"Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it."
"There are obvious, even significant differences between Obama and someone like Mitt Romney, particularly on social issues, but no matter how Obama markets himself this time around, a choice between these two will not in any way represent a choice between "change" and the status quo. This is a choice between two different versions of the status quo, and everyone knows it."
"Atheist are routinely asked how people will know not to rape and murder without religion telling them not to do it, especially a religion that backs up the orders with threats of hell. Believers, listen to me carefully when I say this: When you use this argument, you terrify atheists. We hear you saying that the only thing standing between you and Ted Bundy is a flimsy belief in a supernatural being made up by pre-literate people trying to figure out where the rain came from. This is not very reassuring if you’re trying to argue from a position of moral superiority."
"Mitt hasn't given up hope and for damned good reason. Poor old Newt has the nasty habit of flaming out just as things are starting to look up for him. It's only a matter of time before he foolishly blurts out something too weird even for the right wing extremists who are now the "norm" in that disgusting party. Or worse - he might say something thoughtful and intelligent - the kiss of death for any Republican candidate these days. That's what destroyed the Rick Perry campaign. When he claimed that anyone who would separate an illegal immigrant from his or her family "has no heart" his campaign was toast and jelly. It wasn't all of the idiotic things emanating from his mouth that killed his chances. It was one genuine moment of human compassion. That's what kind of party the Republicans have become."
"This is a Facebook CLASSIC. It’s vague and subtle enough to sound good and be reposted 55 million times, but it’s such a nonsensical, insidious little piece of misogynistic bullshit. Let’s examine, shall we?
“If more females would sit down” - Passive. Quiet. Knowing one’s place. Not causing trouble. This is the standard that is laid out for “being a lady”. Big problem. HUGE.
“Be ladies” - Being a “lady” is different than being a woman. A woman is someone who identifies as a woman. A “lady” is someone who is prim, proper, and abides by the societal standards of behavior expected of female presenting persons, often to her own detriment. The etymology of the word lady is fascinating, although not how I’d like to exist in the world as a woman.
“More males would stand up” - Active. Outspoken. Standing up is a good thing, a heroic thing, something to be encouraged…but only if you’re a man, apparently. The double standard here is palpable; standing up is undesirable if you’re a woman, because you should be sitting and allowing men to stand up.
This ideal that is set forward is reminiscent of all the submissions I’ve seen in the past where people lament about the “good old days”. Oh, chivalry was everywhere! Oh, people DRESSED so much better! Oh, what’s that? You could be jailed for wearing pants as a woman, or lynched for being black? Well I’d rather just focus on how rad gender roles were then without getting into the messy stuff. Surely you understand.
(Of course, with this particular adaptation of the Facebook adage, you get the additional cissexism bonus of female being equated with ladies, and male being equated with gentlemen, with obviously no thought to the difference between sex and gender.)"
Okay, first off let me say that there's no guarantee that all of these quotes are genuine. And I dont really care, quite frankly. This blog is devoted to quotes, good quotes containing good ideas that make sense of some sort to me. I call them "quotes" because they don't come from my own head, but from other sources, and I have a passion for accuracy (or something like that). Also, 'cause I sure do love me some quotes. Sure, it's silly to require some sort of Authority to validate good words and thoughts (assuming the quote is real, of course), but that doesn't make the words and thoughts any the less for that. So I put them here, in this blog, for my own reference and the edification of passers-by.