musings by marcus

I’m disgusted at the anti-refugee sentiments I’ve seen online. This is something I’d expect from racist rednecks not educated people on social media. Here’s an answer to four common anti-refugee sentiments.

1) “Why should we be the ones to help Syrian refugees?” Because in our efforts to combat ISIS we have been dropping bombs on their cities and destroying their homes. Many civilian children have died or lost their parents. We did this in the name of “helping” them and now they show up at our door asking for real help and you want to turn them away?

2) “What about the homeless?” Where was that question when we spent over $122 million on fighter jets and bombs that displaced these people in the first place? This is not a one or the other situation. The government can help the homeless and refugees. How much time and money have you spent this year on eating out or seeing movies? If you feel the homeless deserve more help, feel free to donate that time and money to a local NGO.

3) “We have to take care of our own first.” Who exactly is “our own”? This country has always been a nation of immigrants and refugees. Like many others, my grandparents came to Canada after WWII decimated Europe. What makes this situation any different?

*This is literally the top comment on YouTube at the time of writing.  Way to show your girl power by giving $500 to a for-profit clothing company like it's a charity.* The End Doesn’t Justify The Means The thrust of the video is that we shouldn’t care if these little girls are dropping f-bombs because the issues they’re highlighting are much more offensive.  I agree.  That’s why I’m going to randomly punch strangers in the face and tell them they should be more offended by global nuclear proliferation.  The two things are not related.  A smaller offense doesn’t mean it’s not an offense.  Personally, I don’t give a fuck about swearing.  But I don’t approve of people swearing around my daughter.  I don’t want her picking up that kind language.  She’s not mature enough to make that choice.  Neither are the girls in this video mature enough to weigh the decision of dropping f-bombs on a recording seen by millions.  They’re certainly too young to be the faces of public discourse on issues as serious as sexual assault.  Adults coaxed these kids into appearing in the video and expressing ideas not their own. Princess Does Not Equal Powerless “I'm not some pretty fuckin' helpless princess in distress!” declare the girls.  Great.  Good for you.  I would have actually been quite surprised if you were part of a genuine monarchy.  Now can we please stop pretending the image of a princess is that of a helpless girl who needs to be rescued?!  That archetype faded by the time I was a child. My daughter loves princesses.  She loves Disney movies and dressing up like a princess.  Do I have a problem with this?  No, because her favourite princesses include Pocahontas, Mulan, Jasmine, Rapunzel, and Elsa (yes, I know, Elsa’s a Queen).  These are all strong, well-rounded, positive, female characters who save the lives of their male counterparts. The video goes on to suggest calling a girl "pretty" teaches her to value appearance over intelligence.  This is true only if the focus is exclusively on appearance.  I tell my little girl that she’s beautiful but I also tell her she’s smart.  I nurture her intelligence, critical thinking skills, and most of all, her character.  These attributes are absolutely more important but there’s nothing wrong with teaching a person to value their appearance as part of the complete package in who they are as an individual.  In the quest to raise our daughters to be more than beautiful we don’t have to vilify beauty. Unequal Is Not Necessarily Inequitable Moving on from the horrors of being called “pretty,” the f-bomb dropping girls bring up a common argument about unequal pay.  Do women on average make less money than men?  On average, yes but that’s simply adding up incomes from all occupations and finding an average.  When you examine all the necessary variables, the reason for this discrepancy is more complicated. Let’s say I’m a male accountant working at Accounting Firm A and getting paid $70,000 a year while a female accountant working at Accounting Firm B is getting paid $50,000 for the exact same job.  Is that sexism?  What if Firm A just happens to offer a more competitive wage?  Perhaps the larger wage is part of a compensation for a longer commute?  What if we both work at the same company?  What if we do the exact same job but the pay discrepancy remains the same?  Is that sexism?  Maybe, or perhaps I work more hours?  Perhaps I’ve been at the company longer?  There are a lot of factors to consider before immediately pulling the victim card.  Now, am I naïve enough to think there's no such thing as discrimination?  Of course not.  Are there instances of women being paid less than a male in their workplace even when all other variables are equal?  I don't doubt it.  Those are serious cases of discrimination and should be dealt with at a human resource or even legal level.  Society has deemed these situations unacceptable and provided recourse to the discriminated party.  As a whole, the data does not suggest a cultural conspiracy against women in the workplace.  Rather, the wage variance is the result of overall choices made by both sexes.