Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Who gives a flying fuck?
Honestly, it’s terribly sad what happened to this innocent child, but given the number of children that die in violence in this country yearly, plus everything that is going on in the world, I find it very difficult to fall for this blatant “Don’t look at the man behind the curtain” tactic on the media’s part. I don't mind that it got reported that they caught the guy, I do mind the non-stop coverage of every second and every facet of his transportation and arraignment.
Folks, things suck and they suck a lot worse than the ten year old murder of a single exploited child. Stop looking at the soap operas and the pretty lights and let’s get down to business.
Besides, painting and dressing a six year old to look like she had a walk-on as a tramp in Dynasty is disgusting. I think any parent that turns their toddler into a sexual object needs to spend a hell of a lot of time in jail. All beauty pageants for girls below the age of 14 should be banned.
Katrina Recovery
Coming up on the one year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katina on the gulf coast, people are still homeless, areas still without potable water and electricity, infrastructure still failing in the aftermath. It doesn’t seem to be a problem of the amounts of money (Gawd knows there is enough money being thrown around), but complete lack of coordination on multiple levels of government throughout the Gulf Coast and Washington D.C. The Gulf Coast is a major moneymaker for the United States. If the municipal or state governments cannot come up with a cohesive plan to rebuild their regions better than they were, why hasn’t someone stepped into to coordinate the process from Washington? What is truly sad is the current results show agencies doing nothing more than trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, meaning this could happen all over again in exactly the same fashion. Shouldn’t we be trying to improve the region to safeguard it and its people against such disasters happening to them again? Given the multi-state scope of destruction, wouldn’t a federal committee guiding recovery be a good step? Certainly at this late date? Why should any region of this nation be no better than a third world country with no plans for improvement?
Prayers to all those in the Gulf Coast still trying to put their lives back together in Katrina’s wake.
Hooray for a Cease Fire!
Well, it sounds as though things have calmed down in Lebanon and the peacekeeping force is being pulled together, albeit slowly. At least people have lowered their weapons and are talking, which as a step.
I think the U.N. needs to convene a assembly to deal with the subject of terrorist and terrorism and how it should be handled. The Lebanese people paid the price for a group of foreign funded extremists in their midst and I don’t think Hezbollah or any terrorist group should be treated as a sovereign entity. I don’t think the U.N. should be disarming Hezbollah, but arresting them. The group’s principal goal is the elimination of Israel and there is little hope in trying to reason with them because we are never going to give them what they want. (In return, I would like to see Israel pay for all the damage they caused innocent Lebanese people. If people actually started calling them into account for their actions, I think perhaps they might consider moderating their response next time.) However, if we treat all non-state sanctioned political movements as being worthless in the eyes of the world, then we close the door on those groups with legitimate grievances against their governments, oppressed peoples.
It’s a pickle. We don’t pay attention to these people until they have been pushed to violence and then we seem to pay the wrong kind of attention to them once they have crossed that line.
Racism, Sexism in the U.S.
In my ongoing exploration of popular media, I have become increasingly disturbed at what American society is becoming. In the wake of Katrina, passive racism is a topic that needs to be addressed in the country openly, yet not only do we have the latest season of Survivor which has split it’s “tribes” up into ethnic groups in a publicized-sanitized “race war”, but last week saw a number of political figures on both sides of the aisle making racist vaguely remarks. “Tar Baby”? Have our leaders really been held that far back in the past? Are they that far out of touch? Shouldn’t we be talking about how we have designed a system that keeps minorities economically disenfranchised from the cradle to the grave (poor healthcare, under-funded inner city schools, nearly no vocational training, next to declining numbers of manufacturing jobs)? After conquering the big issues of racism in this country, shouldn’t we be trying to fine tune the system by cleaning out the dusty attitudes and little cobwebs of discrimination from the corners of our society?
For example, why a pretty white six year old gets ten years of media attention when she is murdered vs. the complete ignoring of crimes against children of minorities.
What has also disturbed me is the number of shows on TV that were blatantly exploitive of women.
Now, I don’t mind guys having themselves a good ol’ time by looking at pretty girls, many times it has been said the stripping exploits the men more than it does the women and I see a legitimate argument in that. However, men’s attitudes do not disturb me so much as women’s attitudes about it. There seems to be a growing number of women that feel they have nothing more to offer then their pretty faces and “party girl” attitudes and the popular media seems to be trying to reinforce that image.
While channel trying to find Speed Channel one night, a flipped past the reality show/contest on CMT about finding the “Ultimate Coyote” for the Coyote Ugly bars (hey, it’s publicity) Now I have worked in the food biz and seen how hard a bartender's job is, so I was intrigued.
Briefly.
“I think I have a lot to offer this competition because I’m not afraid to be a woman and wear make-up and act feminine…”
*Click*
“Being a woman” means “wearing make up”? “Acting feminine” means dancing on a bar in skimpy clothes?
I don’t begrudge anyone a clean good time, but I have to wonder that anyone would identify “being feminine” by what the girls at Coyote Ugly do. I also have to wonder, do the women on Survivor cease to be women, are they “not feminine”, because they are not wearing make-up and flirting?
Why does “being feminine” mean having to sell yourself to the crowd? Why does “being a woman” mean having to compromise yourself? I don't mind folks for having a good time, but let's call it what it is. Coyote Ugly girls are not "being feminine", they're using sex to sell alcohol. Hey, this is capitalism and if it works, more power to ya, but don't try and dress it up as "a proper woman should..." My mother doesn't dance on bars, does that mean she's isn't "a real woman?"
This wasn’t the only example of the media perpetuating the idea that being feminine meant being a sexual object, but it was the most blatant on that comes to mind. Well, that and the endless “Girls Gone Wild” commercials in Comedy Central (Man, those things are long)...and "Next". And do you know what that sort of attitude results in? Lemme tell you guys what was said on a Dale Jr. message board, by a so-called “woman”.
“Dale Jr. needs to find a nice girl who will let him think he is in charge, but will actually crack the whip on him…”
This was of course almost universally agreed with and anyone who felt that was a rather sick and pathetic way to view relationships and a horrible thing to wish on anyone was labeled a deviant and a trouble maker.
*roll eyes*
Manipulation, yeah that’s real “feminine”. Controlling, yep that’s “being a real woman”.
Who the fuck has that kind of time?
See that’s what happens when women are taught that the only thing they have to offer is their looks and a “fun attitude”: They feel powerless because their self-esteem is reliant not on themselves, but others opinions of them. They have no inner power beyond how they affect men (or women depending on their preference), which is not strength at all but a co-dependency because they need the feedback. Because they feel controlled by that dependency, in turn they try to manipulate and control people around them.
While there are some great fictional shows like CSI that present strong women who are utterly feminine without compromising themselves (Catherine Willows rocks), the “reality show culture” seems intent on turning women into teenage girls again, their self esteem dependant on others opinions of them.
Many conservatives talk about "the golden years" of the 1950’s with a hazy nostalgia, espcially those that didn't actually live through them as adults,; the intact nuclear family, the afternoons playing outside in safe suburban neighborhoods, the capitalism that provided for all, the black and white nature of politics.
What they forget was all the dirty little secrets that accompanied that "golden era": Racism, Chauvinism, Psuedo-Patiotic Paranoia. All three have returned, not to the degree they existed then, but they have returned.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the United States is slipping backward; politically, culturally and economically and we have to find some way to stop it.
Bristol.
Ooooh, owie! Elliott was doing SO WELL! He had a top five car on a track he knows inside and out when he got tagged by a speeding-on-pit-road penalty and then Joe Nemecheck. So wrong man, just so wrong. I don’t know if he ran over a black cat or what, but I’m sure it must feel as though he working through about two years of bad karma.
Keep your chin up Elliott, it’s a new team in a new car. I’m sure there will be some stumbles while everyone gets settled in. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just enjoy the rest of this year for the trail and error period it is and start fresh in February 2007.
Mark Martin, also a bad night. :(
Dale did very well finishing up 3rd while his team pulled off a slew of under 13 second pit stops and Tony Jr. made a car that was a “piece of crap” Friday afternoon into a car that could lead Saturday night, at least it was a top ten car that Dale could wheel to the front. That team really showed what they were capable of Saturday.
I daresay a couple more like that a Tony Jr. might just earn my forgiveness for Pocono 2004. ;)
Here's Some Fun Stuff
While channel flipping, I stumbled across this last weekend:
The Red Bull Air Race
It's basically stunt flying through a preset crouse in prop planes, simply amazing to watch.
Honestly, it’s terribly sad what happened to this innocent child, but given the number of children that die in violence in this country yearly, plus everything that is going on in the world, I find it very difficult to fall for this blatant “Don’t look at the man behind the curtain” tactic on the media’s part. I don't mind that it got reported that they caught the guy, I do mind the non-stop coverage of every second and every facet of his transportation and arraignment.
Folks, things suck and they suck a lot worse than the ten year old murder of a single exploited child. Stop looking at the soap operas and the pretty lights and let’s get down to business.
Besides, painting and dressing a six year old to look like she had a walk-on as a tramp in Dynasty is disgusting. I think any parent that turns their toddler into a sexual object needs to spend a hell of a lot of time in jail. All beauty pageants for girls below the age of 14 should be banned.
Katrina Recovery
Coming up on the one year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katina on the gulf coast, people are still homeless, areas still without potable water and electricity, infrastructure still failing in the aftermath. It doesn’t seem to be a problem of the amounts of money (Gawd knows there is enough money being thrown around), but complete lack of coordination on multiple levels of government throughout the Gulf Coast and Washington D.C. The Gulf Coast is a major moneymaker for the United States. If the municipal or state governments cannot come up with a cohesive plan to rebuild their regions better than they were, why hasn’t someone stepped into to coordinate the process from Washington? What is truly sad is the current results show agencies doing nothing more than trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, meaning this could happen all over again in exactly the same fashion. Shouldn’t we be trying to improve the region to safeguard it and its people against such disasters happening to them again? Given the multi-state scope of destruction, wouldn’t a federal committee guiding recovery be a good step? Certainly at this late date? Why should any region of this nation be no better than a third world country with no plans for improvement?
Prayers to all those in the Gulf Coast still trying to put their lives back together in Katrina’s wake.
Hooray for a Cease Fire!
Well, it sounds as though things have calmed down in Lebanon and the peacekeeping force is being pulled together, albeit slowly. At least people have lowered their weapons and are talking, which as a step.
I think the U.N. needs to convene a assembly to deal with the subject of terrorist and terrorism and how it should be handled. The Lebanese people paid the price for a group of foreign funded extremists in their midst and I don’t think Hezbollah or any terrorist group should be treated as a sovereign entity. I don’t think the U.N. should be disarming Hezbollah, but arresting them. The group’s principal goal is the elimination of Israel and there is little hope in trying to reason with them because we are never going to give them what they want. (In return, I would like to see Israel pay for all the damage they caused innocent Lebanese people. If people actually started calling them into account for their actions, I think perhaps they might consider moderating their response next time.) However, if we treat all non-state sanctioned political movements as being worthless in the eyes of the world, then we close the door on those groups with legitimate grievances against their governments, oppressed peoples.
It’s a pickle. We don’t pay attention to these people until they have been pushed to violence and then we seem to pay the wrong kind of attention to them once they have crossed that line.
Racism, Sexism in the U.S.
In my ongoing exploration of popular media, I have become increasingly disturbed at what American society is becoming. In the wake of Katrina, passive racism is a topic that needs to be addressed in the country openly, yet not only do we have the latest season of Survivor which has split it’s “tribes” up into ethnic groups in a publicized-sanitized “race war”, but last week saw a number of political figures on both sides of the aisle making racist vaguely remarks. “Tar Baby”? Have our leaders really been held that far back in the past? Are they that far out of touch? Shouldn’t we be talking about how we have designed a system that keeps minorities economically disenfranchised from the cradle to the grave (poor healthcare, under-funded inner city schools, nearly no vocational training, next to declining numbers of manufacturing jobs)? After conquering the big issues of racism in this country, shouldn’t we be trying to fine tune the system by cleaning out the dusty attitudes and little cobwebs of discrimination from the corners of our society?
For example, why a pretty white six year old gets ten years of media attention when she is murdered vs. the complete ignoring of crimes against children of minorities.
What has also disturbed me is the number of shows on TV that were blatantly exploitive of women.
Now, I don’t mind guys having themselves a good ol’ time by looking at pretty girls, many times it has been said the stripping exploits the men more than it does the women and I see a legitimate argument in that. However, men’s attitudes do not disturb me so much as women’s attitudes about it. There seems to be a growing number of women that feel they have nothing more to offer then their pretty faces and “party girl” attitudes and the popular media seems to be trying to reinforce that image.
While channel trying to find Speed Channel one night, a flipped past the reality show/contest on CMT about finding the “Ultimate Coyote” for the Coyote Ugly bars (hey, it’s publicity) Now I have worked in the food biz and seen how hard a bartender's job is, so I was intrigued.
Briefly.
“I think I have a lot to offer this competition because I’m not afraid to be a woman and wear make-up and act feminine…”
*Click*
“Being a woman” means “wearing make up”? “Acting feminine” means dancing on a bar in skimpy clothes?
I don’t begrudge anyone a clean good time, but I have to wonder that anyone would identify “being feminine” by what the girls at Coyote Ugly do. I also have to wonder, do the women on Survivor cease to be women, are they “not feminine”, because they are not wearing make-up and flirting?
Why does “being feminine” mean having to sell yourself to the crowd? Why does “being a woman” mean having to compromise yourself? I don't mind folks for having a good time, but let's call it what it is. Coyote Ugly girls are not "being feminine", they're using sex to sell alcohol. Hey, this is capitalism and if it works, more power to ya, but don't try and dress it up as "a proper woman should..." My mother doesn't dance on bars, does that mean she's isn't "a real woman?"
This wasn’t the only example of the media perpetuating the idea that being feminine meant being a sexual object, but it was the most blatant on that comes to mind. Well, that and the endless “Girls Gone Wild” commercials in Comedy Central (Man, those things are long)...and "Next". And do you know what that sort of attitude results in? Lemme tell you guys what was said on a Dale Jr. message board, by a so-called “woman”.
“Dale Jr. needs to find a nice girl who will let him think he is in charge, but will actually crack the whip on him…”
This was of course almost universally agreed with and anyone who felt that was a rather sick and pathetic way to view relationships and a horrible thing to wish on anyone was labeled a deviant and a trouble maker.
*roll eyes*
Manipulation, yeah that’s real “feminine”. Controlling, yep that’s “being a real woman”.
Who the fuck has that kind of time?
See that’s what happens when women are taught that the only thing they have to offer is their looks and a “fun attitude”: They feel powerless because their self-esteem is reliant not on themselves, but others opinions of them. They have no inner power beyond how they affect men (or women depending on their preference), which is not strength at all but a co-dependency because they need the feedback. Because they feel controlled by that dependency, in turn they try to manipulate and control people around them.
While there are some great fictional shows like CSI that present strong women who are utterly feminine without compromising themselves (Catherine Willows rocks), the “reality show culture” seems intent on turning women into teenage girls again, their self esteem dependant on others opinions of them.
Many conservatives talk about "the golden years" of the 1950’s with a hazy nostalgia, espcially those that didn't actually live through them as adults,; the intact nuclear family, the afternoons playing outside in safe suburban neighborhoods, the capitalism that provided for all, the black and white nature of politics.
What they forget was all the dirty little secrets that accompanied that "golden era": Racism, Chauvinism, Psuedo-Patiotic Paranoia. All three have returned, not to the degree they existed then, but they have returned.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the United States is slipping backward; politically, culturally and economically and we have to find some way to stop it.
Bristol.
Ooooh, owie! Elliott was doing SO WELL! He had a top five car on a track he knows inside and out when he got tagged by a speeding-on-pit-road penalty and then Joe Nemecheck. So wrong man, just so wrong. I don’t know if he ran over a black cat or what, but I’m sure it must feel as though he working through about two years of bad karma.
Keep your chin up Elliott, it’s a new team in a new car. I’m sure there will be some stumbles while everyone gets settled in. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just enjoy the rest of this year for the trail and error period it is and start fresh in February 2007.
Mark Martin, also a bad night. :(
Dale did very well finishing up 3rd while his team pulled off a slew of under 13 second pit stops and Tony Jr. made a car that was a “piece of crap” Friday afternoon into a car that could lead Saturday night, at least it was a top ten car that Dale could wheel to the front. That team really showed what they were capable of Saturday.
I daresay a couple more like that a Tony Jr. might just earn my forgiveness for Pocono 2004. ;)
Here's Some Fun Stuff
While channel flipping, I stumbled across this last weekend:
The Red Bull Air Race
It's basically stunt flying through a preset crouse in prop planes, simply amazing to watch.
posted by KiplingKat | 10:27 AM
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