the aural:
gogol bordello - immigrant punk

so … apparently, on november 7th, michigan voters decided they should ban affirmative action in education and employment. known simply as “proposal 2,” this proposed constitutional ammendment is:

A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO BAN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMS THAT GIVE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS BASED ON THEIR RACE, GENDER, COLOR, ETHNICITY OR NATIONAL ORIGIN FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION OR CONTRACTING PURPOSES

i don’t think your average white person really understands the gravity of “white privilege,” or specifically, “white male privilege.” until that concept and its social/economic consequences are put in the limelight and totally understood, then i’m afraid affirmative action will have to stay (even though, of course, white women have historically reaped the most benefits from it). besides, truthfully, i think that people who, at this point in time and history, oppose affirmative action have a very unrealistic and skewed perspective of history, race, and gender. granted, in an ideal world, race and gender and sexuality shouldn’t matter. however, reality is a much bleaker neighborhood. foreign policy sucks. public education system is flailing at best. so please, dear pseudo-right-wing-ignoramuses … cut that bullshit out.

speaking of cutting, apotemnophilia is a pretty fascinating idea. it’s also dubbed as “body integrity identity disorder,” but i’m not sure i’m comfortable with labelling it a “disorder” … maybe “preference” is a better choice of words. it seems like a heightened version of piercings and tatoos, really … just slightly more complicated than your average body mod, medically speaking. of course, one can’t help but ask how amputation/mutilation/modification can in any way make one feel comfortable and happier. i look at it as a simple vice of choice. some people do gardening. others might enjoy the lack of a foot. or horn implants. *shrug* it’s all very simple, really, once conventional monotheistic judaeo-christian societal rules and regulations are debunked and filed away as nonesense. which they usually are, anyway. a lot of creativity, identity, and individualism is sacrificed daily — all in the name of some abstraction of “normalcy.” besides, the whole freaking concept of “normalcy” is founded on ideas of judgmentalism (is that word?) and bias. with those two, there wouldn’t even be that much distinction between normal and abnormal. maybe that’s why people fear “anarchy.” maybe we all want a government. maybe we all someone to tell us how to live. maybe we all want to hear that we need two legs. maybe we all want to pretend that racism and history didn’t exist. maybe we all want someone else to do the thinking for us. i hope i get proven wrong soon.

fuck it. i’m going to go order my DVD of Long Jeanne Silver now.