trouble: Dear so-called progressives: I hate you

trouble (

trouble) wrote,
@ 2011-04-20 07:30 pm UTC

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Dear so-called progressives: I hate you

Hey so-called Progressives: Disability is not your fucking punch line and I hate you.

Wherein Wonkette dedicates a whole fucking post to mocking Trig Palin for being "r#tarded", because it's very progressive to mock children with disabilities! Seriously, it's a disgusting article. Read this description at adage instead.

(Oh, but see, they're mocking SARAH PALIN for "using her son as a political prop". Which is why they put up a post that implies that Trig is the product of incest between his father and sister, say that children with intellectual disabilities don't dream, and implied that he was born disabled because his mother drank while she was pregnant. Not, you know, just saying "This shit where Palin uses her son as a political prop is wrong." No no, they're mocking her by making him - and all children with disabilities by extension - the butt of the joke. Ha ha ha ha. ha ha. So creative. Gosh, those progressive sure are on the side of people with disabilities, right?)

And, of course:
Lady Gaga Calls Madonna Plagiarism charges r#tarded.

GOSH I'M SO GLAD THAT I HAVE PROGRESSIVES ON MY SIDE. It's been mere hours since I was last told that ableism wasn't a real thing because people with disabilities are treated with "kid gloves".

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capriuni
2011-04-21 01:15 am UTC (link)

It really is quite painful to think of yourself as "proudly Progressive" on topics like women's rights, and the environment, and religious freedom and the economy, and all those other good things, and then, to discover, in your late 40s, that other Progressives hate you, and want you to die.

I meean, where's my Tribe? I can't hang out with the Libertarians, the Conservatives are just as bad (if not worse), here in the States...

I just... It makes me want to cry. My mother was a Progressive, and so were all the other cool adults around me, growing up. Did the "movement" (party, whatever) change when I wasn't looking? Or did everyone hate me, all along?

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	no subject trouble 2011-04-21 01:38 am UTC (link)
	Oh Ann. :( I'm sorry. I wish I had an answer for you. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 11 comments) (Show 11 comments)

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capriuni
2011-04-21 01:54 am UTC (link)

Maybe we could start our own political party...

You know I started a new blog on Images of Disability in Fairy Tales, etc., right?

Well, when I anounced it at Mudcat forum, one of the posters there pointed me to the opening of an Irish tale The Leeching of Kayn's Leg:

(Quote) THERE were five hundred blind men, and five hundred deaf men, and five hundred limping men, and five hundred dumb men, and five hundred cripple men. The five hundred deaf men had five hundred wives, and the five hundred limping men had five hundred wives, and the five hundred dumb men had five hundred wives, arid the five hundred cripple men had five hundred wives. Each five hundred of these had five hundred children and five hundred dogs. They were in the habit of going about in one band, and were called the Sturdy Strolling Beggarly Brotherhood. (unquote)

I think "Sturdy Strolling Beggerly Brotherhood" is an excellent name for a party, don't you?

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	no subject slave2tehtink 2011-04-21 02:07 am UTC (link)
	Is there...a link for this blog? Because it is relevant to my interests and I would like to subscribe to the newsletter... (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

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capriuni
2011-04-21 02:28 am UTC (link)

Oops. I should have posted it, but I'm bleary-brained. Here: Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream (the straight url: http://platosnightmare-aesopsdream.blogspot.com/).

I just started it a little over a week ago, specifically in time for BADD. But I want to get a handful of posts up ahead of time. There are three up there, now. I was going to start a new one today, but I got sidetracked by a "quickie project" (yeah, right). It will be on the story "Tom Thumb."

By "newsletter," do you mean "feed"? there is an rss link up on the site.

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	no subject trouble 2011-04-21 02:16 am UTC (link)
	I do! I would totally join that Party. It would be awesome. :D And I actually created a DW-feed for it.:D (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject jackandahat 2011-04-21 06:35 am UTC (link)
	...but we don't have to have five hundred wives apiece, right? I mean, I like women as much as the next person, but five hundred seems excessive... (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 6 comments) (Show 6 comments)

	no subject capriuni 2011-04-21 06:39 am UTC (link)
	Well, no. That could just be an indication of our numbers, as a population. Or maybe "wives" could be a title of rank, like "chairperson" (Ha! chairperson, and cripples... see what happened, there?) It does kind of remind me of the nursery rhyme: "As I was going to Saint Ives..." (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 5 comments) (Show 5 comments)

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jackandahat
2011-04-21 06:43 am UTC (link)

Oh good! If someone else wants to have five hundred wives/husbands/penguins, that's all cool, but I don't have the spoons for it!

See, now I'm thinking of organisations where people call each other "sister" and "brother". That always makes me think someone's going to turn around and go "Muuuuum, he's kicking my seat!"

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capriuni
2011-04-21 07:10 am UTC (link)

Heh. And now, suddenly, I've got Woodie Guthrie's song: "Ladies' Auxilary" popping into my head. As I remember my history, he wrote a song for a union (as was his wont). And the union's support organization "Union XYZ's Ladies' Auxilary wanted a song for themselves, too. So he wrote them one.

Here's a YouTube vid, if you can watch it, with illustrative slide show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MufHOoMgja0

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	no subject jackandahat 2011-04-21 08:18 am UTC (link)
	Ooo, thank you! (Now I'm wondering what rank "penguins" would be. OK, I really shouldn't be allowed on the net before I've had sugar.) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject capriuni 2011-04-21 04:05 pm UTC (link)
	Well, if the penguins are anything like Opus, from the 1980's American comic strip Bloom County, I'd say they'd be staffing the regional campaign headquarters, and knocking on doors for votes, days before the election (I was just Googling for a specific series I remember, but I couldn't find it). (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject jackandahat 2011-04-21 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	Penguin doorknockers. I like it! I bet they'd be much less likely to be tossed out on the street. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

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slave2tehtink
2011-04-21 09:08 am UTC (link)

I meean, where's my Tribe? I can't hang out with the Libertarians, the Conservatives are just as bad (if not worse), here in the States...

This, so much this. That's what has pretty much been running through my head watching the Obama presidency and the progressive movement these past couple of years.

The nine years and change I was in the military, I made a point of casting an absentee ballot any time an election for anything came up; since getting out I've voted at every opportunity, but now I kind of...wonder why. Because no matter who we elect, it seems like Republicans take over.

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capriuni
2011-04-21 03:46 pm UTC (link)

Because no matter who we elect, it seems like Republicans take over

This. I know. It's like they're all a band of warlocks, or something -- and by "Warlock" I don't mean: "male practioner of magic". I mean it in its first sense: "Deceiver -- twister of truth."

*Sigh* Where's Hermione when you need her?

It also occured to me, later, why this bigotry among big-name "Progressives" is such a mental disconnect for me. One time (my mother's birthday, my birthday, or Mother's Day), we were standing around the kitchen talking about the "life lesson" gifts we'd given each other. I thanked Mom for teaching me not to be intimidated by Authority, and not to accept their biased views of me.

And she said that my birth led her to be Progressive (actually, this was back in the 80s, so she said "Liberal," but you know...) -- that realizing that I'd grow up impaired, and having to deal with this world that biased against me, opened her eyes to the fact that society is not "A level playing field." And that nobody failed because they wanted to, or didn't try. So that's when she got involved in social justice movements, and the peace movement, and the environmental movements.

She was also a local leader in several orgs. in my hometown -- our Congressmen (Republican) would straighten up and clear his throat when he saw her enter a room. So her attitudes influenced the attitudes of other progressives in our groups (and also, friends and colleages would see this kid in a wheelchair coming along to protests and rallies, so the existance of Disability couldn't be erased very well), so from where I sat, it just looked like all such groups worked to be accessible.

But Mom died 20 years ago this year, and now, I'm seeing the wider world outside her influence, beyond the local tribal region, and I'm seeing what a small little island of Progressive subculture I grew up in, and it makes me feel lonely and old.

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