Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A Sort Of Apology

I woke up this morning feeling like a shit for criticizing Madonna. She can do whatever she wants and I  have no right to say a thing about any of it.
She's a performer and doesn't owe me or women one iota of anything. I guess I was just feeling sorry for myself because I'm getting old and aged and she's not.
She's worked incredibly hard and probably always will and if she wants to write songs about turning up the radio, then dammit! she should do it. Turn up the damn radio! Hell yes! Let's dance!
And I am not being sarcastic or snarky. I mean it.

Anyway, good morning. It's Tuesday. Is that right? Gravity sucked real hard on my walk this morning. Some days the earth has more pull to it, I think. I am listening to a book by Sarah Vowell. It's called The Wordy Shipmates. It's about the Puritans and their settling in America. So, it's history, I guess. Here's the thing about learning some history- you realize we didn't learn shit in school and what we did learn was bullshit. Here's another thing- it makes you mad. And angry. And mystified at how the truth of situations got twisted into mythology which modern-day people use to rationalize more bullshit.
Today I learned that when Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famed author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, learned that the Native Americans had been essentially almost wiped out by a "plague" (smallpox brought from Europe) she felt as if God Himself had caused this to happen, thus making way for the white Christians and that this was proof of the consecration of the ground of this country from God to His followers.

As Ms. Vowell points out, she may have been a great humanitarian when it came to slavery but she had a bit of a blindspot when it came to the American Indians.

And I know I knew this but...90% of Native Americans were killed by smallpox and the devastation ranged from Chile to Newfoundland.

90%. Nine out of ten human beings who were living here when Europeans arrived died after their arrival.

And yet, Harriet Beecher Stowe was certainly not the only one to believe that this was proof that their god was making way for his chosen people to inhabit this continent. And yeah, that other continent down south, I guess.

This kind of shit will get your blood boiling and your mind racing to try and take those facts in.

So yeah, I'm thinking about stuff like that.

I'm going to town to see my grandsons. I miss them. I can't remember what it is that we're going to do. Oh. Go to the library. I'm losing my mind.

They're talking about releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys to combat the infestation. Jeez. Nothing could go wrong with THAT plan.

Humans are weird. Madonna probably doesn't even make the top ten million of weird humans or of doing weird human things.

Turn up the damn radio.


That's a strong woman.

Amen.

15 comments:

  1. I don't think you needed to apologize for your comments. You are entitled to your opinions about what you would find more appealing in music than pop-tarts. It is unfortunate that women are pressured into maintaining a youthful appearance or risk being pushed aside to the ranks of the undesirable. We can pretend all we want that women have become emancipated but many men will tend to hanker after the sexier and more youthful women. And many women want to be attractive to many men. It's just the way we are.
    Madonna does look strong and fit - and hard. She does not look youthful to me. I'm sure she has to keep fit to put on the shows she has become known for. It would be hard for her to become a stand alone centre stage diva - she doesn't have the voice for it - she needs to give the whole package if she's going to perform at all - and I think she likes the attention and is not inclined to give up the spotlight.
    Frankly, I am more impressed with how Jamie Lee Curtis is aging - in spite of the yoghurt ads. Madonna is high maintenance while Jamie has an image that we ordinary women could live up to.

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  2. I agree with every word you wrote. None of it was untrue or unkind. Just the facts. If our media were not so saturated with eternal youth and beauty as the goal of everywoman, we would probably grow into our old age with confidence and dare I say it, maybe even joy.
    love,
    yo

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  3. i don't think you have to apologize either.

    xxalainaxx

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  4. 9 in 10 people. you know, i never put it together quite like that. man's inhumanity to man. preach, ms moon.

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  5. What the above have said.

    Yes, M looks strong and hard too, in a not-at-all-youthful-or-even-feminine way. Why can't we be valued for more than just THAT? Why can't we be wanted and deemed attractive for all that we have acquired (no, I don't mean our money, my sister's new husband notwithstanding!). Our kindness, our empathy, our wicked sense of humour or even our well developed sexual prowess.

    Is it all about a pretty face and our t and a all the time.

    -invisigal

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  6. That picture is of Madonna? That girl needs more material.

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  7. Harriet Beecher Stowe must have had tennis elbow from patting herself on the back so much. She did nothing good for the black race by writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, a story of a po' saintl'y unejumacated negro who gets his reward in heaven.

    She's not fit to shine Fedrick Douglass's shoes.

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  8. Ah, Madge. She had worked damn hard to look and do how and what she does. I salute her heartily for that.

    Read an article on the mosquito thing- to control the spread of dengue fever, right? If you want to be made to feel like a bumpkin for questioning releasing engineered animals into the wild, read the New Yorker's coverage of this new technology/bug. They do make some good points for the pro-Frankenbug side, though it still makes me leery.

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  9. Jeannie- Well, you're right about Madonna standing center stage. But you know- we can look at her and say, "That's what a fifty-year-old woman looks like who works out like a demon." And that's okay, too.

    Yo- By god, I wish that day would get here quick!

    Mrs. A- Well, I didn't have to. I just got another view on it in my mind.

    Angella- And once again, God was given the credit.

    Invisigal- It is our culture, it really is.

    Magnum- Ha! I think she was just offstage. You know those dancers. Nudity doesn't mean a thing to them.

    Juancho- I am with you there.

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  10. Why did my comment not appear here? I keep posting comments and they disappear. I think I said "Ew," I've never been into the stringy, strong look that Madonna courts. And I could care less about here singing and pop moxie.

    Anywoo.

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  11. I like early Madonna, when she had a little baby fat. Look back at "Like a Virgin," and see her at her most beautiful, when she just didn't care to look like anything but herself.

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  12. Elizabeth- Well, we're hardly her target audience. Ha!
    I don't want to lose your comments! They are precious to me!

    Pamela- She was pretty amazing, wasn't she? She was full of piss and vinegar. She sort of got full of herself though after awhile. I think losing her mother at such an early age had a profound effect on her.

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  13. Wow, she is a lifter and a total hard body. That takes working out a lot. She has not been one of my favorites, but that is about the music. I just prefer different grooves.

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  14. Syd- I know. You have to respect that shit, don't you?

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