WOMBLING

I call this wombling because I'm rambling over common ground full of potholes, covered in brambles and tracks that might lead to somewhere or nowhere.

I have a brain, almost new, rarely used so it's not in a good enough condition to understand a lot of the issues I've been coming across in the blogs I've been reading lately.

I don't understand anti-semitism when it's applied to Israel, why isn't it just anti-Israel the way it is anti-American? The Arabs countries are run along their religious lines so why aren't they anti-Islamist but no, they're referred to as anti-Iraq, anti-Iran etc. Anti-semitism, when used seems to apply to every Jewish person from the North to South Pole. Countries are fair game to criticise, but to criticise every person of that country doesn't make much sense to me. I'm anti- Burma because I don't like the military monsters that are slowly destroying that beautiful country but I'm not anti-Burmese. I'm anti-American policies but I know all Americans are not fundamentalist, gun-toting war-mongering greedy capitalists. It seems I've entered a part of my commonground that is a bramble patch.

It's the same with feminism and feminists. I would have regarded myself as a lightweight feminist only because I'm not out there on the barricades beating off the misogynists with a cricket bat. That was until I started reading feminist blogs. Reading, but in a lot of cases not comprehending the meaning behind the letters, words, sentences and paragraphs. The women are brilliant with their arguements but I'm missing the full impact because the arguements are too clever for anyone of ordinary education. Lately I've read some excellent posts on women and pornography and women and prostitution but it's taken quite a few reads and in some cases I've printed out the posts to go through them word by word. I've seen how women will get behind each other in issues like abortion or IVF and I don't have to be a radical feminist to see how this benefits women but I don't have to fight every fight or take up every cause, it's my choice if I want to disagree.

I still don't see how loving high heeled shoes and make-up makes one a bad feminist. I see it, again, as a personal choice. I hate having to wear granny shoes but I also hate falling over so I've no option. I don't wear underwear at home but I do going out, once again it's because I might fall over or trip over my assets if they hang down too far. I love make-up, perfume, fashion (make that good fashion) and hair dye. A man or men haven't influenced me in those choices and I certainly don't diet for men, hell, half the time I can't get the willpower to diet for me. So am I a good feminist or a bad one, bramble patch again.

Homophobia is another thing I don't get. My definition of a homophobe is a bloke who thinks he's so ugly that he's frightened not even another bloke would hit on him so he strikes first. Gays are men, lesbians are women, men and women are human beings. Human beings deserve to find what happiness they can, in any way they can, with whomever they choose. Why is it so threatening to see two people, in love, commit to a life partnership, legally. Be it a civil union or a religious ceremony and religious because, guess what, there are gays who actually believe in God. And until that God comes down from the sky throwing thunderbolts and screaming "Kill all the homos!" then I'm going to believe he meant them to be here and to have the same respect everyone else does. If anyone dares to comment that if we let the gays marry then people will want to marry their dogs and cats then I'll break my rule about deleting comments. It's a ridiculous arguement and it's been destroyed by better bloggers than me. I see a faint track through this bramble patch.

I'm still stumbling over the potholes of politics. Philosophy is a bramble patch I'll never get into or out of. Literature, well I'm one who enjoyed the DaVince Code, but it's a oncer read. Don't like Patrick White, love Jane Austen and Harry Potter is my comfort read when I'm down. The Internet is a wonderful tool of education but it can also function as a pit of inadequacy into which I fall too often.