Bitching time!
I've started to feel so upset at everything, it is not healthy. I've been trying to keep myself "educated" by reading tons of news sites and blogs whenever I have free time (this also makes up for my total lack of anything resembling a social life), but it is SO FRUSTRATING. I already knew that one has no place in American political discourse if one is anything other than a crazy religious idiot or a secular/moderately religious humanist. Of course, I prefer the secular/moderately religious humanists, but at this point, I disagree so much with basic principles of humanism that reading progressive commentary makes me more angry than anything else.
It's like liberals are doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons (with the exception of health care reform, which is the right thing for the right reason). Yes, abortion is crucial - but NOT because it's an individual's choice to do what they want with their bodies. Yes, religious freedom is important, but NOT because religion is a personal choice that no one else has a right to disagree with. Yes, gay rights are important, but NOT because sexual orientation is some essential identity everyone is born with.
I just wish people would get away from these ideas of choice and identity entirely, but it seems so thoroughly ingrained in our political discourse that not only are we worlds away from getting away from it, people can't even imagine progressive politics without it.
Like queer identities. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen little definitions of the word 'queer' on various blogs where they include, amongst the many other meanings it has, the philosophical belief that sexual orientation is fluid. And this is presented and discussed as if it were just another identity, just like gay or straight - oh, you're queer, that means your identity is fluid (of course, usually with the implicit connotations that you are somehow less mature because you haven't settled on an identity yet). I'm sorry, but the idea that sexual orientation is fluid does not mean that my sexual orientation is fluid, it means your concept of identity is problematic. Don't you dare subsume it into your model of identity just because it messes with your mind or politics too much.
Also, the occasional moments where ideas like postmodernism or social constructionism are presented, they are so full of wrongness it is painful to read. I made the mistake of leafing through Riki Wilchin's 'Queer Theory, Gender Theory' the other day, and god, that book is AWFUL. Going on about how discourse leaves us in a world where 'resistance is futile', we are completely determined by our surroundings and have no hope of escape or change.
Really? 'Cause, ya know, I was pretty sure it did the exact opposite. Like, give us hope for change and allow us to truly shape our environment in a way that the concept of a solid, immutable self never could.
It's no wonder that people have such ridiculous ideas of these concepts when they only get interpretations that are so watered-down as to be completely wrong.
The underlying problem with all of this is a shallow multiculturalist worldview that can't handle any serious, difficult challenges. And that is scary in and of itself; if someone suggests something that is actually controversial, it is seen as too dangerous, too much moving towards that slppery slope. But we are always on dangerous ground, always moving towards that slippery slope, and we need to be asking ourselves difficult questions, painful questions that are just on that verge of what our minds and spirits can take. We can't get so stuck in one worldview that nothing else is even allowed to be considered.
Okay, that was a long rant, but I was in need of a good bitching session.
It's like liberals are doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons (with the exception of health care reform, which is the right thing for the right reason). Yes, abortion is crucial - but NOT because it's an individual's choice to do what they want with their bodies. Yes, religious freedom is important, but NOT because religion is a personal choice that no one else has a right to disagree with. Yes, gay rights are important, but NOT because sexual orientation is some essential identity everyone is born with.
I just wish people would get away from these ideas of choice and identity entirely, but it seems so thoroughly ingrained in our political discourse that not only are we worlds away from getting away from it, people can't even imagine progressive politics without it.
Like queer identities. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen little definitions of the word 'queer' on various blogs where they include, amongst the many other meanings it has, the philosophical belief that sexual orientation is fluid. And this is presented and discussed as if it were just another identity, just like gay or straight - oh, you're queer, that means your identity is fluid (of course, usually with the implicit connotations that you are somehow less mature because you haven't settled on an identity yet). I'm sorry, but the idea that sexual orientation is fluid does not mean that my sexual orientation is fluid, it means your concept of identity is problematic. Don't you dare subsume it into your model of identity just because it messes with your mind or politics too much.
Also, the occasional moments where ideas like postmodernism or social constructionism are presented, they are so full of wrongness it is painful to read. I made the mistake of leafing through Riki Wilchin's 'Queer Theory, Gender Theory' the other day, and god, that book is AWFUL. Going on about how discourse leaves us in a world where 'resistance is futile', we are completely determined by our surroundings and have no hope of escape or change.
Really? 'Cause, ya know, I was pretty sure it did the exact opposite. Like, give us hope for change and allow us to truly shape our environment in a way that the concept of a solid, immutable self never could.
It's no wonder that people have such ridiculous ideas of these concepts when they only get interpretations that are so watered-down as to be completely wrong.
The underlying problem with all of this is a shallow multiculturalist worldview that can't handle any serious, difficult challenges. And that is scary in and of itself; if someone suggests something that is actually controversial, it is seen as too dangerous, too much moving towards that slppery slope. But we are always on dangerous ground, always moving towards that slippery slope, and we need to be asking ourselves difficult questions, painful questions that are just on that verge of what our minds and spirits can take. We can't get so stuck in one worldview that nothing else is even allowed to be considered.
Okay, that was a long rant, but I was in need of a good bitching session.