Misanthropic

Am I a misanthrope? Perhaps. The past few weeks would certainly indicate that I am veering ever closer to becoming one. Lately, I've been surprised by just how stupid, reactionary, and intolerable this world has become. What I've become most bothered by, and this could be due to my occupation, is the unabashed hateful, attacks on the LGBT community, and the unrelenting assault/backlash on feminism. Oh surprise! Yes, I have often ridiculed and critiqued aspects of the women's movement for it's classism, racism, and ethnocentrism (to name a few), and I grapple with the direction it is currently heading in, but these critiques are quite different from the overtly stupid people who fear/ridicule the movement, poke fun of people they don't like, or still believe it is "male-bashing." Did I say stupid?

1. The homophobe. Hands-down the homophobe is the most irritating person to deal with. Whether it be the booster club at Gonzaga State chanting "Brokeback Mountain" to the opposing teams, or a machete wielding fool in New Bedford, Mass, or a personal acquaintance/friend/family member, the homophobe's irrationality regarding sexuality is laughable, idiotic, and DANGEROUS. I've had to deal with this kind of behavior from my own family members, but I refuse to suffer these fools in my own life/friendships.

2. The anti-feminist. Closely related to the homophobe, the anti-feminist is a deeply insecure individual that lacks the intellectual ability to re-imagine a world not based on sexist, racist, classist, or homophobic relationships. The anti-feminist comes in a number of different guises: the right wing reactionary, the elitist, intellectual snob who snubs the discipline of feminist inquiry because it is "soft" and supposedly "anti-intellectual," or the threatened male/female who believes feminist analyses are nothing but victim-spewing vile. Like other social movements, feminism certainly has its share of troubles and internal divisions, but to dismiss the movement altogether is just stupid and dumb. And, I personally, am quite tired of idiots.

3. The "I blame Katrina victims for not leaving when they had a chance" dumb ass. Oh, really? Wow. Recent reports indicate that most charitable foundations have now run out of money, or at least exhausted 2/3 of received donations. Great. J told me about an interview she recently watched with "Brownie." When Shrub and Dick asked Brownie to assess the situation in New Orleans, Brownie reportedly stated: 90% of people living in the region have been displaced. To which Shrub responds, 90%, huh? So, what happened? 11,000 trailers became ruined because the federal government couldn't get it together, and people still don't know whether their family members/friends are still alive, and death and decay are everywhere while people are back to drinking it up on Bourbon Street. Mardi Gras my ass. It makes me sick.

4. The "we are making progress in Iraq" fool. Have you checked the death count lately? Civilian deaths are anywhere between 28,000-32,000. When Shrub was televised over the weekend expressing worry over an impending Civil War in Iraq, I just had to fucking laugh. We had a teach-in at another university where my colleagues were predicting a civil war . . . now the Bush administration is worried? Give me a fucking break. Our teach in was over three years ago.

Wars, natural disasters, homophobes and anti-feminists have my blood boiling these days. And, yet, somehow we can all manage to turn on our computers, open newspapers/magazines to see if Britney is pregnant again, to see if Tom and Katie are going to stay together, to see if the Olsen twins are eating, or any other stupid item that now counts as "news" in this overly saturated, celebrity-obsessed culture.