Son of the Bride of the Braindump!

[elfs]

Shortpacked nails the DC Sexism Controversy. In case you missed it, DC Comics "rebooted" their entire universe this past month. Reception to the new Wonder Woman was strong, especially since they gave her pants, but then came the release of Red Hood and Catwoman, two comics that were so repulsive in their depictions of woman (Starfire and Catwoman in particular) that many people reeled back with alarm. Laura Hundson at Comics Alliance has more to say about it, and includes some valuable demonstrations about how both Starfire and Catwoman were, in the late '80s and early '90s, depicted as sexual and sexually secure, but now they're just bad wank machines.

One reason you should never just grab your spouse's computer

The Unintended Consequences of Cyberbullying Rhetoric. I don't believe Stormy's bullied in the way people talk about modern bullying. Certainly the one time she tried to date a girl she took an awful lot of harassment, and the relationship ended because of it. She's taken on a political role by joining her high school's GSA, and I'm glad to hear it. But this article goes a long way toward explaining why high schoolers won't admit to being bullied: it would mean taking the label of "victim," and that's a surrender of power. High schoolers use the word "drama," and twist what we tell them ("High school is a hellish hothouse completely unlike real life") to deflect any suggestion that they're weak.

Brown people in America are obliged to be patriotic! Remember all that brouhaha about how Obama didn't have his hand over his heart during the national anthem? Rick Perry doesn't do it either. But Perry's white, and Republican, so he gets a pass.

The Gay Soldier and the Republican Debate. This is the event that had me fuming about Rick Santorum, and his failure to honor the soldier (who's freaking in Iraq as he asks his question) or get angry at the audience for booing. Even worse, a soldier back from the war tells Newt Gingrich about how badly gays and lesbians will be for morale, and Newt says they can undo Obama's "social engineering."

Comments

[shunra.livejournal.com]

It's not just high schoolers. The label "bullying" apparently terrified the school my daughter was at last year. They were willing to sacrifice considerable goodwill and tuition to avoid being tainted by that word.

One of the odder conversations I had involved a board member of the school, who thought "anti-bullying training" had helped their student very much, "although, of course, he didn't have that problem."

The circumlocution was striking. Bullying (and being a victim of it) seemed to be literally unspeakable.

The Flag code and you!

[pandakahn.livejournal.com]

During the summer I work at a small weekly market that starts with the National anthem being sung. I have always been amazed at how many people do NOT know what to do during the singing of the national anthem, or even what to do during the pledge of allegiance. As a school teacher I have taught the flag code and have been amazed at the hostility and crap I get form people who "know" how to act during these events, but in reality, have no clue other than some jingoistic ideal that they claim to have heard or been taught.

For the President to NOT put his hand over his heart during the singing of the national anthem is CORRECT!!! For a Governor to not have their hand over their heart during the singing of the anthem is also correct. What offends me is people who claim fault where none exists, and claim superiority due to it when even less exists.

MPK

Re: The Flag code and you!

[gromm.livejournal.com]

What really gets me, as a Canadian, is that when we watch televised hockey events, there is always the national anthem sung at the beginning, with both teams' respective anthems.

At American rinks, the fans cheer their anthem. At Canadian rinks, the fans sing along to theirs.

We generally consider Americans to be far more patriotic than we are. To the point of lunatic fanaticism, usually[1]. But this just boggles my mind. The appropriate way to honour your anthem is to *sing* it, not to hoot and holler and whistle.

So knowing how to act during these events appears to be an increasingly rare thing. But at the same time, nationalism rages like an unchecked wildfire. As such, ignorance colludes with unfettered fanaticism.

[1] Case in point: Except in parts of Ontario, it's a fairly rare sight to see a Canadian flag being flown on someone's house. I'm sure you know what American residential neighbourhoods are like; the majority seem to have flags *and* they take them down at night and put them up in the morning. *And* old and worn flags are disposed of discreetly.

[urox.livejournal.com]

I find it amusing that the reason for not grabbing my computer wouldn't really apply my spousal relationship as we are pretty open about things and together in most everything..

But ghod forbid if I ever find out *his* passwords (I've told him all mine. I trust any access he will do with them). His excuse is that he has work stuff on his computer but that never stopped him from wanting to grab my work computer.

Actually, I don't really let him touch my computer because he cannot be trusted to not *mess* with it. He has nervous clicking and scrolling and "automatically changing my settings so he's not annoyed with them" habits. Yea, I don't trust him with my computer because whatever he wanted to do with it, it will morph into him trying to convince me to change my computer away from my settings.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about what Laura Hundson has to say about DC comics.

For starters, she's completely right about the new characters. They're porn queens masquerading as superheroes. But I think she's completely wrong about what she thinks they used to be all about. Her example of what Starfire used to be like back in the day is unfortunately, little more than a reflection of what male fantasy was at the time: American boys dreamed of women who were "uninhibited" sexually, which they dressed up as being free of Puritan Constraints placed on them by a rigid patriarchy. Usually so long as said women wanted to do what said boys wanted to do. And said women usually came from Other Places, like Sweden or France or in Starfire's case, another planet.

So really, DC is completely surprised since they're just doing business as usual. They've just updated things to reflect modern society. Just as importantly, the new mores violate the mores that Laura Hudson grew up with, reading DC comics.

So really, it's all about perspective.