Category: Patriarchal society

Can you dispute any of these ten points as basic human rights?

~ jlpagano

1. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE FREE.
2. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEALTHY.
3. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE BRILLIANT.
4. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SAFE.
5. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE LOVED.
6. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE COURAGEOUS.
7. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE ALIVE.
8. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE TRUSTED.
9. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE EDUCATED.
10. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

What is your reaction to those ten points?

  1. Is it something like  – “Yes, they all make sense.”
  2. Or is it something like – “No, that’s bullshit.”
  3. Or is it something like – “Hmmm….tell me what the source is first?”

If it is the second one, fine.  Off you go.  You’re welcome to this site, but you probably won’t find anything you want here.

If it’s the third one, fine – here’s the source.

Now you know the source, is your answer 1 or 2?

Just a thought for the day.  Hat-tip to The Edge of Sports podcast.

Sorry we haven’t been posting much lately.  We hope to get back to it soon.  JLP

#IANWAE

Marches planned across the US pressuring Trump to release his tax returns #TaxMarch

~ jlpagano

April 15 is traditionally income tax filing day in the US.  When it falls on a Saturday, you actully have until the following Monday, but Americans across the country are using the weekend date to voice their concerns over the President’s failure to release his returns.

Throughout the campaign he switched between promising he would release his returns and stating he couldn’t because they were “under audit”.  Well this new filing can’t be audited yet so he surely has an opportunity to prove all the doubters wrong by simply showing us what he has been hiding all this time.

When we didn’t see Obama’s birth certificate, he took that to mean that he was born outside the US.  When we didn’t see Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, he took that to mean she was engaged in criminal activity.  So using his own logic, what are we to take from his refusal to do what every presidential candiate has done for the last 40 years?

Here’s what the organisers of the “Tax March” have to say :

The Tax March is a movement gaining momentum around the country to demand transparency and fairness from our Commander-in-Chief. Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump told the American people he would release his tax returns. Despite intense public pressure, President Trump has not yet done so – breaking with 40 years of precedent in the process. His administration’s excuse? “People don’t care.”

We do care. Without seeing his tax returns, we have no idea what he’s hiding – shady business deals? Financial ties to foreign countries? Conflicts of interest? – or who his policies are really benefitting.

On April 15, we’re marching on Washington and in communities across the country to send a clear message to Donald Trump: You work for us, and we demand answers.

It will be interesting to see how the marches are covered by the mainstream media, if at all.

#IANWAE

How can a Prime Time report on #MaryBoyle fail to even recognize work done by Gemma O’Doherty?

~ jlpagano

Last night there was a report on the national broadcaster RTÉ on the disappearance 40 years ago of Mary Boyle in Donegal.

At the end, David McCullagh provides phone numbers for members of the public should  there be any further information about the case they would like to share.  Perhaps we should ring the numbers and suggest they watch the entensive documentary compiled by freelance journalst Gemma O’Doherty?

Look – this is a tragic situation.  We cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the girl’s family since she disappeared.  But one thing is clear – there are two camps within the Boyle family, one led by Mary’s twin sister Ann Doherty who believes there should be a full public inquest into the matter, and one led by the girls’ mother Ann Boyle who does not.

The piece put together by Barry Cummins is clearly biased towards the mother’s wishes.  It makes passing reference to the sister’s wishes and there is even a claim made that she “declined an offer to participate” (paraphrase)…personally I think she was wise not to do so.

For me, Cummins offered absolutely nothing new to the case, rehashing the events surrounding her disappearance with an incredible amount of time devoted to the search, and very little time spent covering the quest for answers (basically it amounted to “The gardaí are on it”).

Instead of asking Gemma O’Doherty on to explain her own investigations, the show instead skims over the topics she covers before mischievously linking some horrendous threatening letters received by Ann Boyle to “social media”, which is where O’Doherty’s work can be found; also it is where she offered many rebuttal’s to the Prime Time segment…

I cannot say who is right and who is wrong, but I will say this…my impression before watching Prime Time was that there were forces at work more concerned in protecting public figures than they were in finding out what happened to Mary Boyle.  That impression had not changed by the time McCullagh was reading out the phone numbers. JLP

#IANWAE

Social Democrats call for separation of Church and State after #TuamBabies

~ jlpagano

We’re not sharing this Dáil speech by Catherine Murphy TD from the Social Democrats website because we have a particular preference for the party itself; it’s just we like the fact that something like this is being said in our national parliament.

“if Tuam has shown us anything it is that the State must take responsibility for its citizens and that the Church has no legitimacy in the healthcare, education or politics governing our citizens.”

No doubt there are other TDs who share Murphy’s sentiment, but unfortunately among the total amount of TD they would be very much in the minority.  I wonder if that would be the case if a referendum were held on the matter?

The Father Of All Scandals #tuambabies (repost)

~ jlpagano ~ Leave a comment

[After the findings of the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes, we have reposted this blog from June 8, 2014]

Much has been said about the #TuamBabies during the week, and when it comes to the vagaries of the Catholic Church and what they have gotten up to on this island since the formation of the State, there’s not that much I can add.

But at the risk of appearing to deflect attention from the Church, there is one key element of this outrage that I feel isn’t being mentioned at all.

There were 796 babies reportedly “discarded” in Tuam.  That means there are up to 796 fathers who are just as much involved in this story as the mothers, the babies and those in the institution involved.

Of course the whole reason for the existence of the institution was that the identities of the fathers was kept secret, so it’s not as though I could realistically expect us to ever discover any of their names.

But why aren’t we at least talking about them? 

Too much goes wrong in society at large because of the supposed need to protect people we deem to be important.  And the girls who were unfortunate to find themselves in these mother-and-baby institutions were usually being “blamed” for their situation.

We all know this to be wrong now, but as well as calling foul on the Church for their part in it, we should also be acknowledging exactly who is to blame.

Sure, such places like Bon Secours (which amazingly translates to “good relief”) contributed to a system whereby men, and more often than not men with a so-called “respectable” standing in society, had a ready-made “get out of jail free” card whenever their libidos got the better of them, often within their own family.  But I’m sure I’m not the only one sickened by that last sentence, so surely if lessons are to be learned from all of this we must start there.

Do we honestly think the root of this problem has gone away just because these institutions ceased to exist over 50 years ago on this island?  Hell no. 

Men are still acting on their urges today are they not?  And they have just as much need to have those urges hidden so they can remain in their lofty positions – only now we have things like sex trafficking to provide the supply to their demand. 

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten I’m a man myself – but that’s my point.  Just because I am one doesn’t mean I should feel the need to defend the actions of these people, not by a long shot.  In fact, it should be people like me towards the front of the queue crying foul because I believe those of us who like to think we treat women with respect are very much in the majority.

And when the women who find themselves caught up in those horrible businesses get pregnant, the “inconvenience” is still “dealt with”, only in a different way, and you can bet your bottom Euro the father is nowhere to be seen.

I hope the true extent of the #TuamBabies scandal around the country is discovered, but I also hope we derive the correct lessons from it. 

Sure, it is another stick with which to beat the Catholic Church, but as much as I’d be happy to wield said stick, I cannot ignore the fact that it is merely a subset of a patriarchal mindset which still thrives throughout the western so-called civilisation and the longer we avoid talking about it, the longer it will endure. JLP