Miscellaneous

The Lousy Canuck’s ‘Entitlement Culture’

Tony Thompson1 Comment

In a righteous and lengthy rant over at Lousy Canuck, Jason Thibeault discusses the culture of entitlement common in the conservative mindset and shows how that mentality is found in everything from right wingers to anti-feminists to GamerGaters to slym*pitters and more. It’s captivating and well worth the read.

There’s a turn of phrase that’s been around for a while now: “entitlement culture”. The right wing has this meme that they’ve been foisting on the public that people who are on welfare, people who are on disability, people who are on social security, believe themselves to have certain “entitlements” and that their laziness — read, their expectation that they should get these things — suggests by itself that they shouldn’t actually get what they think they deserve. Interestingly enough, the targets of these particular memes are uniformly the underprivileged — those who are the hardest done by this society, those who have fallen on hard times and aren’t even allowed bootstraps by which to pull themselves back up.

It’s especially noteworthy that the language around this phenomenon is already so polluted by people horrified at the idea that people with nothing might actually need resources to help pull them out of the depths of their despair, and that this is one of those times when the truth of who has a sense of undeserved entitlement is the inverse — it’s always the people who already have it all and think they won it fair and square. The people who’ve spread the meme so successfully have turned the whole argument on its head. And what’s worse is, this same argument about entitlement is happening over and over again, in every single community, under a number of different names, about topics as diverse as birth control and police brutality and video games. In every case, the language is twisted to the advantage of the right-wing reactionary mindset, and somehow we who are anywhere left of Glenn Beck are caught flat-footed by it all, time and again.

There are dozens of disparate threads within my fields of interest with which I’m going to attempt to pick them all up and weave into a single unified tapestry. I may jump around quite a bit, apologies in advance. I’m going to have to start by defining some terms, before I start giving you some examples of what I’m talking about.

Read the rest of this glorious takedown of the true culture of entitlement at Lousy Canuck.

The Lousy Canuck’s ‘Entitlement Culture’
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The Lousy Canuck's 'Entitlement Culture'

Tony Thompson1 Comment

In a righteous and lengthy rant over at Lousy Canuck, Jason Thibeault discusses the culture of entitlement common in the conservative mindset and shows how that mentality is found in everything from right wingers to anti-feminists to GamerGaters to slym*pitters and more. It’s captivating and well worth the read.

There’s a turn of phrase that’s been around for a while now: “entitlement culture”. The right wing has this meme that they’ve been foisting on the public that people who are on welfare, people who are on disability, people who are on social security, believe themselves to have certain “entitlements” and that their laziness — read, their expectation that they should get these things — suggests by itself that they shouldn’t actually get what they think they deserve. Interestingly enough, the targets of these particular memes are uniformly the underprivileged — those who are the hardest done by this society, those who have fallen on hard times and aren’t even allowed bootstraps by which to pull themselves back up.

It’s especially noteworthy that the language around this phenomenon is already so polluted by people horrified at the idea that people with nothing might actually need resources to help pull them out of the depths of their despair, and that this is one of those times when the truth of who has a sense of undeserved entitlement is the inverse — it’s always the people who already have it all and think they won it fair and square. The people who’ve spread the meme so successfully have turned the whole argument on its head. And what’s worse is, this same argument about entitlement is happening over and over again, in every single community, under a number of different names, about topics as diverse as birth control and police brutality and video games. In every case, the language is twisted to the advantage of the right-wing reactionary mindset, and somehow we who are anywhere left of Glenn Beck are caught flat-footed by it all, time and again.

There are dozens of disparate threads within my fields of interest with which I’m going to attempt to pick them all up and weave into a single unified tapestry. I may jump around quite a bit, apologies in advance. I’m going to have to start by defining some terms, before I start giving you some examples of what I’m talking about.

Read the rest of this glorious takedown of the true culture of entitlement at Lousy Canuck.

The Lousy Canuck's 'Entitlement Culture'

Be Judgmental About Everything.

Tony Thompson

This post on ‘judging’ is on point. This is exactly how I feel. Judging is incredibly important in our day to day lives, but it has somehow become demonized (in part, I think bc of religious teaching that tell people “thou shalt not judge”).

Be Judgmental About Everything.

More than meets the eye

Tony Thompson

The Transformers were a big hit in the 1980s.

Optimus Prime. Ratchet. Wheeljack. Bumblebee. Ironhide. Omega Supreme. Brawl. Megatron. Starscream. Skywarp. Soundwave. Ravage. Laserbeak.

Autobots vs Decepticons in a battle of good versus evil played out on the small screen for several seasons and a beloved (by me anyways) movie that wrecked my world by killing Optimus Prime (from what I’ve read, a lot of people were not pleased). Director Michael Bay combined his love of mindless explosions! explosions! explosions! with a wafer thin plot, a dash of sexism, some really horrible dialogue, characters acting in ways that are completely nonsensical, and those robots in disguise to bring the Transformers-live action versions no less-to the big screen in 2007 (thus far with four movies, and a fifth on the way).

The Transformers were created in a joint effort between the American company Hasbro, and the Japanese company Takara Tomy as a line of toys in 1984. As a kid, I remember those toys being quite popular. Everyone wanted to own the Transformers toys (I was partial to the combiner robots, such as the Constructicons, the Predacons, or the Protectobots).  For all that the toys were fun, the young me wished that cars could really transform into robots. But of course such things are fiction, no?

Maybe in the 1980s, but not in 2014.

Two Japanese companies, BRAVE ROBOTICS Inc., Asratec Corp. and Tomy Co., Ltd. have created a prototype robot that transforms into a car.

Cool huh?

In robot mode it can move 1 km/hr while it can achieve 10 km/hr in car mode. This robot is only the first step. The companies aim to finish completing a 5m tall, full scale robot by 2020.

More than meets the eye

Is this what they’re talking about when they say “Man Up”?

Tony Thompson

  

  

(via Supernormal Step)

I’ve worn flannel, have had multiple cats, and have worked out before.  That’s a pretty poor score. I guess someone needs to revoke my Man Card (along with my Gay Card, bc I hated Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and that’s apparently a cardinal sin in the gay world).

I kinda wonder if there shouldn’t be more. I mean, c’mon, there are plenty of other manly tasks and activities, such as mowing the lawn or working on cars. Then there’s food and drinks. Everyone knows men eat meat n potatoes and drink beer. They could so do a sequel to this.

I kinda want to see what they’d come up with for women. Actually, I can probably figure it out on my own: #1-shave your legs, face and armpits, #2-go shopping, #3-wear dresses and high heels, #4-get cock, #5-do yoga, #6-express your emotions*

*please be aware that I’m mimicking the sexist stereotypes from the above art. I don’t actually think of activities in terms of “this is what guys do and this is what women do”.  That’s some gender role bullshit that I wholly reject.

Is this what they’re talking about when they say “Man Up”?

Is this what they're talking about when they say "Man Up"?

Tony Thompson

  

  

(via Supernormal Step)

I’ve worn flannel, have had multiple cats, and have worked out before.  That’s a pretty poor score. I guess someone needs to revoke my Man Card (along with my Gay Card, bc I hated Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and that’s apparently a cardinal sin in the gay world).

I kinda wonder if there shouldn’t be more. I mean, c’mon, there are plenty of other manly tasks and activities, such as mowing the lawn or working on cars. Then there’s food and drinks. Everyone knows men eat meat n potatoes and drink beer. They could so do a sequel to this.

I kinda want to see what they’d come up with for women. Actually, I can probably figure it out on my own: #1-shave your legs, face and armpits, #2-go shopping, #3-wear dresses and high heels, #4-get cock, #5-do yoga, #6-express your emotions*

*please be aware that I’m mimicking the sexist stereotypes from the above art. I don’t actually think of activities in terms of “this is what guys do and this is what women do”.  That’s some gender role bullshit that I wholly reject.

Is this what they're talking about when they say "Man Up"?

Toon 4 You

Tony Thompson1 Comment

(Dork Tower)

I wonder why the hate on Guy Fieri in the cartoon. I’ve heard a few people say they think he’s a douchebag, but no one has explained what he’s said or done to make him douchey.

Toon 4 You

Shoo polar bear. Shoo!

Tony Thompson

I need a part-time job, but I don’t think I’m going to take up polar bear patrol:

Ruby Kaleak’s part-time job on polar bear patrol in the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, usually means chasing the animals back to the Beaufort Sea. But she wasn’t expecting to shoo one of the biggest bears she’s ever seen out of a house last week.

She was on duty Friday in the village of 300 people when a call came over the radio that a bear was inside a doorway, the Alaska Dispatch News reported (http://bit.ly/ZCfpKQ ). Kaleak heard two whispered words: “Qanitchaq, nanuq,” which in Inupiat means “arctic entryway, polar bear,” referring to the home’s narrow covered porch that serves as a barrier to the cold.

“They didn’t say where or who,” Kaleak said. “I thought that one of the young boys in town was pulling a prank.”

Armed with a 12-gauge shotgun that can fire rounds of beanbags, firecrackers or lethal slugs, Kaleak and a co-worker drove to a house where the call may have originated.

That’s where she saw a shadow in the home’s entryway that made her pause. Then, the head of a big polar bear popped up.

“I was shocked. It was humongous,” Kaleak said. “Just the neck and head was half the size of me, and I’m 5 (feet) 2 (inches).”

That’s a big animal.  A quick check of teh Wiki tells me thaaaaaaaat

The polar bear is the largest living species of terrestrial predator. The only other bear of a similar size is the Kodiak bear, which is a subspecies of brown bear. Adult male polar bears weigh 350–700 kg (770–1,540 lb) and measure 2.4–3 metres (7 ft 10 in–9 ft 10 in) in total length. The Guinness Book of World Records listed the average male as having a body mass of 385 to 410 kg (849 to 904 lb) and a shoulder height of 133 cm (4 ft 4 in), slightly smaller than the average cited for male Kodiak bears. Around the Beaufort Sea, however, mature males reportedly average 450 kg (1,000 lb). Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–250 kg (330–550 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5 ft 11 in–7 ft 10 in) in length. Elsewhere, a slightly larger estimated average weight of 260 kg (570 lb) was claimed for adult females. When pregnant, however, females can weigh as much as 500 kg (1,100 lb).

That’s scary big.

Polar bears’ primary habitat is sea ice, where they hunt for seals and other prey. As ice has receded to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food, according to biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The hungry bears are drawn to the village by whale bones left by hunters.

“I think the bears ran out of food to eat at the bone pile,” Kaleak said. “There is nothing for them to eat out there.”

I wonder why the ice has receded. Can’t have anything to do with climate change can it?

Shoo polar bear. Shoo!

The Real Problem When It Comes to Diversity and Asian-Americans

Tony Thompson1 Comment

People need to remember that African-Americans are not the only ones saddled with racist caricatures.

The Real Problem When It Comes to Diversity and Asian-Americans