Why i hate America, Vol 2. Womens rights or: I'm more of a feminist than you are.
I've recently gotten into the series "An Idiot Abroad" on the science channel. Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant of "The Office" fame. The premise of the show is they send one of their friends, Karl, a skeptic and someone who loathes to travel (aka me) to different countries to experience their culture and everything associated with that. Most of the entertainment is derived from Karl's general foul demeanor and him generally having a bad time. Through the hilarity though he says some very profound things.
Yesterday's episode was him going to Jordan, but he stopped in Israel first. He visited "the place Jesus Christ" was born. After the segment he mentioned on how people usually get teary eyed or cry over it, but then he said that the thing that people should be "having a tear over" was this giant concrete wall that separates Palestine from Israel that was no more than 250 feet away. Saying that, "that's the real reason we should be depressed."
Later in Jordan he was talking to a local he was staying with, they came in mid conversation but he was pretty much asking about what would happen if accidentally saw a woman without her shroud on (Hijab or something it's called). More or less he was worried about maybe catching her coming out of the bathroom or something (things that are normal and happen everyday). This was a general concern because he was worried about her getting stoned to death just because she might not of answered when he knocked on the bathroom door.
So today in the shower it dawned on me, how fucking awful it is that we live in a world where this exists. Not only do we live in a world where a place of religious importance is smack dab in the middle of a militarized zone, but a woman could be stoned to death because someone whose unfamiliar with their culture accidentally saw her without her shit on. Fuck that noise.
Then i started drawing parallels to Middle East now, and America, possibly a few years from now. With the GOP trying to redefine rape (basically saying that rape isn't rape anymore) what's the difference between these people and those that throw stones at women? I would consider both of these things incredibly heinous acts, but because of culture one's more acceptable than the other? To be frank, and incredibly mean, if you're a woman and a republican now i hope you get drugged up and raped constantly. And by raped constantly, i mean "made love to legally now with the redefine." I don't understand the people who elect these other people that try to pass these laws. We're not even on the same planet any more.
I think it boils down to general Americans being over privileged, selfish, narrow minded, and incredibly greedy. The general consensus is, if i don't like something, it shouldn't be legal. Abortion is a big one still thrown around today. Abortion is an awful thing. I remember when laura first told me she was pregnant, a few weeks later we had the abortion talk (for a lot of reasons, mainly we weren't together any more at the time), and i kept telling her it was up to her. As it should be. I personally, don't like abortion, at all. Medical reasons aside, i think it's an awful thing to go through. With someone who was pregnant with my child i couldn't be like, YEAH JUST GO GET AN ABORTION! With that said, what i like or dislike, doesn't really matter as it should be up to the individual to do whatever they want to their own body.
I just don't understand where this country is going any more. Ignorance piled on fear some how means you're American. Hating smart people (or 'book learners', if you will) is American. Shitting out babies you can't afford because big man in the sky will punish you if you don't is somehow American.
Womens rights, gay rights, seat belt laws, these are all things that are fucking up America. How are seat belt laws and womens rights the same? Because it's one concession after another. What people think is "good" or "how it should be" doesn't mean it should be turned into a law. Just because christians think it's a good idea to teach intelligent design in school doesn't mean it should be made a law. Just because homophobes think butt sex isn't fun doesn't mean it should be made into a law. Just because it's safer for me to wear a seat belt don't mean it should be made a law. Just because republicans think that it's okay to have sexual relations with a woman that you drugged into unconsciousness doesn't mean it should be made into a law.
Do you get it? Just because you think it's a good idea doesn't mean it's really fair for anyone else.
Yesterday's episode was him going to Jordan, but he stopped in Israel first. He visited "the place Jesus Christ" was born. After the segment he mentioned on how people usually get teary eyed or cry over it, but then he said that the thing that people should be "having a tear over" was this giant concrete wall that separates Palestine from Israel that was no more than 250 feet away. Saying that, "that's the real reason we should be depressed."
Later in Jordan he was talking to a local he was staying with, they came in mid conversation but he was pretty much asking about what would happen if accidentally saw a woman without her shroud on (Hijab or something it's called). More or less he was worried about maybe catching her coming out of the bathroom or something (things that are normal and happen everyday). This was a general concern because he was worried about her getting stoned to death just because she might not of answered when he knocked on the bathroom door.
So today in the shower it dawned on me, how fucking awful it is that we live in a world where this exists. Not only do we live in a world where a place of religious importance is smack dab in the middle of a militarized zone, but a woman could be stoned to death because someone whose unfamiliar with their culture accidentally saw her without her shit on. Fuck that noise.
Then i started drawing parallels to Middle East now, and America, possibly a few years from now. With the GOP trying to redefine rape (basically saying that rape isn't rape anymore) what's the difference between these people and those that throw stones at women? I would consider both of these things incredibly heinous acts, but because of culture one's more acceptable than the other? To be frank, and incredibly mean, if you're a woman and a republican now i hope you get drugged up and raped constantly. And by raped constantly, i mean "made love to legally now with the redefine." I don't understand the people who elect these other people that try to pass these laws. We're not even on the same planet any more.
I think it boils down to general Americans being over privileged, selfish, narrow minded, and incredibly greedy. The general consensus is, if i don't like something, it shouldn't be legal. Abortion is a big one still thrown around today. Abortion is an awful thing. I remember when laura first told me she was pregnant, a few weeks later we had the abortion talk (for a lot of reasons, mainly we weren't together any more at the time), and i kept telling her it was up to her. As it should be. I personally, don't like abortion, at all. Medical reasons aside, i think it's an awful thing to go through. With someone who was pregnant with my child i couldn't be like, YEAH JUST GO GET AN ABORTION! With that said, what i like or dislike, doesn't really matter as it should be up to the individual to do whatever they want to their own body.
I just don't understand where this country is going any more. Ignorance piled on fear some how means you're American. Hating smart people (or 'book learners', if you will) is American. Shitting out babies you can't afford because big man in the sky will punish you if you don't is somehow American.
Womens rights, gay rights, seat belt laws, these are all things that are fucking up America. How are seat belt laws and womens rights the same? Because it's one concession after another. What people think is "good" or "how it should be" doesn't mean it should be turned into a law. Just because christians think it's a good idea to teach intelligent design in school doesn't mean it should be made a law. Just because homophobes think butt sex isn't fun doesn't mean it should be made into a law. Just because it's safer for me to wear a seat belt don't mean it should be made a law. Just because republicans think that it's okay to have sexual relations with a woman that you drugged into unconsciousness doesn't mean it should be made into a law.
Do you get it? Just because you think it's a good idea doesn't mean it's really fair for anyone else.