t prevent religious fanatics from controlling non-believers’ sex
lives.
You now have your big chance: prove me wrong. Here’s what you need to do:
* End funding for abstinence-only training in public schools.
* End the Department of Justice’s war on adult entertainment. Keep
the war on child porn. Make it clear they’re two different things. [[Regina's Note:
Notice Marty's semantics here - adult entertainment vs child porn.
Absolutely right to use different words for two very, very different
things. Go Marty!]]
* Decriminalize all consensual sex that teens have with other teens.
Decriminalize teens sharing photos of themselves having sex. [[Regina's Note:
Tech enables us to extend our sexual behavior, as well as create "new"
sexual behaviors. I agree with Marty that teens sharing photos with
their peers is not a criminal act -- and that their lives should not be
forever wrecked for the "crime" of being young and hormonal. Besides,
sharing pics is robably the quickest, most effective way to learn
discretion and to think about one's own limits and the limits of one's
friends. No need to send them to jail. Their peers will teach them the
lesson more deeply than the adults ever could.]]
* Increase financial support for Planned Parenthood, an investment
proven to reduce poverty and domestic violence. [[Regina's Note:
Several of my adult friends, unmarried and married, go to PP for STD
screenings and birth control, because they are young working adults who
don't have health insurance. It has nothing to do with politics,
abortion, feminism or any other "issue" -- except the desire not to
bring issue into the world before the women are ready for them.]]
* Take the moral leadership to decrease abortion–by funding
contraception services and comprehensive sex education, not by
criminalizing abortion.[[Regina's Note: Duh.]]
* Require all sex education programs to be scientifically accurate.
Isn’t that required by the policies of car manufacturers, meat-packing
plants, and toothpaste makers?
* Require all municipalities that want to restrict commercial sexual
expression (strip clubs, adult bookstores, swing clubs, etc.) to
actually demonstrate a need to do so, rather than simply claim “effects
like crime, disease, and blight are well-established.” Because they’re
not.
* Require all federal judges to take a Continuing Education course
about sexuality. Healthy sexuality, not “sex addiction” or child
molestation. Make this education mandatory for anyone aspiring to be a
judge.[[Regina's Note: This is my soapbox as well. So
much of what we write, research or study about sex starts with the
"something's wrong" -- but what about what's not wrong?]]
* Get the FCC out of the censorship business. Let Americans use the
“off” and “change channel” buttons on their TV remotes whenever they
want; it’s good practice for voting.
* Remove the blocking software from every federally-funded computer
in America–libraries, universities, airports. Start with the computers
in the White House and Congress.[[Regina's Note: There's a scene in Cordelia's Honor,
by Lois McMaster Bujuold, in which it comes out that the lowest
standard of living Cordelia can imagine is not having a comconsole and
full network access in a home, much less in the village. When the
Barrayarans express astonishment at this naive worldview, Cordelia, a
Betan, explains that it's the first item on the Beta Colony
constitution: the right to information access shall not be abridged.]]
I’ve said in dozens of lectures this year that you won’t make a difference in America’s War On Sex.
Please, prove me wrong. “
I see nothing wrong with any of this. Then again I am an ungodly Anarchist Swede. Westbro Baptist hates me, yey! Westbro sounds very Scandinavian by the way…
From SexRev 2.0, via Technoccult.
The Liberal Middle East?
There are interesting things going on there.
And I’m not talking about Iraq.
Iran will soon have a majority of young people insides it’s borders. As you’ll know if you drop by here once in a while, the Iranian blogosphere is crackling with activity.
Saudi Arabia is also heading towards a more open society for women.
The all-girl rock band The AccoLade is a underground hit, as most newsreaders probably know by now. The current King is also positive towards women helping the society, and women are also allowed to have an ID-card now.
So, is this the start of a new, more liberal, middle east? I, for one, hope so.
If Iran and Saudi Arabia (arguably two of the most conservative nations in the middle east at the moment) become more Liberal in their politics, it would probably do a lot to change the entire region.
This is not the Indentity you’re looking for
As usual when reading dear Penny’s latest stabbing of all that is well and normal (according to people that think they’re normal), I want to jump up, run all the way to the nearest McDonald’s, light my pants on fire and use them as a slingshot to propel me laptop trough the front window. Preferably after I’ve filled it with thermite and nitroglycerin. As it burns and crackles like those burning sticks people like to play with around Christmas, I’d casually walk away with my jacket tied around my hips as a makeshift skirt. If I ever did I’d probably freeze my balls off, but it would be worth it.
Being done with my usual plunge into imagination, the part that really made me go “Fuck yeah!” was this:
“But conformity is safe. No matter how much time and effort you put in to making yourself acceptable and well-behaved, never doubt that it’s the easy option. I never feel more alive, or more free, than days like today when I stamp into work in big boots, a baggy black hoodie covered with slogans, a bobble hat and no make-up. But it takes courage. Courage to step outside the cosy cage of automatic approval and be your own, real person, without rules.”
Being somewhat of a gypsy myself (on my fathers side), I relate to this. It makes me feel warm and really alive inside to know that there are people that will disregard what others think and go with what they, and only they, feel is right.
No wonder people aren’t satisfied with their lives, they’re trying to get approval from everyone else.
I especially remember a girl I went to elementary with. One day she didn’t wear any makeup. The funny thing is, we didn’t notice. (“We” being a few guys.) I don’t know if the girls did.
If I remember correctly her voice was trembling a bit when she told us. I suspect she was feeling uncomfortable, and a bit afraid of what our reaction would be.
We told her that we didn’t really see any difference. Well, maybe a little if we looked closely.
I don’t really know what happened. But she ended up putting makeup on after a while. If she felt uncomfortable because she didn’t wear it, because of something someone said, peer pressure, or anything else I don’t know.
What I do remember is feeling incredibly impressed by her courage.
Not that I know how much perceived psychological strength a woman find in her makeup, but I can imagine that it’s quite a lot.
Now that I think about it I should probably have told her just how impressed I was with her.
But that was 5-6 years ago now. If anything I’ve found that I grow weirder and weirder the older I get. I’ve recently become interested in Anarchism, the Riot Grrl movement (especially the music), memetics (which I’m writing 50 pages about for school), drugs (moderately, since it dry-humps my brain into oblivion. I need my brain, dammit). I’ve almost stopped drinking completely. I’m actually interested in politics, and followed the American Presidential election feverishly. I suspect I knew more about it than quite a few Americans. Hell, an American even told me so.
All of it is obviously me to some degree. But how much? We’re once again back to that damned question: “Who am I?”
Sure, I could throw up some memetic theory here now. About humanity being a construction the ideas we are exposed to, how they react to the ideas that already infect us, and all of that.
I suppose we could just say that we are what we think we are, but this isn’t necessarily true either. We are not who we think we should be, at least. That much we can probably agree on. Unless you’re the kind of person that can disregard what everyone thinks at all times. Good for you. Not really helping us that are stuck with being social human beings though.
We’re stuck being influenced by society you might say, so the only thing we can do if that pisses us off is to try and influence it back, destroy it, or create a new one.
BBC Journalist Get Pissed
This is last years news. Actually, more than last year I think, but it’s still interesting to see. It’s a part from BBC Panoramas investigation of Scientology. John Sweeney gets pissed and starts shouting, after the Scientologists interrupts interviews, confronts him at his hotel, have people follow him, and other nice and friendly things. It’s mainly the same guy over and over, and John finally gets pissed enough to shout at him. I’d probably have ended up punching him myself.
There’s also good examples of the “Fair Game” tactics the so-called Church denies.
