Thursday, December 23, 2004

I miss Buffy. I miss the social events the took place around Buffy. I would make dinner and my friend Emily would come over and we'd chill. Buffy ended just before Eric was born, and I felt OK about it. Angel was still on the air and I was about to have a BABY! A BABY is way more important than a stupid television show. But I miss those plot lines that unfolded over years. I miss those weird supernatural rules that could explain everything. I just miss it.

Now that Joss Whedon has opted out of TV who knows when we'll see another show like it. Here's something that really makes me angry. Buffy was rated by one of those Institutions of Bigotry (you know the ones, with the word "Family" in the name) as one of the worst family shows ever. And the same said Institute of Bigotry named Smallville as one of the best family shows on the air. It's so weird. Smallville, while it's a very good show, is composed primarily of recycled Buffy plots. Instead of the town being on a Hellmouth, there's Kryptonite everywhere and that gives everybody super powers instead of the Hellmouth. The ultimate irony is that these institutions are the same ones pushing for creationism over science to be taught in the public schools. (Bear with me I'm going somewhere with this.) Buffy was all about good and evil. There was a god in the Buffy Universe and there were Powers that were influencing what was going on in the world. Whereas Smallville has scientific explanations for their anomalies. So the irony is, in entertainment the American Family Institute of Bigotry and Stuffing their Morals Down the Throat of the Rest of US, chose science over the divine "powers" because it was "Magic" and magic is witchcraft according to them. Ah well... I'm just pining the lack of good TV lately.

Speaking of Creationism... Although I'm totally agnostic, I don't have a big problem with creationism being taught in certain contexts. I took a class called "Evolution and Creationism" in 1981 --before the Supreme court decided that it was tantamount to teaching religion and could not be taught. In my "Evolution and Creationism" class, we learned about evolution and other theories of origins from different cultures around the world. As long as it's taught as "This is what these people think, and this what these other people think, this is what science says." I don't have a big problem with that. I loved studying anthropology, and a lot of anthropology is looking at the way different cultures look at God. Is that teaching religion? I don't think so. It all depends on the context in which it is framed. Personally, I believe in God so the concept of "Intelligent Design" is not offensive to me. It makes a lot of sense to me, when I look at really good art or listen to fabulous music, or look at the face of my child, I feel the presence of God in all of that. As long as it's taught in the context of "some people believe this, that or the other thing, and this is what the science says... Draw your own conclusions based on your own beliefs."

Of all the horrible things the Christian Right is doing to us, this is not one of the worst. At least it makes sense to me.

Abstinence only education is KILLING me. It doesn't work. 90% of Americans have sex before they are married regardless of whatever pledge they took in high school, and I think it's a public health issue to teach people about sex and birth control.

Rich and I have socially liberal parents, and they never had a real conversation with us about sex or birth control when we were teenagers. But we knew about AIDS and condoms from a variety of sources including junior high sex ed. I didn't think for a minute the embarrassingly frank lectures on birth control and disease prevention translated into: GO! Have lots of sex! Here's how! And they also told us the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy and STD's was abstinence. When I was 16, I went before city hall and said that teenagers were going to have sex no matter what any adult said and it's better for them to have condoms available so they can do it safely. At ten bucks a box they're expensive for somebody who makes $3.75 an hour.

Anyhow, I hope by the time we get there they're still teaching comprehensive sex ed in the schools. Because I really don't want to do it :-) But I will if I have to.

Peace and happy holidays!