Category: Current Events

How to Get Rid of Political Dynasties

hilaryBefore typing the title for this blog post, I had not noticed that the word dynasty has the word “nasty” in it. Don’t get me wrong. I was excited and warmed by the Hillary for America video in which Ms. Clinton announced her intention to run for office.
Ah, America, the bastion of liberal democracy, who has yet to vote in a female chief. How ironic that EIGHT Muslim countries (including Pakistan and Bangladesh) who did so decades ago. Perhaps we are finally going to have a female president. Hilary is an amazing candidate.

In this announcement video we saw none of the entitlement in her 2008 run-off. “I’m going to work for your vote,” she says with a sparkly smile. Yes, this is more of the tone we want to see not the anger against an upstart young senator.

And yet the fact that this next election may come down to two candidates from two political families, the Clintons versus the Bushes, chills me.

We are faced with the wife of one president and the son/brother of two others.

The 2008 and 2012 elections were vituperative, drawing deep gouges between families, friends, and co-workers.

The 2016 election is going to be an all out war. Brace yourselves world. You haven’t seen a battle like this one.

A Complete Guide to Preventing Rape

Several high profile rape cases in the United States and India have increased our willingness to talk about violence against women. Much of the discussion has involved head scratching and puzzlement. What can we do? Why do men think they can behave this way? Do our laws protect the injured?

Violence against women is a men’s issue. Not in the way the “Every Religion Protects Women” campaign intends. The idea that women need protection by men from other men kicks the can down the road. What happens that afternoon you’re walking home and there is no one to protect you?

The message of this video is that good men come from all religions. This is an important message, given the current rise in Hindu conservatism (think the Christian right in the U.S.) in India.

Yet the idea that women need protecting from evil male intentions is predicated on patriarchy. Only a good man can beat a bad man; not a woman who speaks for herself or reminds men what is permissible in public.
Your thoughts?

Using Humor to Defeat ISIS

This is the 3rd week of Lent which means Easter is around the corner.

I vowed to speak out against injustice instead of giving up something this year.

The group calling itself the Islamic State, beheads civilians, indiscriminate of nationality, and also presents a false image of Islam.

Humor can also combat darkness. I wasn’t equally swayed by all these parodies, but the last sequence had me giggling.

What do you think? Funny? Or bad taste?