E Day

The best election sticker I've seen so far.
Click here for the site.

It's Election Day in the US today. I really hope that a record number of people vote. Coming from a country where voting is compulsory, the idea of choosing not to have a say in who runs your country is a foreign concept to me, a crazy one. The way I see it is, if you don't vote, then I don't want to hear you whinge for the next four years about your government. Got it? Cool.

I'm not a US citizen, therefore I can't vote in this election. Neither can J. That doesn't stop me from having an opinion on who I want to see in office. We are legal residents here, and as a family, we pay our taxes - just like any other US citizen - so we are just as much affected by policies regarding the economy and health care.

I have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to politics, but I'm also a big believer in democracy. No leader or candidate is perfect, and mistakes will be made along the way. There's no point putting anyone up on a pedestal... however, I have everything crossed that Obama will see another term in office. I feel that he has more interest in the greater good of society - unlike Romney, who seems to be mostly about protecting the wealthy and not caring much for women's rights or equality in general. Not to mention the flip-flopping he's done over recent years on major issues. How can anyone place confidence in him? Perhaps there are some redeeming features to him, but I'm unaware.

So there you have it. I identify as a liberal - by US definitions, not Australian (how come the Liberal Party in Australia is so conservative? Talk about misrepresentation). I will be holding my breath as this election plays out.

Fingers and toes crossed.

You go, girrrl

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the waiting room at my chiropractor's, when a woman waiting nearby heard my accent.

In a concerned voice, she said, "Oh, you're from Australia? Tell me, how's the situation there now?"

Puzzled at what the hell she was referring to, I asked, "Er... what situation, exactly?"

"Well - and this is going back about thirty years - but I had a client who was from Australia. She told me she was never going back; that women were treated like second-class citizens and all the men there slam doors in women's faces and just treat them awfully."

In her voice, I could hear a smug that doesn't happen here in America, and I kind of wanted to punch her. I hated the idea that she was basing her view of Australia on what one individual told her, three decades ago. I have no doubt her client had experienced sexist treatment and that her feelings were completely valid... but thirty years ago, those experiences were hardly limited to Australia. Last time I checked, women in the US - and many other developed nations - were subjected to inequality in various forms back then. They still are, and we have a long way to go before the status quo is truly equal.

Having said that, I've been grateful for the opportunities I've had. I attended an all-girl public school, where we were told from the beginning that girls and women can achieve whatever we want, so long as we study and work hard. I gained access to university. I never had any problems finding employment, and worked in fields where pay was equal and - down the track - supportive of me when I needed time off when the Faery was sick. Furthermore, I know plenty of women who were able to have more than a mere three months of maternity leave, without fear of losing their job (as opposed to a number of mothers I've met here).

I could be blowing hot air completely out of my arse here, and I'll admit there's a lot that I still don't know of the official policies - both in Australia and the US - but personally speaking, I can't say I've ever felt victimised because of my gender (although I want to emphasise that I understand it does happen, and I don't want to downplay the negative experiences of other women).

So that's what I essentially told the woman in the waiting room. Along with the fact the thirty years ago,  I was just a young kid and unaware of that kind of treatment, and had certainly not witnessed such behaviour firsthand.

If I'd seen her today, I'd have shown her a fantastic video of Julia Gillard (the Australian Prime Minister, for the non-Australian readers) opening a verbal can of good old fashioned whop-arse on the Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, in parliament this week. Based on past interviews and policy endorsements, he is known for his conservative, religious views and general misogyny ("abortion is the easy way out").

It was the most brilliant piece of footage to wake up to today. Whether a person agrees with her politics or not, there's no denying that what she said, needed to be said. I am excited at the thought of my daughters growing up, seeing women in power who will not accept sexist shit.

(Click here for source)

Mixing politics

I'm beginning to realise it's not worth mixing Facebook and politics. It's simply too disheartening when someone comments in a way that goes against every grain of my beliefs. I'm all for healthy debate, but when I lose respect for someone in the process, I can't help but wonder if it's worth it.

Yesterday, I saw an excellent visual representation about the situation faced by asylum seekers in Australia, compared to those in various other western countries. It is shameful, and a cause very close to my heart.

[Graph source]

Too many Australians whinge about the asylum seeking boat people - that they have it 'easy', that they get too much financial assistance from the government. This graph really puts the situation into perspective.

I don't know about you, but to me, there is nothing 'easy' about this. First of all, for a person to seek asylum means they've been having a pretty damned horrendous time of it in their own country, and not in a crap-the-bank-wants-more-money-from-me-and-I'm-sick-of-this-awful-weather sense. No, there is usually a fear for survival at stake, whether it's political, religious or economical.

Secondly, the journey made by these asylum seekers, by boat, is downright dangerous. To choose to be on a cramped, tiny boat that's travelling the massive distance from Indonesia to Australia, at the mercy of the open elements and giant ocean waves; not to mention the unsanitary conditions on board as a result of unscrupulous mercenaries who've organised the trip and try to fit as many people on to one tiny vessel as possible... well, if a person is prepared to undertake such a journey, to me that speaks volumes about the nightmarish existence they're desperate to escape.

Thirdly, for those who survive the journey, they are not treated with dignity. They are herded into detention centres, for a ridiculous period of time. Interrogated. Not given the useful tools needed to adapt to a new life in a new country... and then people wonder why there are social problems down the track in some of the areas that the asylum seekers settle in.

I can't speak personally for the asylum seekers in Australia, but one of the first teaching gigs I had in London was at an adult community college, working with refugees. I had students from Somalia, Iraq, Jordan, Bosnia, and Kosovo. I heard some of their horror stories first hand, and will never forget.

I will never forget the young Kosovan mother, pale, trembling, tears spilling, her vocabulary unable to fully articulate her nightmares, but her face saying it all. Being trapped in a room, all the young men around her, shot dead in her presence, as she held her smallest children. Stepping over the bodies. Seeing their destroyed heads in her dreams. Haunted. Telling me she has post-traumatic stress disorder, yet no referrals for professional counselling.

When I hear people imply that asylum seekers are somehow not 'genuine', and are faking it, I see red. To hurl such accusations makes a mockery of countless people who have seen hell. Why would anyone leave their home country with little more than the clothes on their back? Make such a dangerous trip on a boat? Knowingly endure less-than-welcoming detention centres? Indefinitely?

I don't understand the resentment towards asylum seekers, and it's an increasingly prevalent attitude amongst certain sections of Australian society that makes me feel ashamed and disgusted. I do understand there are financial implications for when a nation accepts a number of asylum seekers, but figures show that far more money is actually spent on chasing down and deporting visitors who have overstayed their visas - usually visitors from Western countries. I'm too lazy to link the figures here today, but I've read 'em.

Why the grudge-holding? Why don't people see how lucky they are to have grown up in a country in peaceful times, with access to good public health and education? Why don't people see that it's the right thing to help out a person in need? Why don't people see that by embracing people from other cultures, we can enrich our own?

I don't have any answers, so when I saw what a friend - someone I've known since school - had commented on my link to the above image on Facebook, crying the clichéd phrase about only 'some asylum seekers being genuine', I saw rage. And disappointment. Being late at night, and in different time zones, I decided to sleep on it rather than reply in anger... so eight hours later, I replied. I was happy that I held off on the angry tones, then he bit back and said even more that I'm unable to erase from my mind. I am disappointed, and racking my brains, wondering what's happened in his life (as far as I know, he's done alright for himself) to make him so unwilling to accept the possibility of asylum seekers not being part of a grander conspiracy.

Whatever happened to empathy? Compassion?

That'll teach me, anyhow. No more politics on Facebook. If any more of my friends or family were to respond in a similar manner, to this topic that I feel deeply about, I don't know that I'd deal with it too well. I'd think I'd rather not know how they felt.

Charlie and the Media Factory

Part of me is loathe to write about this train wreck that's been played out in microscopic detail over the last few weeks.

It was mildly entertaining for about a day - if that - then I had to look away when it became apparent that Charlie Sheen is a very sick man, in need of urgent medical intervention.

This is where the media has a responsibility to do the right thing and, oh, how they are failing right now. Miserably.

I've never been more acutely aware of being in La La Land than I have recently. It is impossible to get away from stories about Charlie Sheen, and the only reason why he's been knocked from the perch as the leading news story each day is due to the devastation in Japan.

Cocaine habit? Bi-polar? I don't really care - just get the man the help he needs and stop fuelling his own delusions of self grandeur by printing or replaying every recent sound bite of his.

As for those millions of idiots who are following him on Twitter? Shame on them.

In the world of therapy, there's a term for people who make it possible for an addict to continue their self-destructive behaviour. These people are known as enablers.

I see the media and Twitter followers as being Sheen's enablers.

This is why I was reluctant to add any more attention to this topic in cyberspace. However, I recently saw a brilliant snippet from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and wanted to share the clip within a context.

I've never actually watched this show, but I think I may have to change that. He articulated - in a way that I can't - how there is nothing funny about mental illness.

Plus? I always love a good Scottish accent.