Super Opinionated!

In light of the Arizona shooting on January 8, 2011, I can’t help but speak up about some things. I’m so, so tired of hearing people who identify as liberals or progressives, people who disagree with policies and political agendas I disagree with, people on “my” side, say hateful, discriminatory things.

So.

Basic Concept #1: Sarah Palin isn’t a whore.

She’s a lot of things! And I hate like, all of them! I hate her rhetoric. I hate that the reason she’s even allowed by society to have a job, let alone hold public office, is because of over 100 years of constant work on the part of progressives who fought and continue to fight for feminist principles, and yet she calls herself a feminist. (Side note: if you’re not a feminist, you’re not a progressive. Saying you’re a progressive but you don’t identify as a feminist is like saying you’re a progressive but you’re racist or anti-Semitic. You want equality for people? Congrats, you’re a feminist.)

But! Sarah Palin has not, to my knowledge, ever exchanged sex for money. She’s not a prostitute. Calling her one doesn’t actually say anything against her, what her politics are, what she stands for, or what she may have incited with her violence-encouraging rhetoric. All it does it make you look so uninformed, the only reason you have to dislike her is because she’s a woman. And remember how we just talked about how you’re a feminist? So knock off the slut-shaming and lady-insulting. This also goes for calling her That Bitch or The Cunt or really any sort of personal attack that boils down to, “she is a woman and I’m going to say mean things related to that.” Be smarter.

Basic Concept #2: You’re not Jared Loughner’s clinical psychiatrist.

Yeah, I’ve seen his YouTube channel(s) too. Homeslice appears to hold some ideas that are not based on an appreciation of logic. Assuming those channels even belong to him, and assuming they weren’t some James Franco-on-General-Hospital performance art shit. Which is assuming a lot at this point. However, unless you’ve got a life I don’t know about, you’re not in a room with Jared Loughner right now, appointed by state or federal officials to assess his mental health. You’re not a clinical psychiatrist. You don’t have access to him as a patient, and it’s not within your professional skills to diagnose him. The reality is: you have not ever had the opportunity or capability of assessing the mental health of the suspected Arizona shooter.

What does that mean? It means calling him “crazy” is an incorrect, ignorant-ass thing to say. Likewise, declaring him “schizo”, “a total nutbag”, “a few crayons short of a full box”, and so on. Saying stuff like that just puts out a big sign to everyone who knows you that says, “If you’re ever experiencing any mental health problems, don’t tell me, because I’m not particularly kind about that sort of thing.” Which is to say – you probably know someone who either has sought or is currently seeking treatment for a mental health issue, and so using terms related to mental health as pejoratives (or using flat-out derogatory terms) is probably hurting someone’s feelings right now.

And if you say you can’t possibly be upsetting anyone because no one you know has or ever had any mental health problems, you’re wrong, because you know me. Hi! I was suicidally depressed for like, all of puberty. I spent nine years fantasizing about killing myself before I finally tried to do it, and then I spent another year afterward planning a second attempt. The only reason I didn’t follow through with it was because of the sometimes-daily care of some fucking stellar psychiatrists, psychologists, and professionally-prescribed drugs. I was totally someone you would make fun of, if I’d kept a YouTube channel instead of a (locked) blog. I believed some messed up, incorrect things about myself and the world I lived in. And I was afraid to tell anyone because I knew I was messed up and it seriously seemed more likely to me that I could end my life than find someone who’d be sympathetic about what I felt and thought.

Knock. off. the “crazy” talk. It doesn’t hurt the shooter, it doesn’t actually say anything about him — but it says a lot about you and it says a lot to the people who hear/see you saying these things. Kudos to you for figuring out that someone who can empty a clip into a crowd might not share the same level respect for human life that you have. Round of applause for making a snap-decision that this must mean he’s mentally unstable in some way. Really, your insight and scintillating commentary on what a “whackjob” Loughner must be is just blowing the doors of perspective wide open. Truly, you have raised the level of discourse to its peak. Prize ribbon for you.

I find it distressing that in a situation where there is so much actual shit to talk about, so-called progressives seem to be falling back on the kind of ignorant stereotypes and sexist insults that I left the Republican party to get away from. Sarah Palin has engaged in some seriously heinous, un-American rhetoric by encouraging violence over voting. The fact that she has a vagina really doesn’t concern me; the fact that she used the slogan, “Don’t Retreat, RELOAD” during the 2010 elections really does. Likewise, I don’t think it’s my job or the job of the general public (or media) to decide from afar what Jared Loughner’s mental health situation is. I would much rather talk about what he did – which is commit an act of terrorism – and why the media’s not calling it that (spoiler alert: he’s got white skin and he doesn’t appear to have ever practiced Islam). Could we maybe lay off hurling crude insults at public figures and instead have some actual critical thought and discussion? Y’know, do the things that would differentiate us from the far right, instead of using their same, tired style?