….algorithms are sometimes stupid, ok? Like the one used by the “Gender Genie”….that ALWAYS pronounces me “male.” Get over yourselves you math geeks, you don’t get to choose my gender by how many of your buzzwords I use, or by my choice of pronouns.
Speaking from a position of power and judgment is apparently not nicely feminine. Well….all of you who know me in the flesh know my response to that, right? Yes, it has four letters….
The subject of my ire: http://bookblog.net/gender/analysis.php
I cannot draw enough attention to this issue, as a veteran, as a woman and a feminist of the old school sort. Please read the “tease” and follow the link!
+++Army Spc. Mickiela Montoya, who was in Iraq for 11 months from 2005-2006, put it another way: “There are only three things the guys let you be if you’re a girl in the military: a bitch, a ho or a dyke. One guy told me he thinks the military sends women over to give the guys eye candy to keep them sane. He told me in Vietnam they had prostitutes, but they don’t have those in Iraq, so they have women soldiers instead.”+++
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3848/why_soldiers_rape/
It is the third day of a storm system moving over us; I appreciate the cool temps and the needed rain. We have been spared much of the thunder and lightening some areas endured, and we have not had our power put out. But thunder we have, all the same—artillery practice is ongoing over on Ft. Lewis. Now, they don’t have the huge long artillery ranges there, so unless I miss my bet, the concussions that rattle my house and nerves are only from the powder charges. No shells can be fired. But all the same, a constant thundering makes the dog bark and the birds startle out of the fir trees into the rain. My house is dark, not a light in the place as I try keeping the electric bill down—a failing proposition just from the various computers and other electronic things that use power even when in the “off” position. So the dark skies, the thunderous concussions and dim house lend a surreal quality of portentous doom to my day.
My reading material of the week is no help. I finished a book on making ecological choices in daily life (review tomorrow) and came away with a solid feeling of “We are SO fucked…what does it matter?” I am reading Paula Gunn Allen’s “Sacred Hoop” and am sure that I will never escape the very potent section on alienation. She is discussing it as it applies to Amerindians, of course, but notes that it applies to others as well—and is that ever a statement of truth!
I feel alienated as a feminist–from feminists who seem embedded in blame and victim games rather than remedies I feel alienated as a woman–from other women; I feel alienated as a result of my spiritual life on the edges—being pagan and not a member of the dominant paradigm. I feel a sense of alienation as an American, as my country moves further from what I believed that definition should be. I feel alienation as a parent, because I cannot protect my adult children from the multi-faceted storm I see coming.
I feel a sense of connection only to a very small group of writers, bloggers, and speakers who keep trying to tell America how to pull her head from the sand (ummm..ok, yeah, it COULD be somewhere else, but indulge my nice attempt at polite, ok?) and stop the roll downhill. I feel tendrils of connection with people like Martin Berman, Jimmy Carter, Andrew Bacevich, Phillip Butler, and yes, even the infamous Rev. Wright—people who have proven, over and over, that they are driven to tell us truths we need to hear. But America doesn’t want to believe in the hard things, we hide in our toys and comfort.
We have our bread and circuses, and we will cling to liars who put on laurel wreaths they did not earn and do not deserve. I write here, I list names of the dead and it dawns on me today—-more strongly than ever, that I am not listing dead soldiers here as each moon phase turns.
I am listing sacrificial victims. Our military men and women are being sacrificed as surely as if we tossed them over the lip of a live volcano with a shake of rattles and tinkle of bells. They and the wars killing them are the final distraction while the rich rake in the final profits before America falls into utter disrepair and chaos. The rich will go away taking their blood money with them, and America will become the scene of live action horror sci-fi film; there will be no toys and distractions in that too-near future. The country will be looted for what is left: timber, water, minerals….because a new economic master is rising in the world and it is NOT us.
Watch the last few days of the Summer Olympics well, you are seeing the next super power all dressed for partying….all they need is a big hollow horse. And don’t fret as the TSA goes through your bags and Homeland Security detains you for having the wrong souvenir, because that is just the first stage of training to prepare you for your new place in the world after a “Fall” that makes the Biblical one seem as quaint as the current Administration thinks the Geneva Conventions are.
Yes, you can write today’s post off as a “depressed day”….but you know, I don’t think that is what it is at all. I forgot to mention the biggest “connection” I feel most of the time, and perhaps all those others unlisted would agree—-I feel if I changed my name online or off, there is really only one that would do for the daily sense of frustration and fearful fury: Cassandra.
No wonder she wanted to jump from the walls of Troy. Perhaps artillery thunder IS more appropriate than the “heavenly” sort, because unlike Troy, I am not sure “our” Gods are hanging around to watch the end. I don’t know any deities fond of self-indulgent, self-willed morons who prefer a sheep’s life to a human existence.
Why do I watch the news? I must be a masochist! Seeing the CBS News trumpet that perhaps the GOP has “better ads” as they show an example: A picture of Obama in front of a picture of a gas pump and the voiceover saying “Who is responsible for higher prices at the pump?” in portentious (and pretentious) tones.
Say what? Obama is RUNNING for President, he has not BEEN President. So, sorry, asshats you don’t get to blame gas prices on him yet. And CBS….you are a bunch of nitwits even when Katie Death-by-Sweet Couric has the night off!
Obviously, getting the DOD news releases with the names of those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan is not one of the more pleasant parts of my daily life. But I find there is now an unpleasant undercurrent beneath the usual feelings of frustration and grief for those lost lives.
Every time I get a listing that is a woman’s name and the cause of death is given as “a non-combat incident” I feel myself tense up. My neck gets rigid and I have to fight the urge to clench my teeth. Always, I am reassured in print that “the incident is under investigation.” Right.
Like the woman who was found dead with evidence of rape, beatings and murder—-but was ruled a suicide? “Investigated” like that? Like Jennifer Cole, who died August 2nd of a gunshot wound in a non-combat incident still under investigation? As much as I hate this kind of thing, I can’t even imagine the horror of family and friends getting said notification. How can you know what to believe of what the military tells you in the wake of a woman’s death in a war zone? Almost 40% of the women who have died in this war have died in non-combat “incidents” and that seems mightily high to me.
The latest name, btw, was one Janelle King. I went to school (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) with a Janelle. She was a smart, sweet, pretty girl…I imagine an awful lot like this one who shares her name. I mentally cross my fingers and hope it was some terribly ordinary cause of death like a vehicular accident or a fall. But, usually they say if it was some automotive mishap or illness or simple accident. And “non-combat incident” just means it didn’t happen because of the war per se.
I’d like to presume it was something relatively innocent, but my aching neck isn’t having any of it. Why don’t we have a right to the truth about what happens to the women in uniform? Who speaks for them? Who questions on their behalf? Aren’t they the troops we are to be “supporting” too? Forty percent of them are not dying of combat related causes, so just whose fault is it and why can’t we get a straight answer?
NOT!
I knew there had been pretenders to the “throne” of being a veteran, I had heard about it in terms of people representing themselves as veterans for benefits they had not earned and did not deserve. I was amazed today to read that there are other reasons.
Obviously, many who are legitimately veterans occasionally embellish their careers to sound more interesting. It is nicer to present as a big bad warrior than a truck driver or clerk. And some of that might be generally harmless, but when you have someone who is very much “none of the above” who talks to school groups, persuades kids to enlist on the basis of bullshit, then it does need to be called. And thank goodness, there are veterans dedicated to doing just that…. you can read about them elsewhere, of course. (http://tinyurl.com/6rndls )
There is something called the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 now, how sad that there must be something so official to rein in lies that harm the real people.
For the record, I was not a hero in any war. I was a all too typical “Cold War” type of soldier—I was a linguist/analyst who served in Berlin, Germany. I met my husband there; he had done more heroic things. He is a Viet Nam vet who served for a while with the 101st in Viet Nam, but he also was an intel sort and did that in Germany and then stateside for two different Special Forces units. He was a “candy bar” SF person, not an A-team guy.
He was and is plenty of hero for me, neither of us needs to lie about our service. I knew enough of the real heroes and the families that loved them that I could count my blessings that heroism of that level was never required of my home crew! Heroism is costly, and the fantasy-spinners don’t have what it takes. All you phony-assed liars out there? Well, kiss this!
In wartime, in time of disasters, and in personal life, sometimes it is the unexpected picture that just breaks through whatever wall of personal comfort is holding the chaos out of your mind. I heard conversations in the aftermath of Katrina, for instance, about why people had NOT scraped up a donation for the Red Cross: “You know, it is a tragedy, but really, those PEOPLE should have known better and left in time.” Yeah, cause everyone can just do that, of course. The person saying this went on to say they did give a donation to a group that was rescuing animals in New Orleans, “Because animals have no choice, you know?”
That much is true to a heartbreaking degree. Animals have no choice when either mankind or nature decides to upend their furry, hairy, finny, feathery worlds. But are people never innocent? I have a nasty sneaking suspicion that people who are capable so far as personal resources are concerned, sometimes don’t reach out to help other people for a couple reasons. First of all, I think they run from the very images out of fear—that somehow they themselves could be so vulnerable to horror and tragedy. They can’t/won’t help because they can’t bear a minute’s thought of being part of that suffering body of mankind—so to keep their personal exemption card unstained, they do nothing. Second, I think they often enhance this comfort zone by rationalizing that people somehow deserve to be miserable. And well, sometimes that may true, but I will argue just enough with the existential idea sometimes put out—that no innocents exist —to say there are ALWAYS innocents and choiceless sufferers. And I will endevour to aid in such situations because I won’t stint in relieving whatever allegedly “deserved” suffering is going on at the cost of those innocents suffering alongside. I simply don’t have the necessary presumptuous nature to credit “deserved” with meaning negligible or ignorable.
But, of course, animals ARE innocents always. And the images of animals in misery always grabs all but the most wretched hearts in an absolute stranglehold. So, for all who think it might be permissible to “not give two shits about the Iraqis” let me just post a picture by the estimable Zoriah to give those dried up hearts a squeeze. To everyone else, I apologize for the gratuitous violence to our already pulverized-to-tenderness hearts. That miserable starving bit of fur in the soldier’s hands IS representative of what Iraq is enduring….
(The image is from this blog: http://www.zoriah.net/ )
No pet pics today, boys & girls. Sorry, had to break out and waste a few bucks on yard sale fun. Got some jars for jam, and the best yard sale find EVER! And surely you would agree that $13 was the perfect price for this lovely scythe, it is also just my size!
Again, it is time to list the names released since the last moon phase; the moon actually goes full tomorrow afternoon, but as I may not be here at the computer much on weekends, better early than late for those who may be looking. As always, my heart goes out in sympathy to the families and friends—I am so sorry for your loss.
Master Sgt. Danny E. Maybin, 47, of Columbia, S.C - Army -vehicular accident -supporting Iraq (in Kuwait)
Petty Officer Second Class Anthony M. Carbullido, 25, of Agat, Guam, -Navy - Afghanistan - IED
Sgt. Jose E. Ulloa, 23, of New York, N.Y., Army - Iraq - IED
Cpl. Adam T. McKiski, 21, of Cherry Valley, Ill. - Marine - Iraq _combat ops
Cpl. Stewart S. Trejo, 25, of Whitefish, Mont. - Marine - Iraq - combat ops
Sgt. Kenneth B. Gibson, 25, of Christiansburg, Va. - Army - Iraq - IED
Pvt. John A. Mattox, 23, of Daingerfield, Texas - Army - Afghanistan - non-combat incident
Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22, of Maryville, Tenn. - Iraq - Marine - combat ops
Cpl. James M. Hale, 23, of Naperville, Ill. - Army - Iraq - IED
Pfc. Daniel A. C. McGuire, 19, of Mashpee, Mass. - Marine - Iraq - combat ops
A penguin has been granted knighthood in Norway.
It begs the question, oh Snarky One, is your lack of “Sir” due to too much snark or an insufficiently Viking-spirited snark?
(story at http://tinyurl.com/5e2ftl )
I tried to snag the picture, but it screws up the whole blog format for some reason. ::::runs giggling into her weekend::::
