July 1, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson
Rangappa wrote. “This election is now a clear-cut decision between democracy and autocracy. Vote accordingly.”
While sexism teaches women to be sex objects for men, it is also manifest when women who have repudiated this role feel contemptuous and superior in relation to those women who have not. Sexism leads women to devalue parenting work while inflating the value of jobs and careers. (bell hooks, Feminist Theory)
Feminist movement to end sexist oppression affirms family life by its insistence that the purpose of family structure is not to reinforce patterns of domination in the interest of the state. By challenging Western philosophical beliefs that impress on our consciousness a concept of family life that is essentially destructive, feminism would liberate family so that it could be an affirming, positive kinship structure with no oppressive dimensions based on sex differentiation, sexual preference, etc. (bell hooks, Feminist Theory)
July 1, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson
Dark times…
Now they have changed that foundational principle for a man who, according to White House officials during his term, called for the execution of people who upset him and who has vowed to exact vengeance on those he now thinks have wronged him. Over the past weekend, Trump shared an image on social media saying that former Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), who sat on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, was guilty of treason and calling for “televised military tribunals” to try her.
Trying to figure out what the author of this sign is trying to say… any suggestions?
My wife and I got our nails done today. I like having painted nails almost as much as I like wearing lipstick. Family nail care, priceless.
… the present moment is all about understanding what is at stake… if you do, the choice is clear… for those of us who support democracy, our job is to help people who don’t understand, understand… and then join them in supporting whoever becomes the nominee of the democratic party…
An interaction with my wife this morning has led me to realize that a lot of us are in pain and/or deeply afraid after last night’s debate. Please be kind to yourselves and others in this raw moment.
I think we should feel very sober, and a little afraid, at the power of human credulity, the capacity of human minds to be gripped by theory, by faith. (Peter Ells, Panpsychism)
Between women and men, sexism is most often expressed in the form of male domination, which leads to discrimination, exploitation, or oppression. Between women, male supremacist values are expressed through suspicious, defensive, competitive behavior. It is sexism that leads women to feel threatened by one another without cause. (bell hooks, Feminist Theory)
The planet, indeed, is headed for disaster, and it is now possible, for the first time in human history, that owing entirely to manmade circumstances, not one of us will survive to tell the tale. (Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality)
… fits the disappointment i feel about the debate last night…
This would certainly fit with Mercier and Sperber’s view that logic was invented in order to win arguments, not to take us closer to the truth. (Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)
… interestingly, some think it was the arrival of the Sophists, who taught retoric, the art of winning arguments, was the beginning of the end of the golden age of Greece…
All the worship of death we see on our television screens, all the death we witness daily, does not prepare us in any way to face dying with awareness, clarity, or peace of mind.
— All About Love: New Visions (Love Song to the Nation Book 1) by bell hooks a.co/9kNpx0t
… taking a deep breath…
Virtually unmentioned was the fact that Trump lied and rambled incoherently, ignored questions to say whatever he wanted; refused to acknowledge the events of January 6, 2021; and refused to commit to accepting the result of the 2024 presidential election, finally saying he would accept it only if it met his standards for fairness.
… the only thing that matters is keeping 45 from the oval office…
The only good thing about tonight is that it’s still a long time till the election, but there is a huge hill to climb… let’s hope the Biden campaign is capable of a comeback. I will vote for Biden no matter what, but I go to bed with a heavy heart.
MSNCB is confirming my assessment.
Will be interesting to see see if MSNBC tries to rescue Biden or not…
… i am very depressed watching the debate…
… i came out to two of our closest couple friend sets… it went well…:)
… HCR gives me hope that white patriarchal society is on the ropes… can we seal the deal in Nov?…
Republicans in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas determined to reestablish patriarchy have now taken on the cause of eliminating no-fault divorce. Eric Berger of The Guardian explains that right-wing opponents of no-fault divorce note that women, especially educated, self-supporting women, file for divorce more often than men and that no-fault divorce means men can’t fight it. They claim divorce hurts families and, by extension, society.
…in thinking about the cross dressing i am doing i realize it is more important to me that i feel feminine than look like a woman…
… i am so impressed with bell hooks… her writing about love is amazing… and not new age…
To know love we must surrender our attachment to sexist thinking in whatever form it takes in our lives. That attachment will always return us to gender conflict, a way of thinking about sex roles that diminishes females and males. To practice the art of loving we have first to choose love—admit to ourselves that we want to know love and be loving even if we do not know what that means.
— All About Love: New Visions (Love Song to the Nation Book 1) by bell hooks a.co/iC5IcVd
… effective critique of Betty Friedan feminist era…
Bourgeois women active in feminist movement exploited the notion of a natural polarization between the sexes to draw attention to equal-rights effort. They had an enormous investment in depicting the male as enemy and the female as victim. They were the group of women who could dismiss their ties with men once they had an equal share in class privilege. They were ultimately more concerned with obtaining an equal share in class privilege than with the struggle to eliminate sexism and sexist oppression." (bell hooks, Feminist Theory)
… at the bottom of everything we are experiencing is the capitalist drive to exploit and profit…
Here we see the results of the left hemisphere mindset at work: profit must be maximised by making sure that everyone is maximally efficient. Thus, through the pursuit of efficiency, effectiveness is destroyed. (Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)
Feminist movement should be of primary significance for all groups and individuals who desire an end to oppression. (bell hooks, Feminist Theory)
… one of the great values to me in reading bell hooks is that she locates feminism, feminist movement, outside the female body where it can be embraced by all sexes, all gender configurations, all sexual orientations and all races… feminine movement is a feminine ethic that embraces qualities normally considered to reside within the female body but truly available to all as my own exploration of feminine space has taught me…