We are in The Twilight Zone

All the things I think are too ridiculous to happen in America, are happening in America. I must be in the Twilight zone. Common sense and human decency have ceased to exist. And here’s why:

 

1. A 250lb grown man can chase down an unarmed 140lb teenager he deems to be suspicious for “walking about”, give him a deadly shot to the chest, and not even be tried for it. Not even arrested! How is this possible? Because merely being black is a threat, and in Florida we can use deadly force in any situation where we feel “threatened”, without consequence. Florida police don’t give a fuck about Black people. *Kanye voice* You know when I feel threatened? When a white person asks to touch my hair, or maybe does so without asking. But I can’t pull out a gun and shoot some random white lady for her curiosity and lack of understanding of personal boundaries. I know she is just being her white self, walking about. A reaction to walk away because I feel threatened by her is acceptable. Hell, a fist fight might be acceptable depending on how she approached me. But killing her is most certainly and over-reaction. And that’s even in the case of her approaching me. In Trayvon Martin’s case he was chased down and followed….. so he is clearly the only person entitled to a claim of self-defense. Someone chasing you down and confronting you on the sidewalk IS a credible threat and a reason to become defensive. If YOU approach ME with a gun, I am defending myself. YOU are the attacker because YOU decided to confront me.

Back to my example: White lady spots black girl with a fabulously large afro, or a particulaly impressive weave, or perhaps a sculpted updo that Southern Hair Architecture Digest would be proud of. White lady follows Black girl for a while, then decides she just must get closer and touch it. She gets out of her car and attempts to touch black girl’s hair. Black girl tells her to back the hell off. White lady, clearly disturbed and threatened by black girl’s refusal to subject herself of inspection, pulls out gun a shoots black girl directly in her chest. Police arrive. White lady says “I was standing my ground.” Police say cool and keep it moving. But I guess it’s Black girl’s fault…. she shouldnt have been walking around looking so black and interesting. Those are clear invitations for confrontation in the Twilight Zone. I hate this world right now!Trayvon Martin’s story is hard to even fathom for me. I’d like to think a person would be prosecuted for such an obvious attack and murder. Do we know that Zimmerman was racially motivated? No – It is possible that he simply thinks all young people are suspicious. But we do know for sure if he had shot somebody’s white A-and-B student, he would be under the jail.

2. A state can require you to explain why you are using birth control to your company, and they can fire you if they don’t like it! The fine legislators in Arizona has lost their ever-loving minds and proposed a bill which would allow employers to elect not to cover birth control as a contraceptive if the employer has “moral concerns” with it. Oy vey. But using birth control for other reasons (ie, hormone therapy, regulating periods, acne) is ok. Therefore, if you wanted birth control for some other reason than as actual birth control, you would have to supply your employer with a doctor’s note explaining why. O_o

Yes, let’s all have a talk with our boss about our sex lives and/or other issues concerning our reproductive systems. I hate you Arizona. I really do. Of course, Catholic health systems and churches are all gleeful. Nevermind that most Catholic women use contraception at some point in their life. One study I read said 90-something percent of Catholic women have used birth control. Makes sense. I mean, when was the last time you met a women with 10 kids? If not for contraception that would be some everyday shit considering women have about 30 fertile years. So clearly somebody round here is using some contraceptives. We just need to go on and let them continue. It’s not like it’s expensive. Hormonal birth control has been around for 50 years, meaning there are about a billion generic forms available. Matter of fact, both Walmart and Target sell it for $9. Much cheaper than diapers. Also significantly cheaper than the $10,000-$40,000 hospital stay to have a baby. Yep, a c-section can set you back $40,000!!!! But perhaps insurance will stop covering that too if it’s against your employer’s morals. With this train of thought it’s reasonable to think they’d deny prenatal care or hospital birth coverage for unmarried women. Yikes.

3. Politicians can simply make up laws that don’t exist to make a point. Like when Rick Santorum just decided speaking English was a requirement for statehood. When asked about Puerto Rico becoming a state, this fool said “Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law. And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language.” Ummmm, what? The United States doesn’t even have an official language. There is definitely no Federal law existing that says a state needs to have an official language or that it should be English. He really just made that shit up out of his ass. More appalling than the fact that he made it up, it the fact that even after making ridiculous statements all these people are still viable candidates and people are voting for them! That is friggin scary. WHY IS EVERYONE SO STUPID IN AMERICA RIGHT NOW?!?!?! Why, Lord?

4. The state can rape you. If you haven’t heard, VA wants to mandate that women seeking abortion have a transvaginal ultrasound first. There is clearly no medical need for this, but I guess the powers that be think if these women have to look at the fetus up close on screen they will change their minds. In order to do this, a camera has to be shoved into your vagina. O_O

I have personally had a transvaginal ultrasound (not related to pregnancy). I consented to it, and even with that, I felt some type of way afterward. The instrument was like a large plastic penis. It was a very rape-y experience. They put a condom on it, they lube it up, and then they insert it. I AGREED to that shit from my ob/gyn and I still left feeling violated. It’s not a good feeling to have an odd object stuck in your vagina by a stranger. And it’s not a small object. When I saw it I had a definite look of terror on my face. I had to spend some time talking myself into it. But I accepted it because it was medically necessary. If it had not been, it’s would have been a clear sexual assault.

As a woman if I have nothing else, I at least have the right to decide what goes inside my vagina. There is nothing worse that can be done than to have ownership of your own womb taken away. Nothing.  How would these Republican men feel if a state law mandated such a thing to be inserted in their anal cavity? Sure, some would like it, but not all of them. And honestly Virginia’s doctors will be in a terrible position because a good number of them have no desire to accomplice the state of VA in raping women as punishment for choosing abortion. VA politicians want to shame, violate, intimidate, and oppress women asking for abortions…. and I am dumbfounded. They want to leave them feeling assaulted, broken, and powerless, as if the inherent internal turmoil of choosing abortion isn’t punishment enough. Women don’t make those choices cavalierly, and they don’t need a camera shoved inside them to understand what is happening in their bodies and lives. The sole purpose of this law is intimidation. Its like putting a dog’s face in the poop he left in your living room! “look at what you’re doing you whore!” . But God forbid she had been on birth control, right? No country for this bullshit!