headaches.

I found Johnson's article to be rather profound. His opinions on the origins of oppression encompass much of what people think, but don't bother to say. Societal constructs are difficult to deal with. Accepted norms are not something many people like to tango with for a plethora of reasons. This is evident in the fact that for years and years and years we've tried, as a culture, to solve the problems of our people by working through the system thats in place. And we are dumbfounded when we get nowhere. In a recent class i espoused my view on the merit of radical action, namely radical feminism, in terms of its ability to produce lasting change. I believe Johnson would whole heartedly agree with this notion, considering he is suggesting re-working our society as we know it. The fact of the matter is people don't step outside of their comfort zones. If an issue isn't life-threatening, we are slow to act. To suggest that the very notion of chivalry is oppressive in its origin is going boldly against the flow. As individuals we are very concerned with our own lives and thus don't spend much time looking outside the box. The ideas that Johnson is promoting are difficult for many to accept because they are so radical. We have trouble wrapping our heads around the idea that we have to start from square one, as opposed to trying to glue little pieces back on as they fall off. In short, reworking our "system" as we know it would be too much of a hassle, too much of a headache for anyone to consider. That's pretty pathetic.

I especially enjoyed the references Johnson made to monopoly and war efforts. His ideas on our desire to follow rules and constructs regardless of what it does to us as human beings was frightening but eye opening. As well his references to the words; witch, bitch, crone, and virgin, and how overtime their meanings have been construed into something entirely different made me question how much I partake in the system. The amount that human-beings blindly accept ideas is incredible. We just dont want to deal with figuring it out ourselves, we don't want the headaches, so we accept mass culture and the ideas that are poured into our lives. Its a patriarchal society, of course everyone's going to tell us that men are better than women. But why is that? I hate to be the girl who references song lyrics, but one of John Mayer's lyrics speaks to this idea. "When they own the information they can bend it all they want"

boo the system.