If Obama genuinely believes that “all people are created equal”, then every time he kills some innocent person in a drone strike he is killing someone with the same worth as himself and his own family members. Obviously he doesn’t believe this. Obviously he’s a moral fraud. No surprises here. Who has the right to live? “Probably only Americans”, says Mr. City on a Hill, through every Yemeni and Pakistani life he bleeds. But there’s nothing special about ‘Americans’, as evident by the complete disavowal of his own ‘American’ values. What he really means is: “Only people in powerful countries deserve to live. But only my powerful country.” What he really means to say is: “I am a mad jingoist killer masquerading as a humanitarian, I am Clinton/Bush/Obama the three-headed beast of the advent of the 21st century. I am Leviathan, tremble before me.”
On the side of my Facebook feed I saw a ‘news story’ from the Hufington Post being advertised about Lena Dunham. It read: “Lena Dunham can wear what she wants, when she wants, even if that means underwear, rain boots and a smile to dinner.” The story was about Lena Dunham posting a lingerie selfie on some Insta-Twitter-whatever website. What is the meaning of this? Are we supposed to applaud this in the name of ‘body positive’ thinking? How small-minded and asinine can the decadent culture of dying empire be? When we all take a stand against the word ‘Bossy’ and ‘fat-shaming’ and applaud ‘all kinds of bodies’? Wow, how brave. Fuck George Carlin, he was a fat-shamer. Let’s ban words and create ‘fat acceptance’ as a meaningful theme in our times, all the while lecturing others about their privilege. Oh, but wait, Lena Dunham is oppressed because she’s a woman. She’s so brave for sharing a selfie! How dare I even mock her in this way; I must be a fan of Chuck Johnson and Ted Cruz for fuck’s sake. What kind of right-wing neanderthal am I? Also, JK Rowling called out Westboro Baptist Church in a Tweet. Wow, how brave, I’ve never heard anybody mock Westboro baptist Church before, I thought they were taken seriously. All I hear in the media is Fred Phelps apologia, its high-time someone called those guys out. It’s all masturbation. How brave! How brave!
(Check your fucking privilege)
On May 19th, Taylor Swift said some bullshit that was gobbled up by Mother Jones (I used to like left-wing publications a lot more before I went to a liberal arts college). Here it is:
“A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining.”
Says who? Who praises vulnerable men and condemns women for writing about their experiences? Who are you referring to? See, this is the problem of the zeitgeist of modern e-feminism: vague statements are made and attributed to ‘society’ with absolutely no accountability for their truth value. There’s no way to counter it without being declared part of the problem, but fuck, I don’t think Taylor’s impression is true at all. I could just as easily say: “A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is a wimp, not a man at all; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is a recipe for a well-received internet column or a Bestseller.” Whose reality is truer? Who can even say? Taylor Swift has made a nebulous statement to further a nebulous cause. And if I disagree with it, it’s obviously because I’m a white man with no empathy for the struggles of women. Hook, line, sinker, no escape.
But she goes on to say:
“Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born.”
Again, what the hell is this even supposed to mean? How can anyone take this seriously, much less consider it a truth? This idea is so self-evidently stupid that I don’t even feel the need to criticize it. This is the same line of thinking that gets people to rally against pink clothes for girls as an element of patriarchy, and a despicable oppression. From the time they are born. Three year old boys are already women-hating domestic abusers in training? It’s almost like echo-chambers teach people to uncritically believe things that are rationally indefensible. Yay for Condoleeza Rice because she’s a successful woman! Yay for Hillary Clinton because she’s a successful woman! To hell with content of thought and action, up with identity politics!
“So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.”
Well, with arguments as good as yours, why the hell not?
I will say, however, that I did enjoy her music video for Bad Blood. It was pretty fucking cool. Pander to the political climate of the day, then snag the bucks and the adoration with political gravitas (I’m not being cynical, she had a pretty quick reversal from I’m-not-a-feminist to misogyny-is-original-sin). Taylor, you skilled businesswoman, you. Lean in.
That’s an ineugions way of thinking about it.