When I published my last piece about a week and a half ago, it was to bring attention to the issue of guns and call for action. I didn't throw out any policy suggestions, but I personally feel as if the issue still is not getting enough attention or inspiring serious action. In this post, I'll lay out a few proposals, and my take on them.
Proposal #1: We don't need less guns - we need MORE guns. We need to encourage more people to undergo training to responsibly handle firearms. This way, we are increasing the number of "good guys" with a gun, further discouraging "bad guys."
My opinion: The Secret Service, in the interest of maintaining the safety of Vice President Mike Pence, did NOT allow guns in when those men gave speeches at the NRA convention. Again: at an event designed to be the summit of good guys with guns, the Secret Service (some of the best in the biz @ protection) deemed that a bunch of good guys with guns was NOT sufficient "protection." Not only that, but these officials did not protest this policy. Let me spell it out for you: Mike Pence knows that having more guns in their vicinity makes an environment less conducive to living. I agree - more good guys with guns is not the answer (in my opinion).
Proposal #2: Ban guns entirely.
My opinion: I'm pretty okay with this. In 1996, Australia implemented stricter gun laws. The deadliest mass shooting (7 deaths) since then occurred in May, after 20+ years. 7 people died. This is NOT to say those were the only shooting deaths since 1996. Just to say that in that time frame (~21 years and a few months), the deadliest shooting was when 7 people died.
Let's take a look at America. Within the past decade, there have been 13 mass shootings in America that have resulted in ~280 deaths and 1000+ injuries. The one that resulted in the least deaths still resulted in 10 deaths (2015). The worst resulted in 59 (2017). So... our "safest" mass shooting in the last 10 years is worse than the worst mass shooting in Australia in the past 21 years. If that divide isn't enough to make it obvious to you, I truly don't know what to say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I'll still try one more shot. Bringing it back to the Secret Service: when they want someone protected, they create gun-free zones (outside of themselves, obviously). How do you create a gun-free zone? Ban 'em entirely. & before you mention Prohibition: please don't fool yourself into thinking that that many people know how to make working firearms at home. If you don't believe me, just go ahead and list all the people that you know can make a gun at home.
Proposal #3: Make the process to buy a gun more difficult. A few examples might be more stringent background checks, more required coursework, more safety testing, etc. etc.
My opinion: While I definitely favor the outright ban, I know that a compromise leaves everyone unhappy. This way, you gun-lovers get to keep your guns (I lose), but you have to do it more deliberately (you lose). If you're of a more optimistic nature, you can read that as: you gun-lovers get to keep your guns (you win), but you have to do it more deliberately (I win). Whichever way you look at it, I'd support policy that entails greater restrictions for any gun sales/purchases hereafter while grandfathering in whatever gun possessions are in place. That way the change is gradual and there's not much room to argue (unless you're a scumbag who's not about that problem-solving life, but if you're good with the blood of innocents on your hands, that's on you).
This is all just food for thought, but whatever you think, you should reach out to your representatives with policies that you would support, whatever they are. If you're interested on why I think the way I do, I linked relevant articles/Wikipedia pages that influence my thinking on this matter.
Sources for my opinions: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/01/607054795/nra-bans-guns-during-convention-speech-by-president-vice-president
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_shootings_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_Australia
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iceland-gun-loving-country-no-shooting-murders-2007-n872726
Friday, June 15, 2018
On Indecision and Gun Control (Part 1: The Problem)
When it comes to picking a place to eat, have y'all ever had that (girl/boy/annoying)friend that shoots down suggestion after suggestion without ever having the mind to suggest a replacement? It's rather annoying when it happens, and I feel like that's where a lot of people stand with regards to gun control today - a strong unwillingness to even hear out any proposed solution.
Where my analogy falls apart is that, when it comes to dining, a decision is always eventually made and food is obtained. When it comes to guns, though, the seemingly inevitable outcome is that... nothing happens. Which is really strange to me, because, y'know, in December of 2012, after 20 six- and seven-year-old children were gunned down AT SCHOOL, the country didn't do shit (Sandy Hook). Which really goes to show how we value our education, our children, and our guns (unfortunately).
I am now realizing that what first looked to me like inertia/laziness (which is already appalling: you seriously can't give enough fucks to protect children?? I hate to say it, but as Helen Lovejoy put it: won't somebody please think of the children!?) is, even more tragically, willful obstinance and cowardice. In a recent discussion I had with this older man, when I threw out a proposal on how to deal with guns, he said something along the lines of "It doesn't matter, it's not gonna solve the problem. You're trying to solve a problem that can't be solved!"
& boy, if we weren't in a public setting playing cards - I would have lost it. I mean shoot, I'm writing about this because, internally/mentally, I DID lose it! I would have (and should have) asked him when he lost his spine. If you're someone who agrees that this is a problem that can't be solved, don't stop reading: you're a craven, unimaginative sack of meat, and you should be ashamed of yourself. If we're still going with my analogy from before about eating out: I've just uninvited you. The rest of us are going somewhere to eat, but you can't come - no food for someone who wants to drag the rest of us down with hopelessness and despair. If you don't have the mind to propose a solution and the conviction to stick with it, you're the exact type of nonparticipant that ruins democracy. You shirk the obligations of citizenship while reaping the benefits paid for by previous generations. It absolutely kills me that there are enough people in this city, county, state, and country with the same mindset that little, if anything, has been done regarding guns. You dopes are so self-defeating that you've lost any will to try - look in the mirror and ask yourself when you became so gutless, 'cause it's honestly disgusting.
Now that I've got my rant in, I can move on: if you read back over this post, you'll notice I didn't spell out my proposal or advocate any particular position. That's not the purpose of this post - I'll write about that in Part 2. Before I do, I just want you to think enough to answer this question: if you were the POTUS, US Congress, and Supreme Court rolled into one mega power-wielding authority, how would you deal with the issue, and why?
The honest truth is, if you haven't set aside even 5-10 minutes to think about this policy issue, YOU are contributing to the death of shooting victims in this country (similar to those Germans that weren't Jew-hating Nazis but, y'know, weren't going to do anything about the Holocaust either). & before I let go of your attention, I want to take it one step further: the exercise does not end with you thinking about the issue. You are morally obligated to make a decision - as in, if you had a gun pointed to your head, you better be able to commit to your story, whichever way you happen to swing.
Where my analogy falls apart is that, when it comes to dining, a decision is always eventually made and food is obtained. When it comes to guns, though, the seemingly inevitable outcome is that... nothing happens. Which is really strange to me, because, y'know, in December of 2012, after 20 six- and seven-year-old children were gunned down AT SCHOOL, the country didn't do shit (Sandy Hook). Which really goes to show how we value our education, our children, and our guns (unfortunately).
I am now realizing that what first looked to me like inertia/laziness (which is already appalling: you seriously can't give enough fucks to protect children?? I hate to say it, but as Helen Lovejoy put it: won't somebody please think of the children!?) is, even more tragically, willful obstinance and cowardice. In a recent discussion I had with this older man, when I threw out a proposal on how to deal with guns, he said something along the lines of "It doesn't matter, it's not gonna solve the problem. You're trying to solve a problem that can't be solved!"
& boy, if we weren't in a public setting playing cards - I would have lost it. I mean shoot, I'm writing about this because, internally/mentally, I DID lose it! I would have (and should have) asked him when he lost his spine. If you're someone who agrees that this is a problem that can't be solved, don't stop reading: you're a craven, unimaginative sack of meat, and you should be ashamed of yourself. If we're still going with my analogy from before about eating out: I've just uninvited you. The rest of us are going somewhere to eat, but you can't come - no food for someone who wants to drag the rest of us down with hopelessness and despair. If you don't have the mind to propose a solution and the conviction to stick with it, you're the exact type of nonparticipant that ruins democracy. You shirk the obligations of citizenship while reaping the benefits paid for by previous generations. It absolutely kills me that there are enough people in this city, county, state, and country with the same mindset that little, if anything, has been done regarding guns. You dopes are so self-defeating that you've lost any will to try - look in the mirror and ask yourself when you became so gutless, 'cause it's honestly disgusting.
Now that I've got my rant in, I can move on: if you read back over this post, you'll notice I didn't spell out my proposal or advocate any particular position. That's not the purpose of this post - I'll write about that in Part 2. Before I do, I just want you to think enough to answer this question: if you were the POTUS, US Congress, and Supreme Court rolled into one mega power-wielding authority, how would you deal with the issue, and why?
The honest truth is, if you haven't set aside even 5-10 minutes to think about this policy issue, YOU are contributing to the death of shooting victims in this country (similar to those Germans that weren't Jew-hating Nazis but, y'know, weren't going to do anything about the Holocaust either). & before I let go of your attention, I want to take it one step further: the exercise does not end with you thinking about the issue. You are morally obligated to make a decision - as in, if you had a gun pointed to your head, you better be able to commit to your story, whichever way you happen to swing.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Snowflake Kid Talks Shit, (Sort of) Gets Hit
This happened earlier, so I wanted to write about it while it's still fresh in my mind. Today is the 1-year anniversary of Spartan Taco Truck (home of the absolutely delicious crispy taco) opening their storefront. To celebrate, they discounted tacos and beer for the day. I figured the combination of a delicious product and such close proximity to San Jose State University would create quite the demand - lo & behold, there's a line stretching out the door by the time Daisy & I arrive. Most of the folks in line appear to be students - young Asian Americans in their late teens/early 20's. However, the man we get in line behind is a middle-aged (40-something?) Caucasian male (tbh, he's reminiscent of Brett Favre).
After Daisy and I gripe to each other about the long wait, the guy in front of us turns around and starts commiserating - apparently, his girlfriend's been calling them for the past hour and a half to no avail, so he was sent as the procurer of tacos. All in all, waiting in line sucks, but since we want the tacos we just wait it out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. After some more time in line (we ended up waiting a little over half an hour to place our order), the guy's had enough - he leaves the line and walks away. After a few seconds, some college-aged kid immediately in front of us shouts something along the lines of "Good! Fucking redneck!" Either the guy doesn't hear or is just letting it go - I think it's the latter - so the kid shouts out even louder "Get the fuck outta here! *pause* CRACKER!!" & this is where keeping it real (which, btw, that kid definitely wasn't keeping it real) went wrong.
The guy turns around and starts briskly making his way back, shouting "You wanna fuck with ME?!" The older guy comes up to the kid and shoves him into the door pretty hard. That would be the first and final blow, though. They hold onto each other and swing each other around in circles (in hindsight, it's rather comical - in the moment, I think the kid was holding onto the guy to prevent any punches, and the guy was not trying to get into serious trouble over some punk ass kid) - the kid rips the older guy's shirt, and eventually they are separated. A worker comes outside and assumes the older guy is in the wrong, asking him what he did and gesturing in a protective manner towards the instigating kid. The older guy briefly explains himself, but leaves all the same.
After the older guy leaves, the friends that this kid is with are talking about it so animatedly. I'm stunned because for the whole 10-15 minutes I was in line with the guy, we just griped about the long wait - absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't want to open my mouth without knowing the whole story, though, so I just listened to these people talk. Here are some snippets:
"That was so fun!"
"I wish I recorded it!"
"He was such a racist! & a homophobe!"
(At this point, I'd like to remind that the guy came off totally normally to me.)
After listening to more of their conversation, this is the only thing concerning race OR sexuality that they mentioned:
"He said, 'the whole continent of Asia is cutting in front of me'!"
In my head, the only reaction I can muster up is ...really? You let THAT get to you?
Later after my meal, the kid happened to be standing outside the bathroom after I had finished washing my hands (and while Daisy was washing hers, so he couldn't go in quite yet). I couldn't miss my chance at some 1-on-1 conversation, so I asked why he waited for the older guy to start walking away before he started talking shit. He replied "I didn't think he would come back." I'm stunned by this kid's stupidity, because the guy WOULDN'T have come back... if this kid didn't open his mouth for no damn reason..?! In these situations, to avoid letting my shock and disbelief come across, I just respond with a generic, "Hmmm, ok." I can't let this kid get away without at least something to chew on, though, so I said "Man, if you felt so strongly about it, I wish you had said something sooner." My intent was for him to think about his willingness to open his mouth before shit spewed forth next time around, couched in supportive language so he might be more receptive to it, but alas, who knows if he got the message ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?
In any case, I'd love it if I could develop a spine and pipe up in future situations like this, because "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." In other words, my silence feels like complicit agreement with what came out of that young man's mouth, which couldn't be further from the truth. But since I didn't say anything at the time, that doesn't really matter, does it?
After Daisy and I gripe to each other about the long wait, the guy in front of us turns around and starts commiserating - apparently, his girlfriend's been calling them for the past hour and a half to no avail, so he was sent as the procurer of tacos. All in all, waiting in line sucks, but since we want the tacos we just wait it out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. After some more time in line (we ended up waiting a little over half an hour to place our order), the guy's had enough - he leaves the line and walks away. After a few seconds, some college-aged kid immediately in front of us shouts something along the lines of "Good! Fucking redneck!" Either the guy doesn't hear or is just letting it go - I think it's the latter - so the kid shouts out even louder "Get the fuck outta here! *pause* CRACKER!!" & this is where keeping it real (which, btw, that kid definitely wasn't keeping it real) went wrong.
The guy turns around and starts briskly making his way back, shouting "You wanna fuck with ME?!" The older guy comes up to the kid and shoves him into the door pretty hard. That would be the first and final blow, though. They hold onto each other and swing each other around in circles (in hindsight, it's rather comical - in the moment, I think the kid was holding onto the guy to prevent any punches, and the guy was not trying to get into serious trouble over some punk ass kid) - the kid rips the older guy's shirt, and eventually they are separated. A worker comes outside and assumes the older guy is in the wrong, asking him what he did and gesturing in a protective manner towards the instigating kid. The older guy briefly explains himself, but leaves all the same.
After the older guy leaves, the friends that this kid is with are talking about it so animatedly. I'm stunned because for the whole 10-15 minutes I was in line with the guy, we just griped about the long wait - absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't want to open my mouth without knowing the whole story, though, so I just listened to these people talk. Here are some snippets:
"That was so fun!"
"I wish I recorded it!"
"He was such a racist! & a homophobe!"
(At this point, I'd like to remind that the guy came off totally normally to me.)
After listening to more of their conversation, this is the only thing concerning race OR sexuality that they mentioned:
"He said, 'the whole continent of Asia is cutting in front of me'!"
In my head, the only reaction I can muster up is ...really? You let THAT get to you?
- If I was getting cut by a bunch of people, I'd be annoyed too
- If a bunch of Asians cut me in line, and I use exaggeration to express that a bunch of Asians are cutting me in line, is that racism or just... exaggeration? Also, if you're so offended that he's a homophobe, how come you couldn't actually describe what he said or did that made him come off homophobic?
If you can't tell, I'm writing about this incident because it really upset me for a number of reasons. 1 - I mean, this idiot kid was being a jackass. Not only that, but he was surrounded by a bubble that reinforced and encouraged his train of thought - so really that's 6 people being idiots, at least.
2 - I'm ashamed I didn't say or do anything in the moment to set the record straight, at least from my POV. Anyone listening in to the group (and they were being loud, mind you) would think the kid was in the right and the guy was in the wrong, which is just flat-out wrong.
3 - Not only was the kid being a jackass - he was being a total coward! He waited for the guy to leave the line before he started running his mouth, which is just really disgusting considering the content of his speech.
Later after my meal, the kid happened to be standing outside the bathroom after I had finished washing my hands (and while Daisy was washing hers, so he couldn't go in quite yet). I couldn't miss my chance at some 1-on-1 conversation, so I asked why he waited for the older guy to start walking away before he started talking shit. He replied "I didn't think he would come back." I'm stunned by this kid's stupidity, because the guy WOULDN'T have come back... if this kid didn't open his mouth for no damn reason..?! In these situations, to avoid letting my shock and disbelief come across, I just respond with a generic, "Hmmm, ok." I can't let this kid get away without at least something to chew on, though, so I said "Man, if you felt so strongly about it, I wish you had said something sooner." My intent was for him to think about his willingness to open his mouth before shit spewed forth next time around, couched in supportive language so he might be more receptive to it, but alas, who knows if he got the message ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?
In any case, I'd love it if I could develop a spine and pipe up in future situations like this, because "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." In other words, my silence feels like complicit agreement with what came out of that young man's mouth, which couldn't be further from the truth. But since I didn't say anything at the time, that doesn't really matter, does it?
Saturday, April 28, 2018
What Are Our National Values?
Everyone knows that actions speak louder than words, and I think that's a good starting point to realizing what our country is and isn't about. I think it's also important because, like it or not, the country is a reflection of you and me both.
Things I think we are about:
Things I wish we were about:
This post is far from exhaustive, but it's been a long time since I sat down and penned some thoughts, so I just wanted to put this out there to share.
Things I think we are about:
- Money
- Money is power, plain & simple. & because we value hard work, I think we equate $$$ with work (ignoring things like the advantages of timing and plain dumb luck), but in a world where it's estimated that "eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world" (https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-economy-for-the-99-its-time-to-build-a-human-economy-that-benefits-everyone-620170), that train of thought is just wrong and invalid. It's physically impossible for 8 dudes to outwork 3.5 billion people. & if you're gonna shoot back with something clever like "work smart not hard," you're an ignorant prick.
- Leisure
- I know everybody enjoys their comforts (myself included), but I think a lot of people in America take for granted the leisure and forsake the responsibilities that got us here. The biggest responsibility being civic engagement, which can take the form of protest, voting, and even responsible consumption (like supporting orgs/businesses that align with your beliefs *ahem* http://www.complex.com/music/2018/01/coachella-owner-donated-187-thousand-dollars-republican-party)
Things I wish we were about:
- Education
- I've talked about it with friends before, but if one of the wealthiest countries with no shortage of brilliant minds doesn't have it right while others do, it isn't an accident
- People paying their fair share
- As recently as 1981, the highest bracket (those making the most, by far) had a marginal tax rate of 70%. From '82-'86, it was 50%. Starting in '87, that dropped to 38.5%. Since then, we've fluctuated, but never even hit 40% again. So think about that - all those uncollected taxes from 3 decades of growth. Here's a bonus: if you think dropping from collecting 70% in taxes to 37% is crazy - for ~20 years from 1943-1962, the highest tax rate was ~90% (all numbers courtesy https://taxfoundation.org/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets/). To make it all concrete, you can use this tool to compare tax payments across the years. For example, someone with taxable income of $1,000,000 in 1945 might have to pay taxes of $664,000, while in 2011 they would pay $320,000. So, that's 300,000+ that isn't getting redistributed via government.
- Meritocracy (or more sensible lawmaking, somehow)
- I'm all for having elected officials make decisions, but I think there's got to be more room within the framework of government for people with expertise to call the shots, or to limit the influence lawmakers get from people who are strictly profit motivated. Some egregious examples are how smoking marijuana is still a federal crime, or the way prison contracts can be drawn up to require the beds be filled, otherwise states are obligated to pay fees. Those are just a couple examples that are quite mind-boggling. & in 2018, after decades of having both drugs and prisons around, something tells me that these laws aren't just archaic - they are also completely intentional. I'm gonna throw it out there because it's a big one too: gun policy. I'm a teacher, so you can go ahead and guess my stance on this one.
This post is far from exhaustive, but it's been a long time since I sat down and penned some thoughts, so I just wanted to put this out there to share.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
IS Learning a Language Cultural Appropriation?
At some point in my class last week, the topic of foreign languages some how came up (I really don't remember the context), and I said, with some exasperation and incredulity, "Can you imagine that there are people in America that think it's okay to know just one language?" to which a student replied, "It's not?"
Cue my eye roll/face palm/spontaneous combustion. I think my class could feel the "are you fucking kidding me?" emanating from my body language alone, haha. I was really quite taken aback for a few reasons. First, if you're in the Bay Area, chances are pretty high that you know a language besides English for a big reason - to communicate with your parents. Second, it's a UC/CSU requirement to study a foreign language for 2 years - as in, if you're trying to be an educated adult, the state of California has declared that you need to know another language. Third, it's not even the most widely spoken language in the world (counting native speakers only, that goes to Mandarin then Spanish according to this. Counting natives and non-natives, then English is second, according to Wiki). Fourth, there are 7 billion people in the world - why would you intentionally shut yourself off from communicating with a vast majority of them by limiting yourself to one language?
Of course, in the brief span of time between the kid asking that and me having to respond, those thoughts just briefly ran past my mind as I asked back - "Why would it be?"
Hereare some of the answers is the only answer I expected:
Cue my eye roll/face palm/spontaneous combustion. I think my class could feel the "are you fucking kidding me?" emanating from my body language alone, haha. I was really quite taken aback for a few reasons. First, if you're in the Bay Area, chances are pretty high that you know a language besides English for a big reason - to communicate with your parents. Second, it's a UC/CSU requirement to study a foreign language for 2 years - as in, if you're trying to be an educated adult, the state of California has declared that you need to know another language. Third, it's not even the most widely spoken language in the world (counting native speakers only, that goes to Mandarin then Spanish according to this. Counting natives and non-natives, then English is second, according to Wiki). Fourth, there are 7 billion people in the world - why would you intentionally shut yourself off from communicating with a vast majority of them by limiting yourself to one language?
Of course, in the brief span of time between the kid asking that and me having to respond, those thoughts just briefly ran past my mind as I asked back - "Why would it be?"
Here
- "because everyone knows English!"
Even as I'm writing this up, I can't think of any other reason why someone would think what that student thought. The only excuse has got to be plain ignorance or oblivion, right?
Unfortunately, wrong :/.
The student said "I don't know, I feel like it's not my language to learn. Like I would be appropriating culture" - at which point my mind, if not my physical head, exploded. If you're familiar with it, picture the Jackie Chan meme where he's clearly perplexed - that was me. I responded, "What do you think people have been doing this whole time??"
At this point, I'm going to step back from the exchange and go in another direction - namely, what the hell happened to this kid? I don't doubt the existence of cultural appropriation, but to have even gotten the idea that something so simple as learning another language counted as that just left me stunned and honestly questioning the world we live in.
The optimistic part of me understands that it's possible, even likely, that this student just misunderstood the concept of cultural appropriation. Still, though, I think if one kid could misunderstand, so could many others. And it just got me thinking - how twisted are things in the world we live in? It's 2018 and we got at least one person (if not many more) that is worried about how learning a language could be considered appropriating culture.
This is just incredible on quite a few levels - one thing I think of is, how can you even construe learning a language as anything besides respectful and well-intentioned? Another thing is - did she misunderstand, or did someone actually plan to convey that idea to her? A third - how sensitive do you have to be to let that consideration override the importance of shared communication with other people?
There's a host of other thoughts I'm not verbalizing because it all just seems so surreal, but the point I want to get to is - where are we supposed to draw the line between consideration and pragmatism?
Something that's off the top of my head is the gender-bathroom "issue" (which, if you can't tell, I'm flat-out embarrassed I have to even label it an issue. Hence the quotes). Some people are offended, while others feel the need to have a space where they can shit and piss in peace. Meanwhile, I'm like... the fact that we have workable sewage throughout the country is impressive enough - who cares who goes where? You can say I'm coming from a place of privilege as a male who has never had to worry about which restroom I'm going to (which, btw, ask me about this some time if you like to hear a funny aside about it) - but that doesn't make me wrong on principle. In a more egalitarian society, we'd probably just have shared facilities with a trough and, like, 6 stalls.
So, please help me figure it out - are we being too sensitive? Is basic human decency not enough - must I also recognize every facet of your identity which I (frankly) don't care much about? What are we even doing with our lives that we get bogged down by these considerations regarding identity that can genuinely be solved if we all just treated each other the way we like to be treated, and held others to the same standard?
At this point, I'm going to step back from the exchange and go in another direction - namely, what the hell happened to this kid? I don't doubt the existence of cultural appropriation, but to have even gotten the idea that something so simple as learning another language counted as that just left me stunned and honestly questioning the world we live in.
The optimistic part of me understands that it's possible, even likely, that this student just misunderstood the concept of cultural appropriation. Still, though, I think if one kid could misunderstand, so could many others. And it just got me thinking - how twisted are things in the world we live in? It's 2018 and we got at least one person (if not many more) that is worried about how learning a language could be considered appropriating culture.
This is just incredible on quite a few levels - one thing I think of is, how can you even construe learning a language as anything besides respectful and well-intentioned? Another thing is - did she misunderstand, or did someone actually plan to convey that idea to her? A third - how sensitive do you have to be to let that consideration override the importance of shared communication with other people?
There's a host of other thoughts I'm not verbalizing because it all just seems so surreal, but the point I want to get to is - where are we supposed to draw the line between consideration and pragmatism?
Something that's off the top of my head is the gender-bathroom "issue" (which, if you can't tell, I'm flat-out embarrassed I have to even label it an issue. Hence the quotes). Some people are offended, while others feel the need to have a space where they can shit and piss in peace. Meanwhile, I'm like... the fact that we have workable sewage throughout the country is impressive enough - who cares who goes where? You can say I'm coming from a place of privilege as a male who has never had to worry about which restroom I'm going to (which, btw, ask me about this some time if you like to hear a funny aside about it) - but that doesn't make me wrong on principle. In a more egalitarian society, we'd probably just have shared facilities with a trough and, like, 6 stalls.
So, please help me figure it out - are we being too sensitive? Is basic human decency not enough - must I also recognize every facet of your identity which I (frankly) don't care much about? What are we even doing with our lives that we get bogged down by these considerations regarding identity that can genuinely be solved if we all just treated each other the way we like to be treated, and held others to the same standard?
Friday, May 12, 2017
The Progressive Platform
I'm reading Bernie Sanders' Our Revolution , where he spends half the book detailing his presidential campaign and the other half writing about his platform. I picked up the book because I wanted to learn more about his values and goals, and the book does a pretty good job. He addresses a series of issues that, as demonstrated by a campaign that gained serious traction and realistically might have been the Democratic Party's best chance at putting a candidate in the Oval Office, concerns a great number of Americans.
I think it's important to always remember, especially in the aftermath of the election and in light of the turbulence generated by the current administration, that every single politician represents a set of beliefs, mindsets, and ideas. To appreciate and follow through with the hype of the Sanders campaign requires an appreciation of the ideas that he never even got the chance to bring to the national forefront. I could rant about how the Democratic Party blew it and how anybody unhappy with Trump should lob a LOT of shade at the party leadership, but I digress. Instead, I wanted to publish the gist of some of his ideas. Each section is the title of a chapter in his book, but all the bullet points are my summary/understandings of what he writes.
1. Defeating Oligarchy
5. Making Higher Education Affordable
6. Combating Climate Change
7. Real Criminal Justice Reform
8. Immigration Reform Now
9. Protecting Our Most Vulnerable
I think it's important to always remember, especially in the aftermath of the election and in light of the turbulence generated by the current administration, that every single politician represents a set of beliefs, mindsets, and ideas. To appreciate and follow through with the hype of the Sanders campaign requires an appreciation of the ideas that he never even got the chance to bring to the national forefront. I could rant about how the Democratic Party blew it and how anybody unhappy with Trump should lob a LOT of shade at the party leadership, but I digress. Instead, I wanted to publish the gist of some of his ideas. Each section is the title of a chapter in his book, but all the bullet points are my summary/understandings of what he writes.
1. Defeating Oligarchy
- End voter suppression laws
- Restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act in its entirety
- Restore the vote for convicted felons (of which there are 6mill+)
- Campaign finance reform
- Overturn Citizens United decision, 1976 Buckley v. Valeo, & 2014 McCutcheon v. FEC
- Pass legislation requiring wealthy individuals and corporations to disclose their donations/political spending
- $15 minimum wage
- Mandate paid family, medical, & sick leave
- Mandate 10 paid vacation days
- More severely punishing companies that engage in breaking pay equity laws
- Make it easier for workers to join unions
- Transparency regarding wages (passing a/the Paycheck Fairness Act)
- Creating a full-employment economy
- Rebuilding infrastructure
- Combating climate change (making everything energy-efficient)
- Building & updating housing
- Create a universal pre-K & childcare system
- Make high-quality broadband access available to all (the idea that internet is a right vs. a privilege)
- Offer more support for small businesses
- More medical personnel so that no population goes underserved
- Reforming Wall Street
- Breaking up the biggest banks
- Separating the functions of banks (personal banking vs. investment banking/insurance services)
- Putting an end to excessive speculation (which is just higher-stakes gambling beyond most people's imagination, from what I understand)
- Credit-agency reform
- Capping interest rates so the consumer doesn't just get bent over and taken for a ride
- Allow post offices to offer banking services (so that everyone can have access to banks)
- Tax reform
- Closing loopholes that allow corporations to pay less in taxes than they're supposed to
- Raising taxes on the wealthiest 2.1% of the population
- Making a progressive estate tax to reduce enduring wealth inequity
- Limit tax deductions for the wealthiest to 24 cents on the dollar
- Tax capital gains & corporate stock dividends just like they are normal income
5. Making Higher Education Affordable
6. Combating Climate Change
7. Real Criminal Justice Reform
8. Immigration Reform Now
9. Protecting Our Most Vulnerable
- Particularly: seniors, vets, the disabled, and Natives
- What we think is really influenced by what's broadcasted to us, and currently just 6 corporations control the majority of the communications that reach us. So, while I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say we're getting brainwashed, there's definitely just a small number of people that can and do filter the things that we are exposed to. This is a threat to democracy because they can create any narrative they want to (or freeze out a guy that would've been the people's president)
If you couldn't tell, I haven't read through the entire book, but the largest chapter (by far) is chapter 3. After that, every chapter just gets shorter and shorter. However, I covered a good deal of the things he writes on. Reason I wrote this post is so that more folks can get a good read on what drove his campaign. These are the issues he campaigned on, the same ones that drove what I think most of us would consider a "no-name" Senator almost all the way to the White House (except for fact that the Democratic establishment screwed him). So if you see these ideas and they resonate with you, remember that, as a result of his campaign, more and more folks are beginning to run with these issues in mind. & that you can start voting into office politicians who will give you their ear and address your concerns, as opposed to twiddling their thumbs and engaging in the fucking farce that currently dominates the landscape of American government.
Are Millenials THAT Bad?
It's interesting that in the present day, we have so many digital platforms available to broadcast who we are - Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and all other social media. Thinking about the ways we put ourselves out there also got me thinking about what, exactly, we put out there. & although you'll find plenty of people who would tell you that millennials are selfish, entitled, and lazy, I don't think that's really the case.
I'm not really sure how to measure these things, otherwise I would have just done a few quick searches, something like "selfish rate" for 1987, 1997, 2007, and 2017. In my mind, it's not that my generation is any more selfish than the last, it honestly might just be that it's much easier to flaunt it than it ever was before. Otherwise, all the issues that plague society that people like to pin on one age group? I'm pretty sure those are just natural tendencies that the majority of humanity has not outgrown quite yet (because it's clear, especially in America, that we haven't properly acclimated to an era of overabundance).
That's my long way of saying - there is no generation gap in terms of attitudes and traits like being selfish, entitled, lazy, or whatever else you can think of. Instead, I'm pretty sure it's just shown more often than it used to be. Kinda like police brutality - there's one train of thought that it has only proliferated recently, and another train of thought that the prevalence of camera phones has just managed to capture these incidences more reliably.
Regardless of whether there is a generation gap or not, though, I think it's fair to say that the majority of people are pretty selfish. So I put a list of things you could (should?) care about. Pick one, pick 3, heck take all of 'em and add your own - whatever you're into, there are SO MANY issues in OUR society that you can tackle! & this doesn't just go for the 20-somethings - these are issues that every citizen should be vested in, because whether or not you realize it, they DO have an impact on our (read: YOUR) quality of life.
Modern Slavery (international and domestic)
Wealth/income inequality
Education
Feminism/misogyny
Healthcare
Homelessness
National Fitness (or lack thereof)
The military-industrial complex
The prison-industrial complex
Government
Regulation of ANY industry you can think of (Energy, Banking, Fashion, Manufacturing, Technology, Media, the list goes on and on)
Climate change
Sustainable/responsible living
I'm not really sure how to measure these things, otherwise I would have just done a few quick searches, something like "selfish rate" for 1987, 1997, 2007, and 2017. In my mind, it's not that my generation is any more selfish than the last, it honestly might just be that it's much easier to flaunt it than it ever was before. Otherwise, all the issues that plague society that people like to pin on one age group? I'm pretty sure those are just natural tendencies that the majority of humanity has not outgrown quite yet (because it's clear, especially in America, that we haven't properly acclimated to an era of overabundance).
That's my long way of saying - there is no generation gap in terms of attitudes and traits like being selfish, entitled, lazy, or whatever else you can think of. Instead, I'm pretty sure it's just shown more often than it used to be. Kinda like police brutality - there's one train of thought that it has only proliferated recently, and another train of thought that the prevalence of camera phones has just managed to capture these incidences more reliably.
Regardless of whether there is a generation gap or not, though, I think it's fair to say that the majority of people are pretty selfish. So I put a list of things you could (should?) care about. Pick one, pick 3, heck take all of 'em and add your own - whatever you're into, there are SO MANY issues in OUR society that you can tackle! & this doesn't just go for the 20-somethings - these are issues that every citizen should be vested in, because whether or not you realize it, they DO have an impact on our (read: YOUR) quality of life.
Modern Slavery (international and domestic)
Wealth/income inequality
Education
Feminism/misogyny
Healthcare
Homelessness
National Fitness (or lack thereof)
The military-industrial complex
The prison-industrial complex
Government
Regulation of ANY industry you can think of (Energy, Banking, Fashion, Manufacturing, Technology, Media, the list goes on and on)
Climate change
Sustainable/responsible living
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