Love and Marriage and Humiliation

Occasionally, those three things are more related than I'd like. Wow, I'm beginning to feel my energy for this thing slowly coming back! That may be a good thing, since I'm supposed to take the GRE pretty soon here. I like that no matter what happens in the world, I'll never run out of good songs:



Belle and Sebastian - You Made Me Forget My Dreams

It would've been awkward if I'd already posted that song before. Anyway, I want to keep going with this theme of being kind of frenetic and not really having a theme by bringing a particular social issue back to your attention. A few days ago, I saw a Feministing post containing two maps of the US, one showing states which allow same sex marriage and one showing states which allow marriage between first cousins. The purpose of putting these two maps next to each other is to show the hypocrisy of "sanctity of marriage" arguments against allowing same-sex marriages, and intuitively this makes sense because many people are rather grossed-out by the idea of first cousins marrying (even though this is standard practice in many areas of the world) and it's traditionally believed that if first cousins reproduce, their children are more likely to look like this. However, another website I love which posts about social issues (among other things), Sociological Images, put up a post about cousin marriage around the same time. Although they didn't provide links, they reference studies suggesting that cousin marriage does not come with an increased risk of birth defects or genetic disorders. These two websites occasionally reference each other, so I find it interesting when they also challenge each other a bit.

Not that I'm defending or condemning cousin marriage; I just found the two opinions interesting. Besides, there are many other reasons why the "sanctity of marriage" argument is hypocritical and I've discussed them before on here. Oh, and check it--divorce rates are higher in states with gay marriage bans.

I also found it interesting that Arkansas, considered by many to be historical cousin-marrying territory, prohibits cousin marriage, while California (who just overturned the law allowing gay marriage) and New York allow it. Also, a "bad form" goes to Maine and New Jersey for recently denying civil rights to gay people as well. I guess we'll have to wait and see how Perry v. Schwarzenegger pans out, and I'll try to keep myself from reading reports from the Catholic News Agency that make me want to punch a hole in the wall.

In Iran news, a renowned physics professor who had apparently come out publicly in support of the opposition, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb near his home. He was well-known and supported the opposition, which made him a target for the Iranian government, and he was a top physics professor, which made him a target for anyone wanting to sabotage Iran's nuclear ambitions. Naturally, the Iranian government is blaming the usual suspects, and the usual suspects appear to be insulted at the outrageous accusations.

The BBC is reporting a really amusing story involving Israel insulting a Turkish diplomat by making sure he was photographed on a much lower chair. Oh, no they didn't! The Israelis occasionally summon the Turkish ambassador over various Turkish television serials depicting Israeli intelligence agents kidnapping babies to convert them to Judaism (yes, that might be a little outlandish) and Israeli defense forces firing upon Palestinian children (this one, not so much). Come on, Israel, Hollywood depicts our own intelligence forces doing much worse stuff than kidnapping babies and making them read Torah. Lighten up a bit.

The BBC article includes a photo published in an Israeli newspaper which points out the height difference and carries a caption reading "the height of humiliation." Oh, snap. Apparently, Turkey has summoned the Israeli ambassador and plans to have him sit in a chair booby-trapped with a whoopee cushion and broadcast it on national radio. This is precisely why I want to do something with international politics one day.