Yeah, I guess calling the Pharisees a brood of vipers or Herod a sly fox is pretty objectifying. But it’s worthwhile pointing out the distinction that when Jesus does it he’s attacking the oppressors not the oppressed. And he doesn’t scapegoat them. In fact, Jesus is the Ultimate Scapegoat himself. Today, we reserve our most objectifying language for the weak, the outsider, the marginalized, the disadvantaged. And it’s shameful.

“If I gave you a bowl of skittles and three of them were poison would you still eat them?”

“Are the other skittles human lives?”

“What?”

“Like. Is there a good chance. A really good chance. I would be saving someone from a war zone and probably their life if I ate a skittle?”

“Well sure. But the point-”

“I would eat the skittles.”

“Ok-well the point is-”

“I would GORGE myself on skittles. I would eat every single skittle I could find. I would STUFF myself with skittles. And when I found the poison skittle and died I would make sure to leave behind a legacy of children and of friends who also ate skittle after skittle until there were no skittles to be eaten. And each person who found the poison skittle we would weep for. We would weep for their loss, for their sacrifice, and for the fact that they did not let themselves succumb to fear but made the world a better place by eating skittles.

Because your REAL question…the one you hid behind a shitty little inaccurate, insensitive, dehumanizing racist little candy metaphor is, IS MY LIFE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND TERRIFIED CHILDREN…

… and what kind of monster would think the answer to that question… is yes?”

I don’t want to hijack this blog post, but I just want to get this out while it is fresh on my mind. I have often wondered about objectification in the context of women. The simple answer is that boys will be boys. I have always thought it has to be a deeper issue than that. Most men don’t objectify their mom, sisters or daughters. I wonder how the definition and rationale behind objectification in the context of refugees applies to the objectification of women? I suspect it is fear-based. Maybe fear of acceptance and belonging? If so, then maybe empathy is the solution to the issue of objectification of women?