Yes, I know, this is last week's news, but ... I'm sure you've all heard about the women's marches held in protest to Trump's inauguration. Perhaps you didn't get the whole story. Apparently there are "women's rights" and there are "not women's rights", or something like it. A group of feminists were removed from sponsoring the Women's March last week because they were opposed to abortion rights. "The Women’s March platform is pro-choice," the official voice said. "Intersectional feminism1 does not include a pro-life agenda," a feminist author decreed. So diversity among women is not acceptable. "Sure, we're all equal as women, but some are more equal than others." I'm sure I heard that somewhere. I'm just surprised that no one seems to see the utter irony of women tossing out women in the name of women's rights or touting diversity and inclusiveness while excluding the diverse or protesting Trump's use of rude references to female body parts by using rude references to female body parts. Apparently a "woman's right to choose" means "the right to choose what we say."
Newspeak
George Orwell's classic, 1984, included the concept of "newspeak", a language manufactured by the totalitarian government of Oceania designed specifically to control language and limit freedom of thought. By redefining some words and eliminating others, they sought to limit self-expression, free will, and other concepts. So they urged things like "doublethink" to enable people to accept contradictory beliefs. They had "joycamp", the forced labor camp. They had the Ministry of Truth from which they dispensed the lies to control the people, the Ministry of Peace ("minipax") from which they waged perpetual war, the Ministry of Plenty ("miniplenty") where they kept the masses operating with scarce supplies, and the Ministry of Love ("miniluv") where they managed the secret police. Well, thanks to Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway's use of the term, "alternative facts" (which would mean to normal English speakers "lies"), Amazon is reporting that Orwell's book sales are climbing.
Odd that it takes a Kellyanne Conway comment to do it. We've been experiencing this for years, with terms like "tolerance" to describe "agree with us or suffer the consequences" and "judgmental" meaning "You're immoral and evil for saying that I'm doing anything wrong." "Marriage" doesn't mean that anymore, "gender" means nothing anymore while it is one of the hottest fights these days, and people love to fight about the word "love". We have been living in Orwellian times for many years now, but "alternative facts" is what it takes to get anyone to notice ... and I doubt they'll notice now.
The New Racism
The first paragraph of the story reads, "Taraneh Alidoosti - the Iranian star of Oscar-nominated film The Salesman has vowed to boycott the upcoming Oscars in protest at President Donald Trump's 'racist' ban on Muslim immigrants." Bad punctuation aside, I'm surprised to learn that "Muslim" is now a race. This ought to come as a shock to all the white, black, and other Muslims. Even Islam appears to disagree. But, hey, in today's Orwellian world, what should we expect?
What's in a Word?
Hawaiian politicians have come up with a wonderful scheme to solve a serious problem. Well, okay, it's not a new scheme; it's an ongoing one. Just a new application. So, here's the thinking. Homelessness is a problem. (A big problem in Hawaii, apparently.) A lot of homeless people suffer from a lot of medical problems. What to do? Well, it's simple. Just classify homelessness as a medical condition. Poof! All fixed. This way a medical doctor can provide a medical prescription for the solution -- housing. "Here, Mr. Jones. Take this prescription to your nearest pharmacy and they'll see to it that your medical insurance or Medicaid will provide you with a small apartment. Take with water. You're welcome."
Well, yeah, I suppose it makes sense. "Because I feel like it" is the reason that a male can be a female or whatever combination of male/female one might determine. "Because we think it's so" is the reason that "Muslim" can be classified as a race. Why not fix this problem by changing the classification? Easy! Take that you Social Justice Warriors!
More Abortion News
In Washington D.C., a crowd much bigger than anticipated showed up for a "March for Life" rally yesterday. Vice President Mike Pence promised to work at defunding Planned Parenthood. He told them, "As it is written, let your gentleness be evident to all. Let this movement be known for love, not anger. Let this be known for compassion, not confrontation. There is nothing stronger than gentleness. I believe we will continue to win the hearts and minds of a rising generation." Subversive thinking, I know, but what can you expect from a Christian? The media hated it. (Since when did "not Planned Parenthood" become "controversial"?) Oddly enough there was no violence like they had in last week's Women's March. Wonder why?
Equally interesting, a poll revealed that 100% of the women at the Women's March last week were not aborted. Go figure. At least, that's what the Internet says.
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1"Intersectional feminism" is "a decades-old term many feminists use to explain how the feminist movement can be more diverse and inclusive." Ummm, yeah ... okay. Except it includes no one who is the wrong kind of diverse. How anyone with any sense can say that? "One way we are diverse and inclusive as feminists is by, as a matter of principle, excluding those who differ from us on the subject of abortion."
2 comments:
Regarding that Women's March, I find it interesting that they would bar pro-life feminists from joining in. That means that they would have barred all the women who launched the feminist movement, by which I mean those that fought for a woman's right to vote, work, own property and the like. These women of yesteryear were almost united in the belief that abortion was the moral wrong it is. But then, when they marched, they weren't looking to insure that women could be as promiscuous as they believe men have the right to be.
Any way you look at it the irony is deep.
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