TCU is starting to look a little like Penn State with that egg on its face.
Of course, the chancellor and other university officials did a much cleaner job of handling the news of students' drug-dealing crimes than Penn State officials did with the child abuse accusations. But I think what we really have to ask ourselves is: Why?
Yes, I'm glad they did not attempt to cover this up. I'm glad they released well-rehearsed statements, and I'm glad they spoke with the media. But I am confused why this on-campus incident got more attention than student suicides and sexual assaults in the past. The drug dealing that was done was relatively small and inconsequential. It was a victimless situation.
Why is this case so important? Is it because four football players were involved? Is it because many members of the football team supposedly failed their surprise drug tests on Feb. 1? Does this really all boil down to sports? Again?
I guess all I have are questions. I mean, a prayer vigil? Really? For a drug bust? Where was the dang prayer vigil for Mackenzie Workman who committed suicide last month?
I don't know, but I'm sure the answers are just as depressingly simple and mundane as the questions themselves.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
It's about power.
Don't get it mixed: Politics are about power.
The conservatives want to keep it. The liberals want to spread it around, and those in the middle are just trying to make it to tomorrow. They just want to get their kids to school and dinner on the table. Some of them want to go to college. Some of them want to work, and some of them don't. But we all want to be free.
And it just seems to me that some people want to keep all of the power to themselves -- that they want to secure every freedom for themselves, even if it means snatching it away from someone else, someone less fortunate. That is what the Republicans are attempting to do by stigmatizing Planned Parenthood, abortion, contraception and women's health in general. Why else would anyone not think that everyone has a right to his or her own body?
I read an article on the Mother Jones website about a woman who sought out an abortion before Roe v. Wade, and her story was horrible. It was almost unbearable to read because things could easily be that bad again if the Republican party gets its way -- if it really ruins the good work that places like Planned Parenthood accomplish. And with organizations like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation taking sides in a fight fraught with hostile contenders, it feels quite possible that things will not be good anytime soon.
Not with battles over who should have access to contraception raging right now. Not with laws requiring doctors to force a woman to hear a baby's heartbeat before receiving an abortion. Not with people taking sides on an issue that should be important to everyone, regardless of your sex or class or political party. Everyone has a right to his or her body. That's the only power we really have.
And on that note, some lyrics from one of my favorite musicians Ani DiFranco:
wouldn’t it be nice if we had an amendment
to give civil rights to women
to once and for all just really lay it down
from the point of view of women
i know what you’re thinking
that’s just redundant
chicks got it good now
they can almost be president
but it’s worker against worker
time and time again
cuz the rich use certain issues as a tool
and when i say we need the ERA
it ain’t cuz i’m a fool
it’s cuz without it
nobody can get away with anything cool
and you don’t have to go far
like just over to canada
to feel a heightened sense of live and let live
what is it about americans
like so many pit bulls
trained to attack and to never give
we gotta put down abortion
put it down in the books for good
as central to the civil rights of women
make diversity legal
make it finally understood
through the civil rights of women
and if you don’t like abortion
don’t have an abortion!
and teach your children
how they can avoid them
but don’t treat all women
like they are your children
compassion has many faces, many names
and if men can kill
and be decorated instead of blamed
then a woman called upon to mother
can choose to refrain
contrary to eons of old-time religion
your body is your only true dominion
nature is not here to serve you
(or at any cost to preserve you)
that’s just some preacher man’s
old-time opinion
life is sacred
life is also profane
a woman’s life must be hers to name
let an amendment put this brutal game to rest
trust
women will still take you to their breast
trust
women will always do their best
trust
our differences make us stronger not less
-"Amendment" by Ani D. (2012)
The conservatives want to keep it. The liberals want to spread it around, and those in the middle are just trying to make it to tomorrow. They just want to get their kids to school and dinner on the table. Some of them want to go to college. Some of them want to work, and some of them don't. But we all want to be free.
And it just seems to me that some people want to keep all of the power to themselves -- that they want to secure every freedom for themselves, even if it means snatching it away from someone else, someone less fortunate. That is what the Republicans are attempting to do by stigmatizing Planned Parenthood, abortion, contraception and women's health in general. Why else would anyone not think that everyone has a right to his or her own body?
I read an article on the Mother Jones website about a woman who sought out an abortion before Roe v. Wade, and her story was horrible. It was almost unbearable to read because things could easily be that bad again if the Republican party gets its way -- if it really ruins the good work that places like Planned Parenthood accomplish. And with organizations like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation taking sides in a fight fraught with hostile contenders, it feels quite possible that things will not be good anytime soon.
Not with battles over who should have access to contraception raging right now. Not with laws requiring doctors to force a woman to hear a baby's heartbeat before receiving an abortion. Not with people taking sides on an issue that should be important to everyone, regardless of your sex or class or political party. Everyone has a right to his or her body. That's the only power we really have.
And on that note, some lyrics from one of my favorite musicians Ani DiFranco:
wouldn’t it be nice if we had an amendment
to give civil rights to women
to once and for all just really lay it down
from the point of view of women
i know what you’re thinking
that’s just redundant
chicks got it good now
they can almost be president
but it’s worker against worker
time and time again
cuz the rich use certain issues as a tool
and when i say we need the ERA
it ain’t cuz i’m a fool
it’s cuz without it
nobody can get away with anything cool
and you don’t have to go far
like just over to canada
to feel a heightened sense of live and let live
what is it about americans
like so many pit bulls
trained to attack and to never give
we gotta put down abortion
put it down in the books for good
as central to the civil rights of women
make diversity legal
make it finally understood
through the civil rights of women
and if you don’t like abortion
don’t have an abortion!
and teach your children
how they can avoid them
but don’t treat all women
like they are your children
compassion has many faces, many names
and if men can kill
and be decorated instead of blamed
then a woman called upon to mother
can choose to refrain
contrary to eons of old-time religion
your body is your only true dominion
nature is not here to serve you
(or at any cost to preserve you)
that’s just some preacher man’s
old-time opinion
life is sacred
life is also profane
a woman’s life must be hers to name
let an amendment put this brutal game to rest
trust
women will still take you to their breast
trust
women will always do their best
trust
our differences make us stronger not less
-"Amendment" by Ani D. (2012)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
let's talk about sex, baby.
That's right. It's time to talk about sex. Or contraception, rather.
I read an article in The New York Times on Monday that discussed one of the important implications of the new health care law: contraception. The new law requires insurance plans to cover birth control without co-payments for employees. Some institutions are opposed to such policy because of their religious beliefs, including houses of worship, but the Obama administration ruled this month that there would be an exception for religious employers. However, the article said, "a religious employer cannot qualify for the exemption if it employs or serves large numbers of people of a different faith, as many Catholic hospitals, universities and social service agencies do." Many Catholic colleges strongly oppose this ruling and are resisting it, outraged that a policy would force them to go against their beliefs and "finance behavior that betrays Catholic teachings."
Now, I'm no Catholic. I'm not even remotely religious. So, it's kind of hard for me to understand why members of an organized religion would feel the need to regulate their employees' access to contraception. Yes, it may not adhere to good Catholic rules, but the choice to abide by such rules is a personal one. It must be left to the individual to decide if she or he wants to abide by Catholic teachings (or any other religion).
If these bishops and nuns, politicians and pundits would just take a step back and think about the people -- the women -- that this ruling affects and imagine what it would be like to be someone else for a change, then they just might understand how important it is that this law is implemented and enforced. That's the idea behind John Rawls' "Veil of Ignorance" in his theory of justice as fairness. People would not make judgments based on their standing in society because they would be behind the "veil" and ignorant of all "knowledge of particular facts about themselves, about one another, and even about their society and its history," according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. They would not know their social status or class position. They would not know how much money they have or how intelligent they are. They would not know their age or gender. Rawls says that they would not even be aware of "their conceptions of the good or their special psychological propensities. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance."
Those who oppose the contraception coverage requirement or any other part of the new health care law would think thrice if they stood behind a veil of ignorance. They might make different decisions if they did not know their age or sex or social status. They might want every woman to have access to birth control because they just might be that woman who needs it. They might want socialized medicine because they may be that homeless person who has hit hard luck upon hard luck.
Who knows? We might all make different, better and more compassionate choices if we did not have that cushion of whatever it may be -- white, wealthy, male, American, Christian, attractive, etc. Because we could all very well be someone else.
I read an article in The New York Times on Monday that discussed one of the important implications of the new health care law: contraception. The new law requires insurance plans to cover birth control without co-payments for employees. Some institutions are opposed to such policy because of their religious beliefs, including houses of worship, but the Obama administration ruled this month that there would be an exception for religious employers. However, the article said, "a religious employer cannot qualify for the exemption if it employs or serves large numbers of people of a different faith, as many Catholic hospitals, universities and social service agencies do." Many Catholic colleges strongly oppose this ruling and are resisting it, outraged that a policy would force them to go against their beliefs and "finance behavior that betrays Catholic teachings."
Now, I'm no Catholic. I'm not even remotely religious. So, it's kind of hard for me to understand why members of an organized religion would feel the need to regulate their employees' access to contraception. Yes, it may not adhere to good Catholic rules, but the choice to abide by such rules is a personal one. It must be left to the individual to decide if she or he wants to abide by Catholic teachings (or any other religion).
If these bishops and nuns, politicians and pundits would just take a step back and think about the people -- the women -- that this ruling affects and imagine what it would be like to be someone else for a change, then they just might understand how important it is that this law is implemented and enforced. That's the idea behind John Rawls' "Veil of Ignorance" in his theory of justice as fairness. People would not make judgments based on their standing in society because they would be behind the "veil" and ignorant of all "knowledge of particular facts about themselves, about one another, and even about their society and its history," according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. They would not know their social status or class position. They would not know how much money they have or how intelligent they are. They would not know their age or gender. Rawls says that they would not even be aware of "their conceptions of the good or their special psychological propensities. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance."
Those who oppose the contraception coverage requirement or any other part of the new health care law would think thrice if they stood behind a veil of ignorance. They might make different decisions if they did not know their age or sex or social status. They might want every woman to have access to birth control because they just might be that woman who needs it. They might want socialized medicine because they may be that homeless person who has hit hard luck upon hard luck.
Who knows? We might all make different, better and more compassionate choices if we did not have that cushion of whatever it may be -- white, wealthy, male, American, Christian, attractive, etc. Because we could all very well be someone else.
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