Am I the only person less than impressed with Obama’s statement on gay marriage?
I’m not sure I understand why there is such a huge hubbub about President Obama stating that gay couples should be able to marry. Yes, he is the first President of America to openly say this, and that is news worthy to a certain extent. But really all he has said is that he agrees with at least half of America.
I think what bothers me the most is that this is being treated like it will change everything. All Obama has said is that he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. He DID NOT say he is working with Congress to do anything about it.
What Obama is doing is position taking. He is making a pleasing statement geared towards a group of constituents and taking a stance on an issue, but not going much further than that. While this is a step in the right direction towards LGBT rights, actions speak louder than words.
3rd World Problems
Recently two actors from Cuba have escaped to live in America, and are seeking political asylum in the United States. They escaped while travelling to New York to attend a film festival in which their film was premiered.
Can I just say how incredibly thankful I am to live in America? 14.6% of the world’s population were born in 1st world countries. You have a 1 in 7 chance of being born in a 1st world country. The odds are clearly against you and me. But, somehow, here I am. Here you are, reading this post.
I don’t have to escape the country I’m in. I can say what I want without fear of persecution, I can practice whatever religion I want, I have the right to privacy, I have the right to vote.
Next time you have a bad day, think about how lucky you are to live in a country in which you don’t have to “escape” from. We tumblrer’s are so lucky. So so so lucky!
The Crime of Poetry
Günter Grass’ poem Was Gesagt Werden Muss(What Must Be Said) has caused quite a stir around the world. In fact, did you know a controversial poem could get you banned from Israel?
The poem hints at warmongering within Israel. Considering Günter Grass hails from Germany, it is somewhat understandable that he is covering a sensitive subject. But reflecting on the military power of Israel in a poem does not make him an anti-semite. Grass is not the only one who has problems with Israel’s international relations and the West’s support of them.
To be fair, Israel never really had a good chance from the start to become a legitimate upstanding government. It was literally built on top of other people native to the land, a forced colonialism that came from European and American guilt if you will.
And now it has become a closed country, effectively alienating anyone who is not Jewish. We encourage this unwillingness for Israel to accept other cultures and religions or to compromise with their neighboring countries, through foreign aid.
Anyway, I’ll post the poem in English, give a link to the original, and let you form your own opinion.
What Must Be Said
Why have I kept silent, held back so long,
on something openly practiced in
war games, at the end of which those of us
who survive will at best be footnotes?
It’s the alleged right to a first strike
that could destroy an Iranian people
subjugated by a loudmouth
and gathered in organized rallies,
because an atom bomb may be being
developed within his arc of power.
Yet why do I hesitate to name
that other land in which
for years – although kept secret –
a growing nuclear power has existed
beyond supervision or verification,
subject to no inspection of any kind?
This general silence on the facts,
before which my own silence has bowed,
seems to me a troubling, enforced lie,
leading to a likely punishment
the moment it’s broken:
the verdict “Anti-semitism” falls easily.
But now that my own country,
brought in time after time
for questioning about its own crimes,
profound and beyond compare,
has delivered yet another submarine to Israel,
(in what is purely a business transaction,
though glibly declared an act of reparation)
whose speciality consists in its ability
to direct nuclear warheads toward
an area in which not a single atom bomb
has yet been proved to exist, its feared
existence proof enough, I’ll say what must be said.
But why have I kept silent till now?
Because I thought my own origins,
Tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,
meant I could not expect Israel, a land
to which I am, and always will be, attached,
to accept this open declaration of the truth.
Why only now, grown old,
and with what ink remains, do I say:
Israel’s atomic power endangers
an already fragile world peace?
Because what must be said
may be too late tomorrow;
and because – burdend enough as Germans –
we may be providing material for a crime
that is foreseeable, so that our complicity
will not be expunged by any
of the usual excuses.
And granted: I’ve broken my silence
because I’m sick of the West’s hypocrisy;
and I hope too that many may be freed
from their silence, may demand
that those responsible for the open danger
we face renounce the use of force,
may insist that the governments of
both Iran and Israel allow an international authority
free and open inspection of
the nuclear potential and capability of both.
No other course offers help
to Israelis and Palestinians alike,
to all those living side by side in enmity
in this region occupied by illusions,
and ultimately, to all of us.
Günter Grass
3 weeks ago
2 notes
