I thought we were beyond witch hunts.

Last night I was reading some blogs from my Read-It-Later. I love that I can click on a website/blog post in my reader and it downloads and I can read it at home that night off line.  The problem then becomes when I want to leave a comment I can’t.

I read this blog post yesterday and I didn’t think too much about it. I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion.  But this?

It’s kind of funny to me how these holier than thou ultra conservative Christian racists Tea Baggers rush to embrace anything or anyone that fits their idea of what people representing the real America should be.

is a bit much.

But still I let it go.  Last night.  This morning, on my way to work, I was thinking about it and the more I thought about it the more it got under my skin.  I was going to just quietly leave a comment there, but as I composed that comment in my mind, it grew longer and longer and turned itself into a damn blog post.  So, here we are.

I don’t claim to be a Tea Partier. I have never been to a tea party event.  I don’t claim either political party.  I see both sides of a lot of issues.  I’m a little bit left of right and right of left.  I fall somewhere in the vast 80% middle ground.  And just where I fall on that spectrum varies by the issue.

I don’t believe in calling a whole group of people out to be racist when it hasn’t been proven one way or the other.  That’s just name calling and mud slinging.  But that’s not what I started to write about.  I wanted to comment on the people who have their panties all in a bunch because Christine O’Donnell said that she ‘dabbled in witchcraft in high school.”

OMFG! Seriously?  Have you been out of high school so long that you have forgotten all the stupid shit you did at that age?  All the stupid weird strange people you hung out and the stupid crazy shit you did?  We ALL did stupid shit in high school and college.  I’d be willing to bet that damn near every small town in America has some haunted house/barn/farm/field/road whatever and we ALL ‘dabbled’ around there on a weekend night after a few beers.  So. Fucking. What.

Once upon a time I was interested in the Wiccan religion.  And frankly, it’s just another world religion much like Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Muslim.  I read a bunch of books about Wicca.  I have a spell book from the days I was interested in it.  In all the books I read, there was never mention of alters, blood, human or animal sacrifices.  Now, I’m not saying there isn’t black magic and maybe, just maybe there are sacrifices used with black magic, but what I read?  No sacrifices.  And they sure as shit didn’t build alters out of milk crates.

I honestly thought we had grown beyond witch hunts.  Even if she did more than dabble in witch craft, even if she was a practicing witch and a wiccan, who cares?  Don’t we have freedom of religion in this country?  It doesn’t make her crazy or ‘another nut to add to the mix’.

Intolerable

I sit here this morning, watching Sean Penn in Milk.  What an amazing story.  Thirty plus years ago he fought for gay rights, for gay equality.  A fight that continues still today.

During the Presidential election the topic of same sex marriage was debated by the VP candidates.  A topic they both agreed on.  They both opposed it.

Where did our tolerance go?  Not just for gay and lesbians, but for everyone?  We as a people are losing our tolerance.  We’ve adapted a “My way or the highway” mentality, passing judgment on people who are different than we are.

Prop 8 was just overturned, declared unconstitutional.  Government is still trying to deny people civil rights, basic civil rights.

My question during the Presidential debate was “Why not?”

Why are people in this day and age being told, by our government that their relationship will not be recognized?  Again I have to ask “Why not?”

Who will actually be hurt by allowing same sex marriages?  Allowing them won’t take away anything from traditional man/woman marriages.  There will be no rights lost, no ‘benefits’ lost.  There will be no harm done.  It will have no adverse effect on existing or future marriages of heterosexual couples.

So, again, I ask, Why Not.  What is the reason for this non-support?  On what is that aversion based?  What are the reasons why they chose to not recognize these unions between two people?

Is it a religious objection?  Fine, you’re allowed your own personal beliefs and objections, but when it infringes on other people’s rights, (and you can dictate nationwide policy and law) then that’s playing God. There is that whole Separation of Church and State.  Government can not dictate religious beliefs, so why should religion be allowed to dictate policies and law?

“They will be allowed the same civil liberties as heterosexual couples.”  Well, not really.  Will they be covered on each other’s health insurance?  Will they be allowed to make life or death decisions in the event the other is incapable?  Will their commitment be recognized in the same way a heterosexual marriage will be?

If their civil liberties will not be interfered with by the government, (as the candidates claim), then why are they (same sex couples) not being allowed to marry?  If they will be given the same treatment, then technically the only thing the government is withholding is the marriage certificate.

Why is that the threshold the government chooses not to cross?  Why walk right up to that line and stop just short of the goal?  Again, I ask Why Not?  Who loses by allowing same sex marriages?

Bumper asked me during our conversation on this topic, what is the one thing heterosexual couples can do that same sex couples can not?  Reproduce.  But reproduction can not be the defining factor in who is allowed to marry and who isn’t.  After all there are heterosexual couples who can not reproduce.  If reproduction is the defining factor, does that mean couples have to produce an heir in order to marry?  That’s sort of putting the horse before the cart. And if reproduction is the defining factor then couples who are unable to have children, who suffer with infertility will not be allowed to marry and therefore their rights are now being revoked due to a medical issue.  Yes, that is dramatic and far reaching but it’s a logical progression of thought carried out to the dramatic degree.

Again, it comes down to Why Not?  What is the reason the government feels it is their right to step in and interfere in people’s pursuit of happiness?  If they have already made that level of commitment to each other, why keep the marriage certificate (and the rights afforded married couples) from them?  If it’s truly just a piece of paper, then give it to them already.  But we all know, it’s not just a piece of paper.

Why not?  Who gets hurt by allowing same sex marriages?  There is no legal basis, just personal, and maybe even religious objections.  Unless of course I’m missing something entirely (which is possible).

Granted. we’ve made progress since Harvey Milk was elected to office in the 70’s. But there is still progress to be made.

A lot of progress.

The intolerance isn’t limited to gays and lesbians. We as a people have grown intolerable of anyone who differs from us.  I experienced this first hand on the interwebs just last week. I was just shy of being told to Hush because I dared to ask a question and hold a belief that differed from someone else.  She wanted my voice silenced because she could not tolerate a difference of opinion.  She claimed she wanted Elizabeth Hasselbeck to “hush” because she sounded like an idiot.  So, Elizabeth should be silenced because of a difference in intelligence levels?  So, now, only ‘smart’ people are allowed to have their opinion heard?

Intolerable.

Maybe I want to live in Eutopia, where ‘to each his own’ is the law of the land.  Live and let live.  Where men are created equal.  I just don’t know where’s the harm in letting people live their own life how they want to live their own life?  Who am I, who are you, who’s the government to step in and tell people how to live, who to love, what to be?

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none

Of course it is never my intention to offend anyone, but I somehow manage to do it without even trying.  Especially when I discuss controversial topics.  But I guess that comes with the topic, not everyone will agree.  Please, just don’t take this personally, it’s just me spouting an opinion.

Good, not that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way….

On the AM talk radio show I listen to on my way to work, they were discussing the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.  A man called in to voice his opinion on gays in the military.  He said that in the military they are trained to function as a unit.  Every man (person) covering everyone else to protect everyone in the unit to the best of their ability, especially in a combat situation.  He went on to say “I don’t want to be in a combat unit where one guy is going to protect some guys better than others just because he’s attracted to them.”

At that point I decided that person was a total idiot.  Why? (this list is in it’s simplest form.  I understand on many levels the military is different than any other job, but doesn’t there have to be some basic level of rules/regulations that apply to every employer/job?)

• In it’s simplest forms, the military is just like any other job. It’s just that, a job.
• I don’t know of any other job where sexual preference can get you fired.  That sounds a whole lot like discrimination.
• In a combat situation I find it truly hard to believe that with the enemy attacking you your mind will be on who’s got the cutest ass, and who you’d like to bunk with.  I  mean, I can not remember a time ever in my life when I was in a stressful situation and all I could think about was sex.
• What if the roles were reversed?  What if it was a woman in the unit?  Wouldn’t he be just as concerned that she couldn’t do the job as well for the same reason?  She was too busy focusing on which guy she was going to get naked with later?
• Or, would a  man protect her more because he was attracted to her, or less because she had turned him down.

I guess I just kind of want to know, why does sexual orientation, sexual gender, sexual preference have to come into play here.

Equal rights for all; Special privileges for none                ~Thomas Jefferson

That doesn’t just apply to gays in the military. It applies for everyone.  We should all have the same rights, live by the same rules.  The Declaration of Independence says

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

When did we lose sight of that?  When did we forget that?

I had a conversation with my brother who is a member of the military (AIM HIGH) about this. He told me there are many levels about this policy that he is not at liberty to talk about.  I believe that. But at it’s basic core, I think it’s wrong.

Searching

In a comment left here, Solanaceae said

You think mental illness is what is stopping your blog? I don’t get that. Speaking as someone who grew up around more than a few family members who share the same I have to tell you at least I would find it “worth reading” if not valuable to try to understand it all from your perspective. People in my shoes, many of them anyway, are interested in understanding and more often than not never given the opportunity to learn it from the person directly in their lives. You have an immense platform here to tell your story, to share with the world IF you want to & that’s really what it comes down to … personal choice. If you decide not to share it that is fine too but don’t think it is your illness standing in your way … you don’t get off that easy, I’ve read a ton of what you have written!

She was talking about my comment about how I don’t have a whole lot of traffic on my blog.  I meant to imply that yes I have a mental illness but I’m not crazy enough to believe I could ever be one of those bloggers.

But she raises a good point.  I have a story to tell.  I tell parts of it often.  I am grew up the daughter of a preacher.  That is not always easy, living your life ‘on stage’ in the public eye, even if it is only the small town you live in.  I have been abused by several men in my past.  I have survived.  I am a recovering anorexic.  I am a twice divorced mother of three.  I am a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a friend, an aunt, a girlfriend.  I have a story, and I will tell it to you if you want to listen.  Sometimes even if you don’t.

I am bipolar.  I got the official diagnosis just over a year ago.  I am medicated and am in therapy (no matter what The Asshat Brigade wants to believe) and it’s making a huge difference.  I do have an amazing platform here to allow people in to explore mental illness.  I truly believe that information is power.  The more you know the more you understand the more you can do to help.  I will gladly tell my story to anyone who wants to listen and probably to a whole lot who don’t.  I would share the ugly, the scary, the dark, the insanity, all of it here.  Except that the Forces of Evil would use it all against me.

They wouldn’t take anything I offered up and use it as a way to understand my life, they would see it as a weapon to use against me to hurt me to overpower me, to once again bring me to my knees.  They have so little power of their own to destroy me, that they would take this information and pounce.

I have written several posts in the past about bipolar and my struggle with it.  (One of them is password protected, email me for the password.. sorry Forces of Evil and such). I could right so much more, and open doors to people who want to learn and know and understand.

My mental illness isn’t preventing me from blogging.  Well, recently it has, because right now my thoughts are scattered everywhere.  I also know that in censoring what I write here because of the Forces of Evil gives them power in my life.  It means they still have the ability to control my actions or my lack of actions.  But another reason I haven’t blogged every day this week is… I really can’t come up with anything meaningful to write about.

I would love to have the attention adoration worshippers stalkers fans blog traffic people like Britt, Adam, Karl, Hilly, Dave, Dawg all have.  But as Dawg pointed out, blog traffic does not measure success.  I know that I have readers who have followed me through two previous blogs to this one.  I know I have readers who are here daily but don’t comment.

I wasn’t really complaining about the blog traffic or lack thereof.. or the comments or lack thereof either.  I guess I was just voicing my desire to actually write something that isn’t so diary-ish sounding.  And in that desire was the whining of I just don’t know how to come up with a topic and write about it well.

I’m searching for my voice.  I’m searching for me.  I’m 40, and I’d like to think I was a little more than work, kids, and Batman. I would like to think I could write something funny, witty, brilliant or poignant, meaningful, or thought provoking.  I’m searching.  Not just on my blog though, behind my camera too.  I need to get out and shoot and find my voice there too.