Research Notes #20
Looking back to move forward
Welcome back! I am so grateful that you are joining me on this journey as we slay the dragons of disinformation together. The only way to truly move forward in a positive way is to ALWAYS BE LEARNING. The truth will always triumph.
This time, I thought it would be fun to revisit some of my old pieces from the equality category on hippiegrrl explains it all, and see how they hold up. Since the beginning of 2020, we have been living in a much more stark landscape of horror where we can clearly see all the things wrong with our country, the world, the way we treat the earth and each other, and the general malaise and exhaustion that we are collectively feeling due to ALL THE THINGS. The feelings are not necessarily new, but taking a look back a few years, to pre-Trump times at least, can shed light on the present.
I have been engaged in research and writing online for almost 20 years and I am glad to see so many people engaging with topics that are often difficult to discuss but are necessary to work through to make the world better. So let me thank you once more for joining me here and I hope that you enjoy reading. If so, please be sure to pass it along to your friends and/or foes and comment if you feel moved to give feedback.
This piece was written 17 May 2014, a few months before my first niece was born. I wanted to write something for her to let her know that I will be there for her no matter what and that she should never feel inferiour to anyone, least of all a man. I think the piece accomplished what I was aiming for and it tears me up a bit to read it now, in a good way. Overall, it holds up.
In this piece, I talked a bit about privilege and called out white, cis-het, dudes. This seems like the usual hippiegrrl explains it all fare, but it was just before Trump was elected. This line, although a bit dramatic, is also telling: “If Donald Trump becomes the next President of this country, we will surely never have a chance to understand one another.”
The Continued Oppression of Women aka What Happened this Week?
This piece begins with a story of an Evangelical who fell from his pedestal and wraps up with a discussion of why we need the ERA. Quite prescient considering the mess in Texas this month and the continuation of NOT passing laws that would codify voting and reproductive rights.
Written in October 2016, after the final Presidential debate between Former Secretary Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, this material is, unfortunately, evergreen. We can see that this debate was a foreshadow of 6 January 2021, as Trump was already using the big lie of voter fraud to prime the base, sealing his fate as the current puppet of the right-wing.
Snowflakes, Learning, and Laziness
Speaking of foreshadowing - this piece talks about how learning and becoming an open-minded individual can make one better, but it also gets at the anti-PC nature of right-wingers in 2017. Being anti-PC and, in turn, anti-intellectualism was certainly not a new concept that year, but it resurfaced anytime a progressive highlighted the racist, sexist, homophobic rhetoric that was coming from the right. This anti-intellectualism would appear again most recently in the arguments against teaching true American history in schools, or what right-wingers mistakenly refer to as critical race theory. Everything old is new again.
Reading:
Protect abortion rights | Nicole Cardoza at anti-racism daily
Denial of Evolution is a Form of White Supremacy | Allison Hopper at Scientific American
Inside the Quiverfull World that Made Josh Duggar | Eve Ettinger at Bitch Media
Right-Wingers Are Taking Over Library Boards to Remove Books on Racism | Eleanor J. Bader at Truthout
Watching:
Van Life & the Housing Crisis | Tiffany Ferg at Internet Analysis
Let’s talk about the importance of understanding basic philosophies | Beau of the Fifth Column
Listening:
App of the week:
Are you looking for a way to listen to content on the internet? This week I came across a wonderful tool called Speechify, which allows you to listen to any page on the web, read by a voice of your choosing. Speechify can help you multitask like a pro or simply assist in better comprehension through listening. Check it out!
Thank you for reading the Research Notes Newsletter! Now it’s YOUR turn. Please share your thoughts along with any other questions or suggestions for future research, in the comments.