Shock and Awww

[vovat]

Okay, I think I've had enough of the media covering the reactions of the old ladies who gasp, "Well, I never!" while their monocles fall into their tea. Obviously I'm stereotyping, but I hope you know what I mean. The news will tell us some anecdote that there's really no reason for most of us to care one way or the other about, like Adam Lambert grinding a backup dancer's face into his crotch or Tiger Woods cheating on his wife, and the media highlight the reactions of the sanctimonious busybodies who still bother getting indignant at such things. Come on, if you want to overreact to everything you see on TV, that's your prerogative. But why encourage such people? We already have Fox News for that; the other networks don't need to join in. Hey, you know what I'm indignant about? That homophobia is still so accepted that politicians have to claim to be against gay marriage to be able to win in what we tend to consider our LIBERAL party. But I get the feeling that a lot of the "well, I never" crowd is all in favor of homophobia.

As for Adam Lambert, though, I'm sure he's glad to have gained some notoriety. When you're a pretty generic theater kid who got famous through a televised talent show, it's probably pretty hard to distinguish yourself from the rabble. Oh, and I'd also say I have to wonder how somebody could possibly be on a show like American Idol and be anti-gay (Jordin Sparks allegedly is, and I don't think she's the only one), but then I've also heard that there are homophobes in the International Wizard of Oz Club. Some friends of Dorothy they are!

Another thing that I've been meaning to rant about recently is...well, a few days ago, bethje and I were listening to the car radio, and they were playing sound bites of kids saying what they thought was in fruitcake. So, was it automatically supposed to be funny because the kids got it wrong, and since they were kids, their being wrong was just adorable? I'm not really sure I get it. I have to say I don't know a whole lot about kids (even when I WAS one, I didn't understand any of the others), but it seems to me that no children like to be patronized. And isn't an "aww, everything these little tykes do is so cute" attitude somewhat patronizing? I guess I also feel bad for the kids when parents think it's cute to take pictures of them with their pants down or spaghetti on their faces. Maybe I'm just projecting my own childhood insecurities onto the world, though. By the way, I also don't know what's in fruitcake, although I believe they generally contain brandy.

What else? Well, Beth and I watched the movie version of Rent last night. Not being a teenage girl or someone who remembers seeing the play when I WAS a teenage girl, I don't think I got a whole lot out of it. I guess I'm not quite sure why being loud, obnoxious, self-righteous, and unemployed is supposed to be a GOOD thing. I mean, I've been all of these things before at some time or other, but I don't brag about it. Or am I missing the point?

Comments

[arfies.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with every opinion you have in this entry...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I'm right about something! {g}

[kevenn.livejournal.com]

You're shocked at homophobia in The International Wizard of Oz Club? That's interesting, because I'm constantly amazed at the gay-friendliness there. When I first started to troll their boards, I expected nothing but conservative homophobes, since the property is so old, and I usually expect older people to be homophobic. I was shocked when I started noticing how there are a lot of gay guys there.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, I haven't actually SEEN any homophobia in the Oz Club; my information was based on a thread from the Nonestica mailing list a few years ago (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nonstca-Oz-Archive/message/2805). It isn't that I think the Club is a hotbed of homophobia, but rather that it surprises me there's any there at all.

[artmonkeygirl.livejournal.com]

Let's see, a guy with fame, money and young, probably uneducated women with low self esteem impressed by the money and fame (yeah, I'm generalizing in both cases) and we're surprised? How many times has this happened in the past? *yawn* This is a situation for Tiger Woods and his wife to work out.

Homophobia is also something that this nation needs to get over and stop using to rile people up, it's denying basic rights to a segment of the U.S. population. Adults should be allowed to marry who they love, end of story.

And I have a friend who is of the mindset that 'Rent' has basically ruined contemporary theater. :P

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think Shakespeare ruined contemporary theater. Bring back Thomas Kyd!

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Hey, I take pictures of my kids with food all over their faces! Anyway, I'm not chronicling How Uncoordinated They Are, I'm chronicling Look How Much They're Enjoying Their Food, and are Totally Intent on Doing It Themselves. Which is kind of the opposite of making fun of what they can't do. (icon: Look at the cute 9-month-old pretending he can brush his four teeth!)

But the whole Darndest Things Kids Do genre of media IS lame, and aimed at the same group of people who buy terrible mass-market ghostwritten cutsy picture books at Walmart for their grandchildren, supporting terrible books and making people think that these are what children's books ARE LIKE, when the good stuff is, you know, hiding at the library, and also NOT FRIGGIN' CUTESY.

Also, sick of the little old ladies "I NEVER"-ing? Heck, I'm sick of celebrity gossip being presented as news in the first place!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Beth has told me that she hates pictures of kids with spaghetti all over their faces. It IS kind of gross, when you think about it, but maybe it's different when it's your kid.

Heck, I'm sick of celebrity gossip being presented as news in the first place!

I guess I figure that it's news as long as someone is interested in it. If people didn't want to keep hearing pointless celebrity gossip, the shows that present it wouldn't get such high ratings. That's not to say that I necessarily want to hear it, but it's not any less relevant to my life than, say, the result of elections in California, I suppose.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

See, but at least hearing about elections in California when you don't live there is relatively educational, informs you of things that could affect how you vote in your own area, and most importantly doesn't dredge up the details of the private lives of people whose only effect on your own life is that you sometimes see them on TV (and usually playing someone who isn't them, in fact).

[revme.livejournal.com]

but then I've also heard that there are homophobes in the International Wizard of Oz Club. Some friends of Dorothy they are!

*snerk*. That is an AWESOME line.