WebbertubeSteaks: Links for Saturday, 1/21/2012 January 21, 2012
As Catholic leaders who recognize that the moral scandals of racism and poverty remain a blemish on the American soul, we challenge our fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail. [...] Labeling our nation’s first African-American president with a title that evokes the past myth of “welfare queens” and inflaming other racist caricatures is irresponsible, immoral and unworthy of political leaders. Some presidential candidates now courting “values voters” seem to have forgotten that defending human life and dignity does not stop with protecting the unborn. We remind Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum that Catholic bishops describe racism as an “intrinsic evil” and consistently defend vital government programs such as food stamps and unemployment benefits that help struggling Americans.
SexGenderBody - Privilege within communities working to lessen privilege:
The only way to keep something in the open is to avoid hiding it. Denial of privilege is an act of privilege. How a group chooses to address its privilege and exclusion is the first choice that group makes upon forming. Denying, omitting, forgetting about, not thinking about..privilege are actions and choices just the same as talking about and creating a strategy. Compare privilege in this example to the water around a ship. The water is always leaking in and if the crew ignores, denies or rationalizes about the problem being people talking about the water , then the ship will sink. The only strategy to keep the ship afloat is to build the boat from the onset to be actively managing water from leaks.
Thanks to Ashbet for this and the previous link.
Chow – Stop Bashing Paula Deen:
Yes, Mr. Bourdain, it’s tasteless to push a self-serving agenda—like saying, “Bitch, told you so” to the woman you once publicly labeled “the worst, most dangerous person to America.” Of course, Bourdain also called Alice Waters—the anti-Deen—suspiciously "Khmer Rouge” for issuing diktats about what Americans should properly be eating (“I'm a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits,” Bourdain told DCist). You begin to wonder if it’s perhaps assertive women, not recipes or political agendas, that actually make Bourdain "uncomfortable"? And what about Bourdain's own glorification of fat and cholesterol on No Reservations? Take Bourdain's 2008 visit to Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal, which he called "a temple to all things fatty, porky, and duck-related," and "one of my favorite places in the world," an "ode to goodness and excess." Bourdain wades into Chef Martin Picard's foie gras poutine—part of a suite of fatty foie gras dishes—the way Deen wades through buttercream. Pure hypocrisy on Bourdain's part, or are the obligations for the host of a travel show different from those of a cooking show? How many culinary tourists has Bourdain led into an artery-clogging black hole? Perhaps our notions of health and excess are rooted in class. Deen, we assume, speaks to a down-market audience that needs to be lectured about nutrition and willpower. Bourdain speaks to the well-heeled traveler for whom a foie gras hot dog is an occasional indulgence, not a moral failing. Right? Or is it somehow acceptable for men to engage in extreme eating, while women have an obligation to show restraint?
Note: I fucking a-d-o-r-e Bourdain, and it’s mostly because of his snark. Snarking is awesome and fun, and a wonderful way to show up hypocrisy and perversity in the world is through snarky fun. But in this, he’s casting just as much of a shadow, if not more, and this article points out one of the reasons why I’m severely uncomfortable with the Paula Deen bashing going on. A nod to the always-awesome Lauren Wheeler for the link.
As I write this, I am coming up on missing my first dose. Within a day after that, if it goes that far, I will have extra super flu-like symptoms (lupus is kind of like having the flu all the time anyway), I will hate the whole damn world, and my vocabulary with mainly consist of the kind of language people use when they tell the Aristocrats joke. It is all I can do right now to try to accomplish all the things that will need to be done for a little while in case I need to retreat to my bed, curl up under a blanket I will then play Too Hot Too Cold with, and spit random curses at the world.
There are a lot of side effects I experience that I am not, and will probably not go into here or with much of anyone that does not need to know. And my experience with this may not the same as anyone else’s, let alone everyone else’s.
Oh, and every six months I have to go though a “Do you still really need these pills?” appointment. Look, if I was all better one of the first things I would do is call all the docs that have been humane, recognized my humanity and sing their praises; then call the other docs and describe, in loud detail, what anatomically impossible feats I would like them to perform for me.
The Guardian – Undercover police had children with activists:
He concealed his real identity from the activist and child as he was under strict orders to keep secret his undercover work from her and the other activists in the group he infiltrated. He then disappeared, apparently after his superiors ended his deployment. Afterwards, she remained under surveillance as she continued to be politically active, while he carried on with his police career. The Guardian understands that as he had access to the official monitoring reports, he regularly read details of her life with a close interest. He watched as she grew older and brought up their child as a single parent, according to an individual who is aware of the details of the case.
Funny Or Die – Presidential Candidates Explained Through Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheets:
Thanks to Perian for the link.