Context

Jan. 29th, 2013 12:33 am
ed_rex: (The Droz Report)
[personal profile] ed_rex

Divorced lesbian new Premier of Ontario!


Kathleen Wynne (left) is congratulated by runner-up Sandra Pupatello on Saturday.

And something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

— Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man"

Early Sunday morning on Facebook, I posted a knee-jerk response to the selection of Kathleen Wynne as the Liberal Party of Ontario's new leader — and thus, the province's new Premier. Wynne won on the third ballot, edging out Sandra Pupatello. The women had been the front-runners right from the start. (Entirely coincidentally, but most serendipitously, Wynne's victory came only two days before the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision declaring that women have a fundamental right to control their own bodies.)

I wrote:

Those of you who think that nothing changes, please take note. In some very important ways, the world *is* getting better and it's important we remember that. A divorced, gay, woman is now Premier of Ontario.

Woman. Gay. Divorced. 30 years ago (or less!) any *one* of those facts would have automatically disqualified her.

That's a sea change, ladies and gentleman. A fucking sea change.

There is more to it than that, of course, and finding myself living in a country in which six of its 14 First Ministers are women does not mean we have reached Utopia.

But it is significant.

So significant that it deserves not just an emphasized paragraph all of its own, but consideration at some length. The perfumes of change.

Well? Is a politicians sex, sexual orientation or even skin colour important? Or am I just being distracted by the superficial while the welfare state sinks like the Titanic?

Marriage

Apr. 25th, 2009 10:55 am
adalger: Earthrise as seen from the moon, captured on camera by the crew of Apollo 16 (Default)
[personal profile] adalger
The term "marriage" has been strongly claimed by Christians to denote a particular relationship between a man and a woman, defined in the Bible, ordained by God, and inapplicable to other types of relationship. Because the United States was founded by Christians, whose cultural beliefs embraced centuries of this usage, the term was incorporated into government usage with the same meaning. Currently, however, other people who wish to engage in a substantially equivalent relationship are denied use of the term, to the detriment of their civil liberties and rights under the law to have legal sanction for this relationship in the way Christian marriages are sanctioned.

My solution )
hatman: HatMan, my alter ego and face on the 'net (Default)
[personal profile] hatman
New debate topic:

Should Europe be considered a continent?

I'm taking the negative position.

A continent is a continuous distinct landmass (with the addition of nearby islands) of particularly large size.

Europe is separated from Asia by the Ural mountains, not an ocean. Furthermore, the area of Europe is only 18% of the Eurasian landmass. It's roughly equivalent to that of the United States - big as countries go, but certainly not a continent unto itself.

Yes, it's had a disproportionate effect on Western history, but that's no excuse to go rewriting geography.

(As a side note, it's appalling to me that North and South America have to share one of the five Olympic rings, whereas Europe gets its own. The Americas are two distinct landmasses. Barely connected even before the Panama Canal cut them apart.)
adalger: Earthrise as seen from the moon, captured on camera by the crew of Apollo 16 (Default)
[personal profile] adalger
So, now that we have some members, here's a topic:

Is "multiculturalism" truly beneficial?

I'll start off by taking the negative position.

Multiculturalism is a tool used by the establishment to prevent the unification of Americans into one common culture. It perpetuates inter-cultural tension by emphasizing the differences between Americans who come from different cultural heritages. The only true path to peace and unity is to abandon this continued segmentation to fulfill the promise of the Melting Pot.

Discuss. :)

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