yes, virginia tech, there is an insanity clause

Madness imposed from without becomes the mania which flourishes within. The controlled insanity that leads us to derive pleasure from the pain of an another creates chaos; a consuming anarchy that revels in destruction of self, others and society.

To expect individuals to derive sanity from the psychotic interactions they experience denotes a complete divorce from reality; a social schizophrenia that seems logical only in the light of fanatical hubris. To torment and expect gratitude for such mental dismemberment denotes a lust for moral detachment; a hunger for convenient outlets to disperse fear and pain without regard for the consequences.

Takes a village

It takes a village to raise a child; it takes a culture to raise a mass murderer.

The fevered desperation with which the general public seeks to deny responsibility for the murderous rampage of Cho would be amusing, if the pathetic cowardice were not so disturbing.

Abused and debased during his life, he now bears the distinction of being fodder for all the scapegoating customary in these cases; those who exploited Cho during his life are superseded by those who would exploit his death for their own political purposes.

A thousand contributions to depravity helped mold the killer of Virgina Tech: degradation, isolation, negation all provided the elements necessary to form a vicious and disturbed individual. As we cast about for someone to blame, will no one claim credit for creating this work of homicidal genius?

hate crimes

It is important that we take individual responsibility for our actions, but it is equally vital that we hold other accountable for their behaviors as well.

This Act would also provide much-needed resources for local law enforcement agencies, so they can investigate and prosecute hate crimes. This is not an issue of condoning behaviors that conflict with moral values, it is a question of controlling the destructive bigotry that tears at the social fabric of our society.

This legislation has long been supported by 31 state Attorneys-General, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Executive Forum and many other law enforcement organizations.

Please vote for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I ask that you understand that for my wife and myself, this is not only a question of principle, but of personal safety.

We have no desire to force others to accept the viability of our lives, but we demand that their beliefs should not be used as justification to imperil our bodies, homes and livelihoods. This act, in our opinion provides the tools to create an equality that is both desperately needed, and sorely lacking.

in (never) cold blood

The idea of the mass murderer being someone who kills, not in the heat of passion, but in a cold, calculating fashion tends to ignore the reality of hatred- the blood that never cools.

Some of the most destructive emotions we possess are the unreleased ones- that which remains unexpressed increases its power a thousand fold. In the cult of masculinity, the inability to show the true nature of one's feeling exacts a toll, sometimes a gross and terrible one.

Anger becomes , to quote Pickard, like old leather; so comfortable one can not remember feeling any other way. More devastating, however, is the belief that the emotional pain of the present experience will never abate. This fire of hate, fear and pain congeals into a rage that burns unceasingly; and its flame consumes the portions of humanity that would prevent acts of atrocity.

With blood at a perpetual boil, cooler heads can't prevail; once the liquid evaporates, the scorched flesh begins.

imus shocked as hue

Ignorant hatred plays palatable; the sweet flavor of bigotry finds favor upon many a tongue. Imus certainly pandered to the basest level of many a patron; he cloaked himself with the mantel of political respectability in the hopes of offsetting the despicable prejudice he loved to espouse.


The extraordinary monetary compensation he received demonstrates the love society has for such filth; moral pornography spread thick on the daily bread of media consumption.

The reactionary apologists howl plaintively at the demise of one of their own; personal responsibility is fit for anyone besides themselves. For the rest of the rational public however, it's nice to see this decrepit hatemonger put out to pasture, all hail Media Matters for their good works.

duking it out

http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/Porn/orgasmpol.html

How Orgasm Politics Has Hijacked the Women's Movement

by Sheila Jeffreys

The sex of prostitution has become accepted as the model for sex.
"Tabletop "dancing" tells us something we must understand about "sex" as constructed under male supremacy: The men bond through shared degradation of women. The men who frequent such clubs learn to believe that women love their sex-object status and love to sexually tease as they are examined like slaves in a market. And the women, as they told us, just cut off from what they are doing."
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The veil of purity has been restored; the hymen reconstituted for those brave and exploited bastions of masculinity, the lacrosse players of Duke. Today all charges against them were withdrawn, and the new lawman in charge went so far as to declare them victims of horrible injustice. This lead others to howl in glee that any and all derogatory designations made towards these academic stalwarts must be the false ravings of the demented feminists and liberal hellspawn. The saints of sanctioned striptease have had their reputations restored; rich, objectifying brothers bound by the shared degradation of women for entertainment.

I breath a sigh of relief that wealth and power can triumph in a justice system; I feel palatable relief at the assurance that the elite will be spared the injustice of a misguided and malignant prosecution.

I exult further with the pronouncements of the pundits that no racist sentiments could have possibly been involved; at least not on the part of the stick wielding sons in question. Since the charge of rape has proved unprofitable to prosecute, the oppressed have likewise had their sins expunged; for how could such a cuddlesome fraternity possibly be culpable in anything so dire as racist slurs and epitaphs?

Born again, by the grace of the holy dollar; free again to frequent the institutes of anatomy where the gratefully groveling girls compete for the glory of removing their garments. Love undiminished, affording their beneficence an outlet in the form of garter belt stuffing, the Christian decency reigns supreme in this happy victory for the forces of rightousness.

power flavors

The question is not whether a man is privileged over a woman of “similar class” but whether he is privileged over a woman who is incomparably wealthier than he is. - Tom Nolan

I disagree. The pertinent question here, in my opinion, is whether the male gender role dispenses a type of power unavailable to those in the female gender role. I would assert that it does; and with this power, those ascribing to the gender role of male have the responsibility to demonstrate that said power is not being abused.

I feel that this responsibility has not been met by the assertions thus far; furthermore, I find the examples by Q Grrl and others of exploitation based on gender roles compelling. Those inhabiting the male gender role can certainly point to certain patterns of behavior in it that they find personally destructive, but to assert that this means that the role itself cannot be considered oppressive ignores the inherent culpability of the dominant interactant.

The dichotomy of gender has helped to create a superior and a subordinate class structure- demonstratively debasing, in my view; but one that must be acknowledged to be rectified.

If you inhabit the role, then assume the inherent complicity in its destructive actions; find the courage to change it instead of discrediting those who demonstrate its abhorrent nature.

"common people" by pulp

From a comment on Feministe concerning a youtube video with william shatner covering this pulp song.

I had never heard this song before, but I think it’s wonderful.

Joe Jackson and Ben Folds Five performance is phenomenal, can’t say I care much for Shatner’s snarkiness.

I bought the original version, and my interpretation differs somewhat from Mnemosyne’s. I hear it as a comment on the rich slumming for entertainment; playing at poverty with the commons.

“You will never understand
how it feels to live your life
with no meaning or control
and with nowhere left to go
You are amazed that they exist
and they burn so bright
whilst you can only wonder why”

The grit and grime of lower class packaged into a weekend fling, minus the tedious despair and hopelessness; readily abandoned whenever it grows tiresome. The cultural convenience of disposable deprivation makes for a lovely holiday, but you really wouldn’t want to live there.

Of course, wealth is relative; even the east end might seem like paradise to many in this world, but the reduction of people into social-educational tools is demeaning no matter where it occurs.