In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Ten Views Meme

Jill

This one via Hugo is a little old, but I’m doing it anyway.

Ten Views I Hold Without Evidence

1. Indian food is the best cure for the common cold. The spicier the better.
2. Nice skin is all about exfoliating and moisturizing, not using harsh cleansers. Lotion will get rid of pimples faster the Clearasil will.
3. Dogs make the best pets.
4. There is nothing wrong with wearing black year-round.
5. Chapstick is physically addictive. Burt’s Beeswax is far superior to all other chapsticks.
6. There is a God, and He is nowhere near as much of a vengeful jerk as the religious right makes Him out to be. (But I’m not sure that He is a He, or even a gendered being)
7. Most people are good at heart. No one is as simplistically “bad” as we think.
8. Lauren will be back.
9. If you’re going to buy into the beauty myth, you might as well do it with DiorShow mascara.
10. You’re either a Robbins or a Vonnegut. It’s possible to like both, but most people are fans of one or the other.

I tag everyone.

24 thoughts on Ten Views Meme

  2. selected commentary, as, like the nihilists in the big lebowski, “i believe in nossing.”
    2. it depends on the skin type.
    3. too needy.
    5. lotion aside, i suspect even lip balm of giving me pimples.
    7. i agree.
    9. i thought the beauty myth is that at least one of us should hate the other because she’s beautiful.
    10. i like neither.

  3. Well, I already participated at PandaHut, but I cheated on that one, so I’ll try not to do that here.

    1. There is no hell, but there is a hereafter of some sort.
    2. Despite my disbelief in hell combined with a belief in the hereafter, there is no heaven in the future of Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, and all the other bastards who destroyed the Baptist church in America. Just because there is no hell doesn’t mean they get to enjoy the same paradise as Gandhi, Dr. King, the Dalai Lama, etc. (Pretentious of me? Yes, but I don’t give a shit. And no, it’s not just Southern Baptist Convention leaders that will be denied heaven, but they’re the ones on my radar at the moment.)
    3. Commas are a person’s best friend, if you’re asking me, which you’re not, so I’ll shut up.
    4. Goth chicks are teh h0tn3ss.
    5. So are Jake Gyllenhaal and Matt Heafy
    6. Avante garde, free jazz, fusion, etc. are in fact jazz, and Wynton Marsalis is, as Miles put it, “a nice young man, only confused.” And he can lick my…
    7. Rock is not dead.
    8.

  4. Umm…not quite sure how that happened…but here are my last three:

    8. My mom will eventually leave her jackass husband (my step-dad).
    9. Barring that, my jackass step-dad will leave my mom.
    10. I will lose my virginity.

  5. Love it! Jill, I share your number 8, and actually your 6 and 7 aren’t bad either.

    I wore black all year round for years. It made worrying about not matching so much easier!

  7. 1. God exists, and She is rather annoyed with all things right-wing; however,

    2. She allows evil and other adversity to exist because a) we grow stronger from living through it, b) we grow stronger from fighting it, and c) it provides a contrast with good and wonderful things, making them seem better by comparison and thus enabling us to enjoy them more.

    3) It is worse to be an oppressor than to be oppressed. Thus, the oppressors of the world are worse off than the people they oppress. Some become what we call evil because that’s all they were taught, and/or stay that way because it’s easier for them to dismiss other viewpoints than to face the harm they’ve done, which they’d have to do if they looked at it from a better perspective. Such people deserve every reasonable opportunity, and all reasonable help, to understand what they’ve done wrong and to go beyond it and start doing and being what’s right. This includes being encouraged/praised for the headway they make—what may be a bare minimum of decency from our perspective might have taken a herculean effort on the part of someone handicapped by a lifetime of conditioning for the opposite, and deserves acknowledgement and encouragement to inspire more. Some will never trouble themselves with making any progress in this lifetime. Others we simply will not get to. However,

    4) Trying to help such people (without condescending to them) is the most noble cause in existance. (Undertaking noble causes in order to be proud of yourself is the wrong reason to do so.)

    *disclaimer: I do not mean these last two in a religious sense. I am speaking of people who would be normal and decent but had the misfortune to grow up in a culture that sees oppression of some sort as normal and good.*

    5) Jill’s right. There’s nothing wrong with wearing black year-round.

    6) Jill’s wrong. Cats make the best pets.

    7) There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with wearing whatever you yourself find beautiful and think you look good in, no matter how outlandish it may seem in comparison with what’s generally considered “fashionable.” If other people dislike it, they are welcome to avert their eyes; however, no one owes it to anyone else to dress to their standards instead of one’s own. The person wearing the clothes is the only one who deserves a say in the matter.

    8) The only time a woman should have to inform her husband of an abortion is if she intends to transfer the fetus to his body.

    9) My dorm room should be bigger, so that I can grow a lotus plant by the window.

    10) Kiluea Volcano, any large, open datura blossom under the full moon, and any purring cat as heard with your ear pressed against her chest, form a three-way tie for the pinnacle of creation.

  8. Ought to point out, regarding my #4:

    This in no way means it’s anyone’s responsibility to do so, or that you’re obligated to waste time on it.

  10. 1. The existence of any god(s) or afterlife(ves) are irrelevant to how I’ve chosen to live my life. If there is a God and a Heaven and all that, I’m confident that I’ll make the cut cause God likes my moxie.
    2. Grey > black.
    3. A certain situation that I don’t care to discuss on the internet will work out favourably and will double the population of my bed.
    4. It will work out. The White Man’s Culture will collapse in on itself (worldwide) and those of us who’re sensible enough to bail will look pretty goddamn smart.
    5. Pure cranberry juice is on par with Indian food for curing colds. (But I’m totally getting Indian food today.)
    6. My taste in music doesn’t make me a better person than you, but I’m justified in feeling like that sometimes.
    7. One day Ron Moore will return to the Star Trek franchise (when he’s done with Battlestar Galactica) and turn it good again.
    8. This spring in Montreal will be one of the greatest times of my life (thusfar, not ever).
    9. Placebos can work, and when possible should replace actual treatment.
    10. Going to class is for chumps. I am justified in sleeping through it.

  11. 10: Robbins or Vonnegut? What a bleak thought. What if you’re a fan of neither? 😉

    Ten Views I Hold Without Evidence

    1. I am not a rock snob…

    2. … but I’m pretty sure that Karen O will one day be recognized as the David Bowie of 21st century post-punk.

    3. The version of the afterlife that’s likeliest to “hold water” is reincarnation.

    4. In this life, I’ll probably live to see the age of at least forty.

    5. One of the best gauges of someone’s personality is how they handle disagreement.

    6. Avant garde poetry is worth writing even if only a few hundred people ever read it.

    7. There’s no hot dog anywhere like a Tubby Dog.

    8. Count Dante could totally take Chuck Norris.

    9. The Machines will not Take Over; Arnold Schwarznegger’s governorship and future Presidency are as close as it will get.

    10. There will be a reinvigorated — and even sort of cohesive — Left in the West in the next ten to fifteen years.

  14. Easy.

    i, If God exists, which by no means is certain, She likes to show Herself as an elderly Chinese woman with a big smile.

    ii, The scent of a clean woman, lightly sweating, with perhaps a touch of perfume, is the best sensory experience in the world.

    iii, Individuals matter.

    iv, Governments matter as, and only as, a means of effecting individual goals.

    v, Corporations matter as, and only as, a means of effecting individual goals.

    vi, New Zealanders are wittier, more honest, braver and more noble than Australians. And more humble.

    vii, If only I lost a bit of weight, I could easily lure that blonde I have the crush on away from her boyfriend.

    viii, If only I lost a bit of weight, I could easily lure Scarlett Johanson away from whoever she’s with.

    ix, It’s probable there will be an oil crunch within two decades, with associated political and economic disruptions. This will not affect me to any great extent.

    x, I’ll be comfortably well off in my old age, somehow.

  16. did this at the ‘gon. doing it again, with a second set

    1) New Zealand doesn’t exist.
    2) I am still the target audience of most cartoons.
    3) Bruce Timm is a fucking god (see 2).
    4) Someone should put the Wachowski brothers out of my misery.
    5) Red vs. Blue is far closer to common experience than anything in Shakespeare.
    6) even dead, Bruce Lee can kick anybody’s ass.
    7) Kevin Smith is not an overrated hack.
    8) I deserve a pet Golden Marmoset.
    9) Bob Dylan had a stroke in 1966. no one’s been able to tell.
    10) The nazis are right, there IS a world zionist conspiracy, and one of these days, they’ll give me my rightful place as Jew overlord of the upper midwest, where I and my golden marmoset will look down on all creation and mock you weak goyim.

  17. Karpd, I’ll second you on 7.

    And if 10’s true, I want in. Can I join if I marry a non-practicing Jewish feminist?

  18. Kevin Smith is more than overrated, he’s an inane moviemaker that cheats his audience by explaining fucking EVERYTHING like we can’t figure it out by our damn selves. Dude needs to take a comedy class and get over all those really cool conversations he had with his friends in college smoking dope. We’re real impressed, Kevin, now move along.

    /rant

  20. 1. Tuna subs and “white rice w/broccoli & garlic sauce” are two dishes that have very few calories.

    2. I am unique.

    3. I can hear the Spirit of the Greater Universe if I listen closely enough.

    4. Whitney Houston was ruined by marriage.

    5. Most people are made more by love and less by marriage.

    6. One day virtual reality will allow me to have long conversations with Archie & Nero in their brownstone.

    7. Golden Retrievers and Labs are smarter than humans.

    8. Aliens lifeforms exist.

    9. Those like Bush & his ilk are destined to be cockroaches in the next 100 lives – it is possible that they will not recover from the karmic missteps they have perpetated in this lifetime.

    10. My son is the cutest baby in the world.

    And Im Robbins and Vonnegut equally which isnt much in either case – they’re Bs to me.

  21. 1. Most people are basically rational and can be swayed by appeals to reason and clear statements of the facts.
    2. In my lifetime, average life expectancy will extend to several hundred years.
    3. I will die old.
    4. I don’t believe in a god or gods, but believe that, if I am wrong, She will judge me more by my actions rather than condemn me for my lack of belief. (I use “She” only for convience. I have no idea of what gender, if any, the god I don’t believe in is.)
    5. The universe is weirder, wilder, and more wonderful than we suspect.
    6. The first and second laws of thermodynamics break down at some point.
    7. The Holy Grail of thrombosis treatment, the medication that prevents clots without causing excess bleeding, exists.
    8. Someone reading this will understand the silly and very obscure in-joke embedded in the above comment.
    9. There’s nothing wrong with wearing black yearround. Or white. Or fuscia. Or whatever you feel like. Or not wearing, for that matter, except for that pesky legal issue.
    10. People who drive SUVs in cities are destined to spend their next 100 lifetimes as the sort of bugs that get splattered on windshields. If they’re lucky.

  22. Oops, thought of a bonus one:
    11. Good chocolate and good sex will increase your life expectancy. Conversely, bad chocolate and unenjoyable sex will decrease it.

  23. 1. There is in fact a creator of the universe, but He works in ways that the human mind cannot comprehend and cannot be explained.
    2. Several people who scream the loudest about their Christianity *cough*Pat Robertson are going to have serious explaining to do in the afterlife.
    3. I believe that I will see my loved ones who have passed away before me again. In fact, the thought of seeing my son again someday is the thing that keep me going on the days I don’t even want to get out of bed.
    4. People with developmental disabilities are the most fun to spend time with. Many of them take joy in so much that *typical* people take for granted, it brings a whole new perspective to me.
    On a lighter note:

    5. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is, by far, the best.
    6. German Shepherds are, without a doubt, the coolest kind of dog to have, even if they only have three legs like mine.
    7. Driving a mini-van doesn’t automatically make you uncool… or at least, I try to convince myself of this daily.
    8. Having a baby changes everything,
    9. In the case of nature vs. nurture, I give far more credence to the nurture side.
    10. Chinese food was created for the sole purpose of making me fat and keeping me fat. Damn pregnancy cravings!

  24. 11, How you will be treated in the afterlife, if there is one, is determined by how you treat cats in this life.

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