Sunday, December 22, 2013

The One Where I Quietly (or Not So Quietly) Yell and Maybe Lose Friends

Two days in a row I find myself needing to unload. So here I go.

Being Christian does not make you always right. Saying that x, y, or z goes against the Bible or your understanding of the Bible or the Bible that is used by your religion doesn't make it okay for you to condone and support and even celebrate intolerance.

We have all these Facebook pages popping up to support Phil Robertson because A & E fired him for lines like this in his recent GQ Magazine interview, the text of which can be found in its entirety here:

“We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus—whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”
So for him to lump gays in with terrorists is okay. Because we are ALL anti-terrorists. But don't you know that terrorists terrorize because WE are not following along with THEIR idea about religion?

Is this parallel lost on you? And by you, I mean those think it's cool to throw gays in with terrorists and those who think it's okay for Phil Robertson to say whatever he wants in a PUBLIC FORUM but it's NOT OKAY for his employer to can him over it.

People. That don't make no kind of sense.

And this gem, about how black folks seemed to have it good back in the day:

Phil On Growing Up in Pre-Civil-Rights-Era Louisiana
“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field.... They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

Do I even need to say that this is such a ridiculously ignorant thing to say in 2013 in a space for all to read? Do I have to say this to you?

You don't have to march in a parade. You don't have to adopt a gay person like you would a needy child off the TV via UNICEF. No one is asking you to host an "invite a gay and a black person to dinner" night. And no one cares what you are talking about in your houses with your friends. You can not like whomever you want. You can think that being gay is unnatural immoral and should be illegal. And that black folks had it good back in the day.

What it makes no sense for you to do is be up in arms because one man said this stuff in a public forum and his employer, who happens to be a TV network, with millions of people who watch that network decided that he is not someone they want in his employ.

Guess what would have happened had Phil said that at his house to Miss Kay while they were playing cards or wrapping gifts? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I'm up in arms because I LIKE DUCK DYNASTY. My girlfriend literally just gave me Duck Dynasty pint glasses that say "Happy Happy Happy." I bought my Mom ******CHRISTMAS SPOILER ALERT***** the Si-cology book for Christmas. I'm up in arms because Phil did not know the difference between expressing honest opinions and saying stuff that is inflammatory and engenders hate IN FRONT OF A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE, not with this buddies while on a hunting trip. I'm pissed off that maybe the whole dang show is going to be gone when it has brought a lot of laughs and joy AND good messages about family to people. So THAT'S WHAT WE SHOULD BE PISSED OFF ABOUT. Not that A & E canned him. But that Phil, in that interview, was Phil at his HOUSE and not Phil TALKING TO A MAGAZINE.

Thanks for letting me yell about this.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

ENOUGH ALREADY! It's Bleeping Christmas So Let's Try Being NICE!!!!

My heart is broken all over the place. Because I have heavy shit going on in my life, some real and big and ridiculously formidable, and some not so much. And then I just see so much hate and vitriol and hostility all over my Facebook.

I'm so f#$king over it.

Here is the thing. Everyone has a right to their opinion. But when did we get to this place of being so IT'S US AGAINST THEM. We vote this way, WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS. So the other guys ARE THE BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD GUYS.

Calm the eff down, people.

Seriously.

Look, every single administration has probably had something that got bleeped up, right? Sometimes there is a Democrat in office. Other times there is a Republican. I have been voting since 1988 and for almost half the time the guy for whom I voted did not win. Them is the breaks, as they say.

I'm not a "political" person. I don't pay attention to what is going on in the world. I don't watch the news. I go to work, I care for my family, I care about their happiness and the happiness of my friends. I care about being a good person and trying to do the right thing.

During the time that a President was in office who I did not like who was doing stuff I did not like, no amount of complaining about it was going to change anything. It was not going to change my life. It was not going to affect how much I loved my daughter or make my ex-husband less of a jerk or change how much I hated or loved my job at the time.

If you are trying to convince me that the wrong guy is in office with ongoing spewing of hate and hostility and worse, IT'S NOT WORKING.

Do you know what I LOVE? I love facts. I like knowing THE WHOLE STORY. Not just to see snarky posts about one sliver of one problem that blows it up into THE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED EVER.

I am not someone who picks my friends based on their beliefs. I work in an industry that is by and large conservative. I on the other hand, am not. I. Don't. Judge. I don't judge you for how you vote. I judge you by how you live and how you work and how you treat other people.

I'm not saying that just my conservative friends are doing this, they're just the ones AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME with the biggest gripes. I'm am anti-hate. I'm anti-stuff that presents narrow viewpoints. Because there are so many people in the world who are not critical thinkers and they just see one thing and they go ALL ABOARD THE HATE TRAIN! LET'S GO!

All I want, and this sounds crazy as all get out, is to let there be peace on Earth and to let that shit begin with me. I'm not even kidding. Like, look, let's get our stuff worked out. Let's figure this out. As those guys say on Wonder Pets, what's gonna work? TEAMWORK. Seriously and truly and for real.

Not hate and divisiveness. It just doesn't work. Period.



photo credit: http://www.shapes.se/

If you are reading this and you think I'm talking about you, then you may be right. And if you find yourself wallowing in negativity and the urge to constantly share it, then try maybe taking a week or two off and see if you feel better and if the people around you smile more because you're not dwelling on that stuff.

I'm. Just. Saying. Give it a whirl.

Thanks for listening to me.

I was gonna do a post about how I sort of had a mid-life crisis and cut all my hair off (my awesome hair dude sort of talked me into it and I decided with everything I have faced in the last couple of years to be afraid of cutting my hair is just STUPID) so here's a picture of me and I would have left my sexy friend in the pic who took this picture but who knows if she wants her face all up in my crazy ass blog.


My daughter is in HELLA mourning over my hair. She's only ever known me with a bunch more hair. Hopefully she will get a little bit used to it because I kinda dig it and I think it's gonna help with my hot flashes, too.

Merry Christmas, to every single one of you.


photo credit: imdb.com
my fave of all those stop motion Christmas shows from the '70s