In A Mirror, Darkly

Hmmm.... When people get upset about posts or memes or statements on social media, specifically Facebook, criticizing Christianity...

"It's offensive!" They cry.

"Show respect to my beliefs!" They shout.

"Don't post that where I can see it!" They demand.

What's really offensive to me is the number of adults who go around driving cars, owning guns, raising kids and being allowed to conduct business, who act as if any of that stuff is real and get butt-hurt when anyone contradicts their little "world view".

The Opening And Closing Of Doors

2018 - and indeed, October 2018 in particular marked a turning point in my life, where I closed a few doors behind me on past endeavors, and opened a door ahead of me.

My activist past in terms of belonging to organized groups and associations is a lengthy convoluted one, and if you'd been following my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit Of Ignorance" since I started it in 2009, you'd probably be aware of some of this.

New Release: "The Pink Community - The Facts" Second Edition!

New release: "The Pink Community – The Facts" - Second Edition! Back in 2009 when I was in full swing of my human rights advocacy and running two LGBT rights groups (SA GLAAD and ECGLA), I put together an online information resource which mainly consisted of useful quotes and links to articles online.

As an activist who campaigned a lot on social media against bigotry in form of homophobia and transphobia, these links came in handy to post as replies to enraged bigots, rather than typing out lengthy replies each time! Instead, the link would manifest with a reference to a useful scientific or medical article that would invalidate the bigot's viewpoint, and they would be left there, seething, embarrassed, with egg on their faces!

Gradually this list grew until it migrated from a text file I kept on my PC, into a Word document - and then, when I started my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit of Ignorance", I dedicated several pages to it there. Later, in about 2012, I migrated it to my official author site, where it still lurks, as a free resource for human rights advocacy. This allowed for page hierarchies rather than just a huge cluster (or clutter!) of pages on a site!

The Burning Question

A general look at similarities between some persecuted minority groups in SA, based upon differences in  race, sexual orientation, and religion or spiritual beliefs - and the similarities in the methodology of their persecution.

In this article I will broadly discuss my perception of the current situation in South Africa, in conjunction with general reference to "the Stanton Report", a model which assesses the make-up of a genocide, and to which the UN also refers. Broadly, the Stanton Report, developed and presented to the UN in 1996, demonstrates the different stages of the development of social discrimination into a full-blown genocide. There are 8 of these stages in the model, and these show how the removal of civil rights and legal protections of a social minority group is usually followed by vilification and persecution of that group, and that the persecution of the group is the real intended goal of removing such legal protections in the first place. 

Passing On The Torch

It is very close to the end of another year, and the time has come again for me to reflect on the past, to take stock - and to chart a new course for my future in human rights activism. 

You may recall I started out as an activist for the human rights of the Pink Community, specifically with the SA Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) - an organization I am still serving on - and have since also become more involved with other causes attached to the cause of human rights. 

Among these was a group called ECGLA.

Reja-vu

The "Protection Of Information" Bill (or POI) is getting a white-wash from the South African government, and from figures who think it is a good idea to censor the free Press. 

 

Some say it will redress the wrongs under the still existing (yet hardly enforced) Apartheid-era secrecy law. (Of course they are hoping that by using the "A-word" the lemmings will leap to a knee-jerk decision in favor of the POI without bothering to think further than - "oh it must be better then".) 

 

Instead of just scrapping the old law, or using the original draft replacement law from three years ago, which was more in line with democratic values - they want to replace it with an "upgrade", a V2.0 - no doubt soon to be followed by an "Apartheid v2.0". 

 

The working title for this little exercise in retribution could be something on the lines of "the Formerly Oppressed Strike Back", and we all have a pretty good idea of who the main characters will be, and how it will play out. After all, we've seen it all before - just across the border in what used to be a fairly prosperous neighboring country.

Are Militant Homosexual Activists An Extinct Species?

Back in the day, opponents of equality and human rights for us Pink folks used to call anyone who dared speak out against them or shoot down their ridiculous arguments "militant homosexual activists". Typically, they used to show their blatant ignorance by calling transgender activists the very same thing as well. But regardless of the details, today I have to wonder where all those "militant activists" have gone?

Wolves In The Fold

It's pretty hard to deny that a lot of the world's problems have roots in the activities of organized book-religions like Christianity, which are less matters of personal faith and more systems of control.

Shuffling A Pack Of Lies

On Friday I received notification that a hate crime had taken place in a small town in New York State. Rachel Roo, an 18 year old teen mentor on a popular transgender forum had been brutally murdered.

It was reported that Rachel who had transitioned quite young, had been involved in a car accident in which her mother had lost an arm. Upon testifying in court, the lawyer for the opposing party outed her - apparently her townsfolk did not take kindly to this revelation and she and her family now faced numerous death threats on a daily basis. It was reported that while riding to a nearby store on Friday evening, she disappeared. Her bicycle was found in a dumpster and some hours later she had been found lying at the side of the road. She was reported to have been gang-raped, and so badly assaulted that even her knee caps had been shattered by what was assumed to have been a sledgehammer. Apparently she was supposed to have been left for dead in a shallow grave, but supposedly managed to crawl out and towards the roadway, and collapsed where she was later found. She was taken to ICU where she died in the early hours of the next morning.

 

Like many others around the world, I was incensed on reading this, not to mention upset. Quite honestly I was shattered. I felt that I had lost somebody I had known and it actually brought tears to my eyes. After all, hate crimes like this are the reason I became an activist for gay and trans rights.

Imagine my shock and disappointment upon finding out that it was all a lie.

What It's All About

It's been a hectic day. Really hectic. Thought I was going to spend the day in my jammies and slippers watching TV or something, instead I spent yet another day racing around town to attend meetings and other sundry sideshows. Anyways, got another meeting tonight at 5:30 and I am already exhausted. And I'm supposed to be on leave so I can recover from my really hectic work schedule which seems to be following me relentlessly and not taking no for an answer.

At least next week I will be out of town for my second week of leave - in a place where there is no internet signal. I'm even thinking of leaving my phone off! Sounds more like heaven every time I think of it.

Bumble, B. - Armchair Critic, PHD, Bsc, Esq, Etc

One of my pet peeves is snobs. Another is armchair critics. And worse yet, snobbish armchair critics. Somebody asked rather condescendingly the other day what qualifies me to be human rights activist? I suppose my answer could have been rather blunt, like "Well, I am human - aren't I?" I mean after all, what more do I need to qualify me, other than a sense of outrage at human rights violations - and to know that persecution is wrong - and to be determined to DO something about it?

No, no, not that - he meant whether or not I had a post graduate degree in anything.  Well, this is my answer: