I was going to wait to write about something serious until I returned home next week after leaving tomorrow but I have to say this now, while I’m still fairly ticked off about it. (So. Read this and then go have some fun with the limerick post below, please. I might need some laughs after this…)
I have seen the double standard work against me and I have seen it work in my favor. I am allowed to bash men and do whatever I want with “my body” at any time and fear no repercussion. I am not allowed to sleep with multiple sex partners, a new one every night should I so choose, without being labeled something less than savory and I’m not allowed to speak my mind forthrightly without being called something akin to a feminine canine of sorts. Sometimes they work for me, sometimes against me.
No matter what, I hate them. I abhor them with every fiber of intelligence in my brain, every piece of what assists me in looking at life rationally and logically and lets me say, “This doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t anyone else see it?”
I’ve already recently written about the double standard men face when women feel they have the right tell say, “Well, men do have a say in reproduction! They can say no. They can put on a condom. They can have the ‘what will we do if we get pregnant’ talk with the woman they are with before sex” and then seem to forget that they themselves also have these rights at the same moments. These women then take the liberty to say, “But if the man decides to do it anyway and we get pregnant, his rights and choices end there, baby.” Double standard.
What about this new one that irks me to no end? Some of the faculty/staff are allowed to provide reading material to these freshman that further their viewpoints, their political agenda, their “rights” but this librarian cannot? And, furthermore, he’s accused of sexual harrassment for asking that another, possibly opposing, viewpoint be seen? What is wrong with both being seen for the sake of levity and choice?
It’s the same with religion, sex, gender, etc. It’s all become a political bent, a way of forcing people to think one way or another simply by mocking or shutting up the “other side”’s voice in the affair. Christians are made fun with cartoons and billboards but we cannot say a thing about Islam. (See B&N and Dutch cartoons.) Saying that you disagree with homosexuality means you are intolerant (not necessarily true) and evil. Saying you think that Jesus is the Christ means that you are old-fashioned and outdated. Saying that men are strong and capable creatures is a disgusting habit (and, if you’re a woman, you’ve been brainwashed). Even to the point of women choosing to stay home with their own children…oh, my! What have these men done to you?
Any idea that isn’t PC these days is hushed, silenced, pushed behind and left for dead. No intelligent person thinks that men are the stronger sex. We should strive to be androgynous. (Forget the biological differences that we just can’t seem to get rid of, darnit. We’re working on the Supreme Court to outlaw those, too.) Christianity is so last week! Everyone knows that Jesus was just a prophet, a wise man, yes, but no one of other importance. Women have the right to a multitude of choices at any point in time but once the man whips his penis out, his choices are few, if any remain at all.
I’m sick of this double standard. What happened to free speech? To the right to speak your mind and, even if no one wanted to hear, at least you could say it without being slammed for your incorrect thinking? (Yes…I know this is not new and, well, free speech has never really been a free-for-all.)
Don’t think that because you’ve read this post you know anything about my views on any of the subjects above. I’m a hard person to follow when it comes to beliefs and ideals but I have strong reasons to back them all up. I only ask one thing: Let everyone have their say. Sure, I look around and abhor some of the speech that I hear, some of the words I read, some of the actions I see. I have the right to be disgusted or angered or saddened. I don’t have the right to force my view on anyone just because I disagree. I don’t have the right to say that my view is the only one that people should see/hear/discuss because your view doesn’t fit into my own personal worldview.
I don’t have the right to call you racist because you’re anti-affirmative action if I can’t call you racist because you are actively pro-affirmative action and call for more [fill in the blank with any particular minority in race, ability, creed, etc.] in this or that position. I don’t have the right to call you sexist because you put down women left and right if I can’t call you sexist if you bash men all the time. I don’t have the right to call your religion bunk simply because I see the horrors of the Inquisition if I can’t call your religion bunk if you actively call for suicide bombers to take their lives and others.
When did free speech come to mean “free only if it furthers the viewpoint of a minority or long-repressed faction of the world”?
When did politically correct come to mean “correct only if the standpoint comes from someone whose kindred group has, in the past, had a reason to complain about repression, suppression, coercion, and/or constraint”?
Why do we swing from one extreme to the other without realizing that there is a middle, more moderate ground that we can stand on without tilting at a 45 degree angle that switches directions every few minutes? Why can’t opinions be just that and choices be good enough for everyone?
Why do I have to think your way instead of both of us thinking our own way?
We are supposedly becoming more civilized as we progress in society. I don’t see it at all. I see the same sins committed in new and varying ways.
I guess we’ll never learn from our mistakes.
What have OTHERS said in response?