Quote for Today

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

-Buddhist Quote

The Sea of Life

We are only drops that have fallen upon the sea of life

And all that we know as our Reality is nothing but

The pattern of peaks and troughs created by the waves that were

Formed by our falling upon the surface of that sea of life

-- Barry Sullivan

Humanity's problems are greater the oppression of women

One problem I have with movements of any kind is that when we focus on one movement (feminism) as opposed to another, say (slavery) or (gay rights), we relinquish our greatest weapon, power in numbers. I believe that it is time to  begin focusing on our sameness as opposed to our differences and take back our power in order that we may focus it on more important things like doing what we can to stop the rape of planet earth, the Mother who sustains us all. I believe that whatever it is that allows some humans to oppress other human beings, weather they are women, slaves, gays or any others, is rooted in greed, the desire for power and the idea, held by those who have the power, that they deserve it and are the only ones with the God given right to wield it.

Misogyny, Androgyny, and Sexual Harassment:

A very enlightening paper by Meredith Render, in which she is seeking answers to the following questions posed in the following quote:

“Over the last few years, both feminists and queer theorists have been asking …: what is wrong with sexual harassment? During the period leading up to and following the Supreme Court's decision in the same-sex sexual harassment case of Onacle v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., feminists and queer theorists have become increasingly interested in the theoretical underpinnings of sexual harassment doctrine. The devate has centered primarily on the “why” question of sexual harassment, that is why are the interactions that legal doctrines defines as “sexual harassment” wrong or harmful? More importantly, the “why” debate asks, why should we consiter sexually harassing conduct be a form of discrimination because of sex? What does it mean to discriminate because of sex: What does “sex” eveen mean nowadays?”

Please see the entire text. It is a fascinating read.
Misogyny, Androgyny, and Sexual Harassment: Sex Discrimination in a Gender-Deconstructed World

The Snowman

From Prarie Home Companion 1/28/12

Response to Sexist Jokes

After reading Griffith's blog on sexist jokes I decided that I agree with him.  My reasons for this agreement stem from the fact, it seems to me, that in this "Age of Reason" we tend to go out of our way to find reasons for everything. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, but my reasons for what I think are not the same as your reasons and it is only through dialog that we can even hope to understand each others reasons. But when we use our reasoning to find fault with the way things are, and refuse to understand or tolerate the reasoning of others we began to have some serious problems.  These problems become manifest when we use reason to assign blame to men for the subjugation of women, to masters for the mistreatment of servants, to pit one group against another, to make one group feel inferior to another, and to put oneself above another. 

For me, this is the program that has been installed in each and every one of us, by our family, the schools we've attended, and the social groups that we associate ourselves with.  It is also my contention that, for each of us, it is possible for us to change that programming and that any change can only after a thorough self-examination. We must begin to analyze our "reasons" for why we believe the things we believe, why we associate with the people and groups we do, but most of all we must analyze our relationship with the world in which we live, and ask hard questions, like:

1. Why do men oppress women, or why are some men oppressed by women?
2. Why do we tolerate oppression in any of it's forms?
3. What makes it so hard to look into our own hearts and see that we, each and everyone of us, by our thoughts and actions, contribute to the creation of the world in which we live, and that within each of us we have the capacity to change those thoughts and actions, thus to change the world.

Hi, My name is Barry Sullivan, I am a 64 yr. old student of English and Philosophy. My goal here at MCLA is to provoke discussion and hopefully impart some of the wisdom that I have gained from my lifelong and varied experience.