A happy life update: I went to the doctor today, and I am offically off zoloft. Probably for good. Her explanation is that if I'm not taking it, and I'm not depressed, I don't need it.
In honor of this monumental occasion, I give you Sir Elton John:
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Updated Julian Assange Rant
In light of some of the recent information that has come out on Julian Assange, I am going to update my previous public opinion on Julian Assange. As with previous, and future posts, this will involve Wikileaks. Julian Assange is closely tied to Wikileaks, in the same way that other large groups are tied to their figureheads. Much as Steve Jobs is Apple, Mark Zuckerberg is Facebook, and Dov Charney is American Apparel, Julian Assange is Wikileaks. As such, it remains continually difficult to separate support for the organization from support for the individual in charge. Consider this once again my official reminder that I continue to support wikileaks.
However, I am going to shift from having doubts about Julian Assange to the formal announcement that Assange is definitely kind of a douchebag. I'm not going to say whether he's a rapist or not (that's for the courts to decide, if at all possible), but I will state that he has shown himself to be fundamentally identical in his views to any other possible rapist.
Believe it or not, there are classy ways to deal with rape accusations. Treat them as serious allegations, make it clear that it was never your intent to rape anybody, and then turn yourself in. Assange has done one of the three. For a while, he was remaining silent, and running. I'm going to be a little generous, and state that he has legitimate extenuating circumstances for the whole fleeing-the-law thing. And silence, well, not talking about the pending rape allegations is pretty classy, too.
Recently, Assange spoke to The Australian, and discussed his rape charges in a way that was decidedly Not Classy. As follows:
He further offers that the woman allowed him to stay at her flat for a week, and that she the other woman, as he described: "arrived at a lunch in a revealing pink cashmere sweater, flirted with him, and took him home."
This is the exact same trite, rape-apologist bullshit that gets toted outed in every god-damned rape case. It doesn't matter if she showed up naked, game him a lapdance, and dragged him to the nearest motel. If she didn't consent to the sex, it's still rape, Mr. Assange.
And blaming the feminists? Real classy. Here's something revolutionary to consider: the feminists didn't turn anybody into a rapist. Trust me, they manage to do that all by themselves. What feminists do is try to improve the lives of women everywhere, part of which is stopping rape. Interestingly, you can't stop rape in any sort of manner that improves lives by redefining it to exclude certain forms of non-consensual sexual activity. Because it's not improving lives.
And until Julian Assange recognizes this, he will remain a complete douchebag. Sorry, fanboys.
However, I am going to shift from having doubts about Julian Assange to the formal announcement that Assange is definitely kind of a douchebag. I'm not going to say whether he's a rapist or not (that's for the courts to decide, if at all possible), but I will state that he has shown himself to be fundamentally identical in his views to any other possible rapist.
Believe it or not, there are classy ways to deal with rape accusations. Treat them as serious allegations, make it clear that it was never your intent to rape anybody, and then turn yourself in. Assange has done one of the three. For a while, he was remaining silent, and running. I'm going to be a little generous, and state that he has legitimate extenuating circumstances for the whole fleeing-the-law thing. And silence, well, not talking about the pending rape allegations is pretty classy, too.
Recently, Assange spoke to The Australian, and discussed his rape charges in a way that was decidedly Not Classy. As follows:
Sweden is the Saudi Arabia of feminism, I fell into a hornets' nest of revolutionary feminism.
He further offers that the woman allowed him to stay at her flat for a week, and that she the other woman, as he described: "arrived at a lunch in a revealing pink cashmere sweater, flirted with him, and took him home."
This is the exact same trite, rape-apologist bullshit that gets toted outed in every god-damned rape case. It doesn't matter if she showed up naked, game him a lapdance, and dragged him to the nearest motel. If she didn't consent to the sex, it's still rape, Mr. Assange.
And blaming the feminists? Real classy. Here's something revolutionary to consider: the feminists didn't turn anybody into a rapist. Trust me, they manage to do that all by themselves. What feminists do is try to improve the lives of women everywhere, part of which is stopping rape. Interestingly, you can't stop rape in any sort of manner that improves lives by redefining it to exclude certain forms of non-consensual sexual activity. Because it's not improving lives.
And until Julian Assange recognizes this, he will remain a complete douchebag. Sorry, fanboys.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sex, Assange, and Wikileaks: A Feminist Perspective
Let’s get something clear: I support Wikileaks. I strongly encourage you, my reader, whoever you are and whatever you believe, to support Wikileaks, too. As an organization, Wikileaks has broken important new stories in the past. In 2008 and 2009, Wikileaks picked up awards for its method of distributing information. It’s only with Cablegate that Wikileaks, and Julian Assange, have become villains in the eyes of the mainstream.
However, the mission of Wikileaks has not changed. In continues to do the exact same things it has done before, releasing similar sorts of internal documents to earlier leaks. The only thing that’s different is the content. And the response.
Wikileaks has lost hosting, DNS, and key sources of revenue. You can check the news for that. It’s pretty common knowledge these days. But Julian Assange, the founder and voice of Wikileaks, has been arrested in England, where he may be extradited to face sexual assault charges in Sweden.
As some of you know, I’m a feminist. So how can I both support Wikileaks and condemn Assange for these charges? I make the distinction between the man and the folk hero. I support folk-hero Assange, who stands up to The Man and publishes classified documents. I support the Assange that founded Wikileaks and serves as its face and voice. I’m not so sure how I stand on Assange the man.
Like most people, I hate rape. And I admit, my natural instinct when it comes to rape charges is for juries to convict first and ask questions later. But that doesn’t work in the real world. Innocent people, whether accidentally or on purpose, are sometimes accused of rape. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily clear when something is or isn’t rape
I don’t subscribe to the theory that rapists alone are responsible for rape. Sure, sometimes they are, in those rare, cut-and-dry cases of stranger rape. But for acquaintance rape, date rape, spousal rape, and, though I hate the term “grey rape,” I feel like blame falls on both the rapist and the culture. Not the victim, but the surrounding culture.
You see, nobody talks about consent, and there’s no cultural acceptance for women to say yes to sex. As numerous feminist before me have pointed out, it’s a lot easier for men to not rape when it’s yes that means yes, and not just not-a-no.
From what I gather from the news, in both cases the women consented to sex with Assange if and only is he used a condom. He did not use a condom. According to the above statement, they did therefore not consent to the sex Assange had with them. Ergo, if the news is true, which it could be (we’ll see in the future.), Assange the man is guilty.
That’s not to say I place full blame on Assange. Part of this is because he’s still the folk hero I value, but part of it is because we live in a culture where the only way for women to say yes is by not saying no. And a conditional clause is not a no, my friends.
Do I have respect for Assange? Yes. But I hold that he is still quite likely guilty of sexual assault, so let’s be careful which pedestals we place him on.
However, the mission of Wikileaks has not changed. In continues to do the exact same things it has done before, releasing similar sorts of internal documents to earlier leaks. The only thing that’s different is the content. And the response.
Wikileaks has lost hosting, DNS, and key sources of revenue. You can check the news for that. It’s pretty common knowledge these days. But Julian Assange, the founder and voice of Wikileaks, has been arrested in England, where he may be extradited to face sexual assault charges in Sweden.
As some of you know, I’m a feminist. So how can I both support Wikileaks and condemn Assange for these charges? I make the distinction between the man and the folk hero. I support folk-hero Assange, who stands up to The Man and publishes classified documents. I support the Assange that founded Wikileaks and serves as its face and voice. I’m not so sure how I stand on Assange the man.
Like most people, I hate rape. And I admit, my natural instinct when it comes to rape charges is for juries to convict first and ask questions later. But that doesn’t work in the real world. Innocent people, whether accidentally or on purpose, are sometimes accused of rape. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily clear when something is or isn’t rape
I don’t subscribe to the theory that rapists alone are responsible for rape. Sure, sometimes they are, in those rare, cut-and-dry cases of stranger rape. But for acquaintance rape, date rape, spousal rape, and, though I hate the term “grey rape,” I feel like blame falls on both the rapist and the culture. Not the victim, but the surrounding culture.
You see, nobody talks about consent, and there’s no cultural acceptance for women to say yes to sex. As numerous feminist before me have pointed out, it’s a lot easier for men to not rape when it’s yes that means yes, and not just not-a-no.
From what I gather from the news, in both cases the women consented to sex with Assange if and only is he used a condom. He did not use a condom. According to the above statement, they did therefore not consent to the sex Assange had with them. Ergo, if the news is true, which it could be (we’ll see in the future.), Assange the man is guilty.
That’s not to say I place full blame on Assange. Part of this is because he’s still the folk hero I value, but part of it is because we live in a culture where the only way for women to say yes is by not saying no. And a conditional clause is not a no, my friends.
Do I have respect for Assange? Yes. But I hold that he is still quite likely guilty of sexual assault, so let’s be careful which pedestals we place him on.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Why I'm Not a Cyberterrorist
I was recently asked if I was a cyberterrorist over supper. I don't consider myself one. The initial explanation ran something like this: "No, I don't think of myself that way. I'm not good enough."
Here, for the general public, is the longer version.
I am not a terrorist.
Terrorists work to create terror. This is what they do. They scare people to promote their ideas. I don't want a terrified populace. I want you to live with limited fear. I want you to be safe. A terrorist opposes open discussion. A terrorist commits acts specifically to generate fear in the populace. I don't want you to fear me. I want to create hope in your spirits and open your minds. I want to wake the slumbering masses and incite them to Rise Up! to the powers that be.
Yes, I'll scare some of you. Those that don't want to fight and bleed and die for your cause, you'll be scared at what you want to do. You'll be like me. It's a balancing act. Those who prefer to live blinded to the atrocities around you, I'm sorry. I want to tear those blinkers wide open and hold your head still so you can't look away. You're going to suffer, and it's going to hurt. But that's the cost of revolution. You think it's bad for you? Look at what you're seeing now. Those victims have it worse.
I am not a terrorist. I'm the truthbringer.
I am not a cyberwarrior.
I have a lot of gifts. I'm moderately good with words, moderately able to lift things, moderately artistic. I'm also moderately tech-savvy. Key word being moderately. I'm no genius when it comes to computers. I can't read code, I can't build the tools, I can only run a few of them. Even when I can run a few of the programs used in cyberwar, I'm not particularly effective. Sure, I'm part of the cyberarmy, but I'm no warrior. Trust me, I failed cyber-boot camp.
Here, for the general public, is the longer version.
I am not a terrorist.
Terrorists work to create terror. This is what they do. They scare people to promote their ideas. I don't want a terrified populace. I want you to live with limited fear. I want you to be safe. A terrorist opposes open discussion. A terrorist commits acts specifically to generate fear in the populace. I don't want you to fear me. I want to create hope in your spirits and open your minds. I want to wake the slumbering masses and incite them to Rise Up! to the powers that be.
Yes, I'll scare some of you. Those that don't want to fight and bleed and die for your cause, you'll be scared at what you want to do. You'll be like me. It's a balancing act. Those who prefer to live blinded to the atrocities around you, I'm sorry. I want to tear those blinkers wide open and hold your head still so you can't look away. You're going to suffer, and it's going to hurt. But that's the cost of revolution. You think it's bad for you? Look at what you're seeing now. Those victims have it worse.
I am not a terrorist. I'm the truthbringer.
I am not a cyberwarrior.
I have a lot of gifts. I'm moderately good with words, moderately able to lift things, moderately artistic. I'm also moderately tech-savvy. Key word being moderately. I'm no genius when it comes to computers. I can't read code, I can't build the tools, I can only run a few of them. Even when I can run a few of the programs used in cyberwar, I'm not particularly effective. Sure, I'm part of the cyberarmy, but I'm no warrior. Trust me, I failed cyber-boot camp.
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