Occupy Wall Street: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, But It Will Be Blogged

Photo Courtesy: Peter Whitley

The revolution is being blogged, facebooked, tweeted, tumbled, youtubed, photographed, written about, and discussed.  Occupy Wall Street has been taking place for weeks in New York City.  Protestors began occupying Wall Street September 19th, 2011; many have not left, many continue to come.

Within in the first week or so it became clear the police were not trained knowing how to deal with peaceful protestors.

 Immortal Technique uses Occupy Wall Street as a platform:

Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West discuss the Occupation with Keith Olbermann

Today marks 30 days of the movement; Occupy Wall Street has moved out of NYC and protestors are occupying world wide!  Here is a video of Beethoven's 9th Ode to Joy played live in Madrid. The crowd raised their empty palms chanting "these are our weapons," a sign of their peaceful resistance.  It's a beautiful sight.

Citibank Customers Arrested for Closing Accounts.  Is this what they call customer service?

A message from Anonymous to the 99%:

I AM NOT MOVING- A short film: perspective.

"It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."-George Carlin

Do you stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement?  Have you been to any of the protests?  Comment below or email me shapedbymylife@gmail.com

Sticks & Stones: Follow Up about Bullying and DADT

Two days ago DADT was repealed and another LGBTQ teenager took his own life due to being bullied.  I wrote about both in the piece Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Sticks & Stones.

This morning, I came across this video on the Huffington Post from a republican debate, where the audience boos at a video played of a gay soldier, who asks the candidates, "Do you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?" 

Rick Santorum responds: "Any sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military and the fact that they're making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege, to uh, in uh, in removing don't ask don't tell, I think tries to inject social policy into the military and the military's job is to do one thing and that is to defend our country; we need to give the military which is all volunteer, the ability to do so in a way that is most efficient and protected...(lost because the crowd erupted into applause)...and I believe this undermines that ability." 

He is then asked by host Megyn Kelly, "What would you do with soldiers like Stephen Hill?"

Santorum's response: "What we're doing is playing social experimentation, uh, with our military right now and that's tragic. I would just say that going forward we would re-institute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual." 

Santorum states that he would re-institute DADT, saying he wouldn't throw out anyone who under this policy who had come out in the military.  Yes, because if DADT was made policy again, people who were in the military would feel safe and accepted and not feel like they should leave, if they had been open about their sexual orientation and now they shouldn't.  What kills me about this entire discussion is that sexual orientation has nothing to do with a person's ability to perform any task, which includes the ability to serve in the military.   We can ask people to volunteer to fight to protect this country, the very country which doesn't accept them for who they are or give them to decency, common courtesy, or basic human rights that any heterosexual receives?  "Sex isn't the issue" The only correct thing he said, but out of context. Repealing DADT isn't condoning or allowing open sexual behavior between any two people, gay/lesbian/or straight, it's simply allowing anyone who isn't heterosexual to not have to hide their sexual orientation.

This is why bullying is a big deal. Children are taught by adults who boo a person for their orientation that not everyone deserves to be treated as a human being, and then grow up to be those kind of adults as well, perpetuating close-minded, hateful adults.

Photo Courtesy: ACLU.org

What is your reaction to watching the video?  Do you believe DADT should ever be re-instated as policy?  Do you agree or disagree that this is a form of bullying?  Comment below or email me shapedbymylife@gmail.com
 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Sticks & Stones

The idiom of "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" is so far from the truth for anyone who has ever experienced bullying, child or adult, it's like an added slap in the face to act as if it's not a serious matter to be dealt with.  People can be mean and hateful and they aren't always aware of how detrimental their words can be to the person they are directed towards.

This is why having dichotomous views about anything can be so harmful.  It creates this mentality that there is a right and wrong way, a good and bad; the right race, the right sex,  the right way to look or dress, the right sexual orientation, and anything else is wrong or abnormal and has to be accepted.  While I'm very aware that discrimination comes in many forms, today I will focus on discrimination based on one's sexual orientation. 

I got home from a very long day yesterday, after taking the GRE, I read that the country was given great news yesterday morning that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy of the military has been repealed!  Finally!  If we can ask people to serve for this country and fight for our freedoms, they too deserve the same rights and freedoms and shouldn't have to fight for acceptance for being who they are. 

And then the reality of what it means to grow up in a world where acceptance and tolerance of all is not what everyone feels and that hate crimes continue to occur, more and more in the younger generation of non-heterosexuals, another suicide of a teenager who was bullied was reported on Jezebel.  Words do hurt! And not everyone who partakes in bullying even acknowledges they are doing just that.  A bully isn't just the tough guy who instills fear into you by being aggressive in every action he takes, bullying is more subtle and at times brushed aside with some of the most unhelpful advice like, "just ignore them; if they know they aren't getting to you, then they will stop."  Bullying are the comments of "that's so gay" (using any word that someone identifies with as derogatory implies there is something unacceptable about it).

The school claims they did all they could to help Jayme, but did they?  Why is counseling the person who is getting harassed the answer?  Why not hold an awareness, acceptance, & tolerance assembly?  You can't force kids to utilize counseling services provided by a school, however, you can require attendance at an assembly.  Why not educate the school, students and staff, about varying backgrounds/preferences and break the "good vs bad" mentality?  I know that bullying and harassment is not something that is easily dealt with, the victims often feel that if they do tell, it could only get worse.  But it gets better!

This is a safe place for all! Have you experienced bullying?  What else do you think can be done to create community and acceptance for all? Comment below or email me shapedbymylife@gmail.com