What I Learned In DC

"Many works of feminist ethics and theory suffer from problems of essentialism and related exclusions. Such theories tend to look for that which is essential to women's existence but excluded from male centered theory. Even when this essential core of women's experience is not regarded as unchanging, in an analysis along the single axis of gender, not all women fit into the category of 'women'."
-Occidental College Professor Donna Maeda

"The essence of woman debate places women in the peculiar position of having to insist that all women are the same or else that, as Kristeva says, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as woman."
-Emory University Professor Wendy Farley .

"She sure is bubble gum for the eyes."
-Certified Goofball David Maeda

Society as we know it, has its problems. Social injustice, oppression, discrimination, power games are among a sliver of what groups of "minorities" (and others) have to face in addition to all the day to day hardships of human existence.

So what are the options to deal with the burdens of every day living? One can attempt to fight the established unjust walls of all the ills hoping to make a dent, hoping the effort will lead to a better way of life for all who might follow; and glean some meaning and satisfaction in the struggle itself.

One can also fight through the troubles, lending a voice where the opportunity presents itself. Playing the part of a passive, part-time activist, you make the justification spending a lifetime of work fighting an uphll battle isn't desirable.

The last option is to give in to the system; to give in to cynicism. You move forward admitting an individual can't make a difference, can't change the years of an immoral set of rules. You close your mind to troubles that obviously exist, choosing consciously to find meaning in day to day life or even more eternal issues of right and wrong; a belief that justice will prevail when it all really matters.

One can't endorse what is up to the individual to work through. As the man once wrote, "People do what's most convenient than they repent ..." Maybe some of us thmk about ideals when night falls and the glow of the day's embers dims, but generally the pile of green tags in the comer left to price is more of a pressing issue.

One of the hardest traps to escape is trying to attach meaning to all that goes on around you. You have to continually ask what does this mean? but you also have to sometimes realize it doesn't mean anything. Things just happen. To allow another's opinion help shape your own, to let what "society" thinks, influence thinking is to become a victim. Sometimes that's another one of those "easy" choices. Sometimes it's a matter of too much thought; other times it's a lobotomy, of not thinking at all.

The struggles some women face, the problems some people of color deal with, are too large to group into categories. In a sense "women" don't exist. Debbie might, as might Melissa. But they aren't generically the same. What is the definition of a "woman"? The problems are deepened when to understand another, people begin to "identify" groups of "similar" people.

A disturbing trend that has become too prevalent is that of "marketing" to or trying to "appeal" to demographically separated tribes of "like" people. It's an insult to lump people in with others that might look the same, might be the same age, might have similar backgrounds, as if similarities mean we are the "same" people. Individual perceptions, individual thoughts and feelings? What do they matter?

Experts or as Sid would call them, "geniuses" exist everywhere you look. Concern and "right thinking" or political correctness are fashionable at the moment. It's better to be sensitive caring 90's type person than to admit what goes on out there doesn't really matter in the end. Just read Ecclesiastes. "Political activism" is trying to make a fashionable comeback.

"Binary thinking silences real speech. And we must ask why we are speaking. In the patriarchal and academic world, the speech of one is privileged over another. Speech is a form of silencing opponents. Debate and criticism are modes of attacks."
-Angela Graboys

"I and I the creation where one's nature neither honors or forgives. "
-Bob Dylan

I don't pretend to understand women (ain't that stating the obvious) or more specifically "women's" issues. Some of the more identifiable concerns are the pressures culture places upon many "women". Newsworthy "stories" of eating disorders, sexism, discrimination, harassment, the over emphasis on "fashion" are all items that have gotten attention from the press and the elite "concerned". (Is it better to be blissfully, by choice, unconcerned or to involve oneself for guilt's sake?) To sort the "truth" out is to become numb to all that segments of our population must face or worse, endure.

"Feminism" is a threat because those in "power" lose control. It's equally a threat because it creates another category in which to identify "women". It stifles original thought like any label inherently does. But it also gives comfort, a way for a group to find reinforcement in self identified similar beliefs. Thus the danger becomes relying too dependently on another's viewpoint to give some type of self credibility to one's thinking; the most subservient submissive mind set one can buy into. People for whatever reason seem to need the constant stroking of knowing original thought somehow co-exists with a larger collective. To be accepted is all some strive for.

Whatever one's "religious" convictions may be, in the end, to many another's perceptions and opinions mean as much as what one has managed to accumulate. It would seem all that matters is whether one has done what one set out to do, or what one was meant to do.

Putting it all into some sort of acceptable perspective is a lifetime task. But it is also an individual, sometimes solitary bridge we all must eventually cross.