Category: political issues

Some thoughts on Jimmy Kimmel

I’m in the process of actively moving and close to a breaking point, stress-wise. So if today’s post doesn’t feel as polished as others, I ask you to bear with me.

I woke up today to the news that Jimmy Kimmel Live has been cancelled. And this is very scary. It comes after learning that Stephen Colbert’s show was cancelled. Kimmel’s end appears to be swifter. While Colbert will still be on the air until May, Kimmel’s show seems to be gone as of now.

I could be wrong. Please let me know in the comments.

I can only imagine that Seth Meyers is counting the days until his show is pulled.

Now, I’m not scared so much for Kimmel and Colbert themselves. They’re both wealthy men who will, I’m sure, bounce back from this just fine. Colbert just won an Emmy, for God’s sake. I’m sure they’ll find another platform.

What scares me is this. If this is what’s happening to the popular, visible, wealthy white men who are standing up to Trump, what is happening to the people like us? People with little blogs and little voices? How many of those voices have been silenced without us even noticing?

This is the eventuality that writers have been warning about for years. As news media is controlled by fewer and fewer companies, our access to it becomes easier to lose. It’s the same thing that happened as publishing companies began to buy each other up. This led to more gatekeepers, more control over what books were coming out, and worse treatment of writers. Because where were we going to go?

It’s been happening for decades, and now we’re truly seeing the results. We’re seeing how easy it is for one small, petty man to quiet voices he doesn’t like.

Let’s talk about Trump. And let’s talk about the staggering hypocrisy from the right.

See, the First Amendment is the first for a reason. I’m not sure why so many people today seem to want to hop right over that one and defend the second so quickly. But clearly that’s what’s happening.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

But Nicole, you might say, no one’s taking away the First Amendment rights of late-night show hosts. They are perfectly free to say whatever they want. And that’s true. They’ll probably have very popular podcasts. Freedom of Speech doesn’t guarantee freedom of reach.

But you don’t have to remove Freedom of Speech if you can just silence everyone who disagrees with you. If you strangle every avenue they have to be heard. Sure, we can say whatever we want. But if no one can hear us, it doesn’t really matter.

I’d also like to point out that removing voices from large platforms corrodes the already shaky trust we have in our news media. It’s hard to know who to trust when the established voices aren’t established anymore. It’s also just easier to trust the word of someone who has a whole team of writers, fact checkers and editors behind them.

When someone on a late-night or news show tells you something, it isn’t just them talking. And this goes for everyone in the media. Rachel Maddow has a team of writers. And that helps us trust in what they’re saying more.

All this is being done intentionally so that we the people don’t know what’s happening. To let information and misinformation combine until we don’t know which way is up. And it’s working.

Fortunately, there are things we can do.

We can verify sources on social media before we share things. Don’t be part of the problem. Don’t share news unless it’s from a reputable source.

Of course, for that we need to know who the reputable sources are. I always trust the Associated Press, personally. I tend to trust late-night people, John Stewart, John Oliver, and Some More News.

Trust what you’re seeing with your own eyes. We can look around and see that climate change is impacting us. We can see that the economy is struggling. We can see prices going up and wages remaining stagnant. We can see police violence and racism on the rise. We can see women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights being stripped away. Don’t let someone tell you that you’re not seeing what’s right in front of you.

More than anything, don’t allow yourself to be bogged down with despair. Don’t let fear cripple you. Take care of yourself, and take action. It’s the same advice I give every time I talk about politics. Vote. Go to protests if it’s safe for you to do so. Write politicians. Write physical mail and send it. Support your local libraries, local schools, and local food pantries.

After I’m moved, I’ll be doing a series about media literacy and disaster preparation. Until then, stay safe and stay informed.

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Five reasons you should care about the battle for minimum wage

Hey, you remember how I said that just because a Democrat is in the White House doesn’t mean we can all relax now? 

I was right, and I still didn’t listen to myself. We’ve got a lot of work to do still. So, speaking of work, why don’t we start with making sure everyone gets a livable paycheck for their work. 

That’s right, we’re talking about minimum wage. It hasn’t increased since 2009. And that’s a problem. 

But Nicole, you might say. I don’t make minimum wage. What does this matter to me? 

Today in this bonus post, let’s talk about why you should for sure care about minimum wage, even if you’re making a comfortable living. 

We all want to call frontline workers heroes. Now, we need to help them.

We’vespent the last year showering frontline workers with our praise. And they deserve it. Listen, I’ve worked fast food. I’ve worked retail. These are hard jobs, and they suck. And there’s no way our society could function without them. Could you have survived the last year without Amazon and Walmart delivery? How about takeout? I damn well couldn’t have. I swear the only person I had a face-to-face conversation with was the lady who works at Sheetz.

People who work these jobs deserve to make a living wage. They always have. We always have. Everyone, no matter what job they’re doing, deserves to make enough money to take care of themselves and their families. 

Kids trying to go to college can’t make enough to go.

But, what about kids? This is always the argument of people who are against raising the minimum wage use. Surely teenagers working their first job don’t need to make enough money to support a family. They’re just making fun money, right?

Oh hell no. Teenagers who are working might be trying to earn money for college. And college is getting more expensive all the time. Maybe they’re raising a kid, or helping to support a younger sibling. Maybe even a parent who’s having trouble making ends meet.

And frankly, even if none of that is the case, I still think they should make a living wage. Teens are learning lessons they’re going to rely on for the rest of their lives. And one of those lessons should be ‘an honest days work for an honest days pay’. 

When I was a teenager, I worked as a dishwasher. I made okay money. And it taught me that if I work hard, I get a reward for it. This powerful lesson encouraged my work ethic for the rest of my life. Please don’t ever forget that a teenage job is about so much more than just the work. 

No expendable income means creatives are starving

Kind of obvious, this is a personal issue with me. But most of you reading this are probably in the same boat. 

All over creative corners of the internet, I’m hearing the same thing. Patreon subscriptions are plummeting. Sales are down. 

Art is a luxury. People living paycheck to paycheck don’t get to indulge in luxury things. I’m not talking about a Fossel smartwatch. (I want one). I’m talking about a two-dollar e-book. And people on minimum wage aren’t living paycheck to paycheck. They’re living hand to mouth. Do you think they’ve got the money for any art?

Don’t you think art is something everyone should be able to afford? Don’t you think everyone should have books to read? If you’re a creative, don’t you want your fans to be able to buy your work? 

CEOs are making more in comparison to their lower-level employees than ever.

But what about fairness? Isn’t it fair that people who work their way up the ladder make more money? 

Oh, for sure. At my day job, my supervisor for sure deserves to make more money than me. She’s earned that promotion. The CEO of the company deserves to make bank. People who succeed deserve to get rewards for that. 

But there are limits. Here’s a link to an article from the Economic Policy Institute about how CEO compensation has ballooned while day-to-day workers have not seen similar growth in their income. And it’s not just minimum wage workers here, folks. It’s everyone who’s not sitting in board meetings. So, probably you.

People can’t care for their kids. And that impacts all of us. 

 Finally, let’s talk about parents. When I was working minimum wage jobs, the majority of my co-workers were parents. So was I. 

Parents have everything stacked against them. And poor parents can feel like everything is trying to make sure they fail. 

Let me paint a picture for you. You have a child. You and your spouse both work full time. You cannot afford not to and still make your bills. Maybe you have someone around who can watch your kid when you and your spouse are working, but maybe you don’t. So, what if you can’t afford a babysitter? You can’t afford to quit, and neither can your spouse.

What do you do? 

If you’re not a parent, I don’t care. Every child is our child, our future. Our legacy. That’s part of the social contract we have with each other. It is in all of our best interests to make sure every kid has a good childhood that prepares them for healthy adulthood. And that means making sure their parents can be home for them after school, while still being able to put food on the table. Parents should be able to make enough money to buy birthday gifts, take their kids to the zoo, go to the pool. They should also be able to have dinner with their kids, take the day off if the kid is sick, and not work two jobs to just afford necessities. Kids deserve parents. And anyone who says people shouldn’t have kids if they can’t afford them is advocating for financial eugenics.

I’m fully aware that lots of people reading this are actually in this situation. Hell, I know that a lot of people reading this are actually in the minimum wage range. And please, if you’re in that situation, listen to me.

While everyone needs to fight for minimum wage, don’t feel like your powerless. 

Listen, being broke makes you feel powerless. I know it made me feel like that. It’s easy to when everything in the world is designed to make your life harder for the crime of not having a job our society deems respectable.

But we are not powerless. We have the right to vote. And we have the right to contact our representatives.

Here’s a link to a site that will help you find your local reps. Call them, write them. I know you don’t have a lot of time. But it’s about time that our politicians work for us. 

We pay their salary. And you can sure as hell bet they’re making a living wage. 

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Women Hurting Women

 

This post could be sub titled, let me take a break from talking about writing to complain about something that pisses me off almost every day.

 

Women uphold what we refer to as ‘the patriarchy’ more than any man I have ever seen.

 

This post could also be sub titled, “Let me piss off some people who don’t want to hear this.”

 

Don’t believe me? Think about it. When was the last time a man told you that you couldn’t do something? When was the last time a random guy you didn’t know made you feel judged?

 

When was the last time a woman did that to you?

 

Women, we are way too quick to judge other women. What we wear, what we do for a living, how we raise our kids, if we even chose to have them! And we are really good at inventing new ways to do it, too.

 

Skinny/fat shaming

 

I am neither skinny, nor fat, so I used to keep out of that whole mess, until I realized a rather nasty fact. There are some who do consider me fat. And I know who they are, because they make a point of letting me know that I’m fat, but that it’s okay. As though wearing size sixteen jeans is akin to a deformity.

 

We all know the stereotype. Skinny, thin girls are bitchy, because they don’t get to eat cupcakes like us jolly fat girls. Only dogs like bones and real women have curves too.

 

See what we’re doing there? We’re being just as catty and judgmental as we perceive thin women to be. Worse is the insinuation that thin girls only do things to impress men. Do you really think that women’s drinking a kale smoothie because she wants some man to think she looks hot? Maybe she just wants to look hot all by herself. Leave her and her kale smoothie alone.

 

The dreaded Mommy Wars.

 

Parenting is hard. We are raising people, doing the best we can every day and just pray that they don’t end up serial killers or stoners playing guitar in our basements.

 

So maybe we should leave each other the hell alone.

 

I am as bad about this as anyone. Parents who don’t read to their kids, or let them watch Spongebob, let them drink soda, listen to Kesha, all of these are parents who I hate. Women who tell little boys that they should let the girls go first because that’s what gentlemen do, I hate you.

 

But it is none of my damned business when it comes to your family. It’s none of anybody’s business. My kids, my family works because of the decisions that my husband and I make. I’m sure the same can be said for you. (My one exception is vaccinations. Please vaccinate your kids, so that all of our kids die.)

 

It’s also none of anyone’s business whether a woman has kids or not. We don’t do assume men will eventually have kids, do we? No guy’s ever heard his mom tell him about his biological clock. There’s no rush to marriage, or at least not nearly so early in a man’s life. I know a lot of people have said this, but I don’t think some people heard, so can I say it louder? Not every woman wants to have kids!

 

Slut shaming/ burqas/ what we chose to wear.

 

Full disclosure, I used to be really bad at this. I’m working to be a better person, I am. There was a time when I could not shut my mouth about women who were dressed ‘slutty.’ They were terrible, they obviously didn’t like themselves that much, and they behaved as though they had nothing to offer the world besides their bodies.

 

I have no idea what the hell makes me think I have got any right to judge these other women.

 

I don’t know why any of us have a right to judge another woman’s appearance. What we wear, or don’t, how much makeup we wear, or don’t. How we chose to express our faiths, or not. If she’s over eighteen, it’s no ones business.

 

Opening our mouths in front of our kids

 

What don’t you like about your appearance? For those of you with daughters, do you talk about it in front of them? If you’re having a fat day, or eat too much, or hate how you look without makeup. “Don’t take pictures of me yet, I’m ugly!” we yell in front of them. “I can’t believe I had all that. I’m such a cow.”

“Ugh, look at those crows feet.”

“This dress fit a few months ago, I’m so fat!”

“I can’t stand how red I look.”

 

I guess a lot of us forget this, but our kids think we are perfect, at least for a little while. Girls look to their moms for an example of how women are supposed to act. We’re teaching them, as women, that we hate ourselves.

 

They should hate themselves, too. That’s what they hear. We hate ourselves, and they should too.

That, I really think, is the core of this. We don’t like ourselves. We are taught at a young age that we shouldn’t like ourselves. We are taught, by our mothers, to be hypercritical of everything so that we can be better. We want to be faster, smarter, more beautiful, and those are admirable things. I want to be smarter, I want to be better. But I am done making myself feel bad about who I am right now. I am a pretty cool person. So are you, man or woman.

 

If you’re running marathons or eating Oreos, running carpool or running a business, hitting Sephora or hitting Staples, you’re cool. If you’re being nice to people, and you like how you spent your day, go you. You should keep doing just what you’re doing, girl or guy. You should let other women do the same.

 

Stop holding up the patriarchy, ladies, and let your sisters be who they want to be.

 

 

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