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Apple
June 30, 2004, 6:17 p.m. I saw Super Size Me today. I feel sick. I’m also giving up drinking soft drinks, planning on walking more, and considering seeing my doctor just to make sure that everything’s okay. Last night at about 3am I finished The Da Vinci Code - the book that apparently the whole of Sydney is reading. I liked it, it was good fun. I realised about a quarter of the way through that it was actually a thriller – like a Ludlum or a Clancy – but because it was so chock full of stuff – Church stuff, art stuff, literature stuff, history stuff – I didn’t mind. And it’s about a conspiracy theory, so how could I put it down? I love a good conspiracy theory. The only thing that annoyed me about it was the way all the characters kept going on about the “sacred feminine” and the “lost goddess” – but most of them were male. There were approximately four female characters in the entire book, only one of which had a substantial role. So it was kind of odd how all these men were just desperate to kneel at the feet of the goddess, but the women’s experience with the goddess just wasn’t mentioned. I guess that’s what happens when you have a male writing the book. But he also kept going on about how men can see God when they achieve orgasm through sexual union with women, and that just made think, “Well, that’s great for men, but how do the women get to see the face of God? From most accounts, few achieve orgasm through sexual union with men.” He also seemed to put women on this huge pedestal, like we’re the divine incarnate or something, and we have all the answers. Newsflash, Dan Brown: we’re not, and we don’t. We’re just as flawed as men are. Ah, but this is a rant I’ve gone on before : ) Speaking of rants, Josquin said something that was interesting: “don't we have women's rights, no slavery, and the idea that wife-beating is bad because people actively tried to change others' opinions in the past? Something inside me says that not condoning slavery is morally superior to condoning it. Tricky ideas though...” Point to Josquin. We’d still have all those injustices if people hadn’t taken a chance and stood up and spoken out against it. However, I’d just like to point out that I wasn’t saying that by avoiding arguments with people I wanted to condone mandatory detention. I am against it, and if anyone asks me about it, I’ll explain my position and try to back it up with sound logic. I just don’t want to actively try to change someone’s mind. If someone changes their mind because of what they’re heard from me, great, but I’m not out to convert people. However, as Josquin said – things don’t change unless you speak out, and try to change people’s mind. So yeah, tricky ideas. (PS What the fuck is up with the internet these days? My web browser keeps telling me it can’t find Livejournal’s servers, Hotmail’s servers are too busy to give me my email, and Diaryland’s servers are too overloaded for me to update my diary – apparently this isn’t the case 98% of the time, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.)
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