Among Decent Folk

*Gling*

Jake turned, shoulders tense.

“Morning, Jacob.” Sheriff Marcus strode into the shop, fragments of eggshell crunching beneath his boots.

“Thank God you’re here. We’ve been…” Jake waved an arm at ‘Blasphemer’ scrawled across the window.

Marcus sighed, then held out a letter. “Council’s withdrawn your business license.”

“What! But I’m the—”

“Listen. Maybe it’s fine on the Coast. But, round here, you need to be discrete, not flaunt your habits in a public park. Jupiter’s sake. There were children watching! You can’t walk around with the symbol of some ancient Jewish terrorist on your jacket.”

No Person’s Land

Do black lives matter? Of course they do. But my reaction to the movement of the same name is less definite. Because the movement is less definite.

Turn-About Isn’t Fair Play

Someone pointed me at this video as a great demonstration that minorities can’t be racist. Unsurprisingly, I find it instead supports a middle ground: minorities can be racist, but have fewer opportunities both to be unregenerately prejudiced and to be prejudiced at all.

Uncanny Cliffs

This morning, the rather skilled Loren Eaton poked me about Manchester’s Beetham Tower. His post is embedded below, and my thoughts follow.

First Is All That Matters?

The tendency to leap to the worst conclusions revealed in this talk almost made me abandon Twitter altogether:

A Pareto of Prejudice

Caitlyn Jenner’s decision to present as female has been in the news recently, as have reactions to it from various people and organisations. And, being interested in equal rights, those perspectives have been a frequent feature of various of my social media streams. My stance on her right to become more comfortable with herself hasn’t changed. But the ongoing discussion has raised issues about other people’s search for comfort.

The Stories That We Tell Ourselves

Yesterday’s Guardian contained an article by Eva Wiseman exposing the difference between critics’ descriptions of male and female departures from the mainstream: what in a male artist might be termed insight or genius is often labelled quirkiness when displayed by a female artist. While I don’t agree with the gender binary, I definitely agree there is a bias here: between the worthy expression of suffering in the traditional voice of the literary white male and the unvalued expression of suffering in the many voices of the other, whether literary, white, male, or otherwise. A bias that not only supports privileges but also damages mental health.

Membership of Humanity is Not Restricted

Over the last few days, many of the blogs and persons I follow have made reference to this article which suggests “douchebag” as an appropriate pejorative label for white people. While I agree with much of it, there is one area I strongly contest: increasing prejudice as a social good.

Voyeurs of Destruction as Beauty

I watched Afghan, Pardis Parker‘s award-winning film, this morning.

I found it an excellent example of how violence need not be met with violence. I also saw many similarities to my creative process.