While I’m in DC, here’s a guest post from my friend Andy, who wrote this after he received yet another letter from the Democratic Party asking for donations. To whomever reads this letter: Hello from a severely disenchanted former Democrat. Firstly, I would like to politely ask you to remove me from your records from …
Category Archive: current events/politics
May 12 2013
Richwine and the Inherent Goodness of Intelligence
[Content note: racism] In news that should surprise absolutely no one, conservatives have once again embarrassed themselves by attempting to “prove” with “science” that people of color are stupider than white people. Yup, again. You’ve probably read this story elsewhere so I’ll make my recap brief: It has come to light that Jason Richwine (I’m …
Apr 01 2013
The Pressing Issue of Sham Gay Marriages
This, sadly, is not an April Fools’ joke. (Gotcha with that last one, though, right??) Sue Everhart, chairwoman of the Georgia Republican Party, on same-sex marriage: You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow. Say you had a great job with the …
Mar 31 2013
How To Get People To Care When It’s Not Personal: On Rob Portman
I’m going to talk about Rob Portman now even though that bit of news is pretty old at this point. (Hey, if you want to read about stuff in a timely manner, go read the NYT or something.) Brief summary: Portman is a Republican senator from Ohio (yay Ohio!) who used to oppose same-sex marriage but changed …
Mar 26 2013
I’m Going To Rant About Those Little Equal Sign Facebook Profile Pics Now
I get it. The cute little red equal signs all over Facebook today are an easy target. It’s not Real Activism. It doesn’t actually help anyone. Get off your ass and Actually Do Something for the cause. Right? Yes, nobody should fool themselves that changing their profile picture will convince the Supreme Court to disregard …
Mar 25 2013
Not All Beliefs Deserve Respect
“I’m not trying to be ‘that douche’ but it kind of pisses me off that people here accept other’s beliefs only if they’re liberal. What if I tried to post advertising all over about why ‘I’m not an ally’ or why I think abortion is about the most disgusting crime someone can commit? I hate …
Mar 20 2013
How (Not) to Respond When People Change Their Minds
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the process of changing one’s mind. For those of us who like to try to persuade people, it’s important to think about that process and how it happens and how to facilitate it, but even someone who doesn’t spend most of their free time yelling on the Internet …
Mar 17 2013
More About Justice and Less About Revenge: On Reading the Steubenville Coverage Too Early in the Goddamn Day
[Content note: sexual assault] I don’t want to hear anything more about the “ruined futures” of Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond. The verdict did not ruin their futures. They ruined their futures, when they made the decision to rape someone. I don’t want to hear anything more about how you shouldn’t drink if you don’t want …
Mar 12 2013
On “Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs” and Being a Counselor
Via JT, here’s a new bill that recently passed in the Tennessee State Senate Education Committee by a 7-2 vote: Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley encouraged fellow senators to pass SB 514 to “prevent an institution of high education from discriminating against a student in the counseling, social worker, psychology programs because of their religious beliefs.” Hensley’s bill …
Feb 28 2013
[guest post] Sorry, You Don’t Own Marriage
My friend Seth, who’s becoming somewhat of a regular around here, returns with some observations about the same-sex marriage “debate” (if you could call it that). I don’t know how many of you reading this right now have read any other of my limited contributions to the blogosphere, but if you have, you’ll know that …
About the Author
Brute Reason Tumblr
- "We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves,..."“We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves, the same capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections, for bottomless generosity of heart and petty, capricious malice. We can’t believe that anyone could be unkind to us and still be genuinely fond of us, although […]
- itchbay-srps:
brute-reason:
Sometimes when I’m texting/IMing/exchanging OKC messages/whatevering...itchbay-srps: brute-reason: Sometimes when I’m texting/IMing/exchanging OKC messages/whatevering with someone I like, I still get this little voice that’s like “you shouldn’t be responding to them so quickly OR ELSE THEY’LL NEVER LIKE YOU” but then I realize that life is too short for this fucking bullshit. Fuck that noise. If anything, you can tell a lot by […]
- I know you don't need me to tell you this, but: don't let people get you down for showing a more personal side on your blog, if any are. I think it's great for your work and great for people trying to understand the life and mind of at least one, or one more, feminist. :)Thanks! :) Nobody’s given me crap for it yet. If they do, I’ll ask them politely to crawl out of their own ass. I don’t write for anyone but myself and my own goals. […]
- Sometimes when I’m texting/IMing/exchanging OKC messages/whatevering with someone I like, I...Sometimes when I’m texting/IMing/exchanging OKC messages/whatevering with someone I like, I still get this little voice that’s like “you shouldn’t be responding to them so quickly OR ELSE THEY’LL NEVER LIKE YOU” but then I realize that life is too short for this fucking bullshit. […]
- "You know what I love? When people don’t see my race. There is nothing more affirming for me as..."“You know what I love? When people don’t see my race. There is nothing more affirming for me as a person than to have essential parts of myself and my experience completely disregarded. I mean, inside we’re all the same. And there’s only one race: the HUMAN race! Amirite??? Ugh. Listen. If your ability to respect someone’s right to exist requires pretending […]
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Two things to keep in mind:
1. I am bad at answering lengthy emails. Sorry!
2. I may ask you for permission to blog about our correspondence. However, if you are harassing/abusive/trollish, then I no longer have to ask you for permission. Proceed with caution!
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