Fighting Against the Man: The Politics of Women's Peace

Fighting Against the Man: The Politics of Women's Peace

It is a conspicuously downplayed fact that, as men are being shot by male police officers, the mothers and wives of slain sons and husbands have been typecast by the media as grieving war widows and tragic hangers-on. Although it seems these days that it is more important to be in the headlines than what the headlines actually say, this image of women has disempowered them precisely when social empowerment of women is what is needed. None of us should be surprised, really. European history going back to the dawn of civilization has been a tale of putting women into social barns and silos in the same manner as cattle and grain were put in real ones, so men could engage in the manly business of solving the world's problems without the opinions of women getting in the way. 

I Would be Moved if Prayer Could Move Me - Hate Speech

What exactly is the difference between speech and hate speech? I hate people all the time, and I have a profound number of reasons for doing so. They don’t happen to include race, but sometimes they do include what they choose to do with their religious views. Let me think on an example—

There is a recent story involving a pastor by the name of Jimenez who said he wished more people had died in the Orlando nightclub shooting. This has sparked a cry for punishment in the name of “hate speech”.

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Early Years

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Early Years

If anyone cares where Hillary Clinton grew up and what happened before she got her J.D. at Yale, go read her books. She recounts it all with deep and fond memories. I don’t really know what her state of mind was, and I don’t really care. Whether she nursed secret political ambition all along or it developed later, by 1992 she emerged from the chrysalis of Arkansas with her intentions fully formed.

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Curious Case of The New Square Pardons pt. 2

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Curious Case of The New Square Pardons pt. 2

The Clintons did in fact have more leverage that Twersky, because he wasn't the only one selling a product—just the tastiest pastries at that time. There were two other options available that fit the bill, and both of them involved U.S. Representatives from New York districts. Both of them were Jewish, and both wanted presidential pardons. One of them even got it. So how did Twersky succeed on a grand scale where two major political figures in the Democratic party got comparatively little? Twersky’s sect was largely insular and very fundamentalist, whereas the other two are the major players in two entire districts?

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Curious Case of The New Square Pardons pt. 1

State of Affairs—The Rise and Run of Hillary Clinton: The Curious Case of The New Square Pardons pt. 1

Hillary Clinton began her official 2000 New York Senate bid at a high-profile farewell gala for Bill Clinton that became a scandal of the first order involving convicted felons, wide scale fraud on behalf of its organizers, fundraisers and the Clinton campaign management on the deepest levels of involvement other than the dame herself. According to legal history anyway. Given the state of Bill's reputation concerning smokable products, the Clinton brand wasn't exactly a layup election-wise.

Gettysburg Address. Because we should all remind ourselves of what a speech can be now and again.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Part VI: Dissecting the Organs—Hillary Clinton is every Terrible Thing on the Planet

Dissecting the Organs—Hillary Clinton is every Terrible Thing on the Planet

Part of the hypnotic effect of the Yorktown speech is that there are little narratives introduced to make his larger points rather than simply coming out and saying them. This is counterintuitive to every principle of speechwriting I’ve ever seen, as the idea is to fit in the most well-crafted, clear statements of policy and rhetoric in an comparatively short period of time. Most political rallies last hours, but most of it is dog and pony stuff leading up to the candidate’s speech.

Anatomy of Trump Speech Part V: Dissecting the Skeleton—Hillary Clinton is a Weak, Screaming Bitch.

Dissecting the Skeleton—Hillary Clinton is a Weak, Screaming Bitch.

The use of stagecraft is the primary tool for depicting Hillary Clinton. The effect is carefully calculated so that the speech appears to be completely off the top of his head, when in reality it is very meticulously combed over, greased down, and hairsprayed with what I can only assume is Gorilla Glue. 

Anatomy of Trump Speech Part II: Landmarks— "Remember This, It's So Important."

“Remember This, It’s So Important.”

The problem with techniques like the Rule of Three is that they are only guidelines. Any number of jokes have a premise, feed, and punch line, but without the simplicity of memorization it’s very likely a lot of the deeper structure will lose its effect. It would be like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with a boring first five bars. 

Anatomy of Trump Speech Part III: Landmarks—The Rule of Three

 

THE RULE OF THREE

The way Americans gather information has become both extremely complex and extremely simple. There are deep metadata processes beneath the surface of our screens tailoring our individual advertisement experiences, and the terabytes of information injected into our heads by the quantum foam of capitalism has left us increasingly numb to high-impact, fast-paced informational experiences. Advertisers must find a way through either hyperbole or originality to draw the attention of their prey. We should expect politics reflect that trend. 

Anatomy of a Trump Speech Part I: Donald Trump and the Nature of American Culture

Part I: Introduction

The success of the Trump campaign thus far is a perfect manifestation of the monster lurking in the back of the minds of the members of the Second Constitutional Congress rearing its ugly hairdo. Most Americans are under no illusion that the authors of the Constitution were much more comfortable giving them a bayonet than a ballot, and the result was the electoral college system which places guards at the gates of the political Bastille. What is not well known is the nature of the debate.

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