I came across this vignette from the first season of the 1980’s Twilight Zone reprise. If you don’t want to watch the video (it’s just over ten minutes), be forewarned of spoilers ahead.
(Spoilers beyond this point.)
“Examination Day” is based on a short story by Henry Seslar first published in the 1950’s. I like this summary of the setup from All Things Dark and Magical: Continue reading
Sexual harassment was a major issue and topic of discussion at San Diego’s Comic-Con this year, where once again some people had to be reminded that a women dressing up in a possibly-skimpy costume—or any costume, or not in costume at all, for that matter—is not deliberately inviting any particular sort of attention.
To put it in simpler terms, cosplay ≠ consent.
Avicenna has some good observations on the problem:
Now think of it this way. This is something we love. Why would you not want it to be a safe space for women. They are entitled to the same stuff we are and the same safety. If a woman chooses to dress “hot” then sure.
Why would you drive women away from an event and a culture that was once defined by an abject lack of women. Aren’t we glad that we are mainstream? That our movies aren’t just fantasies or crummy but mainstream blockbusters. I mean holy crap, people are still talking about Heath Ledger’s redefining of the Joker. We are no longer weirdoes, we are cool.
And part of that is greater acceptance from groups that once ostracised us and from parts that we never expected. Women have begun to come to these events in greater numbers and they don’t feel welcome.
The sad fact is that many or most of the people who need to hear what he has to say have probably already heard it countless times from women, but are more likely to listen when it comes from a guy. I’ve been guilty of that myself many times.
Some people just refuse to see it that way, though. They can’t seem to get past the “dressing sexy” part, and as a result they portray men as uncontrollable sexual beings at the mercy of women in skimpy Lara Croft costumes (or whatever people are wearing nowadays—I’m actually a terrible geek.) Avicenna quotes one exemplar of male sexual entitlement and frustration: Continue reading
The outbreak of the disease known as Ebola has claimed nearly 1,000 lives, and it is spreading. It’s far too early to start panicking in the United States, though. Remember, Outbreak was not a documentary.
If you are seriously frightened, here’s a helpful, albeit snarky, flowchart that has been making its way around social media the past few days regarding fears of contracting Ebola:
Author unknown
This is not to say that we should take the outbreak lightly, but rather that we should not panic and should not rush to make it personal. If you want to learn more, Huffington Post offers a more medically-oriented guide to understanding the disease, how it spreads, and how it progresses: Continue reading
Hugh Fitzsimmons is a rancher in Dimmit County, Texas, part of an area once known as the Wild Horse Desert. He offers his perspective on the current situation on the U.S.-Mexico border. Unlike most people, Mr. Fitzsimmons has seen what’s going on firsthand. He describes how fear and compassion can go hand-in-hand.
Not pictured: Mexico, but it’s close by.
One incident sparked this fear, which has since wormed its way into my psyche. In the spring of 2005, three members of a gang accosted me while attempting to break into my home. I stopped them, but I feared for my life.
Then he moves on to the merely notable: Continue reading
The Bullshit That Civilly Dare Not Speak Its Name, Batocchio, Vagabond Scholar, July 25, 2014
Civility does have value, but how it’s defined and actually observed (and enforced) can vary tremendously by community or venue. At its most basic, a civil discourse entails that each person gets his or her chance to speak without significant interruption and that needless personal attacks are avoided. A general ethic of cooperatively seeking the truth and exploring possible improvements to a given problem should also be in play. That said, among honest, sane, reasonably intelligent people, this standard is usually a given.
In contrast, in our national political discourse, the actual practice is that saying something that sounds harsh – even if it is factually, demonstrably true – is typically denounced as uncivil or otherwise rude, a breach of decorum. Newt Gingrich may be lying shamelessly, but the rules of the Beltway pundit game entail that calling him out as a liar is the true sin, not the lie itself. Rather than the hosts limiting the discourse to honest, sane, reasonably intelligent people (which necessitates qualitative judgment somewhere along the way), equal time – or rather, disproportionate time – is given to guests arguing in bad faith and/or with little to no expertise in the subject at hand. Consequently, civility as enforced usually does the audience a disservice.
How Big of a Problem is Harassment at Comic Conventions? Very Big. Janelle Asselin, Bitch Media, July 22, 2014
Put another way, the doodlebug-lizard* vs. the walking pinecone.
I’m inclined to go with the armadillo in this particular matchup, because as much as I like pangolins, in all of their huggable** pineconeyness, the mud-bathing dude is a wee bit creepy. Opinions may vary, of course.
Here’s some bonus armadillo cuteness for you.
* Yes, I know they’re both mammals. I’m being metaphorhetorical.
** I am not a zoologist, but it is probably safe to say that it is unwise to attempt to hug a wild pangolin or armadillo.
– Whatever motivates you, I guess: Need an incentive to exercise? There are several devices on the market that will track your progress, but only one that delivers an electric shock when you miss a workout.
Do you like jogging, but wish it was a little more like a Saw movie and/or dystopian nightmare in which thigh gaps have become the global currency? Well, today in horrible ideas: A new wearable fitness tracker that actually zaps users with an electric shock if they stop exercising will be hitting the market later this year.
– Ew: A dead body was under the bed at a motel for five years. The motel had an interesting reason for not acting on around one thousand complaints regarding the room: Continue reading
Conservatives Resort To Lying About Child Refugees’ Vaccination Rates To Justify Their Deportation, Omar Araiza, Burnt Orange Report, July 29, 2014
Conservatives are coming up with multiple kinds of excuses in order to deport the Central American child refugees, all while trying to hide their true prejudice against them. Case in point: “Our schools cannot handle this influx, we don’t even know what all diseases they have. Our health care systems can’t withstand this influx,” recently said U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, trying to make a healthy safety case for deportation and “war” against these children.
Sadly for conservatives, their excuses and lies simply don’t match up to the facts. In a horrible twist of irony, according to statistics by the United Nations, Central American children have a higher vaccination rate than U.S. children.
And whose fault is this? The very same conservative officials and voters in America raging war against vaccinations, and health insurance coverage. [Emphasis in original.]
Mississippi’s last abortion clinic to stay open — for now, Irin Carmon, MSNBC, July 29, 2014 (h/t Scott Lemieux)
Can We Just Be Honest, For Once? BooMan, Booman Tribune, July 28, 2014
I love how this country devises new ways to always avoid taking responsibility for its past mistakes. Did we torture people to death for no good reason? Oh well, we can’t admit it or our soldiers deployed overseas will be put at risk. This is why we never saw many of the more appalling photos from Abu Ghraib. It would have inflamed international opinion and made people want to kill our troops.
***
[L]et’s stop being idiots and admit that people already are killing our people because of what we did and that the best way to assure that our people don’t do it again is to just be fucking honest, for once, about what was done in our name.
How Did the GOP Turn Into Such a Bunch of Clowns? Paul Waldman, The American Prospect, July 24, 2014
Once you’ve built a reputation for making batshit-crazy pronouncements to appeal to your batshit-crazy base, it must get more and more difficult to keep it going.
Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested on Tuesday that the president of the United States was “extremely prejudiced” because he was deporting Mexicans, while allowing child refugees who were fleeing violence in Central America to stay.
***
“I mean, holy smokes, this guy truly is fundamentally transforming America,” the Texas Republican opined. “But not into anything the Founders ever dreamed. These are people who are being given amnesty, who will eventually be able to vote if they’re not already, who have no idea what it takes to maintain a Republic if you can keep it, madam [sic].”
“And if you want to say, look at where these folks came from, we’ve got to give them amnesty, we’ve got to help them,” Gohmert continued. “Listen, there are are so many children around the world that are worse off than those in Central America, and how unfair is it to the Mexicans?”
To borrow a concept from the music industry, you have your entire life to come up with your first batshit-crazy pronouncement, but only a few days or weeks to come up with your second. Gohmert is so accomplished at this, he’s having to dig very deep indeed to find new material.
Unless, of course, Gohmert really is motivated by concern for the plight of undocumented Mexican immigrants, which is possible, but I have my doubts.
