Insomnia, Nick's Pub, and Prop 8

What to do when it's 1:30 am and you can't sleep? Blog! My problem? Adventurous content. Blogging has taken a back seat to the variety of illnesses that seem to have declared my body cavity good real estate. That means no new adventures, no new experiences, and no new photos. Phooey. But, it doesn't mean that I don't still have a lot to say. Phooey squared.

My friend and co-worker Dando has great Spidey-sense and knew intuitively that a pre-holiday, pre-progress reports happy hour was needed by all. So she sent out the invite, picked the spot, Nick's Pub in the city, and hoped that a few friends would show. My district is not very big but we owned Nick's that night (well, at least for the 3 hours that we were there). We had almost a full MS showing and the HS turn out was pretty good too. Shout out to the MS & HS Math peeps! You get the "Most Drunks in the Department" award by having 100% turn out.

Okay. Big election news. Sorry, Barack. This rant is not about you. In a bold, dramatic gesture, we elected our first black president thereby showing the world, at least superficially, that as a nation we are trying to put our racist reputation behind us. But, hey, world! Don't get too excited. Prop 8 passed. It amended the CA Constitution to legally discriminate against gay rights(i.e. human rights). According to this source and this source and this source and this source, it is purported that many of the same groups that showed up in large numbers, theoretically to support Prez Elect Barack Obama, also voted in favor of Prop 8 in CA. True? False? What about the Mormons? Unless they publish the election results by demographic, we'll never really know which groups overwhelming voted for or against Prop 8.

But that said, why would anyone vote for Prop 8? Okay, okay we get that Jerry Falwell didn't much care for the homosexuals. And you other religious folk--trust me, we hear you too and we know that you are no friends of the gays either. And while I absolutely without a doubt believe that ALL people deserve equal rights, I can understand that you believe in a God (albeit one that hates 10% of the population that, according to the bible, he made) that tells you homosexuality is wrong. And, this belief, however oppressive in my world, is one that ultimately though I cannot argue against. Belief in God trumps everything, whether or not it makes sense (think 9/11). The other group that I could see supporting Prop 8 is white men. No offense white guys--but you have demonstrated for centuries your predilection for oppression and bias. Your point was made with slavery, Jim Crow, and keeping us all barefoot and pregnant. So, the fact that some of you white guys in certain demographics remain loyal to the oppressive mentality of the 1920's is disappointing but not terribly shocking.

But, that some members of the other groups would cast a vote in favor of Prop 8 leaves me speechless, confused, and pissed off. Women and minorities, what's our prob? We should be better than that for all the hate, violence, and degradation that we had to endure while we fought for our human rights, our civil rights, the rights that had long been guaranteed to white men. It just makes no sense to me why victims of discrimination voluntarily opt to discriminate. God, under no circumstances, shouldn't trump that argument. Where was your God when the man was in charge? Someone, explanation please!

Let's talk about this for a minute. Are we physiologically or psychologically engineered to always victimize certain group(s)? History would suggest so. But, history also tells us that when scientific explanation and understanding is lacking, people often construct their own strange, often draconian, explanations to make meaning of a new experience (i.e. Salem Witches). So which, if either, explanation holds true here: do people always, even when they've been victims themselves, need a group to hate and oppress or is this a case of misunderstanding (i.e. people don't know that science explains gayness).

The Colbert Report, always topical, always hilarious, did his own little funny something, something:

The bright ending for this controversy, is that thousands of Americans gathered from city to city, state to state to show support for the repeal of Prop 8. Hundreds of St. Louisians braved the cold today to stand on the steps of the Old Courthouse in protest.