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Seriously. This exists.

RUDE. Or: Fuck you, Media.

Today's post is a disapproving finger-waggle to Toronto Media. Seriously Miss Manners, where are you?? I know if you could see this you'd cut a bitch.

My twatter feed is lit up with livebloggers going on about Sgt Ryan Russell's funeral. His death in the line of duty makes me ill. I'm not that good about death to begin with and the idea of it being someone's job to die because there are lunatics about just makes me sad.

Having died in service to his city, it's definitely sensible that the city provides a funeral service large enough for the citizens to pay their respects despite never knowing him in life. What grosses me out though, is the media presence. A funeral is supposed to be a solemn and respectful time for people to say goodbye to a loved one. To have "journalists" tweeting every last detail as it happens or videotaping it for the 6 o'clock news is so fucking tacky that I wish I could raise Miss Manners to punch them all in the face. Get off your cell phones or get out - it's a funeral. By all means right a human interest piece on it after the fact. Totally appropriate. Nobody who isn't there needs to know the exact moment a body was lowered into the ground, or at which time there were bagpipers piping.

So here's to all the "journalists" who thought it would be appropriate to peck away at their PDA's or stand behind a camera yapping into a mic instead of showing honest respect for someone who died protecting their city. Sensationalizing a funeral is disgusting and makes you an attention whoring hack, not a respectable journalist. Would you want a bunch of people videotaping you if he was your brother? Your son? Your husband? Or would you rather be left to mourn in private with the comfort of your family and friends?

Ew. Just... ew.

This one is nsfw. Be shocked if you must.

So my friend is sifting through his Grindr removing the unfortunate looking fellas to improve his experience when he stumbles across THIS PIC. (Ps: It's Toronto Mayor Rob Ford).

For those of you out there who don't know what Grindr is, it's an iphone app. Think lavalife, but at once more sophisticated and more caveman like. You scroll through random dudes arranged by GPS location til one strikes your fancy (aka tightens your manties) and you hit him up for a meaningful overnight fellationship. Perfect for those lazy caveman homos who don't want to have to drag someone far after they've clubbed him over the head.

First, EW. Second.. I thought politicians were supposed to arrange tranny hookers on poorly lit side streets. I pray to baby jebus and Sarah Jessica Parker that this isn't true... and if it is, all I offer is "GO BACK TO CRAIGSLIST AND LEAVE THE SHINY IPHONES ALONE."
Third, Ewwww. A lot. More than a lot.

I'm going with the assumption that this is a cruel cruel joke. Well played, whoever you are. Your actions have caused my likely irreversible running to the dark side. Go easy on me ladies, I'm new at this.

Fuck You, Music Industry

The state of things:

Headliner - Jeffree Star - Busted dude in a wig who can't sing. Seriously. A boy in a wig isn't that interesting. Back it up with some talent, or just back it the fuck up.

Middle opener - Dev - "like a G6" - yah - that girl who i thought was kedollarha when i heard it. She performed the song twice over her own backing tracks..... AMAZING. She also did a bunch of covers. She owes an apology to Fergie. (The singing one, not the Weight Watchers one).

Opener - It Boys - never heard anything by them before, but they were a solid (yet way over-styled) band. The only talent on the tour, yet the least recognized. They played fun songs, and sounded like they were just a CD that was done by a good producer. Someone should sign them, but then punch them out so that they stop being so Hollywood-douchey. They could go somewhere, but will probably be the Edwin of Hollywood (aka bartending and selling the cars they thought they could afford from having a hit single).

More Essential Parenting Skills

So This happened..

Tip to all my friends who are parents.. If you're not going to get your kid the pony or Wii they're asking for, the runner-up gift should probably not be a crossbow.

OK - I'm impossible to please

So in my random facebook newsfeed cruising the other day, I happened upon an article ( http://advocate.com/News/News_Features/Arkansas_School_Board_Member_Thinks_Fags_Should_Die/ ) about the VP of a school board in Midland, Arkansas decrying "Spirit Day" (That day where people wore purple to commemorate the gay kids who committed suicide because of the bullying/pressure/etc that they were faced with.

I've just read a follow up piece where Clint McCance has stated he's resigning as VP of the Midland School Board and was filled with oodles of joy - but that's not the point of this.

I did some hunting around and found a screen cap of the comment thread underneath his initial post.

In the FB thread, he lashes out to someone who commented "Because hatred is always right" with

"It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it."

My initial reaction was blinding rage; like opening my fridge to see bacon gone bad, then turning around to see someone setting my house on fire. Not. Cool. Plus - Screw this guy, I'm going to have to jump through flaming hoops to get the privilege of being a parent, (and I'm going to be amazing at it FYI) while people like him can be drunk in their back seat and it just happens, resulting in some poor lil nugget having to be raised by someone like that.

Then I think about it. This guy who has a fleeting grasp of the English language is an ELECTED OFFICIAL!! (ex - he even used the word "thereselves" a bunch of times. Am I the only one whose FB automatically spell checks?) This is a man who presumably hundreds of people voted for to lead educators! The Vice President of a SCHOOL BOARD is unaware that thereselves isn't a word. I know I'm harping on that tiny thing, but I'm Constable Patrick of the spelling police. Ask around.

The other COMPLETELY HORRIBLE bit about his being an elected official is that he CANNOT BE FIRED. The closest thing would be for the board to hold a vote of non confidence and oust him that way. This obviously made me think of the bigoted mess Toronto has just elected as Mayor and the obvious parallels.

An elected official making racist/homophobic/uneducated comments sets the example that being racist/homophobic/uneducated is the way to live, as long as you back it up with religious conviction.

Here's a fucking newsflash. Pick a religion - go ahead, take your time...

The core message of ALL organized religion is to do right by people. Love thy neighbour, blah blah blah. Using whatever thing in the sky you point at as a basis for being judgmental makes you a GINORMOUS FUCKING JERKASS!! It's a direct opposition to the core message in whatever book of make believe you choose.

The next thing - Being an Elected Official means your responsibility is to represent the needs of your constituents. That means you have to be legitimately invested in the best interests of everyone. You represent a whole group of people publicly, which may lead to the world stage whether you like it or not. Had this matter gone unchecked, the whole world would be looking at Wherever, Arkansas as a place where bigotry is right. Here in Toronto, if you google Rob Ford, you're inundated with Youtube videos of examples of why he's the exact wrong person to have in a position of responsibility to anyone but himself. The world is currently having a huge laugh at our expense, because he as our representative makes the people who live in Toronto look automatically like bigots. As one of the most progressive cities in the world, it's doubtless that there's head scratching abounding.

Then we come to the bit where it turns out Clint McCance is resigning his post as VP of the School Board due to the backlash from his commentary. I squealed. Like I was just presented with a walk in closet to call my own. (For storage not for myself, we're clearly past that, right?)

Reading further about his decision to step down... he was partly concerned with his word choice (not the point dude), partly concerned with the impact his words had on a group of people who have lost their loved ones to hate-related suicide (exactly the point) and partly concerned about the thousands of phone calls, letters etc with death threats to him and his family - which incidentally caused him to move his family away to keep them safe.

Seriously?

First, let me own that I'm constantly advising people and things to set themselves on fire as a general statement that indicates I'm irritated about something. It's my way.. shwatever.

People seriously threatened him and his family because of what he said. What exactly did his wife or kids do to deserve fearing for their lives? Sure, I get that people are angry about the things he wrote, but telling someone that you're going to kill them for shit they say WILL NEVER SOLVE ANYTHING. I jumped on the "get him to resign" bandwagon immediately because someone who behaves that way should NEVER be involved with educating children. My reaction was to send a note to the board about WHY his words were not acceptable.

EDUCATION is the key to changing perspectives. I'm not talking about 10th grade algebra (Sorry Mrs Faux, I've still never used it) I'm talking about helping people understand how they can help to improve their lives and the lives of others.

So to all those people who reacted like cavemen - "You Wrong - I keel you." Look at yourselves. If you disagree with something / someone - explain why. Remember that time your kindergarten teacher said "Use your words"? She didn't mean use them to say "I'm going to kill you and your family because you said/did something awful. To wrap it up - I now feel badly for this person who doesn't deserve it, because the backlash of his utter jerkassness was the wrong sort. Overshadowing my utter joy that progress was made in the fight against homophobia with a shroud of utter crap that the message was lost just sucks.

That thing that pissed me off today

So here's a short article.

http://advocate.com/News/News_Features/Arkansas_School_Board_Member_Thinks_Fags_Should_Die/

Seriously! How do you make a career of leading educators when you can't spell? Ignorant fucking idiots like this are why kids are killing themselves!
On top of that, this guy is an ELECTED OFFICIAL!! What this tells everyone outside of th...at community is that the people there stand behind his beliefs. Sure this dude is only typically in his local media, since the school board in Nowhere, Arkansas doesn't have any local impact anywhere else, but then shit like this happens and it's on the global stage.
Now we in Toronto have the same thing - Throughout the campaign, examples of our new mayor being an uninformed wife beating racist homophobe were everywhere. The global stage sees THAT elected here, making all of his nonsense come off as publicly accepted.
It's about to become embarrassing to be called a Torontonian.