Author: Charles Céleste Hutchins

Imomus has a really good post, “Relativism swings right”. He argues that the right wing has adopted the victim/identity politics of the 60’s and 70’s.

Two of the core ideas of pomo relativism have become tools in the hands of the new right:

1. The idea that being a victim allows you to act as unreasonably as you like, and
2. The idea that having a culture (in other words, being situated) means never having to say you’re sorry.

Of course, looking at how Bill O’Reilly talks about ‘persecuted’ Christians, this makes perfect sense. And it’s somewhat unsettling. I’ve long been a beleiver in the idea that a persecuted minority owes nothing in particular to the majority who is discriminating against them. Lesbian separatists have a right to refuse to engage straight people and men and have their own space and not be bothered. Christian white men do not have the same right because they run the damn country. Yet Rush Limbuagh and others have been telling them for years that they’re victims: Because of all sorts of “quotas” and whatever, black lesbians now get all the breaks. That’s why they head up such a high percentage of Fortune 500 companies and control the economy and the political realm. (Or maybe they fact that they don’t despite having an overwhelming advantage just shows how unfit for the job that they are. I’d go with this theory upon further reflection.)
So white Christian men no longer owe anything in particular to any other segment of society. The separatism that I’ve embraced is actually what lead to the death of empathy, which I mourn greatly. Communities formed around a large shared identity are problematic because oppressed groups get told to shut up for the good of the whole. Identity communities which disavow participation in a larger shared identity can be tremendously empowering to an oppressed group to allow them to find their own voices, engage in self-determination, and find their own truths. However, as one can clearly now see, the fabric of society gets holes in it when groups keep dropping out. That’s ok, except when the majority starts using these tactics against oppressed groups. But try telling them that they’re not victims. who decides that? If everybody gets to determine their own truth, than how can we go to a big group and say “everybody except for you.” That would foster their misguided sense of victimhood.
this also explains why our country is so divided. Because who is invested in it’s wholeness anymore? (except for mainstream democrats who express this by caving to the right, those bastards.) However, the left has already figured out how to solve this problem (cuz we create ideas, damnit, and not just dumb them down and appropriate them). The answer, I believe, may be the affinity group model that’s been used so successfully in organizing. Affinity groups maintain their individual identities, but affirm their participation in a larger whole. What’s empowering about this model is the need for building bridges and finding commonalities. It’s more more powerful than the universal fabric of the 50’s, which was a sham anyway. Nobody is asked to shut-up. All are asked to participate. And by incorporating the needs and concerns of smaller groups, the solutions found are more universally useful and helpful. so the answer, again, is finding commonalities. Is canvassing. Because we all care about health care, etc. Being on the side of human rights makes it easier to attract people.

Tag: Victim Politics

We are hiring.  We need perl coders, product managers, project managers,
and bizdev.  Options, poss for IPO, signficant backing.  Please let me
know if you know of anyone to recommend.

That’s from my old boss. He’s a pretty good guy to work for. This job is prolly in the south bay. Anyway, if you want to be recommended, drop me your info and I’ll (first ponder whether you’d get along with those folks and then) pass it along. The whole significant backing, possible IPO thing is true, btw, he’s not one to make things up, which is why he’s a good guy to work for.
Tag: Celesteh

Not like oh-how-cute-I-saw-a-snowflake. It’s snowing like a motherfucker. Big, sticky, wet gloppy snow flakes are falling like a motherfucking motherfucker and sticking to the ground to make insta-slush. Really sticky. I got home and there was ice stuck to my entire person from the sloppy wet snowflakes pouring from the sky.

Only a few days ago, I was basking in the bright sun next Lake Merrit, surrounded by birds and flowers and hippie love (I saw the most successful mack ever, but I’ll save it for another time.)
Now I am in the cold, wet, snowing, slushy state of Connecticut. You east coasters talk about how the snow is pretty. Ok, it’s pretty. Pretty enough that I can dive up to Yosemite, spend a little while looking at it, and then come home to flowers and sunshine.
The scary thing is that I know I’ll miss here when I leave.
Tag: Snow

Ok, so all over the news is a story of a woman in a permanent vegetative state who has a feeding tube. Her parents believe she can get better. Her husband wants closure, as they say. He says she wouldn’t want to go on like this. A court ruled that she would have wanted to be unplugged and so she was. A few times. And then re-plugged in. A few people have asked me what I think about this.

I saw Dr. Dobson (of Focus on the Family) on Hannity and Colmes. Sean Hannity was saying that he couldn’t imagine a more painful way to die than lack of food and water. “Arg! Turn it off!” I screamed. FYI, people who die of wasting diseases like cancer or AIDS often do not take food or water for the last several days or even a week or two. Hospice workers assure family members that this is not painful. They point to people who have survived extreme dehydration. Those people claim that becoming dehydrated is not uncomfortable. They don’t experience pain until they re-hydrate. Let me tell you that watching someone you love stop taking food or water is incredibly painful. For Hannity to blather on TV and say ignorant stupid, unresearched opinions is just going to freak people out. I dunno, I watched a lot of TV when my mom was dying. I could imagine some of my family members seeing that and freaking out demanding a feeding tube, which just would have been even more awful. And what’s painful is not the removal of the feeding tube, but this constant taking it out and putting it back in. Why do her parents keep doing this to her? Denial is so strong sometimes. Anyway, before Hannity annoyed me, but now I hate him for stupidly raining down such pain on his audience without even thinking about it. What a fucking asshat
Ok, so the parents have hired Randall Terry as their spokes person. If that name rings a bell, it’s because he’s the former head of Operation Rescue, a semi-violent anti-choice organization. after that fell apart, he dabbled briefly in homophobia. It looks like now he’s back in the “pro-life” movement. He’s got a doctor he’s working with who says he can treat the woman. I hate to say this, but there are people on the fringes of the medical profession who will say that no matter what the case. (they take cash only.) My uncle showed up once with somebody who said he could cure my mom’s cancer. A quarter of her brain was removed. Her tumor was growing faster than a zucchini in july. this guy claimed that if we gave her protein and vitamin C in massive (kidney stopping) quantities, her tumor would go into remission and then she could have therapy that would cause her to regain all of her lost motor and thinking skills. Randall Terry’s friend claims that therapy will bring back all of this woman’s motor and thinking skills. Therapy is magic. Also, you’d think if it worked, he would have published a paper and gone for the fame and the money connected to such a tremendous discovery. Again, what a fucking asshat.
Ok, so why is Dr. Dobson and Randall Terry involved? Because it’s part of the pro-life movement! They’re against the rights of women to make their own health decisions in all cases!
And then congress had an emergency meeting and pres bush flew back to “save” the life of this woman by changing court jurisdictions so she could sue in federal court. Bloggers have been all over this, upset about separation of powers, about politicians cravenly using this family’s pain to play to pro-lifers, of how a precedent might be used to legislative overrule other court decisions, etc. All of these things are issues, but what the fuck is going on in Iraq right now where all of our attention is being diverted to this one thing? It’s the most terrible thing for the family, a horrible personal drama. One that is played out over and over again, every day as families have to make horrible, gut-wrenching decisions about people they love. Usually, the president doesn’t get involved (but he did in the state of Texas, where as governor he signed a law saying doctors could just pull the plug on you if they didn’t want to treat you anymore.) This is, however, a diversion. something must be up for them to stage a diversion so big. Look! Over Here! Over Here!
Tag: Euthanasia

I can’t remember what classes I have on tuesdays. Maybe it will come back to me by morning.

I’m back at school for the home stretch. my concert is two weeks from tomorrow in the Memorial Chapel on the Wesleyan campus at 8:00 pm. yikes
I sat on the airplane yesterday next to a woman who is writing her PhD dissertation on lesbian novels from the 1970’s. Awesome. The idealism of that time is nifty. Also, I think I want to spend some time living on a women’s land trust. Otherwise known as a lesbian separatist commune. I know that some of them still exist. I imagine that they would either be retreat-like or else embittered, digging in the trenches after so many years of fighting.
Yeah, so I got back to school and am sooo tired and have completely forgotten my routine. To the “do I wear pajamas when I sleep?” level. Hopefully it’s just jetlag.
I saw the band Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum on Saturday night. they are so awesome. I want to be a rock star when I grow up.
Tag: Celesteh

except for you

I don’t have as much as a draft as I wanted. My current creative endeavors involve Fred Phelps and Bill O’Reilley talking about homosexuals. Augh. Can’t deal with another day of that. Today I must figure out my taxes. I fly back east Sunday. I didn’t take care of some thing with the county assessor office. I have no idea what it’s even about.
I need a better way of dealing with stress other than envisioning breaking dish wear. grrr. kill. smash. break. I have a list of people I wanted to see today, but I feel too frustrated to make polite conversation.
Maybe it’s my morning coffee. I’m not good at caffeine.
Tag: Celesteh

Google now allows you to search the text of books. This I knew, but they also let you search books which are still in copyright. My advisor told me to look at the section on taping in William S. Burroughs The Ticket That Expolded. I’ve heard some of Burroughs’ tape pieces and I think I’ve even been to a museum or library or something dedicated to him, but I’ve never actually read his writing before.

ha ha. you can’t cut and paste from google’s results, so no blockquote for you. Start with “Take an everyday situation you are arguing with your boy friend or girl friend remembering what was said last time and thinking of things to say next time the whole stupid argument going round and round like the music in your head until it bores you silly to hear it . . .” Midway down the page and read the next couple of pages
As a veteran of the great verbal wars of 1995-2003, his solution is entirely brilliant and certainly great conceptual art, but I can’t imagine putting it into practice without causing even greater warfare. But you know, if you end apologizing for the same past misdeeds over and over and over again, why not just tape it and play the recording?
I apologize to any and all who are inflamed by this post. An mp3 of an apology will be forthcoming.
Tag: Celesteh

Ok, so I’m messing around with Fred Phelps. His sermon that I’ve got is like an hour long. I’m cutting out all his ramblings about Billy Graham (who, when he was with Phelps at Bob Jones, used to preach about hell nearly every time he preached, says Phelps), the Washington Post, and that den of sodomites calling itself the Topeka City Council. Actually, I left in the part of the den of sodomites. When I think Topeka, I think sodomy.

Ahem. One of the members of the Topeka City Council is a lesbian. Phelps’ granddaughter ran against her recently for the seat, mainly on the platform that the entire city would be destroyed by fire and brimstone, ala Sodom, but in the afterlife, if they elect a homosexual. Phelps didn’t get very many votes.
It’s actually very surprising how much in common Phelp’s sound-bite-ish sermonizing has in common with Ann Coulter’s sound-bite-ish pontificating. Ad hominem all the way. It’s also kind of disturbing that Phelps has a more nuanced understanding of the war in Iraq. “They don’t want us there.” We’re “slaughtering” them. “They have ideas and they’re not ignorant.” And “That miserable little idiot in the whitehouse” has “a phony, false, hypocritical religion.” Right-on. Oh, no, wait, it’s because he’s part of the sodomite agenda. Nevermind.
Fred Phelps’ website God Hates Fags
Who funds this guy? He’s so over-the-top, I wonder if some pro-gay group is secretly funding him to give homophobes a bad name. I also suspect that Peta was created by the beef industry.
Tag: Fred Phelps

If you have no idea about any of the pundits I mention, the CBC has an excellent documentary introduction to political discourse in the US. It explains who is who, gives both sides, etc. I started out being displeased with it because it said that liberals were engaged in hysterical attacks as well as conservatives and then played clips of liberals trying to get a word in edgewise on Fox News. On the other hand, it’s true that Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is a somewhat inflamatory title . . .. But a funny book. They talk about Richard Mellon Scaife without talking about how he was directly involved in digging up dirt on Clinton to give to the Starr investigation. However, they come to conclusions that seem correct and the many of the clips they use of pundits in action are all from the anti-Canada day that ran on Fox News when there was talk of blue staters migrating north en-masse after the election. They didn’t play the full clips, but I’m pretty certain I recognized them. (heh heh heh) There is also a very wonderful exchange with Ann Coulter there, in a separate short file. I’ve never seen her speechless before. She had her ass handed to her on a platter, but very subtly. It was great.
Also, I am under the impression (possibly incorrect) that Canadians think labeling homelessness a “liberal” issue is insane. As opposed to a social issue or a moral issue or a problem-that-needs-to-be-solved issue, but I could be projecting here. Watching foreign documentaries on the US is useful because they don’t make unspoken US assumptions, but confusing because they make their own unspoken assumptions.
It would have been nice if they had some expert talking about the difference between the media serving power and the media serving people and how “liberal” issues are often connected to the people, like universal healthcare and poverty, vs corporate handouts, but, you know, I could make my own documentary . . ..
So, if you want to know what’s going on on the most popular TV News show (the O’Reilly Factory) and what sort of political news plays away from The Daily Show, check out this documentary.
Tags: Pundits, Ann Coulter, Canada, Media

I was listening to NPR this morning, whilst half asleep and there was a balanced-type news article, one that talks to both sides of an issue. The subject was torture. The question: does it work?

Ok, sure, they said “extreme interrogation methods,” which, it should be noted, violate the quaint Geneva conventions. We don’t do this in domestic prisons . . . yet. But,um, I’m appalled. How did torture become a debate? And how on earth could the debate have gotten over to whether or not it works. The debate should be, “torture: total evil or complete evil?”
Ok, so we have a guy who knows where the ticking time bomb is. Torture him! Ok, we have this guy that we’re 90% certain knows where the ticking time bomb is. Torture him! Ok, we have this guy who is 80% certain. Torture! Ok, we have 3 guys and we’re 90% certain that one of those three guys knows where the ticking time bob is. Torture all three! We can sort out the innocent later! Ok, we have this guy and we’re 90% sure that his brother in law planted a bomb. There’s an 80% chance that this guy knows where his brother in law is hiding. But when we ask him, he keeps saying “I don’t know.” Torture him too, right? Ok, you might know where your best friend, the brother in law of the bomber, is hiding. You’re innocent. The brother in law is also innocent but is scared out of his wits knowing that chemical lights are destined for his anus. The bomber is completely uninnocent and has found an excellent hiding place. We torture you, right? Innocent people might die if that bomb went off. It could go off at any second. We need to torture you, right? Because when you say “I don’t know,” you might just be protecting you innocent best friend. But, whoops, we failed to catch you. You took off when you heard we might torture you. We just caught your spouse, whom we have no choice but to torture . . .
Ok, so this was a problem, but we would still torture the bomber, right? Because the bomb could go off at any second. However . . . he holds out for two days. That’s not unreasonable. In the mean time, the bomb has either gone off or the bomber’s co-conspirators noticed that the bomber is missing and have moved the bomb. Our “intelligence” isn’t so valuable then, is it?
Meanwhile, you, your spouse and the terrified chemical-lighted brother-in-law, all of whom thought the bomber was a lunatic, have realized that the government really is a bunch of torturers and have started working to overthrow it.
However, even if torture did “work,” it would still be wrong. If we always caught the right guy and he always confessed in the nick of time . . . Because our soldiers have knowledge about coming bombs, knowledge that is valuable to the societies we destroy. Soldiers know what their orders are. They know what houses might be raided next. If we torture, why shouldn’t our targets torture? Or is it only ok if we do it? What if we’re at war with another state, not an insurgency, the war with Finland? Why would they abstain from torturing our soldiers if we are documented torturers?
And finally, What kind of monsters are we for torturing prisoners? All other concerns aside, it’s just wrong. Evil. Bad. Wrong.
At some point in this country, morality came to mean objecting to what other people do in bed and how well others conform to ideal gender, class, religious, national and racial identities. Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, clothing the naked, examining your own conscience and trying to be a “good Samaritan” have all fallen out of favor. Torture isn’t immoral unless it’s a consentual SM scene in the East Village (which isn’t actually torture). Darwinism is bad, unless you’re talking about ruthless social darwinism, in which case, survival of the fittest is god’s law. Torturing evil folks is a-ok, and those Iraqis are not conforming very well to being white American Christians, so they’re excellent targets.

Update

Fafblog explores the moral quandry of torture: “There’s a bomb on the streets of Hypotheticopolis – a ticking bomb! – and only Giblets can stop it! But time is running out and in order to find it Giblets may have to resort to the first weapon of last resort: torture.”
Tag: Torture