This is the message I just sent to the Obama transition team, here: http://change.gov/page/content/contact/:
"I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the decision to invite Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the Inauguration.
Throughout the presidential campaign, President-elect Obama inspired me more than any candidate ever has before. So much so that I donated to his campaign twice, something which I have never done for any other political candidate.
As a heterosexual woman in a "traditional" marriage, and as someone who holds strong and sincere beliefs that homosexuals are entitled to the same legal rights and relationships that I am entitled to, it breaks my heart that President-elect Obama has chosen such a closed-minded and bigoted individual to participate in something so important. Unfortunately, it sends a painfully clear message to non-heterosexual Americans that the next president of this country regards their rights and feelings as less important than symbolic "reaching across the aisle" political moves.
It is not too late to rescind this invitation, and I hope and pray that President-elect Obama and his team make the decision to do so before irreparable harm is done."
I doubt it will do much good, but I can't say *nothing*. Our officials are elected to represent us. They cannot do so if we don't make it clear how exactly we want to be represented.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Vitriol
I know this maybe isn't the most sentimentally appropriate time of year for this topic, but unfortunately it is the specific time at which I was reminded of this insanity.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bitch who can Carry A Grudge. I can and do hold shit against people *forever*. That being said, it is a passive sort of enmity. The feelings linger on the edges of my psyche without taking on enough importance for me to have to act on them. It's more, "Oh, that person? I can't stand him/her and will never forgive x/y/z!" I don't have the will or ambition to seek out the people on the other end of my anger. Maybe it's a result of the fact that the person who is most deserving is already dead, and therefore all those guilty of lesser infractions aren't worth the time and effort? I don't know. Maybe it's just that I'm lazy.
I have recently ventured back into territories I had temporarily abandoned due to being busy elsewhere, and was deeply disheartenened and dismayed to find that the exact same poison is being spewed in posts and private messages (thanks for those, psycho internet haters!) as I first encountered four years ago. FOUR YEARS AGO. These few, pathetic people have not found it within themselves to let this random shit go by now. The hateful rhetoric is the same. The targets are the same. The venue is the same. And what's most pitiable is that their targets are undeserving. Believe me - I know derserving targets. These folks aren't it. I know a bit of what is behind some of the misunderstandings, and none of it is grudge-worthy. And again, I speak as one who can't help but to hold grudges.
But sadly, something about the internet culture, their fragile egos, and the amount of time they apparently have on their hands all converge to create this bizarre state/dimension in which they feel that the same people must be punished again and again for these minor transgressions. Infractions for which said people can (apparently) never be forgiven.
On second thought, maybe this time of year is particularly appropriate for this topic. Because the things I cannot forgive are those which I would only expect a higher being to be able to absolve. And I am far from a higher being. So shouldn't these very few people be able to be bigger than they have been?
Even if they can't get past the perceived transgressions, should they not at least try to lighten their own burdens and cease the active torment of those they feel did them wrong so long ago now? Wouldn't that be a wonderful gift to oneself, to decide to simply LET IT GO? I have done so for crimes far more heinous against my own soul and body than anything these supposed transgresors could have ever perpetrated. If I can let it go and be open to a happier, more peaceful life, shouldn't the self-proclaimed victims be willing and able to at least attempt to do the same?
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bitch who can Carry A Grudge. I can and do hold shit against people *forever*. That being said, it is a passive sort of enmity. The feelings linger on the edges of my psyche without taking on enough importance for me to have to act on them. It's more, "Oh, that person? I can't stand him/her and will never forgive x/y/z!" I don't have the will or ambition to seek out the people on the other end of my anger. Maybe it's a result of the fact that the person who is most deserving is already dead, and therefore all those guilty of lesser infractions aren't worth the time and effort? I don't know. Maybe it's just that I'm lazy.
I have recently ventured back into territories I had temporarily abandoned due to being busy elsewhere, and was deeply disheartenened and dismayed to find that the exact same poison is being spewed in posts and private messages (thanks for those, psycho internet haters!) as I first encountered four years ago. FOUR YEARS AGO. These few, pathetic people have not found it within themselves to let this random shit go by now. The hateful rhetoric is the same. The targets are the same. The venue is the same. And what's most pitiable is that their targets are undeserving. Believe me - I know derserving targets. These folks aren't it. I know a bit of what is behind some of the misunderstandings, and none of it is grudge-worthy. And again, I speak as one who can't help but to hold grudges.
But sadly, something about the internet culture, their fragile egos, and the amount of time they apparently have on their hands all converge to create this bizarre state/dimension in which they feel that the same people must be punished again and again for these minor transgressions. Infractions for which said people can (apparently) never be forgiven.
On second thought, maybe this time of year is particularly appropriate for this topic. Because the things I cannot forgive are those which I would only expect a higher being to be able to absolve. And I am far from a higher being. So shouldn't these very few people be able to be bigger than they have been?
Even if they can't get past the perceived transgressions, should they not at least try to lighten their own burdens and cease the active torment of those they feel did them wrong so long ago now? Wouldn't that be a wonderful gift to oneself, to decide to simply LET IT GO? I have done so for crimes far more heinous against my own soul and body than anything these supposed transgresors could have ever perpetrated. If I can let it go and be open to a happier, more peaceful life, shouldn't the self-proclaimed victims be willing and able to at least attempt to do the same?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Why I love him
Two quotes from Jon Stewart's interview with Mike Huckabee last night, which perfectly stated deep-seated feelings I've had for a while (both from Jon, of course!):
"Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality."
"It's a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights as someone else."
A-freaking-men!!!
I also loved that he called Huckabee (and other similar people against gay marriage) out on the fact that by making their argument one of gay marriage "changing the definition of marriage, which has for *thousands* of years been a union between a man and a woman", they are resorting to semantics and ignoring the humanity. Too bad those people will likely never see it properly.
"Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality."
"It's a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights as someone else."
A-freaking-men!!!
I also loved that he called Huckabee (and other similar people against gay marriage) out on the fact that by making their argument one of gay marriage "changing the definition of marriage, which has for *thousands* of years been a union between a man and a woman", they are resorting to semantics and ignoring the humanity. Too bad those people will likely never see it properly.
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