Shit that Pissed me Off – 12/4

This Bullshit Gotcha Video

In the video (which is complete bullshit and anyone who watches it and sympathizes with the filmmakers can just fuck the hell right off), a couple of guys trick a girl to prove that when she claims she has a boyfriend, she doesn’t actually have a boyfriend.  What a bitch, amirite?

No.  She’s just not interested. But she’s probably learned that if she says “I’m not interested,” the answer could likely be “why not?”

Seriously, college aged girl, what is it about me you find unattractive?

At that point, she has to lie and come up with some nice way to tell the guy he seems kind of sleazy and makes her feel unsafe or she can tell him the truth.  She’ll probably lie because when most of us are confronted with the choice of telling someone they are a sleaze or telling them something slightly nicer, we’ll go the nicer route.

Also, she’s probably learned that if she tells him that he is sleazy and makes her feel unsafe, he could ask her why she thinks that and then call her a “cunt” or a “bitch” or “frigid” and say she deserves to get raped.

Here’s the sad part, though, for the girl in this video, no answer is OK.  If she says he’s kind of sleazy (because he is) and she isn’t interested, she’s a bitch.  If she lies to be nice or just to avoid a more unpleasant conversation that she doesn’t want to have because fuck him she’s trying to study and he should have just left her the fuck alone, she’s still a bitch because she lied!

Japanese Whale Hunting

In spite of overwhelming international pressure, the Japanese whaling fleet is on its way to kill up to 333 Minke whales for “research.”  They claim that killing these whales is the only way to get the data they “need.”

Nobody, however, seems to be capable of explaining what the data will be for other than finding an excuse to kill more whales.  In fact, that is their stated purpose.  Here’s an official quote on the subject:

Through capturing whales for investigation, Japan is collecting the scientific data and aiming for the resumption of commercial whaling. This official government view doesn’t change

They are killing whales so they can figure out how to kill more whales!

What they haven’t ever done is explained why we need commercial whaling in the first place.  There is no vital human need that is met by commercial whaling beyond giving people jobs killing whales.  Is that who we are as a species? We need to figure out how to keep people employed killing animals whose only crime is not being people?

If so, it is more than a little bit pathetic.

Some Responses to the Colorado Planned Parenthood Shooting are Unsurprising

While most of the Republican Presidential field is trying to pretend the guy who murdered three people was not a right-wing Christian, lots of other right-wing Christians were making sure everyone knew he was a hero.

News organizations were debating whether or not he should be called a terrorist.  Lots of people were arguing that this was just the act of a man who is mentally unstable.

And people who are pro-choice feel the need to preface their opinion by saying “I don’t think abortion should be used as birth control” or “I wish we lived in a world where abortion wasn’t necessary” as if you have to apologize for thinking women should have bodily autonomy.

I mean, I’m anti death penalty but that doesn’t mean I like criminals. How come nobody ever says that?

Look, I understand that as a nation, we are divided on the whole abortion topic.  I also understand there is nothing I can say that will convince someone who is pro-life that abortion is not baby murder.

But what this guy did is terrorism.  When we call white terrorists “mentally ill,” we not only insult the mentally ill (most of whom have never committed mass murder), we imply that when white people commit mass murder, it is because they are broken. And when non-white people commit mass murder, it is because they are pre-disposed to do that sort of thing.

And I don’t give a fuck what side of the abortion debate you are on – there is no justification for what he did.  None.  So stop celebrating like your team won the Super Bowl.

School Cancels a Reading of a Book Because They Were Threatened with a Lawsuit

The book in question is “I am Jazz” and it is about a transgender child.

Yeah.  Now you get it.

Parents claim the school is interfering with their parental rights.  Because presenting transgenderism as normal interferes with a parent claiming that children like Jazz are perverted and disgusting.

I can see why a parent would be concerned they might look bad.  Because parents who think that way look really bad.

Since changing their mind isn’t an option, the only obvious answer is a lawsuit so their children are never introduced to opinions that aren’t transphobic nonsense.

Holy shit people.  How about you sit down and try to understand transgenderism?  I mean actually try to understand it?

Try to understand why someone would make the choice to be transgender in the face of people like you.  Do you suppose it’s because presenting as the gender they were assigned at birth feels worse to them than the bigotry they will face when they present as the gender they honestly feel they are?

You want to know what is scarier than a transgendered woman using a stall in a woman’s bathroom?  People who think that sort of thing makes her some kind of pervert.

Senate Republicans Block Gun Legislation and I Actually Agree With Them

Agreeing with Republicans makes me crazy but bear with me here.

The bill that was rejected would have prevented suspected terrorists, felons, and the mentally ill from buying guns.

That last part there – the part about the mentally ill – that’s the part I think is problematic.  We have this narrative that mass shootings (by white people) are committed by the mentally ill.  Yet there are millions of people dealing with mental illness in the US.  Almost none of them are shooting and killing anyone.

I mean how could they when they are wearing one of these????

Should they be allowed to have a gun to go hunting or for self defense? I don’t want guns for those purposes but that doesn’t mean most people with mental illness should automaticaly be prevented from having them.  Besides, it continues the annoying tendency of Americans to think that when brown people commit mass murder, they are terrorists but when white people do it, they are mentally ill.

Would I prefer if suspected terrorists didn’t have easy access to guns? Sure!  But grouping the mentally ill into the same category shows a complete failure to understand mental illness.

Of course – that isn’t why the Republicans downed the bill.  They had a bunch of bullshit reasons that had nothing to do with mental illness.  But torpedoing a bad bill for bad reasons still means a bad bill got stopped.

So please, Senate Democrats, write a better bill.  Sure, it’ll get voted down.  I accept that.  But at least you won’t be equating mental illness with terrorism.

Steven Spielberg Confirms Nobody But Harrison Ford Should Play Indiana Jones

I know what you’re thinking:  “Hey Tim, you LOVE Raiders of the Lost Ark, this should make you happy!”

Yeah, I fucking love Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I love the way Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones.  Even in crap moves like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I can see Spielberg’s point that Indiana Jones shouldn’t be like James Bond.  Only one actor should play Jones.

Except…I kinda don’t agree.

While I don’t think Jones should have a new girlfriend in every movie, I like the character enough that I’d love to see him continue with the right actor.  If the movie wasn’t a complete pile of crap.

That’s a big if.  On the other hand, you have Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and that really didn’t help, did it?  As with any film franchise, the most important piece of the puzzle is whether or not you’ve made a good film.

You could absolutely make a good Indiana Jones film without Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones.

And I’d totally watch a good Indiana Jones film with another actor playing the lead.

But if Ford is the only dude who can play Jones, I think Spielberg needs to stop talking about it and make a goddamn Indiana Jones film.  Ford isn’t getting any younger.  And he’s crashing planes.

Fly? Yes. Land? No.

Ring a bell, Steven?  Make a fucking movie!