aka, Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) . He is one amongst the plethora of Dem candidates for President. He is barely old enough to run for POTUS. He is married… to a man. He has been Mayor of South Bend Indiana. He is apparently VERY smart. He speaks 7 languages. He is VERY well spoken and non-offensive. Tho pretty much an unknown, he still was able to get $7M in campaign donations in the 1st quarter. He will likely be a player, at least to some extent, in the Democratic Primary. You might as well go ahead and learn to pronounce his name.
Admit it. When I wrote the above, three weeks ago, you didn’t know Mayor Pete from from Cory Booker’s gardener. But he is coming right along. Now you can be introduced to the 1st ever possible, 1st Husband (to a guy POTUS).
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/29/pete-buttigieg-husband-chasten-226335
It’s funny how names can be appropriate for someone. I used to know a gay man whose last name was Cockey and this guy is a “Buttigieg”. He must have had a rough time growing up with that name and being homosexual.
His story is that, growing up, he would have done anything to have a pill that would suddenly make him straight. He didn’t come out until he was an adult. I think it was after his tours in Afghanistan. He doesn’t have any stereotypic appearances, mannerisms, or voice patterns that would suggest that he is gay, so it is unlikely that anyone knew, when he was growing up. But I suppose BOOTedgeEDGE, is a name that cries out for funny remarks regardless of the bearer’s sexual orientation.
Interesting.
Gay and married? That wouldn’t matter too much in Oz. However, think it might matter a lot to the vociferous big ’ C’, Christians* of whom the US seems to have a plethora. But then, I thought the US would elect a woman before a black man, what do I know?
- go to church regularly give witness of their faith continuously, and loudly. Very fond of letting people know about everything they’re against, but spend very little time telling you what they are for. Often found in happy clappy churches, and sometimes, blow up abortion clinics. Most noticeable trait is a deep schadenfreude towards heathens they are convinced are going to hell**
**an aside; the notion of an eternal hell is a Christian invention, which took a century or two to develop… Doesn’t exist in Judaism, upon which Christianity is based…
The US has a long history of sometimes repressed (sometimes not repressed) racism and misogyny, that has also, at times found some refuge in some versions of “Christianity”.
In the US there remains NO equal rights amendment to the Constitution for women.
"The US has a long history of sometimes repressed (sometimes not repressed) racism and misogyny, that has also, at times found some refuge in some versions of “Christianity”.
In the US there remains NO equal rights amendment to the Constitution for women."
Indeed, so does Oz, it’s only a matter of degree. Of course we don’t have a bill of rights.
As for women,I regularly come across Aussie males who feel oppressed by the results of feminism. Such people seem immune to reason or facts. Much like Christian apologists actually.
My position is that Australia is probably a hundred years away from equality.By that I mean that equality for women becoming a cultural norm. IE Just the way things are, no longer consciously thought about. Race, the way we’re going, possibly longer , or never. I say that because it’s my perception that xenophobia seems to be hard wired in human beings.
I am of the thoughts that we do indeed have tendencies toward racism and tribalism that are part of our biological heritage. However, I know that it is possible, that we can develop beyond those tendencies, because we also have the capacity to learn, and to progress culturally as well. I am probably naively optimistic to some degree, but I have seen the evidence of such progress, during my lifetime, despite the current flow of contrary events and publicly emerging contrary attitudes and contrary narratives.
I have noticed what sounds like the same virulently anti-feminist males that you reference. I am guessing that there are various events (some that I have little or no awareness of) that have been part of more recent history, that may be especially relevant to the lifetime of younger males, that lead to them being particularly threatened by women gaining equal statuses. Although, older men have been part of a bulwark of patriarchy in most societies. So maybe the old guys never had as much reason to feel threatened.
Keep an eye on Kamala Harris, also. Of the crop of female Dem candidates in the primary for POTUS, I expect her to do well. I think she has the right persona to do well in the general election if she happens to come out on top from the primaries.
I have a good friend , a lawyer, (like a US ADA) who is very anti feminism.
I have always suspected that is largely due to his marital record; Three time married. 5 children with the first two. He left each marriage when the children were toddlers he thinks he was treated unjustly by the Family Court. Harshly? I think probably. Unjustly; almost certainly not. In this country, parents who divorce are held jointly responsible for the rearing of their children. The court has the power to issue a wage garnishee on the non custodial parent, and does so wherever possible; most certainly when the person is a government employee.
Me? I don’t like children and never wanted any. Took me a long time to find a woman with the same views.I also had a very clear under standing of the actual cost of child rearing. Had no desire to make the kind of sacrifices involved.
Am I a selfish plick? Indeedly doodly, but I neither boast nor apologise. Now over 70, divorced and living alone, I do not regret my decisions, except fleetingly from time to time .
I think that non-breeders deserve gratitude from society at large for not adding to the problems associated with world over population. In the US, we have special days, i.e., “Mother’s Day” and “Father’s Day”. I think that Non-breeders deserve such a day of appreciation.
Indeed.
To my astonishment, over the years I found even the most modest breeders (one or two offspring) were often jealous of childless couples. --We owned the house in a posh suburb, the new cars, the frequent overseas trips. I’ve always thought I got a pretty good deal–even after the divorce, I had enough money to buy another house. (albeit down market)
If there had been children I would have been stuffed. Yeah, not only selfish but shallow and materialistic, just like human beings as a species.*
*reference ’ Egoism and Altruism’ Ronald D Milo
I think that non-breeders deserve gratitude from society at large for not adding to the problems associated with world over population. In the US, we have special days, i.e., “Mother’s Day” and “Father’s Day”. I think that Non-breeders deserve such a day of appreciation.Haha only childless people would bother celebrating. Hallmark could make some money of it, I guess.
Haha, congrats. You are a breeder. I take it that Jews will not replace you.
TimB:
aka, Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) . He is one amongst the plethora of Dem candidates for President. He is barely old enough to run for POTUS. He is married… to a man. He has been Mayor of South Bend Indiana. He is apparently VERY smart. He speaks 7 languages. He is VERY well spoken and non-offensive. Tho pretty much an unknown, he still was able to get $7M in campaign donations in the 1st quarter. He will likely be a player, at least to some extent, in the Democratic Primary. You might as well go ahead and learn to pronounce his name.
It’s bood edge edge. ?
It’s Bood edge edge.
Well, I did my best way back when just about nobody knew how he wanted his name pronounced. Boo-tih-jezh will do in a pinch, as it sounds just about the same when said quickly.
I’d say the last syllable is pronounced jedge. It’s a Maltese name. Only 100 surnames are found among 75% of the population on the islands of Malta and Gozo.
Really, only 100 surnames? I didn’t know that. (sounds like the old 200 in China) I understand the Maltese language is more related to Arabic than Latin. I don’t know anything about Maltese history, but Id bet it’s fascinating.
(I DO know a really rude insult in Maltese- --a sweet young Maltese girl at work used to say it to me: phonetically ; fosh a mokk)
There are a goodly number of people of Maltese descent in Oz. I’ve met a few, and seriously considered marrying an especially nice one. The obstacle was her chronic Catholicism and the conservative views which go with it. The ‘no-sex-before-marriage’ caper was a deal breaker , because of the rule itself and what it implies to me.
Arguably the most famous Australian Catholic public intellectual in the twentieth century was Maltese-born B A Santa Maria. Largely thanks to good ol’ Bob, Australia got the Democratic Labour Party, a Catholic answer to the godless Labor Party. The DLP split the Labor vote, and kept the Australian labor party out of office for 20 years.------At that time, priests would rant against the ALP from the pulpit, and urge people to vote for the DLP.
My dad was an ALP member all of his adult life. Those priestly rants made him livid. If it wasn’t for dad’s typical Irish-Catholic reverence for priests as a species, I think he would have decked that one.
An aside: People of my parent’s generation revered priests and doctors especially .I think that reverence helped protect pedophile priests in Oz. (and elsewhere) People simply could not imagine a priest behaving that way.
I had a neighbor who was from Malta. His name was Micallef, which is one of the 100 surnames. Interestingly, his wife was from Gibraltar.
I’ve been to Malta and Gozo. An interesting place to visit.
Lois