YOU KNOW WHAT I ABSOLUTE DESPISE?

[bespecledcow]

I think this pretty much is a vent thread. Nothing people love quite so much as to talk about what they hate!

A really really big thing I hate right now is the ridiculous notion that Women's Rights means that women are better than men. Its not what they *say* they think Women's Rights is about, but it is how they feel. Despite the fact that femminists talk about equality, they have no idea what it means. Its a sort of shift in society that has been taking place for a while now, and it is not helping the actual cause at all. Women say "treat us like this! Pamper us but let us do all the work! No, don't you speak! We'll have the job and make money while the men stay home!" and it makes a lot of men scoff at it. Women in general get offended easily, and refuse to see the truth about themselves, especially if a guy points it out to them. My boyfriend pointed out the other day as we were listening to Beyonce's 'If I Were A Boy' on the radio, that if a guy came out with a song like that about girls, girls would flip the fuck out. And its true. On top of that, I remember during the Obama election that there was this whole thing on CNN about 'How to Debate a Woman' when the only good way to get it done is to debate her like a man. The idea that hitting a woman is an all time low, when hitting a guy is okay? Women's rights is not the idea that we are better than men, that now we have broken free of our bondage and must make the men subvert to our will. Women's rights is, in its roots, about equality, which means that you see each other as nothing more or less than people. Its the same thing with civil rights- be we of any race or sexuality, we are still people and it amazes me that such a simple concept is so hard for the world to understand.

Continuing on that thread, I'm also a believer that Black History month should not exist, for the simple reason that we cannot continue to segregate this way. Defining it as 'black history' still sets people apart, even in a small way. There is no white history month is there? Oh excuse me, I forgot that white history is everyone's history, and all the others are not. Right. -_-

Whew. I feel better.

[helle is a SLYTHERIN <3]

I hate that a lot of people are perfectly fine with non-whites being racist - African Americans and hispanics, especially. Racism of any kind is wrong - and it's not okay for African Americans to be racist because white people were racist against their parents and grandparents. I once got told that I enslaved someone - yeah, okay, my ancestors may have kept serfs when they were lords in Russia; I don't know. But those were Russians - not to mention that quite a few of my grandmothers' ancestors were probably forced to work in sweatshops, and that the parts of my family in America before the civil war had no money to have slaves.

This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the whole Women's Rights ≠ Women > men. Prejudice in itself is wrong; everyone should be content with being treated as equals and not pull up chivalry or racist bull - because I really think that's a big reason that there is still inequality with the sexes and with ethnicity.

I mean, this one girl I know from an RP I'm on summed it up fabulously: her fiancé is incredibly chivalrous, gentlemanly, etc... and he believes a woman's place is in the kitchen. This guy will hold doors open for her, carry her things... but he doesn't want her to get a "man's" job.
So she gets pampered, but she's not entirely treated as an equal.

Eh, I just... I mean, it'd be nice to be pampered, but I think it's kind of obnoxious to want to be pampered and treated like an equal, especially without offering the same in return.

I also really hate when the same four kids get the lead roles in every single school play every year they're in school.

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

Black History Month exists for the same sort of reasons Gay Pride events exist: all you see/hear in popular culture and in the media is dictated by the majority. The majority doesn't need to have a month or a parade in order to be heard, to exist in the world.

Racism, sexism, any kind of ism - all require power. If a POC is prejudiced against me because I'm white, that prejudice might hurt my feelings but it's not a danger to me because as the majority, I hold the power. Whites hold power over the media and over the legal system. When the majority controls the media (and they do) the majority has the power to define the minority, as opposed to the minority members having the right to define themselves. It's just another form of erasure.

Whites have a history of power (and then we write the history books in our favor.) Yeah, *I* didn't hand out smallpox blankets to freezing First Nations women and children, but I benefit because some other white person did. I only have the ability to live where I live because a couple hundred years ago the white people in power bullied and threatened the local tribes into signing wildly unfair treaties (and we still withhold key treaty rights from them, now that we've taken their land and systematically outlawed and destroyed their culture and economic system.) I'm not racist for being white, but I benefit from racism in the past and in the present. Racism still exists, and I benefit from it: that's white privilege.

Racism = prejudice + power. Without power, it's not systematic racism and will not affect the social structure. White people are in no danger of laws changing against them, of public attitude shifting against them - they won't be kicked out of their homes, or fired from their jobs, or denied social welfare programs on account of their race. We (whites) might have people who hate us and are prejudiced against us because of our skin color (or more accurately, because of our privilege at their expense) but we're not really endangered by it because we're still the ones in power. Reverse racism no more exists than heterophobia. It's no more appropriate to say "What about the white people?" in a race discussion than it is to say "What about the straight cis people?" in a sexual orientation/identity discussion. Everything is about the straight cis people anyway, and everything is about the white people anyway. Can't blame POC for wanting something of their own any more than you can blame queers from wanting something of their own, in a world owned by straight white cis people.

When a minority group sets themselves aside - in a History Month, or a Pride Parade, or a Spirit Week - it's the people in that group speaking for themselves, defining themselves, having a voice. A minority group setting themselves aside is not enforcing segregation - rather, it's about identity, and their right to have an identity separate from the majority and separate from the identity the majority has created for them. Race exists because it's a social construct created thousand of years ago and it's not going away. Acknowledging that races are different and celebrating that difference isn't a means of segregation - it's a way of escaping another form of racism, the "We're all the same!" colorblind variety of racism that denies that race exists/matters and as such invalidates all the racial struggles of the past and allows the majority to continue to define the identity of the minority. White people don't have to celebrate their race in the form of a history month or a parade because they're already represented like all hell in the media and in the government - as the dominant group, something like a pride parade would be an assertion of power and dominion, while for the subordinate group it's an assertion of identity and self-destination and a means to protest that subordinate role and the inequality of society for them NEEDING a pride parade to have a voice.


DID ANY OF THIS MAKE ANY SENSE

SOMEONE GET ME A SOAPBOX


This has been on my mind a lot lately because last week we gave our fourth graders the Discrimination Talk. They're almost all tribal and most of them have lived on-reservation or nearby their entire lives. It's a very isolated reservation, and if there's ever drama about blood quanta it's not noticeable in the elementary years - race is not a visible issue on the elementary campus. They were *floored* to learn that the rest of the world is not like that. They were pissed as all hell about slavery - human beings being treated as property - and full of righteous fury when told about the Trail of Tears.

One of my kids said that when she was going to school off-reservation, other kids called her a "savage." One of my other kids said that when he went to school off-reservation he wondered why there were so many white kids and no kids like him, and why the white kids treated him differently. Broke my friggin' heart.

I mean, how do you explain this to them? Explain to them that their tribe especially is demonized in the media, explain that the world is massively unfair and they have not been given the same opportunities as other kids? These kids come from a background of institutionalized poverty - how do you explain to them that there are kids out there with four-story houses and swimming pools who go to college on their parents's pocket change, when some of these kids sleep on the couch at night because they don't have their own room or bed?

It makes me angry that the world is so fucking unfair to them. It's a topic I'm touchy about XD;


lolololol lookit me turning this into the debate thread, way to go Crow XD;

[PuzzleChick]

I absolutely despise my C programming class. I hate the book, I hate the teacher, I hate the assignments, I hate the Microsoft Visual program, I hate that I have to take it at all because it's not even on my list of required courses for this degree, I hate that it exists. I hate that it's making me so emotional. This class does not deserve my tears of frustration. This class does not deserve to make me feel stupid. Why am I letting it.

Fuck this fucking shit.

Also, another of my OTPs got killed off. Fuck that too. DENIAL TIME.

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

Jan 30, 2011 14:48:30 GMT -5 PuzzleChick said:

Also, another of my OTPs got killed off. Fuck that too. DENIAL TIME.

WE ARE CURSED, THE BOTH OF US, SURELY.

SOLUTION: Dead character decides they are tired of being dead, and come back. PROBLEM SOLVED.

[PuzzleChick]

Jan 30, 2011 16:17:18 GMT -5 Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus said:

SOLUTION: Dead character decides they are tired of being dead, and come back. PROBLEM SOLVED.

I AGREE WITH THIS. /o/

[dearheart]

YOU KNOW WHAT I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE?

People who don't know the difference between between joking and shameless baiting, or expressing your opinion and trampling all over the people who don't share it.

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE??

People who all but claim to read the author's mind and refuse to face canonical FACTS just because they don't like it.

And yes, I am ranting about someone in particular. There's this EdWin hater on dA I've been trying to reason with (she bullied one of my favorite EdWin artists and I've been trying to sort through the drama) and she's just...UGH. I don't care that she hates my OTP; she can trash it and express her hate all she wants. I respect her right to do that, and I can easily ignore it by burying myself in EdWin fluff.

What I CAN'T ignore is when she labels EdWin fans as brainless fangirls or rabid canon nazis and claims they "ruined the FMA fandom BAAAWWWWW" (I know SOME are canon nazis, and that's not cool, but I fail to see how that gives her the right to publicly and mercilessly bash anyone), tacks on things like "no offense" or "I was just joking" or "I KNOW not all fans are like that but it's not gonna stop me", and refuses to see the facts for what they are.

And then whenever people call her out on it, she says stuff like "It's not a crime to have an opinion!" or "people are getting so butthurt about this, lol". She is so blind to her own spite it just...amazes me, really. Hello? This isn't about getting "butthurt". This is about a little thing called RESPECT. Apparently, she's never heard of it.

I just...my blood pressure's gone down a bit, but still...just thinking about this makes me get all... >.<

brb, gonna go rant a little more specifically in the Canon Couples thread 'cause I desperately need to get this out of my system...

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

^ peeps like that are why I ditched dA a long time ago. It just has one of the nastiest, most immature fanbases (says I, as I immaturely troll a flamebait hate stamp on dA...what can I say, I don't like crappy graphic design :B)

If it turns into too much, ditch 'em. It's not worth your time. The dA fanbrats especially have this infuriating talent of not getting it. You might as well talk to a cactus, for all the headway you'll make. I've given up on anyone over yonder LISTENING or MAKING SENSE, so now I stop trying to convince them and start trying to trick them into clicking a TVTropes link so they'll lose the rest of their evening. I'M CLASSY.

ANYWAY, have this:



ees for year of rabbit. The fanart for this occasion alternates between adorable and filthy xD

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

AND YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE?

Whatever the fuck has decided to take up house in my sinuses!

I. DO. NOT. LIKE. BEING. SICK. I'm already missing lotsa hours from being sick other times/winter roadtrip/impromptu blizzards AND I DON'T WANNA MISS MORE OR I'LL END UP MAKING 'EM UP PICKING UP TRASH ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. DO. NOT. WANT.

Also, in the meantime, I FEEL SHITTY. OH SO SHITTY. I FEEL SHITTY, AND UN-PRETTY, AND NOT ADEQUATELY GAY.

I've had something like two gallons of orange juice in the past two days. It's ridiculous. But it's LIQUID SUNSHINNNNNNE!

At least it's not strep throat, which was a possibility - it's been hitting all my coworkers - but this is one nasty head cold and I WANT MY SINUSES BACK. They're MINE. GTFO VIRUS

[taranova]

...Oh, wow. I JUST now realized I spelled "absolutely" wrong in the OP. XD

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

^ ...I ONLY NOTICE THAT NOW THAT YOU'VE SAID IT

[taranova]

No wonder people think I'm an idiot on this forum. XD

[PuzzleChick]

...WAIT, IT'S WRONG? I didn't notice that either! xDD

[MeandMyIdeas]

Hey everybody!!! ;D

I absolutely agree with Obssessivealchemist on the whole bigotry thing. I HATE it. Abso-fucking-lutely HATE it. However, I also think that the slash pairing thing is a bit odd, for my taste. I mean, I understand that there isn't a whole lot of representation for you guys in media and that makes me sad, but changing sexual orientation of a canon character does often change a lot about them. Just as Cow said, who you love does say a lot about your character. Because of this I don't often care for writing that changes someone's sexual orientation because it doesn't reflect their true character. I mean, one relationship that I think might work out, if there were a few semi-major changes made in FMA, is Roy/Havoc. My friend and I were discussing it the other day and it really makes sense when one assumes that Roy isn't totally in love with Riza and that he's actually gay; Similarly, Havoc has to not be in love with Rebbecca and also has to be gay. Once that stuff is resolved I can see them together. However that isn't the way it really is and that's what weirds me out. Anyway, you all get what I'm trying to say, I hope.

As a side comment, Melanie Rawn also wrote the series "Dragon Prince." I'm currently reading it-- it's fucking amazing so far. Highly recommended by yours truly.

Let's see, what else do I hate... On a less serious note, I composed the following list:
1) Caterpillars
2) Pushy religious fanatics
3) When the wick of a candle gets covered by its own candle's wax
4) The people that think "because I said so" is a valid reason for anything.
5) banana flavored laffy taffy
6) Fucking ignorant people attempting to talk about shit that they haven't really looked into and therefore know next to nothing about.
7) Twilight
8) Censorship...of any kind really, but specifically institutionalized censorship. (Currently reading Fahrenheit 451 and totally love it)
9) Drama queens
10) Conniving assholes who steal and lie, then turn around and say you did all those things when you didn't.
11) Being falsely accused.
12) Unevenly numbered lists.
13) Wonderbread
14) texting

Ok, I think that's all for now.

[bespecledcow]

Hey all. I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but lately the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. And I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to rant properly, so please excuse the following possible capsrape and/or cussing.


Every single time I check my friend's list on livejournal, I see new updates for a certain story. Sorry if any of you are fans of that story, but I have to rant about this. In the story, Winry is portrayed as abusive toward Ed, while Ed has trapped himself in this cycle, married Winry only because he was lonely without his brother, and in the end it is Roy who brings him out of his shell and they proceed to be in a very explicit relationship with each other. A number of things about this piss me the hell off.

WINRY IS NOT ABUSIVE. How in the world do they get this, and then turn around in the same story and forget about Riza shooting at her puppy, Izumi throwing Ed and Al around like they were rag dolls, and the fact that Ed's bumps and blood are gone within the next panel?! This story doesn't piss me off because its Roy/Ed- it has nothing to do with that. If this was happening with Al and Winry it would still piss me off. Its as if Ed and Al are these broken little boys with no sense of self or any kind of strength. Even in the previous anime they would never have tolerated abuse from anyone. Implying that they would implies also that you wish to get rid of a good portion of their personality. On top of that it makes no sense that Pinako, Izumi, Al, or ANYONE that cares about Ed would let this go on. If Winry was hurting Ed, they would not stand by and go 'oh you' because Winry is cute and girl and that makes abuse okay.

If I wrote a story about Ed and Roy in a relationship, wherein Roy was abusing Ed in a more mental way (playing mind games, etc) and when Ed couldn't take it anymore he ran off and found comfort in Winry's arms, it would be WAY offensive to Roy's character because he would never ever ever behave that way. So why is it okay to do it to Winry? Is the author forgetting about all the people Ed hurts when he's called short? The people both Ed and Mustang accidentally hurt during their fight in that omake? It is a form of COMIC RELIEF. It is NOT condoning abuse of any kind.

Also, Ed, Al, and Winry LOVE each other. You can argue if it is romantic or not but they LOVE each other. Honstly and truly. They grew up together, help each other through tough times, and it makes no sense that Ed and Al would love Winry they way they do if she was hurting them. Or that she would hurt them in the first place BECAUSE SHE LOVES THEM.

I just...this pisses me off because I hate character bashing. Its okay if you don't like someone, but don't make them out to be something they aren't. Honestly, I don't really care for Tohru from Fruits Basket, but that doesn't stop me from being well aware that she is nice. I don't like Percy from Harry Potter, but he's not an evil guy, just proud. I don't like Eragon very much, but I also know that he's good at heart and tries to help others. I never liked Jill much from Narnia, but she was still kind. Me not liking them doesn't change who they are, and making them out to be cruel and mean isn't an accurate portrayal of who they are. Winry isn't someone that would be abusive, and making her that way, changing her from being confident and happy with her life, willing to hurt someone because they disagree, is not fair to her character. If I made Roy out to be someone that slept with anything that had boobs, or constantly suicidal because of his past, then it wouldn't be fair to his character either, and you can bet both fans of the story and the author would have a problem with him being portrayed that way.

*Lets out a deep breath*

And dear god, no one get me started on the FMA Sexism thing...-_-