Representing the Demographic

July 16, 2009

Prejudice is alive and well. It survives nicely through plenty of usually well-meaning people whose prejudicial biases fly under their own radar. Perhaps the most prevalent way that racism, sexism, homophobia, and other bigotries still exist is the extra scrutiny the marginalized group often gets, scrutiny that is forgotten for the same issue if someone of a privileged or majority demographic is involved.

We’ve all seen it. If a teen commits a horrible crime, then the question is not about that individual teen but a question and often assumption that this horrible behavior is common in teens. If the perpetrator were 45, that would not be an issue. The 45-year-old would rightly be treated as an individual, and other 45-year-olds would be spared having to carry that person’s guilt just because they were born the same year. Why? Because middle-aged adults are the standard and thus privileged age demographic while youth (and senior citizens for that matter) are marginalized and considered the “non-standard” group, the “other” group.
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More Pure Stupidity

July 9, 2009

Okay, so I was driving home from work today, and I’m behind some pickup truck, and even by pickup truck standards it looked rather rednecky, with pipes and shit in the back. After a bit I notice a printed sign is taped to the back window and when stopped at a stoplight I finally noticed what it said.

Don’t blame me. I voted for the AMERICAN.

:dubious:

Go ahead. Let that sink in for a moment.

I mean, for a minute I wasn’t even sure which candidate it was referring to, until the obvious factors of Obama having been the one who won and that this was, after all, a pickup truck, which I think is only sold to people who would fellate Ronald Reagan if given the opportunity. And it is probably asking too much of any conservative to recognize that Hawaii is part of the United States while Panama is not.

This has been Day 47 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

NYRA vs West Palm Beach

June 24, 2009

And now for a curfew-destroying, voting age-lowering edition of…

Here’s to You!!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, NYRA of Southeast Florida!”

They’re a chapter so nice I’ve said “Here’s to you!” to them twice! You may recall the first was last September for their super awesome voting age ad that we had aired on Comedy Central in DC in October. Oh, I’m so happy to say that was only the beginning of their sheer untainted awesomeness.

Because just yesterday, NYRA-SEFL filed a lawsuit against the city of West Palm Beach to get their curfew law struck down. They tried reasoning with the city. They tried protesting. City still wanted to be ridiculous and ageist, so NYRA got litigious. So Jeffrey Nadel and company, with the help of attorney Barry Silver, have filed a lawsuit that the curfew violates a host of constitutional rights. They have videos. They have docs. They have Twitter. West Palm Beach, and all curfew cities for that matter, can consider itself owned.

Here’s the news article about it, too. Go vote Yes in the poll and leave supportive comments. Youth rights supporters shall not be silent! :doitnow:

This has been Day 32 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

Couple of Comments

June 9, 2009

Proud of myself today. Commented on two blogs for youth rights, though as of right now, one of them is still in moderation. Lame. Is this how you guys feel when I ignore your comments? Haha.

Anyway, first I commented on the ACLU’s Blog of Rights, where they condemned sentencing juveniles to life without parole. Here’s my comment:

It is sick, especially when you consider how very few rights teens have. Everyone is always talking about how they can’t handle responsibility and that they shouldn’t be voting or driving or outside past a certain hour or whatever other unjust stereotype-based regulation, yet for some reason, if one were commit a heinous crime, then everyone suddenly thinks they’re fully developed and accountable and should get the harshest punishment. Can’t have it both ways, folks. Don’t treat them like kids and punish them like adults. As Dr. Mike Males said in on this subject in one of his books, we treat teens as kids when doing so is convenient for adults, and we treat them like adults when doing so is convenient for adults. Adult convenience and privilege should not be the basis for our justice system.

Awesome.

Then just a bit ago, NYRA-SEFL posted on Twitter an article about how Rochester, NY just got their youth curfew law struck down by the court. Score!

And here’s my comment:

For those who think a curfew is to protect young people from being victims of violence, I have a question. Why are you blaming the victim? If a young person is attacked at night, the REAL question should be “why are your streets so unsafe from violence?” not whether someone under a certain age is out past their bedtime! Arrest the CRIMINALS, not the potential victims! The worst thing you can tell a young victim of a violent crime is that it was her own fault because of her “improper” behavior, and that is exactly what curfews do. Glad to see this one gone and I hope Rochester keeps it gone. Hope all other curfews see an end sometime soon and people wise up and realize we have to treat young person with more respect and to come up with REAL, non-discriminatory ways to control crime.

Mmmm, yeah. (Despite them both containing typos I’m rather pissed about.)

Want to be awesome like me? Or at least as close as you, someone who isn’t me, can get to my astronomical levels of awesomeness? Then go leave a comment yourself! Only thing more annoying than a vocal youth rights opponent is a silent youth rights supporter.

And I totally got this in in time for this week’s Youth Blog Tuesday! Which is chock full of more blog entries you should totally comment on. Power to the Youth Rights Blogosphere! :doitnow:

This has been Day 17 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

Like It’s a Decade After 1999

June 8, 2009

I hereby decree…

Stop using the phrase “Party like it’s 1999!”

Seriously. I mean, I could sort of see maybe back in the 1980’s and 90’s this might have been a sort of “ooh, in the future, in 1999, we’re going to party so hard because that’s the last one before the numbers change, lulz!” Very stupid, but I can at least kind of see it.

If you’ll take a moment, please consult your nearest calendar for the current year. Or just look at the date on top of this entry. What year is that? Wow, really? Is it really 2009?

Oh noes! You missed teh big party year! It’s been a full decade since then!

Or, maybe, you didn’t do anything special in 1999 but want to pretend you did or that 1999 will somehow come again so you’ll have another chance. Either way, using the phrase whether before or after that year makes you sound like an immense douchebag, albeit in different ways.

Though not as much as if said during 1999…

“Duuude, we’re going to party like it’s 1999!”
“Hey, look at the calendar, man. It IS 1999!”
“OMG, holy shit! I guess we’d better party then.”
“Cool, dude! Hey, got any weed?”
“Nah, man, got a new job, have to take a piss test.”
“Totally bogus! I’d be in all kinds of deep shit if I had to for my job.”
“Hey, it’s alright. Here, want some coffee?”
“Sure, thanks man! So what should we do now?”
“I don’t know. Find the guys and see what they’re up to.”
“Awesome! Tonight is going to kick ass. Hell yeah!”
“Duuude, we’re going to party like it’s 1999!”
“Hey, look at the calendar, man. It IS 1999!”

Yes, that is how you sound if you say this phrase. Seriously.

The mystery is gone, folks. We’re past 1999. The nineties have ended and we’re almost done with the aughts. If you’re planning on partying, just do it whenever since you’re just getting older and older and it’s incredibly wasteful and silly to be earmarking an arbitrary year for “partying hard”. Just go ahead and guzzle that entire beer keg, blow up your liver in the process, die, and be out of our hair, kthx.

This has been Day 16 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

Seriously?!

May 29, 2009

Look at this game.

RapeLay

You saw that right. We’re talking about a real video game where the object of the game is to capture and rape girls. Think about that for a moment. I’m just speechless.

The game is sold in Japan (cue common vehement question “What the FUCK is wrong with Japan?!”) and trying to come to the United States. Of course, there’s a buttload of controversy over that.

But regardless of what happens involving whether the game is banned and where, there’s a bigger thing to wonder here, though I suppose the answer to that wonderment is the usual “humanity is just that fucked up”.
Continue reading “Seriously?!”

Utah to Jack Thompson: STFU

May 26, 2009

I think I’ll join them in that…

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

Seriously, Jack Thompson, put a fucking sock in it already.

For anyone who needs the reminder, Jack Thompson is the disbarred (LOL) attorney who always has a bug up his ass about video games and anything else with content that he finds offensive. Not unlike the idiots in Wisconsin I talked about last week, he isn’t content just letting shit be and turning his attention to things that offend him less (as opposed to not offending him at all, in which case I’m not sure any such thing exists). No, no, he has to save the world from things that offend him. Is there a sizable number of people to whom these things are not offensive, perhaps enjoyable? Well, screw them, because it’s Jack’s feelings about it that matter, no one else’s.

If you need any more proof to his batshit insanity, even Utah is telling him to STFU. And because of that, he’s threatening to sue the State of Utah. Let’s see.
Continue reading “Utah to Jack Thompson: STFU”

Don’t Just Ban… BURN!

May 20, 2009

Here, read this.

:dubious:

Yup. Some Wisconsin library got bullied into banning certain books, as well as firing the library board members who dissented. Let’s have a look.

On Monday night, The West Bend Common Council voted for a second time not to reinstate four members of the library board because of their views. The Council upheld its April 21st decision because of the board members’ refusal to remove controversial books from the young adult section of the library prior to a formal review.

Oh, heavens, how dare those horrid rogue board members have such reprehensible views that, oh, library censorship is bad! Not like a library is supposed to be a house of information and knowledge or anything. Libraries are supposed to be, uh, well… I’m not sure exactly. Considering it would have only some info and not others. (Maybe something along the lines of a youth rights organization’s casualty list. That’s right. I went there.) :cute:

The board members are accused of promoting “the overt indoctrination of the gay agenda.”

And that would be…? It’s always some vaguely defined “agenda”. Gay agenda. Liberal agenda. Doesn’t mean anything but used to stir the unwitting ignorami of the world into a frenzy of paranoia. Of course, if their idea of a “gay agenda” involves such horrible things like treating gay people as equals and not beating the shit out of a guy for wearing pink, then I hope paranoia is the least of what they are beset with. How dare these rogue board members be tolerant of others! The nerve!
Continue reading “Don’t Just Ban… BURN!”

Wicked Sweet

April 30, 2009

Apparently, people who are “sweet” should stay out of the rain. They’re so sweet because they must be made of sugar. Water melts sugar. So sweet people melt in the rain or when otherwise wet.

But then how come the Wicked Witch of the West melted when water got sprinkled on her? She wasn’t sweet… or was she?

Now that I think about it, maybe the Wizard, Munchkins, and Witch of the North weren’t as “good” as we might believe. Maybe the Wicked Witches of East and West were actually the good ones. Is it out of prejudice for green-skinned women that they are dubbed evil?

Or is it because the Witch of the West kept trying to kill Dorothy?

Then again, that’s not a mystery. If you crushed my sister with a house, I’d want to beat you to a pulp, too!

Service Learning

April 28, 2009

Alright, this is another one of those entries that most of my NYRAnian friends will be wanting my head on a platter for, but screw those whiny idiots, I’m saying it anyway.

I really don’t have a problem with the student service learning hours that are required for a high school diploma.

“Oh, WTF, Katrina?! We thought you were a youth rights supporter! How can you be okay with being forced to do community service?”

Funnily enough, the main difference here is how I’m choosing to look at it. It’s not forced community service, or at least calling that misses the point. It’s more a very freeform homework assignment.
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