WaymonHudson's Blog

The War on Intellectualism

Posted October 04th, 2008 at 03:02pm

It seems there is a new threat to our country- an insidious danger that is seeping into our homes and everyday lives that must be stopped at any cost. That threat is intellectualism.

We have heard the some of the buzzwords of this political season- Folksy, Joe Six-pack, Elitist, and Arugula Eating. It seems the new "culture war" or wedge issue is intelligence. The Vice-Presidential debate only solidified the lines in this war. On one side, you had Palin- full of "folksy charm" and "you betcha" language. Then you had Biden, who had a command of the issues, but was called "boring" and (gasp!) "professorial" by the pundits.

Is this the point we have come to in our country? Do we really think that having knowledge about an issue is a liability? Have we learned nothing from the past eight years about voting for the person you "want to have a beer with"? Is being smart or intellectually curious a bad thing?

It seems the war is on and the Republicans have launched another surge strategy.

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Gay in Iraq: Stories of Terror

Posted July 25th, 2008 at 01:44pm

The plight of gays in gays in Iraq is something I have written about before (see Iraqi Gay Safe Houses to Close). It seems mainstream media is finally catching on to the extreme danger that LGBT Iraqis face. A great piece from CNN called "Gays in Iraq terrorized by threats, rape, murder" tells the story of gay people living in Iraq:

Kamal was just 16 when gunmen snatched him off the streets of Baghdad, stuffed him in the trunk of a car and whisked him away to a house. But the real terror was about to begin. The men realized he was gay, Kamal said, when he took his shirt off and they saw his chest was shaved.
'They told me to take off my clothes to rape me or they would kill me immediately. This moment was the worst moment in my life.'

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Florida Fundies using Trans-Scare Tactics

Posted July 24th, 2008 at 07:01pm

The rightwing group, Citizens for Good Public Policy (insert eye roll here), have launched a campaign to repeal the recently passed gender identity protection clause in Gainesville, Florida. In January, commissioners voted to include the phrase "gender identity" in the anti-discrimination ordinance that guarantees equal access to housing, employment, public accommodation and credit.

The commercial shows a little girl on a playground walking into a bathroom. She is followed shortly after by a suspicious looking man. A black screen then flashes the words: "your City Commission made this legal."

CGPP says the recently passed protections "will allow sexual predators into public restrooms." Ugh.

Video after the jump...

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