23 June 2007

I am Shakesvllle!

"In all my years I've never seen, heard, nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn't be talked about. Hell yes, I'm for debating anything!" - 'Stephen Hopkins', 1776 (the movie)

My most favoritest place in the whole interwebs tubes, Shakesville, has been the victim of a "Denial Of Service" (DOS) attack and has been offline for [as of this writing] a day and a half. Apparently some people just don't get the whole freedom of speech thing.

What I don't get is the point of the attack. I mean, I get that it originates in the small brained and small minded, but what, exactly, do these cretins hope to accomplish? It's not like Shakesville is the only place on teh internets that speaks to issues such as feminism. A Google search for "feminism" returns ~15,300,000 hits!

They might as well try to move a beach one grain of sand at a time!

And Shakesville is so much more than 'just' a feminist site. It is a place where dialog takes place. Those of us who frequent the place go there not merely to applaud the words that are posted (although we do) but to internalize the ideas and to learn to be better people. How does the search for knowledge - to better oneself - harm any one?

What I really don't get (and I have tried and tried) is how anyone can feel threatened by the thought of people - all people - being treated equally. I understand - in the clinical sense - that equal treatment would eviscerate the (false) power that these misogynists feel they have. I suppose (and this is the part that truly makes no sense to me) that without the power that patriarchy grants them, these people would feel as if they were worthless. As though their only value is as an oppressor.

And the fact that it is likely that these attackers are probably self-proclaimed 'Christians', just makes me wonder even more. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Jesus say, "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12:31, KJV)? 'Neighbour' doesn't just mean the people who live in the houses on either side of yours, people, it means everybody! And by the way, for all you 'Christians' out there who disavow everything that the Christ espoused in your desire to spread hatred... oh, never mind, you're not listening anyway. Obviously. How else could you have so perverted the words of the "Prince of Peace" into a litany of hatred and exclusion?

I honestly feel sorry for you. You have been so twisted by the perversion of the message that your 'elders' have taught you, that, when the day comes that you stand before the Ultimate Adjudicator, you will honestly not understand why you are to be denied access to the party.

Perhaps, though, I am falsely attributing the 'orientation' of the attackers. Perhaps the perpetrators are... are... ummm... you know, I can't think of another explanation for such behavior. We all live in an unfortunately patriarchal world, but those of us who aren't indoctrinated into feelings of hatred when our "beliefs" are threatened - well, we just don't get it. How can you behave so illogically?

Hmm, I think I just answered my own question.

I have digressed (I think). So let me try to get the train back on the track by saying to those who think they can silence the speech of the feminists, and teh gays, and all the open minded and inclusive people of the world... dream on! (Why is it, by the way, that we who don't claim to follow (or in many cases, even believe in the existence of) Jesus behave more in accordance with his teachings than many (most?) of those who do?)

Or better yet, just close the gates of your compound, unplug your computers and TV's, and pray to your twisted and false deity until he comes for you.

Oh, and make sure you have lots of canned goods at hand, cause you're going to be waiting for a looong time.

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