owlolive

Everything that matters to me (and maybe you as well)

Archive for the category “Everywhere Else”

21 Nov 2012
2 Comments

My Automated Response to the “Both Sides” Gaza/Israel Non-Argument

If you have a television or a phone or a radio or, really, any form of contact with the outside world, then you probably already know what’s happening in the world right now. In the last few days, people have been dropping like flies in Gaza with a death toll that is increasing by the hour and that has reached, at the time of this post, 140 souls most of which are innocent civilians and include children.

Now, I chose to mention the Palestinian side first and chose to emphasize its losses as opposed to Israel’s (which number at 5 unfortunately lost souls) for one reason and one reason alone.

I am not a Hamas supporter. I do not condone the death of any innocent civilians no matter where they come from. I am not against the idea of anyone defending themselves against any kind of threat.

But the reason I exclusively mention Palestine’s losses and not Israeli’s (or not as much) is this: I absolutely refuse to entertain an argument which, through its wording, misrepresents the truth of the historical record.

And that is exactly what happens when people who support Israel in this conflict throw the “both sides” argument at me. And lately, I’ve had a lot of Israel supporters come up out of the woodwork all of a sudden on Instagram and Twitter and just the Internet in general whenever I or anyone I know so much as mentions anything to do with Gaza and the complete travesty going on there.

This has literally happened to me alone a number of times in the last few days and every single time its a variation of the exact same schtick: “Hamas hit us too;” “We have a right to defend ourselves;” “Both sides did damage.”

And, frankly, I’ve grown very tired of rolling out the same answer over and over and over and I’d just like to create a single place to re-route all of those pointless arguments if they do happen to come up again in the near future.

So here is your short and sweet ‘Automated Response to the “Both Sides” Gaza/Israel Non-Argument:’

Saying something along the lines of “Both sides do it” is a very misleading equivalence. When you do that you immediately skew the argument in order to favor Israel and belittle the Palestinian plight. And these numbers will show you why.

You see, Gaza has zero tanks, zero air force, zero navy, zero nuclear weapons, and zero chemical or biological weapons. And, not to mention, ZERO OUTSIDE HELP.

Israel, on the other hand, is monstrously well-equipped in all manner of war artillery and alliance.

Also, the Israeli death count pales in comparison to the Palestinian death count which is unfathomably high. And before you start flinging me with the “its not fair that people are mad at us for not dieing” self-pity bunkum (which has happened), let me tell you why its important to bring up the death count disparity.

Gaza is pretty much a glorified prison camp. Its 1.7 million people cramped into 360 squared kilometers with no way of getting out. So when Israel attacks Gaza so brutally it needs to be recognized because its kind of like sending the US Marines, the 82nd Airborne and the 5th Fleet against some unidentified prison yard bullies. And you cannot legitimize that level of disproportional power and damage just because some bully in the prison camp decided to shout out a few curse words at Israel, the initial imprisoner.

And, hell, those prison yard bullies probably have every right to act out that way. The ILLEGAL Jewish settlers and Israeli forces who live on legally designated Palestinian land terrorize and harm the Palestinian communities who have an actual right to be there on a daily basis. The settlers and occupiers throw garbage at the Palestinians, burn their crops, chase them with guns, and brazenly toss them out of their homes WHICH THE SETTLERS ARE ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING.

That’s like watching The Hulk kicking the crap out of a defenseless critter for decades, and then expect the world to be cool with it when he finally squashes it in the palm of his hand.

So, I’m sorry, but I completely refuse your “both sides are equally at fault” argument. And I couldn’t give a flying dingbat about whether or not you think Israel was really threatened by Hamas. Because I will never take part in perpetuating any false notions that belittle and deny the historical and the present fact that Israel has committed and continues to commit thousands of humanitarian atrocities against the disproportionately weaker Palestinians. And I will not, under any circumstances, let Israel off the hook for committing these purely evil war crimes based on a verbal, impractical, and misleading technicality.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Musings, News, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , ,
26 Sep 2012

Maybe This is How We Talk About Religion & Politics? (Hopefully Without Starting WWIII)

So last week, what with the entire planet imploding over the disgustingly offensive ‘movie’ some half-brained inchworm made about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), I put the question to you guys as to whether or not it was actually possible to have a civil and conducive conversation about religion and politics in today’s crazy ol’ world.

As someone who identifies as both a feminist and a Muslim (and a pretty devout one when it actually comes down to it), I’ve got a good number of friends who follow a variety of religions or don’t follow any religion at all. So, to me, it seems pretty important to figure out a way that I can talk to both my Muslim and non-Muslim friends about the stuff that matters most to them. Some of which, undoubtedly, has to do with religion and politics.

So, after a week-long process of fielding people’s reactions to religious and political discussions, as well as some personal soul searching, I’ve come up with a couple of ways that can (hopefully) help make the religion and politics conversation go down a lot smoother for all of us.

  • Know when its appropriate – Look, Ms. Manners made those rules for a reason. And that reason is to avoid making an inappropriate buffoon out of yourself. People need to realize that, sometimes, God and politics just need to stay out of the mix. For example, in many countries, its actually illegal to discuss someone’s religion or political leanings in a job interview. Because, in that situation, it is wildly inappropriate and out of place. As a rule of thumb, you should always know where you stand with the person you’re having this kind of touchy conversation with. If you don’t then its probably just better for you to cut your losses and avoid any possibly inappropriate drama altogether.
  • Remember: You are NOT an expert – Whenever someone tries to sell me on the idea that they’re some religion and politics expert, I always try to suppress the growing urge to laugh in their face. NO ONE IS AN EXPERT ON ALL RELIGION AND ALL POLITICS. No one. Just because you read a few Wikipedia articles or a few book excerpts does not make you an expert. Honestly, the best way to go into any religious or political discussion is with an oblivious attitude. Because when you go into it with that kind of attitude you actually end up listening to the other person. Which, you know, helps.
  • Get specific – Don’t go into the subject with just a bunch of general questions. That can easily lead to misunderstandings, crossed signals and, eventually, a shouting match. Keep your questions specific or make sure that the person questioning you specifies what it is that they are curious about. That way, the person getting questioned doesn’t get flustered and confused and the person asking actually learns something.
  • Be curious, not judgmental – Be careful with the way you word your questions and statements. It should sound like its coming from a place of curiosity and interest, not criticism and judgment. I mean, as a Muslim and a feminist, I have zero issue with discussing how I feel about my religion and my political leanings. Really. I am more than happy to answer people’s questions and to talk to them about why I believe what I believe. But if you start shutting me down with insults, or start implying that I’m somehow illogical or hypocritical (“HAH! You can’t be a Muslim AND a feminist!”) then, uhm, all that conversation is going to produce for you is a swift kick in the shins.
  • Find something in common – When I was growing up one of the scariest realizations I had about religion was the fact that, in the eyes of someone who doesn’t believe in it, any religion can actually sound totally and wildly crazy. Knowing this made me immediately shut down pretty much every possible conversation I could have about religion because I always thought, “they probably think I’m insane!” We all need to get past this and focus instead on trying to find a shred of similarity between the opposing points of view. That usually makes it a whole lot easier to empathize with the other side and stop judging them.
  • Know when to back off – Look, no matter what you do, sometimes the situation will just inevitably begin to spiral out of control. In some cases people will always assume the defensive position when it comes to any kind of religious or political discussion. And, really, if you find yourself trying to convince someone that they’re wrong as opposed to simply listening to them, then you need to back off and check yourself. Odds are, when it comes to something as deeply meaningful to someone as religion or politics, you’re never really going to convince them that they’re wrong anyway. So basically, if the conversation starts to get more hostile and less fun, its just time to cut the cord on that sucker.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Musings, News and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
18 Sep 2012
10 Comments

Open Forum: How Do We Talk About Religion and Politics? (Without Starting WWIII)

Look, Ms. Manners has already forewarned us. The two subjects we are never supposed to so much as graze over in friendly, courteous conversations are religion and politics. Supposedly, these are the A-Bombs of all social conduct. Basically, with these little firecrackers, forget proceed with caution–do not proceed at all ever.

And yet, religion and politics are important things in people’s lives. In fact, to a lot of people, they can be the most important things. People have waged wars and built entire civilizations around religions and politics. One could argue that they still do. And yet we’re not supposed to so much as mention, let alone have a full conversation, about these monumental subjects?

But, you know, I get it. These subjects are touchy because, well, when someone believes in something so much and may even structure their entire life around it, how do you begin having a possibly opposing conversation with them about such an integral part of their identity? They’re bound to get offended, you’re bound to lose your cool, and, basically, the whole planet is bound to combust into one endlessly loud shouting match.

So, obviously, the only way to avoid staging a remake of Apocalypse Now in your living room (or in front of your nearest embassy) is, well… to avoid touching the whole thing altogether. Right?

But if any of you have been paying any attention to the news in the last couple of days, you’ll have undoubtedly heard of the low budget, borderline pornographic, disgustingly offensive American ‘movie’ mocking the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as well as the insane crap-storm of reactions that Muslims all around the world have been having to this film.

And now, all of a sudden, I feel myself compelled to bring this hairy can of worms into the room (which happens to have an elephant in it). I feel like now, more than ever, is a time when people need to start talking about talking about religion and politics.

Because when my religion (which I truly hold very near and dear to my heart) has been heinously assaulted and ridiculed for reasons that are possibly political and definitely asinine, all I can see is a mass wave of rightful anger being displaced in ways that are, at worst, murderous and, at best, fruitless.

I don’t see a lot of people trying to actually talk this thing out, and attempt to deal with a negative situation proactively.

I’m so baffled by this lack of dialogue we all seem to have with one another, that I’m now desperately trying to put together a how-to post about how we can talk about religion and politics without simultaneously exploding into a million pieces.

But, while I do that, I really wanna hear what you guys think of this. Do you guys think its possible for two opposing sides to have a civil and conducive conversation about religion and politics? Do you think there’s a way that these two opposing sides could ever work together to help zap out the negative, idiotic, offensive pests?

Please share your wisdom, you special snowflake, you!

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Musings, News, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , ,
07 Sep 2012
4 Comments

Iranian Women are Apparently Too Awesome For Competitive Academics

So, in a totally surprising and absolutely not forewarned move on the Iranian government’s part, women in Iran are now going to be legally banned from taking 77 BA and BSc university courses. These courses include English literature, English translation, hotel management, archaeology, nuclear physics, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and business management. So basically any potentially lucrative major ever.

And what brought on this insanely inhumane nod to primitivism? Why, women’s overachieving brains that’s what!

Yup. In a country where 65% of all college students are women and where the ratio of female to male graduates is the highest in the entire world, these overachieving women are being discriminated against for being so smart.

I’ll pause for a second and give you all a chance to pick your jaws up off the floor.

According to the Science and High Education Minister, Kamran Daneshjoo, this adjustment is necessary in order to restore “balance.”

WHAT?! So the women have to get screwed out of taking advantage of their career opportunities and following their passions because their male counterparts are just not smart enough to compete with them? UGH. This kind of ignorant primitivism is exactly the reason why I’m such an adamant feminist.

I don’t even know how this decision is going to make Iranian women just give up and be all like, “Well, I guess we should all stop fighting for our rights and pursuing our futures and just stay home and give birth to a soccer team!” If anything, this is probably going to make the Iranian women even more stubborn and resilient about living up to their academic potential.

All I can personally see this kind of decision proving is this: Women are awesome. So awesome in fact that horribly insecure men have to try and restrict their awesomeness by legislating insane laws just to try and keep up with them.

Guys, don’t fight the awesomeness. Embrace it. Share the load with the other half of humanity. I mean, honestly, you are all seriously due for a much deserved break.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, News, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , ,
27 Jul 2012

Operation De-Frost: For Burma (and For You)

You know, I usually like to start my posts off with some wry joke or some cynical/sarcastic comment that I mostly use to point out the glaringly obvious.

But I’m not going to do that now.

At a time when thousands of innocent people are getting massacred purely based upon their choice to worship whatever they willingly choose to worship, I am absolutely paralyzed with sadness over the images and the news updates that I have been inundated with in the last week or so.

I don’t know where to start discussing the ongoing, government backed, grossly huge racial and religious cleansing that has been plaguing the Muslim community in Mynamar, Burma.

Now, even as a Muslim, I don’t really care about the fact that these innocent souls are Muslim souls. They could worship cow manure for all I care. What I care about and what is wrenching me down to the pit of my stomach is fact that entire masses of people are being hunted down, abducted, burned, and downright massacred due to the fact that they happened to worship whatever the hell they wanted.

It’s not a revolution or a political uprising or some sort of governmental stifling of public demonstrations of contempt. It’s a purely racial and religious annihilation that has now numbered in the thousands over a mere number of days.

And, the scariest part of this whole ordeal is that, for some reason, it has not been stopped. Even worse, no one has made an attempt to stop it.

As someone who watches and reads the news, is constantly plugged into the social network, and is, basically, faced with an endless string of information throughout the day, I am overwhelmed with a sharply paralyzing anger at the fact that I simply don’t know how I can help.

I mean, you hear about people getting blown off the face of the earth, children dieing of cancer, and the entire world is basically going down the toilet, and what the hell can you really do?

You can’t help but watch Ramadan TV shows, discuss less pressing subjects (over which you feel you can exert some control), and go on and on tweeting, posting, Instagraming about yourself and your life in order to create a distraction from the things you know are more important but that, at the end of the day, you can’t do squat about.

You dream away the guilt and convince yourself that, because you’re not a president or a politician or a celebrity or a millionaire, you are helpless. So you have the right to forget about all the horrible, scary things because, hey, what can you really do, right?

And you’re right. The overwhelming truth is that there is very little power in the hands of most people on this planet. We can donate to charities, sign petitions, and tweet about it all day long, but the reality is that a normal individual (or a handful of normal people) probably isn’t going to be able to incur a groundbreaking change in any part of the world that is outside their local sphere.

And yet here I am, writing this post for Burma. Actually, I’m writing it for myself just as much as I am for them.

Because I want to remind myself that I’ve still got a conscience. I want to remind myself that even when its okay to be a part of the big, powerful machine that’s all about ‘Me! Me! Me!’ that this does not give me an excuse to become the emotional equivalent of a dried up fruit cake.

It CAN’T be that easy to see thousands of people getting killed so mercilessly for their religious beliefs and then just brush it off because ‘OH MY GOD LOOK HOW MANY LIKES A PICTURE OF MY DESSERT GOT!’

So, Burma, this post is my ode to you. It’s probably not worth much because its only coming from me, but this is my promise: you are not forgotten. Even when I do all the pointlessly narcissistic things that I do, you are still in my thoughts.

In fact, you are in many people’s thoughts. No one’s too busy to care about you. Most of us have just kept our hearts in the freezer for a while.

And we need to defrost.

So I urge you to please show your support and your voice for Burma. Even if you’re just an up and coming blogger like me. If you have any platform at all use it EVEN JUST ONCE to give these people that no one’s even trying to help some kind of outreach.

Do it for them. But also do it for you.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Musings, News and tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment
07 Jul 2012
2 Comments

Procrastinators of the World, Rejoice!: You Can Be Lazy AND Productive!

Look, there are very few things in my life which I can confidently say that I am good at. I’m a good writer, a good Marcel Proust reader (yes, this is a learned skill), and, most importantly, I am a good procrastinator.

And, unlike many other procrastinators out there, I have no interest in trying to change my ways. I love procrastination–so much so that I’ve even rationalized it somewhere in the dark, twisted holes of my brain to make it sound more useful or necessary to the thing I’m actually putting off.

It’s like, I know it took me nearly 2 days to write a post about procrastination (oh, irony of ironies!), but, hey, I needed to watch several hours of videos so adorable they could turn my insides into cotton candy. I like to think of that time as time that I needed to let the thoughts and the words come to me naturally and easily without being forced. Besides, what kind of procrastinator would I be if I immediately banged out a post about procrastination without any kind of delay? Not a very good one, I’m guessing.

Anyhow, the beauty of procrastination is that it doesn’t mean ‘an inability to do the thing you think you should be doing.’ It’s more like ‘an inability to do the thing you think you should be doing right now.’ You’ll get it done sooner or later. Whether its weeks before the deadline or 20 minutes to the wire, you’re eventually going to do it anyway. And, really, isn’t that all that matters in the end?

But let’s not forget that, as fun as procrastination can be, too much of a good thing can, well, lead to bad things (can you tell that I’ve forgotten how that saying goes?). I mean, I know that I could definitely benefit from some kind of metaphorically motivational fire under my seat. Just like I know some people who are way too rigidly structured and could stand to benefit from the creative freedom that procrastination provides.

And, as it turns out, science has proven procrastination so useful to people that we can now deduce several points in history in which humanity used to “procrastinate effectively.”

“In ancient Egypt and Rome, procrastination was thought to be useful and wise. Only a handful of early writers, such as Cicero and Thucydides, admonished people not to delay. Until the mid-eighteenth century, procrastination-hating was a minority view. Many iconic figures have been inveterate procrastinators, from St. Augustine to Leonardo da Vinci to Duke Ellington to Agatha Christie to John Huston to Bill Clinton.”

Ugh. Freakin’ Cicero. As if he knew anything about anything. Da Vinci, however? That’s my home boy right there.

So, my suggestion isn’t to try and eliminate the act of procrastination altogether. Instead opt for a solution in which, if you must procrastinate, then do it productively. Try to work on something that is as important (if not more) than the thing you think you should actually be working on. So, for example, you don’t want to do those dishes that have been waiting in the sink for 2 days. Why not go wash that car that’s so covered in dust it could totally camouflage in the desert?

See? You procrastinate AND you produce! (I can’t tell you how much I want to use the Charlie Sheen ‘Winning!’ punchline right now.)

And, in celebration of this novel idea, here are a few tips from your local expert to help get you started on the productive procrastination:

  • Instead of actually working at your job or getting an assignment done (SNOOZEFEST!), why don’t you buy a couple of monkeys, teach them how to ride a dog, and laugh your way to the bank? KA-CHING!
  • Instead of trying to re-organize your huge closet, filled with all the old garbage you know you’re never going to wear, why not spend four years trying to get a degree in English Literature? (This is tried and tested)
  • Instead of building that huge, unwieldy bookshelf you got from IKEA, ask someone if they’d like to help you build it. Hey, you make a new friend AND you get the job done faster and easier!
  • Instead of running errands and getting the groceries, why not spend a few hours thinking of ways to criticize and break down that awful, awful patriarchy? (Again, tried and tested).
  • Three words: BREAKFAST FOR DINNER.

All my love! (And clearly those tips are ‘joke tips’ and not to be taken seriously, so please don’t follow them and expect productive results.)

Posted in Beautiful, Everywhere Else, Musings, News and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
22 Jun 2012
3 Comments

Adults These Days!: People Would Rather Lose Their Wedding Rings Than Lose Their Phones

Okay, let’s all ‘fess up to it. Come on, guys: Let the truth set ye free!

We all love our phones a little bit more than we actually care to admit. I mean, when it comes down to it, to a lot of us our phones are as essential to us and our lives as food or air or sleep or chocolate. Really, I can’t even begin to imagine how I would cope with anything more than a few hours without my trusty iPhone. How will I check my twitter feed every 5 minutes? How will I casually look up the biographies of random Hollywood stars? For the love of God, how will I Instagram my lunch?

I wish I was being sarcastic here but I’m really not. I’m actually as much of a tech-junkie as the next person. Not only am I a tech-junkie, but I’m a tech-junkie that occasionally mopes about how everyone is way too plugged-in and no one enjoys real life anymore and OH MY GOD WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LOOKED AT THE SKY?

This is why when I read surveys like this I’m both a little bit horrified and a little bit unsurprised.

Apparently, an extra 87% of people would go more nuts over losing something as vital as their phones than the 77% of  those who would stress over losing something as meaningless as their wedding rings. Because, you know, one is a symbol of lifelong commitment and the other is just a pretentious accessory that you mostly use to impress people (ah, yes, sarcasm).

It turns out that the only thing that fills us with more dread than not being able to post daily pictures of our Starbucks morning coffee onto Instagram is losing our wallets.

And that’s not all.

This survey revealed that most people are actually more attached to their phones than they are to pets and friends. But, hey, what with all the liking and the tweeting we’ve got to do all day, whose got time for actual friends? Hell, with your trusty phone in hand the whole world is virtually your friend.

Also, an overwhelming number of the people surveyed have admitted to a feeling known as “outlet rage.” You know, that feeling we all get when the phone alerts us to only 10% battery left and makes us break out in local rashes. Or that feeling you get of wanting to throw heavy objects when you walk into a Starbucks and realize that all the power outlets are taken. When we find ourselves out of touch with the digital world (or even on the brink of  being out of touch) we get some very intense feelings of withdrawal–you know, like a junkie.

So the next time you freak out because you’re out of cell reception, or your phone runs out of battery or, heaven forbid, you forget it in a restaurant, remember–you’re not alone. And then remember, you can probably buy another phone. Really, its okay. There are plenty of tweeting, liking, Instagraming fish in the sea. Or peaches in the orchard. Or birds in the flock.

Point is: relax, take a deep breath, and maybe put the phone down every once in a while AND LOOK AT THE SKY.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, News, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
13 Jun 2012
2 Comments

Congratulations: If You Think Racism is “Over” Then You’re Probably a Racist

Look, racists are stupid. And I don’t mean that in the off-hand, meaningless way of saying that a shirt “looks stupid” on you. I mean truly mentally challenged. There’s no other explanation that works for someone who actually believes that the color of someone’s skin or their nationality is going to dictate how they behave, how much money they have, or what kind of person they generally are.

If you believe this on any level then congratulations: you are a racist. If only slightly so. And your level of stupidity is ratio to your level of racism.

Now, as I’ve said, racists are, indeed, pretty darn stupid. In fact their stupidity is so ridiculously overblown that very few things on this earth can actually outmatch them. And perhaps the only thing that is as stupid (if not stupider) than racist people are the people that tell you that racism is “over.” That they think there is no such thing as racism in today’s world. That we’re all just singing Kumbaya with one another now.

Do you know why these people are stupid? It’s because they’ve just revealed how racist they are. And, really, its cute. Because they’re just trying to cloak their racist garbage with pseudo-intellectual arguments and thinking they can get away with it.

Example: I know someone who will take any chance she gets to tell you how there’s nothing wrong with considering someone’s ‘living environment’ (translation: where they live) or their  ‘social background’ (the perception of their race/nationality) before dealing with them. To her, “that’s not racism, that’s caution.” Of course, before she makes these kinds of statements she’ll say something like “I’m not racist or anything, but…”

How freaking adorable is that?

Of course, this person is a racist. And she is, despite her fancy college-level education, very, very stupid.

And, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while or if you actually know me, you know that I love nothing more than using statistical data to back up my social beliefs and ideas. And today I’ve got a good one for you.

Here’s the proof that people who say racism is dead are not only racist, but that they have been completely outsmarted by the internet. All you have to do is look into that endless, scary black hole  in which all of humanity’s deep, dark secrets are stored: Google.

Upon compiling his research, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (the article’s author) set out to discover if what people were Googling in the time between 2004 and 2007 (so, pre-Obama administration) would affect the way they voted or felt about Barrack Obama.

And guess what? It totally did. Through quantifiable evidence, it showed that the areas with the most “racially charged” Google searches were the ones that Obama did not do so well in during his election. And it wasn’t just the people that Googled ‘the N word’ that had shown this clearly racist strain. There were also areas that were absolutely filled with pseudo-smart Google searches such as: “African American culture” or  “black community.”

And, lo and behold, Obama scored quite low in almost all of those areas as well. Hmm. Maybe it’s because what they actually meant to Google was “why are black people so scary?”

Bottom line: Racism is not dead. It will never die. The same way that weeds will never stop sprouting out of nowhere. You can pluck it out and make sure that it’s gone from this one tiny spot but, sure enough, it will grow back. Whether it’s in the same spot or somewhere else–racism (and weeds) will always grow back.

And, as someone who has been faced with some very horrible racist remarks and treatments on way too many occasions because of my nationality (both in Kuwait and out) I’m kind of insulted whenever I hear someone try to pull any kind of racist garbage in the name of something as ridiculous as “nationalism” or something as cruel as “cultural and traditional respect.” Even if its not directed at me, it so deeply upsets me that it might as well be.

Because there are few things in this world that get me more riled up than knowing people are trying to pass themselves off as something more decent than what they ACTUALLY are: stupid, stupid racists.

All my love! (and Chris Rock is up there to tell you about how racism will always exist no matter what)

Posted in Everywhere Else, Kuwait, Musings, News, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
03 Jun 2012
7 Comments

For the Love of God, Would You Please Cool It With All The Zombie Nonsense?

I am making this post because, for the last few days, everyone on the internet has basically driven me up a wall with their rabid ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ craziness.

Please, please stop. Stop talking about zombies, and werewolves, and vampires, and OH MY GOD Chuck Norris. I know I’m reflecting a good chunk of the global community’s opinion here when I say that it’s really getting old.

The slight problem I’ve got with this endless obsession people have with post-apocalyptic/mythical/action-packed figures is not just because I don’t personally enjoy it. I have no right to tell anyone what they should and shouldn’t obsess over no matter what I think of it. But what irks me to no end is the way in which people go so ridiculously overboard with their zombie mania (for example), that they’re willing to turn a gruesome crime and an extremely troubling incident into a constant, somewhat harmful joke about their obsession.

It’s like they’re forgetting that zombies are fictional, and that humans aren’t.

Take this ‘Miami Cannibal’ deal that went down a few days ago. Sure, its kind of weird and entertaining to consider the idea of a guy eating another guy’s face off. Of course, that weird, entertaining curiosity should easily go away when you take the time to really consider the fact that a guy ate another guy’s face off!

That’s a gruesome, heartless, unfathomably twisted crime, you know. While you can sit at home, and make a ‘hurr, hurr the zombies are here’ Facebook status, the reality is that someone’s friend/sibling/son/relative/neighbor/whatever has gotten almost murderously assaulted in one of the most brutally disgusting ways possibly imaginable. And, I can assure you, that neither he nor anyone who cares for him will be laughing at this joke.

That would be the equivalent of someone making a global meme about some tragic, life-altering incident that happened to you or someone you love just because it reminds them of sparkly vampires. Imagine the entire world belittling what you went through in the exact same way and making your experience sound like some everyday, interesting anecdote. Then imagine some idiot making a ‘funny’ Facebook status about it and getting 100 likes for it.

Bet you won’t be laughing either.

And, hey, I’m not saying that all the people who actually participated in this ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ meme deal are horrible human beings. I’m just saying they might need to reconsider what they’re saying and realize that maybe somethings are above their crazy obsessions. Nor am I saying that it’s never okay to make a darkly humorous joke about a traumatizing incident from time to time in order to, perhaps, help someone deal with it.

What I am saying is that its definitely not okay for us to make A GLOBAL JOKE out of someone’s crime and someone’s brutal tragedy. Because what ends up happening is a gradual hardening of human emotion and a growing disregard for other future, similar incidents that could be just as fatally dangerous and gruesome and not actually funny.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Musings, News, SAY WHAAA...!, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , ,
25 May 2012
2 Comments

Night Time: Your Diet’s Worst Nemesis (and Stomach’s Best Friend)

So, I’ve finally discovered the culprit behind my recent battle with weight gain: It’s the night.

According to the Eatery iPhone app, which has users from all around the world (over 50 countries) log in the meals they eat throughout the day and rate them on healthiness, everyone around the globe seems to take solace in the dark, cloaked mystery of the night to indulge in the stuff that’s a little more fatty, a little more sweet, and a little less healthy. In fact, as the day progresses, it seems most of us usually go from relatively healthy meals to full-on pig outs.

Massive Health (the company behind the Eatery app) provides this interactive, super-cool map of what people around the world are eating at different hours during the day. While most of the scary, lava red indicators of unhealthy diets are to be found in the US region, I noticed that in the Middle East area there seemed to be a lot more people willing to share their early eating choices (signified by the healthy green clusters) than the ones willing to share their night time meals. That in itself could be an indication as to how much people may not want to reveal the amount of junk they’re stuffing their faces with once the sun sets. Or they could be asleep.

As for me, I can’t deny that, once the night rolls around, my diet does indeed take a considerable dip when it comes to the level of healthiness. And I know quite a bundle of people who share the very same habit as well. Now, I’m not sure if this just a lack of willpower to last an entire day on purely healthy food, or just the fact that the earlier hours present more healthier options than the night time does for most people. I’m sure its a mixture of both.

According to this NPR article, we can’t deduce any certain reasons behind these findings. All we know is that “there is a 1.7 percent overall decrease in healthiness of what’s eaten for every hour of the day that passes after breakfast. That’s as true in Tokyo as it is in San Francisco as it is in São Paulo.”

But, hey, for what it’s worth, at least we can all now bask in the luxury of knowing that we’re not the only ones poking our heads into the refrigerator for a 3 AM ice cream fix. And, I don’t know about any of you, but I find an odd kind of comfort in that knowledge.

All my love!

Posted in Everywhere Else, Food, News and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 51 other followers