Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Sam Pepper // Are pranks going too far?

First and foremost, yes, I watched the video and I am aware that at the end of it everyone appears to be fine despite everything that happened, but I wanted to share my thoughts on why this sort of "prank" is dangerous, and why you shouldn't do this to someone.
I am going to include the video here so you can watch it if you want, but please be aware it could be triggering to some people.



It just boggles my mind that two people would sit down and come up with a plan to "prank" their friend by KIDNAPPING them, and then making them think their best friend was MURDERED in front of them.
This kind of thing could really fuck someone up. It could cause PTSD, possibly a heart attack, maybe a complete mental/emotional break down. It could really traumatize someone. Plus, kidnapping is NOT a joke, and should not be made light of. The fact that they would choose to keep it going despite how it was clearly effecting the guy is awful. It just really bothers me that they were laughing and he's sobbing and thought he lost his best friend. Like, he even said that Colby was everything he has. You just don't do that to someone.

Now, Sam Pepper seems to have a history of being an asshole, what with his having apparently RAPED people and made a video in which he crosses a line and invades people's personal space and touches their ass like an absolute creep. They weren't even people he knew, just total strangers who were being friendly to him. He even called it a "social experiment" and had the audacity to use it to promote consent.
Last year, a young woman uploaded a video to youtube, she has kept her identity hidden, and revealed that Sam Pepper sexually assaulted her:

"Last week, Pepper, a 25-year-old former U.K. Big Brother contestant, set off an internet firestorm with a prank video that featured him groping and pinching women on the street. Pepper said the video was a “social experiment” to raise awareness of male victims of sexual assault and that the women were in on the stunt. Since Pepper posted that video, several women have come forward with stories of being inappropriately touched or harassed by Pepper. Last week, Bryony Harris, 19, told BuzzFeed News that Pepper solicited nude photographs of her in 2011 when he was 22 and she was 15. And most recently, a Toronto woman told BuzzFeed News that Pepper raped her in April 2013."
 The above video and the reaction it got her is the reason why most victims of sexual assualt or abuse are afraid to come out about it.
"Posting this video did the opposite of benefitting me. It has outed me to public scrutiny, to rude and abusive comments, to shame and to fear. I am terrified of being contacted by Sam or his team. (Does he have one of those? How does this work? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.) I feel like rape is scary enough, but to go through a whole uglv scandal about mine is like second violation, and I hate this." - SOURCE
Too many men and women go through sexual assault or abuse and when they come out about it, more often than not unfortunately, most people, if not all people will side with the rapist rather than the victim. They'll accuse you of wanting attention, and if it's, god forbid, a celebrity of any kind that does the offense, money. They'll call you a liar and remain skeptical about your words. And while, yes, I am aware that there will always be those few people who do lie about serious issues and such to get whatever it is they're seeking (like that brook ayers guy who fucking lied about having cancer) but their lies should not lead to you generalizing everyone who comes out about having been raped or sexually abused as a liar.
It's like with Bill Cosby. If there's a lot of people coming out about what someone did to them, there's gotta be something going on there, whether you want to believe it or not.
Despite it being unrelated to Sam, a good example of a victim of rape being turned on by, basically, a entire community of people is Daisy's story:
"As reported by the Star, on Saturday, January 8, 2012, Maryville High School freshman cheerleader Daisy (whose identity has been made public by her mother) had been having a sleepover with her 13-year-old friend. The girls were drinking liquor hidden in her bedroom and texting Matthew Barnett, 17, a football player and acquaintance of her older brother. Daisy had a crush on the older boy, who had been at the Coleman home just days earlier watching TV. That night around 1a.m., the two girls snuck out of the house to meet up with Barnett and a group of his friends, sneaking through a basement window at Barnett's house.

There, Daisy was handed two glasses of booze, one after the other. She doesn't remember being raped by Barnett, while one of his friends, a 15-year-old boy, raped her 13-year-old friend as she said "no" multiple times. One boy who was there that night, Jordan Zech, 17, a football player and wrestler, captured Daisy's assault on on iPhone video.
Daisy was so drunk she had to be carried out of the Barnett home; multiple kids confirmed that as she was being taken back to her house, she was crying. Daisy's 13-year-old friend found her way back into the Coleman house, but Daisy was left in a tee shirt and sweatpants on the front lawn overnight. When her mother, Melinda Coleman, found her the next morning after she heard noises from outside, Daisy's hair was frozen.
Melinda brought her daughter indoors and warmed her up in a bath. That's when she noticed physical signs of sexual assault and immediately took her daughter to the hospital.
Police hauled in the young men, who admitted to drinking and "sex" with the girls. Barnett insisted what happened was consensual; under Missouri law, sex cannot be consensual if the victim is incapacitated by alcohol. Barnett was charged with felony sexual assault and misdemeanor endangerment of the welfare of a child. Zech, who had filmed the encounter, was charged with sexual exploitation.
Retribution against the Coleman children was swift. Daisy was suspended from the cheerleading team (presumably for drinking) and slutshamed by her peers. Melinda Coleman was warned about chatter online saying her sons would get beaten up. Daisy's older brother heard Zech's video of the assault was being passed around school. Then Melinda Coleman lost her job at a veterinary clinic. (Her boss admitted to the Star to having "ties" to one of the boys involved.)

This is where the story takes on a Steubenville-level of absurdity in how the perpetrators walked free. In March 2012, prosecutor Robert Rice dismissed the felony cases against the boys. Barnett's misdemeanor charge for child endangerment (for leaving Daisy out in the cold) was later dropped as well.
In an interview, Rice was quoted as saying, "They were doing what they wanted to do, and there weren’t any consequences. And it’s reprehensible. But is it criminal? No." How did Rice come to such a conclusion? Barnett, it turns out, was a grandson of former MO State Representative Rex Barnett. Rex Bennett denied any meddling to the Star.
Because the charges were dropped, rape kit results and witness interviews are now sealed. AChange.org petition by a friend of the mother of the 13-year-old girl is asking for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to step in to investigate Rice's mishandling of the rape case.
In the mean time, the Coleman family has moved 40 miles away. Six months ago, they learned their Maryville home had been burned to the ground. Daisy, according to the Star, has attempted suicide at least two times.
It's a story that calls to mind not only Steubenville, but Rehtaeh Parsons and Audrie Pott, two teen girls in Nova Scotia and California who killed themselves after they were raped by peers and then harassed for being victims. As is all too common, these young women were blamed for their own assaults while their rapists receive a slap on the wrist (at most). Daisy is still alive today, thankfully. Here's hoping the national focus on her story will bring more attention to both the slutshaming and abuse she and her family suffered, rather than magnify it."
 What happened to Daisy is terrible, and it's a damn shame that the welfare of another human being is being put second to someone's fame or sports.
I apologize for going off on a tangent about rape, but what Sam did is inexcusable and should not be left on a shelf to collect dust while he probably still rapes or harasses other girls.

As far as pranks go there are just some lines that you should not cross. There are tons of people on YouTube who do pranks where they pretend they got seriously hurt, or committed suicide, and I don't get it. How do you justify doing that as a prank to someone in your mind?

 

Monday, November 16, 2015

The Paris Attacks & Donald Trump's controversial Paris Tweet

This is the second Paris shooting in 1 year. Both occurrences were sad. Lives were lost.
Donald Trump came out in the wake of the first shooting saying,
"Isn't it interesting that the tragedy in Paris took place in one of the toughest gun control countries in the world" 
He was speaking in regards to the Charlie Hebdo attacks wherein on the morning of 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with assault rifles and other weapons, they killed 11 people and injured 11 others in the building. After leaving, they killed a French National Police officer outside the building. The gunmen identified themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, who took responsibility for the attack. Several related attacks followed in the Île-de-France region, where a further five were killed and 11 wounded.
His tweet, the only one I know of in regards to such an event implied heavily that gun laws do nothing, and called the fact that this occurred interesting. Now, while his latest tweets in regards to the most recent Paris tragedy is alright,
"My prayers are with the victims and hostages in the horrible Paris attacks. May God be with you all."
What he said in January could easily be applied here and I feel like that is why it was so easy for this mix-up to occur.  I still think that this is an inappropriate platform for him to stand on, no matter how long ago his statement occurred, and say, or rather imply, that gun laws don't matter or make a difference.
Everything that has happened in Paris and just France in general has been awful and the fact that these things took place at all is not interesting. It's horrible. I don't understand why you would take a shooting of any kind, no matter the country, and use it to imply that the gun laws, or lack-there-of, make no difference.

Now, I posted an image on Instagram:

I had expressed how distasteful such a comment was (this was before I knew it was from January despite the date at the top. Blame it on my lack of attention to detail) and how this horrible tragedy is not a platform for Donald to stand on and speak against gun laws.
I captioned the above image with,
"France is a country with tougher guns laws, yes, however that does not mean that shootings will NEVER be a thing that happens. There might always be that rare occasion (or in the case of this year, two) when it does, but the laws make it less likely. Nevertheless, what happened in Paris is not a platform for you to stand up and "shoot" down stricter gun laws
What happened to Paris is awful, and now is NOT the time for you to make ignorant comments in favor of your beliefs and views."
Some guy later commented on my image saying: 
"True. Also true when Obama did the EXACT thing after the last tragedy. Used it as a platform to make comments in favor of his beliefs and views. I'm sure that disgusts you as well ya?"
Well, first of all I wasn't talking about Obama, so I don't see the point in bringing him up, TBH, and I never said in my post that I was disgusted with anything.
Second of all, I'm not sure what exactly Obama said in "favor of his views and beliefs" that you're talking about, but from what I could find, Obama used the shooting in Oregon as a way to address gun safety and bring up the fact that the gun laws in our country need to change to prevent further tragedies from happening because what happened in Oregon was horrible. He wasn't being biased in favor of his beliefs, he was just using common sense and trying to do his job as president of the United Stated. Trump took the fact that a shooting occurred in even a country with stricter gun laws, called it interesting and implied that stricter gun laws simply don't do anything, because that's what he believes, and those are his views, and while he has the right to those views and beliefs, (no matter how detrimental such views and beliefs could be to the safety and welfare of hundreds if not thousands of lives down the line,) Paris, France, and the things that occurred there are not a platform for him to stand on and imply that gun laws are useless. He could instead be trying to help them or offering some moral support, which he did with the latest attack, and that's nice.
Donald's January 7th tweet lacked empathy towards a terrible situation. Obama's addressing of the Oregon shooting, which is the tragedy I assume this guy is referring to, was entirely about how we need better gun safety laws and stricter gun laws so we can prevent shootings and massacres from happening all over our country every month, because it's horrifying. Should I be disgusted that he wants to prevent further tragedies from occurring in our country?
My comment about how now was NOT the time for such an apathetic comment to come about was about how after such a horrible thing happens, what Donald said is not the first thing that someone should say about a tragic event. Like I said, it lacked empathy, and decency.

RELATED POSThttp://ineeners.blogspot.com/2015/10/school-massacres-shootings-and-stricter_2.html

So, moving on, if you don't know what happened in Paris... well where have you been?
On November 13th 2015, a series of attacks —consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking— occurred in Paris, France.
They took place at various locations, such as:

  • Near Stade de France
  • Rue Bichat and rue Alibert (Le Petit Cambodge, Le Carillon)
  • Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi (Casa Nostra)
  • The Bataclan Theatre
  • Rue de Charonne (La Belle Equipe)
In total there have been 139 deaths and counting. For more detailed information on the attacks, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks

Here are some ways you can help:
The Red Cross: The French Red Cross has announced it already has hundreds of volunteers on the ground working with the victims and their families. You can donate here. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are also options, although you cannot donate directly to the French Red Cross and donations to those two organizations go toward their overall efforts around the world, not specifically the Paris victims.
Follow or participate with the hashtag #PorteOuverte: The phrase means "open door" and has been used by Parisians offering their homes as shelter for anyone who needs them. People in other nations have also used it to offer a place to stay for French citizens who are stranded by plane delays or by the country closing its borders in the wake of the attacks.
Donate blood: For those in Paris or the surrounding area, you can arrange to donate blood through the French National Blood Service or by using the Don du Sang à Paris app.
Local French organizations: The Secours Catholique-Caritas France and the French Secours Populaire are two organizations that provide assistance during emergencies.
Check in with loved ones: For those in Paris whose families may be worried about their safety, Facebook has activated its Safety Check feature. Normally used for natural disasters, the feature allows users to let friends and family know their status in the wake of a catastrophic event.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Starbucks Holiday Cup Controversy

The controversial 2015 Holiday
Starbucks Cup
As most people know, starbucks releases a "Holiday Cup" every year around, well, the Holidays. It's usually got some holiday-esque look on it, like perhaps a snowman or some snowflakes or whatever, but they decided this year that they want to go with something simple. Now, apparently this hasn't been going over well because people are up in arms over the fact that it has no specific design on the cup. Some people are acting like this is Starbucks taking some sort of stance against Christianity.
"When the cups rolled out in late October, Starbucks (SBUX) vice president Jeffrey Fields said the company "wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories."
Joshua Feuerstein, a former pastor who calls himself a "social media personality," took exception.
He posted a video to Facebook on November 5 that went viral. Feuerstein criticizes Starbucks for removing "Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus.
"
I really just don't get it. It's JUST a cup. If you don't like the cup, ask them for another one, or bring your own if you can. You could even use your imagination and draw your own design on the cup if it's that important to you.
Also, I mean, if THIS of all things is threatening to your religion, perhaps you should check your faith. A cup cannot shake someone's faith or mess with someone's faith unless they allow it to. It's just a tool used for drinking a beverage. It never had Christian symbols on it in the first place, it was just general Holiday Season designs. Snowmen, snowflakes, reindeer (which is a real animal, not a Christmas animal that only exists for "Santa") are all just designs that represent this time of year, not specifically Christmas.
"Feuerstein encouraged customers to say "Merry Christmas" instead of their names in order to "trick" baristas into writing the phrase on the cup. He said to use "#MerryChristmasStarbucks" to post photos online."
It's just such a ridiculous thing to make an issue out of.
Donald Trump is even suggesting people BOYCOTT Starbucks. Over a cup. A presidential candidate, who should not only be focusing on his campaign, but ACTUAL ISSUES, is suggesting people boycott Starbucks over a simple red cup.

Honestly, of ALL the religions in the world, which are JUST as important as Christianity, Christians come off as being the most sensitive, self-righteous, and entitled religious group. I'm not generalizing either because I know there are Christians who like this cup and their faith and religion aren't disturbed by such trivial "matters" and controversies, but there are so many, too many, Christians who make a big deal out of nothing.

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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Make-Up or No?

I got to thinking about something a former friend discussed with me: Make-up, and putting "effort" into your appearance. I wanted to blog about it because if someone with the same issues I have sees this and feels a little better afterwards or feels less alone, then that's good.
(This topic reminds me of the Korean drama personal taste: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Taste. I recommend it. Great drama.)

In his opinion, I'm ugly with "potential", if I put what he considers "effort" into my appearance (which, thank you, honestly, for your honest opinions and "advice", truly, but if I did wear makeup after that, it wouldn't be for me. It would be for you and your acceptance, and that's not a reason for me to alter my appearance. Also, I do put effort into my appearance. I like my hair looking a certain way and I get dressed up in clothes I consider to be nice AND comfortable every time I go out somewhere, no matter where it is.) Now, I want to be "pretty". I've always wanted to be pretty. But I don't want to have to wear makeup to like myself or be ok with myself, and you know what? I don't have to. "Pretty" is subjective and just because you may not think something is pretty doesn't mean that it isn't.
Makeup can be fun to mess around with, to experiment with. People use it to feel pretty, to be artistic, etc, etc. I love makeup, and watching all the cool tutorials on YouTube (especially around Halloween) but makeup isn't for everyone and it simply isn't for me. Maybe down the road, but not now. If anything, if I start using makeup, I want a decent self esteem first. I don't want to start using makeup and then it somehow winds up being some weird crutch for my self esteem and how I feel about myself, y'know?
Plus, I can't afford make-up. I have other things I should be focusing on financially.

He told me a story, about a girl who didn't put effort into her appearance, and because of that he would actively avoid being her friend or even having decent conversations with her. One night, he's at a party, and the same girl shows up all "dolled up" and done up and everything and he's so into her. They make plans to hang out again, and she shows up not looking like she did at the party, and he was disappointed because he created this expectation that she would start to always put in as much effort as she did for the party, even for just casual hang outs.
He didn't even try to be her friend until she showed up at a party looking like she did. What about her personality? I mean, don't get me wrong, looks matter. But if someone just simply isn't dressing up how you think they should or putting 'effort' into their appearance like you'd like them too, that's just gonna control whether or not you become friends with them? What if they were the most amazing person in the world, would you be willing to give them the chance to show it despite their appearance?
His story, honestly, told me a lot more about him than it did about that girl. He made me feel like I need to care more about the opinions of strangers than my own opinions of myself. I just don't understand why I should care about pleasing people I don't even know, and who wouldn't even give a shit about me unless I looked a certain way. If someone doesn't like how I look, they don't have to look at me, and if they're going to completely dismiss me and say i'm not worth their time based on how I look, then they're not worth my time either, tbh.



I mean, that's just always how it is. Nobody's willing to give you the time of day unless you look like you're worth it. If you don't, you get shit for it. You get teased, and told you're worth less than the "pretty" girls. There's more to a person than how they look. I don't think it's wrong for someone to not want to get all dressed up every time they want to make a friend, or hang out with someone. It's not wrong for someone to want to go out and hang out with friends sans make-up and look casual and comfortable while they do it. If you think they need to get all dressed up and dolled up just to hang out with you, maybe you need to change, not them.
There's just so much pressure to look a certain way so that people will "like you". Not to mention that what you consider effort and what someone else considers effort might not be the same.
Some people put all the effort in the world into their appearance with the makeup and the hair and the clothes, the shaving, the waxing, the eyebrows, the everything and they get it to where they like it and think 'oh i think it looks good' and maybe some people would agree but then there's still gonna be people who give them shit for their appearance.
Also, Make-up can be pretty pricey. What if someone can't afford the effort you want them to put into their appearance? The amount of money it takes to buy make-up could be used to buy something they actually need.

I think if you're going to be friends with someone, their personality should matter more to you than anything because what's on the inside could make you disgusting no matter what you look like on the outside. And if your friendship is based and built on the foundation of their appearance, I don't consider that a sincere friendship. Appearances change. People change.
I was "friends" in elementary school with a boy who really liked these cool shoes I had. One day I stopped wearing them because I got other shoes I liked and wanted to wear those instead, and he stopped being my friend for it. That's ridiculous. If you're going to be actual friends with someone, it should be more about the connection you have with them, not how much you like how they look, or the things that they have.

I want to be liked for me, not for my "potential" to look a certain way. I want to like myself, but I don't want to have to alter my appearance just to do it.
Trust me, I have things about myself I would change in an absolute heart beat if I could, and someday if I can afford it, I totally will, but that's for me. If you cannot like me for who I am, despite my flaws and whatnot, that's not my problem. I am working on myself, but I don't want to feel like I'm obligated to do so for your sake. I don't want friends who will only be willing to deal with me if I put a shit ton of effort into how I look or start wearing make-up. I am not someone's personal project.


If you dress up for people and it's something that makes you happy, that's cool and you have every right to do that, but that would not be something that would make me happy. I would get lost in trying to please someone else visually because they expect that of me, and, tbh, that's bullshit.
I have freckles and I don't pluck or shave my eyebrows. My body is not perfectly hairless and sometimes I just don't feel like shaving (even though, personally I do not care for hair). I have bad habits like picking at my lips or nails. I do not have perfect health and I have a mental illness, but I am still a human being.
Live and let live. Nobody is perfect and what right do you have to expect someone to be for your sake?




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“You would look so much better if you lost some weight-“
image

“You would be so much cuter with make up-“
image

“Make sure you shave or wax away all that body hair-“
image

“You shouldn’t wear that-“
image

“You would be beautiful if you just changed how you look-“
image

RELATED POSTS:
The following was a post on instagram that a YouTuber I watch made that I thought was a good message and fit well with this post:
'the world is changed by your example, not your opinion' 🗿🗞 someone giving you hate for doing YOUR thing & living YOUR life in a way that makes you feel happy & confident? brush them off bc you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. EVERYONE deserves love, feel beautiful, feel accepted, & not feel shame for the way they look or choose to express themselves & not to be told they’re UGLY just because you don’t fit someone’s ideal look/type. i’ve said it before, & i’ll say it again ALL TYPES OF PEOPLE ARE BEAUTIFUL, NO ONE TYPE OF BEAUTY IS MORE VALUABLE THAN ANOTHER. don’t let anyone try & cram u into a little cookie cutter mold. DO YOUR OWN THING, BE LOUD & PROUD of the AMAZING person u are! u are beautiful, interesting, one of a kind, IRREPLACEABLE- don’t let anyone stifle ur unique personality. what makes people truly beautiful is their DIFFERENCES, not how alike we can all be to one another. we humans are not mass produced- no look is RIGHT or WRONG. i wish the makeup ‘COMMUNITY’ was indeed a COMMUNITY instead of a place where people tear each other down because a certain look isn’t something they would wear or try. so what? whats wrong for YOU might be right for someone else. it just makes me so sad thinking of all the people too scared to put themselves out there because they don’t want to get tormented by others who think their OPINIONS are more important than peoples minds, hearts, & souls. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK/TYPE. just because u have the RIGHT to say something DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD. focus on things you’re passionate about & get vocal about those things. LIVE & LET LIVE-LIVE IN LOVE. experience the amazing feeling of loving not only yourself, but those around u as well. expand ur mind & understand that ur way of living, dressing, etc isn’t the ONLY way to live, dress, etc. TOLERANCE is one of the most important values that a person can possess. think ‘IF THIS PERSON WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF ME WOULD I SAY THIS TO THEM’- if the answer is NO then u probably shouldn’t be saying it online either. YOUR WORDS & ACTIONS HAVE WEIGHT & IMPACT. its your choice. do u want to impact the world around u in a positive or negative way?
A photo posted by grav3yardgirl (@grav3yardgirl) on

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Arachnophobia Can Be Crazy

I understand having arachnophobia (I don't have it). Spiders can be creepy and poisonous and nobody wants anything crawling around on them, but there's people whose fear causes them to go crazy when they see a spider, or to let their fear control their actions and then things get out of control and some crazy things happen, man.

A woman JUMPED OUT OF HER CAR, because she found a spider on her shoulder. While she was driving in reverse, and her kid got injured.
"The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a car crash involving a school bus and a "driverless" vehicle near Syracuse, Indiana, that left a 9-year-old boy injured.
The department says that the boy’s 35-year-old mother, Angela Kipp of Syracuse, had been backing the car out of her driveway on Sept. 18 when she discovered a spider on her shoulder and jumped out of the car while it was in reverse.
According to authorities, the boy climbed into the driver's seat as the car was in reverse and attempted to step on the brake but instead hit the gas, sending the Dodge Avenger into a passing Wawasee Corporation School bus. The boy was found lying outside the Dodge Avenger when police arrived.
The boy was transported to Goshen General Hospital in stable condition with minor head injuries. No children were on the bus, and its driver, Becky Dunithan, 62, of Syracuse, wasn’t injured, police said
."
Another person accidentally set a gas station on fire because he was using a lighter while pumping gas, in order to try and kill a spider he saw.



"Using a lighter to kill the bug, he started a blaze that quickly engulfed the gas pump.He somehow escaped serious injury and the gas station's damage was contained to one pump, which was destroyed. The incident was recorded at a Center Line gas station.
Employee Susan Adams kept calm and hit the gas automatic stop button and quickly called the Center Line fire department.
The man grabbed a nearby extinguisher and put out the flames before firefighters arrived. Later he admitted what he did, saying he spotted a spider on his gas tank and because he's deathly afraid of the critters.
He pulled out his lighter and decided to burn it. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next."
Apparently, there was even a mail guy who stopped delivering mail to a single house due to a spider web?
"A spider web — and a skittish mail carrier —prevented a Dartmouth, N.S., man from getting his mail for more than a week.
Kevin Keating noticed his letters had stopped coming after a few days, but received no notice from Canada Post.
"We just thought the mail was being stolen," he said Wednesday.

Keating made multiple phone inquiries about his lack of letters, but it took eight days for him to learn the reason for the stoppage.
A carrier delivered a handwritten note on the back of a letter explaining simply, "Spider webs," followed by the date.
Keating then learned his regular postal worker would not cross the path to his front door because there was a spider web across it." - source
Gotta be honest, letting a spider deter you from doing your job delivering mail to a house is really very irresponsible. And it could fuck with the guys life. I mean, not to get too serious, but you're preventing him from getting his bills or some other important piece of mail. Just brush it away with a stick or something, man.

 For more insane stories of the chaos spiders have caused, you should check out this Cracked Article

Seriously, the lengths people will go to avoid spiders or kill them, or the mishaps spiders can cause is just so crazy. 

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Kim Davis

I don't believe in God, but I can totally see why there's tons of people who do. He can bring comfort to people. He can be a source of hope and guidance. Maybe he's the only light you have when you're surrounded by darkness.
Everyone has different reasons to believe in him. People should have every right to believe in whatever they want so long as they're not hurting anybody.

I don't know about you, but if I did believe in a God, he would be someone who accepts everyone so long as they're a good person. I feel like most of the christians who use God as an excuse to hurt others or discriminate against others don't really get that God is supposed to be this source of love and acceptance and guidance. Which brings me to Kim Davis:

She has been all over the place online and on tv for the simple reason of: she refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite gay marriage being legal in America, and despite being ordered to do so. Like, this woman is literally refusing to do her job correctly because of whatever God she's got going on in her mind.
I'm all for freedom of religion, again, so long as it isn't hurting anyone, but I'm also for separation of church and state. You are at work, and that means that you should do your job even if there's something about it that you do not enjoy (unless it actually is detrimental to your health in some way) such as issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple. If you are not doing your job properly or as you should be doing it, you should be replaced by someone who will.

I'm actually going to say that I agree with her being in jail. Not because I hate her, though she does seem like a bad person, and not because of her religion (like, what's his name, Mike Huckabee? is actually saying she was jailed for being christian as if there wasn't even the slightest possibility that she was doing something wrong) but because she was literally federally court ordered to do her job correctly as she is supposed to do and she just out-right refused and continued as she was, and now she and a lawyer are trying to pursue potential charges of misconduct against her.
It isn't misconduct if she was COURT-ORDERED to do something and then was arrested for not doing that thing that she was ordered to do. That's contempt of court, and it's illegal.

You know who else acts in a discriminatory and hateful manner in the name of God? The Westboro Baptist Church. I bet she'd fit right in there, maybe she could join. Though I doubt it because apparently not even the Westboro Baptist Church supports her, because of her past with adultery and the fact that she had kids out of wedlock. I mean, the woman has a complicated past when it comes to marriage:

queertykimdavisflowchart
Chart by: Queerty

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Killing Comedy?

Not all humor is offensive. I love jokes. I think lots of things are funny. My favorite show is Whose Line Is It Anyway (which can be used as a great example of the kind of comedy that is funny without making you look like a shithead)

Sometimes though, there are assholes who like to just say whatever they want with complete disregard for anybody else and then laugh and call it "comedy" as a way to try and justify what they said and did. It's like how a schoolyard bully might push and shove someone or maybe even go so far as to tell someone they should kill themselves or that they hope that person gets raped and then they turn around and say "I was just joking, it's their fault if they took it seriously" because they got in trouble for what they said then turn around and say the people who got upset over it are "killing comedy". Comedy is not a word you can just throw on anything you say and then it instantly becomes excusable and/or justified.
Sometimes you're just plain in the wrong for what you said, joke or not. And sometimes, you're just not funny.
I know of at least two "comedians" on YouTube who do this: Nicole Arbour and Onision. (The former of which got her YouTube account "removed" because of a shit video called "Dear Fat People" she made and now she's crying about getting "#Censored" as a comedian. Like, no, you didn't get censored for your "comedy", you got censored for your bullshit. I mean, if you even got "censored" in the first place.)

Look, I get it, sometimes people bitch and get all up-in-arms over nothing and it's perfectly fine to just dismiss them, but rape jokes, race jokes, sexist jokes, fat jokes, jokes about mental illness and cutting, those are things that can actually hurt people or trigger them. There's so many people who go through ridiculously awful times because of rape or racism or sexism or because they're fat or because of a mental illness and to have a "comedian" sit there and make jokes at the expense of what someone might've gone through and then blame the person who is offended for getting upset about it is just bullshit.

Plus, those things are serious topics and making jokes about them instead of trying to bring awareness and make a change in the world and in people's lives really just makes it worse for the people who suffer because of those things because it causes people to think less of what someone might be going through, or it makes a rapist think what they did is acceptable because people aren't getting mad about it, they're making jokes about it. It's not okay to make a joke at the expense of another person, unless they're all for it and are in on it, and then act like they're in the wrong if they don't laugh and think it's funny.
It teaches the young impressionable fans of the "comedians" who tell these kind of jokes that it's okay to not take these things as seriously or that what they might be dealing with is somehow a joke and it's okay to make fun of it even if it hurts the person suffering.

There are many ways to be funny without being a prick, maybe instead of saying people are "killing comedy" or whatever you consider to be "comedy", you could take a hint and try out some new material.


"Dear Fat People" -- A Response

This post is geared as a response towards Nicole Arbour's "Dear Fat People" video, but it's also geared towards people who think that if you're fat, you're automatically less than, or you're automatically unhealthy.

Is being fat unhealthy?: NO.
Can being fat or obese cause health problems?: Yes, but unless you are genuinely concerned about the person with the health issues, keep your shitty comments to yourself about their appearance and health, or, if you genuinely cared in the first place, your voice of concern probably wouldn't be coming from a place of ignorance or sound hateful and rude.

Who are you to judge what is or is not healthy for a person to be? ANYONE can have health problems. It's just so ridiculous to me that someone could see a bigger individual walking down the street or see them online and just assume that because they're fat, they're unhealthy and they're eating too much. Or that it's somehow okay to poke fun at them and treat them like shit like they don't have feelings or something because they're fat. Like, if you don't know them at all or what they've been through or deal with, why are you even paying attention to them in the first place or assuming things about their life?
Being fat does not mean you have health issues. I've known people who are fat who are 100% healthy.
If you know someone who is fat and it actually is affecting their health in a negative way, you should sit them down and voice your concerns honestly but don't be an asshole about it because hey, you can be honest without being an asshole.

If you really want to make jokes about obesity, that's fine, just don't do it at the expense of another human being unless they're 100% on board with it or you know it's a friend who will be just fine with it (I guess this could be said for any joke, but I still think there are some things that you should just not make a joke out of), but the joke about the people at the airport who smelled like sausages, and the kid you had to sit next to on the plane? That's just rude, and if affected a real person: http://tony-posnanski.kinja.com/i-was-the-fat-kid-sitting-next-to-nicole-arbour-1728933269

The fact that anyone would act like that towards a child for any reason is just atrocious. Especially if it's a child that you don't even know. That could really fuck a kid up.

People can be born naturally big, and their bone structure can be a reason for that. Maybe they have a disease that caused them to gain weight and makes it ridiculously hard for them to lose it. There are people who are fat that have tried everything to lose weight and it just isn't working, or they lost weight but had a hard time keeping it off. Maybe they're too busy to focus on losing the weight. Human bodies are complex and what works for you and improves your health and improves your life could damage someone else and their life.
Shaming a fat person with the hopes that it will motivate them to lose weight is the wrong way to go. Sure, it might help some people and if it does that's great, but it's a punch to the face for so many others. It's just plain stupid to be an asshole to someone for any reason and then wrap it up with "I'm just saying this stuff because I'm concerned and selfish, and I want you to be around forever" or call it "comedy" and act like that's somehow supposed to make it okay, or to act like those of which got upset by your words are somehow "killing comedy".
If someone is perfectly happy being fat or they think they're beautiful and love themselves regardless of their size, that's their prerogative. It's called a self esteem and you have no right to tear theirs down just because you think that what they are is the wrong thing to be.
Confidence is not "they will like me", it's "I'll be fine if they don't."

They're not there to please you. And they're not there to be a joke for you to laugh at. If they lose weight or aspire to lose weight, it should be because it's what they want, not because it's what they felt pressured to do.
So many people take the stress and sadness building up in them because they're fat and because they get shit for it and it turns into an eating disorder. They start to obsess over their appearance, their food intake and soon they're throwing up into a toilet after every meal just to have the appearance that you would see and think "now there's a healthy person" until they take it too far and soon you're saying "wow, you look a little frail there, maybe you should get some meat on your bones".
Or, they start to eat MORE as a coping mechanism because it brings them comfort and then they wind up developing an eating addiction.
Sure, fat people can have health issues, but more often than not, the people who shame them and make them feel like a lesser being for their weight are the ones giving those health issues to them.

Here are a couple of videos from Youtuber Trisha Paytas that I agree with:


If you have not had the same struggles as someone else has, you should not act like what they are going through is invalid and is easy to just get past. It's like when people tell those of which that have depression that they should just "cheer up". It doesn't work like that.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Jared "Eat Fresh" Fogle is a Pedophile and Josh Duggar is addicted to porn?

In the news recently, a ton of crazy shit is happening and some not so surprising things are being revealed.

Recently, or not, I don't know the exact date that this occured, a website called Ashley Madison got hacked and tons of users of the site, past and present, were revealed, one of which was Josh Duggar.

For those of which don't know (I know I didn't know before all of this came out) Ashley Madison is a Canada-based online dating service and social networking service marketed to people who are married or in a committed relationship. Its slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair." The website was launched in 2001. The name of the site was created from two popular female names, "Ashley" and "Madison".

Now, I know a lot of the blame is on the guys who actually went and used the website for it's purpose, which is obviously affairs or cheating, but some of the blame should be on the people who made the website because if they didn't make it, none of this would be happening right now. Yeah, life is short, but that doesn't mean you should ruin your marriage and hurt your spouse, y'know?

I'm sure the site being hacked and all the people who have used it were revealed, it ruined marriages, relationships, apparently there have been at least a couple of suicides in relation to this. It's disturbing. (for more info on the hack/breach: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Madison_data_breach)

I just don't get why a site like that needed to be created in the first place. If you're going through a tough time with your significant other and you're seriously considering turning to an affair for comfort or whatever, you need to step back and take a look back at yourself and your relationship and have a serious talk with your significant other. Even if you never actually do anything, the fact that you were thinking about it in any way is a reason to seriously talk about this.
Now there's tons of people who have used this site who are fearing public shame, or are losing their marriage, or are even thinking of taking their own life. This site has cost people way more than what, 19 bucks to join or delete your account, which apparently didn't even delete the account from the database which is why past users were exposed as well as the people who were still using the site, so it was also kind of a scam site if you think about it. It's sleazy.

Now, as mentioned above, Josh Duggar, previously shoved in the direct spotlight for having molested 5 girls when he was 14 or 15 years old has now come out, since the hack, as having had an affair and having an Ashley Madison account and having some kind of porn addiction.

I sincerely feel that him winding up in this situation is partly due to the fact that he was never properly educated in the ways of sex education and that he was never properly punished for his actions when he was a teenager. His "curiosity" was never filled, and obviously there's something wrong with his mind that makes him act in this way.
Josh put forth this statement: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife.
I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him
."
Josh is not only under fire from the public for his actions, but also from Anna's outraged family. Her brother has stated that he will not stop trying to get Josh out of the family for what he did and to be honest, I agree with them for being mad.
Even if they don't get divorced, I think she should take some time away from him and take the kids with her and go stay at her parents house for a bit if only to get her mind off of things and figure everything out.

If she does anything, she should do it with the kids in mind so they can have a safe, healthy environment to grow up in and they don't grow up around a father who is always making tremendous mistakes, and Josh should get the proper treatment for his actions this time, which apparently he's checked into a treatment facility now. I hope it's legit and that he can get the help he actually needs. It would be a damn shame if he wound up doing something else down the line.
--------------------------------
The news is out now that Jared Fogle, the now former Subway "Eat Fresh" guy, is a pedophile. Jared has admitted that he had sex with at least two minors and obtained child pornography of 12 other children as young as 6 years old, according to shocking federal court documents.
Not only that, but someone he had worked with, Cindy Mills, has come out saying that she alerted Subway YEARS ago in 2008 after Jared had supposedly told her that he had sex with children as young as 9 years old in Thailand, but they did nothing about it. She said that he would tell her that he just likes 'em really young or something along those lines.
Subway apparently disregarded her concerns and willingness to provide proof by saying they've had other reports come in regarding the same thing but not to worry as he had met someone and he seems to love her and that she'll keep him grounded. He was referring to Jared's former wife who has since started to seek a divorce upon hearing the shocking news of what her husband is really like.

As part of a plea deal Fogle signed with prosecutors, Fogle, a married father-of-two (he should not be allowed near his kids at this point), faces between 5 and 12½ years in prison and has agreed to pay $1.4 million restitution to his 14 victims. He also faces a fine of up to $500,000.

Honestly, this whole thing really is sick. I don't blame his wife for leaving him and I hope he gets the longest amount of time in jail that he possibly can and that he has never done anything to his own kids.

Monday, August 3, 2015

My Thoughts On HitchBOT

As anybody who actually payed attention to HitchBOT, or even knew what it was, probably knows, HitchBOT met it's untimely end 2 weeks into it's journey across america in Philly.
I'm disappointed. I know, it might not seem like anything that matters because, let's face it, this is unfortunate but there's a shit ton going on that is way worse than the end of a small Canadian robots' life but it's still unfortunate. I think this was a cool experiment and a neat way to connect with people across the country and there is something so creepy about the fact that someone did this to HitchBOT that it actually really bothers me that this happened.

Was his head stolen with his electronic parts?
I feel like the reason that this bothers me is because it really shows how dangerous hitchhiking can be. In America, at least. Not even innocent robots are safe from dangerous strangers. It also shows that some people are just so careless towards other people that they would destroy someone's hard-work and something that means something to some people just for a laugh or to seem cool or for whatever shitty reason/excuse they might have.
I just don't see why something like that was necessary. It was seriously just such a cool idea and now it's garbage. It's a total shame.

http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-video-but-did-they-destr-1721980896

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Breasts Are Not Sexual / Breast Feeding In Public

I just don't understand why breast feeding in public is such a big deal or why breasts are viewed as such a sexual thing in the first place. What another person is doing with their child is nobody's business and should not be unless they are hurting their child. A woman breast feeding in public is literally a woman just feeding her kid while she is out and about.

Like, say you're in a restaurant and a woman is breastfeeding her baby at HER table, where she's sitting. You don't have to look at her table. Literally nobody is prying your eyes open and forcing you to stare in that direction. It's fucking appalling that someone would say something like:
"No. I’m eating. I don’t wanna see you hang out your goddamn tits while I have food. My kids don’t wanna see it. It’s not some misogynistic ideal, it’s fucking public indecency. Can I take my cock out under the table and feed my wife/girlfriend?"
And then think that's a valid argument. This is probably the most common argument used by most men who are against public breast feeding.
First of all, who cares about what you want to see while you're eating? You should be focusing on yourself and your family, not the families and tables around you. What someone else is doing is not your business unless they are harassing you or your friends/family.
Second of all, those things are just not comparable. Receiving a blowjob in public is public indecency, whereas a woman breastfeeding her child while minding her own business out in public is literally a woman using her breast for it's biological purpose. It's not sexual, and if you happen to look in her direction and see a tit, that's just not her problem. She didn't make you look at her, and she certainly isn't breastfeeding to get the attention of strangers.
A blowjob feeds nobody and is something used entirely for pleasure. Breast feeding is the act a mother feeding her infant child, so they get the proper nutrients, proteins, and vitamins for good development.
And don't say "use a pump and some bottles", why should a woman have to go out of her way to spend money just so you can be comfortable (Afterall, the world doesn't revolve around you and what makes you comfortable.) when she can feed her kid for free? If a woman wants to use a pump and a bottle, that's her prerogative, but it's not an obligation.
Also, a woman should not be made to go feed her infant child in the unsanitary confines of a public restroom, either. If you have such an issue with her minding her own business, at her own table, with her own kids, you can go eat in the bathroom.

------------------------------------------------
Now, a lesson (information below provided by http://babiesandbones.tumblr.com/):
"1.) Breasts as sexual fetishes is a (largely Western) cultural construction. Yes, it’s a fetish – anything you are sexually attracted to that is not the genitals of an adult is a fetish, or paraphilia. My professors have met non-Westerners who think our men are “like babies” because they are attracted to breasts.
Breasts ≠ genitals. Scientifically, they are considered secondary sexual characteristics – same category as facial hair. They can be sexual in a sexual context, just as necks and feet can be. But their primary purpose is reproductive.
2.) Breastmilk is not a “bodily fluid.” It is FOOD.
It is not categorized by the CDC as a biohazard, and so no you don’t need to freak out if your coworker wants to store her milk right next to your Lunchables.
MOREOVER,
Breastmilk is not just protein and vitamins. It is a living, dynamic substance that BUILDS HUMANS.
It has hundreds of ingredients (<— actually that list needs to be updated because they’ve discovered more already).

There is a lab at the University of Washington St. Louis, where they have written all of the ingredients of human milk on the wall – They have run out of room on that wall. Among those ingredients:
  • The exact ratio of protein-sugars-fats that human infants need (cow’s milk doesn’t even come close)
  • Antibodies to pathogens in the baby’s environment (synthesized by the mother within hours of coming into contact with a given pathogen) and other immune factors
  • Stem cells. FUCKING STEM CELLS. (They used glow-in-the-dark mice to find out what they do!)
  • Hormones (support growth and regulate behavior)
  • peptides
  • Self-digesting fats (what the whaaat)
  • Growth factors
  • water, vitamins, minerals, carbs, etc.
  • prolly other awesome shit we don’t even know about yet because we’ve barely scratched the surface of this research!
These ingredients change hour-to-hour according to the baby’s needs. It will even add more water on hot/dry days. Fuck, breastmilk kills cancer in a petri dish.

Breastmilk. is. not. a. bodily. fluid. It. is. liquid. gold.

3.) When you tell a woman to go to the bathroom to breastfeed, you are perpetuating the notion that it is dirty and shameful and needs to be hidden away. This idea is the biggest barrier to achieving breastfeeding goals in the United States. Because women feel ashamed, they often stay isolated at home when they should be spending time out and about with friends and family and having, like, a life. This isolation can contribute to postpartum depression.

From the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding:

Women may find themselves excluded from social interactions when they are breastfeeding because others are reluctant to be in the same room while they breastfeed. For many women, the feeling of embarrassment restricts their activities and is cited as a reason for choosing to feed supplementary formula or to give up breastfeeding altogether. 

And since we have this culture of shame and privacy surrounding breastfeeding, young girls and women don’t see it enough to learn what is normal/not and how to do it, so they often give up when they run into problems because they don’t realize there’s an easy fix.

Moreover, an infant needs to be integrated into society in order to develop properly. He/she needs to see faces and hear voices. Isolating them – or throwing a blanket over their head – takes this important component of their development away. It also often annoys them because they are under-stimulated.

4.) YOU NEED TO SEE IT. That’s right, YOU. Even if you are a dude. Maybe you aren’t a parent, but you probably have loved ones who are. Or you might become one yourself someday. And if you are American chances are you have no idea how breastfeeding actually works, because you never fucking see it. It’s messy and complicated, and hard. It used to be a part of everyday life, because there weren’t any alternatives – So we learned how to do it by being around it all the time, NBD. The whole sexualization/modesty thing surrounding breasts wasn’t a thing until like the mid-20th century. Check out this 1871 drawing of a woman breastfeeding IN FUCKING CHURCH:


She’s covered head to toe, in accordance with modesty standards of the time – except for her breast, about which the people around her give zero fucks.

More from the Surgeon General:

In American culture, breasts have often been regarded primarily as sexual objects, while their nurturing function has been downplayed. Although focusing on the sexuality of female breasts is common in the mass media, visual images of breastfeeding are rare, and a mother may never have seen a woman breastfeeding. 
Mothers need to see it. Future mothers need to see it. Future fathers need to see it. Family members need to see it. Everybody needs to see it. SO THEY FUCKING GET USED TO IT.
So, no, I’m not gonna go to the bathroom to feed my kid. If you don’t want to see it, then DON’T. FUCKING. LOOK."