centre of the universe - the dreaming

There is hullaballoo in Canada about how the provincial government in British Columbia is asking the Supreme Court of Canada for a legal opinion on the matter of polygamy. As my friend the Rook says, it's probably not so much that the BC government wants to outlaw polygamy, but that the BC government wants to get rid of the fanatical religious sects living in their province. Which is to say, they can't figure out how to get in there and tell the folks living in places like Bountiful that it's a little reprehensible that they marry off their daughters at 12 to men four and five times their age, and that the girls really have no choice in the matter.

But that isn't an issue of polygamy.

That is an issue of misogyny, child abuse, and pedophelia.

In essence, I don't think there's a single thing wrong with polygamy or polyandry or group marriages. Nor with polyamoury. In fact, I think that the more people you can love, the more people you *should* love. Doing so within committed relationships makes it *even better*. Here's the trick: polygamy is not the same as bigamy. There's a big difference between being married to more than one person, and marrying more than one person. If you get my drift.

So.

a) I have a HUGE problem with the government of BC spending taxpayers' money on something they should be able to handle provincially. They just don't *want* to. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. No parent wants to discipline their kids. The BC government wants to get rid of some religious communities they find distasteful, and which are probably harming the provincial image.

b) I don't think polygamy should be illegal. It shouldn't matter who you choose to marry, as long as everyone involved is able to make an informed, reasonable decision to do so, in a state of honour and love.

c) It's pretty terrible that a group of fanatical people are hiding behind a freedom of religion argument, but the bottom line is that polygamy oughtn't be illegal. The fanatical people should be arrested for abuse and endangerment.

d) I really wish that people would stop trying to make this a discussion about morals. It needs to be a discussion about rights. And in my opinion, Canadians should have the right to marry whoever they want, with the provisions already mentioned. Morals have nothing to do with it. The most important moral really needs to be: do no harm.

Labels: Canadian politics, canadians, polygamy

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a little pissed off.
Why am I a little pissed off? I'll tell you.



On the same day that a Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan, a big-name star died of cancer. Lucy the freaking elephant got higher billing than a bombing that killed a man and injured four other people.

Sure, I don't agree with war. I hate war. I would much rather we all just sit around and talk out our differences and bake cookies together and yes I know that's a ridiculous pipe dream I got from watching Too Much Star Trek, but seriously people, as that really famous person said, "give Peace a chance. If we don't like it, we can always go back to fighting." Don't even start with asking me "what would you do if someone wearing a towel on their head broke in to your house and started raping your children?" because you know damned well my answer isn't going to be "ask him/her to stay and bake some cookies." I KNOW that most people think war and armed conflict is necessary. I don't KNOW what the alternatives are. I just know that in my heart, in my warm, hippie heart, I know killing each other is wrong.

It's really wrong.

In fact, it's so wrong, superstitious people who believe in all kinds of ghosties and miracles and magic smoke all over the world have heard this from their Head Heebie Jeebie: "Thou Shalt Not Kill". That's pretty self-explanatory. And I was a hippie before I was religious, so I'm using that argument to back myself up, here. YES, circular arguments! I'm good at those.

Even atheists, for God's sake (heh), who are moral, Good People will tell you that killing each other is wrong. At least, the atheists I know will. Sure, some will have caveats to that ("well if someone broke in to my house and started raping my children..."), but what can be more self-explanatory?

Survival of the fittest? You don't get to use this argument if you're superstitious, right? You can't use a Darwinian argument to support your religious war? I don' t know. This could just be the pissiness talking. So sure, the best way to ensure your religious belief/land claims/cultural group/dinner menu is the only one left on the planet is to kill everyone who doesn't think like you do. That'd get pretty lonely and pretty boring pretty fast, IMO.

Anyway, yeah. Killing each other is Bad. And Wrong. There are no buts. There are no ifs. There is just the one And so far...So...can we just stop doing it? Please? There's enough stuff out there that will kill us - viruses, taxi cabs, particularly hungry bears, insects ....clowns. We don't need to add "each other" to the list. Really. It's been done before. "Oh MAN. That is SO Roman. Cha."

However, since I'm pretty sure nobody's going to stop killing anybody because I asked them to (this is my crackpot theory: the bigger a group gets, the more it acts, on the whole, like a four-year-old...then a teenager...and ultimately, by the time that group attains wisdom and grace, it dies off of old age), I recognise that there will be armed conflict. I recognise that Canada is trying to provide security, protection, and hope to people all over the world. I recognise that we can NEVER do enough. There are far more people hating out there than there are Canadian soldiers able to talk sense into them. So I recognise that we have a military, and that we trust our elected officials and the Department of National Defense to choose the best ways for our military to help the world (and sometimes I really, REALLY question that judgement). I do, however, respect and honour the decision that Canadians make when they enter in the police force, Emergency Services, the RCMP, and the Military. I respect these folks an awful lot. First of all, because that's a sacrifice I was never willing to (and will never be willing to) make. Secondly, because ...well... you know what? There doesn't even NEED to be a "secondly".

And I'm pissy. I'm pissy because a Canadian had to die doing what he was passionate about. He had to die trying to help other people stop getting dead. He died in the love of and in the service of Canada. He sacrified his *own* life trying to make someone else's life better. He, in more archaic terms, shed his blood for them.

So I think Private Patrick Lormand from the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment based in Valcartier, Quebec deserves better than third billing after a washed-up movie star and a geriatric fucking elephant. And those other four Canadian soldiers who were injured in the same blast, they do too. I know someone will say: "But that washed up actor and that geriatric elephant provided so much laughter and entertainment; doesn't that count for something?"

Sure. That counts for sixth and seventh billing.

Labels: canadians, the right thing

An Open Letter to Dr. Jean Grey:

I know you're all effed up, what with the Phoenix Effect and all but *must* you continue to make Colossally Bad Decisions? Scott Summers, in case you haven't noticed, is a complete douche. Trust me. The minute you die, he's going to take off with a scantily-clad whore.

Now, before you go all über PMS Dark Phoenix all over the place, just hear what I have to say. Or, better yet, read what I have to write. It's not your fault Scott is a douche. I suspect he's always been a douche. Jocks who shoot laser beams out of their eyes are like that (I remember high school quite well). But there's a Much Better Choice for you!

Look I don't want to tell you how to live your life; I'm fairly sure I couldn't tell you how to live your life even if I wanted to. It's just that...

Jesus, Jean, Logan loves you. And you couldn't ask for a better guy. He's sensitive, has a wonderful dry sense of humour, he's smart, incredibly sexy (those sideburns could make a nun give up her habits), he has a skeleton of pure adamantium and **he's Canadian**. Honestly. You can't ask for a better guy.

Ditch the jock. He doesn't deserve you.

If you're not interested at all in Logan, then the very least you should do is quit screwing with him. There are plenty of other women out there, me included, who would sell their own grandmothers for a go. Solid adamantium, Jean. **ADAMANTIUM**.

So, in conclusion, I don't want to incur the wrath of the Phoenix, Dark or White, but seriously. Who's going to take better care of you? Logan (James H., whatever) would give his life for you, and has tried more than once. Scott Summers is more concerned with his hair and the inseam cut of his new costume. Sure, he pays lip service to love, but it sure didn't take him long to find someone else after you "died". Some folks say you put that suggestion in his head - to 'find someone else'...and if you did do that, was it ever really love? Would you really WANT the love of your life to choose the White Whore rather than mourn you? What's the MATTER with you?

Okay, I've been kind of cruel here. But honestly. Please don't explode the sun with your wrath. At least, not until the end of summer. I'd hate to have the universe end on a cold, blizzardy day in March.

ADAMANTIUM, Jean. Canadian Adamantium.

Sincerely,
cenobyte

Labels: canadians, letters