Women aren’t treated equally. We have to start treating women better. They’re not inferior to men. They can hold their own in the workforce. They should be paid the same. We have to treat women better. But wait a minute. What about blacks? We have to start treating them equally. Black people are no different than anyone else. We have to stop shooting unarmed black men. We have to stop putting them in jail. We have to treat black people better. But hold on, what about gay people? We have to start treating them as we treat others. Gay…
Other people’s privilege
A friend of mine, who’s of Middle Eastern descent, has been traveling the country trying to play golf in all 50 states. The sub-story to his mission is that he’s writing a book about diversity and inclusion within the golf community. His premise is that courses are not as inclusive as they could be. As we discussed this, we talked about the concept of “white privilege” and how the golfers he’s seen so far through his travels have been largely all white. His contention is that minorities don’t have as much access or are not welcomed the way whites…
Hyphenated last names
Hyphenated last names became a thing when feminists determined they were going to remove themselves from the male-dominated last naming convention within marriages and maintain their last name equality by keeping both partner’s last names with a hyphen. But what happens when a feminist marries someone with the same last name? Do they just say it twice, like “Clayton-Clayton?” Or do they just leave it up to people’s imaginations to decide who won the battle? I wouldn’t think so, because most people, being oppressors themselves, would assume it was the male’s “Clayton.” Or, perhaps they would just call it…
Selling transgender
Marketing isn’t just an advertisement telling you to buy this detergent. Marketing is culture. It’s the stories we hear and the stories we tell. It’s what people are talking about. It’s cultural influencers setting the tone and setting the narrative. If you think there’s no push to sell kids on being transgender, you’re thinking too literally. It’s far more subtle than that. Consider these two examples: It’s 20 years ago. There’s a teenager in the Midwest who doesn’t fit in. He gets picked on at school. He doesn’t have many, or any, friends. He doesn’t like or wear the…
That dog has the most adorable bark
If you’re going to own a dog, especially in a suburban or urban setting where you live close to others, you have to train them not to bark. It’s simply selfish and thoughtless to think your neighbors aren’t going to notice or mind the constant barking coming from your house when you leave your dogs out. I’m most impressed with those who leave or put their dogs out to bark at 5:30 or 6am in the morning. The entire neighborhood can hear your dog barking, but somehow, you’d think the owner cannot hear what’s going on right outside their…
Stop making it personal
On my short list of things I wish everyone would consider when they speak is this one: You don’t know what you think you know about anything, when it comes to what motivated another to do or say something. One of the greatest sources of division in our society stems from people thinking they know why another person said or did something. For example, in the world of politics, it is not at all uncommon for a Democrat to tell you that a Republican does this or that, “because they hate blacks/immigrants/gays/women/transgenders/children/etc.” It’s not enough to just say a…
Knowing more vs knowing
In my charitable work, I spend a lot of time with young adults. One thing I do quite intentionally is challenge them. I challenge their thinking. I challenge what they think the know. I challenge what they’ve heard. I make them justify what they perceive and what they say. When you do this, either one of two good things can come from it: They either realize their perspective has some holes in it, and I give them something new to consider, or they make a good case for their perception, and they walk away with an affirmation that they…
10 masks and 3 vaccinations
Like many people, I’m not taking any chances during the COVID pandemic. When I heard some experts suggesting that two masks are better than one, I quickly took the logic out a bit further and decided I’m going to start wearing 10 masks at once to guarantee I’m virus-free. Similarly, I figured that since more masks are better, I decided to get all three of the vaccines available to the general public. It only required five shots, and I was only deathly ill after four of them, so it wasn’t that bad at all. People who are worried about…
The racism is no consequences
As blue cities around the country pull back on enforcing the law, they reveal their true racism. The premise of defunding the police is that black people can’t stop themselves from breaking the law and that the real perpetrators are those who apprehend them and lock them up when they’re committing a crime. More specifically, the premise is that black people will be black people and can’t help themselves from breaking the law. We can’t expect them to behave like civilized people and follow our laws, so it’s inherently racist to enforce the law because to do so necessarily…
Season four: episode 789
Yesterday, we found ourselves scrolling through DirecTV when we happened upon the game show “Wheel of Fortune.” A look at the program information included the season and episode. I never thought of game shows in the context of “episodes,” but this most recent episode was season 38, episode 185. That’s more than 7000 episodes over the span of the show. In this binge-watch culture, I wonder if anyone undertook the chore of binge-watching all 7000 episodes of Wheel of Fortune? If you’re looking for something a bit more enlightening and simple, try reading through the archives of The Bubbler….