evawhite on March 7th, 2008
With Hilary Clinton’s recent advances reigniting the hope of a first woman president for the USA, and ahead of 8 March, which is celebrated as Women’s Day all over the world, I got to thinking, ‘is this day even relevant anymore’? Do we women need the patronizing attitude from the world that presumes to ‘help’ or ‘uplift’ women, or ‘better their lot’? My first reaction was indignation, because I consider myself a liberated and modern woman who does not need external crutches to get on with my life and do what it is that I want to with it. I think I have empowered myself and do not need someone else to do that for me!
I was amazed to discover that Women’s day came into being a hundred years ago when when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
So this day dates back to the pre-women’s-liberation era! So they needed it then, but why do we need this relic from the past today?!! But when I introspected a bit, I realized that I am one of the fortunate few, and a majority of women in the world are not empowered, either socially or economically, or educationally.
In the less developed countries, there is still the practice of paying dowry to get your daughter married off. Female feticide (aborting a pregnancy when the fetus is discovered to be female) and even infanticide (killing girl children after they are born) are still shocking realities of the world. Women still suffer domestic abuse and violence, and this is no less true for the developed countries. These and many others reasons therefore, make Women’s Day relevant even today.
The international women’s day is an occasion for governments to take stock of the economic, political, educational and health situations that their female citizens are in and formulate policies and programs for bettering their positions. Women’s groups also take this opportunity to organize group discussions, distress camps, open sessions etc to give aid to women in need of succor. New initiatives for education both for the girl child as well as adult literacy gain new momentum at this time.
Here are some Women’s Day images from round the world that I found interesting and thought I could share with you. Women in Pakistan protesting for equal rights, sex workers in India demonstrating for their rights and women in Brazil demanding pension for housewives.
evawhite on March 5th, 2008
The stock markets just crashed on Monday, to all you non-financial-market-enthusiasts it seems pointless. Monkeys with computers could be a better job you think. It is really quite the case. Look at the picture! You must have been told time and time by elders and teachers to keep your back upright. Try it; if you keep your back upright and limbs uncrossed you don’t get sleepy so easily. You would naturally be more alert. Now the moment you start slouching and retracting you get lethargic and sleepy… It’s a fact, try it!
So now when people are like this in front of their computers, they have retraced their several thousand years of difficult evolution! What best can you expect of them then? All you folks reading this article too, do you think you are at your best? Certainly not! Human beings are meant to be active, new technology is emerging which will enable a person to do things by having their thoughts or nerve impulses read. Crazy eh?
Why does the stock market have anything to do with this? It has everything to do with it! it is after all run completely by apes (who claim to have evolved). Rising markets are good, falling are in way good too if you know how to make money off it.
Why would people sell their shares in growing companies? People won’t, monkeys might. So of the creatures reading this; the people should find good value now to buy in. Thank the crash the other day to make some good investments.
evawhite on March 3rd, 2008
I am convinced that the British common man is not just a tabloid junkie, but also a royalty junkie! Everything that any member of the British royalty does (or does not do) is instantly news. What they wear, who they see, what they eat, where they go (especially with whom) all of this is fodder for the tabloid mill. And then if one of them is a young, good-looking heir to the throne, albeit not an immediate heir, then the interest is all the more acute.
No other soldier would dream of coming home to such a hero’s welcome after just a 10 week military service in country like war torn Afghanistan. The British press is agitated by such questions as “if he had died what then!” One gushing, adoring columnist expresses great relief that the young prince has come away from ‘harm’s way’ unscathed and goes on to describe Prince Harry as an “unassuming, sensible, endearing and brave young man; clearly popular with his men and well regarded by superior officers”. Apparently his royal lineage makes him far more valuable than all the other young people out there fighting this bloody and pointless war. They certainly do not seem to deserve reams and reams written about their heroics and bravery.
Other portions of the British public have sought to dismiss the media glare on this news as propaganda or a publicity stunt. Another, more balanced view of this whole story is also taken by portions of the British media who question why the young man was sent to Afghanistan in the first place.
It isn’t as if he is ever going to be a professional soldier, so why was he accepted into the army, in what appears to be a rather farcical exercise. The Scotsman says, and I quote; “If every serving soldier was given the protection Harry enjoyed, their families would not be suffering as they are now. It all seems to have been such a pointless exercise.”
I have to confess people; I am more inclined to agree with the latter view, and am rather put-off by the media circus, even frenzy surrounding this occurrence. I am also inclined to a small amount of sympathy for the members of the royalty, bogged as they are every day, in whatever they do, by the unwavering glare of the media. What do you think?
