My ignorance is just as good

Fannie Wolfe of *Shakesville* occasionally has a summary of LGBT news in the age of the nasty guy. In Tuesday’s installment she included a discussion of the baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. This case was before the Supremes on Tuesday. Fannie closes with this:
http://www.shakesville.com/2017/12/dispatches-from-queer-resistance-no-5.html

I have a working theory about anti-LGBT strategy here. With Trump continuing to be historically unpopular, how beneficial might it be for the Christian Right to wage a revived, full-on culture war, in which leaders of the Christian Right convince their followers that the forces of Political Correctness are oppressing them? What vigorous anti-LGBT counter-measures and messaging might the Trump/Pence Administration deliver to their loyal, white conservative Christian base, in response to a win or, perhaps worse, a loss in this case? It's hard for me to see any outcome of this case as a win, at least in the short-term, for LGBT people.

Some men seem to be upset that they can’t flirt (harass) women in the workplace anymore. Melissa McEwan, also of Shakesville, offers no sympathy. You know how to treat men in the office without harassment so you already know how to treat women. Harassment includes unwanted hugging or leering while commenting on a woman’s dress. And since there is this big public discussion about harassment you can no longer plead ignorance that a particular action is inappropriate.

McEwan is also annoyed with the call that men should treat female coworkers the same way they their wives and daughters. Some of her reasons:

Some men abuse their wives and daughters.

A woman shouldn’t have to be related to a man to be treated with respect.

Making a distinction between women who are relatives and those who aren’t implies these female relatives are property to be maintained.



A quote appropriate for today.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

– Isaac Asimov, 1980 “Cult of Ignorance.”



For the absolute best (if a little purple) description of trickle-down economics here is Lewis Black on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

You wanna test that trickle-down theory? Drink about twenty beers. Then pee your pants. Then put a cup down here, and stand and see how long it takes for that pee to fill up that cup.

The alcohol beverage industry doesn’t like this one. Researchers at University of Connecticut and Georgia State University have noted that after the introduction of medical marijuana laws alcohol sales fell by about 15%. That’s because marijuana is safer: People don’t die of marijuana overdose. It is less addictive, less likely to cause vehicle deaths, and less linked to violent behavior. Excessive alcohol use kills nearly 90,000 people a year compared to marijuana’s zero.

I don’t drink alcohol and haven’t tried marijuana (though I was pretty sure I smelled it at a recent Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra concert). I hear legalizing marijuana will be on the Michigan ballot next year. Perhaps these stats are a reason to vote for it.