Dinner and Supporting World Hunger

Today I had the pleasure of being criticized for not finishing my meal today during dinner. You may be thinking, "I hope this has some greater significance," and it does, so bear with me.

Why do many Americans equate not finishing a meal with contributing to world hunger? Today, after I had eaten half of my panini, a friend came up to me and said, "Don't just throw that away, save half and eat it later." The problem is I know myself, and that panini would have just taken away space in my minuscule refrigerator and been thrown away a week later. So I told her that I was throwing it away, and she said, "Come on, think about all of the starving children in Africa [or some other deprived place]! That is so wasteful and thoughtless."

I am so sick of people making this statement. True, me throwing away food that someone else would love to eat on the other side of the world can seem like a slap in the face, but let's be honest: me eating the other half of that sandwich would not have helped someone suffering from extreme hunger. Plus, since I am a college student and eat in a cafeteria everyday, I don't even have (much) control over the portions on my plate!

I realize that many people say the aforementioned statement without thinking and do not mean much by it, but for all of you who feel that you have a moral "one-up" on people who throw away their meal and enjoy throwing it in their face, I have one question to ask: Have you done anything to actually end world hunger?

The Lovely Dissenter

Note: Maybe obesity would not be such a huge epidemic in our country if people were taught to eat until they were full instead of until their plate is empty. Just a thought.

Enough Already - I'm Not an Anti-Feminist!

Throughout the past few months, my desire for equal rights for women has been questioned. Is it because I've recently become an opponent of women in the workplace? Because I now believe that women are inherently the weaker sex, or do not believe in a woman's right to choose? Nope. Why, then, are people suddenly saying that I'm part of the problem when it comes to women's rights? Because I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton.

Really? Must you insult my intelligence by making that statement? If I went around saying that everyone that did not vote for Barack Obama was setting back the Civil Rights Movement and was racist, you would find that obnoxious, wouldn't you? Well, I find EVERYONE obnoxious that believes that I should vote for Hillary Clinton purely because she's a woman. I know that not all Hillary supporters have this view, but I just had to speak out against those who do.

I have a bright idea: how about we vote for people based on their political history, or *gasp* their views? I don't know, that might be too much to ask, but in my opinion there is too much going wrong in this country for me to be worried about the fight about which oppressed party will be represented by the democratic nominee.

If Clinton is "your woman" that's great; but she's not mine. In an effort to procrastinate and avoid doing homework, I decided to visit the Library of Congress website and see all of the bills she has sponsored or co-sponsored, and it's a lot of pork. True, Obama also has some pork that's annoying (honoring the life of G.E. Patterson? Really?), but its amount is minimal compared to Clinton's. I don't know if I quite appreciate the Senate and Clinton spending so much time recognizing and declaring dates for meaningless "holidays," such as "National Healthy Schools Day," and passing so many commemorative resolutions. Clinton talks about how much experience she has, but it doesn't look like Obama's having a real problem with getting anything done; I'm pretty sure he'll be just as ready on Day One. Who knows, maybe he won't have the same amount of lobbyists looming in his head shouting dollar amounts donated to his campaign while he tries to make decisions. Really, what value is experience if it’s with lobbyists and special interest groups looking for their own gain instead of greater society’s? Don't believe any of the things I've just said? Here's the website: http://thomas.loc.gov/. Any attempt to try to argue with me without looking at these records would truly be half-brained.

...which leaves me to my last point. Please, do not try to tell me that Obama is purely a politician full of rhetoric. Is it really possible to lay out your detailed plan for everyone in a speech? I think not. If you can't take the time to go on any politician's website, whether it's Clinton, McCain, Obama, Paul or Huckabee (who can't win even if he sweeps the rest of the states due to the proportional delegate giveaways), and read their stances and skim over their actual plans to implement the policies they talk about, should you really be voting? Now, will you most likely remember everything you've read? No, but you will at least get an idea of what the candidate is really about. And don't give me that whole "who really wants to spend time to do that stuff" spiel. Is it fun? No, but this is the next PRESIDENT we're talking about. In my humble opinion, that's something important enough to research.

Anyway, I have so much more I can say but this note is already obnoxiously long, and if you actually read up to this point you deserve a kudos. I realize that I veered off course from my original topic, but if the people who I mainly wrote this message to would stop calling me an anti-feminist, that would be greatly appreciated.

The Lovely Dissenter

The Grand Introduction

To all the readers of this blog, which I expect to be a small number: Welcome!

I, the obvious author of this blog, am a mere college student. However, I am a very opinionated college student that has a lot of opinions to state. I'm not great at expressing myself in person, but give me a keyboard or a piece of paper, and I can write a novel.

I have a love/hate relationship with politics. I love to read about what's going on in the country and government, but at the same time am angered by what our country has become. This blog will not merely be about politics, but also about a lot of other things going on in the country that are absolutely ridiculous.

So, I hope you find my musings entertaining and informative. Don't be afraid to post or email me with any comments!

Thanks,
The Lovely Dissenter