Archive for the ‘Social Norms’ Category

“Rape Rape” and Hollywood Shenanagins

Monday, October 5th, 2009

I generally try, really, to avoid posting on current events in the world, and especially the media. Sometimes, though, I can’t help it.

My kids love to make believe.

They play house, firefighter, Star Wars, ballerinas, rock stars…

But the ridiculousness of Hollywood makes me want to recant my pledge to support them in any career they choose.

And it damn well means I’m looking at every child modeling/acting opportunity as more dangerous than walking to school alone (which they don’t).

First of all, Whoopie Goldberg. Shame on her. With regards to the Roman Polanski statutory rape fiasco, she diminished it by questioning if it was “rape rape.”

This is disgusting.

Nobody asks if it was “murder murder” or “theft theft.”

Rape is sex without consent.

In the US, the age of consent is 18.

Thus, sex between an adult and child is rape. No matter how you slice it legally.

Beyond legally, how many teenagers make wonderful choices with regards to sex? Now drug them and answer again. I didn’t make the best choices. I know that much.

Once again, disgusting.

Then there’s the cadre of Hollywood personalities actually defending him. Makes me really wonder how many of them really think it’s ok.

The only person with a right to make this go away is the victim/survivor. In this case they want just that. That is their choice, and theirs alone.

I can’t think of anything tasteful to say now, so I’ll end it here.

This post was prompted by a story on the blog “My Bottle’s Up,” written by the wonderful Nic.

Posted in Bullshit Flag, media, Social Norms | 2 Comments »

Potty Mouth

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

So the other day, Kevyn showed me just how much I need to watch my language.

I’m a big fan of music. Been playing it (or dreaming of the days when I did) pretty much all my life. I play my music loud. I’m kind of an audiophile. I might not be using the highest bit rate for the music, but at least the highs lows and mids are all adjusted to appropriate and proportional levels.

Others just like to have the bass cranked up all the way.

Now, I might be old fashioned, or maybe just picky, but the only time I ever want that much bass is when worlds are exploding in movies.

We love our apartment, but it’s lacking in the way of air conditioning. So until we can get a window unit or two, we have to leave the windows open to keep cool. The unfortunate part about that is that two of the living room windows and our bedroom window face a rather busy street just before an intersection.

When these bass-cranking fucktards get stuck at that red light, communication in my apartment comes to a halt and we hold on for dear life as the space is filled with the *THUD BOOM THUMP* sounds of J-fuck’s newest hit single entitled “My fans are tools and morons.”

Occasionally, when my listening ability is nullified is such a manner, I lose my temper a tad and yell things out the window at people that I know can’t hear me.

My choice of words the other day was “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Now, I know I have a profanity problem. Ten years in the navy plus being a New Yorker plus working an a power plant as a technician desensitizes
you to profanity, as you learn just how versitile words like “fuck” can be.

Kevyn apparently has the same distain for the interruption of our environment and/or the slaughter of music. Either that, or he just thought it looked like fun when I did it. Because the next time that happened, he walked up to the window and yelled “You fucking kidding me?”

I’m now trying to limit my expressions of disbelief to a very emphatic “Really?”

Posted in Kids, Life, Social Norms | 2 Comments »

Neccessary Roughness

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

These thoughts prompted by the Dadcentric blog article Bully, by Jason, which can be found http://www.dadcentric.com/2009/07/bully.html.

I’m in a fairly constant state of flux when it comes to teaching my kids how to stand up for themselves. On one hand, our ever-increasingly wussified society tells me that all violence is wrong, and kids should be taught so (or we’ll snitch to CPS on you and have your kids taken away). On the other hand, personally, my school fighting stopped when I finally fought back and knocked a kid out. On a national level, we celebrated our independence recently because over 200 years ago a bunch of parents, farmers, bankers, and other normal folk decided enough was enough and stood up for their rights.

History is littered with stories of violence solving problems. Of course, it was wielded as a tool to be used towards an end and locked away until needed.

Until one fateful day in seventh grade, I didn’t fight back. I got my ass handed to me fairly frequently. The odd thing, though, was that I still got in trouble for it. I didn’t seek it out, I didn’t start it, but I still got in trouble. The day I ended it, I got in trouble for that too, but it never happened again.

I hope my kids never have to deal with that kind of choice, but the odds of that are painfully slim. I can only hope that I’ve taught them well enough to make the right call when the time comes.

Posted in Kids, Social Norms | 1 Comment »