Today, I was reading for a few hours (maybe 4? Something like that) until I finished my book. The book, by the way, was Belinda by Maria Edgeworth. This is certainly not unusual for me. What's unusual is that I started this book maybe half a month or longer ago, and I just barely finished it. It was pretty good for the most part. There was just this small bit in the middle that seemed to bore me slightly. It is, of course, a nineteenth century British novel. Those are my favorites of late. Well, for a long time. Ever since I grew tired of fantasy books. In fact, even before then I started reading similar books.
Next I'm going to read The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. This, although written during the same era and in the same general place, is slightly different. It's an early gothic novel, similar to those written by Ann Radcliffe such as The Mysteries of Udolpho which I was reading earlier. It's very short. When I finish it, I'll be reading the books from a series by Anthony Trollope. Trollope books are good, and the best thing is that there's a ton of them. So that should keep me occupied for a while. I'm going to go and start on my next book now.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Quotes
So, this is the second post in one day, but the first was really short and I didn't think of this until now. I'm going to post some quotes that I happen to like. Finally I have a place to write these down!
Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths. ~Lois Wyse
Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We're not inherently anything but human. ~Robin Morgan
Many beautiful women have been made happy by their own beauty, but no intelligent woman has ever been made happy by her own intelligence. ~Mignon McLaughlin
The little rift between the sexes is astonishingly widened by simply teaching one set of catchwords to the girls and another to the boys. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Men define intelligence, men define usefulness, men tell us what is beautiful, men even tell us what is womanly. ~Sally Kempton
Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny; it is the political defense of women hating.
Andrea Dworkin
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl."
~ Shirley Chisholm
I didn't go through any great effort to standardize the formatting. But those are a few of the quotes I like. Specifically, quotes relating to feminism. I have others relating to other things.
Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths. ~Lois Wyse
Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We're not inherently anything but human. ~Robin Morgan
Many beautiful women have been made happy by their own beauty, but no intelligent woman has ever been made happy by her own intelligence. ~Mignon McLaughlin
The little rift between the sexes is astonishingly widened by simply teaching one set of catchwords to the girls and another to the boys. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
Men define intelligence, men define usefulness, men tell us what is beautiful, men even tell us what is womanly. ~Sally Kempton
Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny; it is the political defense of women hating.
Andrea Dworkin
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl."
~ Shirley Chisholm
I didn't go through any great effort to standardize the formatting. But those are a few of the quotes I like. Specifically, quotes relating to feminism. I have others relating to other things.
Soymilk
Remember my post about how I wanted to become a vegan? Well, I've slightly modified that proposal, but I still want to try. Basically, my goal will be to limit my consumption of animal products. But my ultimate goal is still the same. So, last weekend, I got some soymilk. And I've been drinking it. It's not too bad. I mean, I prefer my regular organic milk, but that's more from habit than anything I think. Soymilk is almost sweet. However, it's also slightly overpowering for me. Still, I've been determinedly drinking my soymilk. Everything's easier when my morals and passionate beliefs are involved. Now I just have to figure out what to eliminate/replace next. Maybe I'll see about vegan yogurt.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
More Slightly Impersonal Writing
My day was fairly dull today, and so I'm going to take this opportunity to post about some of the things I spend time thinking about. Yesterday I was writing more about feminism, so today I think I'll go with the war in Afghanistan. So, it should be very obvious that I'm opposed to the war in Iraq. I'm also opposed to the war in Afghanistan, though. As such, Obama's decision to intensify the war in Afghanistan concerns me.
First, though, I'm going to go into my reasoning. Clearly, my initial reason was that I'm essentially a pacifist. War is wrong: all it is is legalized murder. However, once I started learning about the war in Afghanistan in my NSL class and then researching it at home, I discovered that not only would the war in Afghanistan be morally wrong, but it would also be ineffective. It seems that our strategy is to storm into Afghanistan and kill all the terrorists. That's absurd, however. I mean, first of all it would be very, very difficult to even FIND all of them, what with the treacherous terrain and all. But it is also very counterproductive.
You see, the main reason that these people get away with terrorism is that many of the Afghani people support them. Basically, Afghanistan was a mess after various wars and the Taliban provided order and stability. The other way the Taliban get support is by setting themselves up as the positive alternative to the evil Western nations, particularly the US. And it works. The US is extremely easy to demonize. So, really, if we go in and start killing people, more people will become terrorists.
Another reason people turn to terrorism is that Afghanistan's economy is a mess. The main ways of getting any money are basically selling illegal drugs and terrorism. Naturally, starting a war wouldn't help their economy too much. What they need are things like schools, food, and a better economy. Not war. By going to war, we worsen the problem, and our own image, to the extent that it isn't already as bad as it could possibly be.
Even from a purely selfish standpoint it's stupid. Our own country's economy is such a wreck that we really don't need to go into more debt by starting pointless, counterproductive wars. So the war is very, very stupid.
One thing that perplexes me, though, is why on earth Obama supports the war. I mean, if it were Bush I would understand just to attribute it to stupidity. But Obama's smart. He's really smart. So why doesn't he get it?
Since I'm sure I've left things out, most notably the region's history (I'm not too great with world history, but hopefully I'll improve), I'm going to leave some lovely little links! And that was accidental alliteration. Really.
Rethink Afghanistan
http://www.peaceactionwest.org/
http://getafghanistanright.com/
First, though, I'm going to go into my reasoning. Clearly, my initial reason was that I'm essentially a pacifist. War is wrong: all it is is legalized murder. However, once I started learning about the war in Afghanistan in my NSL class and then researching it at home, I discovered that not only would the war in Afghanistan be morally wrong, but it would also be ineffective. It seems that our strategy is to storm into Afghanistan and kill all the terrorists. That's absurd, however. I mean, first of all it would be very, very difficult to even FIND all of them, what with the treacherous terrain and all. But it is also very counterproductive.
You see, the main reason that these people get away with terrorism is that many of the Afghani people support them. Basically, Afghanistan was a mess after various wars and the Taliban provided order and stability. The other way the Taliban get support is by setting themselves up as the positive alternative to the evil Western nations, particularly the US. And it works. The US is extremely easy to demonize. So, really, if we go in and start killing people, more people will become terrorists.
Another reason people turn to terrorism is that Afghanistan's economy is a mess. The main ways of getting any money are basically selling illegal drugs and terrorism. Naturally, starting a war wouldn't help their economy too much. What they need are things like schools, food, and a better economy. Not war. By going to war, we worsen the problem, and our own image, to the extent that it isn't already as bad as it could possibly be.
Even from a purely selfish standpoint it's stupid. Our own country's economy is such a wreck that we really don't need to go into more debt by starting pointless, counterproductive wars. So the war is very, very stupid.
One thing that perplexes me, though, is why on earth Obama supports the war. I mean, if it were Bush I would understand just to attribute it to stupidity. But Obama's smart. He's really smart. So why doesn't he get it?
Since I'm sure I've left things out, most notably the region's history (I'm not too great with world history, but hopefully I'll improve), I'm going to leave some lovely little links! And that was accidental alliteration. Really.
Rethink Afghanistan
http://www.peaceactionwest.org/
http://getafghanistanright.com/
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Zelda
So, today I was watching my sisters play Zelda for a little bit, and I was reminded of my opinion that Zelda games are extremely sexist. I feel that it is necessary to point this sort of thing out, so as to weaken its power of influence over you. Even when I'm met with groans and complaints for doing so. Nonetheless, I continue in hope that I have some small degree of influence in doing so. And even if I don't, I feel that I am morally obligated to do so.
So, back to Zelda. First of all, the whole thing is about a man having to save a weak, powerless woman. That's basically the theme of all the games. If you don't think that's sexist, consider how extremely unlikely it would be that someone could find a game with the roles reversed. Link, moreover, is valued for his athleticism and intelligence, whereas Zelda is valued only for her appearance and well-mannered behavior.
It portrays women as weak, powerless, and generally inferior to men. It portrays what is unfortunately a pervading view throughout our culture, which is that women are essentially decorative objects and that men are the ones who are really good for anything. That's basically the gist of it.
So, back to Zelda. First of all, the whole thing is about a man having to save a weak, powerless woman. That's basically the theme of all the games. If you don't think that's sexist, consider how extremely unlikely it would be that someone could find a game with the roles reversed. Link, moreover, is valued for his athleticism and intelligence, whereas Zelda is valued only for her appearance and well-mannered behavior.
It portrays women as weak, powerless, and generally inferior to men. It portrays what is unfortunately a pervading view throughout our culture, which is that women are essentially decorative objects and that men are the ones who are really good for anything. That's basically the gist of it.
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