Hand of Ananke

I have seen a few Tumblrs understandably upset that the whole Laci Green issue has been getting more attention here than the really fucking disgusting threat made against the First Lady and the even more disgusting fact that the perp (yeah, he gets that title) is going to get away with it. That’s a fair charge to level at the Tumblr community so I’d like to address it.

It seems to me, that the threats against the FLoTUS, though they have not been addressed officially (and man does that piss me off) have been addressed pretty thoroughly at least throughout the left wing blogosphere and in the non-mainstream media. As such the news hit me, and I am sure a great many Tumblrs, though I really cannot know, by more main stream online outlets, ie Facebook. It was there that I expressed my outrage, sharing news of the act and discussing it there. I am sure there are people here who never even did that much, but for some, like me, I am sure it was a case of having already addressed it, we weren’t going to address it here.

Also there is the matter of accessibility. Tumblrs will never have the chance to address this jack ass, nor express to Mrs. Obama their concern for her well being, at least not in anyway that she is likely to see. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t write about it, but it does affect motivation to do so. With Laci Green, those angry with her, those defending her,and those like me who sit somewhere in the middle, feel like we can have a direct affect on the issue. This is the same reason we see people sending $700,000 to a bullied bus monitor, or reblogging info about an abused animal rather than see people post about Bradley Manning. It feels closer to our level, like something we can control.

On to the flipside. When called out for not expressing concern for Michelle Obama but being in a tizzy over the Laci Green affair, rather than blubbering and repeating your outrage over the latter’s treatment, how about agreeing that, yeah, what happened to Mrs. Obama was several orders of magnitude worse. She was threatened, by someone with obvious access to firearms, whose job it was to protect her. Had she been Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan they would already be assigning the firing squad for this bastard. By all means, still be concerned for Ms. Green, but a show of anger over what happened to the First Lady is far more appropriate than beating your chest and sobbing over your hurt feelings for being called out for it.

In the end there is no Michelle Obama v. Laci Green. I like Ms. Green, warts and all, and absolutely love the First Lady (Clinton and Roosevelt are the only two that even come close to her.) Concern isn’t some Malthusian resource. There is more than enough to go around. I can be upset at both issues, and so can you.

There has been quite the brouhaha about Ms. Green and her mis-steps on her Sex+ blog and her YouTube features. I want to address some of them, open up discussion about it, and invite her to discuss what she thinks of all of it, and what she has to say for her self.

• She has in the past made cis sexist comments: This one to me is kind of weak. Not that she has not done that, but she has thrown herself on her sword on this one, and frankly has put a lot of energy in Sex+ towards being a pretty OK ally.
• Her Islamophobic comments: This one pisses me off. I read the material in question. It definitely gave me the impression that she really believes that Islam as a whole is any more sexist than any other religion as a whole. I invite her to not just look at Mormonism, which he also directs quite a bit of ire toward, but the Bible itself. It is a highly misogynistic text and a how to guide to oppress women, if you want it to be. Quite a few Christians very much still want this. There are groups of Christians that still preach that it is a man’s duty to beat his wife. This is not to say all Christianity is like that, indeed that is my point. She paints with a very broad brush. There are Muslims the world over that are no more sexist than the average American. There are even those who are less so.
  Ms. Green’s apology on this matter was very weak, the typical “I am sorry that you were offended” kind. If you want to be a force for positive change, Ms. Green, you have to do better than this.
• Charges of lookism/fat phobia: This one I am not certain on. The only thing I have seen that might be taken as such was this. To me this cartoon was more of a stab at sexism and lookism. It is OK for men to look a certain way (true) but not women (false.) I could be wrong though and if there are other instance of this please let me know.

Finally, I want to say, the threats and harassment are kind of disgusting guys. Yes PoC and trans* folk deal with it on a daily basis. If anything you would think that would make us more aware of how crap that makes us feel and we would not want to wish that on anyone. Besides, it solves nothing. I have defended our right to use “die cis scum” to unrepentant cis sexists (I won’t with “cracker, not because I disagree with it, but because it is not my right to comment on that) but to consistently harass an individual is weak, we are all better than that.

So I’ve laid out what I have to say. Please share your thoughts Ms. Green, if you are still out there, the balls are in your court.

… if you’re going to judge me for reblogging something from someone who has fucked up, but that something I am reblogging is positive, go ahead and unfollow me. I bet each and everyone of you doing so has fucked up at some point. I bet each and every one of you have dodged owning it at least once. I can live with you not liking the people I like, or liking those I do not, but judging me for one or the other.