Well, three cheers for Jim Jefferies—as always, his show has
provoked great discussion here at Chez FondaRiz.
Long-time readers will remember Jim as my celebricrush in
the days before Al; I have remained a hardcore fan (and gotten Al hooked on his
work). I’m pretty upset that this is
going to be the first time in seven years I’m going to miss him when he comes through
in December—there’s just no room in the budget right now, sadly. (I only got to go last year because the
tickets were an Xmas present.) Oh, and Jim—I was fighting a cold and was still
pretty squiffed after the show (and waiting for Al to bring the car
around). If I came off as creepy,
sorry. Your virtue is safe with me these
days—Al is enough (and sometimes, too much. How anyone manages to deal with
more than one person in their romantic life is beyond this 50-year-old). Good to see you, though. (Like he reads
this.)
Ah, well, the joys of adulting. *ptui*
But seriously… if you haven’t caught his show on Comedy Central,
WTF is wrong with you? It’s hysterical,
thought-provoking, and just DAMNED good.
He seems to be having a good time, too. Nice to see someone who’s worked
hard get some well-earned success. I’m still pissed about Legit being cancelled
(way to go, FXX, you fucking idiots—you had a show that had a great cast, was
hysterical, and had heart and soul AND brains.
Of course it got cancelled), but the Daily Show-style format suits him
and his style. His “roving reports” are
on-point, and no one is spared.
With all of the sexual harassment shit spurting out of the
cracking façade of Hollywood and politics, there was no way Jim was not going
to touch on it, particularly all the bullshit coming out of Alabama and the
current GOP contender for Senate (no, I am not mentioning his worthless name,
the fucking pedophile). Now, a few words
about my life partner: I refer to Al as
the love of the rest of my life. I
waited 43 fucking years for him to show up, and if this happens to end, I am
done. No way I can put my heart on the
line like this again. We’ve been
together almost seven years now, he’s my best friend and my man, we have fought
like hell to make this work whilst dealing with family (my mother, her brother,
the loss of the family home, and her illness and loss; his kids, his
!@#$%^&*() of an ex-wife who is still under the delusion that she has some
right to run his life; plus, all of the baggage two human beings accumulate on
their journey through life); I honestly don’t WANT to work like this
again. He’s my hero, my honey, and I love
him to death, and we drive each other up the wall and back down again, and we’ve
got each other’s backs.
One of the reasons I respect him is because of his genuine respect
for women, particularly me. He is not one of those weird, semi-effeminate male
feminists who just LOVE AND RESPECT ALL WOMEN! He’s a normal guy who considers
women to be beautiful, incredible, smart, and amazing—and treats them with
respect. We work as a couple because we’re both deep into politics (and from
opposite sides, although he is a reasonable Republican of the old school, not
one of these moronic nutjobs that have destroyed the party of Lincoln); he’s an
economist, I’m a historian, and we love to get into it. Passionately.
It’s awesome. And both of us ask
questions and read and research and try to find an article or a news story that
the other hasn’t heard about yet—it’s our friendly competition here at home. To see his utter disgust for the way these men
have acted… I’m proud he’s my partner. I am grateful I waited for him, that I
held myself to a standard because it has paid off.
So, anyway, we were getting caught up on Jim’s show, and Al
asked the question a lot of people have asked, “Why did they wait so long to
come forward? Why didn’t they break this
last summer?”
He was not challenging the veracity of the women—to the
contrary, he believes them. He lives
with a survivor—he knows what we deal with, and does everything within his
power to make sure I feel safe.
I looked at him and said, “Because the Weinstein story hadn’t
broken last summer. The word was out—that
asshole had been banned from the local mall years ago.”
He looked thunderstruck. “Oh, shit. Of COURSE.”
It’s interesting to watch the emotions chase across his face
in moments like this—Al is NOT a poker player and never should be—and his
disdain, disgust, nausea… I am proud he’s my partner, that the very idea of harming
anyone like that is so antithetical to who he is…
And then I dropped the hammer… “Although what’s REALLY
galling is that no one believed any of these women or did a damned thing to
help them until a MALE journalist broke the story. If it had been written by a
woman, no one would have given a fuck.”
“You’re probably right,” he muttered sadly.
And this is the galling thing for me about all of this—every
fucking woman in this country (on the planet, honestly) knows this—if the article
about Harvey Weinstein had been written by a woman, it would have been ignored.
No one would have run it (and yes, I know the original outlet for the story
dropped it). Women have been talking
about this for years—about the routine disrespect, harassment, patronizing,
stereotyping, glass ceiling, abuse, lies, and general disregard that comes with
having a pair of tits and an innie instead of an outie between your legs.
Years and years and years of not being taken seriously… of
being told to “shut up and accept it,” being ignored, pushed aside… And now,
you assholes are taking us seriously because Frank Sinatra’s son told you to.
Fucking hypocrites much?
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