new cosmetics, patriarchy, capitalism, human rights, guaranteed income for artists, moby dick
yesterday i was grateful for the photographers at virtual photography salon…
today i am looking forward to a visit to a meeting of the comic books club…
my concealer and foundation makeup came yesterday... i am trying out the concealer this morning... when i first put it on it felt like this is way to much of a statement... but as i spread it thinner and as it adjusted on my skin, i liked it better... i don't seem to need much at all to cover... it smooths and unifies my skin tone... it came in a tiny tube... given i don't need much at all... it will last longer than i thought when i saw the tube... nexts step will be to try the foundation and see how that changes things... then i move on to blushes and eye shadow?...
my wife and i had a conversation about an article that could have been titled "it's the patriarchy stupid," but wasn't... she shared it with me... broadly speaking i agreed with the thesis... that male (especially white male) patriarchal privilege is a problem that is plaguing us and has been for a very long time... that men (and i would say women too... see bell hooks) grow up imbedded in it and support and contribute to it... the system of male privilege enshrines violence against women, minorities and any group that challenges that privilege... it is a system of entitlement that, at it's very worst, makes chattel of the rest of us...
i grew up steeped in the patriarchy... my father was military... domineering... very patriarchal... circumstances that suggest i should have been domineering and patriarchal myself... how did i grow up this way and not have the urge to force myself on women?... how did i ultimately embrace the feminine as the posture i wanted to take towards the world?... i suspect my mother had something to do with that...
the idea that we grow up imbedded in patriarchy and therefore can't avoid manifesting it in some way is not as straight forward as it might seem... i am an example of that not happening... i grew up with it but didn't buy into it much at all... once i got past my raging hormone days, the little bad behavior i exhibited towards women faded... i was never as bad as men get... never had any serious rape ideation... i was a serial monogamist... when i had sex, i mostly wanted it to be part of a loving relationship... sure, i sewed some wild oats... but i didn't engage in locker room talk with other men... i rarely carried on with more than one woman at a time... i tried here and there... but it didn't work for me...
for most of my life i haven't engaged much with men beyond what i needed to get along in business... i have always preferred the company of women... and now... it turns out... i prefer being the feminine i wish to consort with...
the patriarchy we are currently experiencing is a patriarchy on steroids... brought about in the service of nascient capitalism at the end of the middle ages... at least that is my take away from sylvia federici in caliban and the witch...
my idea is that our present culture centers the strong, silent, macho protector of the hyper feminine woman... marlboro man and marilyn monroe... the "mmmm" syndrome... what we are seeing around the globe and especially in the united states is a crisis of this syndrome... especially european descendent men... realizing that their positions of privilege are eroding, they are lashing out... the globe is begging for a shift towards feminine spirit in my biased opinion... towards the eternal mildness of joy1 of maternal existence...
i apply yinyang thinking to this situation... yy philosophy maintains that the world is best when yin and yang... feminine and masculine spirit... are working together in a balanced way... though the nature of the yinyang diagram makes it clear that the relationship between the two is ever changing in terms of their relative strength... yinyang philosophy predicts trouble if yin or yang comes to dominate the situation... if they get out of balance... this is what i think is going on now... we are dramatically out of balance...
what humans fear most is the loss of any kind of privilege they have... it is easy for them to get angry and violent in defense of privilege... it is part of our basic survival instinct... that we find resources and privilege our own access to them... capitalism is this on a grand scale... designed to privilege some over others... designed to develop an arms and technology race towards securing privileged access to resources...
there is a fashionable meme liberals pass around... that rights are not a pie that diminishes as you give slices to more and more people... this is not true... rights equate to privileged access to opportunity and resource... opportunities and resources are not unlimited... so giving rights to more and more people diminishes the pie of privileged access to resources and power... so... to me... it's not a very effective argument for giving equal rights to everyone... better is to focus on what the benefits might be of equality of access to opportunities and resources... what are the benefits of cooperation?... what is a system that centers in fact the ideal "that all [humans] are created equal"?... we don't have that system now...
capitalism centers the idea of scarcity... that there are winners and loosers... of pies that aren't enough to go around... scarcity creates wealth and power differential... are there economic systems that don't center on scarcity?... i believe there is enough to sustain us all if we agree to a social contract of relative equality of privilege... this is what democracy is supposed to do... this is what our declaration of independence aspires to... but the idea was long ago hollowed out by capitalism and individual and corporate greed...
this item from ireland is interesting...
Ireland Makes Basic Income Program for Artists Permanent
The Irish government will give 2,000 artists unrestricted weekly stipends, following a successful three-year basic income pilot program.
can we have this everywhere?... please...
a few pics from this am...
And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yea, serenely revealed in dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoes Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm; and while ponderous planets of unmanning woe revolve around me, deep down and deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy. Herman Melville, Moby Dick↩