I'm sick of sagging pants...memes...and the condemnation, racism, and homophobia that goes with them.

I'm so glad I see this image from time to time...It reminds me of the various things I learned (usually visiting various churches) about the dangers of modern fashion...I want everyone to be fully warned.


 Ladies, if you cut your hair, you're advertising that you don't have any respect for God or His headship over you.  If you wear pants, you are advertising that you want to be a man and live like a man...it's a symbol of the kind of radical feminism that leads to lesbianism.  If you wear makeup, you are advertising your sexual availability to multiple male partners.

Gentlemen, if you have long hair, you are advertising your effeminate tendencies that could be a sign of homosexual attraction.  Men who shave their heads are advertising their neo-nazi leanings.  Guys who wear earrings are gay.  Boys who play with dolls are girly.  Couples who attend movies are worldly.  Men with afros are extremists.  People who wear turbans are all Muslim.  And men with beards or who wear buttons are advertising their membership in or support of a military organization.  Girls with multiple piercings are sexually active.  Boys who wear shorts are immodest.

Now, here's the thing--there are levels of professionalism in every profession and standards of dress in various situations...I wear a uniform to work every day and I insist that my employees adhere to certain dress standards.  But I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to people tell me that current fads within various social groups are a "sign" of anything or try to shame them into maintaining some arbitrary standard of "respectability."  Compare the fashion statements of "redneck" culture with "rap" culture and you'll find plenty of similarities...and plenty of critics for both.  Fashion isn't inherently "evil" or "dumb"--it's just clothes.  Why do you CARE so much about how that boy wears his pants on a trip to WalMart or how that girl wears her hair to the restaurant?  Jesus.  Get a grip.  They didn't consult you before walking out of the door for a reason.  Are you in authority over them?  Fine.  Exercise whatever authority you have, reasonably--enforce school or work dress codes, state and local laws...whatever.  But stop using your authority and/or privilege as ______ (fill in the blank) to ridicule and label an entire group of people.

Also, it's so funny to call people gay isn't it?  What makes this meme so funny is that it suggests that someone might want to have homosexual anal sex...which is so disgusting that it makes every white heterosexual immediate catch the code words you're sending them--about how privileged white straight people are...and those who act like them.  And to be able to caricature young people and predominately black young men as queer?  Well, we're all laughing now, aren't we?

You might want to check the Facebook pictures your kids are posting and learn a little grace when it comes to judging fashion, before you belittle, rage against, or mock stupid fashion trends.  You might want to think about the implications of the mythological "origins" stories that may or may not be true...especially as you enjoy your nice Christian holiday with decidedly pagan traditions (see your local Jehovah's Witness neighbor for more info).  Check out the latest fashion show for whatever company you buy your clothes from and you'll see just how utterly ridiculous their style is too.

One day, they'll all make fun of us and wear our outfits as halloween costumes as well.  It's about as dumb as trying to decide which hymns are good enough for church because they don't contain that "satanic rock back beat."

Oh, and pull your pants up and get off my damned lawn!

A Facebook rant on privilege, justice, and Ferguson

Take a good look at the memes here that are making their rounds on FB as we speak...and don't be tricked into thinking they are any less bigoted than the water hoses that tried to stop a movement for dignity and freedom in Alabama and across the south. I know it seems "reasonable" to say that Dr. King led a movement that didn't result in riots like what we are seeing in ‪#‎Ferguson‬. The line of reasoning, almost always from white friends and neighbors, goes on to suggest that Ferguson isn't about racial justice, but just another group of thugs and looters doing harm. The line of reasoning is shortsighted, myopic, and false.

Never forget that respectability politics didn't keep ‪#‎MLK‬ from being targeted by the national state police (the FBI) as a communist collaborator. His phones were tapped. He, and the entire civil rights movement, was reported to the (white) public as being an arm of communist Russia. Eventually, he was assassinated. He did everything properly...the "right" way to protest injustice. He did nothing illegal. And he was killed. After his assassination, there WERE riots. And I'm sure unsavory types within the communities where those riots took advantage of the social situation and looted stores and vandalized property. But it is a matter of public record that prior to those events, unsavory types within the highest levels of government and power in the United States had already looted and vandalized the souls and entire lives of an entire segment of our citizenry. AND they all said it wasn't about the color of skin either--it was always something else...the looting, the red scare, the communist undertones, the violent rhetoric etc. And, we too quickly forget, Dr. King told us what riots are--"The language of the unheard." So when we respond to people who aren't being heard with "shut up, you're doing this wrong," we are doing violence to people, not just to property.

So the next time someone might be tempted to say that what is happening in Ferguson isn't respectable like Martin Luther King Jr.'s movement, which we "OF COURSE" respect...perhaps you might remind them that it's been 36 years since someone shot a black man on a motel balcony in Memphis Tennesee, 4 months since a white police officer shot Michael Brown, and only minutes since a black mother or father wondered if their own son, no matter how law abiding, would be next...shot down because they didn't stop quickly enough, reached for their pocket a little too fast, or misunderstood what the nice cop said. Privilege is a NASTY thing...it numbs the people who possess it and it steals dignity and life from those who don't.

Yes, what happened in Ferguson is about race...of course it is. But that isn't all that it's about. It's about police in this country who are armed as well as any soldier. It's about more than the color of Darren Wilson. It's about the fact that Americans (of all races, but disproportionately minorities) are more likely to be shot by the people they pay to protect them. It's about police with guns, and abuse of power. And it's about the fact that when anyone suggests that racism isn't over in this country, there's always some privileged white person on FB who thinks that the only reason it isn't over is because black people won't quit talking about it.

Privilege is NASTY. It keeps the white people who hold it from ever having enough f'ing empathy to see that our black and brown neighbors who don't possess it are the ones who have to keep reminding people that it exists...and then get shamed for bringing it up again. End the shame.‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ and as long as someone's child is being killed, those whose lives are most impacted by it will keep talking about this. Keep calm, and listen.