I have to say it

[waterspyder]

I seek support, not permission.

If I wanted to electively amputate parts of my body, I would fight for the right and privilege to do so. I would ask people I knew to support me in my decision. I would ask other people who wanted the same right to support me. If someone disapproved, they are not that important to me. I don’t need their permission, or the permission of the people supporting me in my fight. If I want to electively amputate my baby toe, then that’s not your decision, I don’t need your permission. If I want to amputate my uterus, also my decision, I don’t need permission.

This is why I get so uptight when people hold rallies and say that particular groups cannot attend. These people can be the non-disabled/non-colour/non-woman/non-three-toed-intersex-sloths-below-the-age-of-three; usually what it means is “not someone I identify with directly”. Men cannot support Take Back the Night because they aren’t women.
Men and transwoman cannot support Pro-choice rallies because they aren’t women with uteruses.
White people can’t support people of colour in their endeavours.
Why not? Because activists say that these groups do not need the permission of these other groups to protest.

But by saying you do not need permission from these groups, doesn’t that mean you need permission from someone.

I don’t need permission.

I don’t need permission to have chosen not to bleed. I don’t need permission to have an abortion. I don’t need permission to go pee. I don’t need permission.

Support is always welcome if you respect my decision, you know, the one I made without your permission.

Comments

[firedolljamie.livejournal.com]

I'm skipping the main point of your post to pick on another one. You wrote, "If someone disapproved, they are not that important to me." Just because someone may or may not agree with you on a particular topic shouldn't change the importance of them in your life. Atleast if they can present an articulate enough description of why they hold the views they do, and have enough conviction to stick to those beliefs / principles.

By the same token if they are enough of a friend they should demand the same of you to defend your beliefs and accept that you hold those beliefs and still be your friend.

Talk to me about the homeless, and you'll quickly learn I think we should round them all up into a big pile and burn them. Waste of existence they are...Priya is at the exact opposite polar end of the spectrum on that topic that society must have built in measures to take care of those who cannot - for varying reasons - take care of themselves. Both of us present enough logical arguments that we respect each others point of view even if we disagree with it. But I'm still more right ;P

Now...if you want to GROW a third breast..I for one will not object!

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Third breasts have been banned by the council on good science fiction writing.

I guess I phrased that part poorly. I love a great debate, as long as people are listening to each other when they do it.

I meant more that if someone is disapproving of a cause, then they are not important to that endeavour. I mean, if I decided to rescue all homeless people from a pyre and you were like "Don't do that", I'd likely still go ahead, but I certainly wouldn't expect you to join in and help me. Also, if someone doesn't have anything to contribute to a discussion other than "You can't" or "That's fucked up", then it's not going to hold much weight with me.

There's just been a lot of nonsense happening on the academic side of my life that irks me.

So you think we should burn the homeless... well, I guess the booze content would help... *ducks*

[firedolljamie.livejournal.com]

After having one break into my home at 4 am and walk right into my bedroom accusing me of not belonging there and purporting that I should leave while he steals our liquor - I kind of lost a little of my compassion for them. When I found out that he also broke into the home of a single mother and broke a bunch of stuff, I no longer doubted if there was malice in their hearts.

When the cops 'told me' after identifying the dude that he was going to go away for a long time and I see him back on the street corner a few blocks from my house the next spring, I lost a little faith that the institution(s) of society can take care of the problem.

When I see them rooting through my garbages and recycling every morning while I'm dragging my ass to work to support my lifestyle, I lost any belief that they want to live a better life and have began to use the services society provides as a crutch.

I'm not - actually - going to go out and start a pyre of them....But if I did and you tried to stop me, just remember that I can breathe fire and you would be trying to stop me in my cause and I'd be obligated to try and prevent such things.

[evilbitchqueen.livejournal.com]

Hey, I resent that, I was homeless once for a while an now I'm back and living on my own two feet, and persuing a university diploma to become a vet

now how would I have done that if I was rounded up and burned...

[mellian.livejournal.com]

Well, there is two kind of homeless people...those who are only on the streets temporally and do succeed in getting out of the whole. I know many youths through the YSB Youth Drop-in that were in the streets, yet some did get themselves off the streets by able to save up enough money from panhandling to pay the previous, first and possibly second month rent on an apartment, which in turn allowed them to apply for a SIN card and so on or get on welfare temporally....until something that allows them to get out of the homeless situation.

Then there the homeless that never seem to get off the streets, and I have seen some of those. There is a few homeless people downtown that I have seen homeless or at least on the streets all the time panhandling and so on for years, few since i started actively going downtown ottawa and getting to know the area. It is either by choice to some degree, lack of confidence, they got so use to it that it what they know, mental problems, drug addictions, some other medical problems..... There is few of them I really don't like, who act like society owes them like they deserve to be placed in a fancy house with everything paid for them...so basicly the lazy and hypocrites....even thought they are healthy enough, from what I can tell, to be productive. Of course, one seem to always in trouble with the police from what I have seen, so criminal records may not help them employment wise.

So yes...the former tends to be youth and young adults, and the latter usually mid adults and older, which is because youth have more chances, more opportunities than older folks, so in turn I have more faith in the younger homeless people than the older. If i ever had enough money to give out to homeless, I be bias and only give money to homeless youths.

-mellian

[firedolljamie.livejournal.com]

As Mellian's follow-up to this post mentions, there are two types of homeless. I have no issues with those who recognize that they are in a bad situation - such as yourself were - and that society is bound to provide you a certain amount of assistance to work to improve your situation. And it sounds that you have taken that opportunity and are making a worthwhile investment back to society and yourself as a result.

It's the 'lifers' who become more dangerous to themselves and others with every passing day that are the focus of my firey proposal. The guy who broke into my house had a wrap sheet that started before I was born in 1978. I'm sorry, but you can't tell me that given over 25 years of opportunity you can't get ANY kind of a job or leg up on life.

Like I said, I don't expect a lot of people to agree with my dispassion for the homeless, but to WaterSpyder's original post you can either agree with the cause, argue against it but at a minimum respect my right to hold that belief and get out of the way when I bring the torch ;P

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Growing up just outside Toronto, my mom taugh me a few things.

If you're going to give them anything, give them nutritious food.
It is not condescending to give them dog food (for their dogs). There is no reason why a pet should suffer for the stupidity of its human.

I think I have given money once to a homeless person. I believed him to be category A. He swore on his gramma's grave it was for laundry. He told me exactly what coins the washer and dryer took, and then when i gave him the necessary coinage for one load of wash, he attempted to give me the change he had collected earlier in the day. I'm pretty sure he's not still homeless.

As zenten pointed out last night "It's really easy to get off the street and onto welfare or disability, as long as you haven't committed fraud."

I had to correct him. They repealed the fraud clause in 2004.