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She'll get your head on the sidewalk while the neighbors cry for more
Well, those three links in a row were appalling.
1. "The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the practice of public prayer before local-government meetings, rejecting arguments that overwhelmingly Christian invocations violate the constitutional bar on the establishment of an official religion." To everyone who wants to know why in the name of church and state it's not unconstitutional, Justice Kennedy writes, "The town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment by opening its meetings with prayer that comports with our tradition and does not coerce participation by nonadherents." Which is disingenuous garbage. It's our tradition only if you are a practicing Christian. Claiming there's no coercion involved is an equally privileged dismissal of social pressure. Non-Christians who want to participate in local government may not have their arms physically twisted to join in, but they're certainly going to be marginalized by their refusal. Claiming additionally that it's all right because government is an opt-in job rather than a compulsory environment like school—well, if you don't want to feel unwelcome, how about you just don't run for office? Nobody's making you. To pretend that this ruling will result in anything other than an active enforcement of the religious mainstream—and an excuse to screen out those who differ from it—is nauseating. And this is the Supreme Court. I'm cool with four of those people, but I want the other five gone as fast as their health can take them.
2. Chiefs Man Soap. "Get an amazing lather that will become so addictive you'll teach your son to use this soap." Plus bonus dubious Native American mascot! Aaagh. (I strongly recommend The Checkout as an antidote.)
3. Everything about the Cecily McMillan case.
I'm off to a doctor's appointment.
1. "The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the practice of public prayer before local-government meetings, rejecting arguments that overwhelmingly Christian invocations violate the constitutional bar on the establishment of an official religion." To everyone who wants to know why in the name of church and state it's not unconstitutional, Justice Kennedy writes, "The town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment by opening its meetings with prayer that comports with our tradition and does not coerce participation by nonadherents." Which is disingenuous garbage. It's our tradition only if you are a practicing Christian. Claiming there's no coercion involved is an equally privileged dismissal of social pressure. Non-Christians who want to participate in local government may not have their arms physically twisted to join in, but they're certainly going to be marginalized by their refusal. Claiming additionally that it's all right because government is an opt-in job rather than a compulsory environment like school—well, if you don't want to feel unwelcome, how about you just don't run for office? Nobody's making you. To pretend that this ruling will result in anything other than an active enforcement of the religious mainstream—and an excuse to screen out those who differ from it—is nauseating. And this is the Supreme Court. I'm cool with four of those people, but I want the other five gone as fast as their health can take them.
2. Chiefs Man Soap. "Get an amazing lather that will become so addictive you'll teach your son to use this soap." Plus bonus dubious Native American mascot! Aaagh. (I strongly recommend The Checkout as an antidote.)
3. Everything about the Cecily McMillan case.
I'm off to a doctor's appointment.
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Thank you. I think I need more Tiger Lillies in my life.
(How have I missed this band? I thought the Dresden Dolls—after Cabaret—had pioneered that facepaint.)
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I know our society is broken in some significant ways, but I like to think it's improving: I know people who are working very hard on it. Then I read something like the above and it is very hard to feel we're not actually regressing instead. And I don't want to be one of the people who shrugs and says, oh, well, welcome to life in a dystopia, but I don't know how to react constructively, either, except perhaps to write a lot of letters and vote and not be complacent; be angry and change things, I guess. But damn it.
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It's very sobering to know that whatever good things we institute and bad things we abolish, time can turn and our hard work can be undone. But the hope in that is that the bad things that come along can be undone, too--and so we keep on working and struggling. --And remembering the good moments and victories, not as consolation prizes, but to take heart and strength from them.
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The McMillan case is shocking. Such things don't happen in democracies.
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Yes they do. They've been happening, in this democracy, in India, in the UK, in Israel, ever since democracy has existed, just not to people like you. Do I really need to recite the history of lynchings, internment camps, deportations, secret prisons, racially biased court proceedings, and police brutality in my country and yours, always directed against immigrants and women and black people and poor people and non-Christians? I mean really.
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It's a stupider thing than either of the other two, but it's the kind of stupidity that's exhausting: it trades on such boneheaded, deep-rooted assumptions of what's acceptable in the culture we live in, I just kind of stare at it and hope they go out of business soon.
Such things don't happen in democracies.
I have to agree with
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I noticed also that Kennedy makes no provision for non-religious people: "Our tradition assumes that adult citizens, firm in their own beliefs, can tolerate and perhaps appreciate a ceremonial prayer delivered by a person of a different faith." As if he assumes it's the niceties of which religion is receiving public endorsement that make up grounds for objection, not the fact that religious practice is being supported in secular political life at all. That is remarkably selective of him.
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Oh. It's the triple date for the Strong Female Characters.
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I am hoping her conviction will be overturned on appeal. It is a terrible precedent.
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By way of comfort I bring hilarious gifs:
https://31.media.tumblr.com/d3198ceeefc1057eae601cb3608b8f44/tumblr_n3y3cwRxM41smq5y5o1_500.gif
http://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/80448644707/vvidget-some-cats-are-different
http://25.media.tumblr.com/787849db9c7562f38228faf323524d3f/tumblr_ml63reyGaK1r5bh48o1_500.gif
And did you see the link to the Identity Project that left on my last linkspam post?
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At this rate Roger Taney can rejoice his court wasn't the single! worst! ever!
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Yeah. That.
Interesting that the non-Christians on the court dissent
And Justice Sotomayor! I believe her to be Catholic.
(Why did I not know Justice Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardi Jewish? Serving alongside Louis D. Brandeis, in point of fact. My knowledge of American history is such a mixed bag.)
At this rate Roger Taney can rejoice his court wasn't the single! worst! ever!
Nobody wins that competition! The country least of all!
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What's the name for our current five?
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I can hope McMillan's conviction will be appealed, but I don't like that there's no one to appeal to when the Supreme Court is part of the problem.
By way of comfort I bring hilarious gifs
Hilarious gifs much appreciated!
(My mother had a swimming cat. She would come up while my mother was bathing and bat the water with an experimental paw and my mother would say warningly, "Djavvy . . ." and she would bat at the water again and look thoughtful and then she would slip smoothly into the tub and a layer of fur would immediately float off on the surface of the water; my mother would hastily vacate the tub and Djavvy would swim contentedly around the nicely drawn bath that someone had been so thoughtful to prepare for her.)
And did you see the link to the Identity Project that left on my last linkspam post?
No! That's fantastic. I hope they make their funding; I would love something like that around here.
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You and
My mother had a swimming cat. . . .
That whole story is adorable. Awwww.
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It's frightening! I didn't know you were that close to the case.
I am hoping an appeal will make a difference.
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Yes.
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I didn't know about the Cecily McMillan case (I am, in some ways, horribly out of the loop), and maybe in part it's because I'm reading at Hallucinatory O'Clock, but the story feels like it ought to be sharp Onion satire, not real life….
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It reads pretty much like that in daylight, too.
(First response to your comment deleted because it looked like spam.)
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