You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2011.
Around Fathers’ Day, the heteronormative masculinity enforcing messages involved in the associated marketing push absolutely drive me up a wall. According to the marketing that bombards us, “Father” seems to be some kind of monolithic hive-minded creature that only likes and does certain Very Manly things, and should only want certain kinds of gifts, and should only do certain kinds of Fathers’ Day activities. And I get angry on behalf of my dad, because I feel like it’s wrong to burden and confine him, and all men for that matter, with the expectation that fathers have to be a mix of Tim the Tool Man, Homer Simpson, and a randomly selected epic role acted by Mel Gibson, or else they don’t count.
Pouring beer into the 18-34 demographic and then throwing them into a crowded urban street is an unsurprising recipe for disaster. If you look at the videos out there you see people reveling in distinctly anti-social behaviour and of course acting with extreme stupidity. In this clip, you see a man trying to curb the violent behaviour of the mob. He held the mob back for awhile, but in the end gets swarmed and beaten for his efforts. Watch for yourself…
The individual took an ethical stand, and was injured because of it. I would venture that the people that hurt him do not think of themselves as bad evil people, but somewhere along the way they tucked their moral compass away and stopped listening, letting their lizard brain and the false power of the crowd dynamic take over. The mob has no feelings other than anger, malevolence and dangerous disconnect with regular social norms. When the crowd leaves, only then do you see the individual victims.
A picture from the same series that has quickly become an internet meme because of the juxtaposition of the injured woman, the police (not in this picture) and the mob in the background. What do we see in the picture? We see the results of violent group behaviour, but now we can relate to the people now because they have left the group dynamic. We can sympathize. The fact that we can loose this connection to others so quickly is intriguing and disturbing.
One aspect of the video, and even of the still shots is that amazing amount of apathy on display. How many amazingly unhelpful people do you see with their apple I-fail recording someone being beaten? It turns the stomach. The behaviour of the mob is frustrating but yet remains a provocation showing how quickly the veneer of our civilized values can slip away.
The question is, would you stand against the individuated mass if they were doing wrong? Would you intervene to stop the destruction of property? The abuse of another? Would you be part of the I-fail recording enablers? Can you even answer this question properly within the safety of your computer room?
As a proponent of progressive taxation and egalitarian society I still hear about benefits “trickling down” from the top of society to the bottom. This of course is still horsepucky but as a meme still shows a great amount of resiliency as it continues to crop up again and again. Another sticking point is all the doom and gloom being written about the economy, despite a rebound of corporate earnings. Sociological images provides a graph and analysis about the economy.
“Using Bureau of Economic Analysis data, he looked at total U.S. domestic profits, as well as the proportion of all domestic profits earned by the financial sector, between 2001 and the end of 2010. And what we see is that both overall corporate profits, and the finance sector so central to the economic crisis, have bounced back quite well, returning to the levels we saw just before the peak of the boom period:
:
“Point is, it complicates the general perception we might get from news reports that everything in the economy is awful and there are no profits to be made. Ongoing job stagnation and media focus on the negative economic news doesn’t mean all parts of the economy are suffering equally, or that as soon as corporate earnings rebound, the benefits would quickly reach workers in the form of new job opportunities.”
I’m thinking that the workers are not seeing the rebound as quickly or at all if one is to believe the graph. In a country with more redistributive policies in place I would predict that more people would be on the rebound instead of just the corporate elite.
Teaching fairy tales and assorted religious mumbo-jumbo since 1996 with public funds!
Teaching religion in public schools as a serious “subject” is just wrong. Religious studies are acceptable, but this is not what this is. Would you want to subject your child to graded learning on how the tooth fairy or easter bunny makes their rounds? Some people do, and want to continue to do so on the public schools educational funds. Christianity teaches hate, it teaches ostracism it teaches xenophobia. My point is affirmed with this breaking news story about how the dear christians are being put upon because:
“However, if the policy developed . (it) means that our Logos teachers and principals would no longer be able to express freely in their classrooms that the homosexual lifestyle is not in accord with their Christian beliefs, and that they would be required to ‘affirm’ homosexual lifestyle as acceptable to traditional Christian family values, then we cannot accept this,” the two-page notice says in bold lettering.
Then my dear deluded friends, you can simply frack the hell off and take your despicable fairy tales with you. Like some of the religiously-challenged the facts of the matter have little sway when it comes to their magic book, this is from their website:
“Certainly, as followers of Jesus, we believe that every child should be free from bullying, whether it is because of his or her physical appearance or their sexual orientation, or for any other reason, and that all persons and families should be treated with respect and dignity. To that extent we support the School Trustees’ concern about bullying. (Yet, if the Trustees would insist that their already-existing policies on bullying were strictly enforced by the Superintendent and school principals, there would be no need for an additional policy at all).”
But wait, let’s see why this program is being enacted…
“There is considerable evidence that sexual-minority youth are at greater risk for harassment, persecution, bullying, suicide attempts and feeling unsafe, Colburn said. Research has also shown generic anti-bullying policies do nothing on their own to protect those kids, he said.
“It’s only when stand-alone policies specifically addressing (sexual minority) populations are in place that the school environment changes dramatically.”
Well I’m completely surprised that the LOGOS program would ignore research and fact when it comes to facing the realization that yes, your hate filled fairy tale hurts children and does not deserve the blind reverence you seemingly give it. I encourage the concerned christians to make more persecution (of the majority) noises about this grievous policy of having to affirm that the homosexual lifestyles are okay. It further highlights the bigotry, ignorance and irrelevance of christian religion in the 21st century and makes the strong case that the taint of religion has no place within the public school system.
The Disservice takes a dim view of most religions with a few notable exceptions (sock-gnome worship is encouraged). Islam takes centre stage many Sundays for no other reason that it promotes ugly, horrible things. Today’s little gem is the proper way to beat your wife and stay on the down-low with allah all at the same time.
Apparently, as long as you are not beating her about the face or breaking bones, its a WIN all the way around. Folks, I realize this theme may be getting old, but the sad fact is that unless we continue to bring the injustices to light, keep the evil firmly in the spotlight, it won’t go away.
We are working toward equality and freedom for women in the West, despite the cancerous religious dogma that conspires against them (thank you religious-right wingnuts).
Darkmatter 2525 is quickly becoming one of my favourite youtube video producers.
Hallelujah! The faith healers of the world prey on the misery and hopelessness of others. Watch the fail in action as the power of the christian faith heals the sick, mends the crippled and gets everyone ice cream and unicorns for the car ride home.
For a dogma based on uncritical belief and an adherence to magic, I guess believing in faith healing is not such a big step.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
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