For those who think feminism is for man-hating dykes.

More often than not, I have heard people pointing out how feminism is ridiculous because it tries to make women superior to men. Any educated person who has read more than only Camille Paglia will know that is untrue. But what if it were?

So I woke up this morning thinking about this and why this happens. Undoubtedly, there must have been others who have written this, but it is the internet - we repeat ourselves as self-statements all the time.
First off, I need feminism. In a world where more than 50% of business leaders are men, they will continue hiring men because people mingle with like-minded people. Women have had to do more than men and be more energetic and harsh because if they were "just being women," they would have been stuck with "women's jobs" instead of succeeding in their ambitions.
Secondly, I need feminism because when I make breakfast for the two men in my house, I always get a thank you and a smile, but the rare times I ask breakfast to be made, I get a complaint or a sarcastic remark. I only get breakfast made without asking when it is International Women's Day - only contact me if you know what happened or when it is Google it - or Mother's Day or my birthday.
Finally, men still fail to see that emotions are part of being human, not a woman. If I cry, I am being a "little girl"; if I complain, I am being a "bitch"; if I yell, I am being "irrational". Men are never called those terms, except for "little girl" if they cry as children.
So I need feminism, being married, being a mother, being a teacher, being human because apparently the word man has left out the hu- on purpose.

P.S.: credit be given - my men share the chores with me at home. But if society weren't sexist, that would have been needless to point out...

L'Occitane no Brasil: uma maneira Brasileira de fazer as coisas.

Para quem gosta de produtos L'Occitane, olha só a troca de emails que eu fiz recentemente - e o caso ainda está pendente...
Como vocês podem ver pela foto, no dedo indicador há o creme comprado na França, e no dedo médio o creme comprado no Brasil.

Em 27/04/2013

Olá,

Primeiramente gostaria de parabenizar a L’Occitane Loja Virtual no Brasil, os preços estão razoáveis em relação aos praticados no exterior, e a liquidação 50% é realmente uma liquidação, ao contrário de outras lojas que fingem liquidar.

Fiz uma compra online e estou muito satisfeita com o prazo de entrega, também.

No entanto, tenho uma dúvida: eu possuo produtos L’occitane comprados na França e nos EUA, e percebi, especialmente no caso de cremes para mãos (em questão o Lavande e o Feuilles Magiques) que os cremes aqui tem consistência diferente. Digo, eles estão mais diluídos. Assim, fiquei um pouco chateada porque o rendimento do produto não é igual ao vendido fora, ou seja, o rendimento é menor.

Eu tenho ambos cremes comprados no pedido abaixo e ainda tenho os que comprei no exterior – exatamente o mesmo produto – em casa e os comparei, logo tenho certeza que isso é verdade. Minha pergunta é, por que isso acontece?

Em 04/05/2013

Prezada Senhora,

Agradecemos o contato e disponibilidade em colaborar com o serviço de atendimento Grupo L’Occitane.

Estamos verificando o seu caso e assim que possível entraremos em contato.  

Estamos à disposição para mais esclarecimentos.

Atenciosamente,

Serviço de Atendimento ao Consumidor L´Occitane do Brasil

Tel: 0800.171.272  

Em 07/05/2013

Prezada Senhora,

Agradecemos a disponibilidade em colaborar com o Serviço de Atendimento ao Cliente L’Occitane.

É política comercial das empresas do grupo L’Occitane analisar e prontamente atender as reclamações de seus clientes.

Portanto, seu produto deverá ser encaminhado à loja mais próxima, onde será encaminhado para análise pelo Departamento Técnico da L'Occitane. Qual a loja da L'Occitane a senhora gostaria de enviar?

Estamos à disposição para mais esclarecimentos.

Atenciosamente,

Serviço de Atendimento ao Consumidor L´Occitane do Brasil

Tel: 0800.171.272  

Minha resposta hoje:

Caros Srs., 

Como comprei 3 cremes de mão, gostaria de entender melhor como isso funciona. Preciso levar todos os produtos que comprei para análise?

Eles serão trocados? Todos eles? Ou eu vou devolver um produto que comprei e esperar a análise e tê-lo devolvido? 

A julgar que os três produtos são mais líquidos que os estrangeiros, certamente qualquer produto daqui pode ser analisado para essa finalidade. 

A questão é, a análise vai comparar os produtos daqui ou com os comprados lá fora?

Honestamente não gostaria de ter mais trabalho com o creme - se houver uma loja L'Occitane no Shopping Morumbi ou no Shopping Market Place na cidade de São Paulo, ok, mas acho que não há muita lógica em analisar um produto comprado no Brasil com outro comprado no Brasil, já que a diferença de consistência se deu em produtos de países diferentes. 

Aguardo,

_______________________________________________

Por que estou postando isso?

Bom, se vocês pensarem em comprar produtos L'Occitane, tenham certeza que aqui eles estão sendo diluídos. Se vocês pensarem em reclamar, será como discutir física quântica com o Stephen Hawking. AH, mas péra... eles não são rocket scientists.

BRICS and the Mission of Reconfiguring the World

BRICS and the Mission of Reconfiguring the World [Voltaire Network]


More than ever over the past decade, geopolitics watchers whose approach to international developments is - in line with the projections made by founders of the school of thought N.Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, and A.J. Toynbee - premised in the assumption that distinct civilizations will overshadow countries and ethnic groups as the actual players in global politics can say that reality is generating ample evidence to confirm the concept.

The BRICS summit which convened in China’s Sanya [1] must be credited with being more than a forum of one of the countless political groups popping up across the world as countries combine their efforts in advancing common interests. BRICS – the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – deserves to be viewed from a wider perspective, considering that every one of the member countries represents a civilizational type which is both particular and highly important on the global scale. As a result, the agreements sealed in Sanya represent a serious bid to reconfigure today’s world, and the Western financial elites which seek primacy based on the US dollar and military might are confronted with a major challenge [2]

It is an open secret that the US largely owes its own prosperity as well as the ability to support countries eager to stay in Washington’s orbit to the privilege of flooding the world with dollars which, like counterfeit money, totally lack material backing. Since the collapse of the USSR, the countries which defied dollar dominance invariably came under heavy pressure and in a number of cases – under devastating attacks. S. Hussein who banned dollar circulation in all spheres of Iraq’s economy including oil trade was displaced and executed and his country was left in ruins. M. Gadhafi started switching Libya’s oil and gas business to gold-backed Arab currencies and air raids against the country followed almost immediately… Tehran had to put its plan to stay dollar-free on hold to avoid falling victim to aggression.

Still, even enjoying unlimited US support, the financial empires built by Rothschilds and Rockefellers are powerless against the five largest civilizations represented by countries accounting for nearly half of the world’s population, especially given the fact that three of them are nuclear-armed and two are already knocking on the nuclear club’s doors. BRICS is clearly immune to forceful pressure, its member countries do not appear vulnerable to color revolutions, and the strategy of provoking and exporting financial crises may easily backfire.

In contrast to the US and the EU, BRICS countries altogether own natural resources sufficient not only to keep their economies afloat in the settings of contracting availability of hydrocarbon fuels, food, potable water, and electric power but also to sustain vigorous economic growth. The shift to national currencies in the financial transactions between the BRICS countries should guarantee an unprecedented level of their independence from the US and from the West in general, but even that is only the tip of the iceberg. A grand geopolitical project is beginning to materialize, and the statement on Libya issued by the BRICS summit reflects the alliances growing determination to respond with convincing political measures if the West’s expansion over the east continues. Besides, Chinese leader Hu Jintao directed biting criticism at Washington over human rights abuses, and the message is sure to resonate considering that at the moment the US is home to over 13 million Chinese whose loyalty to Beijing shows no signs of fading away.

Logically, the steps BRICS will likely be taking in the foreseeable future will include the following:

Tighter coordination in international politics, economy, and environment protection in the ranks of the alliance;

Initiatives aimed at drawing into BRICS the countries sharing civilizational foundations with the alliance’s current members;

The linking of the Muslim world to BRICS and the integration into it of such key Muslim countries as Iran, Syria, Malaysia, and Turkey;

Synchronization of international politics decision-making within BRICS;

Efforts to induce an overhaul of global organizations, for example, to reorganize the UN Security Council so as to ensure that the world’s civilizations are represented in it on a permanent basis;

The establishment of a BRICS common market and economic coordination zone;

The creation of a BRICS shared security framework.

Two processes are exerting definitive influences over the current global geopolitical dynamics. On the one hand, attempts are made to establish – regardless of the imminent human costs – a unipolar world order propped up by financial and military might. Crises, armed conflicts, and various calamities are provoked with the purpose, as they are supposed to justify instituting a world government, control over which the main financial empires will easily seize. On the other hand, the contours of an alternative world order offering greater fairness, rooted in different philosophies of individual existence, and based on its own economic and social order are increasingly visible. Since individual countries and national governments are defenseless at the face of the global financial centers, civilizations have to take over the leading role in the struggle for the survival of mankind, and the advent of BRICS, along with its potential partner – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, reflects one of the first initiatives of the kind. Interestingly, due to profound geopolitical reasons the civilizations now moving to the front stage are oriental and carry essentially non-Western values, moral norms, and forms of social organization.

The alternative world order should assign greater importance to moral regards in all types of activities and prescribe collectivist rather than egoistic approaches to global and regional problems. Moderation in the use of natural resources and the taming of consumer appetites would necessarily be built into the model as well as the diversity of world views that will persist despite the pushy propaganda of the new age-type universal religion sanctioning the unipolar world order.

The implementation of the underlying plans of the Sanya summit is contingent upon the BRICS’ being armed with an adequate strategy and a vision of its unique long-term objectives. The mission of formulating them rests with the science of geopolitics. In China, an organization akin to Russia’s Geopolitics Problems Academy has been given an official status. Similar research centers exist in India, the country which has adopted an original geopolitical doctrine.

From Moscow’s standpoint, the geopolitical rise of BRICS is a process which helps Russia both maintain its status in international politics and preserve its statehood and territorial integrity. We therefore wish BRICS success.

General Leonid Ivashov

Source
Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia)