Category Archives: Society

Goodbye, Politics, Re-Spun! Hello, WePivot.net!

pivot“Politics, Re-Spun” is now WePivot.net!

but why, you scream in horror!

next month is the 14th anniversary of Politics, Re-Spun…it’s time for a reframing/rebranding/pivot to something more…betterer, or more bigly, if you will.

14 years ago, in the twisted Orwellian months after 9/11 where words did not mean what words are, it was important to de-spin the political and re-spin it for political, economic, social and environmental justice.

but re-spinning isn’t enough, godammit!

we need to pivot

into a new world, a new era

into a new reconciliation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit

into a recognition that male supremacy and rape culture need to end yesterday

into a dynamic where white supremacy and colonial physical, economic, political and social occupations are acknowledged, addressed, reparations defined and issued, and TRC’d to a new sense of nationhood

into a new interdependent, symbiotic relationship with the environment

into a new relationship with systems theory and radical things like evidence-based policy

onto a train that ET3s/Hyperloops down the track laid by the Leap Manifesto

into a speedy embrace of the post-carbon energy infrastructure

into a realm where we practice sociology with glee

and where we intentionally, proactively and collectively build the society we want

because we’re running out of time before our future grandchildren condemn all of us for being useless tools and dinosaurs

it’s time to being!

isn’t it?

THAT is why We Pivot!

and in moments, it will happen at http://WePivot.net

How Far Will Men Go to Keep Their Entitlements?

How can you tell that America is suffering from a vast, intense, rageful male backlash against feminism?

How can you tell men are struggling brutally hard to hold onto their entitlements?

[And don’t be too complacent Canadian men; are we really different?]

Well, while this electoral analysis can’t actually manifest next month, when we look at what would happen if only men  or only women voted for president next month, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Read, soak this in, close your gaping jaw and get busy seeking social peace and  reconciliation!

menvote

womenvote

One Million Vaginas Helps Us With Trump

grabhim

 

The wise, inspiring folks at One Million Vaginas have done it again, helping reframe Trump’s attempt to disempower women into an empowerment meme.

Feel free to sprinkle these hashtags as well!

#GrabHimByTheBallot #NeverTrump #RapeCulture #SexualAssault

So please, all my American friends/readers, and all YOUR American friends, help the world out by grabbing November 8th by the ballot:

  1. Don’t vote for Trump.
  2. Don’t vote for Republicans, who have brutally disrespected women for far too long.
  3. If you’re living where a Democracy for America [Bernie Sanders] endorsed candidate is running, support them.

Because it’s 2016…and we still have lots of work to do to fuck the patriarchy.

Lean in! 🙂

 

 

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

I so hope you had a wonderful Indigenous Peoples’ Day yesterday!

In “America” there is a movement to replace the systemically racist Columbus Day. It’s spreading briskly; soon it may reach the 100th Monkey and spread across Turtle Island.

In Canada, we had Thanksgiving Day, for all the cornucopia reasons you can think of.

But as thinking citizens and all around justice-seeking individuals, we all have a role to play in leading our leaders into the pristine pastures of a richer community with greater reconciliation and cultural peace.

And please, let’s not let “America” beat us to the closer-to-utopia place of eradicating systemic racism. Let’s put on our toques, re-tape our hockey sticks and fix Thanksgiving.

And while we’re at it, let’s help Edmonton change their football Eskimos name. Here are some simple tactics to get that done!

And on the way, check out all the “American” places that are ahead of most of “Canada” with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

 

Columbus Day is Institutionalized Racism

 

Columbus Day is Institutionalized Racism

Columbus memeIn Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day today, a slight improvement on Columbus day, which institutionalizes systemic racism.

Columbus Day celebrates white supremacy. It’s time to stop that now. If you need some elaboration, read this.

Seattle did it 2 years ago. Now Vermont has figured out a first step in a solution: turning Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The rest of it involves human engagement, some truth, some reconciliation and building a new future with dignity and respect.... 25 Cities Abolish Columbus Day and Adopt Indigenous People Day Instead

So go out there and learn the maps of pre-colonial “Canada,” “USA,” and Mexico.

We Need to Prepare for Those Worse Than Trump

 

It’s one thing to lower the bar, but with Trump, someone pulled out the jackhammer and has dug through the floor.

Donald Trump Went On A Baffling 3AM Twitter Rant About Sex Tapes ...But let’s not assume that Trump is the low ebb or an aberration. He signifies another level altogether of political contempt.

Politicians have a sense of entitlement and natural objection to transparency and accountability, having spent generations rigging the system to let them slide easily into power. Add in rich, white and male entitlements and we see the majority of politicians more than doubling down on arrogance.

But we can’t just presume things will get better after Trump.

  1. He has established a new realm of political behaviour that will allow equally or more repulsive and anti-social miscreants to seek their populist masses to champion.
  2. Current contemptuous politicians will see new capacity to dig even further into the slime in the political culture of their region.
  3. Politicians with integrity will find even more competitors dealing in abject lies which will increasingly go unchecked by corporate media that has been whipped into submission/irrelevance by the brashness of lying politicians and the self-immolating corporate media and their brand new level of apathy towards to truth and fact-checking all to serve the profitability of the corporate media owners’ agenda to serve the interests of their political compradors.

Solutions!

  1. We need to support media with integrity. Don’t expect this to come from corporate media. Look for independent media and amplify their voices. Remember, it was CANADALAND that broke the Jian Ghomeshi debacle.
  2. Use your own personal social networks to share information critical for participating in our civic duty. Not Facebook posts which must meet the elements of their fancy algorithms to even reach your people, try email or text messages or cocktail parties [we should have more of these] or brunches or phone calls to talk about life. And include political truths your people need to know. You don’t have to BECOME the media, you just need to amplify the positive messages.
  3. Next, go directly to political parties’/candidates’ websites to see where they really stand and what they’re saying in particular and in context. Amplify that, criticize that, augment that, demand better policy than that. The same goes for the contemptuous politicians: read their policy, compare it with what they say, and note the contradictions.
  4. Remember, you and me and all of us are the employers of these politicians. They constantly try to encourage us to obey them. This is nonsense. We need to resist that abusive stance and recognize our own power.
  5. Bernie Sanders almost became the Democratic nominee for president. He did that despite the successful work of corporate media and the Clinton/Party coalition to shut down and censor his message. Once he lost the California primary, the Democracy for America movement mobilized to nominate progressive Senate and House candidates. Controlling/influencing Congress could be a powerful element in fixing America. You will encounter people of integrity and vision who could lead us, not necessarily as elected leaders, but mobilizers who can help liberate us all from our pasty, weak democracy and the rise of soft fascism.

Get busy, and don’t be afraid.

And plan a cocktail party!

Update, and a new solution:

Read this #FacePalm piece, and look at this:

trumpeducation

 

Prime Minister Announces Official Name Change to “Justin Harper”

CP

It just used to be that perpetuating Harper’s social, environmental, economic and political policies made me think that Justin Trudeau is merely #TheNewHarper.

But we’re way past that, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the election.

The Prime Minister actually changing his name to Justin Harper is where we’re at now.

End Our Slow Motion Genocide!

Genocide can take place in slow motion, just like weapons of mass destruction.

When I learned that people were calling land mines “weapons of mass destruction, in slow motion,” it became obvious that we can practice social/cultural/human genocide in slow motion too.

Understanding racism and genocide is no simpler than this,
from Zianna Oliphant:

Considering the people we have colonized, enslaved and oppressed in North America the last 500 years, there have been times when the genocide was more rapid, urgent and hurried.

There have also been times when it has been slow. Like entropy.

First Nations in Canada, American Indians and African Americans are among the groups that white supremacists have been trying to eradicate.

And by white supremacists, I’m not talking about the Klan and Skinheads. I’m talking about the Canadian and American settler governments who have overt, covert, active and passive policies to eradicate those they deem inferior.

For, if we white settlers actually felt these oppressed groups were equal to us, we would actually stop the policies and practices that eliminate them from our world.

We would address homicides and summary executions by police, missing and murdered indigenous women, the reserve/reservation townships, the prison industrial complex, and all other policies and practices that have been clearly demonstrated to pursue our slow motion genocide agenda.

There aren’t enough hashtags to encompass all who have been recently or historically slaughtered in this slow motion genocide.

Here’s just the latest, this week: #AlfredOlango, executed by police in the slow motion genocide charge of “Having A Seizure While Black”:

http://fusion.net/story/351795/alfred-olango-shooting-el-cajon/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fusion&utm_content=link

But I have a solution for you, my fellow white people governed by white supremacist North American governments. Scroll back up and watch, again, the wise and stunning statement from Zianna Oliphant in Charlotte who can so clearly see what kind of racist culture we are perpetuating. Honestly, if it is that clear to a child, but not Mike Ditka [an ignorant racist], you need to decide if you side with the wise child, or the racist former football coach.

“Part of white privilege has been the ability to not know that your privilege exists. If you benefit from racism, do you really want to know that?” Do you? Then read this, and act accordingly:

Get Uppity, BC, or Get Screwed Again

I’ve written about being “uppity” many times before.

It’s a controversial word. UppityNegroLab

  1. It’s been used to insult women and people of colour who don’t know their place. Who don’t know they should keep quiet and not try to cut back on white male entitlement. Don’t ya know.
  2. The fear of being uppity creates a chill that discourages many people from trying to upset the social order.

Image result for uppityBut really, British Columbians, if you want BC to slink even deeper into the right-wing neoliberal sewer, you better get uppity, and fast. Because you didn’t in 2005, 2009 and 2013.

Complacency and apathy are awesome goals of contemptuous politicians.

If you think the current government has any interest in making BC better for anyone other than the 1% and carbon energy corporations in particular, you may be complacent or apathetic.

For instance, if you think a BC Liberal cabinet minister should be applauded for winning medals at the Paralympic Games, you may not realize that maybe you should be stunned at how hatred of the poor and disabled shouldn’t be government policy.

But there’s a cure!

It’s here. Get uppity and read this:

We Must Completely Obliterate the BC Liberal Party