America Racially Profiles Elena Kagan, AZ Applauds
Posted: May 12, 2010 Filed under: History, People, Pitts Indeed | Tags: america, betty friedan, confirmation hearings, elena kagan, feminism, lesbian, sexuality, supreme court justice Leave a comment »Some folks are wondering why questions of sexuality are bring raised for Elena Kagan when they were not done for Sonia Sotomayor. In my mind, it boils down to something fairly basic:
Kagan is white and Sotomayor is not.*
Let me explain. For the type of people who are fond of profiling, Kagan fits the description: white, unmarried, intellectual, not terribly “attractive”. Black or Latina women that fall into that same line aren’t questioned on their sexuality because they don’t “seem” gay; they’re just cast as accomplished yet pitiable career women who have little hope of snaring a mate with whom to settle down.
In the American conscience, to be a lesbian of a certain age is really just shorthand for being a feminist; a card-carrying member of NOW and an acolyte of Betty Friedan. While I won’t go so far as to say the sexual aspect of the questions regarding Kagan’s sexuality are irrelevant, I will say I think these inquiries are more a petty and contemptuous probing of her feminism. (I strongly doubt the president would have the stones to nominate a possibly gay man for the bench
since male sexuality whips people into a different kind of frenzy).
It’s the radical feminist menace that ruffled the old boys’ feather and the representatives of that menace were overwhelmingly–and often deliberately–white.
The feminist movements in the United States had parallel histories split between the predominantly white–and highly exclusionary–narrative and the one that included women of color in this struggle. The former was able to set the tone in many regards and became the face of “what a feminist is.”
For many, feminists are merely smartypants white women that hate men and don’t do as they’re told. Given this perception, the “oh, well she’s probably a lesbian” coup de grace wasn’t/isn’t exactly a leap. In many ways, it’s the white version of being called uppity.
The logic:
- Kagan = Unmarried White woman intellectual of no particular beauty.
- Lesbians are unmarried White women intellectuals of no particular beauty.
- Feminists are unmarried White women intellectuals of no particular beauty.
- Feminists hate men.
- Lesbians hate men.
- Feminist = Lesbian
- Lesbian = Feminist
- Kagan = Lesbian = Feminist?
*A friend brought up the great point that the reason Sotomayor wasn’t questioned in that regard is because she was married once before. A reasonable point, though not bulletproof. A previous marriage certainly lends itself to avoiding certain questions, though marriage is by no means proof of being straight. Perhaps the figure of Condi Rice is more appropriate in this regard. The questions regarding her personal life were, more often than not, framed as, “Why doesn’t she have a man?” rather than “Is she gay?”
Civilian Court?! You Like ‘Steel Magnolias’ Too?!
Posted: November 18, 2009 Filed under: History, People, Pitts Indeed, politics, Thought Food | Tags: 9/11 plotters, 9/11 trials, adam serwer, khalid sheik mohammed, military tribunals, new york city, steel magnolias, the american prospect, torture, waterboarding Leave a comment »
"We totally think New York has the right stuff."
So sayeth the haranguers spewing poetic on what should be done with Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his merry band of mass murderers. They’ve come up with excuse that range from questions of safety to that of jurisdiction, but the upshot of it all seems to be this:
We don’t trust the Feds in New York City to punch this one through.
To which I ask, as politely as possible: Can you pass that dutchie to the left hand side? It’s clearly some of that deaf bubonic.
Let’s think this out loud: New York City, the site of the worse mass murder in the history of the United States, has a chance to get its hands on some of the scoundrels who perpetrated said mass murder and their gonna bungle this? The same people who would send back food that is “too hot” are gonna let this slide? It would seem the discussion should turn to whether or not New York is a safe place for KSM and Friends to be.
As my buddy Adam Serwer notes, these fools are never going to breathe free air again.
My gut tells me that the supporters of the tribunals have simple reasons for wanting to go that route. Rubberband to my head, I’d say it’s because they think the military will be harder on these guys. Not only will they convict them, they’ll convict them hard.
If KSM and Co. were convicted by a military tribunal, they’d spend the rest of their days getting tapdanced on by dudes in crew cuts in between waterboarding sessions and electrocution that involves nipple clamps. And all of this would take place in that shadowy Military World where the rules are just different. Or so hope, I think, the people who want to see a tribunal go down.
Shorter Pitts-Wiley: They want these dudes put in the hurt locker, military-style.
They want a vicious pimp hand to come down on the 9/11 plotters and they think the Feds in New York are too weak in the wrist.
The Feds in the city where these knuckleheads helped murdered 3,000 people. A city where people don’t even let too-hot food slide.*
Hm.
*Yes; you can probably reasonably argue that the Feds in a city aren’t necessarily representative of said city, but I get the sense that, from sea to shining sea, the Feds in the area take on the musk and complexion of the locale. When something happens in their neck of the woods, they take it personally. If I did something terroristic in New York City, best believe I’m not trying to see their Fed game.
Killing In The Name Of…
Posted: November 7, 2009 Filed under: History, People, Pitts Indeed, politics, Thought Food | Tags: adolf hitler, fort hood, german national socialism, jon pitts-wiley, mental health, nazi germany, nidal malik hasan, Pitts Indeed, the bible, the quran 3 Comments »
Getting a lot of interesting feedback regarding my Nidal Malik Hasan post, and wanted to take the time to respond to some recurring themes in the responses. I’m gonna tackle them piecemeal so as to hopefully be more clear.
- In initially writing on Hasan, I opened up the discussion with examples of sociopathic mass murders from all different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and I think my use of sensational figures may have overshadowed some of the point I was making. I used these famous killers to highlight the fact that, in my opinion, their mental health/states was infinitely more important than their cultural background. It wasn’t to say that they were of no relevance; rather, it was to say that they were not of supreme importance. I used names that would grab the attention of readers from jump, but may have erred in the parallel due to the fact that the examples I used were sociopaths in a class by themselves, a group to which Hasan may not belong. Read the rest of this entry »
Michelle Obama’s Kinda Sorta A Little Bit White
Posted: October 8, 2009 Filed under: History, People, Pitts Indeed, politics | Tags: barack obama, dr. henry louis gates, jon pitts-wiley, michelle obama, Pitts Indeed, rachel swarns and jodi kantor 1 Comment »Originally posted on The Root
And?
Far be it from me to not enjoy healthy cultural and racial discourse, but today’s New York Times piece by Rachel Swarns and Jodi Kantor’s detailing First Lady Michelle Obama’s genealogy, which includes an unknown white great-great-great grandfather, has a troubling puffiness to it. They write
Nothing doesn’t exist…
Posted: October 24, 2008 Filed under: History | Tags: kush, new york city Leave a comment »I almost ruined a subtly life-altering event so I could sit down and write about the experience. Sometimes people can’t get out of their own way. Peace to G Band Free.
Yo the top’s so lonely…
Posted: August 23, 2008 Filed under: History | Tags: bally total fitness, crookeds and straights, dumpsters, foot locker, prostitution, The michelle, usain bolt, willy loman, work Leave a comment »It’s often assumed that working a job that does not jive with your interest (or wallet) serves the purpose of “telling you what you don’t want to do” or “makes you appreciate jobs you like that much more.” The above platitudes, of course, tells you absolutely nothing. With the exception of jobs that you honestly thought you would like but turned out to be terrible, you were probably already aware that you didn’t really want to do the job; indeed, as your bank account dwindled and some loan officer or another kept blowing your phone up, your decision came down to which form of prostitution–including prostitution itself–you would subject yourself to for financial gain. Of course, in those instances, there are some who have epiphanies; in a pressure situation, life slowed down just enough to make some employment desire or interest abundantly clear to them. For most of us doing jobs we don’t particularly care for, that is not the case.
Because life has a funny sense of humor, jobs we don’t care for often times do not point us in the direction of jobs we would care for. In fact, jobs we don’t care for only make us yearn for not doing any job at all. Jobs we don’t care for seem to only serve the purpose of making us tolerate eight hours at work that we might gain the weekend as a reward. I’ve found in the five or so years in which I’ve had myriad jobs that ranged from “hm, this isn’t terribly engaging” to “God, I hope I have a slip and fall accident at work” we spend a good deal of time being catty and bitchy about the jobs we don’t care for, intermittently accenting said cat bitchery with bittersweet exultations about what we plan to drink this weekend and doing little else. Having been both torch bearer and pitchfork wielder in this familiar mob, I can tell you it has only helped me to determine I didn’t particularly care for whatever job I was doing. This is somewhat redundant since I not only knew I didn’t particularly care for the job before applying, but was very likely brandishing my pitchfork while I grumbled my way to the stockroom to get more hats/sweaters/sneakers/Endorush.
(Sidebar 1: Lest I sound like a hypocrite to the Crookeds and The Straights project, understand that no matter if you love or hate your job, there is someone or something about the job that chaps your ass. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, just keep reading and don’t trouble yourself with the above clarification. But if you really want to know, go check out http://www.crookedsandstraights.blogspot.com)
The other day on my day off, a day in which I was contemplating turning in my nametag for the umpteenth time, I decided to chat up The Michelle. Having known her for some time, I should have known it was less than prudent to begin haranguing against my job, but I of course did. Here’s a dramatization of conversation:
Me: This job is beneath me!
TM: Yes; it is.
Me: I’mgonna just quit! I went to too much school to abide this garbage. I’m taking too many lateral steps.
TM: So make a decision, take a forward one and call me back when your testicles drop.
*SCENE*
So I put out my torch, dropped my pitchfork, and did just that.
Perhaps because we fear self-reflection and evaluation, people don’t realize that the answers to their fulfillment, at least with regard to employment, is a question that must be asked of the self. It’s a fairly tall order to ask a job you never wanted to sate your passion. In my case, I have much less of an excuse because–for the time being–I have a very good idea of how I want to spend my hours. In fact, I’ve probably always known it, but shied away from it as I grew older and learned what fear and “knowing better” was. The depth of self-evaluation and reflection it takes to accept the facts can be staggering. The journey to discovering your passion often reveals exactly who you are, good and bad, to the one person it is impossible to lie to. If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, the first thing you have to do is ask the question.
Unless you live an abundantly charmed life, there will be a time when you have to do a job you don’t want to do. What purpose does such a thing serve? The easy answer is that it helps you bridge the gap to your passion. If you’re a photographer, that job at Foot Locker helps buy film. I’ve found recently that the work has gotten light to me because I have no illusions as to why I am there. Perhaps this is coming from a place of detached arrogance or perhaps I just believe I can close the gap, but I sweat this situation much less because it is temporary.
But there’s more than that. Unfortunately, the following statement applies more soundly to people that have an idea of what they want to do, but if you’re willing to put the leg work in with regard to discovering your passion or interests, this will still be holding water when you get back. Jobs you don’t care for tell you why you don’t care for them and why you do care for your other interests. While wearing a nametag and punching a clock every day is abhorrent to my sensibilities, they are merely annoyances in the face of what I feel the essence of my actual job is. No matter how good it feels to close a membership deal and get a few more coins in my pocket–and believe me, I do get a kick out of the chess match and the resultant pennies–I can never feel fully invested in the work.
As I sat at my desk earlier this week, using gamesmanship and my gabbing gift to sign a young woman on a fixed income to a membership that both suited her income and my commission check–while I never cross ethical lines, I am a salesman; hence, I can always give a person a better deal than they are getting, but to do so would hurt my income–I had a simple yet profound insight. Though, on a technical level, my professional interests lie in quarterbacking the make-believe, I never feel like I am lying when I do it. Peace to Willy Loman.
Penultimate Thought: Though Jamaican, I’m glad the fastest man in the world is 6’5.
Final Thought: I have no idea where they throw dumpsters out.
