Performing Gender

I have been idly wondering for some time why so many MAGA women have that face -- fat cheeks, small plump eyes, narrow nose, giant lips -- and the long flowing overly styled hair. If you've seen Charlie Kirk's wife out monetizing her dead husband, you've seen the face. It goes with the tiny body and tight clothing.

Kristi Noem has it, too, as do most Fox News anchors. Our governor, Sarah Huckster Sanders, tries for it, but she just doesn't have the body or the bone structure. She also may not have the money.

Turns out that face, also known as Mar-a-Lago face, is a deliberate choice. The hyperwealthy in the GOP camp are buying plastic surgery that makes them look like the MAGA notion of a desirable woman. (The men are also getting plastic surgery -- to make them look like "real men," with a specific jawline, eyes, forehead, and lips; but this isn't about that trend.) Here's an interesting video essay about the phenomenon.

And here's Erika Kirk, before and after:

According to the video essay, this is a thing fascist governments do with their women. It separates them from progressive/non-fascist women by highlighting the "correct" way to look, which is hyperfeminine in a specific sort of way. (That look differs from culture to culture, obviously.) It's a uniform, which women must wear to prove that they are one of the group.

As such, it's also a form of control. I'm thinking also about the way women in the Christian Quiverfull movement were compelled to look -- with that long, over-permed hair and dowdy dresses; with that tiny high "girl" voice, and constant smile. Quiverfull women were not allowed to express any emotion except enraptured devotion. "Keeping sweet," they called it.

Trump women have to look and act a certain way also. It's a rigid gender performance, and it's there to ensure MAGA men that women exist to perform for them.

Here are more MAGA women. It's a little disturbing, and very creepy.

More Conservatives Lies

The new lies I've seen coming from the Right have to do with the destruction in North Carolina, and the response to it.

From the left, I am hearing about the help flooding into the region from ordinary citizens as well as the National Guard and FEMA. Some of the stories literally bring tears to my eyes.

Go here for more on this:

Disaster compassion is real. Here are some things I've seen today and yesterday in Western North Carolina:

— Margaret Killjoy 🏴 (@magpiekilljoy) October 2, 2024

Meanwhile, the Right is busy spewing their usual hate and lies:

• FEMA is broke because they gave all their money to immigrants 
• People who try to volunteer in NC are being arrested by FEMA/federal agents
• FEMA will only give victims of the hurricane $750 dollars 
• Biden's government is controlling the path of the hurricane, they sent it to NC on purpose, because NC is a red state
• FEMA won't give you help if you're white -- their new DEI initiatives mean they have to give all their money to immigrants and brown people
• FEMA is confiscating any money or aid sent to NC
• There's no money for disaster response because Biden sent all the money to Ukraine

See this meme, being shared by Trump supporters, for a sample of these lies:

It's gotten so bad that FEMA has set up a site to deal with rumors. But from what I've seen, any attempt to counter rumors is useless. When people try to talk sense to Rightwing weirdos, what they get is a response like, "You're just brainwashed by the Fake News Media," or "Do your own research, stop trusting federal lies."

Evidence and facts and good sources do not matter in the least to Trump supporters. That's why they're Trump supporters.

ETA: Even Republicans have had enough (though Trump supporters keep on ticking, as you can see in the comments):

local republican representatives in north carolina setting the record straight. pic.twitter.com/lgzXLSmBUV

— emily may (@emilykmay) October 4, 2024

Links

This is interesting

The damage done 

I mean, no one is really expecting anything else

Just a little list

Might be the problem

America -- SO GREAT


Your typical TERF -- and, sadly, more and more often your typical "Christian."

How cool is this? (Probably only really cool if you're an English professor)

Brookings on the SOTU speech (The Brookings Institution is a non-partisan think tank -- well worth following: they put out succinct but data-filled papers on crucial issues of the nation.)

See also this

Statement from Vindman

You can read it here.

Key points: The decision to pressure Zelenskyy to "investigate" Burisma and Biden predated the call, and involved Trump and his team. Vindman and others knew it was inappropriate, advised Trump of it at the time, and reported the action and its inappropriate nature to the lead counsel of the National Security Committee.

Vindman heard the call, and he and others who heard the call were concerned about the nature of the call at the time:

I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications forthe U.S. government’s support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security.

They reported it at the time, again to the lead counsel of the NSC.

Trump's team is smearing Vindman on Fox News, from what I understand, and certainly on Twitter. Apparently they're very worried about what his testimony will do to them.

So What's Wrong With Trump?

Quora asked the question.

This guy answered it:

Originally Answered: Why do people hate Donald Trump as President?I’ll take a stab at this. Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) if you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying” 

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate. 

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life. 

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community. 

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.
 

There's a lot more at the actual post -- he goes all the way through Z, and they're all legitimate.

John Oliver on Impeachment

This is 20 minutes long, but well worth watching:

Trump's Stupid Wall

Aside from the fact that it will cost billions of dollars -- money we could put toward education, useful infrastructure, and health care -- here is a prime reason Trump's wall is a terrible idea.

And that's ignoring the fact that Trump is only throwing this tantrum to distract from the fact that he's in huge political trouble.

These Hard Times

Did we feel worse when Trump was elected, or do we feel worse now? Tough call.

There are things we can do. First, GOTV. And get your friends and neighbors out to vote, too.

Second, continue to resist. See Camestros Felapton on this point here.

Third, donate if you can -- the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Emily's List, to Democratic candidates running in contested seats. And if you can't donate (or even if you can) volunteer, speak out, make some noise.

Fourth, if you're a writer, or a musician, or a poet, or any sort of artist: keep doing your art. Poets, as Shelley told us, are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. Trump and his snarling rabble seem important; but artists change the world in ways those filthy greedy assfaced motherfuckers never will.

Finally, don't despair, though despair seems a natural reaction. Trump isn't winning, no matter what his supporters believe. He's destroying, and that shit never lasts.

Rise up. Resist. Persevere.

Saturday Links

I have finished Blackboard training! Go me!

(I whined to my kid about having to do Blackboard training, and they were entirely unsympathetic. "Mom. I use Blackboard all the time."  These kids today, I swear.)

Links

The weather has broken early here -- highs only in the mid-eighties this week, and less humidity. Here's hoping it last.

Have some links!

A post of mine from seven years ago explains why Trump got elected


Related: Spencer's Fallacy

But this article about  the men who vandalized one of our mosques here made me feel better about our country today (it's also one of the best articles about Fort Smith I've ever read: very accurate!)

Related, sort of, and also interesting

On the creation of gender

Socratic knowledge

Shadow syllabus

Socialism in America

My kid draws something:

Those are characters from her comic, Fragile


Also this:

Feels like a good time to repeat this one. pic.twitter.com/DMqLnIXNDZ

— Nathan Burgoine (@NathanBurgoine) August 15, 2017

And this:

Trump's America

Here's what Trump tweeted before the election:

Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2016

My Kid's Art

It's true that Trump is wagging the dog, and America is falling for it like the boot-lickers they are.

But! Look what my kid made for me in her craft class:

Is she not the best kid ever?

TrumpCare: Burn, Baby

TrumpCare fails at the legislative level.

Trump is reaching out to Democrats now. That's... droll.

Costa on MSNBC: Trump says bill won’t be coming back in near future & he’ll see if the Dems want to work with him on healthcare.

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 24, 2017

Spring Break: Here at Last

Everyone else in the country has already had their Spring Breaks, I believe. But ours is next week -- well, really it starts tomorrow for the kid, since the public schools get Friday off for a teacher training thing.

As the kid is in her last six weeks of high school and literally counting the minutes until she never has to go back to high school again, this extra Friday is all that stood between her and doom.

Only messing a little here. It's never been so hard to get this child off to school as it has been this past month. "Here's an idea," she tells me, frequently. "What if I drop out of school, right now?"

"That sounds like a fine idea," I say. "Then you can get a job at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is always hiring."

"But you are missing the point. Then I would never have to go back to high school, ever again."

Our plans for Spring Break: sleep a lot. Write a lot. (Do a lot of art, on the kid's part.) Go hiking at Devil's Den. Go up to Crystal Bridges at least once, to see the new exhibit, even if it is Roy Lichtenstein, who is the kid's mortal enemy. Take the dog to the dog park. Sleep some more.

The weather has been cold as balls here, but next week looks lovely.

Trump, meanwhile... sweet Jesus.

What I've Been Doing

So what am I doing, in Trump's America: The Hunger Games Version?

Moping, a lot. I'm still in the depression stage of grieving. Nowhere near acceptance yet.

WTAF, is what I keep thinking, every time some new aspect of this horrible national nightmare comes to light.

Not The WORST Thing, but Still...

I used to semi-enjoy reading conservative blogs, for pretty much the same reason I was almost an anthropology major, and probably for the same reason I read and write science fiction. I like walking in other people's shoes. I like to be able, just for a bit and even if it's only slightly, to understand the worlds of people who are not me.

This election, though, has ruined that pleasure for me. Homo sum, said Terence, and therefore, humani nihil a me alienum puto. This is what I believe as well.

But sadly, conservative blogs are now gulping down the Trump Kool-Aid in two-liter sized go-cups. As much as I would like to continue to read and try to understand them, right now at least, there's nothing to understand. They're all repeating the same lies and fake news stories, while howling with hysterical hatred about those evil liberals (baby-killers, flag-burners, ballot-stuffers, and traitors).

Having read one (actually, I've read about fifty) of these post-truth screeds, I find I don't need to read another.

More than one Trump supporter has told me they voted for Trump because America was "so divided (with the implication that Obama/progressives caused this terrible division) and that "we" had to bring the country together again.

Somehow I don't think the foaming wrath of the alt.right is our path to that.

Well

We all know the five stages of grief -- denial & isolation; anger; bargaining; depression; acceptance.

I seem to have gone straight from anger into depression.

I'm not sleeping and I'm not able to get much work done. Why should I, when our country has decided, out of pique and spite and hate, to elect this vile joke into our highest office -- when, now that he is in the highest office, not just America, but probably the world, is doomed?

Trump plans to pull out of the Paris Agreement.

That right there is all you need to know. Never mind what he'll do to education, to a woman's right to control her own body, to LGBT rights, to the immigrants in our country. Never mind the effect he's already having, with the spike in hate crimes / assaults.

All of those we might survive and mend, once (if) America comes to its senses. But climate change? Yeah, it's already almost too late to do anything about that. Trump's destruction of our progress on that, along with what he'll do to the EPA, that's going to be something we can't change.

Trump Among the Razorbacks

So here in NW Arkansas we have a certain percentage of people who are supporting Trump. And many of these people have kids who go to my kid's school.

My kid's school is pretty much a bastion of Far-Right Evangelical Christian culture as it is; so, you know, I'm not that surprised to find a fat wodge of Trumpeters there. However, also not surprisingly, there's a lot of pushback against Trump, even among the conservative kids.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Yes, that time.

Annual evaluation time!

OMF.

I'm trying, y'all.  I'm trying.  But seriously, what a waste of my life and life-force.

Plus, the language this enterprise requires.  Learning goals.  Assessments.  Multiple literacies. Demonstrated Learning Outcomes. Global perspectives.  Kill me now.

It's not bad enough that Drumpf is apparently going to be a serious candidate for our country's highest office -- I have to spend the next week writing this... document.

Mood: sullen.