A Perfect View of The Video Game Medium

Here is a video by my favorite gaming video maker. This guy and I must share the same brain, because how he views things is almost always how I do, from his hatred of the Mass Effect 3 ending (even with the extended cut), to this neat idea – where he applies an author from a time ages before video games were anything at all to the world of gaming and how we experience it. And this guy’s videos don’t get nearly the love that they should. So yeah, watch it, and I hope you enjoy.

Peace out,

Maverick

The Legacy of Justin Bieber and the Pussification of Humanity

I have recently been made aware of a group of people.  This is a growing trend among young people, and seeing it disturbs the shit out of me.  Because what we are witnessing with this group of people is something that we can attribute to two things – 1. Justin Bieber and 2. The growing trend among people to be complete pushovers who won’t take any criticism.  The group of people that I am referring to calls themselves, “Video-Makers.”

This is a unique group.  See, what this group does is they take pop music that already sucks, speeds up the audio so they sound really high-pitched and girly, use god-awful lighting effects so they look like they are doing an actual music video and do jump-cuts every syllable of the songs that they are “singing.”  Though if you ask me, their singing is on par with the girls who did the song “Hot Problems.”  These people represent the ultimate legacy of Justin Bieber.

Now, I will admit that I have never been all that big on following pop culture.  It is something that I have tried my damndest to avoid.  But wouldn’t you know it, it finds me.  But from what I have heard around the internet water coolers is that Justin Bieber is the culmination of this movement of pseudo-males who get popular by basically becoming ball-less and acting as castrated as possible.  Now, this may not even have its origins in America.  From what I hear, the idealized vision of feminized men being the symbol of attractiveness has some deep roots in Japan, where it has been that way for some time.  And now America is getting on the bandwagon.  I mean, the popularity of Justin Bieber is much the same.

Look at how “manly” he is. Don’t you just see how legal he is? Ugh…

Justin Bieber has been, for almost all of his “music” career – a feminized version of a male.  I have a feeling that the Tumblr feminists must love this guy.  Or at least they should.  With how quick they are to jump on the – no-balls and men are evil bandwagon, they should view this movement of popularizing feminized men as just the best thing ever.  And thanks to the Disney Channel, they have seem to be winning that battle with the latest generation of men.

And all of these “Video-Makers,” or at least the ones who are guys, seem to have a lot in common with Justin Bieber.  They share the same god-awful haircut that he used to sport, until he recently became a more “adult” persona, which entailed that he actually look a little more grown up.  Not much, mind you, but a little.  He still shares the look of a guy who is 14.  But before, he looked like he was 10.  Also, the guys in these videos where really cheap hoodies (and all the girls wear them too), skinny jeans and sneakers.  They are trying with all their might to emulate Justin Bieber.  And given the fact that they get millions of views, they seem to be succeeding.

But all of them make covers of modern crappy songs, while trying their damndest to look as childish and silly as possible, and not in the “that’s actually kind of funny” way.  No, they’re shooting for the, “awww, that’s so adorable.  I love you!” kind of way.  The videos they make that aren’t music videos are all the most insipid pieces of I-have-no-balls pandering to make people like them, because that’s what’s popular.  And if I believed that they had more than 10 brain cells to rub together, I might actually believe that they were just following a trend.  But now, these guys and girls are doing what they think is genuinely good.  They think that they are just the bosses.  And anyone who says otherwise, they sic their minion followers on to and start false-flagging campaigns.  Because these people can’t take the slightest amount of criticism.

But the reason that these people annoy me so much is that this is the next generation.  This is what teen girls look up to.  This puss-ified image of what a guy is supposed to be is what teen girls think is attractive.  That is totally disgusting.  This is not something that we should be looking up to.  Because the reality is that these girls who make out with cardboard cut-outs of Justin Bieber are someday going to enter into real relationships.  They will have real responsibilities.  They will someday have to look after their own life.  And if we continue to indulge them this vanilla world-view, then continue to indulge that delusion by making the rest of the world conform to it (so they don’t have to tax their tiny brains too much), then we are making this species dumber!  For real, we are making ourselves stupider in the process!

These people bitch and complain, not about some of the totally mean-spirited comments they get (of which there are a lot), but because people don’t like their videos.  What, you mean that people don’t like your pathetic attempts to become Justin Bieber by osmosis?  I mean, you are trying to emulate him hard enough.  These people don’t want to face the real world.  And you know, part of me wants to like that.  Embracing adulthood sucks.  Adulthood sucks.  Life sucks.  But the problem is that people like this are making our culture conform to them.  We make the world easier for them.  It’s one of the many reasons that America’s education system is in the shitter.  We don’t want to make our kids think to hard, and guess what – they aren’t thinking too hard.  They are thinking less and less.

Perhaps the reason that this modern movement of the youth trying to be as innocent and naive as possible pisses me off the most is because of the fact that the flip-side of that is that we have a movement of kids who think that thinking and intelligence is a bad thing.  All over Disney Channel, you have kids who view school as the enemy, partying and having fun as the friend, and any form of intellectual pursuit as wrong.  Because of this, we are getting kids who are otherwise talented squandering that talent on the pop-y drivel.

Humanity is becoming pussified, one generation at a time.  This needs to stop.  But how can it be stopped?  Do any of you have any answers?  If you do, please, let me know.

Until next time, a quote,

“I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”  -Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, Futurama

Peace out,

Maverick

Musical Insanity: F*cking An Animal

This is the strangest thing that I have ever seen in my entire life. For real, you have seen nothing until you have indulged the insanity that is this video. It will change your world view. This is so strange that I honestly am always disturbed when I watch it. The people who wrote this song and made this video need to have their brains removed to be examined by scientists. I have a feeling that these people are the first aliens to make contact with humans. Here is the video. Brace yourself.

I know, it’s okay. You’re still sane. I understand if you’re confused, scared, disturbed or any combination of them. It’s alright. You’ll be okay.

Peace out,

Maverick

Musical Insanity: Christian Side Hug

There are no words. This is one of the funniest things that I have ever seen. I haven’t done this series as much as I should, and with that in mind, I present to you, the funniest thing you have ever seen. People like this are more proof that Christians don’t rock. They suck.

Feeling better? I hope so.

Peace out,

Maverick

Atheism + is the Reason I Don’t Affiliate with the Atheist Community Anymore

Short post, because I will be linking a video. Somebody else said this far better than I could have, and I don’t want to rip him off. With that said, enjoy, and I hope all of you who are like me, and want to think for yourselves, don’t be a part of this as well. Atheism + is a group of professional victims who want to make themselves out to be so trampled by us men, while never having any arguments of their own.  And the rest of you shouldn’t be a part of this anymore, either.  I no realize that being part of a community makes one tied to any bullshit ideologies that comes with it.  I don’t want that, and neither should any of you.  A pity, because this community once had potential. Now, we are too busy fighting amongst ourselves.

But here is one last thought that I have on this – if these people are going to use all the same tactics as the Fundamentalist Christians, in trying to stamp out dissent or differing opinions, why not simply adopt religion?

Peace out,

Maverick

RE: Marriage = Biology (Not Bigotry)

Oh boy.  Well, seeing as how it is Super Bowl Sunday, and I couldn’t care less about the sport, I thought that instead, I would simply choose to respond to a video that is so stupid, yet tries to pass itself off as professional and smart.  This video makes the contention that “natural marriage” is good, and gay marriage is wrong.  And we’re going to rip it to pieces.  Here is the link to the source, now let’s get cracking.

Should marriage be limited to one man and one woman?

No.  Gee, that was easy.

Why do governments promote marriage between one man and one woman?  It’s not just because two people love each other.

You’re right.  It’s because America is totally ruled by religion, and guess what the Christian religion thinks of gay people?

No, it’s for the perpetuation and stabilization of our society.

Uh…what?  You’re going to have to explain this one.

This understanding of marriage is rooted in the biological facts of nature.

Oh, this should be good.

But do we really have a good reason to maintain such a narrow definition?  Or has the time come for the government to revise and expand their definition of marriage to include same-sex couples?

You know, here’s a thought – why the fuck is it the government’s job to tell people who they can and cannot marry?  For real, what reason does the government have to lord over who people enter into binding contracts with?  We don’t do it to corporations (who we say are people), so why do we do it to private citizens?

When it comes to the behavior of its citizens, a government has only three options: It can promote, permit or prohibit their behavior.

That’s so stupid that I don’t even have to explain.

For example: the state promotes police work, permits most occupations, but prohibits drug dealing.  Why?  Because dealing drugs harms society, while police work greatly benefits society.

Wow, I guess you haven’t heard the overwhelming stories about the cops who are rampantly abusing their power, brutalizing citizens, raping and killing even, with little to no oversight.  Or perhaps you haven’t heard about the overwhelming profit motive for private corporations to keep the drug war going, even with the overwhelming amount of statistics that ending the drug war and having the government tax and control the sale of drugs would massively reduce gang violence and make our country safer.  So I guess that was a bad example.

In the same way, our government promotes “natural marriage,” permits most relationships but prohibits incest and pedophilia.  Why?  Because incest and pedophilia harm our communities, while “natural marriage” benefits our communities.

Oh boy, we have a lot to talk about here.  First, this term “natural marriage.”  I put it in quotations because it is bullshit.  Marriage is not something that occurs in nature.  I don’t see many gecko priests announcing the union of Mr. and Mrs. gecko.  I don’t see many shark or dolphin or scorpion priests or judges doing it either.  So yeah, this is an absurd and insulting thing to call what is, for all intents and purposes, a legal contract.  You can argue how your sky-wizard likes it all day, but the truth is that marriage is a contract underneath all the flim-flam and bullshit.  Now, I’m definitely with you that pedophilia is bad for a community, but with incest, I take an exception in one regard – if two people, who are old enough to consent decide to enter into that, so long as they don’t have kids, I see no problem.  And since you are comparing this example to the one you previously made, you aren’t helping your position.

And here’s how – natural marriage creates children,

And single mothers and fathers don’t?  Or maybe abusive relationships?  And of course, not some teenager who was given abstinence-only education, so she wasn’t able to protect herself never creates a child.  Fucking moron.

it best raises children,

Fuck that noise!  For real, I have seen SO many married parents who raise their kids like shit.  Not to mention, are you saying that a gay or lesbian couple who wants children are not able to raise it well?  That their children are naturally inferior?  Wow, I am totally with your title.  That’s not bigotry at all. (cough*bullshit*cough)

it protects women,

My god, how stupid are you?!  Do you have any idea what the domestic violence rates are among married women?  Where are you getting this information from?  What sources?  Not to mention how unbelievably sexist that statement is.

it civilizes men,

Oh yeah, because all men who aren’t married are just a bunch of animals!  Why, we would be raping and killing right now, were it not for marriage.  Oh, wait, that’s total bullshit.  I’m not married, have no interest in getting married, and I am about as respectful as it gets, because I believe in treating people the way I want to be treated.  Pity that the shallow nature of most of the women I have met has put that kind of attitude into the “friend zone.”

it lowers crime, poverty and welfare, which in turn reduces government spending and deficits.

You’re fucking kidding me!  You’re really making this argument?!  No wonder you disabled the comments section on your video.  There must be people foaming at the mouth to destroy you with statistics on how there are tons of women in urban communities that are infested with crime, how America’s poverty rate is reflected more by how the gap between the lower and upper class is growing, along with data about how our extraordinary military spending is a thousand times more of an iron ball our our nation’s economic ankle than welfare programs ever would be.  Or maybe they could hit you back with statistics about how investing in infrastructure and a social safety net is proven to be a force for making a nation’s economy stronger, rather than what you seem to think.  Not to mention – do you think that all crime is coming from gay and lesbian couples, you fucking bigot?  Fucking brilliant…

In short, “natural marriage” perpetuates and stabilizes society.  Everyone benefits from that.  Even those who don’t get married.

Not with the bullshit reasoning that you’ve handed us.

Now, let’s look at same-sex marriage.

This should be rich.

What benefits does it provide?  *sound of crickets chirping*

Oh, that’s what you think it provides?  Hm, how well-researched.  Well, allow me to retort.  For one thing, it allows people to enter into a contract with the person they love.  Despite my views on marriage, culturally, this is a huge issue.  To deny one group of it is basically saying – we don’t care about you, now please fuck off.  Next, it gives them the same tax benefits that regular married couples have, along with hospital visitation rights, in case their partner gets injured or severely ill, and the ability to share in property and have work rights that regular married couples do.  Gee, so glad that you did your research, makers of this video.

Same-sex marriage offers NO benefits for society as a whole.  In fact, it hurts us.

Well, I was wondering when we would get to the bigoted drivel that you want to sell, while trying to say you aren’t bigots.  Alright, let’s hear it.

Promoting same-sex marriage changes the purpose of the civil institution of marriage.

And what might that be?

“Natural marriage” centers on bringing up the next generation.  On raising children to become good citizens.

Uh…what?  That’s really, really dumb.  For one thing, what about married couples who have no children?  For another, are you saying that gay couples can’t raise good children?  I know a woman and her partner who have raised an amazing child, who is one of the few kids I actually happen to like.  And what about single parents?  Are you saying that they can’t raise good children?  Wow, sexist and bigoted.  Good for you, going balls-to-the-wall with this.

Same-sex marriage merely validates sex partners.

Whoa, stop right there!  What the fuck?!  “Merely validates sex partners”?  Do you have any idea how insulting that is?!  Yeah, because these people weren’t valid before this.  They were just a caste of citizens that we could totally ignore and not give a shit about.  You are one of the worst people I have ever had the chance to meet!  If a bus hit you tomorrow, I wouldn’t shed a single tear.  Un-fucking-believable.

We know, statistically, that “natural marriage” creates the best possible family for children.

And those statistics are…?

If we alter the primary purpose of marriage, the losers will be the children.

Yeah, because gay couples just raise the worst children.  Unlike those good-old fundamentalist Christians, who raise children to hate gay people, along with women who get abortions, or any other group they don’t like.  Spreading hate everywhere they go.  Or maybe like those Evangelical Christians, who militarize children for God.  Or how about those extreme Muslim families, who are proud of their children blowing themselves up for Allah.  Yup, all those people are so much better.

Doesn’t every child deserve a mom and dad?

You hear that, single parents?  You are failing because you don’t have a person of the other gender with you.

But what about “natural marriages” that don’t create children?  They are the exception, not the rule.

Oh yeah, just like loving gay and lesbian parents, or single parents.  You know, those people who you seem to be totally against.

The only relationships that do create children are between a man and a woman.  No exceptions.

Hey, now I know why so many kids are in the foster care system!

Whenever same-sex marriage is promoted, schools subject your students to mandatory homosexual curricula.

Uh…what?  Where was “Being Gay 101″ when I was in school?  I don’t remember my biology, English, US History, Geometry, or French teachers having a curriculum about being gay.  That would have been something I might have been interested in, so long as there was a class about sucking dick, eating pussy and how to tie an elaborate knot, which comes in SO handy for my S&M scenes I do with my Dom.  For real, knowing your knots is important, kids.  Learn it!  Oh yeah, and they also have a bunch of BS headlines that read like they are news stories, but since there are absolutely NO sources, if you look them up, they’re bulllshit.

Your businesses and taxes fund homosexual relationships.

Yeah, more bullshit headlines, with no sources.  Oh, and that’s also a bullshit statement.  By that logic, businesses and taxes fund heterosexual ones as well.

Your freedom of speech is gagged.

How?  Your headlines had statements about a guy who got fired for making statements against gay marriage, which have no sources, but assuming they’re true, this guy was a sports anchor.  Guess what – the government doesn’t own that network.  The heads of the network made the choice to fire that person, if such a person exists.  You also have a headline (without source) talking about a consultant getting fired for writing a book in support of your view of marriage, which again, is totally in the hands of the private business.  They could have kept this person on and been known of supporting bigotry.

And your religious freedom is overruled.

Yeah, because suddenly, we have gay marriage, and you can’t be a Christian anymore!  You have more BS headlines.  One talks about a student getting expelled for disagreeing with same sex marriage.  I call bullshit on that because there was no source, and he would have had to do a lot worse than that to get expelled.  You also have a headline saying that Catholic adoption groups close their doors, rather than let gay couples adopt.  You know what, fuck that noise!  If you are going to deny a loving family the ability to raise a child, then fuck you.

The government has no interest in legally promoting same-sex marriage.  None.

Hey, here’s a thought – how about the government has no right at all to tell people who they can and cannot enter into a marriage contract with!  For real, you might as well say that they have the right to tell women what to do with their bodies.  Oh, wait…

But we have every reason to continue to promote “natural marriage.”

Such as?

But what about equality?  The law already treats everyone equally.  Every citizen can marry someone of the opposite sex.

Unbelievable.  You are so fucking stupid and bigoted that it boggles the mind.  Yes, because lesbian and gay couples are not equal to the rest of us.  They are beneath the rest of us.  Yeah, that is totally cool.  Fuck you.

But is it fair to promote “natural marriage” and not same-sex marriage?

Simple answer – no.

Yes.  The law treats all people (they put emphasis on this word) the same, but it doesn’t treat all behaviors the same.

It doesn’t get more offensive than this.  For real, it doesn’t.  This is the most bigoted thing I have ever heard, and these people think that they have made it sound smart.  Yes, because entering into a gay relationship is a “behavior.”  Yeah, it’s that simple.  It’s not a huge part of a person’s personality.  It’s not a major part of their life.  It’s just a behavior.  Like opening a door three times, or making sure all the lights are off before you go to bed.  Yup, that simple.  Fucking brilliant…

Same-sex marriage and “natural marriage” are different behaviors, with different outcomes.

Um, no they’re not.  They’re legal contracts that people make.  Underneath all the religious bullshit about how sacred marriage is (though if you look in the Bible, clearly not to Christians, with all the sex-slaves, concubines and many wives some of them had), it is, at its core, a legal contract.  That is it.

So the law rightfully treats them differently.

No, the law is lead by people who think like you, and you are a horrible bigot.

Isn’t this discrimination against homosexuals?

Simple answer – yup.

No.  This discriminates against behaviors, not people.

So many Christians have made variations of this statement.  From “love the sinner and not the sin,” to “I don’t hate them, God hates them.”  It’s all the same, in the end.

For example, are you being discriminated against when the government promotes police work, but you never become police officer?  No, not at all.

Wow, that example is so stupid that I almost had to slap myself to remember that I am awake.

We all benefit when police work is encouraged.

Tell that to Raymond Harisse, who was gunned down while in his car by six cops who fired with abandon into his vehicle while he was unarmed, hitting several civilians as well.  Or maybe the black kid in New York City who were taped driving up to a black kid and beating him to death, saying that he was “resisting arrest.”  Or how about the family in Michigan, who were raided and had their dog shot and the dog’s puppies pepper-sprayed for the fun of it, all claiming it was a “drug bust.”  Or maybe we can talk to the girl who was detained because a cop didn’t like her swearing, even though she had tried to call them earlier and was hung up on while her father was having a seizure.  Yup, I bet all those people just love the cops.

In the same way, people who don’t marry someone of the opposite sex are not discriminated against when our government promotes “natural marriage.”  In fact, we all benefit when “natural marriage” is encouraged.

Using the logic you have presented?  Fat fucking chance.  Oh yeah, and they are discriminated against when a government denies them the right to marry who they love.

But what about tolerance?  Yes, same-sex marriage advocates need to be more tolerant.

Oh, fuck you!  You’re not fucking going where I think you’re going.  But wait, they are.  They hold up another headline (with no source) of Obama saying that we shouldn’t advocate against gay marriage.  Yeah, because heterosexuals are so fucking discriminated against.  You all have it so damn hard.  I feel bad for ya.  I really do.  It must be so hard to be in the overwhelming majority and not have your rights and your decisions being trampled on at all.  So hard indeed.

Homosexual relationships are already tolerated in the US.  They can already commit themselves to each other until death do they part, without government endorsement.

And, just like all Christian videos like this, the ultimate truth comes out – they are against gay marriage just because they don’t want to share the name for their contract with a group they don’t like.  Fuck you.  Fuck everyone who thinks this way.  For real, you’re fucking scum, and you should die.

But only the union of one man and one woman should be promoted, because it alone is the foundation of a civilized society.

Oh really?  So, the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Japanese and Chinese societies weren’t civilized?  There’s a reason that the Japanese looked on the Europeans with disgusted when they first found them.  And their societies, while having their problems, were flourishing without your Christian definition of marriage.  Oh yeah, and people are civilized without marriage.  Every single contention of this video is bullshit.  Straight-up fucking bullshit.

That’s not bigotry.  That’s biology.

Nah, it’s bigotry.  And fuck you for speaking it.  Oh, and also fuck you for exploiting science to try and make your point.  Thankfully, science doesn’t back you up at all, because homosexuality isn’t limited to humans.  And marriage exclusively is.

This is what the LGBT community has to live with.  Uninformed assholes who want to trample on their rights.  See now why I have absolutely ZERO love for the religious community?

Until next time, a quote,

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.”  -George Carlin

Peace out,

Maverick

Feminist Frequency and her First World Problems

Now, this isn’t going to be one of the posts where I go off on somebody.  I want to legitimately dissect some of the things that I have heard this woman say and talk about in her videos, because I honestly believe that everything that she stands for with her YouTube channel is a complete waste of time, and as the title suggest – first world problems.  These issues aren’t even feminism in the way that most people would understand it.  Not one of the things that she takes apart in her video has anything to do with women’s rights, or issues that have any bearing on their rights.

For those of you who don’t already know, the YouTube vlogger, Anita Sarkeesian, better known by her YouTube channel, Feminist Frequency, has a channel where she discusses pop culture, from the perspective of women’s rights.  That is the first glaring problem – that pop culture is somehow hurting women.

In one video, she makes the point that many female characters in games are…well, I’ll let her say it -

Have you ever noticed that, with a few notable exceptions, basically all female characters in video games fall into a few handfuls of cliches and stereotypes?

She shows pictures of hot women in video games.  Well, by that exact logic, I could make the exact same argument back to her about men.  And I would be right.  Most men in video games fall into the category of the cold-blooded white knight, who is totally unphased by the killing that he has to do in order to save the day.  Sarkeesian paints women as the victims of culture, always culture.  What about rights?  We’ll get to that.

This is nothing new.  Throughout her entire career, Sarkeesian has chosen to take apart popular culture, and has no really original thoughts.  If you look at her college thesis paper, this is blatantly apparent.  For only about 8 pages of a 50-odd page paper, she actually gives her opinion, and even there, she still is quoting the opinions of a lot of OTHER people.  So, rather than engage in anything really deep and complicated, she chooses to look at the most simplistic of concepts.  Like what, you may ask?  Well, there are many things.

How about the Powerpuff Girls?  In a video, she talks about how the Powerpuff Girls are a malicious design against women, and that they are part of a backlash against feminism, where the creators of the show have created a world without gender oppression, so that they can see it where none exists.  Interesting concept.

Or maybe we can talk about the very influential views of Twilight, like in her video “The Real Reason Guys Should Hate Twilight.”  If you watch that video, and you listen to what she says, you can quickly see that Sarkeesian believes that women are so easily influenced by pop culture, and that people don’t have the brain power to think for themselves.  I like what Doug Walker had to say about Twilight in a review he did of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 (the stupidest movie of all time).

It’s the fact that any girl that would be like ‘oh, I really like Bella!  I just want no responsibility and I want men to do everything for me and blah, blah, blah.’ Most girls go through that phase, and most girls are, you know, reality hits them and it hits them pretty quick.

The reality is that the real world isn’t as nice about these pop culture stereotypes as she wants them to be.  And it makes sense, if you listen to how she talks, and what she talks about.  Sarkeesian is a preacher, for all intents and purposes.  She is a preacher who preaches to her congregation about how evil pop culture is, and how corrosive it is to society.

I genuinely believe that Sarkeesian doesn’t know how to examine culture in a serious way.  If you are wondering why, it can be traced back to her college thesis paper.  In a large section, she talks about women who she views as good feminist role models in shows.  Care to guess where a lot of these women come from?  Shows by Joss Whedon.  Almost exclusively.  Really?  There aren’t any great film characters who are good role models?  Or how about novel ones?  And why on Whedon TV shows?  You think that other TV writers haven’t made very good female characters?  It’s telling.  See, the thing about Joss Whedon – he is a good writer, but he isn’t writing Shakespeare.  And what’s more, he knows it.  I’m not putting him down.  I have enjoyed his writing for a long time.  He writes to nerd and geek culture.  He’s the lord of it.  But if you grew up watching only his stuff, you aren’t going to get an insight into the human condition or anything grand.  He knows he isn’t that kind of writer, and he doesn’t try to be.  So it makes sense that Sarkeesian doesn’t have a background on how to digest culture at large.  Hence why, in her critique of Kanye West’s music video “Monster,” she showed an absolute lack of understanding of black culture.

Oh, and she has this bad habit of classifying everything as a “trope.”  Huh, interesting term.  Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “trope” as “the figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.”  So, when she calls something a “dead woman trope,” is she saying that there is the figurative or metaphorical use of dead women?  Or when she classifies women in video games as different tropes, is she saying that these women are figurative or metaphorical?  No, she isn’t.  Like everything else in her videos, it is a word that sounds smart, and therefore makes her look smart by using it, instead of using a word that might actually make sense, like calling something a stereotype or archetype.

And her views are completely one-sided.  That can’t be argued.  She went off on the singer Amanda Palmer about her album “Who Killed Amanda Palmer.”  There was a track in that album about Palmer’s experience with being raped and getting an abortion.  This track got a lot of flack from the media, but she wrote a response defending it, and there was a choice (albeit unknowing) refutation to a large amount of what Sarkeesian has said in it -

In art, everything must be fair game, everything must be explorable, everything must be speakable, or we go BACKWARDS! we go DOWN!

That’s a great statement, and absolutely true.  When looking at how Sarkeesian operates her channel, it is very telling.  Sarkeesian moderates comments, deleting what she doesn’t like.  She blocks people from commenting who she doesn’t like.  She shuts down all dissent and differing opinions.  The reality is that Sarkeesian doesn’t want women’s rights.  She wants a world that flows according to her tune.  She wants a world that is made in her likeness (metaphorically speaking).  And in her world, everything is wrong.  Every single part of culture is wrong.

She made and then deleted a video some time ago where she said that a subway ad for the game Bayonetta was misogynistic because people could remove sticky-notes from it, which is akin to disrobing a woman, which in her world is…wrong?  What?  Disrobing a woman is wrong?  No wonder she deleted that video.  Even looking objectively, you would have to ask yourself – is she saying that having sex is wrong?

Another thing to think about when looking at Sarkeesian is – how often does she have an original thought?  About a movie or song, often.  About a large issue like violence and women in video games, never.  When she is talking about a small item, it’s easy to think for one’s self.  But talking about something that is a cultural issue at large isn’t so simple.  Much like her thesis paper, a new kick-starter project she has looking at women in video games borrows HEAVILY from words that you could almost cut-and-paste from Hillary Clinton, in a press conference.  And what solution does Sarkeesian have for this issue?  Well…I have yet to hear one.  And the reason is simple – you can’t censor video games.  Not anymore.

A lot like with violent movies, violent songs and many other forms of the art mediums, it has simply grown too large.  But there is a some good that has come out of that – reaching out to multiple markets.  During all the shots of her hands with an Xbox controller, never once do you hear from Sarkeesian that video games have now grown into a cultural phenomenon that is now reaching more audiences than ever before.  Characters are becoming more and more complex, because the audiences who grew up with this medium have seen its potential, and want more.  But the biggest point of all – nobody is holding a gun to women’s heads and forcing them to buy these things or watch these things.  For as popular as video games are, they are still a niche market in a lot of ways.

Sarkeesian basically has a problem with this – women who are strong, weak, dumb, smart, ugly, pretty or anything in-between, if they are somehow sexual at all in video games.  She is against anything that can arouse a man.  Well, sorry, Anita, but you don’t get to do that.  You don’t get to push your values on us.  And there’s a reason – because you don’t control our sexuality.  What people are attracted to is their own.  If a man likes a woman in a tight shirt with big boobs, that’s his business.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  I am very much in love with a woman who has long brown hair, is in good shape, but not a super-model, has large breasts, a very well-defined ass, and isn’t afraid to show off her figure.  Is that suddenly wrong?  Am I suddenly a bad person for liking that?  Is she a bad person for taking pride in how much work she does to stay in shape?  How can you make that argument?  Oh, right, she makes it all the time.  She basically says that women who want to express their own sexuality are too stupid to know otherwise.  Who’s the misogynist now, Anita?

The real truth about Anita Sarkeesian and her channel, Feminist Frequency, is that it is a one-sided ego trip, designed for her to preach to her congregation, and now, her kick-starter project has elevated her to feminist stardom status, even though there are many women with opposing views, that she never once acknowledges.  Sarkeesian looks at every opposing view as coming from misogyny, the patriarchy, or simply stupidity.  And should a video actually reflect negatively on her, she immediately deletes it.  She is a vacuous, insipid vlogger, who elevates her own status, by talking about things that are culturally relevant.  Her entire world view is shaped by her professional victimhood that has given her carte blanche to hate men as much as she wants, while not acknowledging any other viewpoints that aren’t just trolling.  She goes out of her way to say that she is not a misandrist, but constantly attacks men like they are the enemy.  She is not somebody that anybody should take seriously.  Ever.

Until next time, a quote,

“I do this real moron thing, and it’s called thinking. And apparently I’m not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.”  -George Carlin

Peace out,

Maverick

The Salvation Army Thinks That Gays Deserve Death?!

Why do I do this?  Why do I subject myself and my little free time to finding thing that piss me off?  I don’t look for them.  They find me.  I’m just minding my business, checking on YouTube, when I see this lovely little tidbit.  Andrew Craibe, a Major for the Salvation Army, was asked by two gay journalists if they deserve to die.  And his response was so incredibly bigoted, it’s almost amazing -

Well, it’s a part of our belief system…You know, we have alignment to the Scriptures, but that’s our belief.

This guy is amazing.  Not only is he probably the stupidest person ever to be in a televised interview, but he also decided to sink the Salvation Army into yet ANOTHER PR nightmare.  Anyone remember back in 2004 when the Salvation Army threatened to close their soup kitchens in New York, rather than allow equal benefits for domestic partners?  Or how about when they were working with political groups to stop gay marriage being legalized in many states.  It isn’t exactly a secret that the Salvation Army is run by anti-gay bigots.  That’s just a fact.  Regardless of what good they end up doing, they are still bigots.  But now, as if being known for their bigoted behavior wasn’t bad enough, they are deciding to just go balls-to-the-wall and say that gay people should die.

Un-fucking-believable.  They can’t be this stupid.  No company can be this stupid!  I mean, when Chick-fil-A came out against gay marriage, at least they were measuring out what they were supporting.  They knew that America is filled with bigots, but they didn’t go too far.  They knew where the line was.  As bigoted as this country is, there is no fucking way that you can get these people to actively desire death upon people.  That’s just going too far.

Now, the Salvation Army has tried to mend this situation, with a statement saying that all human life is sacred, and that it would be against Christian teachings to be in favor of murder.  But here’s the problem with that – Craibe was actually right in what he said.

According to the book of Leviticus, a man who lies with another man should be put to death.  Oops.  Guess the Bible doesn’t back up your cause on this one.  Or, since Christians are the morphing masters of getting out from under their own creed’s doctrine, they will say that that is “open to interpretation” or something to the effect of “Jesus came, so we don’t have to do that anymore.”  They have a gift at finding ways to disobey their book’s teachings, while still saying that they take it literally.  Christian hypocrisy for the purpose of not having to think too hard never ceases to amaze me.

Not to mention, they say that God values all life.  Well…that’s blatantly not true.  God decided to genocide the entire planet’s population of men, women, children and babies.  Did all those lives matter to him?  Obviously not, because he killed them in cold blood.  Or how about when he commanded his people to slaughter the various tribes who stood against them?  In one passage, he tells his army to dash the heads of children against rocks, and slash open the bellies of pregnant women.  Gee, that’s love for ya.  Christian dogma doesn’t support this.  If anything, Craibe was closer to the truth than the Salvation Army’s attempt at a good PR strategy to cover this.

The consensus seems to be, across news groups, that this was an individual thing, and not a Salvation Army thing.  But they have always been anti-gay marriage, anti-gay adoption, and anti-gay rights.  This has been shown, time after time.  Here is a link to a lovely YouTube vlogger named Zinnia Jones who gives a comprehensive view of the anti-gay stance of the Salvation Army, and their efforts to work against gay rights.  But, like whenever a cop does something bad, we always want to say that this is a small thing, and not look at the larger issues.

In my mind, this is why bigotry is so common in America.  Instead of looking at the root cause, America is too lazy for that.  Because, to really attack bigotry, with things like education, open dialogue and keeping an open mind, you actually have to work at those things.  Those things aren’t easily remedied by saying that it was a “one-time deal” or a “baby with the bathwater situation.”  No, to tackle real bigotry, you have to look a little deeper.  And we aren’t.  We aren’t looking deeper than that.  Because that would be too hard.  And also because it shines a horribly ugly light on America and its people.  We are nation that needs the sunshine blown up our ass all the time.  If we have to be even remotely critical of ourselves, and take responsibility, then we have to actually admit we did something wrong.  And if Bush taught us nothing else, it’s that admitting when you’re wrong is no good!

The reality is – don’t give any money to the Salvation Army.  There are a ton of other charities that do just as much good work, without the bigotry associated with the Salvation Army.  Groups like Doctors Without Border, the American Red Cross, Direct Relief International, Heifer International and The Trevor Project.  All of these groups are so much better to donate to.  I am all for helping the poor.  I’m a liberal.  But I am sick and fucking tired of America’s bigotry being swept under the rug, and us thinking that if we don’t look at it long enough, it will go away.

I am also tired of Christians trying to whitewash their holy book, to absolve themselves of the fact that they follow a God who has human prejudices, is vain as any person, and is a violent bastard who, if you don’t do what he says, he will fuck you up!  And that’s how it reads.  The Bible doesn’t read like symbolism.  It reads like God is an immoral dictator who will fuck you up if you don’t do what he says.  He’s a pimp, you’re his whores.  Well, I ditched that noise, and I am NEVER going back.  I don’t need that snake oil.

Why do you?

Until next time, a quote,

“You can support a good cause, without supporting religious prejudice.  But unless and until the Salvation Army renounces their anti-gay policies, don’t give them your money, and don’t give them your used goods.  There are better options out there.  And there is no place for hate in charity.”  – Zinnia Jones, Boycott The Salvation Army

Peace out,

Maverick

Justin Bieber is STILL Popular, and Teen Girls are STILL Stupid

I did a post a couple years back called “Modern Teenage Girls = Dumb.” In this post, I talked about how, if you look at teenage pop culture, and how ridiculously stupid it is.  The role models for teenagers now are the tepid, pathetic, asexual imps.  Unless, of course, they are girls, but even then, the girls in these pieces of pop culture who are interested in love don’t have a CLUE what real love is.  To them, love is the Full House, pathetic and super-awesome all the time attraction.  Love is simple, easy, and has no problems.  As is the case with the music of Justin Bieber.

Justin Bieber represents everything that is wrong with our culture.  This pathetic, asexual little girl (he isn’t not a man.  He has no balls) need to be forgotten by our culture.  But he isn’t being forgotten.  No, instead, while his popularity is nowhere near what it used to be, he is still a large figure in the public consciousness, and teen pop culture.

My favorite YouTube vlogger just did a video about this, and he pointed out something that I hadn’t thought of, but is very true, if you think about it.  Teen pop culture takes in what is dark, Gothic and cool, and turns it into something pathetic, whiny, bitchy, and ball-less.  Anyone remember when Vampires were something to be afraid of?  They made these great movies about how dark and sinister this creature was.  It haunts the night, stalking humans like a farmer, checking its chickens to see which would be the best food for the night.  They were something that was from your deepest nightmares, because it was neither animal nor man.  Neither zombie nor human.  It existed between worlds, forever in darkness.  That’s pretty fucking bad-ass.  Then, a Mormon author named Stephanie Meyer came along and said, “I bet I can make my own version of that, and it will be better!”  Actually, fuck that.  She saw a way to market, and she took it.  She saw a way to market her Mormon antiquated values, and she jumped on the bandwagon.  That’s the real truth.  And her publisher did SO many favors for her in marketing that crap.  But now, the teen pop culture has taken in vampires, where once they were something to be afraid of, now they are sparkly, and gay, and stupid.  They are a giant waste of time.

Anyone remember the werewolf?  They were another creature of the darkness, that existed in a place that was somewhere we didn’t want to be.  They also stalked the night, hunting us down like cattle.  We could mount no defense against them.  We were helpless before them.  The aforementioned author got a hold of them, and now, something else that represented fear and terror is about teenage unreal and unrealistic love.

In the 90′s, there was this strange new trend of taking Shakespearean and other great pieces of classic film and turning them into teen popcorn flicks.  Anyone remember the film “Cruel Intentions?”  Yeah, that little cinematic travesty (that guys only watch for the chicks making out) was part of this.  Or there were all the teenage versions of Shakespeare’s plays, like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, or O (an adaptation of Othello.  Why the fuck did they not include the whole title?!), or The 10 Things I Hate About You.  All of these were pieces of shit.  But teen culture ate it up.  Just like now, where Justin Bieber has replaced Kurt Cobain as the teen heart-throb.  This is what modern pop culture does.  It digest what’s cool, and it regurgitates what sucks.

It annoys me to no end how the modern view of being a teenager is that one is supposed to be stupid, and ignorant, and embrace partying and making an ass out of yourself, instead of intelligence and cognitive thought, and trying to make yourself a better person.  I was the leader of the outcasts in high school, and my outcast brethren were people who liked to read, and be smart, and do cool stuff.  They didn’t want to party and get involved in high school drama like the rest of them.  They didn’t want to embrace the socially corrosive culture.  And while there were a lot of us, the fact is that we were not the in-group.  We were the outcasts, in a culture that was just as dumb.  But it’s getting dumber.

And when people say that my problem is that I’m jealous of Justin Bieber, like TJ, I say, “fuck yeah, I am!”  I wish that I could be as good as that idiot at getting people to give me their money.  I wish I had a couple of mansions that my throngs of dumbass fans (in this instance, I have his.  I’m not insulting you, my regular readers. ) got me because they convinced their parents to buy my crap.  That’s all Justin Bieber has done!  He’s convinced the dumb to buy his garbage.  Teen girls are becoming the living dead.  If they were told that they had to rip apart a bunch of puppies in order to kiss Justin Bieber’s hand, I guarantee you that they would dig in without a moment’s hesitation.  That’s who this idiot’s fans are.  And I wish I had that kind of support.  I don’t.  I am a relative nobody, on a blog on WordPress, talking to my audience about what I think matters.  Everyone who hates this kid is jealous of his ability to have absolutely no talent, but make metric tons of cash.  To have President Obama want to hang with him, and get a medal from the Canadian Prime Minister.  Fuck yeah, I’m jealous of an idiot who has no talent, creativity, or even musical savvy, living a life of absolute luxury!  Who wouldn’t be?!

And this is what gets on my nerves – these are the people we surround ourselves with.  Parents don’t like this kid.  Nobody likes him.  Then why do we still buy his shit?!  Well, that’s obvious – because these girls want to believe that at any moment, they could turn a corner, and this pathetic little worm is going to be there, ready to tell them that he loves them.  I got news for you, girls – he doesn’t give a shit about you!  This trained monkey is doing what his handlers want so that he can make money!  All he cares about is the money!  He will never, ever care about you, what you think, how you feel, or anything connected to that!  And the fact that our culture isn’t crucifying this socially corrosive bullshit pisses me off!

Fuck this crap!

Until next time, a quote,

“Say it with me – Justin Bieber doesn’t give a shit about me.  He only cares about my parents’ money.”  -TJ Kincaid, 5 Reasons Justin Bieber Still Sucks 

Peace out,

Maverick

The Weird Side of Academic YouTube

Anybody who is on YouTube and who makes content knows that 90% of YouTube traffic is kittens, puppies, babies, and rednecks doing dumb shit.  That’s just how it goes.  People like my favorite YouTube vlogger, The Amazing Atheist, The Show with Neil, and others who I watch regularly are piggy-backing off of the success of pointless dumb shit on YouTube.  And that’s good.  Because it allows them to have an audience that will listen to what they say.  Having an audience is the whole reason that anybody does anything online.  I am always looking to grow my audience.  And it is working, a little.

Of course, where there is the vloggers and the cutesy dumb stuff, there is also the academic side to YouTube.  Educators who are trying to get helpful videos out to their students, and to be as effective as possible in reaching a wider audience.  Problem is – these groups typically fall flat.  The reason is because those who go on YouTube more often than not are totally uninterested in looking at academic stuff.  But then you come across the REALLY weird stuff in even the academic field on YouTube.

Like this video.  This video is so disturbing to me, and not because it is a video about a delicate topic (inserting a catheter into your vag.  Yeah, it’s for women).  That doesn’t weird me out.  What weirds me out is that this talks about this stuff like it is totally run-of-the-mill, every day, and the animations that they have with this are just disturbing.  But you can’t stop watching.  For reasons you can’t explain, you want to know all about how this works.  And I’m not a hypocrite.  The stuff they have on guy parts, and the medical aspects to that, I watched that too, because these videos are so matter-of-fact, and our culture is so terrified of it’s own genitals, that when see stuff like this on YouTube, getting over 5,000,000 views, it is almost amazing.  What’s even stranger – all the dislikes.  Why?  Because it wasn’t porn?  Did the title “PostCare Recover: Female Vaginal Self Catheterization” not fill you in on the fact that this wasn’t going to be porn?

The channel that did this video has done a whole series of these kinds of videos.  And to be honest, while they are disturbing, these videos also fascinate me.  I want to sit down and watch them.  And this is the really cool part about the academic world on YouTube.  You can post just about anything.  So long as you don’t show any really explicit nudity, you can post anything.  There are girls who put condoms on bananas.  There are girls who put condoms on bananas with their mouths.  There are videos showing people shoving a catheter tube up a guy’s junk, and the catch is that it’s a dummy guy’s junk.  This is really fucking weird, but it’s also kind of cool, and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot.

Academia will always interest me.  Especially in the battles it is picking in the world of new technology.  I had this pretentious-ass political philosophy teacher.  He used to talk about stuff, and he so was enraptured with his own words that I swear, during sex with his wife, he must always have to have something playing in the background which is him giving a lecture.  This guy got off to listening to himself speak.  But whenever you talk about using modern technology like YouTube to discuss this stuff, he got REALLY defensive, like the very idea that technology and education could be combined somehow offended him.  Why?  Because students might just learn something?  I admit that I learned jack-all in his class.  He loved listening to himself talk so much that I guess he would forget what we were talking about.  And because nobody wanted to interrupt him, because god-help you if you did, we never questioned his teaching method.  That’s just how it worked.

But then there are the teachers who actually embrace technology and the internet’s growth in the classroom.  I like these teachers.  Something that educators are just going to have accept is that the internet isn’t going anywhere.  If anything, it’s slowly taking over everything.  You get home, what’s the first thing you do?  Check your Facebook.  You wake up, what’s the first thing you do?  Well, if you’re a guy my age, you jerk-off, then check you Facebook.  This is the world we live in.  YouTube and Facebook have cornered a market on social interaction, and if academia wants a piece of this pie in the 21st century, they are going to have to do the same.

But never forget – you might be on YouTube, watching a funny video about a woman who is afraid of her own vagina (link here), and you just might come across one of the most fascinating videos of all time.  Promise.

Until next time, a quote,

“Lots of Christians wear crosses around their necks … you really think when Jesus comes back, he ever wants to see a fucking cross?”  -Bill Hicks

Peace out,

Maverick