It's All So Insufferable
*Note: A good chunk of this first section was written earlier in the week when I was having a very bad day, so the tone is a bit stronger than usual for me. Just wanted to give some context to the rant.
I don't know about anyone else but I am so damn sick and tired of...well damn-near everything. I'm sick of the snap judgments people make (especially online). I'm sick of the piling on and groupthink that seems to have invaded everything. I'm sick of the us-vs-them mentality. I'm sick of the people who, no matter what, are wired so that all roads lead back to them and whatever it is that they are into/doing. I'm sick of the lack of nuance. I'm sick of the lack of decent reporting. I'm sick of how things are just so freaking fake. I'm sick of the manufactured outrages. I'm sick of the actual things people should be outraged about getting swept under the rug. I'm sick of snobs, assholes, polemics, holier-than-thous, narcissists, bigots, stans, blind partisans, fanatics, people who shit on kids for being kids, zealots, dogpilers, supper needy people, people who act super entitled, people who refuse to try to work/figure things out for themselves, people who refuse to ask questions, people who think they have all of the answers, people who can't take a hint, people who automatically assume the worst about others, people who completely ignore experts, experts who overly moralize and/or go outside of their lanes, most pop-culture related podcasts (why have so many gotten so bad?), people who treat their opinions as facts, people who ignore facts that go against their preferred narrative, people who distort and/or take facts out of context to push their preferred narrative, people with obnoxious agendas, people who are overly obnoxious, people who are way too into themselves and their own shit, people who either cannot or refuse to see things from others' points of view, people who are constantly trying to put themselves over, people who take Twitter way too seriously, people who read some "news stories" online and think that they know all there is to know about some situation, people who feel the need to post their every single thought or feeling or opinion on social media (seriously, no one cares), and finally, people who lack compassion, empathy, and understanding for their fellow human beings. Look, I know that I am far, far from perfect (I am literally my biggest critic and think I suck) but at least I try my best to actually care about other people.
Speaking of Insufferable...
Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge has filed two bills that are mindboggling.
First is Senate Bill 1142, which states --
“No public school district, public charter school, or public school library shall maintain in its inventory or promote books that make as their primary subject the study of sex, sexual preferences, sexual activity, sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, or gender identity or books that are of a sexual nature that a reasonable parent or legal guardian would want to know of or approve of prior to their child being exposed to it."
Here's the kicker (also from the KFOR story linked above) --
If signed into law, a parent could request the district remove the book in question from the shelf. If the book isn’t pulled in 30 days, then parents could take the district to court. If the judge rules in favor of the parents, the district could have to face monetary damages including a minimum of $10,000 for each day the book stayed on the shelf after the request.
The Oklahoman newspaper quoted Standridge as stating --
“We’ve got a public school library that has extreme influence and power and control over children that are promoting and pushing all these sex-related books on children without the parents’ knowledge or approval."
There's so much that is just factually incorrect in this statement. Speaking as someone who works in a public library, knows numerous public school librarians, and interacts with school-aged children on a nearly daily basis, I can say with the utmost certainty that no school library or librarian has "extreme influence and power and control over children." Has Sen. Standridge met any school-aged children recently?
Oh, but that was just the first one.
Second is Senate Bill 1470, which states --
No public school of this state, as defined pursuant to Section 1-106 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, shall employ or contract with a person that promotes positions in the classroom or at any function of the public school that is in opposition to closely held religious beliefs of students.
And if something like this did happen in a classroom, the bill would give parents the same basic avenue to file their grievances as SB 1142.
I heard about this bill after a friend retweeted Occupy Democrats' tweet --
After reading this tweet I had two immediate thoughts --
Wow, that is messed up.
I wonder if this is for real?
Forgive me for not blindly believing Occupy Democrats but they are about as unbiased and trustworthy as Sean Hannity. So, I did some digging and found SB 1470 on LegiScan. Even then I was skeptical, so I went digging in the Oklahoma Legislature's website and did an advanced search of the 2022 session for bills authored by Sen. Standridge and found it (linked above). Yes, this thing is for real.
What strikes me about both of these proposed bills, other than their obvious unconstitutionality and absurdity, is how much they remind me of the abortion law passed in Texas last year. Now I am not a lawyer, law expert, or scholar of the law but the fact that these two proposed bills also hinge on the supposed aggrieved party suing, in this case, a school that results in the defendant paying what amounts to be a fine to whoever is bringing the case. This is so creepy and so very 1984.
Here is what I would really like to know. How do these two bills actually promote anyone's liberty or freedom? How are these not anything more than modes of oppression and censorship? It's bad enough that we have school boards unanimously voting to, for all intents and purposes, ban books from public school libraries. Seriously, the expansion of freedom, representation, and equity is not a zero-sum game. We've got to stop with the "freedom for me but not for thee" mentality, otherwise we will be living under some version of Big Brother.
Someone Who Understands Nuance
Earlier this week, former Democratic Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson, who by the way got completely shafted during that campaign, waded into the Spotify/Joe Rogan “discourse” with one of the few nuanced and reasonable takes that I have seen.
I am not wading into the shit-storm that is the whole Spotify debate because so much of it comes off as completely ridiculous, disingenuous, and performative. If artists want to pull their music from the service then that is their right and if someone wants to keep using Spotify because they find it to be a good service then that is their right too. I use Spotify on a daily basis. I also regularly purchase music and merch directly from artists and record labels. Heck, as I write this it is the first BandCamp Friday of 2022 and I have spent over $85 on CDs and digital music. You can support artists and use Spotify. Then again holding reasonable opinions generally doesn’t get you a lot of likes and retweets so…
One Band, 5 Songs
This week on the podcast, I dove into the career of a band that I’d always liked but had not appreciated as much as I should have until now, the Beastie Boys!
I’ve Probably Said Enough for Now…
Hopefully, next week will be better and I won’t get so incredibly pissed off (seriously, I was super angry and I’m amazed that I didn’t cuss some fools out). So, please do me a favor, stay safe, be kind and…
I want this first part to be sung by Rev. Norb on a Boris the Sprinkler album