Veterans' Day Roundup
“Pleasure Needs No Politics” by B.D. McClay: I think we instinctively ascribe asceticism and shame (cough cough @ Nikole Hannah-Jones) to virtuousness and it’s just bullshit. Enjoy what you want, do good unto others, don’t sacrifice yourself, like it’s just that simple.
“Black Voters Want Better Policing, Not Posturing by Progressives” by Nikema Levy Armstrong: Yeah like quite bluntly, defunding (let alone abolishing) the police hasn’t been proven to actually reduce police brutality. After all, we saw what happened in CHAZ. Also, we really can’t ensure that defunding the police won’t just cause them to stop patrolling neighborhoods rife with gun violence or flat out stop investigating rape and domestic violence cases! The other elephant in the room is that the overwhelming majority of police officers are white men, which yeah, contributes to their levels of white supremacy and insane misogyny.
“Nancy Pelosi is the most Effective Speaker Ever” by Chris Cillizza: Broken clocks etc. but I would love to BE Nancy Pelosi when I grow up. Her ability to whip votes and pass massive legislation is unparalleled and she does it in the most traditionally well, feminine of ways, by leaving endless voicemails, by utilizing long-standing relationships, and by trusting her colleagues in a way certain others really do not.
“It Just Hurts a Little Bit, and It Helps You: New York City Kids on Getting Vaxxed” by Helen Rosner: I LOVE CHILDREN!!! Sorry to be cringe but this article was so cute, and quite frankly, any one of these kids would do a better job in Congress than at least half the Republican caucus. Like I mean, she’s not wrong!
“How #MeToo Revealed the Central Rift within Feminism Today” by Moira Donegan: Moira is one of my favorite feminist writers today because she really gets it like nobody likes to acknowledge that misogyny is a genuine axis of oppression but like, it is! Every single social movement is flawed, but it’s like collectively acceptable to shit on the entirety of feminism and centuries of feminist thought instead of holding accountable individual actors and their individual actions. Am I going to dismiss all the good Martin Luther King Jr. did because he didn’t treat the women in his life well and the Civil Rights movement was rife with machismo? No. But, nobody gives women and feminist that same consideration, and that’s the crux of my frustration with society right now. Moira isn’t wrong here either.
Oh and, I cut my hair. Clearly it is very brave and #feminist that I posted a picture of myself without makeup (by which I mean it’s absolutely not).
