Since I am a moral relativist and don’t really believe in right and wrong or good and evil, I really don’t believe many actions fall under a negative blanket. There are few things that you’ll see me rage outright about, and I’d say most of them are related to the treatement of children.
A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children’s rights group said Monday.
Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.
Women are not property, children are not property, no one is property. I can’t knock someone’s custom and say it’s wrong to arrange a marriage, but something like rape of a child, neglect of a child, that is incorrect in my own personal morality.
This poor girl spent three days bleeding to death because not only could her body not handle giving birth, but she wasn’t given proper medical care. From what I’ve read here, which may be wrong, the Yemeni culture condones child marriage but supposedly makes the husbands sign a waiver saying that they’ll not have sex with her until she’s of age.
A period could signal a girl of being of age. Maybe I’m raging at the wrong place: it is possible she was mature enough to handle the relationship (I doubt it, but we’re looking at this with a relative mind) but that she was not given proper medical care. Whether this is the husband’s fault or not, I don’t know, but this is just more proof of the need for affordable health care around the world.
I don’t even know what makes me mad about this anymore, just that I’m sure three days of bleeding out from childbirth is akin to torture, and someone watched her die and did nothing, possibly out of ignorance, but possibly out of his or her own fear. And then, what do I have to rage about but my own hypocritical hatred toward someone who was too uneducated or courageous enough to help themselves. Not at them, but at a world where they stay uneducated.
For a couple short periods in my life, I have attempted vegitarianism. The first was an utter failure because I was in high school and my stepmom made dinner so I was pretty much eating whatever they served. My dad’s and stepmom’s families also aren’t really open minded (a story for another time) so they relentlessly mocked my decision. The other attempt was in 2006, but after a short period of time, I couldn’t help it: my body craved meat.
It’s never fat that I’m interested in. I eat lean meats, fish, and drink soy milk because dairy products fuck with my stomach something fierce. I’m an omnivore, eat a lot of plant product too. And I like what I eat and keep any opinons about what other people eat to myself.
But I find that there are people who are militant veg*ns (meaning veggies or vegans) who treat what they eat like it is a religion. And I don’t mean like Buddhism, but like Christian Fundamentalism, as if there is one true way to eat and anyone else who is doing other than what they do is harming themselves, the world, and other people.
I’m just as offended by those people as I am by Fundies, the people who participate in Critical Mass (a bike ride that takes place to protest people driving but just disrupts traffic and alienates people who are interested in the cause) and anyone who takes such an extreme stance that says, “what I am doing is the only right way, no excuses.” Making your dietary choices akin to some kind of communion with nature is not superior. It is possibly a more conscious decision, and it may work for you, but while some people believe in God, not all of us want to or even can.
You are not superior because you eat vegan or ride a bike. Dan rides his bike to save money, not to feel smug that he’s not destroying the planet. Being better at something doesn’t make you a better person. Morality doesn’t work like that. You just look like an asshole when you say you wouldn’t even hold hands with someone who eats meat.
There are very few gender stereotypes that don’t make me mad, but there’s one that literally makes my blood boil: when a 28 year old woman sexually molests at 14 year old boy, that that is good for him and he should be proud. Nothing in that link says anything like that, but from my friends I have heard things like, “I need to know first: is she hot?” or “I just couldn’t consider that abuse.” This infuriates me because the opposite is considered awful, the men are sexual offenders and molesters, and they manipulate the girls into doing it.
I know I’m not stating anything new, but every time this comes up, it makes me mad. Fourteen year old boys are no more mature than fourteen year old girls. Women who have sex with young boys are no less of pedophiles. It’s not even this case specifically, because obviously I would wants to go on a case by case basis, but just the general concept pisses me off.
You cannot say “a 28 year old woman with a 14 year old boy is okay” meaning that the boy is mature enough, without also making all other permutations of this relationship okay. But wait, even if you just say that boys are mature enough to handle sex with a much older person at 14, then you must also agree they are mature enough to be with an older man. I still haven’t seen anyone okay with both older w/younger m and older m/younger m.
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About As a poet, I feel like any photography I do will always be a reflection of the words I use. When I think, I think in words, not images, unlike visual artists. This site houses a minimalist dream log, my poetry including poems from You May Waltz To Your Doom In Sanguine Stained Shoes, my photography, and a blog with Let's Play related entries.
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