Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Artemis]

Thanks guys.  I wasn't looking for any specific kind of advice; just trying to understand why the miscommunication was happening and how to respond.

 

 

[Arcadia]

Based on what you've told us, I don't think it's you at all. I think it's his way of trying to manipulate you. Perhaps unconsciously, but still ... a bit not good.

[Pseudonym]

Ao3 is down. That's my evening entertainment, damn it all. Now what do I do?  :mellow:

 

Edit: Never mind, it's back up. Phew. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

I third Arcadia but my words are nastier so you don't need to hear that.

 

And like Camper said, I also use the term 'toxic person' and remove them regularly.

I think the older we are, the more we realize that we don't need to waste time being unhappy and it's okay to remove people like that from your life and stop blaming yourself, which is mostly the impact they cause on you.

 

I have been doing well on that since my late twenties and it's getting so well that I'm waiting on the time when I look around and realize that I have no friends left. :P

I used to think about that consequence but nah, I think I'll be fine. If I think myself make a better companion than them, than they must be really suck. :)

[Arcadia]

I have been doing well on that since my late twenties and it's getting so well that I'm waiting on the time when I look around and realize that I have no friends left. :P

 

:lol5:

 

[Hikari]

So here's my rant for today.

 

I have just learned from the interwebs that my hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians, will be removing their mascot, Chief Wahoo, from all team uniforms starting with the 2019 season.  Currently they are phasing out Chief with a stylized 'C' on some uniforms.  The Chief will still feature on fan apparel like hats and t-shirts, and the team name Indians will be retained.  No new mascot has been named.

 

At the risk of being deemed racially insensitive from my position of white-man majority privilege, I will confess in open forum to being disappointed that the Indians organization has finally caved in to pressure to remove the Chief, their mascot since 1947, on the grounds that he is racist.  For many years now, Native American groups have protested outside the ballpark on opening day.  On the flip side of the debate, one dedicated Indians fan has played a tom-tom in the stands at every home game for the last 40 years. 

 

Is Chief Wahoo racist?  I just think he's cute.  He was a lot more of a racial caricature in his earlier derivations, when his skin tone was yellow and he was depicted with a beaky hooked nose.  The current little toothy red guy just says "Let's play ball!" to me.  Tribal groups have also objected equally strongly to the team name of 'Indians', though to me that sounds far less racist than the Washington Redskins, who so far have refused to change either their name or their mascot, a more classically-profiled indigenous American figure.

 

I consider this a sad day for Cleveland, but if I were from an indigenous American tribe, I might be celebrating.  Or, I might equally think that getting our panties in a twist over a benign cartoon figure who promotes positive team spirit in the guise of an 'Indian' is not really doing anything substantive whatsoever to promote racial tolerance.  What it has achieved is p!ss!ing off at least half of Cleveland baseball fans, probably more.

[Carol the Dabbler]

What I want to know is, how come nobody seems to be making a fuss about the "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame? The pugnacious Irishman is an ethnic stereotype if ever I heard one. But maybe the Irish are too white to merit considerate treatment. :P

 

I'm basically agreeing with you, Hikari. I do object to blatant charicatures or other forms of mockery, and I believe that the "Redskins" are projecting a certain amount of hostility with that name, but near as I recall their logo is a fairly accurate stylized rendition of a Native American man. I would actually consider your "little toothy red guy" to be more denigrating (and I'm not so sure about the leprechaun that Notre Dame is currently using).

[Hikari]

What I want to know is, how come nobody seems to be making a fuss about the "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame? The pugnacious Irishman is an ethnic stereotype if ever I heard one. But maybe the Irish are too white to merit considerate treatment. :P

 

I'm basically agreeing with you, Hikari. I do object to blatant charicatures or other forms of mockery, and I believe that the "Redskins" are projecting a certain amount of hostility with that name, but near as I recall their logo is a fairly accurate stylized rendition of a Native American man. I would actually consider your "little toothy red guy" to be more denigrating (and I'm not so sure about the leprechaun that Notre Dame is currently using).

 

Well, Carol, it would appear that the majority of tribal groups agree that Cleveland's little cartoon red man is denigrating, and have finally gotten their way after beating their figurative war drums against Big White Man Sports Business conglomerate.  (Even if at least half the current "Indians" roster are from the Dominican Republic.  On that basis alone, the players themselves should be protesting.  Of the remaining players who are Caucasian, why aren't they boycotting in outrage that the team mascot isn't a bushy-haired, hirsute, tabacco-juice spittin' white guy?)

 

We are in the wrong racial group to have a dog in this fight, apparently.  Since we are white folks, our opinion is not relevant in today's politically-correct climate.  All the pugnacious Irishmen out there who are miffed at their stereotype as the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame will have to air their grievances down at their local, where, according to the other ethnic stereotype that dogs their lily-white race, they will imbibe far too much in their predisposition to the Celtic melancholia.

 

Cleveland's team name is marginally less offensive than "Redskins", I'd say.  Even as a white girl from suburban Ohio, I find 'Redskins' to be archaic and unnecessarily  controversial.  But not enough to stipulate that Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House' series of books needs to be banned in perpetuity due to its promotion of an unflattering stereotype of native Americans.  Yes, little Laura's elders did occasionally speak in derogatory terms of the 'redskins' and mutter that the 'only good Indian is a dead Indian'.  Though if we recall that these books are actually memoir and not fiction, it follows that some of Laura's elders either knew of or witnessed personally friends and loved ones being murdered by said red men.  None of us hail from an entirely innocent and un-besmirched ethic group.   All of our ancestors have done their share of bad things.  Personally I believe that all of those Native American protestors who have devoted so much of their time to eradicating a cartoon figure on baseball jerseys because they objected to his appearance would have better spent all that passion, fight and time in promoting higher education and opportunities for their youth.  Will the lives of Native Americans be that much better and equal, free, autonomous and proud next year when Chief Wahoo isn't on baseball uniforms anymore?  Cynic that I am, I think they will find that it's not going to make a single iota of difference in their daily lives, unless it means that more white people in Cleveland are going to be hostile to them.  I think that's the more likely outcome, which is, ironically, the very opposite of what they are trying to achieve.

 

The fans will still be able to purchase all the Chief Wahoo gear they please, online and at the park, so it's kind of a hollow victory.  The stands will still be full of Chief Wahoo even if he's absent from the field.  And the guy who plays the tom-tom in the stands is a private individual who is protected by the First Amendment to bang his drum as often as he wants.

[T.o.b.y]

Apropos of nothing: It baffles me that in this day and age, I am still by some people considered responsible for my husband's clothes. Just the other day, I got a comment on the state of his socks. And the commenting person wasn't even that old.

[Pseudonym]

Toby, how dare you let your man go out looking like that! :P

No, that is odd. And just plain weird to actually comment on. :wacko:

[Carol the Dabbler]

To be fair, some men might benefit from a little help in the wardrobe department, at least for social occasions and also for work if they're in contact with the public. Also, men are far more likely than women to be color-blind.

 

Of course some men would probably say that *my* wardrobe could use a little help....

[Pseudonym]

I think my mother generally buys my father's clothes, but it would still be a cheek for someone to actually comment on something they thought wasn't up to snuff.

[Carol the Dabbler]

No argument there! No matter who bought it.

[T.o.b.y]

Just imagine how weird it would be if someone spoke to my husband about the holes in my socks.

 

This isn't even the first time it's happened. People have told me to go through his closet when he isn't home and just throw stuff away. Or to "accidentally" tear things when doing the laundry so that they go from just slightly shabby to unwearable. How would they like it if their spouse did that to them?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Apparently some wives actually do things like that or just give their husband's old favorite clothes to the Salvation Army when he's not looking. I sure wouldn't want Alex to toss any of my clothes. I may comment on a few of his combinations, but that's mostly because he's color-blind. And it's OK for me to do that because he rarely listens to me anyhow. :D

[Pseudonym]

I hate it when I freak myself out in the middle of the night. Just went down to the kitchen to make a drink, and there was a weird tapping noise on the clear roof at the far side of the kitchen. Freaked me out too much to investigate incase I looked up and saw something looking back in at me. Then I started thinking, what if it can see me but I can't see it because the lights on in the kitchen but outside is dark. What if I look towards the cat flap and see a thin, pale, spindly arm reaching in? Bloody kettle never boiled so slowly, still got that horrible creepy crawling feeling going up my spine now. :wacko: Cats aren't helping, acting weird and knocking stuff about to make mystery noises. 

[Arcadia]

You went back to bed without knowing? Eeek! I can't do that, I grab a weapon (broom, heavy book) and investigate. Or a couple times I grabbed the phone, dialed the first few digits of the emergency number, then investigated with my finger hovering over the last number. Although on reflection, smashing the phone into an intruder's face would probably be a more immediate solution.

 

Woke up at just the right time to see the super blue blood moon last night. There it was, bright as sin, blaring through my window right into my eyes. Waking. Me. Up.

 

Oh well, I thought, goodie goodie, since I'm awake all I have to do is lie here and see what happens. Close my eyes for awhile, open them in time to see the start of the eclipse ... and the damnable orb has gone down behind some low lying clouds. Nothing but a smear where the moon was supposed to be.

 

I did see some of the red color though. Whoop de do.

[Pseudonym]

Yea, I was too creeped out to go look. Besides, it's not like a person could be on that part of the roof, it's too flimsy. Only thing it could have been, logically, was a monster. ;)

 

Clouds always pop up at the most annoying times. I stayed up once to watch what was supposed to be a particularly impressive meteor shower. Clouds. Lunar eclipse, okay, cool, I'll watch that. Clouds. 

[Arcadia]

Yea, I was too creeped out to go look. Besides, it's not like a person could be on that part of the roof, it's too flimsy. Only thing it could have been, logically, was a monster. ;)

Yes, of course, how silly of me. Clearly the best response to a monster on the roof is to pretend it's not there, what was I thinking? Sheesh.

[Pseudonym]

Well, what would you have done? Chased it off with a tea towel? "Shoo, monster! Shoo!" Emergency services don't respond to monster calls. 

 

[Arcadia]

Why, make it a pet, of course. Nice fuzzy monster, I bet he just wants a warm place to curl up in and a meal. Oh, wait, that last part could be a problem.....

[J.P.]

Or it could be you…

[Arcadia]

That's the problem!

[T.o.b.y]

Call Sherlock Holmes. He will either prove that the monster doesn't exist or he will scare it off by deducing all its weaknesses.

[Pseudonym]

And then I get to trap and keep him as a pet instead. MWAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAHAAAAaaaa......