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‘I’m talking about the situation where the concept of privilege is used to try to silence others, as a justification for saying, “shut up and listen.” Shut up, because you’re a man and you cannot possibly know what it’s like to experience x, y, and z, and anything you say is bound to be mistaken in some way, but, of course, you’re too blinded by your privilege even to realize that.’
Needless to say, preening about how men are “silenced” when asked to shut up and listen to women’s experiences before rendering judgment on the validity of them is offensive enough. Under the circumstances, where he is a speaker and the audience present is required to shut up and listen out of politeness, the arrogance of this complaint was particularly grotesque. We are to shut up and listen to him, but men are entitled at all points in time, it appears, to yap over any woman whose complaints about sexism they find beneath their attention.
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An Open Letter to the Center for Inquiry | The Raw Story
I didn’t even know about this.
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Well, it was Joss’s idea to terminate the life of Wesley, which was tough to take. But on the other hand, in a weird way it was also a compliment, because he did it because it would hurt, y’know? Knowing that it would be emotional for the characters and for the story. And he’s very brave in that regard. And you have to be. I mean, that’s part of why his shows are so compelling, because he’s willing to make hard choices.
So I always feel like in a strange way it is a compliment when Joss kills you off. But that character was an extraordinary journey. I had no idea at the time of auditioning for it that it would go for that long and in that way, it was just amazing really. I feel like it’s almost like getting to play three of four different parts, because he went through such a lot over the course of the show, you don’t get many chances to do that, honestly.
Most programming is very much plot-based and the characters are almost required to remain unchanged because they want to work out the plot and have people interested in that and just know who the characters are and not have them change too much, but again Joss is a groundbreaker, and the stories were compelling and they had something to say, but he also let the stories affect the characters deeply and let the characters grow and change. And I look back on that and feel so fortunate that I got to go on that journey with Wesley.
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The Hanging Coffins of Sagada
The people of Sagada in the Philippines follow a unique burial ritual. The elderly carve their own coffins out of hollowed logs. If they are too weak or ill, their families prepare their coffins instead. The dead are placed inside their coffins (sometimes breaking their bones in the process of fitting them in), and the coffins are brought to a cave for burial.
Instead of being placed into the ground, the coffins are hung either inside the caves or on the face of the cliffs, near the hanging coffins of their ancestors. The Sagada people have been practicing such burials for over 2,000 years and some of the coffins are well over a century old.
(via amandapalmer)
Pandy’s list of favorite Video Games
12. Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Perhaps you were expecting some surprise, for me to reveal a secret that had eluded you, something that would change your perspective of events, shatter you to your core. There is no great revelation, no great secret. There is only you.
(via fyeahkotor)
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Some of the dangers of glorifying obesity may include:
- Young girls might not fear getting fat more than they fear nuclear war, losing their parents, or cancer.
- Fat people might no longer be at an increased risk of having their illnesses (including cancers) misdiagnosed or diagnosed late, by doctors working in a medical community in which disdain for fat bodies is rampant, or given the wrong dosages of medicine — both of which can cost millions in unnecessary tests and prolonged treatment.
- Eating disorders — which admittedly are not exclusively about weight but which are cultivated by a culture that identifies fatness as a failure of control — might no longer be a central feature in the lives of 10 million Americans.
- We might not have a weight loss industry that generated $60 billion in revenue in the United States last year, mostly by making women feel like crap about themselves.
- Fat people might not have to worry about whether seats on airplanes or in restaurants or basically anywhere they go can physically accommodate them.
- Dudes might not yell at me in parking lots.
- Fat people everywhere might develop a powerful self-respect, and demand respect from others, and might be less likely to suffer bullying and shaming in silence.
- Fat people might not be so handy for scapegoating, schadenfreude and cheap laughs, or as a means by which others can feel superior.
- People of all sizes might feel better about themselves, because no one would be wasting energy and focus worrying about what would happen to them, how their life would be ruined, if they became fat.
- The amazing Lesley Kinzel
http://www.xojane.com/issues/the-problem-with-glorifying-obesity (via fatstrawberries)
(via rawwomen)
