Shit that Pissed me off – 7/17

16-Year Old Child of Anti Vaxxers Uses Her Own Money to Get Vaccinated

Good for her, right?  She decided she wasn’t interested in getting the Measles so, of her own free will, she went behind her parent’s backs and solved the problem the way most of us would solve that problem.

The mom is losing her shit because she didn’t consent to the procedure.  Too bad for her they live in Canada and at sixteen, her daughter gets to do whatever the fuck she wants with her own body.

As a parent, I understand that there are certain choices we need to make for our kids until they reach a certain age.  I’ve told my kids that they can get a tattoo if they want but they have to wait until they are 18.  Why?  Because I figure it will give them a little time to think about it before they get a picture of Twilight Sparkle tattooed on their butt.

Nothing against My Little Pony, you understand, I just think this would be a creepy-ass tattoo.

If they came to me at 17 and had a good argument, I’d probably tell them it was fine.

Given how my kids respond to pain, this hypothetical conversation is never going to happen.  But I digress.

This pain in the ass mom seems to think that she has some right to control over another person’s body because that body happens to belong to her daughter.

What is she so angry about anyway?  If her daughter develops autism as a result of the vaccines, she is still going to be moving out in a couple of years.

President Obama goes to Oklahoma and a Bunch of People Wave Confederate Flags at him in Protest

“Heritage not hate” they cry as they wave a Confederate flag (that is actually the flag of the army of Northern Virginia) at the first black President of the United States.

Nobody thinks that years of institutionalized racism are going to be erased by the removal of a flag from state capitol grounds.  I mean literally nobody thinks that.

I probably shouldn’t have used the word literally as there is probably one guy who is convinced that was all it was going to take.

But you know, a bunch of (mostly) white protestors telling a black guy how he should feel about a symbol (to him) of slavery and the KKK is pretty presumptuous, isn’t it?  “Hey black dude, why don’t you recognize we are celebrating our heritage of trying to secede from the United States for economic reasons? So what if those reasons were directly tied to the slave trade?  Trying to not be Americans is what makes us AMERICANS!”

Besides, they reason, Obama wasn’t a slave.  Why should he care?

Well look, jackass, you didn’t fight in the civil war either. And you don’t get to tell black Americans how to feel when they look at a symbol of hate and oppression.

The reason we should all realize we haven’t solved racism in this country is because there are so many white people telling black people how to feel about the Confederate Flag.

That is actually the flag of the army of Northern Virginia.  Which is the really important part of all of this.

A Meme That Pissed Me Off

Dear Caitlyn Jenner.  It’s not that we hate you because you are trans.  We hate you because you aren’t brave.

That’s right Caitlyn.  Have you ever carried a wounded colleague across a desert?  No?

Then fuck you and your claims of bravery.

I’m not sure if it is a fundamentally American thing that makes too many of us believe that bravery only happens in uniform.  We seem to think that military service is the yardstick of bravery.  That and being brave enough to tell gay people you won’t serve pizza at their wedding. If you aren’t in a uniform (or a homophobe), you’re a fucking coward.

Like this chickenshit asshole here.

Bravery, my friends, comes in all forms.  Caitlyn Jenner can be just as brave as that dude carrying his buddy across the desert.  It is not an either or designation.  Jenner probably gets just as many messages telling her that she is going to hell and a national embarrassment as she gets messages supporting her.

And she knew that was going to happen.

Sounds brave to me.

Stupid Fucking Gotcha Video Gets Planned Parenthood

See here’s the thing: you aren’t going to convince me that Planned Parenthood is evil.  Call me overly dogmatic but every time the anti-abortion crusade targets Planned Parenthood, I figure Planned Parenthood is doing something right.

So the latest gotcha video from the right is a heavily edited piece of propaganda that would seem to suggest that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted fetus parts.  Instead of giving them a proper burial or something.

First off, that isn’t what they are doing.  They receive a fee because it costs money to transport medical supplied and the tissue is being used for medical research that is being used to cure all sorts of subversive stuff like childhood cancer.

Second, so what if they were receiving a fee?  Did you expect them to give all of these fetuses a proper burial?  It may come as a big surprise to some but Planned Parenthood isn’t swimming in money.

You know why not?  Because assholes keep putting together videos like this that are meant to mislead the public.

I understand that they don’t like abortions.  I’d be (slightly) more sympathetic if they weren’t willing to engage in just about any dirty trick in the book to get what they want.

Righteous Indignation over Cosplay

Normally I’d link to the article but it is about a friend of mine and I think she’s tired of reading the damn thing.

So here’s what happened – some folks re-created the Cersei shame walk from the Season finale of Game of Thrones at CONvergence last weekend.  I didn’t see it but by most accounts, it was epic.

A few folks didn’t like it.  I think the reasons they didn’t like it are misguided but I’m not going to re-hash the arguments here as I don’t honestly believe the people who disagree with me have any interest in my point of view and I’ve spent enough time trying to understand theirs.

Next time I’ll just scroll down to the cat pictures.

Here’s what bugs me.

First, the article on The Mary Sue includes this gem: “Comedy–true comedy–punches up, not down.”

It bothers me that anyone would feel they are the keeper of true comedy. Also, just how was this cosplay punching down?  It was making fun of a pretty popular show.  I mean, I haven’t watched “Game of Thrones” and I got the joke.

Second, the way people have been shaming my friends.  The Mary Sue article didn’t bother to talk to them even though it linked to a gigantic Facebook thread about the event.  They just decided to admonish.  I’ve seen others calling them names.

You don’t have to like what they did.  You don’t have to understand what they did.  But when you start calling people names, the argument is over.

Part of me wants them to do the same cosplay next year but have someone walking behind them with a big sign that reads DO NOT BE ALARMED. THIS IS SATIRE!

Asshole Sees Two Teenagers Have a Car Accident and Films it on his Cell Phone to “Teach People a Lesson”

So the dude decides that he doesn’t need to help a couple of critically injured kids.  Instead, he views the whole situation as a teachable moment.  He climbs into their car before an ambulance arrives so he can get footage.  All the while calling them idiots.

You know, they may be idiots.  I think it’s a little presumptuous to assume the passenger had any responsibility for the accident but who knows?  Maybe he was shouting “do something stupid and dangerous” at the driver.

After the guy shoots the video and does not help the kids, he offered it to TV stations for free a donation to his private charity.  At least that’s what he claims.  The stations said he tried to sell it to them.

Maybe they misunderstood.  Maybe not.

Thing is, I feel like this guy was calling the wrong person an idiot.