Unfair targeting
The IRS has publicly apologized for "inappropriate" targeting of Tea Party and other right-wing groups during the 2012 election cycle in investigating if the groups were violating their tax-exempt status. This is clearly evidence of a double-standard-- conservatives get an apology.Occupy Wall Street groups on the left have been targeted and bullied by the FBI and CIA since the inception of their peaceful movement. There has been no apology from either government bureau forthcoming, and the surveillance and intimidation likely continues in many instances.
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FBI official Mary Beth Romig says she does not believe that the New Orleans parade shooting was an act of terrorism. It was instead, she says, “strictly an act of street violence.” So a duffle bag bomb killing three and injuring dozens in Boston is terrorism, but a gun fired into a crowd at a Mothers Day parade in New Orleans injuring 19, three critically, is not. It’s not terrorism, you see, unless it’s committed by a Muslim.
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I want to say this about the Joan Harris and Don Draper characters on the sublime TV program Mad Men. I’ll speak somewhat generally as to not give away too much plot, but be forewarned before reading, I pretty much do give everything away (at least about last week’s episode, not this week’s). Don is undeniably becoming more detestable, but he does not owe Joan an apology for his impetuous decision in the 5/5/13 episode (“For Immediate Release”) regarding the advertising client that they both despise. Joan made an utterly ridiculous and soulless decision last year towards this client with the goal of making herself rich. And just because Joan was willing to eat shit, that doesn’t mean Don has to. It’s not like Don is being hypocritical, either. He was against Joan’s decision, vocally, from the very beginning.
If internet message boards can be trusted, I might be the only person that didn’t have sympathy for Joan last week when she lashed out at Don for his abrupt business decision regarding this client. I understand that Joan, because of her gender, is forced to make choices that Don never has to, but that doesn’t forgive making such bad ones. We’re all capable of compromising our souls, and this was one of the few times when Don, admirably, refused to compromise his.
Joan’s been certainly put upon as an employee of the fictional firm SCDP, but she’s far from being at the bottom rung of the economic ladder, as her encounter with the office secretary Dawn a week or two previous made crystal clear. There are plenty of women in the world that have been willing to stay poor because they stayed true to their moral center—and men too. At what price “getting ahead” is a question of universality.
This highlights one of the dichotomies of modern life when considering oneself both a feminist and a socialist. On one hand, you’ve trained yourself to cheer for women in achieving full equality in their careers and in business. On the other hand, the system to which they’re aspiring is morally indefensible. When you’ve been focusing your attention as much as possible on eschewing the trappings of capitalism, it’s often difficult to muster sympathy for anyone, regardless of gender, that has chosen to buy into it and then gets emotionally scarred for their trouble.
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Speaking of professional women we’re supposed to be rooting for: Barbara Walters, a woman impossible to root for, is retiring.
posted by CM @ 10:00 PM
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