The Topic of Abortion in Christian Schools

Something that was on my mind lately.

One thing I don't know if people understand is that, when you go to a Christian school, the subject of abortion isn't really something that's up to debate. It's never discussed. You don't get to have conversations about the subject of abortion and why it's wrong. It just is. It's taken at face value. There's the obvious stuff like how all the science textbooks specifically go out of their way to refer to it as a 'baby' instead of a fetus, but one thing sticks out in my mind.

I had a brief stint in acting, the usual small-scale stuff like being in the school play of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But we spent much of our time practicing with other such affiliations like monologues. And one of the things that was given to us - and I mean like, of the potential ten, seven of them were done like this - monologues from the perspective of a fetus.

So, literally, we were given scripts of a child, scared of dying, who wants nothing more than to go to their parents and say, "Mom, dad, I love you," and have them reply back, "We love you too," but they won't get the chance to say it because they will be killed before they're even born. We are literally given scripts about a child scared of a car ride with their mom, and how they're afraid of needles, and hearing about how the doctors are talking about chopping him up, and then their mom does a brave thing and leaves, and a few months later they're born.

In retrospect, I've come to realize how underhanded it is. It really is completely dodging the concept of abortion not being wrong. It slips the idea of a fetus which cannot feel or think having conscious thoughts of worry, and fear of mortality and pain, and that it is a person, even though none of these things are true.

Just had that on my mind and realized it might be worth mentioning.

Me RE: Assange in custody

I'm not going to act as though this whole thing isn't largely suspicious since only after he became one of the most wanted men in America - be that good or bad - did the rape accusation take full-on force and he was actually issued a warrant. It is very suspicious. You'd have to be a lobotomized ignorant douche not to find it a little suspicious.

But please, please, do not act as though he should be let off scott free just because the case was dropped then picked up. This sort of thing has happened, is happening, and will happen again to people who are not connected to Wikileaks. If a rape accusation was taken center-stage by a public figure like a celebrity and authorities were coerced by public pressure to prosecute him, things would be no different. 

Claiming that Julian Assange should be let off of his accused rape purely based on the grounds that he runs Wikileaks is an equal crime to saying he should be killed or imprisoned purely on the grounds that he runs Wikileaks.

I'm very okay with a public figure being tried and imprisoned for raping someone - at this point, it is still just an accusation, and acting as though he is either a rapist or an innocent victim is just as not fair. A man on trial for murder is neither a murderer or an innocent; he is being tried. He will be found guilty or not guilty based on the circumstances.

But please, do not assume for even a second that he's being treated fairly. His Swiss bank account has been suspended, and he was refused bail. 

THIS IS NOT FAIR. He must be tried fairly on the crime. The special treatment he is given is bullshit. No celebrity gets special treatment in prison or trial based on being an actor or musician. Likewise, unfair treatment by the law system based on his unofficial 'criminal' status is wrong. 

If he gets deported to the US I am going to go nuclear I swear to fucking God. 

UPDATE: In the third paragraph, a person can make judgments based on the facts presented to them. I should clarify that my post is referring to it as far as law is concerned. A convicted rapist or an innocent victim. 

Company Owner Asks Managers to 'Remain Neutral'

FakeCo, a USA-based company, had four of its female employees filing class-action lawsuits against their employers today. All of them are based on sexual misconduct and harassment. 

"I'm honestly confused," Idiot McJerk, FakeCo company owner said today. "I mean, yes we find them attractive, but what's wrong with that? That's what women are there for, right?"

The concept that FakeCo has problems with its female employees becomes more clear through interviews and employment history. Over the last year they've gone through massive turnover of female employees, which several ex-employees have attributed to numerous cases of sexual harassment. Male employee termination is almost at a standstill, however. 

"I'd go to the water cooler and be catcalled," Lady McGirlson said in an interview. "One time a guy even groped me, and when I shoved him the manager told us to go back to work. It's like they don't care."

Many of these reported incidents go by unnoticed, despite the alarming frequency at which they happened. A trend worth noting is that all of the managers are male. 

"It's very difficult. We have a community that has widely varying opinions, and so to respect all families, as the policy says, we ask managers to remain neutral," said Human Resources Head Fuckup McDumbass. 

And that's why 'remaining neutral' is a bullshit excuse to not do your fucking job to protect people from being bullied. 

A slightly more coherent post on PA's rape comic

(Trigger warning: rape)

First of all, a huge shoutout to Questioning Transphobia, who linked to Devil May Rant's last barely-coherent ragepost. Much appreciated, and I'm honored.

But now I'm going to try and be a little more explanatory about all the problems with this, and why Gabe and Tycho's incessant insensitivity is downright incredible. A recap first.

As you all know, Gabe and Tycho did the rape-joke comic, where someone says "every night we are raped to sleep by the dickwolves." People took offense to this, because rape is not something you should toss about lightly. It creates PTSD and stumbling across 'being raped' could very well cause a reminder of the horrible experience I'm sure the person would just like to forget. Plus, it's just more of the same Bro-gamer bullshit, padding on more and more insensitivity to a topic that (almost entirely) affects just women and pushes to alienate them.

Penny Arcade's response was as subtle as a nuclear bomb. In their next comic they talked of being sorry that "fictional creatures made out of dicks raped fictional people" and that "anyone who became a rapist because of our comic should stop." Okay, you do not fucking make fun of people who take offense to your work, especially not in this instance. They flat out ignored the issue or completely didn't understand.

When I glanced at Gabe's twitter someone posted the response to him where they talked about all the reasons that the horrible word being used was enough, not necessarily the context it was used in. He replied with, "I read it," and left it at that. I'm beginning to think that he knows of this, but either outright disagrees with it (which is, um, wrong, I mean I wouldn't tell a rape victim what they should or should not feel or take offense to) or just doesn't care and is planning on milking the PR for all its worth.

Now, if that were it, it'd be okay. They're being assholes but maybe they just believe in comedy being the higher authority, and that nothing is sacred. That's a disagreeable stance, I mean you wouldn't toss around 'faggot' or 'nigger' in a standup comedy routine and expect to be taken as anything other than a homophobe or a racist, but at least I could shrug and remind myself that PA is just the pinnacle persona of the gamer society.

I can't expect them to change their minds since they're ultra-successful thus far and probably think what they're doing is working. I can take offense, but they are more than likely not to listen as evidenced by their response. I'd rather just forget about it and so would everyone else. 

So if that were it, it'd be alright. BUT!

Next week's comic had a person talking on the phone and, on his shirt, was an outright second serving of cockslap to anyone who took offense, where he was wearing a shirt that said, "PENNY ARCADE  - DICKWOLVES"

The internet blew up a second time. Were they really going to make a shirt? Were they honestly just making any attempt to wring out some money from anything, including rape victims? 

Surprisingly, no, and the shirt concept vanished. To me, at the time, it seemed like they were heading forward into trolling the internet some more and ran into Blade Barrier cast by a maximum-level cleric and decided to back out. Maybe this was a bit much for them, and they decided not to after all.

If that were it, it'd be okay. BUT!

Just yesterday, in the blog post I mentioned, they announced their new shirt, Dickwolves. It was made out to be a sports jersey-style, IE, "Timberwolves." The internet once again exploded into a frenzy. This is about the time I took a step back.

Let's just analyze it for a moment, shall we? From the very getgo it's all been about "the dickwolves." Whenever they talked about the PR storm coming from it, this was the phrase they used. Was this one concept really so offensive? Rape was, yes, but who's making the connection now, anyway?

Maybe Gabe and Tycho just really liked the concept of wolves made out of cocks, with a bulbous wolf-head? And to be fair, that's pretty funny, aside from how these days is connected to a comic where they were raping people. So let me be fair to them and say that maybe they just don't understand what was so wrong about it, and instead want this joke to be the focus and try and move people away from connecting it to rape. 

But THEN!

Remember the trigger warning I gave at the beginning of this post, where I essentially said I will talk in great detail about rape to avoid anyone stumbling across this and accidentally suffering from a trigger? Gabe's post right before Tycho's dickwolves shirt announcement talked of a trigger warning for "attempts to coerce laughter through foul language, Dungeons, Dice rolling, contempt for Hydra’s bodily autonomy,Dragons,"

This is the patriot missile right into the left wing of my attempt to be fair to them. This blows any and all attempts to be nice or generous to them utterly away. They are insensitive, greedy, conceited assholes, and can't possibly be bothered to consider that they might be wrong. 

From the outset, anything and everything related to "dickwolves" is to remind people of the rape comic. Clean cut and dry, this is what they are doing. There's not even a joke anymore. The joke has become "people are hurt by rape and we don't care.* Let's make some money off it." Mocking PTSD is their new 'thing'. 

As I said before, PTSD is not something to make fun of. Army vets are now their beating sticks. Child abuse victims are now funny as hell. If they can find a way to wring cash out of either of these things, they'll do it. Psychological afflictions do not penetrate their cold exterior of generating humor. People who wish to be gamers who have suffered rape now will go to PAX where hundreds of gamers will wear "dickwolves" to remind them of their rape and how PA, by extension, doesn't care about their feelings.

The connection is intentional. I'd expect this kind of shit out of fucking ICP or Juggalos, not a gaming webcomic! Can Gabe or Tycho just imagine what would happen if one of their wives had to suffer through this? They would be extensions of the culture and, unsurprisingly, they would be repressed and humiliated by something their husbands are making a mockery of and desensitizing.

I can imagine that, if this happened, they would probably retract their shirts and try to forget about it. We ask this of them, and they mock us. This is insensitive, you assholes. "A tragedy is what happens to me, a no big deal is what happens to you." 

They didn't just guffaw and handwave someone taking offense. They told an offensive joke, someone got offended, and they promptly started mocking them to all their friends, and now have made a shirt that says RAEP IS GRAET, are selling it, and while wearing it began dry-humping people, loudly announcing "LOL RAPING LOOOOOOLLLL!" 

*Dox said this, not me, and I'm jealous I didn't think of wording it like that! 

My argument with Tobin Cozair

Tobin: I thought political correctness was dying, but people are angry at Penny Arcade for a "raped by dickwolves" punchline. Absolute morons.

Me: It's not political correctness. It's respect and courtesy to those who have been raped and sensitivity to the topic. Between that and "lol tila tequila mobbed and nearly killed" I have a hard time believing you're this cruel.

Tobin: that is absolute horseshit. The root of much humor is tragedy. A joke about a house on fire isn't insensitive to burn victims.

Me: Housefires do not give people PTSD. Rape does. The PA comic perpetuates a "rape is just a word" mindset in our culture. You wouldn't think it was hilarious to play Saving Private Ryan at maximum volume next to a Vietnam Vet, for example.

Tobin: no, what you're saying is that it would be insensitive to make saving private ryan at all.

(Not what I was saying. PA tried to make light of it and turn it into a joke whereas Saving Private Ryan was meant to be a realistic and horrific portrayal of war. Using SPR next to a Vietnam Vet as a 'joke' would be offensive and cruel. I didn't have a chance to reply since THIS stupidity came later...)

and rape IS just a word. A bad one, but to be offended by a dungeon of dickwolves is absurd oversensitivity to an obvious joke.

Me: So the word "rape" shouldn't carry meaning? No different than, say, "nigger" or "Faggot"? Just cause "it's a word"?

Tobin: I got tired of arguing with oversensitive nitwits like you in college, you never listen, and you have nothing but strawmen. Lucky for me, Twitter has a block feature. I'd recommend you unfollow me too, because dickwolves raping cartoons is hilarious.

Look I can totally disagree with someone on the subject but calling them "Fucking morons" is where I say, uh, excuse me, we're not morons. Just saying. 

Then in addition to totally ignoring my point, he says that rape is 'just a word.' To which I say, okay, so then otherwise offensive words that anger people like 'nigger' or 'faggot' are 'just words' too? I mean you can't have this kind of double standard on the entire English language; some words are offensive and crude, others are not.

If your response would be, those words are built around hatred and cruelty, I would say, yes they are. Therefore use of them has to be very careful and deliberate. That is all people who are protesting this comic are asking; the word itself being used more carefully. I'm sure homosexuals hate when the word 'faggot' is being used casually, and this is no different. Acting as though 'rape' shouldn't have extra weight and meaning for no coherent reason other than 'because I say so' makes no sense.

But...a strawman? How is what I said a strawman? I made the legitimate comparison to other words that had meaning to them. I did not call anyone a racist or homophobe and I did not state that anyone saying "rape" is one of those two things. I was very clear that there are words that were more than just words, and rape should be in that category. 

But as I said, I do like that his response to my legitimate point was "IM GONNA BLOCK YOU!" A bit touchy isn't he?

Abusing women is funny

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/08/15/tila.tequila.attacked/index.html

Lolz!!!!!!

Apparently violent abuse is hilarious because
- she's a reality/playboy star and who thinks she can sing so she deserves it.
- she's a girl and therefore its nothing new.
- she took off her top to appease them so she's a whore and she deserves it.
- they got more violent to her bare breasts, which means good on them, showing that whore what proper modesty is.
- she tried to keep singing while bleeding into a towel so she obviously didn't get the message.
- having rocks and broken bottles thrown at you isn't that life threatening I guess.
Its good to know that Insane Clown Posse continue to be the worst thing to ever happen to the music industry since Slipknot. Now their own fans are nothing more than violent sadistic giggling fucking assholes who think anything is funny provided you're not on the receiving end.

I'm really looking forward to the ICP response to this fucking horrifying event which will be the musical version of a high-five from them to the fans.