Thursday 23 April 2015

Relativity



What right have I to complain, cry or moan about anything in my life? I live in a beautiful, safe home where there are flowers growing in the back garden and farms and fields fully surrounding me. I have both my parents' full and loving support at the drop of a hat. I have grown up in an area of outstanding natural beauty. I have been to excellent schools for free all my life. I have a large number of people in my world who love me, understand me, and encourage me. Each year my parents have managed to pay for my sister and I to have glorious summer holidays in wonderful countries around the world, and each Christmas we receive gifts, food and warmth.

I do not live in a country plagued with war. I have not watched my family die of a preventable disease, nor seen my village wiped out by an epidemic. I have never had to fight for my education, nor been utterly stripped of any other fundamental human rights. My parents don't have to pay for my health care. I can speak my mind against bodies of power and authority without being beaten senseless in front of a crowd of onlookers or imprisoned or tortured. I can vote in elections. I can wear what I wish, and marry whomever I please. My rights and thoughts and way of life can be oppressed and discriminated against but by society and not by a government with the aim of "keeping me safe". I live in the West, where the general attitude is to uphold democracy and protect all rights wherever possible, and so in most cases I will be protected or supported simply by a general consensus. 

I still complain about the electoral system in the UK, moan about the inaccuracy and unfairness of the education system and cry about most of my personal hurdles and dissatisfaction with life. They say everything is relative but where, exactly, is the truth in this? 

Thursday 16 April 2015

I am still a feminist.



This is a short one but it is in response to the "Why I'm Not a Feminist" video by Lauren Southern that recently went viral.

Men's issues are entirely included in my view of feminism and the same goes for every feminist I know. In fact, I have not met one feminist who has not defended complete equality which concerns the problems created by sexism for both sexes.

Men's issues are not the fault of women, but the fault of a perpetuating patriarchal society and attitude towards genders. This does not mean that all men are to blame, and that all men do not suffer as a result of this. There is little to dispute, however, the scale or impact of one over the other. I believe in the equality of both men and women, but only one of them has been severely oppressed for hundreds of years and only recently emancipated.

I am still a feminist. Feminism means the belief in equality, for both man and woman, and it always will.

Monday 6 April 2015

How free are you?

Some people would argue that none of us are free. We are controlled by a state that uses the media to perpetuate fearfulness of everything. Fear of death, illness, homelessness, poverty, the Terror. This fear is then counteracted by some ineffective solution, which normally involves buying stuff to make it all better so we then become constant consumers as well as victims of fear mongering.

The only thing we can't buy to make better is terrorism. So instead we assume the omnipotent state will do what is best and what is right for our safety. We stop asking them questions about it because they are literally the only solution to this terrible enemy, and so then they start to look at our private lives on our private online profiles which we were promised would be totally safe and private. This, of course, is how we will stop the Terrorists. By reading everyone's emails sans permission. Forget all other forms of communication like letter writing, phone calling and plain old speaking, emailing is the one way we will destroy the enemy. Your human rights might just be infringed a little along the way... Sorry. 

Okay so it's supposedly over now, GCHQ were wrong and exploitative and that is official as of 2015.  However, I know a surprisingly large amount of people who were completely fine about the government violating their privacy without their knowledge. This, they assure me, is for the greater good. Also, they say, our lives aren't even that interesting. 

This is a fantastic revelation. 

My life just isn't interesting enough for me to actually care about its privacy. I am so petrified of the Terror that I will literally give up my rights so that a futile attempt can be made to oust any vaguely suspicious looking men whilst villages are burned and innocent citizens are beheaded in a far off land that is confusing and alien to us. I don't mind if my small little life is intruded upon and my private conversations are read by some strange man in Cheltenham to basically no avail. The enemy must be defeated somehow, whoever that enemy might be. Fear the enemy. Fear, fear, terror, fear, war, fight, terror, fear. 

If you are constantly exposed to fear mongering news stories then you start to believe everything you are told. And once this happens, how free are you?