05.30.08

Sexism vs. Racism

Posted in Politics, Race, men & women, sex tagged , , , at 7:53 pm by soulful07

To hear Hillary Clinton tell it one of these is a magical wonderland full of choirs singing and everything is rosy because of it, while the other is a burden holding her back… or something to that effect. How does one quantify sexism vs. racism is there a woe is me off like You Got Served or American Idol? How do these things affect somebody who perchance deals with both issues? Hmmm I wondered so I asked an African American woman her thoughts and she summed it up lovely, “one is like getting hit by a train and the other is like having a bolder fall on top of you.” It would appear they both suck, yet it seems a bit ridiculous to say that one is a hindrance while the other has helped you get over because they each hold their own cross to bear so to speak.

The ugliness of this Democratic Primary has become “uglier” and “ugliest” at the same time. While I would like to say all parties aren’t guilty of it, some seem to have their hands in the pig pen a little more than others. The theme for the last few weeks have been that Hillary has had to endure greater hardships based upon her ovaries, as opposed to the black guy who seems to catch all the breaks. Feminist everywhere around the world should have recoiled at that statement or ideal of thought. Well that’s a bit of a generalization but you get my point. To say one is worse than the other goes against the equality concept doesn’t it, or am I simplifying things too much.

I don’t want to ever diminish the hardships facing women, or a female candidate for president for that matter, but I would like to be clear on a few things. The person with 35 years of experience, name recognition, a former BELOVED president (or BELOVED former president depending on how you look at it) on the stump, 150 super delegates in the bag before a single vote was cast, the largest group of influential fundraisers, party leaders, and insiders as friends and supporters, against an unknown black guy with an ARAB sounding name who just got elected to the senate a few years ago. Sure on paper way back in 2007 this Barack guy seemed like a sure bet. Seriously who are we kidding Hillary was crowned the Democratic nominee way back before this thing got started all she had to do was play out series. And to me there lies the problem with questions like who had a rougher time because it is subjective. While sexism is rampant in American society so is racism. For instance people with Arab sounding names are questioned about patriotism, people ask (and this is true) if he (Barack) would change his name so they could “feel” better about voting for him. Likewise I’m sure there are men and even women out there who wouldn’t vote for a woman because of equally ridiculous reasons. The difference here is racism is subtle like “where is your flag pin black guy” while nobody else is wearing one, and sexism is more visible like using terms like bitchy. Racism is subtle like scary black pastor is bad, scary white pastor with actual real washington influence is ok, meanwhile iron my shirt posters are viewed as a “joke” yet the dog whistle properties are both the same.

Frankly I can’t ever recall Barack Obama telling Hillary Clinton that her supporters are fools and wasting their time on her fairy tale presidential run, or that her win isn’t that big a deal in that state because a woman has won there before, or that you can’t reach certain voters because of your background, or as far as I know you aren’t a Manchurian Muslim sleeper cell presidential candidate, or calling her a drug dealer, or saying she isn’t good enough to pass a threshold of commander and chief while your hated rival is, or telling her even though you’re winning how about being my VP, or saying your only here because you’re a white woman, or you are lucky to be here because you’re a white woman, or all your wins are no big deal because white women are happy to see you but it has no baring in the “real” world, or all your caucus wins aren’t legitimate because they don’t count, or telling her all her hard work is a fluke because the press is giving you a free ride because of your sex and race, or I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

Talking point number #3001 being tossed up the old flag pole today is that Hillary is the best candidate and therefore you must elect her. And it sounds reasonable at first then instantly I remember this is the same person with all the luxuries that most presidential candidates aren’t afforded such as, a former president on the stump, name recognition, and money… who lost to a empty suit (as many Hillary supporters like to jokingly call Senator Obama) and this line of reasoning falls apart. If she is the best why is she losing, luck, magic, fairies, pixie dust, or and I’m going to go out on a limb here, Hillary lost because of overconfidence, under planning, no clear message, poor money management, terrible inner circle, in fighting, sure sure lets elect the person who ran the most unorganized campaign in history with every ACE in the deck awarded to her before any of the other players were even dealt cards, that makes perfect sense. Then again by your logic if you today are losing because of sexism then wouldn’t it also be logical to deduce you will lose in November due to this same sexism or does it turn on and off like a light switch? Either way I’m tired of the bull, Hillary has lost every ounce of respect I once held for her, not because she is a woman, but because of all the crap she pulled out of a magic hat like this. Responsibility!!!! First and foremost, I would have a shred of respect to give back to her if she took RESPONSIBILITY. As leader of the free world this is what I want to see out of a LEADER, blaming everybody and everything for your misstates is exactly what a certain little shrub did when he was elected president in 2000 as I recall that didn’t turn out so well.

05.18.08

NARAL and the pro choice blowback

Posted in Politics, Race, men & women, sex tagged , , , , , , , , , , , at 2:55 am by soulful07

 Wow… I wasn’t going to even broach this topic because of how delicate one must tread to not offend women, men, African Americans, white women etc… etc… etc… I really tried to stay away but this blog keeps calling me and quite frankly I’m freaking outraged at the outrage. It boggles the mind, to put this in prospective imagine that you were in a race but you can’t use the tires you wanted to finish the race, in the garage is another pair which fits your car perfectly, and not only that, chances are these same new tires will help you get to the finish line faster. Imagine that the driver was so upset about using the “other” tires that they would be willing to poke holes in all four PERFECTLY good tires and demand to drive of the original flat ones or nothing, thus allowing your competitor to finish the race take the trophy and basically ruin everything you worked your entire life for. This is exactly the position that many pro choice supporters are choosing to be in. I used to think ohh it is just the heat of the moment and everything will subside. Ummmmmm… no.

For those of ya’ll not in the know, women who support the right to chose are breaking out the pitch forks and bonfires and are set to march against Naral the pro choice organization because they have decided to break ranks and announce support for (pro choice) Barack Obama two weeks before the last vote. I actually put on my investigative journalist hat and did some research and wow is all I can say. Damn is another word that comes to mind. Women are pissed to say the least, I tried to sit through and read the vile offensive remarks left by pro choice supporters over this flap by the organization’s leaders. The repercussions are serous in nature, but outlandish on basis. Women from all around have threatened to quit their membership, vote for the republicans who hate their rights, create their own group, campaign with pro life people, and the list gets stupider and stupider as you read. Why you ask? Because they didn’t give their endorsement to the woman in the race. On first take it sounds reasonable pro choice members giving the endorsement to a woman makes perfect sense, because she personally and physically connects with the issues at hand in a way no man could ever do. However and this is the BIG however pro choice members as a organization giving their endorsement to the only woman in the race who is in no position to win is a head scratcher.

The situation becomes even more bizarre when you add to the fact that these same women who are fighting for these same important rights are willing to possibly give up Supreme Court nominations which could/will overturn everything they have fought for, and back, support, campaign for John McCain a nominee who is against everything they stand for. Ohh but it gets better they have thrown all their support behind the nominee (Hillary) who has a shaky at best record with regards to women’s issues and mostly jumped behind them when it was politically convenient. So if you are keeping score the guy (Barack) with an 100% pro choice senate rating is no good. But that’s not all the great fighters of the people have put the needs of one over the needs of the many on the line for a symbolic fight which will do nothing but harm to themselves and their credibility. That’s not just a head scratcher I think you have just reached the twilight zone. I’ve said it time and time again I looooove this Barack Obama presidential run, not because he is such a great guy or I agree with everything he says or does (because I don’t) nope I LOVE this thing because some how some way everybody’s true intentions are bubbling to the surface and you get to see what they are really really about.

The worst thing about all of this is the fact these people with the pitch forks know the stakes, but their feelings are more important than the actual freaking issues, and that’s where I hop off the sympathy bus. This is no longer a fight for women’s rights or politics this is about ovaries and who doesn’t have any, and I can’t respect that, just as I wouldn’t support a vote based on skin color. While Obama has recently gained a majority in the black minority vote, ninety something percent I think it is, believe it or not it wasn’t always like that Hillary once owned that vote. Hillary has also always owned the white woman and seniors vote. It wasn’t really “news” per say just an understanding, and today a section of the women voting bloc has decided to take their toys and leave the sandbox because their candidate is losing (fair and square). This tit for tat my way or else nonsense is everything that is wrong with American politics. Personally I don’t think you can complain about sexism then actually base your votes on sexism it kind of defeats and demeans the whole argument but I digress.

The thing that really grinds my gears and makes me blow my top is the fact that Hillary was given head start so to speak with everything possible going in her favor, money, name recognition, strategy, the former most beloved president as a surrogate, she was even spotted 150 super delegates before a single vote was cast (these people weren’t even interested in hearing the other candidates arguments) and yet here she is today losing. Much has been made about the reasons for why she is losing but frankly none of them have anything to do with things being “unfair”. No other nominee in presidential history was given such a head start and to complain about fairness when your opponent is a tall skinny black guy in America, with an Arab sounding name, who is has to fight off allegations about his patriotism based simply on a flag pin is ludicrous and outrageous to say the least. I could go on but you get my point this is a joke a rather selfish self centered joke, but none the less come November when nobody hears the punch line there will be no laughter just tears, but at least you would have showed them who was boss right?

 

05.12.08

Breaking Kneecaps… Clinton’s “hope” stragegy?

Posted in Politics, Race, Republicans, men & women, sex tagged , , , , , , , , at 8:22 am by soulful07

Hillary clinton hostage DNC

Breaking Kneecaps… Today on Meet the Press with Tim Russert it became obvious that this was the “strategy” they have reached too or should i say fallen too. I put strategy in quotation marks because honestly, hoping and praying your opponent trips up while you denigrate him isn’t really something people train, plan, and organize their whole political life for. If that is all that rests in the balance of you winning (somebody else screwing up) you don’t deserve to win. I’ve thought long and hard about this and every thing leads me to disgust, and it’s a shame too because I expected more. The Clintons aren’t trying to win student body council President here. This isn’t some two bit vote for me because he has coodies type election so acting THIS childish is amazing. Their actions when they were flying high and down in the dumps worry me immensely, in the movies they call it foreshadowing.

While I was talking to a good friend of mine she brought up a interesting point and I quote “Is it me or does Hillary not se the elephant dung all around her campaign, nobody wants to talk about it or smell it but the piles are so high she will step in it eventually” What is the dung you ask? Hillary has once again defied the laws of physics, reason, and mathematics. The thing that is most astounding about this new line of reasoning is that it expects you to totally ignore everything that was said previously. I’ve always said from the beginning of this election cycle the Clintons, and even John McCain to some extent, have been running an old school election campaign. Waaaaaay back in yesteryear you could say something then tomorrow say something different and it would take weeks maybe even months for these words to come back if at all. Today our society is based around the internet(s) a series of tubes ala Ted Stevens connected to the google.<– that joke never gets old and this goof is in charge of it.

Double speak is to be expected in such a long drawn out nomination process but I never expected anything like this. In the time it took John McCain to switched sides on abortion, Hillary has switched her opinion from delegates, to super delegates, to popular vote, back to super delegates, and finally in the laps of “hardworking” Americans which is dog whistle for poor white people. There is however a method to this madness, Hillary isn’t racist, she is simply playing the crowd in a micro manor. Every time she hops off the plane she transforms into what ever she believes the people want to hear. Take Pennsylvania for instance, she thought they like guns and whiskey so she pandered to the bar crowd taking shots and bragging bout her guns. In Indiana she thought they drive a lot so she decided it was high time to roll back her husband’s gas tax (yes I kid you not Bill Clinton raised the gas tax that she was fighting against last week) and thus kicked up a fuss for the hard working Americans. And finally in West Virginia and Kentucky she is working the room with I usually win YOUR votes and those matter the most.

There is nothing wrong with reaching out to certain pockets of society, but I think she reached just a little too far with this latest AP poll talk for a number of reasons. For starters there are republicans actively working to inflate her numbers for malicious reasons. However small they are, there is no denying their little voice may have tipped Indiana in her favor. The other problem with this line of reasoning is, many of her supporters (women) are angry she is losing and will say anything to pollsters for shits and giggles, but come November when the choice on the ballet is vote for somebody who agrees with you politically or vote for the guy who will roll back things even worse I think we all know the answer to that. The other problem and this is pretty much the most insane thing about this line of thinking, reasoning, and strategy. Hillary Clinton has completely written off the black vote. (Ok I would like to pause here and just interject my personal opinion here.) As much as she is bragging about getting the hard working White American vote (like all other races aren’t hardworking), neglecting African Americans will have dire straits for her come November. Insulting African Americans has already lead to a unprecedented 90% for Barack Obama. Many clueless supporters and even analysts attribute it simply to them being happy a “black” guy is running. Utter complete and total nonsense these same analysts seem to forget Hillary was winning the African American vote by almost 58% during the onset of this election, it wasn’t until they started to feel taken for granted and insulted that they jumped ship.

People aren’t stupid we can clearly see what is happening and when the mainstream media (which is dumber than a bag of rocks) notices it is no longer subtle, you have reached rock star lemon and lime light levels of obviousness. Earlier during this election watching Hillary self destruct was mildly entertaining, hell I even enjoyed it after the South Carolina primary. It kind of reminded me of a song by Lily Allen, the lyrics go “At first when I see you cry, Yea it makes me smile, Yea it makes me smile, At worst I feel bad for awhile, But then I just smile, I go ahead and smile”. It was a guilty pleasure but something happened last week that changed everything, now that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee watching this train wreck isn’t as entertaining. It’s a weird thing, when you have a common foe beating up on them is fun but once the battle is over the whole joy is gone and so here we are.

Hope isn’t a strategy.

05.06.08

Whoa is me – The Movie Industry part VII

Posted in men & women tagged , , , , , , at 6:40 pm by soulful07

I know I have been spending an awful amount of time on the election but every so often when something catches my eye to complain about I have to jump on it. The movie industry has been getting on my last nerve for years and something happened last week which reinforced exactly what is wrong with it.

For those of you who dont know I am a movie buff I love movies I watch them religiously (yes even the bad ones). Equally I am also a technology buff and I am watching just like the music business, movie industry dinosaurs reaching out from the tar pit with their last gasp doing everything to stop the inevitable. Every chance I get I shout from the roof tops pirates are not the only enemy, sure stealing is wrong but this has never been about pirates, thieves, scallywags or all types of evil doers. This is from the beginning and will be until its last dying breath about CONTROL! I know you have seen those pirates ruin America commercials at your favourite theatre and by golly they do contribute but not to the extent you think it does. No in actuality you can never stop pirates, but the least you could do is treat your paying customers with respect and dignity.

I kind of feel like Morpheus making the speech holding up the battery so bare with me, without the over dramatics, this is the real. We have been here before actually this is the 3rd or 4th time. The movie industry cried the sky was falling when Cable TV & VHS tapes were created and blockbuster video stores start popping up all across the nation. It happened again when DVDs came out and people assumed the super sharp quality will bankrupt everything ohh the humanity. It happened again when HDTVs were developed and people bought surround sound systems in droves. Today they have even stooped to blaming video games. After the second time it happened and Isaw the villagers were just fine and people were worried for nothing I started paying attention to the little boy yelling wolf.

Despite all the rhetoric movie sales and ticket buyers are directly controlled by (and I know this is going to come as a shock) the movies they want to see. That is right folks when Hollywood actually develops and promotes good movies people go to theatres and pay money, and if it is a really good movie they even buy it on DVD. Take a deep breath I know I just blew your mind. Like Hillary Clinton I dont listen to those Elitist Economists… oh wait wrong blog, well I dont listen to the ones trying to tell me movie sales are down in theatres because of pirates. Something is afoot but it doesnt yell arrr matey, again pirates are bad but the movie industry is run by idiots and buffoons thats right Isaid it. Ill happily repeat it, idiots and buffoons, if you think that is too harsh there is somebody walking the face of the earth who decided that the one thing missing from your life was another Rambo movie… I rest my case. Here is another shocker (Im on a roll here) every year the price of admission goes up what theatre heads dont tell you is that this isnt in direct response to lower attendance no no this is in response to them building a gazillion super mega insanely large theatres with a bowling alley and karaoke lounge. Nothing says hey watch a matinee here like a bowling alley. Naturally when you waste a ton of money on shit that has nothing to do with the movie experience and it doesnt pan out blame it on pirates.

While Im not naive I do know attendance has gone down from insanely high record times to just about average, I also know that ticket prices must stay in line with inflation but at the same time Im not stupid either popcorn shouldnt cost 20 dollars a bag, today a bag of popcorn and a drink cost more than two tickets to the actual movie. Am I missing something here? Umm I dont think so. We are watching wackamole business 101, grossly over estimate your business growth, when that fails blame somebody/thing else, raise the prices of things, ignore the future. Everything seems to be right on schedule. The collusion between the theatre and movie industry has been something akin to OPEC and the auto industry. While Im not going to get political I will tell you the future is coming and both of these industries have buried their head in the sand hoping it will go away. It will not.

The future the movie industry fears the most is the internet. Seeds of doubt about pirates were cast early to muddle and confuse the issues, while some of their fears were real, the extent was not. I totally understand where they are coming from but theatres and movie studios have less to worry about then say Best Buy and Blockbuster video but that is for another debate. Nothing will take away the experience of going to the theatre and watching Ironman on an enormous screen that will never change. Going to the movies is a social thing people have enjoyed for decades now. But not embracing the future will have horrible consequences for all the industries involved.