One of my best friends gets bombarded daily with e-mails containing photos of her biggest and most irrational phobia. All because of mysterygoogle.com.
Basically, someone who knows her, or some people who know her, thought it would be funny to post her e-mail address on mysterygoogle.com asking for pictures of puppets. Most people who respond to this "Mission" from Mystery Google think it's harmless fun, because they probably have no idea how much it hurts, scares, and harms her. The person who started the mission, however, was well aware; it's not like a phobia like hers is common to people.
So, I would love to know who the fuck did that.
Obviously, you know her. Obviously, you know what she goes through when the word 'puppet' is even said in conversation. By that notion, you also know a bit about her background, where she's come from, and what she's gone through.
Some kind of 'friend' you are.
Whoever you are, you don't have to see her curled up, shaking with fear as she tries desperately to get images out of her head and bring herself back to what society calls 'normal'. You don't have to be there, wondering if she's actually going to want to wake up the next morning, because she's so scared of seeing the images again at night. You're not the one that runs to her computer and deletes the messages in her inbox before she makes the mistake of opening them.
You're an inconsiderate asshole. Or if there's more of you, you're a compilation of inconsiderate assholes. And you're a stain on where we are, where she is, and where you come from. You think you're so fucking brave, hiding behind your mask of anonymity. Thinking that the Mysterious Mystery Google will protect you.
Just makes you a set of cowards and mindless drones the likes of which I haven't seen outside of *chan fora. So have fun, knowing that you've either started, or followed an order from someone you don't know, don't care about, and are destroying the happiness of someone who has her own life to deal with. Your catharsis should not be her pain.
Sleep with that under your pillow, kiddies.
~Dexie
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The Ethics of Academia
Being a full-time university student is ridiculously stressful. And that's on its own. Then there's the added familial pressure that some of us feel when we're expected to find a job so we can pay our own way through a system that costs more (in the immediate sense) than a whole year's worth of bills.
I tried working when I went back to school this September. I had about 14 hours a week at the gas station near my house. On top of that, I was also in a community theatre production. The theatre production had been made a commitment before the job. On top of that, because I'm studying theatre in school, it just makes more sense that I'd prioritise something coinciding with my education over a job that has little to no security, promotion ladder, or pay raise.
I do not regret at all telling my family that while I was in school, I could not, and would not, work. To the outsider, or infamous "other", studying drama in university is just a fluff and puff program for easy A's and a pretty certificate after four years.
Totally not true.
I just started the Drama and Communications program at my school. The classes, while they're easy for me, would definitely not be easy for anyone else in my family. It's a lot of physical work, mental work, and social interaction that depends on each of its parts to function completely. 5 classes is 15 hours a week of lecture. Add the daily readings, and assignments to do outside of class, you have an extra 30 or so hours to work on just your education alone.
That's a full-time job. Which will eventually get me another full-time job.
My professors have said that working more than 10 hours a week while in school at this rate is remarkable. And as far as I know, there are very very VERY few people who can do that.
I am one of the not-so-few. And I have to say, I'm really proud of myself.
Putting my education first is one of the first steps I've taken to ensuring that I can make the best of my learning, and pursue my graduate studies.
So to any other post-secondary students out there (college, university), if you're not working while you're in school, don't sweat it. If you stick through your education and get superstar grades, it means a hell of a lot more than a part-time job and all C's. Student loans are there for a reason.
~Dexie
I tried working when I went back to school this September. I had about 14 hours a week at the gas station near my house. On top of that, I was also in a community theatre production. The theatre production had been made a commitment before the job. On top of that, because I'm studying theatre in school, it just makes more sense that I'd prioritise something coinciding with my education over a job that has little to no security, promotion ladder, or pay raise.
I do not regret at all telling my family that while I was in school, I could not, and would not, work. To the outsider, or infamous "other", studying drama in university is just a fluff and puff program for easy A's and a pretty certificate after four years.
Totally not true.
I just started the Drama and Communications program at my school. The classes, while they're easy for me, would definitely not be easy for anyone else in my family. It's a lot of physical work, mental work, and social interaction that depends on each of its parts to function completely. 5 classes is 15 hours a week of lecture. Add the daily readings, and assignments to do outside of class, you have an extra 30 or so hours to work on just your education alone.
That's a full-time job. Which will eventually get me another full-time job.
My professors have said that working more than 10 hours a week while in school at this rate is remarkable. And as far as I know, there are very very VERY few people who can do that.
I am one of the not-so-few. And I have to say, I'm really proud of myself.
Putting my education first is one of the first steps I've taken to ensuring that I can make the best of my learning, and pursue my graduate studies.
So to any other post-secondary students out there (college, university), if you're not working while you're in school, don't sweat it. If you stick through your education and get superstar grades, it means a hell of a lot more than a part-time job and all C's. Student loans are there for a reason.
~Dexie
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Your Alternative News Source? Fuck that.
There's an underground buzz happening that says blogs are the new-and-improved, more accurate, less media-biased source for news in the new age.
Know what I think? It's bullshit.
Blogs can be about current events, sure. But allow me to point out the flaws in this system, that are just as pertinent as those pertaining to the media, yet largely overlooked.
Firstly, you've got the spectrum of crazy-hardcore-conservative to people who are so left wing they're coming back around to the right. Sure, they don't have the media bias per se, but they sure as hell have their own two cents about the issue, because if they didn't, it'd be pretty useless to talk about it.
Secondly, where did they first hear about this issue? Mr. Holmes, you've found a clue! If they have an opinion on the matter, and they weren't there first, they clearly got the idea from somewhere. Even this post is inspired by something I read somewhere else. That original source, which, for all intents and purposes, we will call a primary source, is the basis of the secondary blog post, meaning anything they gleaned from the accounts of a news reporter/journalist/scrapbook/photo album of the person who discovered this before.
Is it taking away from the news media? Nope. If anything, it's probably helping bolster news media events. If you consider that a blog entry can be a response to an article in a newspaper, for instance, the tech-savvy blogger can very easily link to the news report they got their information from. Lo and behold, someone would likely be interested in reading the 'original' material, click, read, boom. Another reader. The same can be done with televised news stories, I'm sure; YouTube and the wonders of 'free' information. By having an opinion, a blogger is helping boost the reader/viewership of news, because most intelligent people won't just take the blogger's opinion for salt. Then, and only then, can you have discourse in the blogosphere.
Long story short, blogs don't really give you anything more than a reiteration of news stories from somewhere else with an added bonus of some nameless Joe's two cents on the matter. Think of it as a more rapid, uncensored version of your basic Letters to the Editor. In the end, that's just what it is.
Peace, Love, and MarioKart
~Poindextra
Know what I think? It's bullshit.
Blogs can be about current events, sure. But allow me to point out the flaws in this system, that are just as pertinent as those pertaining to the media, yet largely overlooked.
Firstly, you've got the spectrum of crazy-hardcore-conservative to people who are so left wing they're coming back around to the right. Sure, they don't have the media bias per se, but they sure as hell have their own two cents about the issue, because if they didn't, it'd be pretty useless to talk about it.
Secondly, where did they first hear about this issue? Mr. Holmes, you've found a clue! If they have an opinion on the matter, and they weren't there first, they clearly got the idea from somewhere. Even this post is inspired by something I read somewhere else. That original source, which, for all intents and purposes, we will call a primary source, is the basis of the secondary blog post, meaning anything they gleaned from the accounts of a news reporter/journalist/scrapbook/photo album of the person who discovered this before.
Is it taking away from the news media? Nope. If anything, it's probably helping bolster news media events. If you consider that a blog entry can be a response to an article in a newspaper, for instance, the tech-savvy blogger can very easily link to the news report they got their information from. Lo and behold, someone would likely be interested in reading the 'original' material, click, read, boom. Another reader. The same can be done with televised news stories, I'm sure; YouTube and the wonders of 'free' information. By having an opinion, a blogger is helping boost the reader/viewership of news, because most intelligent people won't just take the blogger's opinion for salt. Then, and only then, can you have discourse in the blogosphere.
Long story short, blogs don't really give you anything more than a reiteration of news stories from somewhere else with an added bonus of some nameless Joe's two cents on the matter. Think of it as a more rapid, uncensored version of your basic Letters to the Editor. In the end, that's just what it is.
Peace, Love, and MarioKart
~Poindextra
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
