DOMA and Prop 8. Both History.

[LemmingofGlory]

Pro-capitalist ideology being shoved down our throats in school is not a conspiracy theory - it is quite self-evidently true. Especially in most history classes, which are almost always taught from a very pro-capitalist/anti-communist and/or right wing point of view. Anyone who says otherwise is divorced from reality, period.

I could just call you Chicken Little if you prefer that to conspiracy theorist. It really makes little difference to me as both are alarmist. But the fact is, just because there's a nugget of truth to the things you say doesn't mean I believe the extreme to which you take them.

The thing is, it's not the 1950s anymore. "Rah rah capitalism, boo communism" propaganda has toned down a lot, and the average American isn't really that invested in any particular ideology (such as capitalism) because it requires understanding it. The fact that you think schools are teaching something is especially telling. See, nowdays schools are heavily invested in both not-learning and not-teaching, because nobody wants to do things like

(1) Learn how to spell, write sentences, and comprehend written language
(2) Perform arithmetic with fractions
(3) Understand evolution without using teleological explanations
(4) Understand anything about the U.S. government, how one ought not legislate according to the ideals of their god because other people don't care what your god wants, and the fact that the U.S. was not founded by Jesus 2013 years ago
(5) Come to an understanding of course material which will cause them to excel on standardized tests instead of learning the specific kinds of questions that will appear on the standardized test

You are giving way, way, way too much credit to the educational system and its goals. I do not dispute that capitalism and communism are discussed in some courses and that communism probably doesn't get the fair shake that you'd like, but claiming (for instance) that "capitalist indoctrination" begins in elementary school sounds as absurd to me as right-wing pundit claims that schools are teaching atheism.

I meant to ask you about this. Seeing as how your state currently views you as sub-human, do you envision yourself moving to another state in the near future that more appropriately recognizes your equality to other human beings? Assuming you give your state some time to come around, of course. The next five years will be quite interesting on that front, as I'm sure we can all predict fairly accurately which states will be updating their laws and which won't.

My first reaction upon hearing the Supreme Court rulings was that there was bound to be a slow "brain drain" out of the backwards states as the affluent (meaning able to pick up and move as desired) homosexual community members migrate to places where their marriages would be considered valid.

The idea that gay people might migrate for rights is something you'd expect to happen, but you don't see anywhere near as much of it as you might think. Most local queers I know are interested in moving somewhere metropolitan; the Marietta/Atlanta area is the most popular destination even though Georgia's no bastion of equality. One of the most surprising things to me is the number of people just don't want to move from here. They're invested in family and church and community, and they would lose that by moving away.

Personally, I'm gonna move as soon as a job takes me elsewhere. I have no family hooks keeping me tethered here what with my dad living(?) somewhere in Europe and my mom living(?) out of her car because of untreated mental illness. I'm an import here, and I've never had a connection to the culture. When people ask me where I'm from I usually say, "The internet." It's where I grew up, it's where my friends are, and I know all the cool places to go.

-Lem