Stigma This...Stigma That

Stigma (noun) 1. a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one's reputation.


With elections soon underway there are the usual dirty tactics, attack adds & using various forms of stigma against political opponents. This I'm sure comes as no surprise to anyone reading this but two cases of stigma shaming have stood out to me in particular.


First, 28-year-old, Democratic Congressional hopeful Krystal Ball of Virginia has been experiencing a great deal of "slut shaming" lately. Pictures were released on the internet of her sucking on a reindeer dildo that was on her then husbands face at a Christmas party as well as leading him around on a leash.


These pictures are not explicit, just a young married couple being flirtatious and playful the way young couples do. Yet, such a big deal has been made about them by conservative pundits and her opposition alike you'd thing she was blowing the football team! "The stigma of Whore" I call this. Making a woman out to be lustful and over sexualizing her in order to discredit anything she does or stands for.


Then there is Rand Paul. Don't get it twisted! I do NOT support Rand Paul's politics but I do support him in this. An attack add came out trying to paint him as a (better have your kids leave the room)

GODLESS ATHEIST!

Which horrible tool of the religious right would do such a thing you ask? Well, shamefully it's Democrat, Jack Conway. I couldn't be more disappointed & neither could Claire McCaskill. She said

"This ad is a very dangerous ad because it reaches back to college."

You know what I HAVEN'T seen? I have yet to find a popular publication that stated what I'm sure anyone reading this who is an Atheist is thinking...

So what if he WAS an Atheist?!?

Anybody ever think of THAT? I'm thoroughly disappointed with the supposed "Liberal Media" for failing to take that position. It seems like everyone is so busy trying to get elected and not alienate the religious masses that they are afraid to call this what it is.

Stigmatization of "Godless" people.

Which is why it is so fitting that another definition for stigma is



2. marks resembling the wounds of the crucified body of Christ, said to be supernaturally impressed on the bodies of certain persons, esp. nuns, tertiaries, and monastics.