omething that has always annoyed the hell out of me is the unofficial--yet invariable--practice of saving women and children before all others. Somehow, I fail to see the chivalry in putting value on human life then rendering a verdict of survival for the feeble and demise for the strong. Let's not forget that it was precisely this sort of affirmative action--favoring women and children in time of crisis--that resulted in only 20% of men making it off the RMS Titanic in April of 1912. It is also worth noting that 74% of women and over half the children made it home alive.This is in no way revolutionary; such mentality has existed since the mid-1800s. Now may be a good time for someone to elaborate on the code of such pecking order and identify to me the attributes that make a man more disposable than a woman, or an adult more disposable than a child. Surely there's a discerning basis for such unwavering discrimination.
Above all else, I'm surprised that no one feels the least bit offended by such a blatant esteem of one demographic over another. Had this evacuation practice entailed any other social distinction, most people would sing a different tune. I can only imagine the aftermath of someone's open admittance to having saved whites before blacks, Christians before Muslims, or the rich before the poor, yet no one stands in protest when women are saved before men. Am I seriously the only one to have picked up on this?
Rating Guide:
• Vote high if you feel that an individual's chances of survival shouldn't be determined by their age, race, religion, or gender.
• Vote low if you feel that certain social distinctions make one group of people more deserving of a rescue than others.
[ 1 comment ] ( 84 views ) | permalink |
( 3.5 / 23 )
hat genius thought up Thanksgiving? No one had ever bothered to explain this to me when I first came to the States. Here's a fork, there's the bird--happy turkey day... Just like sex ed, I gather this was a matter left for the American public school system to educate me about in much the same way as it romanticized Cristoforo Colombo's character; painting a portrait of a noble explorer in no way reminiscent of a slave-peddling merciless gold monger whose militant authority made bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda look like the Mickey Mouse Club. And yet, since 1792, we celebrate Columbus day... I don't know what happened that year but maybe if Germany started celebrating Hitler day, this would all begin to make a little more sense.According to nearly every resource that I've explored in preparation for this article, Thanksgiving occurred several times a year as a Reformed Protestant holiday; a time of prayer for the Puritans of the English Separatist Church to give thanks to their god for victory in battle or any other favorable occurrence. This, of course is completely inconsistent with the only preserved historical record describing a traditional English harvest festival attended by the Wampanoag Indians in Scituate, MA, in 1636. The cult-like ritual following a triumph does, however, coincide quite fittingly with a well-documented sermon delivered in 1623 by Mather the Elder in which he thank god for a plague of smallpox wiping out a majority of the Wampanoag Indians; also, a day of prayer following the 1637 Pequot Indian village massacre, where 700 native men, women, and children were slain in the middle of the night by Governor Bradford's militia--whoops!
Folks, I don't even have to elaborate on how inappropriate this is. And these holiday cards with turkeys wearing pilgrim hats are just sick. What's next? A federal observance day commemorating the bombing over Hiroshima and Nagasaki? We could name it Radiation Day and print cards featuring cartoon bombs wearing American aviation helmets... If you find this to be in poor taste--you should. History doesn't change simply through the invention of family-friendly themes and customs. What if the extremist rite of Islam launched an annual festivity to commemorate the holy war with a big parade and a succulent feast? Would some balloons and a plate of food really be enough for you to loose sight of the atrocity? Apparently so...
Eat up, bitches!
Rating Guide:
• Vote high if the idea of commemorating a post-slaughter puritan ritual makes you sick to your stomach.
• Vote low if you feel perfectly contempt with an ignorant fairytale being draped over your country's history, especially if it presents another annual opportunity to stuff your face.
[ 4 comments ] ( 79 views ) | permalink |
( 4.2 / 26 )hat's the big idea behind every fast food restaurant turning into a ham & eggs joint between the hours of opening and eleven o'clock? Suppose you come to Burger King to have a burger--pretty clever, huh? But have you ever gone to Radio Shack with the intention of purchasing a radio only to have the attendant inform you that he won't be able to sell you one until noon? It's the same general principle.Before you argue my analogy, let's agree that "breakfast" describes a period of dining, not a proprietary food group designated for sale and consumption exclusively within a short time frame following sunrise. I suppose next you'll try to convince me that you've never had pizza for breakfast or an omelet in the evening--evidently 8am came late that night.
Am I the only one whose taste buds aren't set on a timer? When asked about a favorite food, I don't have to look at the clock to produce an answer. Furthermore, I've never met anyone whose response to this question could be found in the breakfast menu at a fast food restaurant. So why eat it? If it's because it is the only food available, then why serve it in the first place? Who in their right mind favors an egg muffin over a cheeseburger or a pasty slice of ham over a steak?
Rating Guide:
• Vote high if your choice of dining is based exclusively on your sense of taste.
• Vote low if you have to look at the clock before you can determine what you're supposed to be hungry for.
[ 3 comments ] ( 51 views ) | permalink |
( 3.3 / 23 )
ver wonder why some of your YouTube videos become flagged? Why some of your Photobucket pictures are banned? And why some of your MySpace profiles get deleted? It seems like there's a trend emerging among many of the corporate multimedia entities: Why think for yourself when someone else is more than willing to take that freedom away from you and spare you the burden of personal judgment by deciding what you aught to find acceptable / objectionable, and maybe even go so far as to take offense at things on your behalf. Holy smokes! This wouldn't even require you to ever see or year anything; talk about convenience!
How do you morons manage to marvel at what is essentially an Orwellian stranglehold on the flow of shared information? Big brother is quite literally sifting through your box of photos with his unabated perception of which ones are destined to travel down the memory hole. And how does one entity come to arrive at such unilateral constitution? Is it by a vote? Is it through shear presumption or maybe an organized study? Does it perhaps borrow from some religious influence?
Meanwhile, I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about progressively more emphasis on parental control; what the hell are parents doing to handicap their children's ability to cope with open, uncensored reality? Oh - that's right - they're sheltering them from it. Way to induce a culture shock, you fucking imbecile! Maturity takes experience, and that’s not something that you can acquire over the night of your 21st birthday. Frankly, it’s a little late for you to be discovering adulthood by the time you’re expected to be an adult.
The same goes for "unsafe toys;" it's not enough that you stun your child's development with rigorous parental controls, now you're going to blacklist the things that they play with? And what the fuck is an unsafe toy anyway? As an adult, if you hurt yourself while working with a piece of equipment, you simply learn to be more cautious the next time you use it. Nobody comes around and takes your stapler away from you. But, with what’s happening, how is a child expected to arrive at that conclusion? Without consequences to learn from, kids are bound to grow complacent in taking safety for granted, meanwhile, you fucking moron parents wonder why generation after generation, your kids become exponentially more reckless and irresponsible.
It's no wonder there are no boobies on YouTube - the shear sight of them would undoubtedly transform your sheltered reject of a child into a serial rapist.
Rating Guide:
• Vote high if you oppose censorship and are concerned with the degree of presumption which the media wields to filter your content.
• Vote low if you like having your mind made up for you, and you feel that the best way to prepare a child for adulthood is to shelter him/her from it.
[ add comment ] ( 148 views ) | permalink |
( 3.3 / 24 )
'm starting to grow tired of all the dedication to, and remembrance of those who've passed on... They're dead, for fuck's sake, it's not like they can use the reference!Somewhere along the span of evolution, we've developed this irrational affinity toward the inanimate: Postage stamps, currency, street names, statues... How the hell do you pass into such nobility simply through expiring? Wouldn't such acknowledgment be more effective if you were around to receive it, or does being alive somehow render you undeserving of it despite your relevance in society? I'm essentially made to understand that if there was a way to reanimate Lincoln, some people would actually have a good mind to take the penny out of circulation and tear down the Lincoln Memorial.
The military especially likes to idolize their dead with elaborate monuments, meanwhile scraping the living soldiers’ dignity into the ground. I say remember the dead, but honor the living; it's the only time they'll appreciate it.
Rating Guide:
• Vote high if you feel that our heroes aught to receive recognition before they become worm food.
• Vote low if you feel that they aren't heroes until they become worm food.
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( 2.9 / 17 )
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