Whenever my friend says goodnight to me on Skype he sends me this gif
and I wanted to send it to him tonight so I went to Google “black man turning off lamp” but Google autofill changed it to “black man turning into jet” and I got this
Long story short it’s 1am and I’ve been laughing at this for approximately 20 years
“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
I love this book, man.
Dear MRA’s of Tumblr and the University of North Texas,
I went to pick up my husband near the Willis Library today. As I pulled up near the curb to wait for him, I noticed this sign and my eyebrow raised. All I could see was the teaser text, but I knew I was in for a treat.
Upon closer inspection, the sign read:
MALE PRIVILAGE [sic] AN ISSUE? AN EVIL THAT NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED?
Or simply a crutch of a battle cry to justify man hate [sic]. The gap between men and women in rights and wages closes every year. When maternity leave and stay at home moms are accounted for the gap between salaries is currently less than 10%.
Next time you hear someone complaining that a “dudes” [sic] night is inherently wrong, and is gender exclusion, remember they are the problem, not the solution.
(tiny text: Get the facts.)
Now, I was not terribly offended by this post. In fact, I was mostly amused. The poor spelling, bad grammar, and complete lack of any citation or source to back up their claims and their urge for us to “get the facts” made me laugh.Yes, angry man yelling at straw-women: Feminism is definitely only a conversation about how “dudes nights” are exclusionary, and it’s THAT CONVERSATION that is the problem, not the dude nights (whatever the heck that is). Male privilege has no basis in reality whatsoever, because if you rule out stay at home moms and maternity leave (bad move, since maternity leave is the only justifaction for a wage gap I’ve seen somewhat convincingly argued, but I’ll allow it), the wage gap is only (white) women making 10% less than (white) men! That is completely acceptable and not at all privileged or discriminatory! Just stop complaining and it’ll get better on its own, laydeez! GET THE FACTS I JUST MADE UP!
Oh, I had a chuckle. But alas, the laughter ended. I noticed it was posted over a sign that was on other posts in the sidewalk. I ripped down the ridiculous poster and found the second flier underneath it.
What was funny became infuriating.
This ignorant little misogynist took his fallacious and citationless arguments, and posted it over a flier alerting people to a charity run to STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING - an incredibly gendered and racially discriminatory practice that results in the deaths and suffering of countless women every year. Now, I know nothing about the organization behind this event, but I know that their URL was RescueHer, and it appears that the overall theme of the run was about women in subjugation, being sold as objects, being abused and murdered for pleasure. Also colors, or something.
This male supremacist silenced the voices of suffering women, who are in such a position due to archaic beliefs regarding the role and value of women, particularly WoC, in order to have an uneducated tantrum about being called privileged.
The irony here is more than painful - it is murderous.
This is such a perfect illustration of what MRA is about. Telling us to shut up, to stop whining, to stop being so dramatic about real disparities that exist in our country and abroad, and being willing to let women die for the MRA’s right to continue shouting over us.
Love,
S-H-A
This article is great because:
- It lays out excellent arguments for federal assistance, rebutting the Welfare Queen assertion
- Identifies the real reason why lawmakers such as Representative Fincher use the bible to strike down laws that would help people (spoiler: Money and Self interest)
- Doesn’t shame religion or religious people, but points out that you can’t take the bible out of context (though this article neglected to point out that one shouldn’t use the bible as a basis for legislation in this country but I’ll let that slide)
What happened over the weekend? At 8:34 on Friday night, Kanye West tweeted. He said he’d be premiering a song in a half hour and we’d have to do what he said to hear it – we’d have to go to a particular address and stand outside with other people and watch a video projected onto the side of a building. Of course, the first video of the video was up within minutes, so most people didn’t have to do any such thing. “New Slaves” spread, the texting and Vineing and opining ran rampant. A few hours later even Michael Moore was Rap Genius-ing the song. The next night Kanye was the musical guest on the season finale of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ where he premiered another new song, “Black Skinhead,” performed “New Slaves” for the first time and stood alone while the cast hugged around him and the credits rolled.
He came for us on wavelengths old-fashioned and new, inserting into our conversations two songs that are stacks of questions without answers. Received as part of Kanye’s 15-year career, they make sense – from the composition that is both heavy-handed and deft to the singsong retort of his flow and the lyrics that combine insecurity with callous certainty, that decry consumerism while refusing to give it up, that drag internal conversations in front of a mass-market, hair-trigger, blinkered audience. “New Slaves” is the “c’mon, c’mon” in the “All Falls Down” hook 10 years and millions of dollars later. He’s got more on the line now — a decade of living has made him less inclined to sugarcoat.
“
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Kanye West Stands Alone : The Record (via npr) Kanye’s performance on SNL this weekend (at least his second, I missed the first) makes a lot more sense in terms of Kanye West the performance artist than Kanye West the hip-hop artist. |
