Let's Get Political

In my spare time (which is most of my time), I have been reading a lot of Vice magazine. Well, I've been reading their website, but that is neither here nor there. For those of you who don't know, Vice was started in the late 80s (early 90s? I don't care enough to look it up), by a Canadian gentleman, and now has offices all over the world. They report on news and movies and music and pop culture and general nonsense. The writing is usually hilarious, and often political. Normally, I'm not one to discuss politics, because it generally just leads to people getting their feelings hurt or getting really pissed off, and, frankly, it's almost impossible to change someone's mind once they're set on something. But, seeing as it is an election year, and seeing as the point of a blog is to share your opinions (I think? Whatever), I guess I'm going to have to go ahead and discuss some of the most ridiculous things I've been reading lately.

DISCLAIMER: I am not here to change anyone's mind. If you disagree with what I say below, well, you're entitled to your opinion, but, just remember, you're not restricted to a single mindset, and change is always often good. ALSO, I'd like to go on record as saying that most politicians, even the ones we want to like and support, say the things they say simply to get support. It's their job. If they don't say things that a lot of people will agree with, they'll lose those jobs. Let's all just try to remember that before we go and start calling people "evil" or "Satan" or "Hitler."

Moving on. The first thing I'd like to discuss is North Carolina's Amendment 1. The fact that this law passed really speaks to the fact that so many people really have no understanding of homosexuality. There are tons of reasons behind this. Maybe they've never met a gay person. Maybe they want so badly to trust their spiritual leaders that they decide to ignore common human decency. Maybe they're just dumb. Whatever the reason, by passing this law the state of North Carolina, a state that has so many wonderful things going for it (UNC, mountains, beaches, I hear Charlotte is lovely, Asheville is amazing, etc.), has decided that not only can they ignore the whole "separation of church and state" thing that this country was founded on, but that homosexuals, single parents, and other non-married couples are basically non-humans. Here's the thing, the thing is, I'm not a judge, but I'm pretty sure creating a law that directly corresponds to a so-called "Christian" (read: not very Christ-like at all) ideal should be un-constitutional. Of course, since there's no mention of religion in the amendment itself, and it was voted on, I guess they've created a nice little loophole for themselves. I just can't imagine that Jesus, a guy that hung out with a prostitute and a tax collector, would be super into any sort of law that made people sub-human. Pretty sure there was no asterisk after "love thy neighbor as thyself" that said "*unless he's a homo, because, I mean, fuck those guys, right?" Some North Carolinians have created the fantastic organization Every1Against1 and made an ad campaign that actually gave me goosebumps. If you are one of the 6 people in America who is on the fence about marriage equality, please check it out. Actually, check it out regardless.

Now, on the opposite side of that same coin, while I fully support marriage equality, I do not support people crapping all over religion, because they say it's anti-equality (which, in my opinion, is just untrue). I don't care what you do or don't believe, if you support equality, then you support everyone's right to his or her own opinion. Mocking someone for believing in God because you don't, or making crude jokes (like calling God the "flying spaghetti monster"), is just creating more hatred. I am Christian, one of my best friends is Jewish and another one of my best friends is atheist. Obviously my beliefs differ from theirs, but I would go to jail before I'd allow someone to take away their rights to have those beliefs. The great thing about America is that it's a free country, as so many of us were fond of saying in childhood. Calling someone's beliefs stupid just because you don't share them doesn't make you any smarter. In reality, it just makes you sound like a self-righteous moron whose own point is so weak that instead of standing up for what you believe in, you simply tear down everyone else.

Next, I saw a really hilarious trailer that is also kind of serious in a way. It's for a new documentary called The Muslims are Coming! about a group of Muslim comedians touring the country. The basic point of the movie is to confront the idea in the U.S. that all Muslims are members of Al-Quaeda. OK. This is insane. Have you ever seen any World War II Nazi propaganda that says that Jews steal babies and are actually vampires? This is the SAME THING. The people at Fox News (and many other networks) have been frothing about Muslims for the past 10 1/2 years, saying that they want to destroy our freedom and all sorts of other non-sensical things. I am not denying that there are Muslim extremists who want to harm Americans, but they are part of an astonishing minority, and I'd wager that extremists of any religion are probably not a good thing. Calling someone a terrorist because he/she is Muslim is like calling someone racist because he/she is white. Sure, you might be right, but you're probably not.

Speaking of insanity, let's talk about women's rights. All sorts of states like Virginia and Kansas and Arizona are coming up with some really horrifying laws about women's health. The most insane, in my opinion, is the bill in Kansas that requires doctors to tell women seeking an abortion that it may cause breast cancer. Um, what? I can't believe abortions cause breast cancer! Mostly because they don't. At least according to this new-fangled "science" thing. Apparently Kansas legislators not only think that women are too simple-minded to be trusted to make their own health care decisions, but that women are in fact so dim-witted that they'll believe this blatant lie. Thank goodness we have all these smart men folk to keep us poor, dumb women from trying to do something as insane as making our own choices in respect to our health!

In short, I find it pretty fucking ironic that so many people are hateful towards Islamic people because they think Islamic people want to destroy our freedom, then those same people turn around and vote for laws that reduce the freedoms of their fellow Americans.

Again, my job isn't to change anyone's mind, nor is it to denigrate anyone's beliefs, I just want everyone to have a good long think about exactly how their opinions, and therefore their votes, might affect others. This has nothing to do with being "liberal" or "conservative", but mostly it has to do with being someone who either cares about his fellow human beings, or someone who only cares about his fellow human beings as long as they're just like him.

Sorry for bringing the heavy. Here's Seth Galifinakis interviewing Sean Penn in "Between Two Ferns" to lighten the mood up a bit. Enjoy! Maybe next week I'll start talking about stupid shit again. I don't really like serious me.