Dienstag, 17. Juli 2012

Dear White Atheists,


From one skeptic to another, how is that you don’t see the issue of race and racism in the banning of circumcision in Germany? I get it. You perceived it as a victory for bodily autonomy, and I agree that kids shouldn’t be forced to have circumcision. But that’s not the point and that’s not the problem. The problem is this: A law targeting Semitic people and people of color was passed in a country with a history of racism and anti-Semitism. More specifically, it’s a law will affect people of color more than white people. You aren’t at all skeptical that their is a racist motivation for it? For people of color, this law is going to be perceived as an attack on them. And they should rightly believe it. White American atheists need to understand that Europe isn’t all Kumbaya and lovey as our media portrays it. Some European nations are certainly more progressive than the U.S. but they still have major race problems. And in Germany specifically, there has been a rise in White Nationalism. People of color are rightfully reactionary to this law and any laws created by white people that focus on POC, because Flying Spaghetti Monster knows that POC have been screwed over for centuries by laws that were meant to “help” us.

I was having this discussion with friends on Facebook. It was with an atheist, a fellow Eurasian. While he too opposes circumcision, he cannot help but to feel uncomfortable about the law. And I felt uncomfortable about white people discussing the law. This law should be for people of color to discuss because it affects people of color disproportionately. White gentiles have no business in this space and ought to stay in their own lane.  But that’s the problem with white atheists; they don’t see the importance of race in this discussion. Perhaps it’s white privilege preventing you from seeing racism all the time because you never had to be a victim of racism. Perhaps you’ve prescribed to the toxic colorblind notion. But whatever it is, it’s making you see only religion as the problem. You see, POC don’t have the luxury of having laws not attack our race in some way or another. When we had this discussion on Facebook, white atheists were only focusing on the religious aspect of the law. When we retorted that we saw racism in the issue, you silence and spoke over us. When asked to check your privilege, you didn’t. It’s a wonder why it’s hard for POC to subscribe to atheism sometimes.

White atheist, consider this: How many times were you shafted by Christian religious law? How many times were you told to be quiet or be less demanding while Christians get to discuss laws that disproportionally affected non-believers? Too much? Well from a POC perspective, that is exactly how POC feels when you speak over us, when you decided to have white people legislate the actions of POC. No, forced circumcision is not a good thing but there are enough POC atheist (and enough atheist Jews and Arabs) who are willing to discuss that with other POC. It is their discussion, not yours (especially if you’re American). It is their space, not yours. There is *women's space, there is queer space, and there is people of color's space. You wouldn’t want Christians coming in and speaking over you in your space. So why do the same to POC? So if you don’t want to be continually side-eyed by POC, I beseech you to shut up, sit down, and listen once in a while. Otherwise, POC are not going to feel safe in atheist space. 

Sonntag, 10. Juni 2012

This, so much



I have noticed that there is a trend in getting sleeve tattoos. Back in the days, and by days I mean in Iron Age Europe, such tattoos could easily be an identifier of rank. Not only that, but if were are lucky enough, they can actually last thousands of years after a person death. Of course that would require a very specific environmental condition. 

Montag, 4. Juni 2012

Random






Random Hottie


We're still misogynistic and racists as fuck

CeCe McDonald, the young black transgender woman who accepted a plea deal and pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month will be incarcerated by the state of Minnesota as a male. McDonald was arrested after she stabbed a white male who was part of a group of that physically and verbally attacked her with transgender and racial slurs.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of three years and five months in prison, according to the Star Tribune.
Upon sentencing, McDonald, 24, will be taken into custody by the state Department of Corrections and housed as a male “because he is being housed as a male with Hennepin County,” corrections spokeswoman Sarah Russell told the Star Tribune on Monday. “We will intake him as a male at St. Cloud prison.”
Russell went on to add the state will make its own determination of McDonald’s gender.
“We will assess him as any other offender would be assessed,” Russell said. “The assessments include, but are not limited to, screening for potential vulnerability to sexual assaults, tendencies to act out with sexually aggressive behavior and any disabilities” as defined by federal law.
The Transgender Law Center gathered testimonies from former prisoners, sheriffs, and others, about the risks that many prisoners face and found that sexual violence is an “ever present fact of life for far too many transgender prisoners.”








And with that, America is still so incredibly backwards in regard to protecting women of color. 

Archaeological site of the day


Plain of Jars, Xieng Khouang, Laos

The Plain of Jars is a megalith site dating from 500 BCE to 500 CE.

Samstag, 26. Mai 2012

Archaeological object of the day


Vietnamese ceramics from the Ly Dynasty depicting a carp. 

Freitag, 25. Mai 2012

In which NOM's strategy fails


Essentially, non-whites are more likely to support marriage equality. It dispels the myth that non-white community - particularly African Americans - are more homophobic and less likely to support LGBT equality. It's a really stupid myth if you think about it. Since the African American community is only about 14-16% of the population, there is no way they are responsible for the rash of anti-LGBT laws. The culprit should be more obvious - religious conservatives regardless of race. But I guess the bigger in your face is given to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), whose document reveal that they maliciously try to control African American and Latin American identity in order to turn them against LGBT people (and completely ignoring the existence of queer people of color).

Samstag, 28. April 2012

Archaeological object of the day

Traditional Korean celadon from the Goryeo dynasty.