Re: Rants

[The Wisp]

Oy, just saw the new CDC recommendations about circumcision 

[azazel]

Oy, just saw the new CDC recommendations about circumcision 

Genital mutilation for the win!

I mean, if the CDC was soooo concerned about the health of boys they could of course just let them make the choice when they're older.
But no, let's advise parents to do it without their consent! Because reasons!

[Guest]

Uhm... I was circumcised as an infant, does that make me sub-human or what?

[azazel]

Uhm... I was circumcised as an infant, does that make me sub-human or what?

O_o

No?

...I do not follow.

[Guest]

O_o

No?

...I do not follow.

Eh, nevermind, I'd rather not get into an argument about this.

[Werel]

O_o

No?

...I do not follow.

Eh, nevermind, I'd rather not get into an argument about this.

I hope I am not putting my foot in my mouth as a non-penis-haver, but I get the impression that a lot of people have a problem with the act of altering someone's penis without their explicit permission (since babies cannot really give their permission for this sort of thing), not that they view guys who've been circumcised as somehow less-than. Sometimes there's a weird undercurrent of victimization ("you poor mutilated thing!") but I don't think that's what azazel is saying.

Brings to mind a dude I knew who chose to be circumcised at age 15... which sounds terrifyingly painful as an adult, but hey, whatever makes you happy with your junk! I'm glad he had the choice available to him.

[The Wisp]

O_o

No?

...I do not follow.

Eh, nevermind, I'd rather not get into an argument about this.

I hope I am not putting my foot in my mouth as a non-penis-haver, but I get the impression that a lot of people have a problem with the act of altering someone's penis without their explicit permission (since babies cannot really give their permission for this sort of thing), not that they view guys who've been circumcised as somehow less-than. Sometimes there's a weird undercurrent of victimization ("you poor mutilated thing!") but I don't think that's what azazel is saying.

Brings to mind a dude I knew who chose to be circumcised at age 15... which sounds terrifyingly painful as an adult, but hey, whatever makes you happy with your junk! I'm glad he had the choice available to him.

Yeah, this. I don't have a problem with people being circumcised (as an uncircumcised person myself), but I do have a problem with doing it to people who can't consent when (in 1st world countries, anyway) there are very limited benefits, but some downsides (reduced nerve endings in the penis, much more likely to suffer from "death grip" because there's no foreskin to protect the head in masturbation). Also, the origins of why circumcision is prevalent in the US are very sex negative (anti-masturbation). See the top responses here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18k4ex/how_did_medical_circumcision_of_male_infants/

But, again, this doesn't mean circumcised guys are lesser or anything or greatly damaged. On the whole, it's a minor thing. I'm not against Jewish circumcision, for instance, because it is a big part of their culture. On the whole, though, I think the default should be that infants don't get circumcised, and you certainly shouldn't have doctors encouraging parents to circumcise their infants who cannot consent, or advising uncircumcised teenagers and young adults on the "benefits" of getting circumcised (they literally say doctors should do that in the report), based on "benefits" that aren't really useful in the developed world. By the way, almost no other developed nation takes such a view on circumcision.

[Guest]

I hope I am not putting my foot in my mouth as a non-penis-haver, but I get the impression that a lot of people have a problem with the act of altering someone's penis without their explicit permission (since babies cannot really give their permission for this sort of thing), not that they view guys who've been circumcised as somehow less-than. Sometimes there's a weird undercurrent of victimization ("you poor mutilated thing!") but I don't think that's what azazel is saying.

Brings to mind a dude I knew who chose to be circumcised at age 15... which sounds terrifyingly painful as an adult, but hey, whatever makes you happy with your junk! I'm glad he had the choice available to him.

Some of you guys may disagree but, eh, it's fine.

You're correct, that is what they're saying, and I understand their qualms of consent. But I disagree and think that's a moot point because as an infant you have no real autonomy or agency, you have no idea what you're doing at that age. Are you really gonna demonize parents for doing something they have a right to do that is a legit medical procedure? It is after all, a choice and recommendation, not a mandate. Besides, any sort of medical serious medical procedure usually requires some sort of parental consent and/or approval.

Yeah, to be frank, I'm glad I got circumcised as an infant, that way I wouldn't have to deal with shit like phimosis or anything gross.

I also fucking hate being told that I was mutilated because my parents chose to have me circumcised for medical reasons.

[Enail]

<mod> Folks, just want to remind people that a rant thread is intended for free ranting, not debating. If there's something that really concerns you in a comment, yeah, it's okay to respond yourself or report it to mods to have them take a look, but whenever possible, please try to go with the good faith interpretation and assume it's not about you. </mod>

ETA:This is not the appropriate place to get into a debate on male circumcision. If that's a discussion anyone wants to have in its own thread, please start it from a respectful, not combative, perspective.

[Guest]

<mod> Folks, just want to remind people that a rant thread is intended for free ranting, not debating. If there's something that really concerns you in a comment, yeah, it's okay to respond yourself or report it to mods to have them take a look, but whenever possible, please try to go with the good faith interpretation and assume it's not about you. </mod>

ETA:This is not the appropriate place to get into a debate on male circumcision. If that's a discussion anyone wants to have in its own thread, please start it from a respectful, not combative, perspective.

Yes... you are correct which is why in my second post I said I'd rather not argue about it. Soooooo, mums the word.

I'll go away for now.

[Guest]

Brings to mind a dude I knew who chose to be circumcised at age 15... which sounds terrifyingly painful as an adult, but hey, whatever makes you happy with your junk! I'm glad he had the choice available to him.

I also know someone who did something like that. He got circumcised at 13 because he converted to being a Jew. Now, being "pureblood" Jew, I don't get why the hell anyone would ever want to be Jewish (we're not really a group of people who you'd typically want to be part of, for obvious reasons), but hey, he was a nut.

Anyway, what I'm really pissed off about:

I go over for a movie at a friend's apartment, same as I did before I left for school (I've been staying with my uncle in my old town for the past couple weeks while I have winter break). The film we watch is Silver Linings Playbook. I absolutely adore this movie, despite it being a romantic comedy (and I hate most of those for personal reasons, brilliant exceptions like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 500 Days of Summer excluded). It's absolutely phenomenally funny, I'm basically in love with Jennifer Lawrence as it is so that makes it even better...God, it's just great. I was on cloud nine watching this.

Until she showed up and immediately everyone began to make blatantly sexual comments about her.

Some of the highlights:

"God I'd put my cock in between those funbags."

"There's something she can bounce on, if you know what I mean."

When she messes up during a dance with Bradley Cooper and has her crotch in his face: "I'd mess that up a hundred times before we got it right."

I mean, yeah, general teasing is pretty standard, but the shit they were saying was absolutely awful. I only mentioned the ones that were pretty amusing, shit got really weird with what they were saying about her, directly into pro-Fappening rhetoric.

I'll admit that a lot of my anger over this is how this chick is one of my favorite actresses and also someone I've had a crush on for a really long time. So I kept trying to shut everyone up, and eventually just started playing Super Smash Bros on my 3DS (with the sound turned off, I'm not an animal), and tried to relax and ignore it.

Girl sitting next to me (i call her Stripper, some of you probably remember her), made a comment like "if we took a shot every time these bozos said something, we'd both be dead in five minutes."

Finally, when they made another comment, I just screamed at them "this is why women don't want to hang out with us! You scare them away!"

Which was stupid. But I couldn't take it anymore. And they immediately went off on me, to the point where everyone was screaming hoarse at each other.

Two things were going to happen:

1. I leave.

2. I physically assault a motherfucker.

So I left, and the second I left, I heard a chorus of "what a faggot" and various insults directed at my sexuality and manhood through the walls. I'm fucking pissed off. I can't watch one goddamn movie without people oversexualizing everything. It's a big fucking deal to me. This is the fucking movies. This is sacred.

Seriously, at this rate, I'm gonna have no friends by the end of the month. It's either assholes or nobody.

[Werel]

Yes... you are correct which is why in my second post I said I'd rather not argue about it. Soooooo, mums the word.

I'll go away for now.

Sorry, Mikey. As a mod, I apologize for taking your clear good-faith effort to drop it and running with the topic anyway. Totally my bad.

If the subject has legs we can split it off into another thread, no worries!

[OneTrueGuest]

Brings to mind a dude I knew who chose to be circumcised at age 15... which sounds terrifyingly painful as an adult, but hey, whatever makes you happy with your junk! I'm glad he had the choice available to him.

I also know someone who did something like that. He got circumcised at 13 because he converted to being a Jew. Now, being "pureblood" Jew, I don't get why the hell anyone would ever want to be Jewish (we're not really a group of people who you'd typically want to be part of, for obvious reasons), but hey, he was a nut.

I know this is a rant thread not a debate thread, as noted above, but I feel a need to point out how terribly offensive this is.  You might not enjoy being Jewish and part of such a group, but some of us are damn proud of it.  "For obvious reasons"??  Wow. And obviously only a nut would want to become Jewish?  I'm kind of stunned right now. And pretty darn hurt. I am really hoping this is just a part of your general self loathing, and not what it is coming across as.

(that being said, you standing up to your friends speaking such trash I do admire. So I give you major props for that. I also really think you should ditch those assholes. For their general behaviour and then their bigoted comments calling you "faggot" as you left.)

***
Today's rant:

The career is driving me crazy and I feel like I'm doing all these things for other people, but not for myself.  When's it my turn to shine, for crying out loud???

[Guest]

Sorry, Mikey. As a mod, I apologize for taking your clear good-faith effort to drop it and running with the topic anyway. Totally my bad.

If the subject has legs we can split it off into another thread, no worries!

It's okay, I forgive you, you and the mods are some of my favorite people here. :3

And, no, it's fine. I'd rather not have to defend my parents choices regarding my own circumcision from when I was an infant.

[eselle28]

Apparently people with unusual hobbies can't even gather peacefully in a hotel that is fully aware of what kind of convention it's booking (and probably happy to benefit from its business in the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas) without being subjected to really frightening chemical terrorism and then mockery afterwards.

[Lemminkainen]

Apparently people with unusual hobbies can't even gather peacefully in a hotel that is fully aware of what kind of convention it's booking (and probably happy to benefit from its business in the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas) without being subjected to really frightening chemical terrorism and then mockery afterwards.

Oh, I cringed when I saw this story and how people reacted to it.  Being fond of making art about anthropomorphic animals and sometimes dressing up in costumes is totally harmless, and people who do those things deserve just as much sympathy as anybody else when chlorine gas poisoning sends them to the hospital.

EDIT: Oh man, I've totally gone to a large weird nerd gathering thing at that very hotel. Its floor plan is structured around this huge open space at its center, so a gas bomb on one floor would affect people everywhere. This must have been really frightening for everyone involved.

[The Wisp]

My new rant: I can't seem to post things in the "rants" or "Random thoughts" thread without them blowing up  

(I mean this light-heartedly, not in a passive-aggressive way)

[eselle28]

Apparently people with unusual hobbies can't even gather peacefully in a hotel that is fully aware of what kind of convention it's booking (and probably happy to benefit from its business in the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas) without being subjected to really frightening chemical terrorism and then mockery afterwards.

Oh, I cringed when I saw this story and how people reacted to it.  Being fond of making art about anthropomorphic animals and sometimes dressing up in costumes is totally harmless, and people who do those things deserve just as much sympathy as anybody else when chlorine gas poisoning sends them to the hospital.

EDIT: Oh man, I've totally gone to a large weird nerd gathering thing at that very hotel.  Its floor plan is structured around this huge open space at its center, so a gas bomb on one floor would affect people everywhere.  This must have been really frightening for everyone involved.

Oh, having been in the same place must amp up the empathy. They apparently had to evacuate the place for hours. The internet says it's been slightly above freezing in Chicago all day, which sounds unpleasant even if your costume is warm.

[Lemminkainen]

On the plus side, at places like Kotaku, a lot of the comments have been really kind and sympathetic. So hopefully we're getting better about this sort of issue?

[eselle28]

On the plus side, at places like Kotaku, a lot of the comments have been really kind and sympathetic.  So hopefully we're getting better about this sort of issue?

They apparently purged a couple of tasteless jokes on Kotaku, but yes, the response is not quite as bad as might have been expected on the various Gawker sites. I would say that it also says something when mainstream new sites have more terrible puns in their comments than Gawker Prime does.

[Lemminkainen]

On the plus side, at places like Kotaku, a lot of the comments have been really kind and sympathetic.  So hopefully we're getting better about this sort of issue?

They apparently purged a couple of tasteless jokes on Kotaku, but yes, the response is not quite as bad as might have been expected on the various Gawker sites. I would say that it also says something when mainstream new sites have more terrible puns in their comments than Gawker Prime does.

Maybe this is a case where the Gawker commentariat's leftiness has triumphed over its nastiness? Furry-ness hasn't been politicized yet, but it's pretty easy to locate somehwere in queerspace, and people can probably recognize that being mean to furries is a lot like being nasty to gay or trans people was twenty or ten years ago.

[BasedBuzzed]

On the plus side, at places like Kotaku, a lot of the comments have been really kind and sympathetic.  So hopefully we're getting better about this sort of issue?

They apparently purged a couple of tasteless jokes on Kotaku, but yes, the response is not quite as bad as might have been expected on the various Gawker sites. I would say that it also says something when mainstream new sites have more terrible puns in their comments than Gawker Prime does.

Maybe this is a case where the Gawker commentariat's leftiness has triumphed over its nastiness?  Furry-ness hasn't been politicized yet, but it's pretty easy to locate somehwere in queerspace, and people can probably recognize that being mean to furries is a lot like being nasty to gay or trans people was twenty or ten years ago.

It has been, just not in the mainstream, and it has more to do with the political causes than the fandom itself(far right: gateway to bestiality/ far left: fandom is up to the rafters with 'problematic' elements ranging from legit concerns of harbouring predators to the standard kink-shaming bullshit/the grounded middle: annoyance at having the same oppression rhetoric as more legit groups like gay/trans folks).

[nearly_takuan]

the grounded middle: annoyance at having the same oppression rhetoric as more legit groups like gay/trans folks).

Eh, let's not get into comparisons of legitimacy; I think there's a certain point where furry-ness is a somewhat inseparable part of a person's identity that might be concealed, but never discarded, even if they wanted to. I figure most folks here have picked up on it by now, but I feel pretty much the same way about religion.

Oppression is a pattern, and a violent attack on a peaceful assembly fits that pattern pretty well.

---

Isn't "angrogynous neckbeard" a bit of an oxymoron? These insults are getting three subtle five me.

---

Actually popped in to say some tangentially related things, but this is not directed at anyone here:

I hate dichotomies. Yes, the choice between—for instance—a bad Democrat or a worse Republican, but also the choice between having to choose the least bad of the two and not voting. (What's it called when you vote for a third-party candidate? "Not voting.") I hate that, seeing two choices, people will assume they are opposite. I hate that, seeing how two choices are not opposites of each other, people will conclude they are the same. I hate that, seeing how two choices are both bad, they assume there's a superior third choice. I hate that, seeing how there are only two reasonable choices, people will resign to picking one of them. I hate that, finding themselves between a rock and another rock, people look for a different word to describe the second rock.

And given all of that, I hate that I'm one of those people.

[Izmuth]

I'm just glad it wasn't a worse chemical attack.

These "jokes" are often played with stink bombs, which often have hydrogen sulfide in them. I can't find the exact concentrations used in those bombs, but I'd imagine it's rather easy to overdose since the concentration of the stuff needed for really bad effects is fucking low.

Worst part? Spend a bit of time in these fumes and the smell goes away (because your nose stops working), but the sense of danger evaporates as well when people don't smell it anymore.

[BasedBuzzed]

the grounded middle: annoyance at having the same oppression rhetoric as more legit groups like gay/trans folks).

Eh, let's not get into comparisons of legitimacy; I think there's a certain point where furry-ness is a somewhat inseparable part of a person's identity that might be concealed, but never discarded, even if they wanted to. I figure most folks here have picked up on it by now, but I feel pretty much the same way about religion.

Oppression is a pattern, and a violent attack on a peaceful assembly fits that pattern pretty well.

Sort of agree, but it's a question of framing to me: almost all of the hatred for furries can already be filed away under kinkshaming/rampant ableism(I'd bet money that posts of the attacker will be found in which variations on 'autistic zoophiliacs pop up) anyway, and the furry activists I've bumped into in online travels work a bit like the MRA's idea of the matriarchy(playing a connect-the-dots with legit cases of men being fucked over by feminism, tie it into a few petty cases and use big words to fill in the space inbetween, and voilá, society is systematic anti-us). So the case of a furry being beat up gets tied to site X barring furry porn artists due to them violating the guidelines, which get tied to a old werewulf scare myths, and there we have a historical pattern of furry oppression going back to the Dark Ages. Mind you, I'd wager the rest of furrydom finds these people an embarassment, especially when they try to mix with trans activists, and that's where the annoyance probably stems from.

[Sponsored content]