In the first chapter of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there is a story of a young lady who had a sudden epiphany of THE ANSWER.  Life, the Universe and Everything. How it all worked, and how we can all get along without anyone being nailed to a cross or anything.

The book goes on to explain that before the young lady could get to a phone and tell anyone about it, the Earth was destroyed. The Earth, for those who don't know the story, was actually a massive computer, with living elements (such was its complexity), that was built for the sole purpose of finding the great Answer, or rather, the great Question for which the Answer makes sense. The Earth was destroyed by a consortium of Psychiatrists, who did not want certain (profitable) fundamental questions answered, once and for all.

But I do.   All my life, I have felt that I was dropped off at the wrong planet, because this place makes no fracking sense to me whatsoever. Just some of the questions I have are:


-- Why does every company I deal with have to answer the phone in that same stilted, scripted way? "Hello, welcome to SquickCo, where the customer really matters. This is Amber, how can I help you?"

-- Why do people still flock to churches in the 21st Century, when almost every tenant of major religion has been thoroughly debunked?

-- Why does my cellphone never seem to work when I have something important to relay?

-- Why are doctors so wealthy, even when they make mistakes or tell people things that are proven dead wrong years later? Why are they able to purchase liability insurance, but a homeowner cannot often buy flood insurance?

-- Why do we constantly complain about the Electoral College and Daylight Savings Time, then forget the entire issue when the election is over, and the time changes?

So, I'm going to try to run down some of these mysteries, because there really has to be an all-encompassing Answer.   --JB

Change the word, change the thought.

The Web is crackling this week with opinions on the conviction and sentencing of Brock Allen Turner for the rape of a young woman.

Everyone who reads news on the Internet knows the story, so I will not rehash it here. This post is about a way we can chip away at Rape Culture, and try to prevent situations where the criminal's needs are elevated above the victim/survivor's. {My personal opinion is that if you have ruined a person's life by raping them, your needs don't count anymore, Jack.}

Language is important, and powerful: this case has already shown how language is used to paint a criminal as a victim. How it's used to downplay the horror of being violated, and how it's used to question a young woman after the fact, to determine if she 'deserved' to be raped.

As with many notable historic events, a visual icon is normally generated, which encapsulates the event in a kind of visual shorthand for the event itself. The most famous examples are the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, the image of the young woman kneeling over the shooting victim at Kent State, and the image of Neil Armstrong stepping off the Lunar Lander. One glance at these images gives instant recall of an event that would fill pages worth of explanation.

The image currently associated with Turner is a picture of him with the title: I am Brock Allen Turner. I Am a Rapist.   It's a powerful countercall to the press' constant description of him in terms like "Stanford Student", "Stanford Swimmer", "Olympic Aspirant". No. He's been convicted, sentenced (lightly, to many peoples' disgust), and will do time. He is a criminal.

The only problem I have with the movement is the descriptive word that is being used -- rapist. I feel that this word, as much as any other factor in Rape Culture, helps to perpetuate the notion that the person raping another is somehow special.

It's the suffix "--ist".   It normally denotes a specialty of some importance or celebrity, such as in the words Artist, Pianist, Cellist, Economist, Anesthesiologist.

The suffix also applies to adherents of a moment, political body, or cause, such as in the words Communist, Capitalist, Nihilist, Feminist or Humanist.

Brock Turner, and those like him, are not craftspeople, or adherents to a movement. They are simply people who rape. They are rapers.

Let's remove the label of achievement for these people and call them what they really are -- a brute, a person who destroys lives. A blunt, unyielding, uncaring force of hatred. A person that must be stopped, not a "talented young man with a bright future".

Let's start with the word.   --JB