May 2011
April 2011
“If someone makes some questionable decisions and hits a run of bad luck and can’t afford a television, then he goes without television and it’s fine. If there’s a car crash and there’s an injured man on the side of the road, then letting him die because he has no savings isn’t an ethically acceptable option.”
—Matt Yglesias, on why we can’t treat healthcare like every other consumption good. (via letterstomycountry)
The two big news stories this week have been:
A) A young couple being exalted and celebrated and treated as more worthy & special than all the rest of us, for no reason but the family they were born into, or are marrying into.
and
B) A man who started from nothing, yet pulled himself up to the highest of heights and became an inspiration to millions..who through a lifetime commitment to hard work, scholarship and integrity has achieved things that 200 years of history had judged impossible..but who still, after all that, is being treated as less worthy than the rest of us, as less than a man, less than a citizen, simply because of the family/race/skin he was born into.
You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for the royal wedding.
“I like to go home, hug my parents, drink chai with my mom, watch Hindi movies and re-Indianize two days a week before I re-emerge into the filth that is progressive liberal white America in trendy Williamsburg.”
—Questions for Das Racist - NYTimes.com
“We need to eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.”
—Barack Obama (via laveeenrose)
“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”
—Mary Oliver (via thegirlsguidetohappiness)
“Porque las almas ni son hombres ni mujeres”
—
Novelas amorosas de María de Zayas y Sotomayor, 1637
Translation: Because souls are neither male nor female
(Submitted by amorestavivo)
“…while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.”
—Audre Lorde (via weknowsolittle)
“Some may blackly (angrily) accuse me of trying to blacken (defame) the English language, to give it a black eye (a mark of shame) by writing such black words (hostile). They may denigrate (to cast aspersions) me by accusing me of being blackhearted (malevolent), of having a black outlook (pessimistic) on life, of being a blackguard (scoundrel)- which would certainly be a black mark (detrimental fact) against me. Some may black brow (scowl at) at me and hope that a black cat crosses in front of me because of this black deed. I may become a black sheep, who will be blackballed (ostracized) by being placed on a blacklist in an attempt to blackmail or blackjack (compel by threat) me will have a Chinaman’s chance of success, for I am not a yellow-bellied Indian-giver of words, who will whitewash (cover up or gloss over) a black lie (harmful, inexcusable). I challenge the purity and innocence (white) of the English language. I don’t see things in black and white (entirely bad or entirely good) terms, for I am a white man (marked by upright firmness) if there ever was one. However, it would be a black day when I would not “call a spade a spade,” even though some will suggest that a white man calling the English language racist is like the pot calling the kettle black. While many may be niggardly (grudging, scanty) in their support, others will be honest and decent- and to them I say, that’s very white of you (honest, decent).”
—Robert B. Moore, “Racist Stereotyping in the English Language” (via supporterleschenilles)
“Suggesting that women have abortions for “convenience” diminishes the hard work of women and is beyond insulting. Living my dream is my right. Not having my body hijacked, especially when I am doing everything possible to prevent pregnancy, is my right. I refuse to be told that my dreams are inconvenient and should be sacrificed.”
—Abortion Gang, Inconvenient Dreams (via ghouldilocks)
“Because when we find ourselves believing that killing a man makes us more of a man, but loving a man makes us less of a man, it’s probably time to reexamine our criteria for manhood.”
—Jay Smooth, founder of New York City’s longest-running hip hop radio program, WBAI’s Underground Railroad and video blogger. (via spunkywarcannon)
