I think that the title of this particular article is rather self-explanatory in regards to content, however I’m doing my best to not jump to conclusions quite yet. One thing that I have learned in my time reading the “less-than-popular” news is that from time to time people will jump on a school, company, or other organization for some supposed human rights violation only to discover later that the story was terribly distorted or quotes were taken out of context such that things appeared either much worse or entirely the opposite of what they actually are. While I’m not implying that this is one of those cases, I am saying that there are some questions that have yet to be answered and thus leave it open to become one.
With that in mind, on to the story:
A highschooler in the town of Alice, Texas states that he was removed from the cheerleading team and suspended from school when he was caught on security camera kissing another male student. Needless to say (if you know me at all) this does not surprise me. Contrary to what many may think upon reading that, I do not make that statement simply because we are talking about Texas, as many of the commenters have already done. I make that statement because it seems that for some reason which utterly bipasses my ability to comprehend, this country is completely incapable of just liking all the people who live inside of it. I’m sorry if you feel so little confidence in yourself that you must find someone who has less than you to feel better, but attempting to constantly insult and punish people who haven’t done anything wrong simply because you can makes you even less of a person than you already were…so maybe you should just get a hobby or something to make yourself feel more worthwhile.
As for the rest of the story, I’ll just let you read the actual article, but I do think that this just emphasizes the fact of how utterly bigoted the world is capable of being, even in this day and age, and how completely depressing that it. There are so many people out there who think that they have the intrinsic right to dislike other people for any number of reasons but I have just a couple of things to say to them before I go.
1) They came into this world the same way you did.
2) They will leave this world in the same way you do.
3) They will most likely leave more impact behind than you do, because a loving legacy lasts an eternity, but hatred only lasts a lifetime.
1 year ago
Recently several twitter users and companies (or ‘Brands’) have announce that celebrities, PR firms, and other users with a large fan base no longer need to follow a user before that user can send them a DM. For those who are less than knowledgeable on the more intricate workings of twitter, let me explain.
Twitter allows the use of DMs (or Direct Messages) to send messages to another user that can not be viewed by the public; in other words, a private message. Normally both users must be “following” one another in order for this option to be available, meaning that most large companies on twitter who have a vast following would be unable to make use of it due to the inability to follow all of their millions of followers in return. This new policy change, however, eliminates that hurdle. Now only one party need be following the other for the DM option to become available, for example: Katie is following her lawyer on twitter. Her lawyer makes a post saying that she is “Free all afternoon if anyone would like a quick meeting”. Katie does not wish to let all her friends know that she is currently hiring a lawyer because she is embarrassed. By the old policy, Katie would have to use some other means to respond to her lawyer, however now she can simply send a private message back saying “Can we meet at 3pm?” and no one but her lawyer need know.
That was a long explanation to get to my point (as is par for the course with me), but here we go. As interesting as I found all of this to be, my thought was “What about all those celebrities and companies that don’t want this large influx of private messages as is bound to happen” and then I read this:
With that in mind, Twitter has provided the option of disabling the feature, making the new feature a welcome addition for PR firms and brands looking to interact with their followers.
This is the very last line of the article, and rightly so as it sums things up rather nicely, but what boggles me are the comments that follow.
This sounds really dangerous for celebrities on twitter.
Don’t like the idea - would give another route for spammers to abuse.
I’m not a brand but I’d rather selectively follow people back who I wanted to receive DMs from than have ANYONE be able to send a Direct Message to my account.
Judging by these comments, I am apparently the only human being left on the planet who either A) has the ability to read or B) is capable of maintaining an attention span long enough to encompass a ONE PAGE ARTICLE. So, just a hint for those of you who read half of the first paragraph and then jump to the comments because you NEED to explain how this is a terrible thing; read the whole thing, only then can you avoid the dark side of making yourself the idiot…
1 year ago
I’d really like to hug the man behind this billboard. Brava!
2 years ago
17 y.o. Gaby pretended to be pregnant from homecoming to early April during her senior year of high school to collect data for her senior year sociological project in which she dissects the sterotypes thrust upon pregnant teenagers.
2 years ago
John Shore, blogger for the Huffington Post, writes a short entry on some of the truths about Jesus that most of the religious world prefers to overlook before concluding that, if Jesus were invited to a gay wedding, he would most definitely go…and would likely bring wine.
Sadly, however, it would appear that the majority of the over 300 commenters seem to have completely skipped the vast middle section of the entry so they can get to the “Jesus would have gone” bit and then proceeded to inform the author how he’s a terrible person and most likely going to hell.
2 years ago
A group of Christian Extremists, listed specifically as Catholic at one point in the article, charged armed guards in a museum in France in a successful attempt to destroy a piece of art known as “Piss Christ” in which artist Andres Serrano submerged a plastic crucifix in a glass of his own urine and then photographed it to make a statement about the use of Christ and Christianity in a for-profit manner, as is so common in the modern age. The group in question has stated that they want to “re-Christianize France” and have since harassed the museum declaring that they want such anti-Christian themed pieces banned from the country.
Once again, we have another group of religious extremists (don’t let any particular group fool you into thinking that only one particular religion or another is capable of extremist stupidity) believing that their personal choice in a deity gives them the right to bring about harm and destruction on other people and their properties without repercussions and who give me yet one more reason to want to buy my own island…
2 years ago
A/N: It has been brought to my attention that, in the following article, I have misused the term “Semantic” in place of the term “Semitic”. Whether this is due to my own inability to think whilst typing this or due to spellchecks ever-constant need to make me look like an idiot, I am not sure however I ask you to overlook this mistake in lieu of understanding the overarching point of the article. Thank you.
The article above explains how, among other things, the Arizona birther law which is currently on the desk of the governor would allow them to use circumcision as proof of citizenship. While this is, in and of itself, a form of insanity that I was hoping never to see in this country (mind you, the only reason for wanting to pass this law is that a large number of people are trying to prove that the current President is NOT a citizen because the law in Hawaii, where he was born, prevents his original birth certificate from being copied or leaving the hospital in which he was born. They have verified it is on record and granted the public access to their “public files” which are what Hawaii uses instead of the actual birth certificate, so there really should be no problem) my actual problem has nothing to do with the fact that they are constantly trying to oust the President and everything to do with the fact that they are lending credence to the idea that certain “types” of people (read religious and white) are more “American” than others as well as to the idea that circumcision is not only a viable choice for a child, but one that should be made.
Now, first off, given the number of religious traditions in this country (not to mention the number of individuals who do not ascribe to a religion) there is a good chance that a male child born to a couple that legally lives here would not want to have their child circumcised as it is traditionally held to be a semantic (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) tradition. So, what this law is subtly intonating is that a REAL American is one of these three religions (most likely they want it to be ONLY Christian, but it’s difficult to narrow it down that far using only a newborns penis). This is infuriating enough on its own, considering that a large population here is not one of the semantic religions, however it’s not the part that really has my panties in a knot, so to speak.
What annoys me the most (actually I suppose annoy isn’t the best term…more like enrage) is the undertone that this bill carries with it that “circumcision is good”. Now, I don’t know what kind of culture most of the individuals who wrote this bill grew up in (I’m guessing overly religious and most likely highly patriarchal) but where I come from we have a tendency to refer to experts on matters that we can’t fully comprehend because we don’t have the proper training or background. In the case of medical issues, such as surgery, we tend to refer to physicians or other members of the medical community. This is where I and my peers should come in…however it seems that the writers of this bill forgot to add this step.
Every day, in almost all of the “first world” countries, circumcision is debunked more and more by the medical community. It is a pointless, painful (there is no anesthetic used for a procedure in which a heated metal blade cuts the most sensitive portion of the human body) procedure which is pushed solely for religious reasons and is, in general, rejected by the medical community at large. People will argue that it “looks cleaner”…well so concrete but I doubt you want me to plow down all the city parks in the name of cleanliness. Some will argue about medical problems that can occur only in the uncircumcised, and there are some, however the incidence of them occurring is almost identical if not less numerous to the incidence of “surgical accidents” that occur during circumcision surgery (and, mind you, the medical problems of those who maintain their foreskin can be fixed with medical intervention almost 100%…you can’t just go find a “new penis” to attach if you fuck up the one the boy has during surgery) Also, I would like to point out that most cases of medical problems involving the foreskin are 100% causally linked to IMPROPER CLEANING REGIMEN. This means that, unless you are planning on being a terrible parent and never telling your child to go take a bath, these problems should not exist in the modern world.
So then, here we have a bill who’s sole purpose is to promote an outdated religious tradition in a secular government while (hopefully) proving that the president is not a citizen so that he can be removed from office and an old white man can take his place and run things like they should be run (by cutting taxes for the rich and stealing from the poor)…sounds like a perfect bill to me…maybe some people should go sign a petition or something…
2 years ago
A senator in Tennessee has introduced a bill to the state education board which would prevent all teachers and school staff in all elementary and middle schools in the state of Tennessee from discussing or so much as mentioning anything to do with alternate sexual identities (LGBTQ). This would, in effect, prevent counselors from being able to speak with students confused about their sexuality, prevent teachers from answering questions on such topics as the scientific basis of sexuality or laws which discriminate along sexuality lines, and possibly cause for the omition of certain historical facts all in the name of “not saying gay”. Ultimately, this bill is nothing more than a way to subconciously enforce a bigoted world view on children who are too young to understand that hatred is not their only choice.
The link above leads to a more complete description of the bill as well as a petition which can be signed electronically demanding that the bill be brought to a halt.
2 years ago -
1
Exactly how ridiculous have some of the arguments against Planned Parenthood become, well here’s a hint; Steven Colbert can’t even maintain a straight face in his attempt to mock them…
2 years ago
A christian organization is utterly outraged by a recent J. Crew (a clothing manufacturer) add in which a woman is seen with her male child who has his toe nails painted pink. The angered party claims that they are using this poor child to push contraversial, transgender politics; the rest of the world thinks they are baulking to make their own contraversy. I think the biy likes pink, I like penguins…moving on…
2 years ago
