CLASS REUNIONS,By Louise Annarino, August 8, 2012
I am not attending my 45th. high school class reunion. It is more than I am able to tolerate. I had been considering not attending for some time as several classmates indicated they would set me straight about politics and show me the real Obama (no use of the title “president” ever appears before his name when they speak of the man they love to hate). When I first sent out feelers to my email list about my blog, these same persons notified me to never send them ANY political emails. I have not. However, they continue to send them to me, repeatedly. For more than four years I have replied with Fact Check,Politifact and Snopes as truth checks to show the distortions in the ads,videos and emails they send me. I cite original sources and provide full cuts of doctored and manipulated speeches and documents so they may learn something of the truth and see how they are being manipulated by hate-mongers. I ask them to please notify all to whom they mailed the original statements a correction and update.
Despite the hours of work it takes to carefully dissect and correct the propaganda, within weeks these classmates send me a different version of the identical distortions as if they never read a word I wrote. They probably did not. They are not interested in truth, only in attacking President Obama. At the 40th reunion I was blindsided by such hateful attacks. However, I presented the correct information and attempted to enjoy the company of other classmates. As a last resort, several of us had to leave the main event and go to a small room to avoid the political discussions and nonsense declarations. It is fine line to walk to answer people politely when one has little respect for their lack of informed opinion and their willingness to find any way possible to excuse and justify their racism,sexism,homophobia; and bigotry toward African-Americans, Muslims,Latinos and immigrants. It is intolerable. It calls for response,not silence.
As I was considering the lost chance to see classmates from out-of-state I have been longing to see one of the reunion organizers called and mentioned everyone hoped no one would talk politics this time. The message was clear. Those disinterested in politics did not want the reunion ruined by those of us who do care.I will never remain silent when bigotry rears its head. I am genetically unable to remain silent when a bigoted opinion is accepted as factual analysis. Politics has become all about bigotry since an African-American was elected president. Hate groups monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center have increased 1000% since he was elected. I can refrain from discussing most politics, but not this racial bigotry masquerading as politics.Clearly, I would be the thorn in everyone’s side again this time since others seem to prefer my silence in order to have a fun time. I made a decision right then not to attend.
The rightfulness of my decision was confirmed a few hours ago. For the fourth time in as many weeks a classmate who assures me repeatedly how much she hates politics and is uninterested in it and to whom I never send anything political at her request, sent me a bigoted and factually incorrect email. This one was a doctored video of many speeches by president Obama in which various sentences were cobbled together to indicate he admits he is a Muslim. This video is not evidence of anything but the creator’s pathetic attempt to badly edit other tapes. Intelligent and well-informed voters know President Obama is not a muslim, although members of his extended family are. He and Michelle are Christian. But the more important point is that it would not matter one iota if he were Muslim,Mormon,Christian or Jew. Since when is a candidate’s religion a consideration? Roman Catholic President Kennedy’s election settled that matter long ago. It is ironic that this woman who declares we need to take back our country from those who would destroy our constitutional freedoms would deny a presidential candidate his constitutional freedom.
It is particularly disturbing to me that she sent out this hate-mongering against muslims video not a week after a white supremacist gathered his guns for a mass killing of Sikhs, stupidly mistaking them for Muslims. Sikhs and Muslims have been the victims of soft attacks across the country since 9/11. To see the video attacks spread by my classmate turned my stomach. Instead of educating her about the misinformation and bigotry as I have done so many times before, this time I simply told her to never contact me again. I have had all I can stand of her bigotry; and of anyone else’s bigotry. This ethnic,religious and racial bigotry is eating away the soul of America and Americans.
If I thought I could reach her, or any of the others who send me such materials, by providing a reasoned and well-researched response I would continue to try. However, she appears to be immune to rational thought and is blinded by her hate and fear. I have tried to lovingly assuage the fears of those who send me this crazy stuff. Some people actually thank me for pointing out what they had missed. But this woman and others like her are more comfortable with being bigoted than with being truthful and fair to others they hate. Not in my presence. Let my silent classmates deal with the bigots this time around. I won’t be there.
annarino writes 
There is No War on Women,by Louise Annarino,1-25-2014
There is No War on Women,By Louise Annarino
There is no war on women. What we are watching play out is an age-old phenomenon of men who fear women’s sexual expression. Whether it is the Taliban, fundamentalist Muslims-Jews-Christians,or Mike Huckabee, the chastisement and need to control women springs from men’s fear of loss of their own control. I refuse to allow their fear to become my burden. I suggest they learn to handle it all, as I must handle my own fears. Their fear, their loss of control, is not my problem; but, they insist on making it so. I don’t call that a war. I call it fear mongering.
We use the word war too loosely. We enjoy hyperbole because it grabs our attention,holds our imagination, and allows us to believe we are heroes(another word used too loosely)fighting some grand battle. Anyone who has ever experienced war is insulted by this cavalier use of the word. Anyone who have ever acted heroically is appalled by its frequent use in today’s lexicon. As William Tecumseh Sherman who marched on Atlanta destroying all in his wake said in his address to the Michigan Military Academy in June 19, 1879, “You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is Hell!” (Battle Creek Enquirer and News,Nov.18,1933). I cannot use the word “war” to describe anything but war. Fear is not war; and, unless we name what is happening correctly, we cannot address the problem we face correctly.
This fear of male loss of control when faced with female sexual expression has biological roots. http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ Men’s brains are structured with less ability to maintain rational thought while in the throes of emotion. Of course they fear women whose brains allow them to cry,laugh,orgasm and think at the same time. Whom should we blame for this? The Hebrews tell a story of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. Most of us have at least heard that story a time or two. There are two elements to that story: obedience to the male deity transferred to obedience to the first male, Adam. Who was to be obedient to these male prototypes? The woman. What do fig leaves have to do with the story? They are used to cover up human sexual expression, and thus control sexual expression which becomes sinful when the woman does not obey the man. That is what is going on today!
The Hebrews were not the first to tell such a story. Earlier cultures and religious traditions acknowledged the power of female sexuality; some accepted it and used it as an avenue to spiritual awakening a la the Vestal Virgins. Others fearfully suppressed it, a la female genital mutilation. We see vestiges of these practices today throughout our world. It is not only Mike Huckabee and Republican men who fear women. Democrats,Libertarians,Independents and a host of other men do, too. The men who do not fear women are able to trust and appreciate women, able to understand the biology of male/female differences without feeling inferior, and able to see diversity as an enriching experience,not one to be feared. There is that word “diversity” which too many of us fear. Such men exist within all political parties and religions.
Although I do not see such fear of women as merely a Republican issue, one must acknowledge that the Republican Party platforms have opposed Affirmative Action,our ONE effort to practice diversity; while the Democratic Party platform has embraced diversity.The Republican Party platform opposes women’s right to birth control and abortion,to freely manage her health needs to freely express her body’s sexuality; while the Democratic Party has embraced a woman’s right to choose how she uses her body sexually and how to protect her health. We cannot ignore that these two party positions are different, even though men are the same biological creatures, dealing with the same fears in both parties.
As a woman,I am not satisfied with the behavior of men in either party. It is not enough to add women to the mix, when the men make all the final decisions, and too often ignore and disparage our female voices. When women’s only strength comes from a separate women’s caucus, whose leaders are the strongest and wisest and most experienced political activists I know, rather than being hired into positions of political power we know we still have a long way to go. We may have “come a long way baby”,finally being allowed to participate in the race; but, the race officials-funders-judges are still men who too often control our political expression. The words men use to describe their view of women is not the problem. Their fear of women’s full and free use of her power is the problem. Huckabee apologists are busy trying to reframe how to control women as if male manners need fixed. Instead, they should focus on facing their own fears and finding their courage in the face of female power and sexuality.
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