Patriots and Perfection

I have never been one to go all out for the 4^th of July. Perhaps it was my childhood fear of fireworks that, let’s be frank, continues to this day. Perhaps it was that my family never placed much of an emphasis on this day, and it fell in with the rest of the summer cookouts that, while pleasant, failed to register as significant. Or perhaps it is that I have never felt extraordinarily patriotic. I am not one to accessorize with American flags or plaster my car with red, white, and blue bumper stickers, and that has always made me feel like less of an American than those who wear their admiration of America quite literally on their sleeve (or lapel, for the politicians among us).

This thought has been with me lately: what is patriotism? I have found it difficult to call myself a patriot because I don’t think this is the greatest nation on earth. My appreciation for this country has always been tempered by the realization that there are other wonderful places on this earth, and that we still have many problems to resolve. I don’t fit in with the group that have staked their claim on the title “patriot”. But just because I’m not wearing rose-colored glasses doesn’t mean I don’t love this country. My love is just more complex and subtle. Like all relationships, it has its ups and its downs, but there is something deep and abiding that keeps me loyal.

Choice for the Choiceless

It’s that time again. Political ads frame segments of your favorite television show. Signs pop up in yards, inspiring rage or camaraderie. Bumper stickers become ubiquitous. I have only been eligible to vote in one election in my short life and have only been tuned in to three, but already I’m growing battle-weary. And I sense this same fatigue among many of my generation. We often hear that the youth vote is in the tank for Obama. But what we don’t hear a lot is that the youth vote isn’t as excited as it was four years ago. In fact, a Gallup poll this summer reported that only 58 percent of the 18-29 demographic plans to vote this year.

This is our future that is being debated. This is our country, our leaders, our government. And yet, there is a sense of helplessness.

I watched two debates this week: the first presidential debate and “The Rumble 2012.” The presidential debate was first, and within five minutes I was already yelling at the screen and fiercely regretting my decision. And I was not just shouting at Romney (full disclosure, I’m one of those youth voters who will be ticking the box for Obama this year, though my reasoning behind that is more complicated than one might expect which we’ll get to later). I was shouting and shaking my fist because both candidates were up there delivering false or exaggerated sound bites rather than honestly addressing the real problems that are facing our country. Romney was proclaimed the winner, and fact checkers everywhere revealed the gross exaggerations and blatant lies that won him the debate. They also revealed a smaller though not insubstantial number of lies and gross exaggerations from Obama.

”The Rumble” was an online, live-streamed debate between Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and Bill O’Reilly of The O’Reilly Factor. Although it was less formal than the presidential debates, and largely intended for entertainment rather than substance, it brought up a number of interesting and complex issues. What intrigued me the most were the audience questions that were read in the final segment of the debate. Many of these questions addressed the issue of trust. Why should we vote for Obama over Romney? Or Romney over Obama? How can we trust either presidential candidate? They both lie. They are both vying for the job of commander in chief of the largest military in the world, leader of arguably the only remaining superpower, the position called “most powerful man in the world,” and “leader of the free world.” High stakes lead to high risks. How can we believe that either candidate or either party can be trusted with our future?

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How We Remember

They say the 9-11 attacks of 2001 were our generation’s Pearl Harbor or Kennedy assassination. It seems that everyone over 18 has a story about where they were that day, when their world changed so abruptly.  I was in eight grade, and I remember teachers interrupting my science class to whisper to each other.  It wasn’t until third period history, at 9:45, after the planes had hit, that they told us what happened.  We watched the news all through class that morning, and we saw the towers fall. It was the first time I’d ever heard the name “Osama bin Laden.”  It’s hard to believe, now, that there was a time before bin Laden, and before the War on Terror.

Enough

What do Daniel Tosh, Anita Sarkeesian, and Jesse Lee Peterson have in common? Practically nothing, except that they have all appeared in news stories this year about women’s issues that have been quite frankly horrifying.

I wrote an article about Reverend Peterson earlier this year when he gave a sermon on why he believes women are destroying America. His sermon was filled with hateful vitriol about women, running the gambit from they can’t handle pressure to they’re all sluts to they aren’t even capable of love. In the article, I explained why we should pay attention to this blatantly bigoted small-time preacher:

We should bother ourselves with people like him because this ugly sentiment is buried deeply in American culture. We see it come out in media figures like Rush Limbaugh, in legislative efforts like the more than nine hundred bills introduced this year alone in state and federal legislature to limit women’s rights, in the thirty-one Republicans who voted against the Violence Against Women Act, and we see it glamorized in media portrayals of women as objects. When almost a third of female homicide victims are killed by their partner and one in five American women have been the victim of rape or attempted rape, we can’t afford to remain silent about this issue.

The events in recent weeks involving Daniel Tosh and Anita Sarkeesian are exactly the sort of thing I was talking about.

Read more at The Inclusive.

A Terminal System

America either has the best health care in the world or the worst of the developed nations. It is either a proud bastion of capitalism that our Kenyan president and his liberal elites are trying to destroy through socialism, or it is a greedy and broken den of thieves decimating the livelihoods of those Americans who are unfortunate enough to get sick. The Affordable Care Act (most often called by its quippy nickname, “Obamacare”) is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The court is expected give its ruling on the subject in the next few days, but there are many emotions involved in this touchy subject no matter the result.

I had a recent run-in with the health care system that left me on the fence, both challenging and reinforcing the various expectations I had about the status quo. One afternoon about a month ago, I noticed some mild but still unpleasant stomach cramps. I assumed I’d eaten something bad, or perhaps was just having a reaction to stress, so I ignored it and went about my day. But by midnight, I was in so much pain I couldn’t even stand up straight...

Read more at: http://theinclusive.net/article.php?id=751

The Resurgence of Sexism

A sermon, first posted on YouTube in March, recently made headlines when Fox News host Kirsten Powers protested participating in a panel on Sean Hannity's show with Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, who delivered the sermon. Hannity serves as a member of the board of Reverend Peterson’s organization, Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny (BOND).

The first time I saw the video of Peterson’s sermon about women’s rights, I had to walk away for a few minutes. I didn’t even know where to begin. This sermon is riddled with some of the most hateful, condescending sexism I have ever heard. As a woman in her twenties, I have been blessed to grow up in a culture that, for the most part, accepts me as a whole, functioning, and valuable member of society. I was never told as a child that I couldn’t do science or math because I was a girl. One of my friends in elementary school wanted to be the first female president and no one told her “you can’t do that.” I have been accepted and supported every step of the way. I have been called equal.

But as I’ve grown older and have experienced more, I’ve realized that sexism is far from dead. It’s not something we should sweep under the rug and pretend is a thing of the past. We need to confront people like Rev. Peterson, even if those people are unlikely to change their opinions, because the message needs to be repeated loud and clear: women are not second-class citizens... 

Read more at The Inclusive: http://theinclusive.net/article.php?id=660