Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Being angry.

Over the past couple of months, I have thought about getting off Facebook. Not because of there is too much drama or because it is a digital succubus (both statements are undeniably true) but because the "news" stories that I see from the news outlets I follow, as well as the stories shared by my "friends". Unfortunately for me, I know that disconnecting isn't the answer. I probably would be less angry, but burying one's head in the sand is hardly a good defense mechanism. Creating a post about the things that piss me off may not be the most productive thing that I could do, but it's a start. So, in the spirit of "you gotta start somewhere" here (in no particular order) are the things that pissed me off today.

  1.  Cop shoots dog - The dash cam accompanying this story clearly shows a couple of non-aggressive dogs approaching a cop in a friendly manner. The cop kicks at the dog before pulling out his service revolver and shooting the dog. This seems like a pretty cut and dry case of animal cruelty and this cop should be treated like anyone else who hurts an animal because he/she is an ass. I have plenty of respect for law enforcement who put their lives on the line to protect and serve their communities. The fact that the majority of police officers are men and women who put their lives on the line is all the more reason not to tolerate this steaming pile of crap that tarnishes the reputation of officers everywhere. 
  2. Petty being petty - Richard Petty rightly points out that the reason that anyone knows the name Danica Patrick is because she's an attractive female. If you read the comments, you either want to laugh or cry. There is outrage, outrage I tell you, over the fact that Richard would dare say such a thing.  Nevermind that there are scores of other young men who have better records than Danica who we don't know.  That's because even though they're better than Danica, they're still losers.  If men and women had truly equal societal status (as people on the left and the right would have you believe) than saying that someone sucks as a race car driver when that person sucks as a race car driver is not newsworthy or controversial.  He isn't being petty, he's being honest.  The only reason that anyone is outraged is because she's a girl and that's patronizing.  That is what should elicit outrage.
  3. On that same track why does Michael Sam being gay earn him the Sports Illustrated cover?  I'm not a college sports fan, so admittedly, I didn't know a whole lot about him.  My husband however, is an avid college sports fan.  He informs me that Sam was one of the best players in the SEC.  What pisses me off about the media circus surrounding this kid's announcement is that he isn't getting recognized for his athletic ability, he's on the cover of SI for the way he has sex.  If you get an NFL contract for any reason other than your athletic prowess, you don't have equal stature to your peers.  When you decide to laud or demonize someone based on their differences you are making them an object instead of a person, for better or worse.  Frankly that's my issue with "protected class" status in general whether it be for gender, sexuality, or race is that you end up being defined by your "protected class" status rather than your ability.  Martina Navratilova is famous because she was a bad ass on the tennis court.  Ellen Degeneres is famous because she's funny.  Their sexuality doesn't define them, their talent does.  Unfortunately, because SI has decided to make this kid their cover based, not on his talent, but because he is openly gay, they have torpedoed his opportunity to be known for his playing ability.  Way to go, dicks.  If this is your strategy for the future, you should know, there's already an Out magazine. 
  4. Teens Using Vapor Pens to Secretly Smoke Pot - This one actually made me laugh.  I remember kids making bongs out of cored out apples, wood shop projects, or really anything that they could find.  They didn't get caught because they were carrying around a cored out apple.  They got caught because the apple in question smelled like pot.  If you put pot in a vapor pen, you're not sneaking anything.  The smoke that you blow out will smell like weed.  If you do that in school in front of a teacher, the school should ban you for life.  There should be a picture of you with a line through it on the front door.  You're too stupid to do anything with the information that is available to you.  They're teachers, not Jesus.
  5. Guys looking for a Valentine's Day gift?  Get her an abortion.  Let's be honest guys, you've wanted to tell her that, even though you love it that she offers herself up to you for free when you aren't playing video games, hanging with your guy friends, or trying to hook up with girls that you're really interested in, if she comes up pregnant, you would literally rather kill someone than have to see the ghost-of-booty-calls-past ever again much less surrender part of your paycheck to her ass.  Talk about empowering women.  That must really build one's self respect to find out that you were fun, but you're not the one.  Desecrating your body because you didn't respect yourself enough to not be yoked to some idiot frat boy for the rest of your life by buying and using a condom is a real confidence builder.  Well done.
  6. Last (but just because I need to go to bed) but not least is John Boehner and his band of complicit convicts raising the debt ceiling.  If anyone in Boehner's state considers voting him back in because he is "the lesser of two evils", I hope your car breaks down every election day and you get a horrible orange sunburn every time you get more than a millisecond's worth of exposure to the sun.  I'm already in a pissy mood because, after being promised that my taxes would not go up "one dime" (nevermind the fact that food, gas, energy, clothing, and basically everything else has gone through the roof), the Government has decided that the one of the children that is a) under the age of 18, and b) relies on my income for food, shelter, and medicine cannot be claimed as a dependent on my taxes forcing me to therefore pay taxes that I did not owe before that jug-eared ass clown became POTUS.  The fact that there are millions more like me out there that are surrendering their income to the Federal Government.  To have these jackasses raise the debt ceiling without any fear of retribution just rubs salt in the would.  Where are the hot tar, feather, and splintery rail salesmen when you need them.