Hillary - Toppling the Top?

In Hillary Clinton's video introducing her presidential campaign to the world, she said "the deck is still stacked in favor of those at THE TOP."

After thirty years of research, we know the ends and outs of how "The Top" works, predictably and consistently, with transparency that people in "lower" groups can see, but to which "The Top" remains clueless. Perfect scenario for a set-up and voter motivation and celebration.

We in the United States have come so far, and we are almost to our goal of being over the hump towards equality and justice. We have confidence in the outcome when we no longer look at every hierarchy individually, but come together collectively to see how we are actually dismantling one system that channels resources to "The Top."

Our last major hierarchy, sexual orientation and identity, will not reconstruct and we will not go back.

In decades of watching the far right, as they became the voice of the Republican party, we have characterized their consistent and predictable efforts to create and maintain hierarchies, day in and day out.

Using a frame of hierarchies, opposite of the stated values of the United States, the far right Republicans have no place to hide.

Hierarchies are in a death struggle. If Hillary becomes a leader with the opportunity to fuel the demise even further, understanding and utilizing the intricacies of hierarchies will speed her along.

NRA - Racism and Sexism to the Forefront - Bring on the White Males

NRA's Wayne LaPierre on Clinton and Obama: "Eight Years of One Deomgraphically Symbolic President is Enough." 

High time to get rid of this diversity nonsense and bring in another white male, according to LaPierre. He wants the United States to go back to the 240 years where having a white male for president was virtually guaranteed, and then the National Riffle Association will be happy. 

Sorry, Mr. LaPierre, but no matter the outcome of the 2016 election, history is not on your side. Hierarchies are in a death struggle, as your actions indicate, with clueless people holding on to outdated opinions. No matter how many hiccups happen along the way, hierarchies are weakening everywhere. 

http://reverbpress.com/news/wayne-lepierre-the-next-president-should-be-a-white-man/

 

Strong is the New Pretty

Photographer Kate Parker gives us a refreshing view of girls in her photo essay, "Strong is the New Pretty." Instead of trying to make girls look as measured by fashion and Hollywood, they are photographed as they are developing into strong females.

Refreshing!!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/03/living/strong-is-the-new-pretty-kate-parker-photography-parents-feat/index.html

Will Republicans Keep Insisting on Hierarchies?

Jonathan Martin, in an article in the New York Times, states that the Republicans now are at the same place as the Democrats decades ago. Quoting Al From, founder of the centrist Democratic Leadership Coalition, he says that what is happening with the Republicans is that a very conservative, evangelical wing is still trying to drive the party in the same way that activists really drove the Democratic Party in the 1970' and 1980's. But Democrats came to more of a consensus. Now the country has changed dramatically, and clinging to outdated social views have put Republicans in a difficult place.

We feel that in the Democratic Party, activists were working to mostly break down hierarchies. In the Republican Party, current activists are working to maintain and strengthen hierarchies.

With the trends towards dismantling hierarchies over the past centuries, we know the Republicans are now in a very tight position. Listening to their extremists will steer them to support hierarchies, even those hiding behind the cloak of religion, which are increasingly less supported by our society.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/us/politics/parties-trade-places-in-culture-wars-over-rights-measures.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Millennials and Racism

Mychal Denzel Smith writes that white millennials are brought up to be colorblind about racism, and misunderstand the message of Martin Luther King, Jr.  

One way to open a constructive dialog between races is to expand the conversation to a discussion about common experiences in various hierarchies so that white people can relate to the problems that systemic racism create.   For example, both sexual assault and the murder of black men (Trayvon Martin, etc.) are viewed as isolated instances.

Therefore the people on top of the racist/sexist system feel they do not have to examine their culture that causes these problems.  The common language of hierarchies can help bridge the gap Mr. Smith is addressing.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/white-millennials-products-failed-lesson-colorblindness/

In France - No More Ultra-thin Models

Why do we expect female models to be super thin and male models to look healthy and buff? Well, we like people on the top of our hierarchies to appear strong and those on lower groups to appear weak, of course.

France has joined Isreal, Spain, and Italy in legislating that people whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is below 18 can not be hired as models. This is an effort to address anorexia in the country by getting rid of the example that beauty means ultra-thin.

Fashion agencies that are discovered using models with a BMI under 18, which is approximately 121 pounds for a 5 ft., 7 in. model, could face up to six months of jail time and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000).

http://time.com/3770696/france-banned-ultra-thin-models/

Domain Names - Contact "Indiana Republicans"

A Portland man has taken on the Indiana legislature in a way that he hopes will help to educate people about the negative effects of their "Religious Freedom" bill on LGBTQ youth.

Konrad Juengling purchased the domains for six Indiana Republican state representatives: Dale Devon, Don Lehe, Donna Schaibley, Douglas Gutwein, Kathy Kreag Richardson, and Martin Carbaugh. All six of these representatives helped pass the so-called "religious freedom bill" in the House of Representatives of Indiana. The domain names are:

• daledevon.com
• donlehe.com
• donnaschaibley.com
• douglasgutwein.com
• kathykreagrichardson.com
• martincarbaugh.com

When someone goes to that domain, the person is forwarded to the Human Rights Campaign page on youth statistics, which includes the fact that 4 in 10 LGBTQ youth do not feel welcome in the communities in which they live. That link also shows that 92 percent of LGBTQ youth hear negative messages about being gay, lesbian, or transgender from their peers and surrounding communities.

As we see the last major hierarchy in our country seriously falling, we can be encouraged that we are near the critical mass where we have turned the corner for equality and justice in the United States.

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/thomasalberts/portland_man_buys_domains_for_indiana_representatives