Shit that Pissed me Off – 12/11
The Media Manages to Prove that Every Bad Thing Anyone Says About Them is True
In the wake of a shooting spree in San Bernardino, fourteen victims and two suspects lay dead. News agencies were left with one important task: to find a way to convince people to watch their coverage over the coverage on a different network.
When the authorities apparently cleared the apartment where the two shooters lived, reporters stormed the apartment and began sifting through toys in the baby’s room, toiletries in the bathroom, and any other detail they could get their hand on. And then they reported on it under the mistaken impression that people gave a fuck.
“Authorities are unsure why the family chose Crest as their toothpaste but one thing is certain: this reporter is glad he uses Colgate.”
I guess they did it because nobody was going to let them sift through the toiletries of the victims.
Amazingly, this absolutely crazed frenzy managed to achieve what would have seemed to be impossible: It nearly made the reporters look worse than people who had committed mass murder.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 11/13
A Bunch A Few Christians are Pissed about a Coffee Cup
Starbucks has unveiled their holiday coffee cup design and it is boring. It is literally a red cup. Their marketing team has covered up the fact they apparently chose not to hire a graphic designer this year by saying the plain red cup allows people to assign their own holiday story to the cup.
Which, I have to tell you, is one of the dumbest marketing ideas ever. A coffee cup is not a tabula rasa and I sincerely doubt the next Pulitzer prize will have anything to do with the color red or coffee.
A few Christians (a very few) have decided, however, that this cup represents the first salvo in this year’s War on Christmas (TM)!
How dare Starbucks fail to emblazon their cups with snowflakes or snowmen as in years past? Snow, of course, being one of the most recognizable symbols of Christmas the world over.
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!
One only has to do a little digging to discover that Starbucks still sells gift cards that say Merry Christmas and they still sell Christmas Blend coffee and they still sell fucking advent calendars!
If Starbucks is engaged in the War on Christmas (TM), they are clearly not fully committed to the fight.
This whole story, by the way, is amazing. You have Bristol Palin saying it is a conspiracy by the left to make the Christian right look dumb.
You have the guy who started the thing looking like an idiot when he defends his bullshit opinion.
And, of course, you have Starbucks. They have made so much money off of this “controversy,” they must be hoping it goes on for a least another couple of months.
Shit That Pissed me Off – 10/30
The Internet Rushes to Defend a Cop Who Beat up a Kid
I’m very careful to research the stuff I post for this blog. I want to make sure I understand the complete story before I rage against something that isn’t nearly as bad as it first appears. If my information comes from addicting info, I make sure I find another source.
So when a cell phone video of a “school resource officer” throwing a teenager around surfaced, you’d think I would look for the other side of the story.
Nope.
See it literally doesn’t matter what the student was doing wrong prior to the video. The extremely violent action was not provoked by a kid sitting at a desk. Even a kid refusing to leave the classroom. The officer lost his cool and physically assaulted a child.
To enter a dialogue saying “well she must have done something to deserve that action” ignores the fact that circumstances in which someone deserves to be beaten up are extremely rare.
Did Apollo Creed deserve to be beaten up by Rocky? Or Rocky by Apollo? If only they had just talked it out.
If the assault had been committed by a guy who wasn’t in uniform, nobody would be trying to make excuses for his act. But he’s a cop so he clearly did everything right and his actions shouldn’t be questioned, right?
No.
He’s a cop. So he should know better.
And the rest of us should stop trying to find an excuse to blame the victim. When someone starts hitting a person who is not hitting back, the person doing the hitting is to blame.
Shit that Pissed me off – 10/9
No Hymen, No Diamond
No link on this one. Do a Facebook search if you want to find it.
This Facebook group is dedicated to the idea that men deserve virgins to marry. If a girl doesn’t have a hymen, they aren’t going to put a ring on it.
They also post a lot of really super funny misogynist jokes like “How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb…. 0, everyone knows feminists can’t change anything!”
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Checkmate, feminists! You haven’t changed anything at all! Ever!
Well, sure. You got the right to vote and paid family medical leave and legalized abortion but what have you done lately?
I shouldn’t give a shit about a bunch of insecure men’s rights assholes and for the most part, I don’t. They are an embarrassment to other human beings but I believe their point of view is the minority and they just look like petulant douchebags who resent all the women that won’t date them because they are disrespectful cocks.
But I’m raising two boys. And I’m trying to teach them that women should be loved and respected and afforded all the rights men take for granted.
And the existence of garbage like this makes my job a little bit tougher.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/25
A Story about the Legends Football League
In case you’ve never heard of the Legends Football League, perhaps you might know of it by its previous name: The Lingerie Football League. It is the only “professional” football league for women in the United States.
I put “professional” in quotes because the athletes aren’t paid, get no medical care, and are expected to play football in swimsuits.
The reason they wear swimsuits instead of, you know, pads, is because nobody will watch women play football unless they are scantily clad. It’s all very depressing because the article points out that what these women really want to do is play football.
As a result they are exploited in almost every conceivable way. And they allow and accept it because they get an opportunity to play football.
Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? What do you mean you didn’t notice the score?
If you are a woman and your passion happens to be football, what other choice do you have?
It is not the fault of the women who are in the league. They recognize the choice that they have to make and they make it freely.
I know these ladies aren’t ever going to be paid as well as men but I have to ask: shouldn’t they get paid something? The league wouldn’t exist without the players and someone is making money. Too bad it isn’t the women who are, quite literally, the face of the league.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/18
A 9th Grader was Cuffed and Arrested Because he Made a Clock Was Muslim
I’m sure you’ve read about Ahmed Mohamed this week. He built his own clock and made the mistake of bringing it to school and showing his teachers. He was proud of himself because he made something cool.
His teachers were concerned he’d built a bomb.
Because, you know, most kids who want to blow up their school show the bomb off to their teachers first.
One more thing: REAL BOMBS DON’T LOOK LIKE THIS!
So this kid was cuffed and interrogated by police and then suspended for three days. Because he built a clock.
Now if Ahmed had been white, I somehow think this situation would have turned out differently. Strange given that most of the school shooters I know of were white. Maybe school bombers are different.
As of right now, two important things have happened. On the positive side, President Obama invited Ahmed to the White House, MIT invited him to their campus, and about five dozen tech companies already want to hire him. Because fuck the people who got scared by a Muslim kid with mechanical skills.
On the negative side, he says he has learned his lesson and he won’t bring his inventions to school any longer.
Which is precisely the lesson he shouldn’t have been taught.
Shit that Pissed me off – 9/4
Kim Davis, a clerk in Kentucky, has been on a religious crusade for a while now. Steadfastly refusing to issue marriage licenses because her conscience (and the Bible) won’t allow her to “condone” same-sex marriage, she has been fighting for her right to discriminate against people she doesn’t approve of religious freedom in the courts.
And she has lost. Time and again the courts have told her “this is the law. You have a sworn duty to uphold it even if you don’t agree with it.”
This week, after once again refusing to do her legal duty, she has been jailed for contempt of court.
There are so many things that bother me about all of this.
First of all, she is abusing the court system. There has never been a time when she would have abided by the court decision if she lost. Never. Sure, she probably believed she would win but so what? If you are going to use the court system and you lose, lose with some dignity.
Second, if she can’t do her job for moral reasons, she needs to quit. Instead of using her religion as an excuse to deny people a legal right with which she doesn’t agree, she needs to accept that she can’t fulfill the function of her office. Because she can’t won’t.
Third, can you imagine the issues should the court eventually side with her? Devout Muslims could refuse to issue drivers licenses to women. Devout Jews could refuse to serve McRibs at a McDonalds. Devout Buddhists could ruin a concert by clapping with only one hand.
Fourth, this isn’t about her personal beliefs being under fire. She isn’t doing this so she personally doesn’t have to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Told she would be released from jail if she allowed her deputies to sign same-sex licenses, she said she would not. In other words, even though she would not be issuing the license, she won’t allow one to be issued by anyone in her office. That means she is enforcing her own belief on those who work with her. Which is exactly what she claims to be fighting against.
Finally, I have a real problem with Christians who are casting stones. Because Jesus was pretty clear on this point:
Kim Davis cheated on her first husband with her third husband. Which is adultery and one of those commandments fundamentalist Christians are so anxious to put in courthouses.
I’m not judging her for that. She screwed up. People screw up all the time. I’m judging her for the fact she has the temerity to deny a legal right to others when she, by her own religious beliefs, has no right to judge them.
Shit that Pissed me off – 8/14
Gunman Fires at Police in Ferguson Protests
The protests to mark the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’s murder (my bias may be showing in my selection of words) were mostly peaceful. And then some asshole shot at the police.
Now this idiot was not a protestor. He was an extremist who wanted to hurt someone and used the protests as an opportunity to do it. Even if he claims he was angry at the police for documented racism, there were a lot of people angry at the police for documented racism who didn’t bring a gun.
In this picture are dozens of people who didn’t bring guns.
When one guy does something stupid, though, it is as if all the other people who weren’t doing anything wrong become co-conspirators. What they have to say is no longer considered important because of that one dude who tried to shoot the police.
So please, everyone, can we stop bringing guns to word fights?
Shit that Pissed me off – 7/10
I was at CONvergence having a wonderful time last week so I apologize that I didn’t post my regular column. Today, I shall play catch up on a bunch of stupid shit stretching as far back as three weeks.
Football Fans Tell a Player He Shouldn’t Talk about Anything but Football
This happens a lot. People tell someone they aren’t allowed to have informed opinions about anything except that for which they are most well-known.
In this instance, a white fan from Lacey, Washington, complained that a black football player from Charleston, South Carolina should not have an opinion about racism in the south. I mean sure, that makes sense. A white guy in Washington knows a lot more about racism.
He only lives – like – ten states away from South Carolina! He obviously knows better!
He certainly shouldn’t be subjected the opinion of a black guy from the south. Unless it’s about football.
The football player in question, Byron Maxwell, was responding to the recent massacre in his home town. His home town!
How entitled do you have to be to look at comments like that and think “I don’t want to hear the opinions of that guy because I know what’s going on way better than he does?”
Shit that Pissed me off – 6/5
There’s a New Kids’ Book About Hell
If you believe in hell, you don’t want your kids to go there. I understand that on a basic level.
Yet, when someone makes a book that is meant to scare kids into believing in god, I feel as if they need to question their fundamental beliefs.
Actually, this kind of looks like something from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Maybe it’s cooler than I thought.
They make god out to be a weak and petty tyrant. A tyrant who will punish kids for all eternity because two people ate a fruit they weren’t supposed to eat. Maybe it was an apple. Maybe it was a pomegranate. Maybe it was a tomato. Because tomatoes are a fruit.
Hell is a horror story. Most kids don’t respond well to horror stories. This book is intended to create faith through fear. I guess I feel god shouldn’t need to scare kids into believing.
Grail Diary 