Bridget Phetasy

My first thought as news broke of the catastrophic fires raging in Notre-Dame Cathedral yesterday was, ‘I need to find the pictures of my trip to France.’ As the 856-year-old church creaked and crumbled, and smoke billowed over the French capital where Parisians had gathered to sing hymns, watching their beloved landmark burn in horror, my attention turned to the true victim of this tragedy: me, an American woman with an Instagram account. People don’t understand how much pressure there is as an American to hijack global heartbreak and personalize it. As a social media user, it’s imperative that in such dark times for humanity, you let everyone know you have a connection to this particular disaster, no matter how obscure or far removed in the past.

Where, oh where, are the valiant crusaders standing up for the anti-vaxxers? Am I the only one who sees their persecution as a danger to the health of a free society? Ostracized for their refusal to follow basic common sense, it’s shocking that these model examples of parenting would be shunned simply for bringing disease into the herd. You can’t expect these poor, frightened individuals fighting for the rights of their children to die of an ancient disease — to stand a chance against billions of people who have been brainwashed by thousands of years of evolutionary psychology, can you? Disease avoidant behaviors like revulsion are clearly yet another example of government Mind Control. At least that’s what I read in a r/deadkidsdontgetautism thread.

Is there anything better than the sound of a bustling kitchen, the scent of turkey roasting in the air and children laughing, free from the burdens of gender identity? At least that what I tell my sister-in-law, as I urge her to let my nephew, Cody, watch Dora the Explorer instead of giving into the gender stereotypes permeating Go Diego Go. It seems obvious she should use the show as a tool for teaching Cody about the ‘explorers’ bravely making their way from South America in the migrant caravan — the people our racist president wants to kill. Many Americans watch football on this national holiday, but with the culturally insensitive Redskins not on yet, my opportunities to bring some social justice perspective on the toxically masculine game are limited.