Really Glenn Beck? Please STFU, kay bai!

So I decided to take off from work today since break is almost over and I need to stock up on some major sleep hours. I’ve also come to the conclusion that I will finish my poli sci major this semester, and take my senior year, and a few summers, to pursue my initial interest of going to medical school. It’s what I’ve wanted to since I was 5. When I was a junior in high school, I began to worry about my future a lot. I found myself struggling a bit with math, and science was not my strongest subject. I developed a real interest in politics, and debate and the law. I decided, I’m already good at History and English and writing. I love politics. I’m great at debating. Why not law school? Now, after three years in college, I’m thinking that law school might not be for me. I can still have a love and interest in politics, and I can do something that I think will really fulfill me. So, that’s what I’m doing. Either way, I’ll have my choice of either attending medical school or law school once I’m officially done with college.

So, I woke up and did my usual website checks. For giggles, the gossip sites like Bossip and Mediatakeout (a mess as usual). Then, the news. BBC. The Guardian. Red State (to see what’s got their panties all in a bunch today). Then, I proceeded to one of my personal favorites, Huffington Post. What do I see? Glenn Beck freaking out, as usual. What about this time? The apparent downfall of our American society. After much “prayer” and “reflection”, he has apparently concluded that it’s now our time to engage in a “fundamental transformation” in order to survive. Really? He mentions The Alamo. What are we defending our country from, or whom? The Negro in chief, of course! I find it hilarious that we don’t take a stand when Bush passes The Patriot Act, invades a sovereign nation on the premise of WMD, manufactures tax cuts for the wealthy, damages our reputation in the world, OK’s torture at Guantanamo Bay and does a fly-by over Hurricane Katrina…but we want to take a stand when Barack Obama is trying to right the wrongs of the last disastrous administration and put our country back on the road to recovery? Yeah, alright Glenn Beck. STFU. Kay, bai!

G-O-P Hy-poc-risy, find out what it means to me!

I have become so accustomed to the absurd world of politics that very little I hear or read disturbs or angers me anymore. It's become sort of a comedy to me. It's amusing to see the foolish and "fuckery" (thanks Amy Winehouse) that takes places in Washington, and it's more amusing than disheartening that people expect any better from these politicians. However, these past few weeks, I've been angry. I've been really upset and enraged at what has been happening in our country. I'm not a die-hard liberal and I don't fit into any political extremes. I'm a moderate, and I pride myself in my acquired ability to discern the spin that is given by BOTH sides of the political spectrum, and to agree with the perspective of both sides on certain issues. I do believe that the government should offer a form of national health care, but I'm very pro-life. Those are just two issues where I hop from one side of the fence to the other. My dislike of extremism and die-hard political fanatics is what has me absolutely outraged about our country's current political situation and the downright LIES that are being pushed on the electorate by certain factions and outlets and groups. This attempt to prey on the emotions of Americans, at a time when general public's fear is palpable, which will in turn effect the rationale and the morale of our country, is sick. It is disgusting. It is appalling. It's downright cruel. I accuse the GOP, The Tea Party Movement, Fox News and it's affiliates, and many, many conservative blogs and outlets of fear-mongering, lying, and helping to foster a division in our country that, if not nipped in the bud and healed, will lead to violence and the destruction of our country. Me, being the cynic that I am, am wondering if there's something deeper here. Is this a systematic attempt to dismantle all that our country has worked for in terms of a cultural evolution in our understanding of race, ethnicity, and nationality? Is this just them showing their true colors? I don't know what's happening to my country, and watching all of this "fall-out" that has occurred over the the past year and a half, I wonder if I ever knew this country at all.

The Power of the Female Suburbanite

I have a slight Facebook addiction-or, rather, heavy interest in Facebook. It's not as bad as it used to be, especially since I'm discovering the wonders of twitter. Since I've been working in the summer, at my office job there's not much to do at times, so Facebook serves its purpose and entertains/distracts/delights me. I may have mentioned it before, but I love reality television. I'm starting to stray away from VH1, and I'm more of a Bravo fan. It seems like classier reality television, if there is such a thing. Oh well, I think it's pretty classy. I'd rather see a neurotic gay man yelling at his poor painting staff (Flipping Out) then girls clapping their booties and doing the splits (too many shows on VH1 to name)! Facebook gives its members the opportunity to "like" the fan page of many shows, movies, athletes, singers, etc. As my Facebook friends can testify, I am a serial "liker," and I have fanned most of these pages. My new favorite show on Bravo is "Bethenny Getting Married," which chronicles the madness then ensues when Bethenny Frankel from the Real Housewives of New York City decides to get married while she is six months pregnant. It's pretty hilarious, since she's so witty and sarcastic (sarcasm=love for me).I know I am losing you, but be patient, it all ties in!

Anyway, I don't want to digress too much. I went on Facebook earlier and I saw the updates Bethenny gives her fans on her fan page. She told them about a new drink that she made, the newest addition to the "Skinny Girl Margarita" recipe box. She posted a link to it, and told her friends to check it out. Within 30 minutes, she had over 300 comments! At the end of the day, she had over 700 comments and over 1,000 people "liked" the update. I was reading through the comments, and noticed that a lot of the women went on telling her about their days, how they planned on spending their Fourth of July Holiday, and responded back and forth to each other. I was thinking about how ridiculous it is, but then I thought to myself, "This is the most genius marketing idea ever." How many pages am I a fan of? That wasn't a real question, because I lost count, but I fanned everything! I fanned clothing sites like H&M, ModCloth, Forever 21, Express. I fanned Reality Shows, such as The Real Housewives of New York City, The Real Housewives of New York, Jersey Shore (don't judge me). I even fanned Cosmetic sites and stores like MAC, Sally Beauty Supply. These people realize that there is POWER that is waiting to be tapped in this demographic. You have these women (and some gents, but mostly women) who are die-hard fans. They will support you, they will take the time out to write nice little messages, they buy your brand and they spread the word to their friends and family.

Something like this exists in politics as well. I don't want to stereotype, I don't want to group, and my naming this post "The Power of the Female Suburbanite" is not meant to place all the women into some type of category for the purpose of stereotyping. What I do think, though, is that this newly empowered image will be prevalent in the upcoming midterm elections in November, and the general election of 2012. Following the election of 2008, our country has begun to have this backlash towards "difference." Heterogeneity has not been viewed in a favorable light. You have this separation between the "real" and "fake" America. What is the real America, and what gives it substance and allows it to supersede this fake America? Some of the characteristics and key words given to describe the real America have been: patriotism, small-town, values, authenticity, "the people", "the forefathers", family first, morals, Constitution, power. Some of the keywords and characteristics used to describe the fake America have been: radical, unpatriotic, soft on terror, elitist, big-town, different, intellectual, socialist, unconstitutional, not living up to the standards set by the forefather, "anti". Politicians have been clamoring to achieve acceptance and recognition from this real America, and have distanced themselves from being viewed as "big town" or "intellectual." God forbid you're labeled as being an elitist, because then you cannot identify with the needs of the people.

The Tea Party is the newest phenomenon in politics, although I think that train had lost some of its steam power. I don't agree with any of the issues they are screaming about, but the idea of populism is most intriguing to me. In America, we don't have coups in the streets. We have our revolutions in the ballot box, and I am all for the people taking their political power and using it as a weapon against what they view to be a government that is not in touch with their needs. In this newest propagation of populism, one of the most powerful characters is the female suburbanite narrative. She is your All-American woman. Sometimes she works hard to make ends meet help her husband support her family. If not, she is working hard at home to take care of the children and the household. She is nurturing, she is caring, and she is trying to pass down the values of hard work and patriotism to her family. She has never been involved in the political process before, or had any interest in it, but she is scared by what she sees happening in her country and feels that it is her duty as an American first, woman second, to speak up. She is concerned with the suddenly rising debt. She is terrified at the accusation that Democrats have gone soft on crime and terrorism, and feels the need to protect her family. The government will have to pry her gun from her dead, cold hands. She believes that the rising crime on the border is the result of lax immigration policies. Health Care has been one of the biggest detriments to her forefather-given Constitutional Rights. Obama is a liar, and she believes he is a socialist. He may even be a Kenyan.

Notice I said narrative. There is no such thing as a reality in politics, it's all an illusion. If I could paraphrase anything ever said by Chris Matthews, it would be this: Politics is not a science, it's an art. If Politics is an art form, then Washington is the stage where these actors perform the greatest roles of their life. Unfortunately, the voters buy into this illusion, this narrative, and are awfully disappointed when the show is over and the actor loses the facade.

Who started this narrative? There's no one person who can be credited for it, but there is one person who took it and embodied it-you guessed it, Sarah Palin. In a scene filled with intelligent and powerful women that the masses of women felt they could not relate to, here comes this bright star. Regardless of my personal feelings for Sarah Palin, only a fool would deny the supernova that she is. She's attractive, she's fit, she's full of youth. She has teenagers, young children, a baby. Her husband is attractive. She's a soccer mom...a pit-bull with lipstick. She's feisty, she's in your face, and she seems like you. Or your friends. She seems like you could sit and have coffee with her and discuss the latest sales at the Kohl's, and she'll understand how you feel when you say you're tired of running after the kids and you just need a break. You can relate to her. What a brand she has turned out to be. From women emulating her style, to women camping out to get an autographed copy of her book! The narrativesuburbanites of America have become enchanted by Princess Palin. They go to her rallies and her talks, they buy her merchandise, they follow her on twitter and they even quote her.
This did not go unnoticed by The Tea Party or proponents of the New Right, Part Deux. How many more Sarah Palins have popped up over the country? While Michelle Bachmann was involved in politics and was quite popular with social conservatives before Sarah Palin, she began to embrace this narrative. You now have Nikki Haley running on a similar platform. Your "seemingly average" women are now getting involved in the political process.

These aren't all my thoughts on what could either be a passing trend or a new found block within the Conservative movement in this country. I'm just waiting and seeing.

Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue

Hello everyone! It's been such a long time since I updated, which is not what I had planned on doing today. I promise I will try to do one a night, but work has occupied a lot of my day time, and when I get home at night I'm just so sleepy! I've been slacking with keeping up with recent events in the sphere of politics, but boy oh boy, do I have a lot to say today.

First....I love the song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"!! It plays into a lot of stereotypes about Americans, but who cares? It's one of my favorite Fourth of July traditions, and my friends will lay testimony to the fact that I upload it to Facebook every Independence Day. It's just some good old fashioned American patriotism, which happens to include us threatening to "put a boot in your ass," cause "it's the American way." Oh well. I love it. This Independence Day hasn't been as cheery as previous ones. That might be due to the fact that we're in sad spirits. The economy is sucking, we're still in two wars, education is awful, this threat of terrorism seems to be going nowhere. We'll get through it though, America has long been like a phoenix, and this time will be no different. We shall be born again, rising through the ashes of our bleak and sordid past and sailing into the future.

Why did I start this blog?

The perceptions that people have of others interests me. Perhaps this is why I decided to major in Communication, along with Political Science. All aspects of communication fascinate me-how we verbalize what we feel, our nonverbal signals, along with the interpretations that people make of others based on not just conversation, but environmental factors and the socialization of society as a whole. Our culture in the West has indoctrinated us with this notion that we are somehow superior to the other cultures in the world, with our higher levels of technology, our interpretation of intelligence, scientific methods, health systems, and many more areas. One of the most discussed area of our superiority is how our society deals with sex and gender, and the roles that men and women play in our society. We buy into this idea that we are evolving into a society that has no gender-boundaries, no specified role for gender, and one that is able to spit in the face of socialization and do as we want. We are free to make decisions that are not bound by our sex or gender, and the implications of those decisions should be equalized between the sexes. A male nurse should be no more surprising or confusing than a female construction worker. There should be no stigma attached to it, there should be no hesitation, no second thoughts. It should be seemingly natural that the gender roles we once were forced to conform to are now disappearing. Gender lines are blurring. Is that really the case though? Have we really reached that epitome of human advancement where things like sex, gender, race, religion, or orientation come secondary to the fact that we're human? Are those really not primary indicators of who we are, and what we should traditionally do?

If you haven't sensed any sarcasm (which you might not have, I didn't really write much) or did not seem in tune with the direction I was heading in, I will be explicit. I don't buy into that notion at all. Do I believe that any culture is inherently superior to another? No, I don't at all. The reason why the West seems to be superior to other cultures is because
A)We were given a little more time to advance
B)Must we really go down that long road of European invasion,
colonialism, dominance, restructuring of many of the societies
that we now view as culturally inferior or less advanced?
C)Western culture has set the model that other cultures now must
look up to in terms of advancement, we forced that upon them

I could go on and on, but I would really digress from my point. Do I believe that in the West I have more opportunities to have my sex define me less than women in other cultures? Yes and no. For instance, many women in the West pity the poor women in the Middle East that are forced to veil themselves and are shoved into these gender roles and having society tell them what to do as a woman. Well, are we in any better positions really? We have society telling us that our physical characteristics are what makes us more desirable as a woman. The size of our breasts, our legs, our face, the amount of body fat we have. Those are just some of the characteristics that we feel makes a woman "a woman." We read our magazines, our Cosmo or US Weekly, and we see these gorgeous celebrity women as the epitome of what a woman should be. How does that support our claim of moving past assigning gender roles? Yes, we have a choice to do that or not, but do we really? Like women in Morocco that have the choice to veil or not, do they really? You can keep your autonomy and choose to not veil, but you lose the esteem society gives you because you're seen as less desirable, less devout, more Western, at times even more sexually promiscuous. You could veil and get esteem, but lose that autonomy to do what you want. For Western women, you can choose to show the cleavage or the legs, or be beautiful, get the hair extensions and make-up, and you gain some type of esteem from society because you fit into that ideal of what a woman should be. Or, you could choose to not live up to those standards and do what you feel makes you comfortable, and keep that autonomy to choose what you want to do, and lose esteem. So, while we have made some progress in the West, there's still much progress that is ahead of us. We're not all that and a bag of chips.

Okay, let me bring everything full-circle. Why am I ranting about this? I'm ranting about this because I feel like society doesn't truly give us the choice to do what we want without being labeled. Why are we forced into these black and white categories with no room for gray? Why does gray confuse us so much? For instance, I'll use myself as an example. I would fall into the category of being a "girly-girl" by all means. I love getting my hair done, my nails done, I love dresses and shopping, and I like lip-gloss and cosmetics. I go on celebrity gossip sites, I watch reality tv from time to time, and I'm deathly afraid of insects! I am an intelligent female though. I go to a great, well-known university, I can follow sports, and I love politics! I love politics so much. I love arguing and debating and analyzing and making predictions. I cannot turn down having a political debate. Why does it have to be one or the other? I have men telling me all the time that they've never met a girl like me, who can be seemingly clueless at one point in time, and then come back and kill them in a political debate. I know I'm not the only female out there that's experiencing this. Why must you be a clueless princess or a ultra-feminist? Why can't we enjoy laughing about the antics of Samantha on Sex and the City, and then have a fiery debate about why we think the Republicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to courting new voters and remaining faithful to The Tea Party? It's not impossible, and quite frankly, I'm sick of people telling me it is.

So, that's what I'm going to do. Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo is a total hottie, and my favorite part of the game is the end when they take their shirts off...but yes, I think that the Republicans will put up Governor Tim Pawlenty as one of their main men in the upcoming months to enter the Republican running for 2012. The word "chic" is described as being stylish or smart. I do think that there is room for a new type of politics, and I want to help spearhead that. We can discuss scones and politics, and damn anyone who tells us different! We can discuss Jimmy Choo and Anthony Weiner! What is the problem here? There should be none.

With that being said, I'm also sick of the old politics. Generation Y! is not being respected, not being included, and not being looked to. Let's face it, within 10 years, we're going to be in charge! All the decisions being made now directly will influence and change our future forever, and we have to make our demands heard now. Most of the people in power and influence today will not be truly affected by the decisions they are making now. We are the ones who will have to deal with energy policies, foreign policy, economic policy, environmental destruction. We need to get more involved in the decision-making process and let our voices be heard. We don't have to follow the format for politics that they've set for us, we can create our own. It can be hip, it can be stylish, and it can be chic. Now, let's talk politics.