Commercials in general are getting to me recently. I would like advertisers to know that I’m not a jerk, don’t want to be a jerk, nor do I want to be associated with jerks. Why would you think otherwise? But they obviously do. The current crop of cell phone commercials (Sprint especially) show that people who use their products are inconsiderate asses. Why do they think that makes me want to own their product? Maybe they believe that deep down I want to behave that way, and so owning their product will give me an excuse? So not the case.
Archive for March, 2011
The Pay Gap
04
Mar
Threads on the pay gap between men and women (and whose fault it is) pop up pretty regularly over at Your Money. Truth be told, I think we regulars all make close to the same arguments every time. I’m good with that.
I believe the only way we fix underlying gender discrimination in our society is by talking about it, by making people aware. Even for people who disagree with the way I see things, I believe they will be more conscious of their own actions in situations where gender discrimination might come up, if they’ve thought about it recently.
We Have a Right to Free Speech, Even When We Don’t Want to Hear it
03
Mar
I hate the Westboro Baptist Church, and all it stands for, but the Supreme Court made the right decision, in their ruling that the church can not be sued for protesting outside military funerals.
No matter how much I dislike what you’re saying, our soldiers are fighting and dying for your right to say it. And while I think you’re discrediting their sacrifice through these protests, I think it would be even more greatly discredited if we took that right away.
This was as close to no win situation as the court gets. I think they went the right way.
Why Geek Girl Con is Important
02
Mar
As a society have built up attitudes regarding what girls and boys are supposed to be good at. This article details a study that shows just how important it is for girls to have female role models in math and science. Girls are more actively engaged, try harder, and honestly believe they can do the math when they see other women do math. This is true even when the girls are better at math than the boys. If they only see men, it does not matter how skilled the girls actually are, they don’t believe they can do the math.
Beastly
01
Mar
I am annoyed by the commercials for the new Beauty and the Beast movie, Beastly. I love the fairy tale, but I think we’ve lost the lesson it teaches. The lesson isn’t about beauty, its about learning to like yourself no matter what you look like, that being a good person is as important as being a pretty person.
But the new movie promises that our hero will learn the true meaning of beauty. Except that he still falls for the hot chick. It appears the hot chick knows the true meaning of beauty, but our hero, not so much.