I doubt this will piss anyone off due to the obvious nature of the complaint, but just in case: I don’t care. Recently, during my extravagant escapades over the tubes of the Internet, I’ve seen a number of articles, news reports, etc., all claiming racism and racially insensitive comments. In case you haven’t been on this magical plae called the Internet lately though, I’ll present the evidence - some of it in YouTube form!

First, “Black Hole is a Racist Term.” To truly grasp the stupidity of this fiasco though, you have to see the news story on it, which makes everyone in it look like an idiot, and secured the reporter’s place in mediocrity.

Second, we have the infamous “Pool’s Closed” fiasco, which has spread much like herpes via loved ones who think you should know about it. Just check out the news story, and another YouTube video!

Look, I’m no fan of racism, but this is getting retarded. We can’t possibly become so politically correct that using the terms “black” or “white” innocuously will be considered insensitive. If anything, I vote we should be more insensitive, in all forms of the word. If two of us are different, it should be a joking matter. In the other sense of the word, you shouldn’t start screaming “OMG RACISM” at the first sign of a black man in a poster just because you don’t get the joke. Sensitivity camps and politically correct language that is longer than the term replaced aren’t solutions (”Caucasian.” Really? Just call me “white.”)

To keep this on the lighter side though, I’m going to quote Maddox, for the ultimate reason to use the word “black” instead of “African American”:

First of all, the label “African American” is the dumbest, most persistently used phrase in our vernacular. Every time you call someone an “African American,” you’re making at least two assumptions about the person:

1. That the person is an American. For example, if you saw this guy walking along on a street, you would probably think:

…which is fine, except for one small detail: this man is British, which makes you a presumptuous cock.

2. That the person is African (because it’s inconceivable that black people could come from Haiti, India, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Australia, or Jamaica). Nevermind that; BLACK PEOPLE ONLY COME FROM AFRICA.

So, thoughts? Oh, and since my ancestors weren’t actually from the Caucasus region, I prefer to be called “Danish-German-maybe-Irish-because-his-ancestors-got-around-American.”

In a country that makes up the richest 10% of the world (well, 1/3rd of the richest 10%, and I don’t feel like doing math,) and survival being a distant necessity in the back of our minds, we frequently have people with too much time on their hands. Vegetarianism, PETA, anti-GE crop hippies and “green company” advocates plague our news with stories about how we can change our lives for the better, or how we can be healthier, stronger, and happier by following these trivial causes. Hell, some of the things they’re against actually help those who don’t have the luxury of choice when it comes to food (in the case of GE crops.)

So, what are the real causes that need to be rallied behind and fought for? Well, I don’t know - unlimited food, world peace and human rights all seem nice, albeit idealistic goals. Instead, I’m going to point out some causes that don’t have a simple solution, but should at least give perspective to you the next time you consider “protecting the animals” by eating salads while you continue to use the newest cell phone, laptop, and services that make our first-world society so much more comfortable than those other places, like… you know, that place with the dirt, and huts and stuff.

• Coltan - a mineral used in consumer electronics (read: everything you own that lights up) that is mined illegaly and is a real-world, modern version of the movie “Blood Diamond” (though that specific industry exists as well.) Companies need this mineral to build the devices we use, pay anyone who can supply it, and the military forces in the areas naturally rich in this mineral know it. This article also provides some background about the conflict, although it’s slanted against Sony.
• E-Waste - I imagine most of you already know about this one, since its catchy name has gotten it onto most major news networks in the U.S. The breakdown of electronics in countries we often don’t pay attention to is a big industry, providing money (at the expense of health and habitat) to those who break it down, and saving money for companies that export it. Finding an article that would actually point out exact figures was nearly impossible, but you can Google it yourself to get a hazy idea of how much money is potentially involved.
• Chinese Coal Mining - Okay, we can be off the hook for this one, since the industry is question is providing energy almost solely for China itself. However, with “official” reports saying 3,800 lives were lost in a single year (over 10 people a day, and the figures given are conservative,) this industry is nothing to lose a canary at.
• Ship-breaking - This industry is a minimal-tools, hands-on appraoch to scrap metal reclamation. Thousands of workers rip apart everything on oil tankers, cargo ships and other floating monstrosities to be resold to the companies that made the ships in the first place. The people who own the ship-breaking yards have a huge profit margin since workers don’t really get, well, anything. The companies that make the ships get to cut costs, and the only one who loses in this deal is the worker, who trades life and limb for a living.

Since we all know I’m by no means an activist, what was the point of showing you all of this? Well, I’m getting sick of seeing people telling us that removing GE crops and meat from our diets will somehow change the world. Our way of life, including the ever-falling cost of luxuries, is dependant on the suffering and efforts of others. We aren’t going to change the fact that we depend on cell phones, laptops, and cruise ships, so we might want to gain perspective instead and stop acting like we’re going to change the world by swapping out cheesburgers for tofu.

No, I’m not trying to get you fired. If you do get fired for this though, you’ll probably agree with this post. That, and you’ll be able to provide me with a great story for next week’s blog posting. So, get fired, and we’ll all win. Except for you. You’ll lose. Really hard.

The point of the above picture is to show a basic human trait: sexuality. Sex sells, quite literally, on many street corners. It gets higher ratings for shows that hint at it with innuendo and bedsheets/props that cleverly cover the “fun parts” of the characters. News programs that give any sort of story about sexual scandal glue viewers to their screens. And lets not forget advertising, where tits, ass, and everything in between are used to sell you the most unrelated products known to man (here’s some boobs, buy this muffler and computer.)

Sexuality itself is a moot issue for the scope of this post; men and women’s bodies are used in equal manner to sell crap and get viewers (and who you fuck isn’t any of my business, unless I’m the one you’re fucking.) We’re all human, so we all experience it, unless you happen to be a eunuch whose diets consists mainly of salt peter.

So, the $3.79 question is: Why the hell do we censor something that we all know and at least half of us possess? Sex isn’t that much of a secret, and really, half of us have the very body parts we’re trying to censor (100% in the case of butts, which I can’t even begin to understand.)

I leave the quandry, the proposed inquisition to you then, my loyal reader(s?). Why are we allowed to watch explosions, death, destruction, and every possible other “horrible” thing on every medium available, but when it comes to sex, the black bars are broken out?