Teleen's Journal

Inspired by more than one comment on the post that this post links to, I'm finally going to weigh in on the whole anti-PC, thought-police, this-word-has-another-meaning-and-no-one-can-own-a-word, I-don't have-to-change-simply-because-you're-offended school of thought.

I'm going to begin by saying that I'm guilty of using pretty much every word that is at issue at one point or another, some as recently as last year, so I'm not saying that I'm not in a glass house here. 

However.

For those who are against changing their language to remove certain words from their vocabularies because another person is offended by it, I ask the following question:

Who does it hurt? 

Seriously, who does it hurt to make the effort not to use words that others have found offensive?  I know that it's an effort to do so, so I guess someone could argue that it's hurting them by virtue of the fact that changing one's vocabulary and deleting certain words is hella difficult...  Well, I have to say that it's more difficult in the offline world, but online?  It's as easy as being careful of what one types.  I realize that for some, who type as quickly as they think, that could be a challenge, but seriously?  Who does it hurt?  Why is it such a big deal to just not be an asshat when someone asks you to do so?

( Cut for possible triggers and an incomplete list of incredibly offensive slurs that everyone should know not to use. Ever.  )And because I've been educating myself a bunch lately, here are a bunch of links that all say all of this a lot better than I just did.

101 Primer

sparkindarkness' entire journal.

Read all of that and then come back to discuss, if you wish, :).

ETA: Proof that not being an asshat is an ongoing battle: Weak is ableist.  Thank you to 51stcenturyfox  for letting me know, :).

ETA 2: My comment thread on the post that started all of this is here. 

ETA 3: Drama communities are probably not the best place to start, lol, but if it were not for them I never would have found most of this stuff out, which is why I mentioned them.  The best place to start is with the 101 Primer and go from there, :).

This post has now been edited because my essential message was being lost and I was doing more harm than good by defending my position on one phrase.  Most of the comments regarding that phrase have now been screened.  I'm not a PoC, so my feelings on that phrase don't matter whatsoever and continuing to argue about it only detracts from the essential point of what I was trying to say. 

I apologize for the drama.

For the record I am US-born, white, queer though I easily pass for both female and straight, and able-bodied.  I have no personal experience with physical, racial or ethnic discrimination and I apologize for speaking for those groups as if I were personally invested in those particular slurs not being used.

The areas in which I have personal experience and/or a personal investment include: feminism/sexim, sex work, body image/food, sexual freedom, BGLTQP rights/homophobia, bullying, child abuse, the US foster care system, the US health care system, PTSD, anxiety, depression and mental health.  

As someone who has this song on her iPod, has listened to it many times and knows all the words (and has contemplated their deeper meaning), this commercial creeps me out to infinity and beyond. 

I went on YouTube for embed code for this post and the comments there were all, "Oh, isn't this cute?"  NO!  NO, it's NOT. 

I had to comment: Has anyone actually LISTENED to this song?  It's NOT about rollerskating.  I find this commercial incredibly creepy, myself. 

For those haven't actually listened to it and/or paid attention to the subtext in the lyrics, it's about sex.  And yes, babies come from sex, but the juxtaposition of this image and that song is making me want to crawl under my bed and never come out again. 

Did you hear that?  It was the sound of my brain breaking to the sweet and innocent-SOUNDING lyrics of a Melanie song. 

So I bought this movie when we were at Half-Price Books the other night.  It was $7.  88 minutes.  Roughly $.08 per minute. 

Some background.  It's based upon a short story by Stephen King, from the collection "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".   It's my favorite of his stories for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the audiobook read by Rob Lowe.

I first read it when I was on a trip through New England and five Canadian Provinces the August after I graduated from high school.  This story makes my nostalgic for a number of reasons.  When I re-read it, I think of my late maternal grandmother and that trip, which was my graduation present.  I also think of the audiobook, read so well by Rob Lowe, that I listened to several times while driving to and from my first jobs back when I was first an adult and still living in this very house, all those years ago.

I love the story. 

( Cut for length, spoilers and FAIL with fail sauce with a side of fail, fail cream, fail nuts, fail fudge and a fail cherry on top. )

midnighter  did an even better review of this here.

ETA: The image was cropped, but you can view the whole thing here.

I want to preface this by saying that I tried.   I really and truly tried.  Also, if you are in the Glee fandom (as I know at least one person on my flist is and your post only reminded me to post this, heh), then I want to say that this is only my opinion and I in no way want to say that you shouldn't be enjoying it, as I actually can understand the appeal even if I don't share in the enthusiasm.   I watched both the Madonna episode and the episode with Neal Patrick Harris, and they were... clever.  The acting was decent and I could see some of the humor.  However, I loathed high school with the fire of a thousand suns and while I've been known to enjoy a show tune here and there, I'm just not into musicals.  I wasn't in chorus - I was in band and never the twain shall meet.  In the end, I can only agree with Mad Magazine on this one:
( HUGE IMAGE UNDER THE CUT! )

...is incredibly boring.  Like, if you have paint you can watch drying or grass to watch growing, I suggest doing that instead.

I really didn't care about the characters, or what was happening, or what The Event might turn out to be.  It did not engage me in the slightest.  

It also is using the 'x hours/days/minutes' earlier trope ENTIRELY too much (like every couple of minutes or even flippin' SECONDS), to the point where I wanted to throw things at the screen.

Bottom line: You'd have to pay me to watch it.

So I finally got to see "Found", the episode that shows what happens to Dom, who was kidnapped earlier in the season. 

( Cut for spoilers. )