Ariela Haro von Mogel August 3rd, 2009
Christians (and the religious in general) do not tend to entertain any serious inquiries that might deem their Holy Book immoral. They seem to have exonerated themselves against the notion that their book is wicked. The entirety of the Christian Bible is over saturated with tales condoning and even promoting genocide (against the Canaanites), rampant misogyny, xenophobia (aka racism), incest, slavery, and all sorts of petty and terrible attributes that an individual, in this case Yahweh, could have.
Yet, this is a HOLY book? Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel July 9th, 2009
I have been talking about this topic with a lot of people lately, and it needs to be mentioned. I said a very unfortunate and un-PC comment to my husband the other day. I was griping about how I want to be environmental out of choice and not because I have to. In other words, I don’t like having to be resourceful because I’m a broke a**. No one likes to be reminded they are poor (student poor in my case), and feeling like you have to reuse items because otherwise you won’t have anything else is just no fun.
I realize this is a potentially classist thing for me to say. But this is how I feel. This is not necessarily rational. I want to be like Jennifer Aniston and just plop down a huge wad of cash to get skylights installed in my house. But no, I have to be some regular old Schmo and deal with the windows that I have. So unglamorous. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel June 22nd, 2009
The Freedom from Religion Foundation has this awesome bus campaign wherein they advertise atheist and secular messages on the sides of buses. I see them all the time here in Madison, WI, home of the FFRF headquarters.
Some great slogans read:
Sleep in on Sundays
Imagine no Religion
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction – Richard Dawkins
Reason’s Greetings
Go to the FFRF website at www.ffrf.org and vote for some more cool bus slogans. You can even suggest one. I sent in one that reads:
Read the Bible. We need more Atheists.
Ariela Haro von Mogel May 9th, 2009
I am a dyed-in-the-wool Mama’s girl and an adamant feminist. Yet, I still believe Mother’s Day, as a national holiday and institution, is a crock of bull plop. Bull plop! How about I be nicer about it…. Mother’s Day is a Sham Holiday. Sham Wow! (Hat tip to Why Women Hate Men). Anyways, I just realized that I have never really gotten my Mom anything special for Mother’s Day. I’m sure as a kid I did something lame like give her some burned-a** waffles in bed and skipped off back to my room. But other than that, I haven’t given her some stereotypically feminine gift that was pink and red and exclaimed “Happy Mother’s Day.” Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel April 24th, 2009
According to much of the mainstream media, you would think nothing good ever happens in this world. Apparently, horrible things are easy to report and receive a lot of attention. But yesterday, I finally heard something good on the news. As I was listening to the BBC, I learned that Egyptian women are finally fighting back against Egyptian men who sexually harass them in public. As with almost every single place that has ever existed on the planet, women have almost always been second class citizens compared with men and have been perpetual victims of sexual assault.
Personally, I have always been in favor of feminist vigilantism when the law and society does not come to your aid.
Feminism – Malcolm X style! Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel April 7th, 2009
As much as I don’t want to admit this, I am technically an atheist. A Jesus-lovin’ atheist. So yeah, I’m a little weird in connection with other atheists. But I suppose the saying about atheists is right, that getting atheists to organize is like herding butterflies. We are different.
Anyways, the past two nights (in consecutive dream-order, not calendar date order) that I have had dreams, I had very vocal and opinionated atheist dreams. Who knew?! I always considered my husband, the opinionated atheist in the relationship, as The Atheist, and myself as an indeterminate quantity of atheist. So this comes as a shock to me. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel February 22nd, 2009
Homer Simpson once said that the world would be a better place if the Simpsons and the Flanders’ joined together and became one family. Well, I think the world would be a better place if female and male characters got equal representation on television. I know, you may be thinking, wow, this woman really has too much time on her hands to be analyzing the female to male ratio representation on The Simpsons. Well, that’s fine. I don’t have that much time on my hands. I just like to prioritize when I need to complain. And The Simpsons is one of my favorite shows and the quintessential American cartoon. Almost everyone you know has heard of The Simpsons.
I never really thought about this until a good friend of mine from high school pointed out the male-bias in The Simpsons. And he is right. More episodes center on Homer and Bart than on Marge and Lisa. Precious few are about Maggie (though she is a baby, so that might be kind of boring). But the part that really gets to me is the fact that the side characters are so heavily skewed towards male characters.
Let me illustrate. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel November 23rd, 2008
As a 27 year old American, I am technically part of a demographic dubbed “Generation Y.” This is a generation absolutely weaned on technology. So much so that human interaction can become very awkward.
Now, I was brought up with computers and when I was a teenager, and I thought the internet was an incredible amount of fun. But, as I got older, it seemed like another practical thing to use on a daily basis – like checking email, bank statements, playing some games, et cetera. But, I seriously feel like the only 20 something that does NOT own or want an iPod, know how to send text messages (or want to receive them for that matter), or regularly check their Facebook page (which I do not have even though I am a university student). These things really shouldn’t make me feel awkward, but when everybody and their Momma and their Grandmama has an iPod, you start to feel like a weirdo. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel September 27th, 2008
Okay, this post is gonna sound wrong in so many ways. But, based purely on looks, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is kinda hot. He’s a good looking fellow. If he wasn’t such a crazy, nonsense-talkin’ Anti-Semite (insert other horrible social attributes here) and I wasn’t married, I would go out with him. True, he may not want to go out with a loud- mouthed uncouth American girl – but what do I care? I have interesting tastes in men! I have other friends that can back me up on this one. I can’t be the only one who thinks he’s cute. Ladies (and some Gents), am I right?
Karl thinks he looks like an Iranian Steve Carell.
Ariela Haro von Mogel September 4th, 2008
I am going to write a really mean post, stereotype a lot of people, and I’m sure, offend a few. But I’ll say it anyways! When my husband and I go into our neighborhood Whole Foods for some specialty items, we notice these huge banners and little signs everywhere (like on the meat counter and dairy shelves) that read Feel Good About Where You Shop. Now, there are several interesting things about this supposedly innocuous statement. Continue Reading »