Raging Leftie

Washington could learn a thing or two from Boston.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:18:00 +0000

More precisely: politicians everywhere could learn a thing or 10,000 from ordinary, decent human beings...

A woman being too scared to go out at night alone...is totally normal.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 21:53:00 +0000

Why do we live in a world where half of the population are scared to go out alone in the dark? Okay so we're not all afraid - but we are certainly more vulnerable. I'm not the kind of person who lets a silly thing like that get in the way, but over the last few months of walking my dog in the dark (a combination of hating the daytime and hating the daytime)I have at times been fearful for my safety and that is in spite of having one very loud barking dog accompanying me. Walking down a dark, badly lit street when a group of stereotypically 'chavvy' young men come sauntering past. I have been scared, I have held my breath until they past, I have tried to walk faster - not drawing attention to myself - head down, no eye-contact. I've modified my appearance; baggy trousers, baggy jumper, hair tied in a bun, baggy coat - hood up. Completely unattractive and asexual. But here I am again double guessing myself - questioning whether I should have worn tighter trousers - trousers that wouldn't be so easy to get off or whether I should add another 10 minutes to the walk to avoid a short cut.

Some people would say that as a woman out 'alone' (unaccompanied by a man) at night - I should take the long way round - for my own safety - to do otherwise would be 'asking for trouble'. Obviously it is this kind of thinking which leads to the 'blame the victim/woman' mentality with regards to rape/sexual crime. A close male acquaintance of mine, once asked me incredulously, 'how are women treated any differently to men?' only it wasn't a question...more of a statement. In what way have I been treated differently? In what way am I made to feel inferior? In what way am I made to feel wrong in my own body? Like it is my fault, that I shouldn't be walking my dog at night, that I have no right to walk down the street in the dark.

Thinking about how easy it would be to for me to be hurt or raped or worse. Thinking about the looks, the laughs, the slow walk past - looking and laughing. Yeah, that is just a part of being a woman I guess, eh? Generally speaking I don't worry too much about being raped, but when I am out - I can't help feeling vulnerable and under-protected. Googling mace and pepper spray - trying to work out if I could be prosecuted under current UK law for carrying it (despite its total legality in the US OF A - but then again so are gun). Why should I have to? Now I am not saying that these young men would ever have touched me but it is the fact that I have been made to feel this way in the first place - that makes my head spin. So should we stop avoiding parked vans and taking the long way round? Maybe not - but let's stop accepting this shit. Let's not feel ashamed of our bodies. Let's not blame ourselves. We are not at fault - it's not a crime to walk down a street, equally it's not a crime to walk down an alley with a dog. We are not to blame for the actions of others however much we are led to believe that is our fault - for going out alone in the dark or wearing a short-short skirt and getting drunk - WE ARE NOT AT FAULT. Do not let society tell you otherwise.

~ As always, Raging-Left

How to live with passion? Maybe get off your ass and turn off the TV (or computer).

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:02:00 +0000

Easier said than done eh? We are promised a life full of wonder and fulfilment if we turn off our TV at least we are if you believe what the internet 'lifestyle' gurus have to say. Awaits us is a land of milk and honey (which isn't at all appealing to a vegan). But life is draining and who can blame us for wanting to switch off the greater part of our brains so that we can get lost in someone else's? My greatest problem is not with the actual TV (I abandoned that years ago) but instead with the endless number of 'must-watch' TV-shows that are available in their hundreds online. For better or worse my most recent TV addictions are NCIS (I know, I know) and Game of Thrones, yes they're bubblegum for the brain (particularly NCIS), but these days I'm incapable of getting through the day without watching at least 2 or 3 episodes. It's not having too much of a detrimental impact on my life, but couldn't I be doing something better with my time? Sure I could, but I highly doubt that if I stopped watching TV, I would suddenly develop a passion for playing squash, or find that I have a talent for bending spoons. So let's raise a glass to our decreasing IQs and click on that big triangle in the sky.

Margaret Thatcher...dancing on her grave.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:23:00 +0000

Photograph:Source

One more thing to feel guilty about.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:15:00 +0000

Photograph:Source

Sorry for the hiatus, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, eh?! Blog posting has been at the back of my head most days

adding to the long list of things to feel guilty about, but here's the thing - this blog is mine to do with as I wish, so I've been busy the past couple of weeks and could be for another couple more - it is of no consequence to anyone but myself. Yet I understand that there is a minute possibility that there is one or maybe even two people who don't like that there is no really recent content - all I can say is - there's no point writing if your heart ain't in it and right now my heart just ain't in it. It's just too full up of other things at the moment.

Goodbye Dave.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:22:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

Hot-footing it to some fancy new aid-work job that pays a cool £300,000. Funded by...yeah you guessed it...the taxpayers.*

~ Raging Leftie

* Most of the IRC'S money comes from taxpayers the world over.

Bedroom tax is an attack on Society's most vulnerable. The omnishambles...a personal account.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:23:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

So long as a nasty Government policy doesn't touch us personally, many of us may find it hard to get motivated enough to hold it in anything other than disregard - another reason to will 2015 to bloody well hurry up. I'm the first to hold my hands up, I couldn't quite get angry enough to do anything about the Bedroom Tax, that is until two letters found their way through my letter box this ~~morning~~ afternoon.

"In April 2013 the under-occupation charge (often referred to as the Bedroom Tax) will be introduced as part of the Government's Welfare Reforms. You are currently under-occupying your property. This means...you will have to pay 14% of your weekly rent"

The first accused us having an 'under-occupied' house, as a result the Main Householder was now going to have to pay a percentage of Housing Benefit amounting to around £5. The second letter told us that we were also going to have to pay £12 of our weekly rent. As it happens the room which had been spare, has not been spare since December, so we will be making a nice little trip down to the City Council HQ next week, with our placards and banners, to sort this fine mess out and - if I was brave enough - to give the some blameless civil servants a piece of my mind.

If however our spare room was still spare - we would have to find an extra £17 per week to appease the Tory-led Government. I don't think anyone (except the very well-off) would, under current circumstances, be able to say that finding an extra £68 every month would be easy. Certainly not my strange little family, consisting of (then) a student and a disabled adult (I should of course say handi-capabable!). Where exactly would we have been able to find that kind of money? We struggle to make ends meet as it is with debts hanging over our heads - we just about manage. When you consider the sky-rocketing fuel bills, soaring prices of basic foodstuffs, changes to benefits and the umpteen extra degrading and humiliating hoops which disabled people are expected to jump through in order to satisfy some Government quack it is a small wonder that we are still here. Then add into that spicy mix a new UNDER-OCCUPATION CHARGE (which sounds like military talk)and what do you get?

You get yet another policy which seeks out the most vulnerable, exploited and needy to steal more money out of their back pocket. But to do what exactly? To help people out of poverty? Find a solution to climate change? To create jobs for the young? No. In all honesty I couldn't tell you what the money is going to be used for, except of course, to appease Tories baying for the blood of the poor to pour over their morning cheerios. An unfortunate and necessary measure is the part-line spiel but even good ol' Boris sees the flaws, it's all lies, lies on top of lies on top of lies, a 'necessary' measure, what about a MANSION TAX? Or is that too progressive for you?

Mandate for Change. Mandate for fucking Change. As far as I can see it there are at least two reasons why,the so-called MANDATE FOR CHANGE is is such crappy little platitude.

1# YOU HAVE NO MANDATE. No mandate whatsoever.

2# YOU ARE CHANGING JACK-SHIT. Tell me, how is taking from society's most vulnerable any different from what you have been doing since 2010? i.e. The myriad of socially regressive policies introduced since the formation of your cosy little coalition.

Protests country wide are bringing attention to the distressing impact of this latest deficit-filling measure: Liverpool, Belfast, Kidderminster and Bristol. Join one, sign a petition or write a letter - whatever you do just get angry - get real angry, if not for yourself then for the sake of society's most vulnerable.

Same old Tories, same old tricks and same old lies - brought to you by a bunch of spineless dick-wads.

~ Raging Left - as always.

On being unexceptionally average...how to be so very average.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:41:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

Most people think they are above average - the truth is the majority are the very thing that they so despise i.e. average. I include myself in this and you, because you and I are most probably definitely average. Saying it aloud sounds really, really bad, doesn't it? I am average. Say it and say it again till you are blue in the face. It doesn't get better the more times you say it. But what is so wrong with being in essence like most other people, we have this idea that the average person is something worse than ourselves - some layabout with bad hair - but what if that is all wrong - if the average isn't this awful person but instead it is us, put it another way - what if we are the new bloody awful average person?

I say - there is nothing wrong with being average and there is everything wrong with being average. It represents that which is both the best and the worst of humanity. By accepting mediocrity we are accepting that we no longer need to push ourselves to achieve more - that we can only achieve that which we do actually achieve. But this is utter bullshit, we are capable of so much more than that, being average does not need to be a terrible thing, but we have to accept that average means very different things to different people. What I think is average is very different to what you think average means. So what makes us average might just be amazing - for every individual believes that their average is different and special - more so than other people's. You may have days where you give up, you die a little inside, you accept mediocrity in its fullness but by doing so you give up every chance of achieving greatness, greatness in this sense, doesn't mean being above or below other people, merely that you as an individual recognise how wonderful you really are.

You realise you have so much potential, whether you are 22 or 72, you have the ability to live with beauty. You can live with openness and fragility. You can be incredible. You can accept yourself, right now, right this second - for who you are - without changes, or diets, or improvements. You can be great - just as you are right now. No more no less. Embrace your average-ness. Embrace it! For you alone know the bounds and limits of your own success. Only you know what you have the ability to achieve. No one else. Don't let them tell you. The minute you let them, the minute you let their expectations and standards to affect your soul, is the minute you give up on life. Only you know what you are capable of. Only you know where the lines can be drawn. Only you know the limits of your own effervescence. So my message to you, to me, is to simply believe that you are more than you have accepted. You have been broken by society, by teachers, by family, by friends, by expectations and by your own doubts. You have been forced to accept a lesser place, you have been forced to limit yourself and what you know you can do. You have allowed other people to dictate what you should do with your life, you've allowed them so much power, perhaps you didn't realise, but now you do. You gave away so much, so much. Your hopes, your dreams, your beliefs. You allowed them to be changed, you allowed them to be broken. Stop, it stops now. Whatever you were before - you are not now. You are a changed being, you are human with every potential avenue open to you, not one of them are closed. You can do anything. That which you have buried so deeply inside yourself that you had almost forgotten its existence - pull it out, right now. The dreams you had, the dreams you gave up on, the dreams that you told yourself, that you told others, were childish, naive, impossible. Pull them out of your soul, right now. They're not impossible, they're not far-fetched. You can do anything. You can be anyone. Even if you fail, you might just find yourself in a better position than you are now, the position where you make excuses for your sadness or for your loneliness. Yes I know, you've made so many excuses for your life, you've blamed parents, family, the government even yourself. Stop it. Stop it. No more excuses. If you didn't do as well as you hoped - don't make excuses for your failure - you did your best and no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, no one can take that away from you.

Hope, hope, hope. That is the only thing that is yours completely, other people share your dreams, your fantasies. But your particular and beautiful hopes are yours. Don't let this world, so full of sadness and despair take them away from you. Hold on to them for dear life. Never, never give them away. No matter what the temptation or the punishment you will incur. Our hope makes us human. Our hope makes us average.It makes us very, very average. What makes us more than average, is holding on to those hopes, that are held in the deepest recesses of our souls, the kinds of hope that we cannot even admit to ourselves. Holding on to hope in spite of adversity makes us more, it is the only thing that makes life worth living. The hope that things get better, the hope that things won't always be this way - I will hang on to it - even if it means my death, especially if it meant my death. For a life without hope, is a life unfulfilled, it is life of being average. A life without hope is not a life at all.

Feminism: Cartoon of the Week. Sexual Harassment?

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:58:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

Generation Y: the heartless generation - not surprising since we are the children of Thatcher.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:52:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

"I think a loss of solidarity is an inevitable result of Thatcherism: we live in a society which encourages you to think of your own ambition, and maybe your family, but not society or community." Guardian

We are the apathetic, selfish generation - uninterested in political affairs or helping out our neighbours. Apathy, apathy all is apathy - it is frustrating that apathy seems to be the default setting of the young but it is certainly not surprising. No wait what am I saying? Have I been on this planet for the past few years? Have you? Because unless you have lived in a bubble or a hole or hole filled with bubble-wrap (you catch my drift, no?), then I am pretty certain you will be aware of at least some of the things which young people have been up to. Because we young things have not been backwards and coming forwards have we? We haven't just bent over and taken it like a 'man'. Our brothers and sisters around the world have been active in politics, strikes, riots, demonstrations, protests and revolutions.

We can 'read' the Daily Hate Mail and watch Fox News and as our brain starts to slowly rot we may start to believe that the under-class of Britain (or wherever we are from) is growing exponentially and that the youth are all Chavs hanging about on street corners, stealing stuff from JD Sport and binge-drinking on Value lager. Okay so there is a large contingent of young people who on most days are not interested in the dull Westminster party politicking (which some find so fascinating)but can nevertheless contribute in an unpredictable and exciting way. The Twitter generation have so much to give, if only they realised their full potential...if only we realised our full potential. We are the next generation of politicians, economists, writers and revolutionaries. But we sit at our computers, continually checking Facebook updates, whiling away time on you-tube obsessed with reality television yet ignorant of the reality right outside of our doors.

We could do so much more. If only we realised. If only we had the courage, to be different, to challenge expectations, to dare to ask for more...no if only we dared to demand more.

Student protests in 2010

Peace is not a Slogan: Yemen

Social Networking played an important part in the Arab Spring

Environmental Concerns

Middle East and the damage of Iraq

Occupy

Tahrir Square

~ Raging Leftie

Political Cartoon of the Week. Keynesian vs Modern Economics.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:32:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

Too true.

Pope Francis. New Pope...is Catholic.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:25:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

Is this a Pope for the 21st Century? A Pope to heal old wounds and transform the Catholic Church into a beacon of relevancy? Well folks, I wouldn't hold your collective breath, let me introduce Pope Francis; 71-years old, pale skinned and amazingly enough...not a woman. Okay so he is the first Latin American pope (also the first Jesuit)and he's apparently known for his humility in respect to poverty, but is he really the right choice for today's Church? He's certainly an unsurprising choice - he has just the right amount of 'newness', that which won't cause too much controversy and he hasn't been associated with the recent scandals and of course his views on pretty much all of the Church's most problematic and controversial 'teachings' are decidedly Catholic.

Homosexuality - an abomination.
Gay marriage - a double abomination.
All abortions - promote a 'culture of death'.
Contraception - also contributes to the aforementioned 'culture of death', despite this he has great COMPASSION for HIV/AIDS victims.
Gay adoption - is apparently a 'discrimination against the CHILDREN'.

I think what I find most frustrating (actually frustration doesn't even begin to cover how angry I am)is that here we have yet another Pope, who pay's much lip-service to those with HIV and AIDS, whilst simultaneously spreading a doctrine based on lies which actively promotes unsafe sex. His opposal and the opposal of previous Popes to the use of contraception in the prevention of the spread of HIV - is quite frankly disgusting. A Church which preaches love of fellow man also allows its followers to suffer at the hands of a privileged few, in the main old, white men, who spread insane messages like - Condoms don't work - a crime Pope John Paul II (Condoms are permeable!)and Pope Benedict XVI (Condoms make the problem worse) are guilty of.

So here's hoping for change but I wouldn't encourage you to hold your breath!

~Raging Leftie.

P.S. By the way according to this, Jesuits are not supposed to want or achieve great accolades or titles, put thankfully in this instance Pope Francis put his beliefs to one side so that he could, of course, help others (ahem - himself).

The Sun's hypocrisy. Protect our kids from online porn.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Photograph: Source

The Sun, according to this week's Private Eye, would like to see a block on all online pornography - arguing for an opt-in scheme which would protect our Nation's kids. Obviously that does not extend to "seeing nipples" - I mean nipples surely don't count as inappropriate viewing material for a child - if they did then the Sun would have to join the fight against its very own Page 3, and that would never do, would it?

~ Raging Leftie.

Happy British Mother's Day to y'all.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Source

Okay so today is Mothering Sunday or Mother's Day in the United Kingdom. Today isn't just about mothers though, it is about women - women who have children, women who don't and women who can't. So let's take a step back from the commercialism of it for a second and just consider what it really is all about, that is if you can find meaning under all the flowers, chocolates and pink gardening gloves.

We should also consider the fact that for some, Mother's Day is a reminder of how their mother's are no longer with us or a sad reminder that they will never have the children they crave. And then of course there are those who do not have good relationships with their mums. So I think for those of us who can say none to any of the above - we're pretty lucky.

I'd like to give a shout out to the two women who make my life worth living, even though they will probably never read this, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Labour Party would win hypothetical general election.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Source

Labour would win by a landslide if a General Election was held right this second! Labour would take 93 seats from Camerwrong's party. Don't think for a second that this statistic came from some 'crazy' left wing poll - it didn't - it was the result of a survey conducted by Lord Ashcroft (of all people).

Good news you might say, yes it is, but we still have a long way to go - with the Coalition hanging on in there - 2015 still looks like a dead-cert.

~ Raging Leftie.

Cartoon of the week. What real feminists look like.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:15:00 +0000

+Source

The feminist side is certainly true for me. I seem to live off of beans and toast (not beans on top of the toast cause that would make them soggy) and my companion is not a spider - I've already sucked it up through the hoover. Have a good weekend lovelies.

~ Raging Leftie

P.S. I'm in no way criticising feminine feminists or women who embrace their femininity - I'm no one to talk - I'm dressing up for the bloody opera.

Lesbian kiss? Harvey Nichols Advert. Conservatives complain...let them.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:20:00 +0000

Photograph: PinkNews

Women kissing their reflection in a mirror...shock outrage!! Hold the press...oh wait we already did that. Complaints about the advert were dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority. Well why wouldn't they be? The whole thing is a non-story.

~ Raging Leftie

Happy International Women's Day! Or should that be International Feminist's Day?

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:21:00 +0000

Photograph: Gender,Power,Sexuality.

Yes it's that time of a year again, when men role their eyes and ask 'What about International Men's Day?'. Well men, if you want to find a day dedicated to your sex so badly, you could try opening up a history book or encyclopaedia - it really is that simple.

Whereas women have been appointed March 8th and March 8th only, to express anger, disappointment and cynicism over the lack of interest in so-called 'women's issues' and our frustration at the lack of action taken by various governments on domestic violence. Just this one day, right? Wrong. For the majority of the world, today is just Friday March 8th a day like any other. Why? Because today is just a day like any other. We could change its name to International Feminist's Day perhaps, cause they (be included) seem to be the only ones interested in it - well, that and the people who like to write snarky articles in the Guardian about how little today means to them.

Feminism on March 8th 2013 has a bad reputation. Feminism is a dirty word. Men avoid it, women avoid it. Men laugh at it, women laugh at it. It's got a bad press, we're told it is dying a slow by the right-wing media. But this is simply not true, we might not recognise the means by which feminists nowadays are engaging with feminism, but it doesn't mean that it ain't feminism. The thing about feminism is - it adapts, it adapts to the times because the only other option for it, for us and for feminism is - death and we cannot let that happen. Yes people like me and maybe like you would prefer feminism to take a swing back to radicalism, but I can accept the chances of that happening are low - so instead we have to embrace the newness. We can keep our radicalism, we can keep our feminism - but that doesn't mean that we should ever stop encouraging others to embrace feminism - even if it is different to our's.

AND Whilst IWD may be little more than a joke in the West, countries such as; Uganda, Afghanistan and Zambia - not exactly well known for their progressiveness - celebrate International Women's Day as a public holiday.

So do you think the UK should follow suit?

An addiction of the worse kind. The Daily Hate Mail's sidebar wall of shame.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Photograph: You know: Daily Hate Mail

I have a confession to make: I have a secret addiction, I am ashamed of it - so I have to hide it from everyone, that is, until today. As they say the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Well, here goes nothing, my name is Raging Leftie and I am a Daily Mail sidebar of shame addict. I have been sober for 15 hours and counting.

God, that actually feels so good getting it out in the open, I have held onto the shame of it for such a long time and quite frankly I have just let myself go about my life in a state of utter denial. Going through life as if everything was okay, when deep down in my subconscious I was repressing a desire so sordid and so depraved that I could not even admit to myself that my entire life is based on nothing more than a lie.

I feel like I just admitted to killing someone (which I have) and I am just telling them where to find the candlestick (which they will never find). Now, to be serious, for those of you who have never come across the Daily Mail or their lovely tabloid side-bar – welldone I don't know how you've done it. Now let me describe it to you in a few choice sentences:

It portrays humanity at its finest i.e. shows the very dredges of it, in bikinis, on yachts and with their tits hanging out.
It addresses serious philosophical questions such as the nautre of nip-slips, VPL and cellulite.
It features articles about people who really make a difference to society, like fucking Kim Kardashian and her never ending pimply ass and how it saved the world (maybe the aliens mistook it for a planet).
It gets all the most important news to you i.e. pap-shots of little children hiding their tiny little faces from the bright lights or some nobody leaving a club and getting into a taxi with another nobody who turns out was secretly bonking another nobody.

I'm told that the Daily Mail's sidebar is very popular with Americans - hence the majority of content being about American nobodies - but why are we in the UK expected to bloody care about them? It seems we do though at least a little, the Daily Heil had 79 million unique visitors last October that is around 20 million more people than the population of the entire of the UK visiting the website from hell in one single month. Which is a real shame because the Daily Mail in general is an abysmal excuse for a newspaper, most famous for their scare-mongering tactics, their oh maybe I should just make another list, here goes, they are:

Racist
Misogynist
Royalist
Homophobic
Xenophobic
Sensationalist
EU-phobes
Obsessed with sex, sex, sex
Obsessed with crime
Obsessed with EU
Obsessed with Burkas
Obsessed with errrrr Mum's Net
Obsessed with foreigners
Obsessed with the causes of illness based on little or no actual evidence
And of course one cannot forget that they are all right-wing Tory scum (although they are fickle and have been known to flim-flam based on what they believe will sell more papers). *

So based on all of that you better stop what you bloody well doing, yes you, right now, put the mug down! Because you are most definitely doing something, sitting on something, listening to something or putting something into your mouth which unavoidably will cause you to develop CANCER!! Or maybe just rabies or of course it could be HIV, perhaps gonorrhoea, in fact it would be best for you and the rest of the world, if you just wrapped yourself up in three rolls of bubble wrap and never left the house again.

So are you an addict? Join DMA today and come with me on my quest to defeat the sagging, bright orange naked little poodle because together we cannot be beaten.

* I would give links but I just can't bring myself to do it.

P.S. You have to watch this video if you haven't before Dan&Dan, it's been around for a while but just as pertinent today.

Will Smith..in London with Tessa Jowell and Chuka Umunna.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:41:00 +0000

Photograph: LabourList

Did a wake-up in an alternative universe? Where good-looking famous actors hang out with British MPs on wet Thursday mornings. Very bizarre even if I do say so myself.

True story.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:11:00 +0000

Photograph: Lefty Cartoons

This is the reality of our current society. Everyone talking about the grand plans, talking about politics with a big p, talking about how to save the frikkin' economy. When the little people at the bottom of society, the voiceless ones, they get ignored, exploited and trodden on by the big boots of the politicians. What will make them sit up and take notice? Nothing short of a revolution I'm sure...and I'm only half kiddin' friends.

Ladies against Feminism. Talking about it.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Photograph: Girl's Lost in the City

Talking about feminism is hard, you know how it is don't you? People make all sorts of assumptions about what you are and what you stand for before you have even opened your mouth. I get you, I really, really do. You may have joined in the anti-women/anti-feminist office banter, laughed along with the others. I don't blame you and nor should anyone else. We all have things about ourselves which we don't like to discuss for fear of being mocked - but being a feminist shouldn't be one of them.

You know how they say (whoever they actually are - probably google) that you shouldn't talk sex, politics or religion over dinner - well they're right - not unless you want to get into an God-almighty fight with the people you love most in the world because the 'real' them is so different to the person you thought he/she was and your illusions are shattered forever (maybe a slight exaggeration, but not by much!). As I have talked about before, the perpetuation of certain myths surrounding feminism are in a large way responsible for making people think that they know what a feminist is and what they stand for without talking with a feminist.

Photograph: Not me! from: Lost Daughters

People tell me and I'm sure they tell you that feminism is stupid, feminists don't want equality, instead they want women to be more important than men and well that is just the craziest idea in the world, obviously. It is such a crazy idea but that is exactly what has happened, women have been degraded, abused, belittled, used and treated like a second-class (or third class) race for arguably thousands of years! Crazy right? But you know what, I know a lot of feminists who would only ever condone absolute equality between the sexes they wouldn't want a world where women are superior to men. The problem comes when people assume that we have already achieved that equality, WE HAVEN'T! Living in a Western society we do have some measure of equality and for that achievement we have to pay the price don't we? We have to be grateful, grateful to men for allowing us this slice of equality and freedom.

Men and some women too use all sorts of reasons to argue against feminism, one of my personal favourites is the 'tit for tat' argument against - when women say they are abused, men have to say that they get abused too, when women say that they get raped, men say that they get raped too, when women say that they face sexual discrimination or harassment in the work place, men say they do to...you get the idea. They think that just because a small minority of men get harassed in the workplace this automatically puts it on the same level as with women (perhaps because of the culturally ingrained idea that men don't get harassed?) pretending that men experience these problems to the same level or intensity as women is ridiculous

When women dare to complain about being objectified in the media, entertainment and pornography industry, men have to say 'But we do too!! Stop making it all about you!'. Do men have a barrage of 'advice' telling them how to look, how to live, how to cook, how to work, how to get that man, how to get the perfect body, how to get rid of your cellulite etc etc etc, from the minute they wake up in the morning to the minute they go to sleep at night. All the while being told by other women and men to: 'Get over it and stop making such a fuss.' Fuck you!

Just because feminists have had some measure of success in the Global North, does that mean we should ignore the many remaining flaws in our own society? Or that we shouldn't solidarity with women across the globe? *No it soddin' well doesn't, we have a long way to go before women as a majority of the population achieve full-on equality. I don't want to treat men like second class citizens, I don't want to stop them getting paid fairly, or stop them from going to university or put women in charge of their dicks. Some feminists would disagree with me, arguing that we need to put men in their place and take our turn at the top of the food-chain, but I don't think that most women or most feminists would want that (or men obviously), we have seen in so many ways what happens when one group is discriminated against (black people, homosexuals, the working class and women to name but a few)we've had enough of it to last forever so when eventually we do achieve true equality, we women will want focus on putting the past (including all kinds of discrimination) behind us instead putting our focus solidly on the future of our species.

* Feminists do not just stand up for the rights of other women but of anyone group which is being exploited, the working class, those discriminated because of race, the feminist group has for example very close ties with the LGBTQ 'movement'.

Thanks you my gentle reader.

Billy Bragg writes letter to David Heath about abolition of AWB. Wants photo removed!

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:17:00 +0000

Photograph: Politics Home

Billy Bragg called on David Heath to halt the AWB abolition, in the letter he includes a request for Heath to take down a rather chummy photograph on Heath's website. I can't blame him really, who would actually want to be connected to Heath? Bragg is right abolishing AWB is not going to do anyone any favours.

Women, feminism and pornography.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:10:00 +0000

Photograph: Zelda Lily

God this is a good question, much too good for me and my limited ramblings! I'm not even going to attempt to take on this absolutely huge, crazy topic yet. But I will make a few preliminary observations, anyone who has watched porn can see that it degrades women, what is that I hear you say? 'Not all porn surely?' Well no, not all of pornography is degrading to women, perhaps male gay porn isn't - an erection is something that you can't exactly fake it, can you? (whether it is morally acceptable is another question entirely - not the gay-porn but the porn in general). At the end of nearly every porn seen is the typical jizzfest, where a man (or men plural) ejaculates on the woman - at which point the film is usually over - except perhaps if it wants to degrade the woman even more.

The issue of pornography and feminism is a complex one with no simple answers, some such as Caroline MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin have argued in favour of the censorship of porn. But I can't help think that censorship of porn would create many more problems than it would solve, I mean isn't normally the people a law tries to protect which gets most negatively affected. Take the Canadian censorship against porn, the kind of which endorsed by both of the aforementioned feminists, the censorship affected lesbians and feminists the most - banned material was mostly taken from feminist shops!

I have to say that I agree with Betty Freidan who claims that pornography degrades everyone; the women, the men, the producers and those who watch it. That is not to say that porn doesn't in particular objectify and degrade women, which of course it does, but there is obviously a difference between pornography which just solidifies culturally ingrained concepts of sex and porn which violently degrades women as though they were mere objects.

Video of the week. Reinventing feminism.

noreply@blogger.com (HIPPIE-LAND) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:19:00 +0000

Video: Youtube: Ted Talks

An interesting video that's been around for a while. Courtney Martin discussing how to reinvent feminism.