A short blurb to lubricate your brain juices.
The day will come when the world will no longer be terrorized by terrorists. Case in point: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/072431.php Civilians are fighting BACK against those that want to scare and intimidate them. This is what needs to happen for terrorists to stop. The armed forces of countries in all of their official uniformed glory can only do so much. Once the populace no longer fears terrorism and no longer cares, the effect of terrorists ceases.
Terrorists use violence and other such tactics to draw attention to their cause and to drum up support. But if we just stop paying attention, like the apathetic Americans they say we are... maybe they'll just go away. According to that article... the Iraqis seem to be American-izing themselves quite well. That's what we need. The media needs to hype this up. This should be a rallying cry for all the anti-terror advocates. It's one small step for those that fought back and one giant leap for all of mankind. The world is winning the war against terrorism. We've outgrown the boogeyman. Hey, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda... fear is for kids.
Random thought:If Muslim Extremism is slowly fading into a mild annoyance rather than a threat... are we going to eventually treat them like Jehovah's Witnesses and just slam the door in their face the next time they try to hijack a plane?
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Return of What's YOUR Deal?!?
This is my new forum to vent and rage about the little things in life that piss us off, but no one ever really wants to verbalize. Before I begin my first article here, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Emma Poon, former writer of the "What's YOUR Deal?!?" column of the UIC Today. The UIC Today was an independent daily newspaper at the University of Illinois at Chicago that folded my senior year.
Be warned, that I will most likely offend you. But in the process, I hope that my offensiveness brings about enlightenment to both myself and the reader. I'm not afraid to be wrong if you're not afraid either. I consider myself a "militant liberal" but I'm probably more middle of the road than anything else. I think that idiots exist everywhere, no matter who you are or what you believe. Do I consider myself an idiot? Yes. However, you're reading this right now... so I'm one up on you. I'm an idiot with an audience.
Anyways... What's YOUR Deal?!? returns:
Damn you Bob Saget!!!
I blame you, America's Funniest Home Videos. Some people may want to place the blame on the influx of reality television on MTV and "The Real World" or "Road Rules" series. But it's NOT them; they were two years late. And it's definitely not the fault of Survivor, they were at least a decade behind. It's all Bob Saget and America's Funniest Home Videos. They are the ones that brought the daily idiotic moments of regular people's lives into the living rooms of everyone else. They are the ones that started the phenomenon of people being rewarded monetarily for being stupid. That show spawned a generation that want to be nothing more that court jesters for the largest court of all, the court of humanity.
The basic premise of television is a group of random people, doing random things, for no apparent reason but to entertain the mindless watchers of the television set. But suddenly... you didn't need to be an attractive actor or actress to be seen on TV. And you didn't need to be a redneck criminal appearing on COPS to be a regular Joe or Jane on TV. You didn't need to have a special skill or absurd talent to appear in something like That's INCREDIBLE! Suddenly, stupid people caught on tape was popular. I mean, on a daily basis... we all do some crazy things. We all have some crazy experiences that people around us would laugh at. Bob Saget and America's Funniest Home Video provided an outlet for those experiences that were caught on tape to be shared with millions of people. So we not only can laugh AT you... we're also laughing AT you... WITH a lot of other people too.
Conceptually, it was hilarious. People doing dumb things, getting hurt in dumb ways, were suddenly rewarded with the laughter of the masses and if they were REALLY funny, they got the cash prize at the end of the show. Dance, monkeys... DANCE! I remember watching that show as a kid and laughing hysterically at the low-brow humor and related to some of the stuff that happens to other people. I think it honestly brought humanity together to see that we are all really that stupid. Then it changed. Slowly... the videos that were shown were getting more and more absurd... more and more... staged, perhaps? And so it began... reality TV... stopped reflecting reality. It's people doing things for money on TV. And it definitely wasn't Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, or Family Feud.
I don't even know why it's called reality TV any more. Reality TV... is the surveillance camera at the 7-Eleven. Reality TV isn't supposed to be entertaining all the time. Reality TV is supposed regular people when things happen to them, not when they make things happen to them to up their chances of winning money. Reality TV has gotten fake... it's practically scripted, if not by the producers, then it's by the people that partake in the experience. If that's not enough, TV shows are made for the sole purpose of abusing the idiots that want their 15 minutes of fame under the pretense of a game show! How else can you explain shows like Survivor, Fear Factor, American Idol, The Swan, Who's Your Daddy?, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? or the countless other "reality" TV shows out there? People are willing to sacrifice their dignity for money. It's the prostitution of stupity and Bob Saget was the first pimp. Shame on you, Bob Saget... shame on you.
Can't We All Just Get Along?!
Speaking of reality TV, it's February and it's the infamous "Sweeps Period" in TV-land. This just means that networks and programming gets even more risque and absurd to draw more viewers in. Joy. So I was channel flipping and I came across this show called, "Wife Swap." Yeah... see above. If this isn't the prostitution of stupidity, I don't know what is. But this one was somewhat interesting... either that, or I'm getting dumberer. This one involved an inter-racial conservative Texas couple living in this high-class mansion and a middle class lesbian couple. Oh the hijinks that'll ensue! Pardon me as I roll my eyes. The show went on, with the sappy anvils dropping upon the heads of the viewers. Oh, look at the way they interact. Awww... look at this... awww... look at that. Gags. TV has become a zoo for humans. And you can't even feed them peanuts through the screen.
I digress, then it got interesting... at the end of the show, the two couples met face to face and here I am thinking, awww... here comes the reconsiliation of conservatives and liberals. Bull. I was shocked at the way the conservative wife went off on other wife. She said things like she was fearful of her children because the lesbian "sexual predator" was in her house for that amount of time. She called the lesbian couple's life a choice and all the stereotypical religious rhetoric that we've all come to expect through our vast amount of experiences with other people and beliefs via television and the subsequent media bias.
America has gotten a lot more conservative, as evidenced by the vast number of red states versus blue states. But what the hell happened to common sense!? Homosexuality has become quite a topical issue today for debates and discussion, with gay marriage and such topping the list. Why can't people just live and let live? Conservatives say that it's a choice for gay people to be gay... well, I think it IS a choice. It's not as much a choice as what religion to follow. It's the active choice of going with what you feel. Just think Romeo and Juliet. They weren't "supposed" fall in love. But they did and chose to go through with their feelings for all the crap they would have to go through. It's like choosing a college major... you can choose one that's socio-economically acceptable and be miserable or you can choose a major that you're inherently interested in and is good at. People make that choice everyday, gay or straight. The choice to be happy as who they are or the choice is to succumb to peer pressure.
We are taught as little kids to never succumb to peer pressure. We are always taught to be friends with others. We are taught to share and not be bullies. We are taught that everyone is entitled to be who they are. Where is that in the world today? Tinky Winky's gay... Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay... Bert and Ernie are gay! Where is this coming from? Why are gay people scary? Why is there such paranoia? What happened to all those lessons we teach our children that we no longer follow as adults? And yes, not all conservatives are like that... we must not generalize. However, what we see in the media are the extremes. But to quote the psycho conservative woman on TV... "Why don't you pretend to be not gay?" The same question can be asked of conservatives: "Why don't you pretend not to be conservative?" Of course, no one wants to pretend to be something they're not. So let's embrace idiocy and make fun of everyone equally and without prejudice. I had a dream... a dream that one day... Tinky Winky, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Bert and Ernie along with conservatives, Jerry Falwell, and the Bush Administration will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood...
And I woke up... realizing I should've never had that Twinkie before going to bed... 'Cause that'll never happen. And it makes me sad. However, that doesn't mean that as individuals, we can't shed the stereotypes and the prejudice and embrace each other as fellow human beings.
Why Kids Are Messed Up...
Everything is too PC today. People go out of their way to shield children from "bad" things. Why? Kids today are growing up completely warped and parents want to blame something. Parents want the V-chip, censorship in schools, and assorted other things. Why? Kids today, have more information available to them at the stroke of a mouse and a click of a button than ever before. Why not let kids expose themselves to everything that the world has to offer? Good AND bad. Oh wait... it's because parents don't want to deal with explaining stuff to their children.
Yes, children are impressionable and are prone to want to emulate what they see. So, under that paradigm kids we should all be pretty disturbed. I mean, look at the world today. Everyday on the news someone is killed, someone is blown up, someone hurts someone else. Baseball players are taking steroids. Basketball players are raping women and beating up fans. Tsunamis come and rip a chunk out of Asia. That stuff exists in the world and to shield children from it is ridiculous. That just means that instead of having their parents guide them through the muck of the world... they eventually have their idylic bubble world burst and they end up completely messed up without any guidance.
Parents today think that TV and the media will raise their children. That is true. TV, the media, the internet... these are all windows to the world for children and it's a vital aspect in the shaping of their world view. A child without access to all of that will have a limited view of the world, confined to what they physically see and do. A child given access to all of that will be shown everything in all it's raw details. Regardless of whether the child sees it all now or sees none of it now... they will grow up and they will see everything eventually. Whether they're well-adjusted to the real world or not... it's up to their parents and how they're raised.
Or... we can continue to blame everyone but the parents when their children turns out like morons... it's all Bob Saget's fault.
Be warned, that I will most likely offend you. But in the process, I hope that my offensiveness brings about enlightenment to both myself and the reader. I'm not afraid to be wrong if you're not afraid either. I consider myself a "militant liberal" but I'm probably more middle of the road than anything else. I think that idiots exist everywhere, no matter who you are or what you believe. Do I consider myself an idiot? Yes. However, you're reading this right now... so I'm one up on you. I'm an idiot with an audience.
Anyways... What's YOUR Deal?!? returns:
Damn you Bob Saget!!!
I blame you, America's Funniest Home Videos. Some people may want to place the blame on the influx of reality television on MTV and "The Real World" or "Road Rules" series. But it's NOT them; they were two years late. And it's definitely not the fault of Survivor, they were at least a decade behind. It's all Bob Saget and America's Funniest Home Videos. They are the ones that brought the daily idiotic moments of regular people's lives into the living rooms of everyone else. They are the ones that started the phenomenon of people being rewarded monetarily for being stupid. That show spawned a generation that want to be nothing more that court jesters for the largest court of all, the court of humanity.
The basic premise of television is a group of random people, doing random things, for no apparent reason but to entertain the mindless watchers of the television set. But suddenly... you didn't need to be an attractive actor or actress to be seen on TV. And you didn't need to be a redneck criminal appearing on COPS to be a regular Joe or Jane on TV. You didn't need to have a special skill or absurd talent to appear in something like That's INCREDIBLE! Suddenly, stupid people caught on tape was popular. I mean, on a daily basis... we all do some crazy things. We all have some crazy experiences that people around us would laugh at. Bob Saget and America's Funniest Home Video provided an outlet for those experiences that were caught on tape to be shared with millions of people. So we not only can laugh AT you... we're also laughing AT you... WITH a lot of other people too.
Conceptually, it was hilarious. People doing dumb things, getting hurt in dumb ways, were suddenly rewarded with the laughter of the masses and if they were REALLY funny, they got the cash prize at the end of the show. Dance, monkeys... DANCE! I remember watching that show as a kid and laughing hysterically at the low-brow humor and related to some of the stuff that happens to other people. I think it honestly brought humanity together to see that we are all really that stupid. Then it changed. Slowly... the videos that were shown were getting more and more absurd... more and more... staged, perhaps? And so it began... reality TV... stopped reflecting reality. It's people doing things for money on TV. And it definitely wasn't Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, or Family Feud.
I don't even know why it's called reality TV any more. Reality TV... is the surveillance camera at the 7-Eleven. Reality TV isn't supposed to be entertaining all the time. Reality TV is supposed regular people when things happen to them, not when they make things happen to them to up their chances of winning money. Reality TV has gotten fake... it's practically scripted, if not by the producers, then it's by the people that partake in the experience. If that's not enough, TV shows are made for the sole purpose of abusing the idiots that want their 15 minutes of fame under the pretense of a game show! How else can you explain shows like Survivor, Fear Factor, American Idol, The Swan, Who's Your Daddy?, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? or the countless other "reality" TV shows out there? People are willing to sacrifice their dignity for money. It's the prostitution of stupity and Bob Saget was the first pimp. Shame on you, Bob Saget... shame on you.
Can't We All Just Get Along?!
Speaking of reality TV, it's February and it's the infamous "Sweeps Period" in TV-land. This just means that networks and programming gets even more risque and absurd to draw more viewers in. Joy. So I was channel flipping and I came across this show called, "Wife Swap." Yeah... see above. If this isn't the prostitution of stupidity, I don't know what is. But this one was somewhat interesting... either that, or I'm getting dumberer. This one involved an inter-racial conservative Texas couple living in this high-class mansion and a middle class lesbian couple. Oh the hijinks that'll ensue! Pardon me as I roll my eyes. The show went on, with the sappy anvils dropping upon the heads of the viewers. Oh, look at the way they interact. Awww... look at this... awww... look at that. Gags. TV has become a zoo for humans. And you can't even feed them peanuts through the screen.
I digress, then it got interesting... at the end of the show, the two couples met face to face and here I am thinking, awww... here comes the reconsiliation of conservatives and liberals. Bull. I was shocked at the way the conservative wife went off on other wife. She said things like she was fearful of her children because the lesbian "sexual predator" was in her house for that amount of time. She called the lesbian couple's life a choice and all the stereotypical religious rhetoric that we've all come to expect through our vast amount of experiences with other people and beliefs via television and the subsequent media bias.
America has gotten a lot more conservative, as evidenced by the vast number of red states versus blue states. But what the hell happened to common sense!? Homosexuality has become quite a topical issue today for debates and discussion, with gay marriage and such topping the list. Why can't people just live and let live? Conservatives say that it's a choice for gay people to be gay... well, I think it IS a choice. It's not as much a choice as what religion to follow. It's the active choice of going with what you feel. Just think Romeo and Juliet. They weren't "supposed" fall in love. But they did and chose to go through with their feelings for all the crap they would have to go through. It's like choosing a college major... you can choose one that's socio-economically acceptable and be miserable or you can choose a major that you're inherently interested in and is good at. People make that choice everyday, gay or straight. The choice to be happy as who they are or the choice is to succumb to peer pressure.
We are taught as little kids to never succumb to peer pressure. We are always taught to be friends with others. We are taught to share and not be bullies. We are taught that everyone is entitled to be who they are. Where is that in the world today? Tinky Winky's gay... Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay... Bert and Ernie are gay! Where is this coming from? Why are gay people scary? Why is there such paranoia? What happened to all those lessons we teach our children that we no longer follow as adults? And yes, not all conservatives are like that... we must not generalize. However, what we see in the media are the extremes. But to quote the psycho conservative woman on TV... "Why don't you pretend to be not gay?" The same question can be asked of conservatives: "Why don't you pretend not to be conservative?" Of course, no one wants to pretend to be something they're not. So let's embrace idiocy and make fun of everyone equally and without prejudice. I had a dream... a dream that one day... Tinky Winky, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Bert and Ernie along with conservatives, Jerry Falwell, and the Bush Administration will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood...
And I woke up... realizing I should've never had that Twinkie before going to bed... 'Cause that'll never happen. And it makes me sad. However, that doesn't mean that as individuals, we can't shed the stereotypes and the prejudice and embrace each other as fellow human beings.
Why Kids Are Messed Up...
Everything is too PC today. People go out of their way to shield children from "bad" things. Why? Kids today are growing up completely warped and parents want to blame something. Parents want the V-chip, censorship in schools, and assorted other things. Why? Kids today, have more information available to them at the stroke of a mouse and a click of a button than ever before. Why not let kids expose themselves to everything that the world has to offer? Good AND bad. Oh wait... it's because parents don't want to deal with explaining stuff to their children.
Yes, children are impressionable and are prone to want to emulate what they see. So, under that paradigm kids we should all be pretty disturbed. I mean, look at the world today. Everyday on the news someone is killed, someone is blown up, someone hurts someone else. Baseball players are taking steroids. Basketball players are raping women and beating up fans. Tsunamis come and rip a chunk out of Asia. That stuff exists in the world and to shield children from it is ridiculous. That just means that instead of having their parents guide them through the muck of the world... they eventually have their idylic bubble world burst and they end up completely messed up without any guidance.
Parents today think that TV and the media will raise their children. That is true. TV, the media, the internet... these are all windows to the world for children and it's a vital aspect in the shaping of their world view. A child without access to all of that will have a limited view of the world, confined to what they physically see and do. A child given access to all of that will be shown everything in all it's raw details. Regardless of whether the child sees it all now or sees none of it now... they will grow up and they will see everything eventually. Whether they're well-adjusted to the real world or not... it's up to their parents and how they're raised.
Or... we can continue to blame everyone but the parents when their children turns out like morons... it's all Bob Saget's fault.
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