Today I'm going to venture away from politics and talk about something that's a little closer to home. Recently, primarily on Facebook but in other places as well, the concept of all males being complete jerks, while all females are hardworking, loyal, perfect angels. Commercials on television showing how hard Today's Mom works to maintain the house, her job, the family, while nothing is shown of any man in her life. Postings on Facebook complain about boys (and men) being abusive or just acting like little children. While I can't and won't deny there is SOME truth to this, the concept is far from complete fact.
I know many women who sit around and yell at the man in their lives, ordering him around and degrading him while he works, does handyman jobs around the house, deals with the children, etc. I hear stories of girls in school who will walk up to a boy and hit him, and then say "You can't hit me back. I'm a girl." I've even known adult women who do this. I don't know how many status updates on Facebook I've seen from women complaining of being treated like eye candy and how men are only interested in their appearance, and then post a photo of some hunky beefcake with comments of lust accompanying them. I'm sure most of you have seen the jokes passed around about how men are only interested in two things: Sex and Beer. The Rules of Women, basically telling men to simply bow down and do whatever the woman says no matter what he wants, thinks or feels. I know most of this is at least partially intended as humor, but there's far too much "Uh huh" and "You know it!" heard in the background.
I lost track of how many women I've heard complaining that they want a man who is caring and loving, supportive, romantic, all those things they read about in books and see in movies. Unfortunately, when a man just like that shows up, he's treated as a friend while the woman is off with the beefy bohunk who looks good but doesn't care about her. In fact, I know one woman who claims to love a certain man, but ignores him for months, runs off to marry or live with other men, and only comes running back to this one man when some other woman shows any interest in him at all. She comments frequently about how much she loves whomever she's living with at the time, and about flirting with this guy and that guy, yet maintains that it's really this one particular man that she otherwise ignores that she loves. Yes, I also know men who do this same thing. However, that's according to the stereotype that men are cast in, while we are told women wouldn't do such a thing.
Let me make this perfectly clear: I do not believe one gender as a whole is superior to the other. Men have their good points and bad points, as do women. As individuals, though, there are plenty of sub-par persons and above-par persons to make any point you want. There are men who do almost all of the housework, home repair, child care, and work outside the home. There are also men who do nothing around the house except make it dirtier, leaving all the work to the woman. There are also women who act in both of those manners.
Now, women are complaining they want to be treated equally. I'm fine with that. I have no trouble with that at all. However, if you want to be treated as an equal, you have to act as an equal. You don't want a man hitting you, don't hit a man. You want a man to hold a door open for you, try holding a door for a man. You want him to put the toilet seat down, put the lid down too so you're both inconvenienced. You want equal pay, do equal work. It's really just that simple. If you want to be equal, BE EQUAL. I'm more than happy to treat you as an equal, but if I put my arm around your shoulder just like I would anyone else, don't go crying harassment. If I'm your boss and tell you to do a job you don't want to do, that's fine. I can get another employee. I'm not going to let you not do your work simply because you're a woman. I don't even care if you don't wear make-up or fix your hair or shave your legs or wear the lacy thongs. It doesn't matter to me. However, if I have to shave my beard, you have to shave yours. Equal treatment means doing the same thing. You can fix yourself up any way you want to, but don't expect me to let you off easy because you did it. You're doing it for your own benefit, not mine.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Let's put the CIVIL back in Civil Disobedience
According to Federal law, any unionized employees at a health care facility are required to give a minimum of 10 days notice before going on strike. Public safety workers are not permitted to strike when their job includes providing emergency services to the public. Federal employees are not only not permitted to strike, they're not even allowed to claim the right to strike or belong to a union that claims the right to strike.
In 1981, thousands of air traffic controllers went on strike to get what they considered better benefits, such as shorter work weeks, more pay, things like that. President Reagan, in accordance with Federal law, called the strike illegal. He gave the workers 48 hours to return to work or lose their jobs. In an attempt to call his bluff, the workers remained off the job, and consequently lost their jobs when President Reagan followed through on his threat.
This past week in Wisconsin, firefighters, teachers, medical employees all took to the streets to protest the proposed budget cuts by Governor Walker. I'm guessing the medical employees failed to give the required 10 day notice. Teachers pulled their students out of class and made them participate in the protest, regardless of what the students thought. Most didn't even know what they were protesting for or against; they simply knew they had the day off from school and were helping cause trouble. Doctors were committing fraud by giving "excuse notes" to protesters in hopes that the employers wouldn't discipline them for the walkout. Of course, the doctors were claiming they were doing "private consultations" in order to supply these notes. In one video, two women claim that they didn't walk out of their job, they are sick. They continue to clarify that they are sick of Gov. Walker.
Now, I don't know about you, but there have been many things I've been sick of. I've never illegally walked off my job, or called in sick to participate in a protest rally. I certainly wouldn't be going out in public if I had fraudulently called in sick. The only union I ever belonged to was a joke, really. It was a bakery union, and they made it their business to bend over and give the company anything it wanted. When I needed help from the union, the primary rep went on vacation. When the company wanted the employees to pay more towards their benefits, the employees were threatened and bullied into voting for ratification. It looks like unions are doing nothing more than stirring up problems.
In contrast to these harsh illegal protests going on in Wisconsin, at a speech being given by Secretary of State Clinton, a protester stood silently in the audience and turned his back on Sec. Clinton. In response, her Secret Service agents converged on this 71 year old Veteran and forcibly removed him in full view of Sec. Clinton. Interestingly, the speech she was giving was in support of the violent protests taking place in Egypt and other countries.
Even when Arizona was passing their newest Immigration bill, protesters against the bill were violent and caused all sorts of trouble and interference with daily business, all in the name of "Civil Disobedience".
I find it interesting, and not a little troubling, that violent protest has become favored by so many people over silent, non-physical protest. When protesting with anger and hatred overrules ACTUAL civil acts of disobedience, anarchy will follow. Gone are the days of Rosa Parks, who merely took a seat in protest of unfair discrimination. Gone are the days of Gandhi, who starved himself but didn't harm anyone else. I'm all in favor of protest. If you don't agree with the way things are being done, by all means, do something about it. That's how change is brought about. Please, don't do so violently though. It does nothing more than negate any positive changes you're trying to make.
In 1981, thousands of air traffic controllers went on strike to get what they considered better benefits, such as shorter work weeks, more pay, things like that. President Reagan, in accordance with Federal law, called the strike illegal. He gave the workers 48 hours to return to work or lose their jobs. In an attempt to call his bluff, the workers remained off the job, and consequently lost their jobs when President Reagan followed through on his threat.
This past week in Wisconsin, firefighters, teachers, medical employees all took to the streets to protest the proposed budget cuts by Governor Walker. I'm guessing the medical employees failed to give the required 10 day notice. Teachers pulled their students out of class and made them participate in the protest, regardless of what the students thought. Most didn't even know what they were protesting for or against; they simply knew they had the day off from school and were helping cause trouble. Doctors were committing fraud by giving "excuse notes" to protesters in hopes that the employers wouldn't discipline them for the walkout. Of course, the doctors were claiming they were doing "private consultations" in order to supply these notes. In one video, two women claim that they didn't walk out of their job, they are sick. They continue to clarify that they are sick of Gov. Walker.
Now, I don't know about you, but there have been many things I've been sick of. I've never illegally walked off my job, or called in sick to participate in a protest rally. I certainly wouldn't be going out in public if I had fraudulently called in sick. The only union I ever belonged to was a joke, really. It was a bakery union, and they made it their business to bend over and give the company anything it wanted. When I needed help from the union, the primary rep went on vacation. When the company wanted the employees to pay more towards their benefits, the employees were threatened and bullied into voting for ratification. It looks like unions are doing nothing more than stirring up problems.
In contrast to these harsh illegal protests going on in Wisconsin, at a speech being given by Secretary of State Clinton, a protester stood silently in the audience and turned his back on Sec. Clinton. In response, her Secret Service agents converged on this 71 year old Veteran and forcibly removed him in full view of Sec. Clinton. Interestingly, the speech she was giving was in support of the violent protests taking place in Egypt and other countries.
Even when Arizona was passing their newest Immigration bill, protesters against the bill were violent and caused all sorts of trouble and interference with daily business, all in the name of "Civil Disobedience".
I find it interesting, and not a little troubling, that violent protest has become favored by so many people over silent, non-physical protest. When protesting with anger and hatred overrules ACTUAL civil acts of disobedience, anarchy will follow. Gone are the days of Rosa Parks, who merely took a seat in protest of unfair discrimination. Gone are the days of Gandhi, who starved himself but didn't harm anyone else. I'm all in favor of protest. If you don't agree with the way things are being done, by all means, do something about it. That's how change is brought about. Please, don't do so violently though. It does nothing more than negate any positive changes you're trying to make.
Who's Sorry Now?
Okay, I have openly admitted I am a registered Republican. I do tend more toward the Moderate rather than Conservative, but still mainly on the Right. However, my main focus is Equality. I've tried to make that painfully clear: I don't care which side you're on, if you condemn someone for doing something, you should refrain from doing that same thing. If you want to be treated as an Equal, you should act as an Equal.
Most of us are very familiar with what happened in Tuscon last month; the shooting of Rep Giffords and killing of innocent people was definitely a tragedy. The media coverage of that was deplorable. Immediately, the Liberal-biased media blamed the Tea Party and Conservatives in general, and Sarah Palin in particular, for essentially brain-washing the man that pulled the trigger. Hatred and death threats were called out from these so-called "Progressives", demanding vengeance. Nothing was said by the Liberal Media at that point about the hypocrisy of these threats.
This month we have Gov Scott Walker trying to balance the budget in his state of Wisconsin. He called for cuts made to unionized employees, and the unions (and their workers) are literally up in arms about it. People from all over converged on the State Building in protest, and doctors were out distributing excuse notes so these people wouldn't get in trouble from their employers for having a major walk-out. Teachers left the classroom and took their classes with them, forcing the students to participate in a protest they weren't involved in. People from other states arrived in support of these protests.
That, however, isn't what I'm concerned with at this point. I'll save it for another rant. Right now, what concerns me is the lack of coverage from the Liberal Media about the death threats being made against Gov. Walker. There's a video on YouTube of a number of Tweets, people calling for the death of Gov. Walker, and in at least one case actually threatening to kill him. This information has only been found on the Conservative-biased Media, Fox News, and some blogger sites. It scares me to think of how many others aren't listed in this short video but still call for the death of a governor simply trying to balance his state's budget. How many of these people don't even know what's really going on, but simply following the popular outcry of the moment? How many of these people would deny any involvement if something should happen to the governor?
More and more, there are cases of "Do as I say, not as I do" on both sides of the political struggle. Liberals denouncing Conservatives for actions the Liberals themselves are doing, in both physical and verbal form. Conservatives doing the same song and dance routine with the Liberals. Nobody willing to take responsibility and govern themselves. We have people killing each other over some of the most ridiculous reasons: what to watch on TV, who's a better singer on the radio, which political party is right. Violence is becoming more and more the FIRST option, rather than a last resort. Allowing things such as these death threats to go unreported is, in my opinion, negligence on the part of the media. Doing so simply because they're against a Conservative and most of the media tends to support the Liberal view is criminal negligence. Should someone decide to follow through on these threats, who would the Liberal Media blame? How would they feel knowing these threats are out there and nothing is being done about them? How would YOU feel if you knew someone was making death threats against someone you disagreed with, and you did nothing about it? Whatever happened to "United We Stand"? Seriously, with all the rioting taking place in other countries, and the protesting going on here, how long until we see the violence escalate into rioting here?
Most of us are very familiar with what happened in Tuscon last month; the shooting of Rep Giffords and killing of innocent people was definitely a tragedy. The media coverage of that was deplorable. Immediately, the Liberal-biased media blamed the Tea Party and Conservatives in general, and Sarah Palin in particular, for essentially brain-washing the man that pulled the trigger. Hatred and death threats were called out from these so-called "Progressives", demanding vengeance. Nothing was said by the Liberal Media at that point about the hypocrisy of these threats.
This month we have Gov Scott Walker trying to balance the budget in his state of Wisconsin. He called for cuts made to unionized employees, and the unions (and their workers) are literally up in arms about it. People from all over converged on the State Building in protest, and doctors were out distributing excuse notes so these people wouldn't get in trouble from their employers for having a major walk-out. Teachers left the classroom and took their classes with them, forcing the students to participate in a protest they weren't involved in. People from other states arrived in support of these protests.
That, however, isn't what I'm concerned with at this point. I'll save it for another rant. Right now, what concerns me is the lack of coverage from the Liberal Media about the death threats being made against Gov. Walker. There's a video on YouTube of a number of Tweets, people calling for the death of Gov. Walker, and in at least one case actually threatening to kill him. This information has only been found on the Conservative-biased Media, Fox News, and some blogger sites. It scares me to think of how many others aren't listed in this short video but still call for the death of a governor simply trying to balance his state's budget. How many of these people don't even know what's really going on, but simply following the popular outcry of the moment? How many of these people would deny any involvement if something should happen to the governor?
More and more, there are cases of "Do as I say, not as I do" on both sides of the political struggle. Liberals denouncing Conservatives for actions the Liberals themselves are doing, in both physical and verbal form. Conservatives doing the same song and dance routine with the Liberals. Nobody willing to take responsibility and govern themselves. We have people killing each other over some of the most ridiculous reasons: what to watch on TV, who's a better singer on the radio, which political party is right. Violence is becoming more and more the FIRST option, rather than a last resort. Allowing things such as these death threats to go unreported is, in my opinion, negligence on the part of the media. Doing so simply because they're against a Conservative and most of the media tends to support the Liberal view is criminal negligence. Should someone decide to follow through on these threats, who would the Liberal Media blame? How would they feel knowing these threats are out there and nothing is being done about them? How would YOU feel if you knew someone was making death threats against someone you disagreed with, and you did nothing about it? Whatever happened to "United We Stand"? Seriously, with all the rioting taking place in other countries, and the protesting going on here, how long until we see the violence escalate into rioting here?
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