Skip to main content

No, That Bird Does Not Make You a Pirate (and other fallacies)

Dear Kristi Merritt (and anyone who thinks she has a point with this stunt, below)



No, the Seahawks jersey, helmet, and football do not make you Russell Wilson, but then they aren't what make Russell Wilson, Russel Wilson, either. Russell Wilson is Russell Wilson because of WHO HE IS, not because of what he wears.

Mexicans don't all wear sombreros, drink beer, and eat tortilla chips - you're thinking of Americans who celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Have you ever been to Mexico? Mexicans are light, dark, black, brown, white, Asian, African, European, Native - just like in the United States. Mexico is a nation of immigrants, just like the United States and Canada. Just like every other country in the Americas, it's population is a blend of peoples from EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Also, did I mention that Mexicans don't all wear sombreros, any more than all Americans wear cowboy hats. So no, your sombrero doesn't make you look Mexican. It makes you look like a gringa loca.

Pirate? No - these are pirates:



It's not the dress that makes you a woman, any more than your trousers in all your other shots make you a man. It's not the clothes. It's your identity - the same thing that keeps YOU from being Russell Wilson, Mexican, a pirate, or a decent and compassionate human being. If you think it's about clothing, you're sorely mistaken. As RuPaul Charles said, "We are all born naked, everything else is drag." .

Identity is internal. Clothing is an external reflection of your identity, it doesn't define you. In fact, it works the other way around. Before you invalidate the identities of others, perhaps you should take a moment to try to understand their reality - one in which people like you would rather see them attacked,  mocked, ridiculed, and made the butt of jokes repeatedly, or seen as entertainment rather than whole human beings just like you and me and everyone we know.

How would you feel if your child was told that they couldn't be themselves? Pick any aspect of their personality - now tell them that they not only have to hide and deny that aspect of their identity, but that they actively have to suppress it and act out the opposite to be considered "normal". Your child that loves football is forbidden from playing, watching, or dreaming about the NFL. They must instead take up knitting. Your child that loves to hike is locked inside the house and forbidden from so much as sitting in a sunbeam in the window. Or flip it. That is what it is like to be a trans* person in the United States.

All because of people like you who think it's disgusting that the person pissing next to you might have a different set of plumbing through an accident of birth. #ijustneedtopee

By the way - you shouldn't be looking. I guarantee you that they aren't.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

On Shithole Countries: Why do we need Haiti to be our nigger?

So last week, our Witless Leader referred to Haiti (and El Salvador, as well as African nations collectively) as “ shithole countries ”, and while the language itself is reprehensible, I don’t think that should be our focus. Rather we need to examine our need to label countries as “shitholes”, and what that says about us, collectively. It’s racism, plain and simple. Not the racism of individual people who hold racist notions, or subscribe to racist ideologies, but Endemic Institutional Racism. Of course there is an interest in labeling Haiti as a “shithole countr[y]” - because Haiti is the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, and the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt. If it’s a “shithole”, a failed State, then it just “proves” that Black and Brown people simply can’t govern themselves. We in the “civilized” West have made an example of Haiti 🇭🇹 . Why? ...

Oprah Winfrey is not the Messiah you are looking for.

Oprah Winfrey is not our Messiah. She cannot solve the problems of America. No one is. No one person can. Nor should we want them to. Oprah doesn't have perfect judgement. Remember, she supported and promoted the likes of Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, Jenny McCarthy, and other charlatans who prey upon/pander to the less well-educated members of our society. Not everyone who is good at what they do, and effective where they are, would translate to a good President. Oprah  would be much more effective doing what she does best - rallying public opinion to a cause and getting more people involved in the process. I love  Elizabeth Warren  - or rather, I love Senator  Elizabeth Warren . In the Senate. Stirring shit up, calling out bullshit, protecting and serving her constituency. I would hate to see her hands (and mouth) tied up in the Presidency, where she would have to walk both sides and make compromises to get actual work done. I love  Kshama Sawant . Having a Soc...

How to Make Dandelion Wine - wikiHow

How to Make Dandelion Wine - wikiHow Interesting article. Totally random how I came across it - as most things in my life tend to be (did you catch the name of the blog?) and I've decided to do it. As my boyfriend says, the more random, the more unique, the more likely I am to do it. He's not entirely wrong in this guess-timate of my nature. Probably not wrong at all... ...so who's up for collecting dandelions with me?