Tag: community

ancient greek temple
cancel culture, Healthcare, Homeless, Politics

Americans Hate History

Katrina Russell

The funny thing about Americans is that they actually think they know History. They hear a story here and there about an event and think they understand the complexities of the world. Of course, to most Americans the world is just America and everyone since the dawn of time has had the same morality. None of which is true of course.

It doesn’t matter which side of the political isle they are on. To the people on the Left America is the worst place in the world. They had slavery, Jim Crowe. No other country ever had slaves or treated different groups differently. They stole the land from the Native Americans who all lived here peacefully until the damn white man came along and caused problems. And let’s not forget Capitalism. The worst thing to come along since… since money. It just makes people concentrate on things instead of people… and all the things that should be given to people who shouldn’t have to work. To the people on the Right America is the best place that has ever existed. We invented everything. We’ve won every war. We have better everything. Everyone wants to be us. In fact, Jesus was even American.

Of course, none of that is true. None. Slavery has been around since the dawn of time. Every group of people ever have both been enslaved and owned slaves. Every group of people has ostracized the “others” who weren’t like them in society. The African Slave trade that everyone talks about was actually perpetrated by… Africans. That was their market. You know how you learned that spices come from India? Or at least you should have. That’s what Columbus was supposedly heading for when he found America. Spices was Indias big trade commodity. Holland had tulips, China had gun powder, and Africa had slaves.

It was Africans that would run around causing wars and selling off the losers as slaves. Eventually they found it easier to just skip the war and go in and kidnap people. They had a big trade of Africans because they were the most accessible and people were divided more by tribes and countries back then, so they just stole “others” and sold them. They would travel across Africa kidnapping people and brought them to Europe or Persia to sell them. Then they would travel though Persia and Europe kidnapping people to bring them back to Africa to sell them. That was it. That was their trade.

People think that America was the only country to import African Slaves but of the whole of the African Slave trade only about 300k slaves were brought over from Africa to what was then America equaling to about 4-6% of all the Slaves sold through the African Slave trade. Most actually went to South America and the Islands… so the conclusion that it was slavery that created wealth in America kind of dies when you know that South America imported millions of slaves from Africa and their economy isn’t so healthy.

As far as 400 years of slavery, half the states in America started ending slavery immediately in the State constitutions. When people say that America was the first to end slavery that’s what they mean. The states individually started putting an end to slavery. Those states were the only place in the world where no slavery existed. As opposed to many countries in the Middle East and Africa which still have slavery today.

As for the Native Americans weren’t even native to America. They were Asians who came by way of the Baring Straight over the course of thousands of years. There were new groups after new groups coming over, killing, and taking the land away from those who were already there. There were more peaceful tribes and there were barbaric cannibalistic tribes, but they all had slaves. They all took captives of those they fought and won and made them slaves or concubines. That was the way of the world. The Europeans were just the next in a long line of peoples who came to this land and won.

The difference between the Americans and the other tribes who came over from Asia was that the Americans worked with the “Natives” to try and help them keep some of their land. People scoff at this, but how often does that happen? There are literally areas in the US designated to “Native American” tribes that the US doesn’t control. They don’t pay US taxes and they have, for the most part, their own laws. Which is another thing that I find interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there were many atrocities that were done against them over the years, as with any other group, but now there’s always articles about how the US government doesn’t do anything to “help” the “Native Americans”. When they go missing, when they go hungry… and so on and so forth. Except that was the deal. That’s what the tribes agreed to. They didn’t want “The White Man’s” authority. They wanted autonomy. Kind of like the CHAZ that wanted the government to supply them with goods after declaring themselves separate from the US. That’s not how it works.

Hatred against Capitalism is the one that gets me the most. The same people that cry that they don’t make enough money to buy all the things that they want are the same people that cry that Capitalism is all about greedy people wanting money. This country is the biggest success story ever. Many other countries changed their whole way of life to copy the success of America. Millions of people risk life and limb every year to come to this country. That includes all those Africans who will be treated so badly in this racist, proslavery country.

This country was built on working hard and being strong. That’s it. If you work hard and stay faithful to your family, you will succeed. You may never be a millionaire, but not many people are. You will however have a good life. You won’t be in poverty. You won’t have to wait for someone else to give you what you need. Hardworking, ambitious people flock to this country only to hear its citizens complain that they, “actually have to work for things… that’s so not fair. Why can’t you just give me stuff? You’re already rich.”.

The people of this country have no idea what it really means to struggle. They have no idea what it was like to be that explorer or Pilgrim who set off on a boat to uncharted territory with nary a supply just in hopes to make it to a new land without dying, and then to create, build, and produce a whole new world to live in. They have no idea what it was like to be the family that packed up their cart and buggy and head out on that Oregon Trail knowing the chance of you all making it was slim. The Americans of today have no idea what it’s like to leave behind the people that they love and the home that they’ve known in hopes of a better future, not even for them, but for their offspring like an immigrant does. Americans of today don’t even want to have kids because that means they’ll have less money and free time to spend on themselves.

America is not a perfect place. Nowhere is a perfect place, but America, real America, they try.

As for the other side. No America did not invent everything. Yes most other countries that you have heard of also have electricity, heating, plumbing, internet, cars, video games, Netflix and all of the other first world things that you expect. Einstein was German, Marie Curie was Polish, Tesla was Croatian, the car was invented in Germany, the answering machine was invented in Denmark… and many more.

A lot of our constitution, in fact, was taken from Enlightenment thinkers of Europe, and brought back by people like Benjamin Franklin. The thing that is great about America is that we are a melting pot. We have a long history of not just assuming only Americans can do things. We will take the advice and expertise of the best and work with them. That’s what makes this the greatest country. Our love of doing our best.

black metal train rails
bullying, cancel culture, free speech, Politics

Whoopi another person cancelled

Katrina Russell

I really don’t know when this became a thing. People are literally not allowed to have conversations or be wrong. It’s amazing how not only does Freedom of Speech mean nothing to anyone anymore, but neither does human decency.

First the world went on a tirade against Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan who is the most respectful, mild-mannered celebrity probably in existence. That may have to do with his love for pot, but the point stands. Joe Rogan has made a career, a very successful and well-loved career, by simply having conversations with people. That’s it. He lets people talk and he listens and gives his opinions on what they are talking about.

This is a man who spent most of his life in comedy clubs and fighting rings. He has met all kinds of people and has quite the “lived experience” as people like to say. They also love to say that because he was a fighter that automatically makes him an idiot, but no one creates a business like his is an idiot. People say that you shouldn’t take medical advice from a comedian. Which is true. He doesn’t give medical advice. He sits down and has conversations with medical professionals. The same people who say they shouldn’t listen to him, or his conversations are the same people who swear by Rachel Maddow’s words… last I checked she didn’t have a medical degree either. She just talks to people.

The other day Whoopi Goldberg made an ignorant comment. Plain and simple it was strictly ignorant. She had no idea what she was talking about. She only knows what she knows, and that’s fine. In her lived experience there has been no other race issue other than Black and White. That’s fine. She’s allowed to feel that way. That is what she has been taught. That is what is preached to her every day in all the other media outlets. She should not have been put on leave. She should have been educated.

People today only want to destroy. They only want to tear things down. No one wants to learn or understand. When someone makes an incorrect statement, the crowds jump on them and insult and degrade them. When someone tries to explain something that another doesn’t agree with, they’re called some sort of ist… racist, sexist… No one can just have conversations anymore.

The irony is that when Whoopi was called out and suspended from her show her response was that she thought they were just having a conversation. That sharing her opinion was what the show is all about. Which it is or at least it was originally designed as different types of women who have different types of opinions. Now anyone with a differing opinion gets shunned in the least and ostracized at the most basic level.

People seemed to have forgotten what civil disagreements are. Now if anyone says anything that they disagree with, even out of ignorance like Whoopi, they are to be punished to the full extent. This Jewish race conversation was a perfect opportunity for a teaching moment. The View should have scheduled guests on that were Holocaust survivors and/or historians to speak to the women about the reality of the time.

Whoopi’s perspective is a very common one in today’s America. People only see history and the world through the small lens of current events. Race is about Black and White. There was no White race 200 years ago. There was barely one 100 years ago. There were Colored and not Colored in America but nowhere else was that in issue, because nowhere else were there so many Black people.

Most of the world consisted of English, French, German, Irish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Persian, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Libyan, Sudanese, Nigerian… and so forth, and of course Jewish who really had no home. Before that they were even more broken up into tribes within the countries. Everyone loved the movie 300. They know the phrase “This is Sparta!”. Sparta was just an area, a tribe in Greece, but they didn’t consider themselves to be part of the collective. They were their own people. Race is an ever-flowing construct. Usually based on the community that you live within. America is the first of its kind to be a true melting pot where every generation becomes more and more mixed. This is something people need to talk about.

Joe Rogan gets complaints because he lets people speak. He doesn’t take sound bites and create a narrative that supports his agenda. He has people, often from opposing sides, come in and speak together. This is something that we need more of. We need more open dialog. We need to see on more news outlets, longform conversations with people who have differing opinions on many topics. No one side is always right and no one side should have complete control over what is said.

This is the reason for Freedom of Speech. The good ideas will triumph over the bad ideas because of open dialog. People will have a chance to make their claims and give evidence to support it, hear evidence that goes against it and come to a general understanding of it all. Cancelling people who disagree with us creates an ignorant society. One in which people don’t know that the Holocaust was about racism.

photo of woman kneeling in front of gravestone
Giving, grief, Love, Mental Health, parenting

Life after Parents.

Katrina Russell

I see it on social media a lot. A meme that goes something like, “You taught me everything except how to live without you, mom”. I get the idea. I have lost my parents. My son has lost his father. There has been a lot of loss in my life. I miss them every day, but statements like that actually make of my father. Not in the way that you would expect. In fact, the opposite.

I loved my dad. I still love my dad. He was a single parent who raised us in the 70s-90s when single dads just wasn’t a thing. He was one of the strongest people I know. The only one who came close way my Grams who was also a single parent in the 50s and 60s, also when it wasn’t really a thing. My Grams raised my dad to be strong and independent, and though she was always there to help out and take us kids on weekends and vacations (she lived for those times). She also made sure that he was capable of handling it all on his own when he had to.

My dad helped me a lot. He did, and I could never deny that, but the one thing he always told me was that a parent’s job was to raise their children to NOT need them. To raise their children to be independent, because one day the parent would not be there, and the child will become a parent themself and have someone else who needs to be taught the same. “Independence is the greatest gift a parent can give a child.”. It sounds great now, not so much when I was hobbling home from school in the snow… on crutches. But I did it. I got home. I made my way by myself. “There is nothing that you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”. These are the types of phrases that I grew up listening to.

There were a lot of hard times for both my brother and me. We struggled, and we persevered. I admit, I had way more help along the way than my brother did. I think that went along with me being a girl and my dad assuming I would have a man to help me as I got older as well. Well, as of now I do not have a man. I do not have my father. Before I turned 40 I was a single mom and, for all intense and purposes, an orphan. My dad had given me great training though.

When he was sick, I moved back in with him. I helped him with medication. I took him to doctors and hospitals and called the EMTs when necessary. I turned into his emergency contact, and his proxy when he went under for surgery. He was a great father who taught me how to be a great mother. When he died, I was devastated. How could I live without my dad? But I did. I did every day. I got up, took care of my own son. Cleaned out my father’s house. I went to the lawyers to deal with his paperwork. I even took over his business for a while when it suited my needs.

My dad taught me everything. Including how to live without him. It’s not something that I ever wanted, but it was something that everyone knows is going to happen. Many people today do their best to protect their children from anything that may hurt them but hurt is part of living. One day we wake up and we don’t have our parents. One day we wake up and we are the parents. We have to figure it all out. We have to find our own way. Having parents that teach us that we can; that we are capable; that we are strong, those are the best parents. I hope I’m doing that for my son, and I hope he continues to do it for his children.

Being parents, raising kids that are ready and able to take on what the world throws at them. That’s the real struggle, and that’s the real joy. People are always wondering what it’s all for… well that’s what I have found to be it. Making the world that much better, by making a person that is that much better for it.

pexels-photo-3671145.jpeg
bullying, parenting, Politics

Welcome to 1984

Katrina Russell

I’m starting to think that no one has actually read the book. I see comments all the time about authoritarian dictators who are basically Nazis who are causing problems by not following orders. It’s almost like when you were a kid and played “opposite day”. Everything that they say is the exact opposite of what the words mean.

For those who are unaware of the actual meaning.

authoritarianə-thôr″ĭ-târ′ē-ən, ə-thŏr″-, ô-

adjective

  1. Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom.
  2. Tending to tell other people what to do in a peremptory or arrogant manner. synonym: dictatorial.
  3. characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty; — of governments or rulers

So, against individual freedom. Against people making their own choices. An oligarchy of Elites who think they know better than everyone else and should be listened to at all costs. Anyone who goes against them should be arrested, punished, cancelled. There is no room for discourse. No room for debate. No room for a conversation.

The problem with any of these things is that it gives people a choice. A choice to disagree with the Elite in power. A choice to take a different path. Authoritarians can’t give people choices. They can’t allow for facts to come out that go against the rule of law they have laid down. They gain their power by spreading fear. Fear of something outside only they can protect you from. Fear of them and what may happen to you if you disagree with them. Fear of being ostracized. They don’t fight their opposition with reality. They name call and discredit with more fear.

When questioned about their ideas they just spew lies about the inquisitor. Anyone who questions their doctrine is evil. They are racist, sexist, Nazis… When you question their followers with facts to back it up, they just reply in kind… you’re a racist, sexist, Nazi… nothing in your actions speaks to any of this. Nothing in the conversation had anything to do with this, but the authoritarian can’t keep power unless they keep the fear alive.

Words stop having meaning. Who cares if someone is called a racist if everyone is a racist? Who cares if someone is called a Nazi if everyone is a Nazi? If you want to know what someone really is, ask them they’re own personal opinions on things and why they feel that way and where they got their information. You probably won’t be surprised when those touting the authoritarian line says they got their information from the authoritarian regime but have no actual facts to back it up… other than, you’re a racist, sexist, Nazi for even thinking about questioning it.

For those who are following the line because you feel you have no choice, I feel sorry. For those who are following the dictate because you’ve never bothered to think for yourself, I feel pity. For those who are following the dictate because you want the power for yourself, I feel disgust. 1984 should be read by every person in the world. Not just memed about… but actually read. If more people picked up a book once in a while instead of being brain washed by talking heads this planet might just be ok.

Healthcare, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

When did society start being ok with sexualizing kids?

Katrina Russell

We all remember “The Talk” when we were little. The embarrassing conversation with a parent about “the birds and the bees”. Some of us remember the day in grade school when all the boys when outside to play and all of the girls got the video about how our bodies were changing and what to expect when our monthly cycle started. Quite a few of us remember Sex Ed classes in school. It was all very clinical, basically a biology class. This is how the reproductive system works. These are different kinds of birth control available. These are some common STDs that you want to avoid by using said birth control. That’s it. Maybe there was the occasional progressive teacher that would bring out the banana and the condom, but I really think that was more an urban legend.

This type of sex talk is completely understandable. Children and teenagers need to understand the science of how bodies function. No problem. I have an 8-year-old. I have been updating him on new information about bodily functions at appropriate times. He has a penis. Girls have a vagina. Girls get their period once a month. Girls have the “house the baby lives in in their bellies” aka womb. I remember being at Disney a few months back and having to bring him into the ladies’ room because I wasn’t sending him off by himself and there were no family rooms available. He looked around all confused and whispered in my ear, “Do little girls have vaginas too?”. They do… for those who aren’t aware.

The point is, I’m very open about biology with my kid. He understands the difference between male bodies and female bodies. We’ve talked about all kinds of bodily functions as pertains to science. I’ve taught him about privacy and keeping certain body parts to himself. When he discovered that touching himself felt good. I just said, “yes it does, but you do that in private.” I didn’t hide facts. i didn’t shame him. I didn’t shelter him from discovering things on his own about his own body.

I didn’t, however, give him a book or movie about masturbating and start teaching him about different sexual positions and kink. None of these things are appropriate for children. I don’t know when this became a political issue. This used to be something everyone agreed to. Whether it was the Christian Right or the Tipper Gore Left making sure there were advisory stickers on Rap music. Children were to be protected from adult content.

We as a society used to understand that kids shouldn’t go into a rate R movie, never mind rated X, and yet somewhere along the line people stopped understanding this. It changed to, “oh, they can see worse on the internet… who cares?”. Well, I for one care. Many people care. Many people SHOULD care.

There have been calls to ban explicit adult content books from school libraries and half the country thinks this is censorship. Censorship to keep porn out of the hands of children. Children are to be taken to Gay Pride events and celebrated for watching adults perform kink in the streets. Sexual identity and expression should be taught to kindergarteners. Most children have no idea what any of that means.

I live in Massachusetts. I have many openly gay friends and family members. I have never hidden this fact from my son. He has spent time with my friends who are gay. When he was a toddler and first started getting into Doctor Who and Captain Jack Harkness was an openly OPEN character played by an openly gay man, I would show him videos on Insta of “Jack and his husband”. When my son was watching “The Simpsons” and Homer befriended a gay man and Marge was trying to hint to Homer about the friend being gay my son was confused why anyone would care.

My son does not know one thing about sex. My son knows that people love each other and want to kiss each other. That’s it. He knows that “love” makes a baby. My son is so unaware of how sex works that after his father died, he asked if you love someone in Heaven can you still make a baby. That’s sweet. That’s innocent. That’s how children should be.

In a world full of Epsteins and Clintons you would think that parents would be working overtime at keeping sex away from their kids. In a world in which teachers and religious leaders and sports coaches, and all the other trusted people who we send our kids off to are known to be the biggest predators, you would think that parents would work extra hard at making sure these same people aren’t sexualizing your kids while telling you “It’s no big deal.”

Anyone who thinks that Elementary or Middle School kids should not only have access but be given highly sexual material are people you shouldn’t want anywhere near your kids. If you think otherwise you may want to ask yourself why.

people wearing diy masks
Addiction, bullying, grief, Healthcare, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

Death Happens

Katrina Russell

I don’t know what has been going on in the last couple years that suddenly we can’t go back to normal until all death has been stopped. Well, all covid deaths. They are willing to let kids kill themselves, and overdose on drugs. They are willing to take dying people off of transplant lists if they don’t conform to their politics, because none of that matters except stopping anyone from ever dying of Covid-19 again. We need to stop death itself… in the case of Covid-19 anyway.

The problem is no one can stop death. The more we try the worse it gets. People are becoming obsessed with death. With Covid death specifically. People have locked themselves in their house. They refuse to see family and friends. They won’t work. They won’t go outside in the fresh air for fear it may be contaminated.

Obesity is the number one killer in this country (the US), and yet because of lockdowns weight gain has been skyrocketing. Everyone is so afraid of catching Covid they are making themselves more vulnerable to it. And let’s be honest, when it comes to weight gain Covid is the least of people’s problems. With everyone so obsessed with controlling “The Spread” people have paid no attention to the real killers in this country. Heart Disease, Cancer, and Diabetes are still high on the list.

People are so fearful to live they are missing out on life. When I talk to others about it they say that I can’t possibly understand because I don’t have anyone in my life to worry about. I’ve already lost them all. My grams, and father’s s/o died of Alzheimer’s, my dad died of Diabetes, my mom died of pneumonia, and my son’s father died of a drug overdose. They are right. I’m not scared of a virus. I’m not scared of a cold. I know that life is short, and anything can take anyone at any time.

When my loved ones died, I didn’t fight for the government to make us wear masks so no one would get pneumonia. I didn’t fight for the government to impose restrictions on sugary foods and mandate exercise to prevent Diabetes. I didn’t fight for the government to not allow anyone treatment if they made choices that the government disagreed with. My father ended up with type 1 diabetes, it wasn’t all personal choices, but he still could have taken care of it better. My son’s father was an addict… that’s all lifestyle. Yet the same people saying that no one who doesn’t choose vaccination should be treated, because it’s they’re fault… yet, most heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and certainly addiction is, if not caused, compounded by personal choices. No one would expect the government to not treat or lock down or not give passports to be in society to those with these lifestyle diseases. Don’t even get me started on STDs.

We are never going to stop death. We are never going to save everyone. We are never going to fix the world. The best we can do is live in it, and that starts by opening our doors, taking off the damn masks, and seeing each other again. Before we all die of old age.

pexels-photo-374918.jpeg
bullying, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

It’s ok to be wrong

Katrina Russell

I have been told my whole life that I can’t admit to being wrong. Yet, I admit I’m wrong all the time. In fact, the same people who tell me that I can’t admit to being wrong are always making the joke of, “let me mark the calendar” or “let me get this is writing” or “let me record this”… yet, they ALWAY make this joke because I admit I’m wrong all the time.

They have confused not admitting that I’m wrong with not caving when I know that I’m right. A classic example of this is when I went to get ice cream with one of these friends. I was ordering my usual, baby peppermint stick with jimmies (chocolate sprinkles for those not in Boston). The order came to $3.10. My friend then ordered a baby peppermint stick. She had $3.00 on her and asked if I had $.10 to borrow. I told her that I had it, but that she shouldn’t need it as she didn’t get any jimmies. She responded that didn’t matter. That jimmies were free. I said that I was always charged jimmies before, but that this particular ice cream stand was a place that she frequented more than I did so maybe they didn’t charge. I got out a quarter to cover her. The ice cream kid then came back and charged her $2.80. For those who aren’t good at math, that’s less. $.30 less to be precise… which I have to say is a lot of jimmies, but alas. She then turned to me angrily saying, “You always have to be right!”.

This, I find, is the difference between someone who always has to be right and someone who is just stubborn. I will own stubborn all day long. I have my thoughts, opinions, and knowledge and I stand by them, but I don’t always have to be right. I am more than willing to change my mind when new evidence is presented.

I have spent a lot of my life in school and/or taking classes. I read constantly. I watch videos on the internet, now that it’s a thing. I love to learn new things. I am constantly getting information that I hadn’t previously had. When I enter into a conversation, I know what I know and am willing to listen to the other person to see if they have anything to offer that may change my opinion. As with the ice cream shop, I was willing to contend that I was not as familiar with that particular store and therefore may not have knowledge about their practices that my friend had.

I think I get this from my upbringing. My brother is very different than me, and therefore thinks and interacts with things very different than me. We often have conversations about subjects that I know a little about and then he informs me of things that I was never made aware of, and it shifts my perspective, and vice versa. He had no idea that babies lost all their baby teeth, even after having my son. He didn’t believe me and had to Google it… I was right… I like being right… but I don’t HAVE to be, and therein lies the difference.

Lately people have been very divided on many issues. So divided that they are not even willing to listen to the other side. Anyone who disagrees with them is just labeled either stupid or evil. The problem is that everything in life has many parts, and many layers, and no one is always right, and no one is always wrong. The best way to get to the truth is to talk with people whom you disagree and actually listen to the other side. No one wants to do this anymore.

People are now intrinsically tied to their beliefs. It has become their identity. If you dare to disagree with someone it’s as if you are degrading the person’s actual self. It is no longer about facts and information it’s about how you feel about a situation that matters. By stating facts that disagree with someone’s feelings the person feels as if the fact spouter is destroying the person that they are, instead of just an idea that can be modified.

People are downright terrified to be wrong. To have their beliefs and therefore their reality and life questioned is the same as killing them. So, it’s been termed that words are violence. If you say words that go against anything that I believe you are now trying to destroy my reality and in turn kill me. No one can be wrong. No one can be mistaken. No one can be misinformed. Everyone has to follow the same way of thought, or they are the enemy.

The thing is facts are facts. My friend who believed that there was no cost for jimmies wasn’t right just because she thought it. Had it been reversed, and she was the one to order the jimmies and therefore charged extra she still would have had to pay it no matter her belief on the matter.

It’s ok to be wrong. Everyone is wrong all the time. It is not about you. The next time you find yourself pushing back. Insulting someone or hating someone because they have information that doesn’t match your beliefs trying talking with them. Maybe you have information that they don’t, and you may change their minds… or maybe you’re just wrong. Either way you will walk away stronger, and more informed and that’s what life is about.

boy wearing green crew neck shirt jumping from black stone on seashore
bullying, Love, parenting, Politics

Boys will be Boys

Katrina Russell

When did being a boy become toxic? People are literally outraged by kids’ t-shirts that say, “Boys will be Boys”. I would say that I don’t know what they want them to be, but we all know that’s not true. They want little boys to be anything but boys.

When did just being a boy become harmful and worthy of condemnation? Here’s the thing, boys will be boys. That’s what they are. They can’t help being a boy any more than a girl can help being a girl. Somehow saying that a boy being a boy has been conflated with being violent for violence’s sake, with rape, with just blatant hostility. Honestly if this is the only kind of boy you know you need to make new friends.

Boys are boys. They roughhouse, they break things in their attempts to try something new, they dig at each other, they even fight… they are way more active than girls and have a hard time sitting still. Boys will be boys because boys are boys.

Boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed and medicated for ADHD because they have trouble sitting and listening in school. I know this is surprising to everyone who has ever been to school, but school is boring. It just is. It doesn’t have to be, but that’s how it has been designed. It’s designed to create cogs who don’t question authority and can be put at a machine for long hours without break. That’s it.

Boys aren’t designed for that. Boys are designed to slay dragons. If you want to judge a boy’s attention span don’t sit him in a classroom listening to someone drone on; put him in front of his favorite video game, or his favorite adventure series/comic book, let him play a sport. He probably knows every stat of his favorite team, but yeah that poem he read in English class drifted right out of his head.

Boys and girls are different. That’s just a fact. Funny enough, the same people who hate the “Boys will be Boys” t-shirt are the same people saying there is nothing different between a boy and a girl that society doesn’t teach them. Yet, societies are different all over the world. Societies in Europe are different than those in America, those in America are different from those in Asia, those in Asia are different from those in Africa… they are even different amongst themselves, but the one thing that is never different is that boys, and men are the risk takers. They are, for the most point, the leaders, the warriors, the prisoners. The ones that risk it all for what they desire. The women have been the diplomats, the care takers, the mothers. No one assigned these roles all over the world, they are the roles people chose over and over. Men slay the dragon; women hold down the fort.

The exception to the rule proves the rule has never been clearer than in male/female relations. Women and men choose their roles. There have been plenty of women in positions of power. There have been Queens, and Prime Ministers, and Scientists, and Military Leaders… all of this is true. All of this shows that men are willing to follow women who prove themselves to be worthy of the position. Women who are willing to fight just as hard and as smart as they are. Men choose or (in the case of Queens) resign themselves to follow women all the time. There are countless women who have ruled over men since recorded time and have been quite successful. Society didn’t stop them.

The difference between men and women is that men, in general, want to rule. They want to prove themselves. They desire the power. Women want comfort. They want to know that they and their children are safe. The best way to do that is to find the most powerful man they can and let him protect her. That is a girl being a girl. And when men are looking for the right women, they are looking for the most compassionate they can find in order to know that they will be good to their children. It’s actual biological evolution at work.

Again, the same people who hate men, who think men and women are the same except for how society trains them are the same people who believe that evolution is the only answer to humankind… and yet, when told that evolution is what created society, they scoff… and blame men.

I feel bad for the woman who hates men. In a way they have been trained to hate themselves. They see themselves as less than because of the man’s power instead of equal but different.

I have a son. He’s only 8, and he is the sweetest boy you could meet. He also comes home with random holes in his clothes, and the list of nurse visits at his school is extensive. He was hesitant about continuing in his Karate class because they had to start punching and kicking, yet he’s been known to lay out a bully when required.

The thing about men is that they are complicated. Some women just see them as Neanderthals that never evolved, but the thing about boys is that they are like puppies. If you treat them well and love them, you will have a cuddly protector. If you don’t, they grow up to be the feral beast you expected. Men have the power and strength to drop any woman at any time… but they don’t. That is the mark of a real man, and why letting boys be boys is the best way to make sure they become real men.

woman in black shirt holding red lipstick
bullying, Politics

Everything is Sexist

Katrina Russell

I was born in the mid 70s. I was raised in the 80s, right in the heart of Feminism. When women were all about pant suits and shoulder pads. Every girl knew the words to “Working 9-5”. We were taught from a young age that we could do anything that a boy could do and not to take any flack just because we were girls.

Today women make up 60% of college students. Women make more money than men on average in their 20s. Approximately 25% of Congress, 18% of Governors, and 25% of Mayors are Women, and of course we have our first female Vice President. There are lists of the Top Ten Female CEOs in the World, not to mention all the everyday female owned and operated female companies. Women are doing what women have been fighting for over a century to do. They are ruling… and yet it’s not enough.

Women have women only gyms, and women only clubs, but if a men decide they want to have a men’s only area it’s sexism. Women can sleep around, and play games and they are Queens. If men do it, they’re users. Women have multiple baby daddies and live off the system so they don’t have to work, and it’s all good. Women can sleep around, get pregnant, and decide it’s fine to just kill the baby and people cheer for her. If men say they don’t feel ready to have a kid, they are dead beats.

Women in America today have no idea what oppression is. They think it’s someone calling them “Sweetie”. They think it’s a guy looking when they wear a low-cut shirt. You wore the shirt, expect the looks. No, you should never be touched without permission, but looks… when you’re flaunting it. Get over it. Women in America today should read about women in other countries. If you want to be a REAL Women’s Activist stop complaining that men want to have “safe spaces” where they can talk to each other too, and start looking into child brides, and women being killed for the crime of being raped.

This new feminist wave loves to feel better than because they point out that staying home and having babies (a thing most women actually WANT to do) is a sign of the Patriarchy. No, it’s a sign of existence. Having babies is literally the only way existence continues, and here’s the thing. Once most women have babies, a lot of them would much rather stay home with them than go back to work. That’s the reason why the pay gap changes between men and women in their 30s. Women have babies. They take time off to have them. They take time off to raise them. They switch careers to have a more flexible schedule to stay with them. They do all of this, because they want to. Because they choose to. Because they love their babies. They don’t love the boardroom.

This is a fundamental difference between men and women. Sure, SOME women would choose a career over babies, just as SOME men would choose staying home with the babies over a career, but it’s not the norm. And yes, there is a norm. There are choices and ways of thinking that are more female and more male. It’s the reason that gender roles were created in the first place. Yes, they were a social design. Generation after generation men wanted to go out and fight, and work, and provide for their families, and women wanted to stay home and take care of their babies. This is why in a majority of cultures this is the norm. This wasn’t put upon people by White Anglo-Saxon Men. This same phenomenon happened in Asian countries, and African countries, and Middle Eastern countries, and the tribes that came over from Asian countries to eventually be called Native Americans. The same “Societal Creations” happened regardless of which society, because it’s also biological.

So, today, when you are looking for a feminist fight, don’t look at the guy sitting next to you in the cubical who held the door for you. Look to the countries and cultures that are still raping and selling women if you want to fight for your fellow woman. Unless you just want the big strong men to keep going to war for you.

man holding us flag
Healthcare, Homeless, Love, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

The American Dream

Katrina Russell

The ideal that we are all free to make our own choices and create our own future. The ideal that if someone works hard and makes good choices, they can accomplish anything that they can dream. The United States was founded on this model. For two hundred years millions of people have left their homelands in search of this endeavor. Over a million people per year are still clamoring to get in, some legally, some not, all striving for a better life than the one they left behind.

The American Dream is alive and well all over the world… except in half of Americans. The problem with the dream is the part that it’s about freedom, and choices, and hard work. Half of America was raised to believe that the American Dream was that everything was to be taken care of FOR them… not by them. Half of Americans don’t feel that people should have to work hard or accomplish anything. They feel that simply being an American should automatically give them privileges.

Half of America thinks that working is for “other people”… for “rich people”. As long as the rich have money why should anyone else have to work. The rich should just pay for everyone else. The fact that they are expected to pay back loans that they signed for in order to further their own education, or possibly have to give up on some luxuries in order to afford necessities is a form of slavery.

People love to compare the cost of housing between when “Boomers” were buying compared to now is seriously laughable. The biggest just in the market was between 1970s-1990s, when it increased by 700%, and was when the Boomers were buying. It had more to do with the tech boom and an economy that was suddenly international and an entire way of life changing than being mean to the next generation. From the 90s to today housing costs have only gone up about 100%, which is a lot less.

Of course, the same people who cry about not being able to afford housing on a single income are the same people crying about how people shouldn’t get married and that women have to work and never stay home with the kids… even though they really don’t think anyone should have to work and hate work… women should be forced to have to work because it’s men who kept them down by not letting them do the thing that everyone hates to do.

These same people are also the ones who get an upgrade on a $1000 telephone every year. Not to mention TVs, gaming systems, tablets, computers…. and on and on. Do you know what Boomers spent on Telephones and TVs? Around $20 and $160 respectively, and seeing as the average household income was about $8300 they were quite expensive. People had to save up for them… and then… that was it. They had the same phone and TV for decades. They didn’t “upgrade”, they didn’t have 30 different streaming services. They had rabbit ears, tin foil, and their youngest child to help get the one channel of the 3-5 they were trying to watch.

One way that people try to explain the unfairness is by saying that the increase in minimum wage hasn’t changed much. Which is true in some regards. The federal minimum wage in 1970 was $1.60 the current federal minimum wage is $7.25, therefore minimum wage is up 450%, which is a lot, but the most important thing is that hardly anyone makes the federal minimum wage. Each state has their own minimum wage, and most people don’t even make that.

As mentioned before the average household income in 1970 (Boomer’s time) was $8300. When accounted for inflation that changes it to $58,800 in today’s dollars, but the average income of today’s American household is actually almost $67,500 which is more. So yes, the average housing cost went up, but so did the average household income. This is also at a time when the average household income includes a lot more single people just supporting themselves and choosing not to have a family than ever before.

The difference is in spending patterns. People spend more on recreation than ever before. People take out loans for tens of thousands of dollars on a degree they have no chance at getting a career with. The American Dream has been corrupted from, “work hard, make good choices, and you can accomplish your goals” to “Do whatever you feel. You deserve everything you want, and no one should ever tell you no. If they do, they are just stealing from you.”

Now, I don’t believe that every millionaire worked hard and earned their money. The government in particular is filled with people who played the system and did steal other people’s money. I don’t care which side of the aisle they sit on. Yet somehow those same millionaire politicians who have made their money by telling you that hard working rich people are stealing your money and you need to give them more money and vote them in so they can steal even more money have convinced an entire generation that the American Dream is not real… because hard work is the invention of evil people who are stealing your money.

Here’s the thing about Capitalism and the American Dream. You don’t have to go to work and make minimum wage. You don’t have to take out loans from the government to learn the things they want to teach you. That’s just what those in charge want you to believe so they can keep making money off of you. If you want to succeed in life, you just have to follow the true American Dream path. You have to work hard. You have to sacrifice some of your now, and some of your fun for a better later. You have to make good choices with your money and with your relationships. You have to take responsibility for your life. That is what being free is all about. That is the reason that millions of people have risked their lives to come here and are still risking their lives today.

The same people who hate the American Dream are the same people fighting for others to be able to come here. They understand how dehumanizing other countries can still be. How slavery is still in existence and human rights are still quashed all over the world, and yet they complain because they have to actually sacrifice their everyday latte and upgrade to the next iPhone in order to buy a dream home. Not to get shelter, which other countries don’t have, but to buy their 3-bedroom, private back yard, and maybe a pool… DREAM home.

There’s a line in the original Matrix movie in which Mr. Smith explains to Neo that the machines had tried to create a utopia for the humans but that the humans kept waking up. They couldn’t handle it. Humans crave conflict. They need something to fight against. A lot of people just curb that need by watching dramas on TV where they root for the hero and feel justified when they win. In fact, this is a primarily American thing as well. Not all countries create movies, TV shows, books, in which the hero wins. Some people elsewhere find it quite trite, but Americans need it. Americans, on the whole, have nothing real left to fight for. We have equal rights. We have the ability to get anything we accomplish if we just work hard and make good choices. Americans are now pushing back on what has already been accomplished and blaming, not those who don’t work hard or make good choices for their problems, but those who do for somehow creating a society in which these things are necessary.

The American Dream is alive and well. In fact, it’s so easy to obtain those who don’t are seen as not the problem, but as victims of the ease of society. Something must be wrong with society as a whole if some find it so easy and others can’t “catch a break”. Of course, in order to catch something, you have to go out into the field and put out your glove. You can’t just wait for someone to hand it to you. The American Dream is all about getting out into the field and doing your part. It’s probably why Baseball is our pastime.