A Societal Rant

Middle school.  A time of pressure, both psychosocial and emotional.  To survive this precursor to high school--or as I like to call it, eternal damnation--one must dress, act, and appear like everyone else.  During my time in purgatory, one was judged by the clothes on their back.  It was only "cool" to wear brand names, these being Hollister and Abercrombie and American Eagle and whichever others styled a piece of cloth and put a label on it.  It is thanks to these stores that I have been inspired to rant.

Shopping at Hollister was a traumatic experience for my middle school self.  I would make sure that I looked "acceptable" on their standards, and even then I never felt good enough to be shopping there.  Maybe it was due to the super model looks of the employees, or perhaps because of the array of shirtless men posted to the walls.  Either way,  I felt so, absolutely self-conscious in these stores.  And to top it all off, the crappy tees and poorly fashioned sandals were ridiculously overpriced.  Why then, did I continue to put myself through the anxiety of shopping at said store?  It was simple.  I did it so that I could fit in.

This being said, I was not surprised to find that Abercrombie and Hollister truly are as superficial as they seem to be.  Their vision of the "all-American" girl is entirely skewed.  It is unfortunate that these are the stores that young girls are so attracted to.  I wish that I could go to all of the girls like myself, those that are stuck in a time of self-loathing, and help them to realize the unimportance brig "cool."

My advice to you?  Shop at Walmart for God sake.  Seriously, Walmart is awesome.

Time For Another Political Rant?

Dear Shiva,
I cannot mentally grasp the current mindset of the so-called "Grande Old Party." Obviously the happenings that have taken place in Benghazi within the past nine months have been less than favorable, but to attack President Obama in the hopes to impeach him from office? Ha, good luck with that, you lot of wingnuts. I, just as everyone else, was very disturbed with the death of Christopher Stevens and the three other officials back in September, but recognized it as a result of terror. The mere fact that the GOP is attacking Obama now, in reference to an event that happened eight months ago and is now regrettably irrelevant, makes me furious.

Sincerely,
A cynical libretarian

P.S. I hope that you do some destroying in the near future, for I do not think that I will be able to physically and emotionally handle the right wing conservatives who reside in this county for much longer.

Bullying, a Complicated Subject? (inspired by the documentary "Bully")

No.  There is nothing "complicated" about the topic of bullying.  If I were an authority, I would have shut bullies down yesterday.  When a person is bullied, it legitimately breaks my heart.  It is beyond frustrating when authority turns a blind eye when people are being targeted by bullies.  Children are taking their lives because of the cruelty of others, what more proof do you need?  When you hear authority say that "boys will be boys," and that "they need to work it out for themselves," know that a puppy is getting smacked with a phone book.  Take some responsibility for your incompetence, and reprimand the bully for once. 

What Theater?

This week has really frustrated me.  My high school has again demonstrated it's preference to athletics.  Don't get me wrong, we have immense talent when it comes to our athletics, and it is wonderful that we do appreciate their accomplishments, but it would be nice if other our organizations got some recognition.  How often do you hear about the success of Theater, or Band, or Science Olympiad?  The answer, unfortunately enough, is rarely.
I'm not going to lie, but this is extremely disheartening.  The One Acts are this weekend and I have yet to hear a single person mention them.  Of course I am a bit biased, seeing as I take part in theater and obviously want that it be broadcasted throughout the state, but I'm not sure if my bias is the actual issue here.  So many extra-curricular activities accomplish amazing things, but remain unknown because the school fails to really appreciate them. 


Does anyone else feel this way?  Comment away! Your opinions are always appreciated :)

We Can No Longer Tolerate Anti-Intellectualism

Ignorance is, in my opinion, one of the most abominable sins.  How many people even read the news nowadays?  Not very many.  I am beyond ashamed of those who have no idea of the happenings that are occurring on a global basis.  Being unaware of the revolution in Egypt is one thing, but not even knowing that the Inauguration took place this past Monday is inexcusable.  How are we supposed to move forward, when we coexist with an abundance of anti-intellectuals?  It is disgusting. 

My advice to you?  Form your own *explicative* opinions based on the information that you take the time to acknowledge. Get off of your lazy asses, stop being so egocentric, and maybe--just maybe-- inform yourselves about the world.  It is not that difficult.

The battle against anti-intellectualism has begun.

I'm a Gamer and Proud of It

I will never understand why video games are stigmatized.  Sure I have a DS.  Yes, I do play this DS.  Sure, Pokemon may be my favorite series.  Why now, is this a bad thing?  Playing video games is a perfectly healthy way to release stress after a long day at school or work, and playing games certainly doesn't make you any less of a person.

This mini-discussion was sparked by a story that I heard the other night, about a high school kid that was made fun of for playing his DS on the bus.  I found this to be really sad, mainly because the bully in this situation is obviously unaware of how awesome video games are.  To be completely honest, one of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when someone makes fun of video games, and the people who play these games.  Is being "nerdy" a bad thing?  No, being nerdy is fricking awesome. 

Why the Insolence?

This will be one of my few personal posts, so here it goes.

Today I was standing in line at Urban Outfitters, minding my own business, when a very mean looking woman started yelling at me for "cutting" in front of her in line.  This woman was standing across the aisle at the jewelry table (which is quite a distance from the front of the line) when she began griping out me.  Rather than call her an incompetent noob, seeing as the line in this particular store traditionally starts in the trail of miscellaneous merchandise that has be placed in front of the registers, I expressed my embarrassment and told her that I was genuinely unaware that she was in line to begin with.  She, surprisingly (or should I say not surprisingly), replied with a rude response to my apology, and stormed in front of me.  Her insolence!  I was literally on the verge of tears, and probably would have smacked her in the face if she said one more thing to me.

This rant was inspired by the impatience and egocentric attitude of the people of the modern era.  I, in all honesty, am sick and tired of people being rude to one another, especially when they are rude without reason.  I would understand discourtesy if it were triggered by a legitimate cause, but to be rude to a stranger?  To be rude or dislike someone that you do not truly know, is just malicious. The past couple of months have really deteriorated my already lacking self-esteem, thanks to the inconsideration of others.  Why can people be so mean without justification?  Believe it or not, peoples words hurt.

The moral of this story?  Maybe if you took the time to be nice to others, you would feel a little bit better about yourself

I may or may not be referring to multiple occurrences other than today's happening at Urban.