/proud

etc.

<3

-D.

No state may violate the US Constitution. The examples you provide (with the exception of the environmental policies one, which really is covered by NIMBY) all violate various articles and could (and should) be taken up in State, then Federal court. We do have proper process for righting those wrongs, and it should be followed rather than drafting Federal legislation and executive orders for the sake of speediness.

Education is certainly majority-funded by individual states, but the Feds still chip in 10% of the cost and use that money to bribe states into adhering to its standards. Meaning, to lower their standards of achievement to qualify for Federal money as is the case with NCLB. Also thanks to NCLB, we are guaranteed military recruiters in public schools, ready to recruit more stupid kids with promises of YouTube notoriety by killing puppies.

Ideally government should be as local as possible but there are certain rights (and responsibilities) that citizens at every address should enjoy.

You mention education… I like to remind people that free K-12 education is mandated by the state constitution in every single state in the union. It is not a federal mandate. It’s a wonderful mandate. But it came from the States.

I think that our negative stereotypes are probably (ridiculously) set in stone. Every time we meet someone gay, we should be updating that model (stereotype) of what we think it means to be gay. Enough exposure, and the stereotype should break down as you realize that “gay people are just like everybody else!”. Of course it’s possible for this to happen, but somehow, that stereotype is often still there, and you either think of the people you’ve met as the exception, or maybe you think that the negative stereotype is the exception. Does this mean it’s not useful (or even harmful) to generalize about gay people, ie stereotype them? Possibly. I don’t really know anymore. I would have said no just a few minutes ago, but now I’m not sure.

Interestingly, you yourself are talking about stereotypical homosexual men in quite a negative light. I wonder if you met enough gay men who didn’t adhere to that stereotype if you would have written this post differently? I would be interested in reading more about what you consider to be the standard traits of “stereotypical gay men”. I’d also be willing to bet money that I know quite a few who do not fit the profile…

I personally don’t put so much weight on whether something is stereotypical or not. I think there are probably stereotypes that are not actually wholly negative. (I can think of several examples, but because I don’t personally belong to them, it feels wrong for me to use them as examples.) Ah! Maybe a good example is the “geek” stereotype. Clearly there are those who think geekdom is totally stupid, but of course I completely disagree. And I think it would be silly for me (or you) to make decisions — any decisions — based on the perception of that stereotype by you, or anyone else.

All this is not to say we shouldn’t be aware of stereotypes when we make decisions about ourselves. And that, I think, is the point of what you are getting at. Everything we do informs opinions of our “self”, both the opinion that we have of ourselves, and also the opinions others have of our “selves”. We should attempt to be conscious of those opinions, both to try and be the person we want to be intellectually, and also to try to minimize the damage we do to other individuals in our society. (My opinions about how we cannot really avoid damaging other individuals, and how we can really only do our best to avoid that damage are probably subject enough for another blog post entirely.) Anyway, self-consciousness is key. Self-awareness, and a constant attempt to improve our own self-worth. Of course, too much self-awareness borders on self-obsession and narcissism, but I think that’s part of being a poet… and probably part of being an intellectual. (Note that I’m proud to be associated with both of these stereotypes, for better or worse.)