Creepy Week
This week has seen some strange news stories; there are three in particular that alarm me in some way.
Here they are, in no particular order of vexation:
- Bride-to-Be Admits Making Up Kidnap Story: Stupid, selfish cow. While it is completely appropriate to realize that a wedding attended by 600 people featuring 14 bridesmaids is vulgar, it is not okay too just wander off and pretend to be kidnapped. Because it happens to frequently as it is. Women who aren't as spoiled and privileged as you are actually do disappear, and for some reason society does not value them as much or try as hard to find them as apparently the entire city of Duluth did for you. So I'm sorry if you've got issues, but there was no excuse for what you did. Hope you kept the cards with the gifts so they're easier to send back, bitch.
- Pregnant 13-year-old girl in Florida who has been told she cannot have an abortion because she lacks the maturity to make such a decision: The girl is a ward of the state, and Florida state law permits minors to terminate pregnancies without notifying or getting permission from a guardian, and there's no legal reason for the state to get involved. Yet this particular judge has taken it upon himself to do so. This is horrifying to me; y'all come along and read what I consider the potential future of American women being played out on the bodies of teenaged girls. And I don't know how what to do about it.
- Alabama Bill Targets Gay Authors: This story is more irksome than anything else, an attention-getting ploy from some man uncomfortable with his own sexuality. Fortunately when you call the Office of Intellectual Freedom (which sometimes one feels compelled to do), they let me know that this guy can't get anyone to co-sponsor the bill and they're sure it will die a'bornin. The unfortunate thing is that it got a reasonable amount of press, which will make it stick in people's minds, and maybe make the notion slightly more palatable the next time someone tries to legislate what people can have access to.
When I'm already feeling really down and stressed, this kind of crap makes me want to stay in bed all the more. Sometimes I really do think America is doomed, but not in the way the Christian right wishes it was.
Posted by kath at April 30, 2005 10:02 AM