this is good.

hilarious!

i almost missed this one! this is hilarious! i love you sarah haskins!

and...ok here we go.

It's been a while since I was irked enough to post and simultaneously near my computer with a few extra minutes. The planets have aligned (i don't think i've ever used that phrase. not sure i ever will again.) and here's a post about racist white people.

This political cartoon was in the New York Post yesterday:
WTF. Two cops saying that they're going to have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill...Who has been talking about the stimulus bill that he's been working on for months? Oh right, the new president. Obama. Who did these cops just kill? Oh, yes. A fucking monkey.

I found this out via Feministing (who linked to Racialicious, but their page has been having problems since I tried to go there yesterday) and Sociological Images. Both of these sites post really smart things on a regular basis. I should have been mentally prepared for some of the dumbfuckwhitepeople comments. Here's a taste:

This one is from a commenter who calls hirself "Eighty":

I'm a feminist, an agnostic, a liberal, a first-generation American, and member of pretty much every other left-leaning social group. I've seen Jessica speak at my university, I follow her on Twitter, I've read her books, and I've been subscribing to Feministing since before I graduated high school.

THIS CARTOON IS BY NO MEANS RACIST. It's not calling Barack a monkey. It's not calling African-Americans monkeys. It's not saying we should assassinate Barack, and it's not saying we should assassinate African-Americans. It's simply calling the authors of the stimulus (plus Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and 435 white, black, Latino, and Asian women and dudes) idiots. You know, like the figure of speech "a trained monkey could do that!".

The author warrants being (from a commenter) "questioned by the secret service" and blogreaders are being encouraged to attend a protest and write letters to the editor of the New York Post? What has happened to this blog?

Sensitivity, shmensitivity. Anyone who sees anything racist in this cartoon is deluded and grasping at straws; to the same effect, I can look at the Barack Obama for Senate yard sign hanging on my wall and find a Nazi recruitment message if I really try. But I don't, because that would be stupid.

Spectacles like this distract from the real issues, and I'm disappointed in Feministing for getting caught up in this nonsense. Remember how we all flip out when Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity get their panties in a bundle over dumb stuff That's how we're going to be judged for acting if we don't straighten up and start being rational.

Here's one from "Sly":

Also, Racialicious has been known to be out there sometimes, in PC-overdrive. I think its being hypersensitive. There's a reasonable explanation for what the Post did & while their defensiveness is a problem, I can't call this racist without more evidence.

And here's one from "Lyn" over at Sociological Images:

When it comes to credibility over social issues NOBODY should be listening to “Reverend” Al Sharpton. There is NO implied racism in Mr. Delonas’ cartoon. I hope no newspaper editorial staff will overreact to the ridiculous uproar over this cartoon. There is no reason to start trying to avoid blacks’ sensitivity. Blacks need to get over themselves they and their feelings are just not that important.

It’s not a racist cartoon it’s a political cartoon. Dissent is not racism damnit.

Now I am by no means giving all the commenters fair representation, but this to me is incredible. I wouldn't blink an eye if I were to see these comments on any mainstream media outlet's site, but these assholes seem to be convinced that they actually care about social justice. In-fucking-credible.

Okay, I'm running out of time because it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out how to post a picture in the right spot. On the same note, though, I'm considering either starting a different blog, or just using this blog, to document my (seemingly) daily encounters with racism. From racism in media to my students' racist comments to dumbasses with signs in the union claiming that "racial preferences are dead." Racists are f'ing everywhere.

floridumb.

i'm sitting in a weird Activity Center in a retirement trailer community in Florida. no one is around which is nice, yet creepy. i decided it was worth the $2 to purchase one hour of internet time. i left Milwaukee less than a week ago to drive down here with my mom. it's shown me how reliant i am on a few things: media, the internet, my own music, podcasts, npr, internet, internet, internet. Obviously i'm also addicted to drinking with people i love, but i already knew i'd miss that while gone. these other things are somewhat surprising. Oh, turns out i also like having to run errands and walk places.
Also surprising: Crappy TV is turning me into an insomniac. the other night i stayed up until 4am because i couldn't sleep. i think it was a combination of 4 hours of Cosby Show marathon and then I happened to catch "What Not to Wear" (which i need to talk to S and A about because i know they're big fans ... i wasn't sure what to think when i saw this episode. it depressed me a little, but again, insomnia, so who knows?) and then some other mom-needs-to-take-care-of-herself-via-makeover show.
I have realized the following occurs when I am bored with my mom for a bit too long and lacking other mental stimulation: I already mentioned insomnia. I look forward to eating quite a bit. I don't want to do anything. I just want to watch TV even though that really does mean I will spend 50% of that time watching the same effing insulting and offensive commercials over and over and over. i'm boooooooooored. bored. i honestly don't think i've uttered those words in a really really long time.
i'm ready Sarah Vowel's newest book, the Wordy Shipmates. It's pretty good despite my little knowledge about the 1600s.
i'm thinking my PMS isn't helping my situation. yesterday i almost freaked out on my mom's neighbor for talking insanely loud on her cell phone. holyshitshutthefup!
i'm going to read some more stuff online before I head back to the trailer. maybe i'll take a walk and catch up on TAL or something.
i'm totally over florida for now. i know that it's really nice outside. i shouldn't complain. i'm ready to come back. i wish dathan were going to be there. balls. baaallllls. girl (meaning me) needs a drink with some interesting and funny peops stat.
xo

word play=funny; play about gender performance and race=uncertain.

I just watched the first season of 30 Rock. It has actually made me bust out in a full on LOL. I think it's only been for jokes that are about words, though. Such as the Rural Juror part (the main actress-character stars in a movie called the Rural Juror, but no one in the office can understand her because those words are so stupid. Especially when said next to eachother. Rurrr Jurr is what it sounds like. Hilarious!) and the fake Barbara Walters part with silly words.
And youtube has made it possible for posting:


This bit had me in stitches, I tell you. Even days after I watched it.

Here's my however:
I get that Tina Fey's character is supposed to be super-frumpy and not at all glamorous, which I absolutely appreciate. But I don't appreciate that she's all eats-5-donuts and just loves to eat and omg-where's-the-hot-dog-stand and you-ate-my-blood-donor-cookie-geez. Oh, and she's f'ing teeny-tiny. I find this obnoxious. I think Bitch magazine had an article about this phenomenon a couple years ago actually. I think their article was about how the media love to show pictures of models stuffing their faces to show that hey-this hot lady likes to stuff her face with pizza! She's not afraid to eat! That's great! And that is great - to an extent. What's great is the eating part. Not so much the size 2 part. Not so much the message that eating junk food is awesome unless it turns you into a hippo-you-lazy-fatso.
I don't necessarily think that Tina Fey's character is doing that, exactly, but that's part of it.
She's supposed to be someone who can't perform femininity very successfully. And people say inappropriate things to her all the time about it. And that's what's supposed to be funny. I think that the audience is supposed to be laughing with her character (even though she's often not laughing - more like eye-rolling) instead of laughing with the other people throwing insults. But the thing that bugs me is that I just wish A) that she would actually be performing femininity less-successfully than she is and/or B) that her character would be more feisty about the insults. I realize that this is just a sitcom, but I wish it were smarter.
Secondly, there is an episode with Wayne Brady staring as a romantic interest of Tina Fey's character, but it turns out that he is super boring and nerdy (in a boring way) when they actually go on a date, so she breaks it off. Okay. I'm just going to give you a second to think about what happens next. Go ahead. Guess. (first clue: Wayne Brady is a Black actor) (second clue: White lady wants to break off date with Black man.)
If you guessed that he accused her of ending it because he's Black, you're right!!! I know! So unpredictable! And it's funny because black people always play the race card when everyone knows that the situation isn't even racist!
Is there an emoticon that can express my lack of enthusiasm? : |
Lessons learned: Women can still be hot even if they aren't dumb and petty (like normal women) and awesome if they like donuts (but aren't like those lazy, unhealthy fat ladies). Black people imagine racism. Oh, and word games really are funny.

Prop 8: The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I heard this on NPR last night, and then watched it today (thanks Meridith!). It's pretty great. I enjoyed that they normalized gay marriage so nicely. First appealing to the fundies' bible argument, and then arguing that gay marriage is good for capitalism, too. Great argument for exactly why gay marriage isn't a radical move (exactly like hetero-marriage) at all, even if that wasn't the central message of the piece.

Speaking of marriage, this post was up at Racialicious (although originally posted elsewhere) about the state of marriage for Black women. Instead of framing the question in a 'what-is-wrong-with-the-black-community' way, the question of "do Black women even want to get married?" is proposed (punny!). I like it.

Speaking of all-things-great, I just went into the Women's Resource Center for the first time in years, and A) one of my students works there and B) they have an awesome lending library. My office-mate picked up Beyond Beats and Rhymes from there earlier this week. After I turn in my exams, I'm going to go check out (punny again!) what other DVDs they offer.

Oh, and an update from my last crab-ass blog from a couple days ago: Joy Cardin had a guest on today from the Freedom From Religion Foundation who apparently put a plaque up near the state capitol's Christmas tree about the separation of church and state. I only caught the last part, but still there were callers complaining that "no one can celebrate Christmas anymore..." But at least the guest was awesome and responded that their claims were ridiculous.

I'm excited for wine tonight!

i am soooo crabby.

This is what I woke up to listen to:

For Program On: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 6:00 AM Is there really a War Against Christmas? Joy Cardin's guest, after six, says there is... and we lose a lot when we celebrate a generic holiday at Christmas time. Guest: Tom Piatak (PIE-uh-tack), Contributing Editor, Chronicles Magazine. His piece on the War Against Christmas appears in the December edition.

Okay. Here we go.
1. You have got to be fucking kidding me. You are seriously up in arms about schools not having their students sing Christmas carols? Can you not sing them at home? Or in church? Does everything you do need to be validated in public spaces?
2. You're going to call it a war when there is an actual war going on? How fucking insulting.
3. Is it about Christ or not? Because I'm getting mixed messages. I keep hearing about how we need to keep Christ in Christmas, but then I hear that people, regardless of their religious beliefs, often still celebrate Christmas. If you want to keep it religious, then No. You cannot have public dollars funding this crap. If you want to get rid of the Christ, then that's another story. Which do you little bastards want?
4. If what you're concerned about is the "true spirit" of Christmas (and by this I mean Jesus, even though the actual date has more to do with the solstice than any virgin birth), it seems to me that the most effective method would be to limit this celebration to those who really believe in it, as opposed to wanting everyone of all religious faiths to celebrate it and taint it with shit like mindless consumerism. But what do I know?


This is what I catch on TV when I watch stupid morning programs:


1. Did you see the look on your 17 OTHER kids' faces when you basically told them that you would have even less time for them?
2. Totally cool, man. I know that there is a limit on the number of offspring one can have in China because of overpopulation, but you're doing it for god, so that makes it okay. And that thing about the environment and how American's eat up the world's resources at a mindblowingly disproportionate rate? Whatevs. It's for god.
3. Your name is f'ing Jim Bob? Could you be more cliche?