POLITICAL SCIENCE and OTHER THINGS I LEARNED IN COLLEGE AND MY TWENTIES.

So, forgive me. I had an energy drink and got into an argument with an anti-vaxxer on the internet (why why why do I do that to myself). I might be slightly more venomous than necessary but hey, that's why some of you love me.

Let's talk political science, shall we? Because honestly, if I see one more post about the "liberals" and the "conservatives" as if those themselves are political parties, I'm gonna start choking people.

Now. Very basic. This isn't an opinion. This is political theory, which not to say its a theory, but that these ideas exist within the confines of the methodology of political science.

When  I was in college, I took a course called "Feminist Theory" and boy did we have trolls in that class. I think some of the guys signed up for that course simply to cause arguments, but I digress.

In EVERY movement, religion, economic system, or political party, there are three basic factions. There will be offshoots from these three but they are the main ones. They are: Conservative, Liberal, and Militant. We have Conservative Christians, like Pat Robertson. We have Liberal Christians, like the ones that support gay marriage but still believe in the teachings of Christ (me), and we have Militant Christians, like Westboro Baptist Church and the KKK (It's hurting me to call them Christians, but I'm making a point). You will never hear Westboro call themselves militant, because it's an ugly word.

We also have Conservative Muslims who cover, are very literal with the Koran, and follow the teachings of Mohammed very closely, BUT DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP. We also have liberal Muslims, who don't cover and may or may not believe in gay marriage (yes they exist). Then we have the Militants, hello Al-Qaida and ISIS. They blow shit up and kill people. BUT THERE ARE MANY PEACEFUL MUSLIMS AND THEY ARE DISGUSTED BY THE ACTIONS OF ISIS. If you can't make that distinction in your mind, you are part of the problem. So please stop making nasty posts about Muslims in general unless you are going to do that about Christians in general because I gotta tell you, Westboro makes us non-yahoos look REALLY BAD.

Also, the thing about killing the "infidel" and all that: WTF DO YOU THINK THE CRUSADES WERE? Christians killing people who wouldn't convert. Same with the Spanish Inquisition. Please stop acting like we're better. But Jenny, that was in the past! Tell that to the dead people. Militant Christians have killed people in the name of God for centuries. It's still going on today.

And then we have the movements, socialist, communist, feminist, etc. Let's clear something up first of all. Communism is an economic theory, not a political theory. So saying a country has a communist government is wrong. They have a socialist or democratic or republican political system and maybe a communist economic system, meaning they "share the wealth" or whatever. Communism is about money, or resources, more like. But in each of these there are still these basic factions. Also, those of you who get Autocratic/Totalitarian/Stalin-Like governments mixed up with Socialism? Just no. Fascism and Socialism are two different things. But that is beside my point, so I will let you google that.

There are Conservative Feminists, who think they can do whatever they want as women and want equality, but aren't so much pro-choice and pro-gay marriage (Sarah Palin). Liberal Feminists who have a primary goal of gender equality in the public sphere, they don't worry about private sphere issues unless they affect equality in the public sphere, but they tend to be pro-choice and pro-gay marriage and want to establish equality through political process (Hillary Clinton). Radical or Militant feminists tend to be anarchists. TEND TO BE, not always. "It calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is destroyed in all contexts. It seeks to abolish patriarchy by challenging existing social norms and institutions, rather than though a political process." I'll cite Gloria Steinem as the closest well known example for that one. Which one am I? I go back and forth between liberal and radical depending on the day, but on the spectrum, I probably fall closer to radical. And no, I'm not an anarchist. Much.

Now. There are conservative democrats and liberal republicans. DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND???? You know why you don't hear about them? Because they're the ones shaking their heads at all the bullshit in the media around politics and feeling helpless because they are the "minority." The media cares about drama and there's no drama in the guy who isn't mudslinging.

Let me say that again. THERE IS NO DRAMA IN THE GUY WHO ISN'T MUDSLINGING. Gah, that is a hard thing to remember. It's hard not to participate in the mudslinging and try to come up COLLECTIVELY (that means together, regardless of party affiliation, non-partisan, if you will) with a solution to our country's problems. But talking shit about one political party or another (and believe I have done it myself and I have to soul search to stop myself), does nothing but cause division.

Lets take the Confederate Flag argument and break it down. One side says heritage. One side says hatred. Both sides are right. It's a flag from a time when there was a law that stated that black people were 3/4 of  a person, which is disgusting. So, it's a flag with a hateful heritage. What's the solution? Take it down? I won't tell you my opinion, but those of you who know me already know it. I'll use my friend's argument, which I partially agree with, and say "Take it off state/county/public buildings, and if rednecks want to fly it in their front yards or on their personal vehicles, we can't stop them, because we have freedom of speech." Does that mean that the side that sees it as hateful will be happy when they see it on a truck? No, but it will allow them to walk into capitol building and feel like a part of humanity. Solution, not mudslinging. Except for the redneck part I know. Couldn't help it. Just an example.

So lets talk feminism. I was recently a part of a wonderful argument that intimated that I, being female and by myself, and presumably attractive, should not leave the house at night without a male chaperone. I committed this mortal sin to attend a friend's birthday party. Upon my debate adversary's discovery that a male had made a flirtatious remark to me at the party, his response was "Well if you hadn't been out alone at night that wouldn't have happened."

In this timewarp, the argument continued until I decided to bring out the big guns (because that's what I do), and said "Victim blaming. This is why 3 percent of rapists are in prison instead of 97 percent."

Silence. Victory or confusion, I don't know, but it stopped the argument. For a minute. Until the fact that I am a rape survivor and was afraid to go to the police because I was afraid they would tell me it was my fault, and that I myself for a long time believed it was my fault that a man decided he could hold me down and have access to my body without my permission got the best of me, and I just shut it down. I said, "stop it, you know how I feel about that."

And what I realized is, by appealing to humanity, instead of getting into an ideological argument, the argument stopped, and I was again treated like the grown ass woman that I am. We should do more of that. Less slinging, more collaboration with the rest of humanity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go save the world from hippies. <3