Richard Dawkins Takes on Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican Party

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There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office. What is unusual about today’s Republican party (I disavow the ridiculous ‘GOP’ nickname, because the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt has lately forfeited all claim to be considered ‘grand’) is this: In any other party and in any other country, an individual may occasionally rise to the top in spite of being an uneducated ignoramus. In today’s Republican Party ‘in spite of’ is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job.

…The population of the United States is more than 300 million and it includes some of the best and brightest that the human species has to offer, probably more so than any other country in the world. There is surely something wrong with a system for choosing a leader when, given a pool of such talent and a process that occupies more than a year and consumes billions of dollars, what rises to the top of the heap is George W Bush. Or when the likes of Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin can be mentioned as even remote possibilities.

…a politician’s attitude to evolution, however peripheral it might seem, is a surprisingly apposite litmus test of more general inadequacy. This is because unlike, say, string theory where scientific opinion is genuinely divided, there is about the fact of evolution no doubt at all. Evolution is a fact, as securely established as any in science, and he who denies it betrays woeful ignorance and lack of education, which likely extends to other fields as well. Evolution is not some recondite backwater of science, ignorance of which would be pardonable. It is the stunningly simple but elegant explanation of our very existence and the existence of every living creature on the planet. Thanks to Darwin, we now understand why we are here and why we are the way we are. You cannot be ignorant of evolution and be a cultivated and adequate citizen of today.

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RICHARD DAWKINS IS THE SEXIEST MAN IN THE WORLD. IT IS KNOWN.

Dear Anti-Abortionist on Tumblr

I read your abortion argument from several months ago.

"You might have lost the best actor ever seen, the next president, to one who found the cure for cancer, the one who would have revolutionized the whole world, the one who’d invented the time machine, the next Steve Jobs, but, now we’ll never know"

Hey. You know where these presidents and scientists and revolutionaries usually come from? You know what pretty much 99% of them have in common? Let me give you a hint. OH THAT"S RIGHT, 99% OF THEM COME FROM PRIVILEGED AND HIGHLY EDUCATED BACKGROUNDS. What, you think that geniuses and presidents just arbitrarily pop up like sunspots? Let me give you this analogy. You're given a choice to plant a garden of flowers. You have two soil beds to choose from; one in the Saraha, devoid of water, with far too much sun. The other is a lush, moist, fertile plot of soil in say, fucking Maine. Which one would you choose? The one with the most resources, or the one where your flowers will wilt and die, with the one-in-a-million chance that perhaps one flower will survive?

We have smart criminals. We have dumb rich people. Usually the primary difference between the two is the availability of resources in their upbringing and background. That's why I say that 99% of these scientists and revolutionaries aren't actually arbitrary poofs of genius, but usually products of upbringing. JFK came from a family of millionaires. Ghandi and Einstein and Che Guevera came from highly educated and relatively successful families. That is not to say that only wealthy people can produce exceptional children, though they have an definite advantage; you'll read stories like Barack Obama who was, although poor growing up, also received the benefit of a great education, and could tell anecdotes later about his mother like the one where she would stay up late with him, night after night, to make sure her son was learning diligently. You'll have stories from famous actors who nearly break into tears when they talk about how much their mothers/fathers taught them and cared for them. And that's where parenting comes in. Behind almost every success story, you'll find that there's some kind of wonderful mentor, inspiration or parent involved.

And often the opposite is true - I'll read up on infamous killers or deranged cult members out of curiosity, and often I'll see the same goddamn heartbreaking story over and over again - tales of broken families, severe childhood abuse, appalling neglect and so much deliberate hurt and damage beyond belief.

You'll probably have children some day, and they'll probably turn out well. And that'll have something to do with genetics, but it will probably have more to do with the fact that you will probably love them, cherish them, care for them and teach them with all your heart. Judging by the fact that you consider yourself a writer, you'll probably ensure that they're well-educated. And that's why you need to stop talking about abortion like it's arbitrary. Few abortions are truly arbitrary, just like few "geniuses" and success stories are truly arbitrary. For many, the simple facts of love, care, and devotion are enough to dictate their choices, and make them decide whether they're ready to give the fragile being inside them the love and care it deserves. Because that's what being a mother is really about.

Like Crazy and Other Thoughts

I've neglected this blog ever since I've joined Tumblr, and it's likely that I'll move there full-time, but I think I'll keep this for awhile since it's still good for nice, long rants that I won't subject my Tumblr followers to (there I have real friends following me, this blog is more of a secret). Another reason for not coming back here is mostly because I haven't had anything fashion or film related to rant about for the past few months. Everything's been politics or Harry Potter, and for that, there's Tumblr - I'm just madly in love with so many of the tumblrs I've found. I've found my online idol in STFUSexists, a feminist (duh) tumblr that's run by this wonderfully smart college grad with an often scathing and irreverent sense of humor. I'm so glad I'm on her side, because reading her takedowns of the various misogynists and all-around idiots unlucky enough to cross her blog (and wrath) is terrible and awesome to behold. The girl can fucking school.

But in this case, I'm just talking a bit about a movie that's zoomed up to the top of my must-watch list ever since the poster and trailers were simultaneously released:

One, I had heard about this movie already, since it had won Best Picture at Sundance, but I was completely disinterested. It didn't help that its female star Felicity Jones was already being compared to Carey Mulligan. By then I'd just had it with all the annual mandatory Sundance It girls. To be honest, they all seemed more irritating than the last. It took me a long time to warm up to Carey Mulligan, and by the time it happened, Jennifer Lawrence was starting to get on my nerves, which was weird because I was a fan of her performance in Winter's Bone, but she irritated me all throughout awards season (why, I honestly can't tell), and her performance in X-Men was just grating. Have you ever just disliked a particular actor irrationally, just because they seem obnoxious, although there's no definite proof of it? Yeah, that's pretty much me and Jennifer Lawrence. Anyhoo, I was losing track of all of THIS year's Sundance It Girls - Elizabeth Olsen and that girl who wrote and starred in Another Earth and then Felicity Jones - yawnnn.

A couple days ago the promotion for "Like Crazy" started, and I was struck by the poster immediately. A wistfully nostalgic, sun-lit image of an ideal young couple, and the I WANT YOU I NEED YOU I LOVE YOU I MISS YOU in the Eat Pray Love font that's becoming so popular for movie posters across the board. I just stared at the poster for about a full twenty seconds, mentally swooning. A tale of nostalgia (it seemed), missed chances, unfulfilled, uncompromising and all-absorbing love.

It's funny, because I've read comments over the past few days that describes "Like Crazy" as a split between "Blue Valentine" and "500 Days of Summer", presumably because it's about two young, idealistic lovers who struggle along the way (imagine that), but the poster was so appealing because it seemed like neither movie. Not "500 Days" practically drowning in its own self-conscious post-romance hipness, or the confining grimness of "Blue Valentine". I totally fell in love, right there and then. To hell with unconvincing quirk and bitter realism! Give me epic, sweet, struggling, yearning, all-encompassing love. I just want to watch a couple fall in love in screen convincingly and not have to roll my eyes. Please. That's what anyone really wants, actually.

Then I saw the first trailer, and found the second a few days later. I posted both here, and the second one is more explanatory, but I love the first one because it's made in the vein of my favorite kind of trailers - kind of unfocused and vague, more of a video essay than a plot summary.

Judging from the trailers, I have a good idea of how it'll probably end (or maybe it'll surprise me), but I'm glad that I don't care. I just hope it's a worthwhile love story. And Felicity Jones (who also won Best Actress at Sundance), you look awesome in this. Incredibly freaking radiant and not in a contrived way (which brings to mind Carey Mulligan again - I, like everyone else, enjoyed her performance in "An Education", but I found the random mugging - just brief shots where she would smile for no reason or glance directly at the camera with a charmingly flirtatious look - somewhat arbitrary and inexplicable). And Felicity Jones is so pretty in this, it hurts.