A University of Virginia professor was teaching to a class of 200 when he accidentally unveiled a massive drawing of two girls in an amorous embrace. A student present reported the outcome:
The teacher finally picks up the eraser. “I don’t want to erase the SOS club’s work, but I have to move on with class.”
“No!!” many voices (guys) in the crowd shout out.
“Oh come on. I’ve got a picture. I’ll put it on your tests.”
Click through to the full story for pics.
It appears I will be making a trip.
Let me tell you a story about the inappropriate application of standards.
A friend of mine who is white (and speaks fluent Chinese) privately complained to me once that Chinese people would invariably applaud her use of even the most basic terms. "That's incredibly narrow-minded," she pointed out. "It would be like me clapping and going 'good job!' every time they say 'hello' in English, even after they've been in the country for 50 years." Because the Chinese she ran into were stuck on the idea that whites are automatically foreigners, and foreigners never know much Chinese, they reacted in an inappropriate and embarrassing manner.
Throw away your assumptions. Stop trying to fit people into boxes. The world will be a better place.
Axis of doom asks, "Are Asians the Model Minority?"
I'm not trying to shoot the messenger, but please, think about what you're saying before you perpetuate a term.
For Axis, the term implies financial success. All good and well. But then, why not ask, "Are Asians financially successful?" What he fails to recognize in glibly passing on this catchphrase is the assumption behind the idea that there can be any such thing as a model minority.
What do people mean when they refer to a "model minority"? For that matter, what is "model behavior"?
Bluntly, model behavior is when other people behave how you want them to.
What is it that drives America? Money, perhaps, on a practical level. Ideologically, it's Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Self-determination is probably the most sacred, the most instinctive American right. So what is it that fuels this entire idea that some minorities are "model" and some minorities are not? It's fundamentally an attempt to fit people, with their own needs, fears, and dreams, into some sort of predetermined box so that they can be of use to the one making the judgment. Why should it be okay for the majority to do that? It's not.
In fact, I seem to recall that the Pilgrims objected to being treated that way - which is why America as we know it exists. Did they come to America because they wanted to fit in? No! They came to seek out a life of their own. Why should we, their inheritors by spirit if not by blood, seek to bend others to our will? Can we not accept that others, too, come to America because they do not fit in elsewhere and seek a place of their own?
Minorities are people. Do people exist just so that you can use them as you see fit? The entire business of classifying minorities as more or less "model" based on willingness to put up with arbitrary demands (or more precisely, the majority's inappropriate application of their own cultural standards) is dehumanizing, and I lament the fact that it continues to be acceptable in public discourse. It just shows how far we have yet to go in actually embracing the idea of human rights.
The Associated Press have reported a dramatic tale of self-defense with a katana:
A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a suspected burglar in a garage behind his off-campus home early Tuesday, hours after someone broke in and stole electronics.
We look like something that the cat dragged in:
Hell and all and blood, what Hollywood digs.
Gonna see the world and conquer it
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
Fell in love with some American songs
Radio taught us what was right, was wrong
I slit my wrists and children sang along
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
Well I circled thrice in my twilight;
Just hold my hand and wipe my brow and
softly sing the sweetest something.
Help me fade into the night;
blow out my candle when my eyes look blind
Well look at me, yeah, I'm no iron man
I cut my teeth on my father's back hand
I held my breath and jumped into the quicksand
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
Just hold my hand and wipe my brow and
softly sing the sweetest something.
Help me fade into the night;
blow out my candle when my eyes lose light
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
I'm never gonna find my savior, find my savior in disguise
I'm never getting out of here, am I?
Just hold my hand and wipe my brow and
softly hum my favorite songs and
Help me through my final nights;
blow out my candle when my eyes lose light
Just hold my hand and wipe my brow and
softly sing the sweetest songs and
Help me fade into the night;
blow out my candle - blow out my candle -
Just hold my hand and wipe my brow and
softly sing the sweetest songs and
Help me fade into the night;
blow out my candle when my eyes lose light.
- The Insecurities, 'Circle Three Times'
I transcribed this personally, following a request. I love this song, but really, they have got to stop slurring their rhymes.
[00:55] moritheil: . . . you promising to use all your feminine wiles sounds to me a bit like a sword being drawn. 
[00:55] onlyfr33b33: ^_^
Kunoichi put up a post about how basically, one's choices are to put up with ridiculous and arbitrary requirements, or be parted from jobs and a decent life.
This is the cruelty of modern society, and it exists for one reason. They want you trapped in their system. They want you manning their call centers, selling their french fries, changing their oil. They want you to be a cog in the vast machine that turns natural resources into mind-numbing television, useless gadgets, and services of questionable value.
Roadlesstaken shared a YouTube video about the appalling state of modern dating:
Really, what incredible brutality (and hypocrisy.) First she sleeps with his friend as revenge, then she suggests he's the one with regret, then she regrets dismissing him and wants to talk.
So apparently examining peoples' public behavior without their consent is a little rude. I'm not really sure why this is, as its public, but I guess no one likes to feel like they're under scrutiny. Maybe it's just rude to tell them.
However - isn't that a lie? Aren't we all under scrutiny, all the time? What difference does it make whether someone tells you what they're thinking or not? Mostly, it just preserves the illusion of safety and security - but do you want that, or do you want real safety and security, which come from a knowledge of how things really stand and the willingness to change anything you don't like? Isn't it better to know the truth?
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