30 April, 2009

Stupid White People Tricks



Heidi Montag and Spencer Somethingorother at LAX, after returning from a recent trip to Mexico; picture via Go Fug Yourself.

MAKING A JOKE OUT OF SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE ARE PANICKING OVER IS SO TEH FUNNY, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE THE (white) PRIVILEGE WITH WHICH TO DO SO!

I only know who these brats are because I watch The Soup.

26 April, 2009

I Can't Be More Articulate Than...

First, read Amandaw's take on this piece of crap "PSA" from the fine folks at Dove:



WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!

Disabled people are not your fucking "inspiration" to show you that you are pretty, conventionally attractive white middle-class girl, and that you shouldn't have low self-esteem, because you are pretty! We're not your fucking After-School Special.

But thanks for putting us back in our place, Dove.

ETA: Anna has been kind enough to correct me on the origin of this thing; it's actually a student film project and is NOT a real Dove ad.

Still, though--this spot's portrayal of disability pretty much sucks.

17 April, 2009

Even MORE Epic Privilege Fail, This Time From a Fellow Feminist

Well, looks like someone's already committed parts of Derailing For Dummies to memory.

Seriously, what the in the high holy fuck is feminist about what pretty much amounts to "Ann Coulter is a transsexual, DUR HURRRRRR"? Oh, right, it's supposed to be "snarky" and "ironic." Sort of like the Jezebel twits and their hard-hitting stances on a number of controversial issues, or something. Oh, and both the Jezes and the blogger linked above have also issued fauxpologies, which seem to have the not-so-subtle-message of "LA LA LA IT WAS JUST A JOKE, LIGHTEN UP!" Yeah, that totally helps.

I wish I could be more coherent, but this sort of shit astounds me, and the fact that it keeps happening makes it worse.

16 April, 2009

Oh, Old Posts...

Check out this weird comment that I found on an old post:

I found this page due to a link left in a different journal, I forget which one.

I like the idea, and most of the comments. However, the last one needs re-worked. I find it extremely inappropriate to list using medical cannabis (which can be inhaled, or eaten, not just smoked) along with addictive and destructive things like gambling and shooting heroin.

Medical cannibis has a *lot* of science behind it, and forms of medical cannabis are being used in enlightened countries like Great Britian and Canada.
http://www.drugdevelopment-technology.com/projects/sativex/

[...]

Access to medical cannabis is a political issue, not a health issue. Medical cannabis has been clearly scientifically proven to be an effective drug for pain control, much better than most of the drugs which the pharmaceutical want someone to use. This is a political issue based on control of the market by the big pharmaceutical companies, and your failure to recognize that does a huge discredit to your chart.

It would be far more appropriate to include a space which addresses the politics around denying people effective pain control.


Yes, because I love it when pot advocates tell ME what "discredits" MY WORK, and what is "appropriate" and not. Oh, and Big Pharma somehow gets worked in there, too. Love it.

I have had people who know next to nothing about my condition tell me that pot is "great for pain control" and that I should use it. Know why I chose to ignore them? Because a) they don't know me well enough to know that I do not want to become a pothead and b) pot can be addictive. I have a close relative who has struggled with marijuana addiction. I do not want to take that risk. That is my choice.

Assuming that one substance is a cure-all is, in a word, ridiculous. Do I tell other people with fibro that they should take Vicodin (as I do) for pain? No, because for some people it doesn't work. For some, it can be addictive. I have to keep this in mind. The pot advocates would do well to remember something similar. Pot is not a cure-all, no matter how you spin it.

If you want me to respect your opinion, please have the courtesy to respect mine in turn.

09 April, 2009

There's a Storm Gathering...A CAMEL STORM.

I don't think I have to tell you all how intensely idiotic and homophobic this PSA is:



My response can only be summed up by the following:



You said it, camels in a car.

03 April, 2009

Epic Privilege Fail

At first, I was unsure as to what I thought of this blog, in which a guy with (temporary!) underarm crutches takes photos of NYC subway riders who sit in the elderly/PWD seating instead of offering him a seat.

After reading this NY Times blog post on the site, however, I'm inclined to think that this is yet another mostly able-bodied person who claims the "social experiment" defense in order to take advantage of his own privilege, and to claim that he now somehow has insight into what it's like to live with a disability. Observe:

Wednesday morning, he was crossing 42nd Street after a long commute, accompanied by a reporter, when he was asked if he had learned any big lessons from the whole affair.

“Big lessons?” he said, pausing for a moment. “Honestly, no.”

After another moment’s thought, he added that the site and its reaction have given him a new appreciation for the lives of people with permanent disabilities.

“There’s these little struggles and battles going on every day,” he said. “You’d have to have a really good attitude to deal with it and have it not get to you.”


Yay, it's the PWDs as somehow brave and/or inspiring trope! My favorite. Also, note how being on crutches for some time apparently gives him super-special insight into what it's like to be a person with a (visible) disability! Never mind that dealing with a permanent health condition or disability is not just about getting (or not getting) a seat on the subway; there are other things that one must think about, plan around, and negotiate. Plus, there's that whole thing about disabilities that don't have any of the handy visual markers of disability that some able-bodied folks in our culture so strongly rely upon.

The comments to the article, predictably, are full of people who feel the need to share about how they, too, were once on crutches and experienced something similar, so they totally get how difficult it is to live with a physical disability.

This doesn't help.