My thoughts on the Coronavirus
From Strange Planet. I too will never deplete my supply of concerns. Also I like that the little alien has socks.
current events
Steve Irwin
Two comics that have made me sad over the past few weeks.
By Shania-Mae Sturm/sketchykoala
By Bun_Boi
But, there is always happier news…
Cyprus court gives UK teen who lied about gang rape suspended sentence — New York Post
A Cyprus court on Tuesday handed a four-month suspended sentence to a 19-year-old British woman who was found guilty of public mischief for making up claims that she was raped by up to a dozen Israelis.
Cyprus court gives UK teen who lied about gang rape suspended sentence — New York Post
She did not lie.
She was interviewed for eight hours without an interpreter. She may have been drugged. Her clothes weren’t examined properly. The judge declared that her bruises were “jellyfish stings.”
This whole case is appalling, just appalling.
Woke up to bad news.
A horrible tragedy happened in Japan, and in a different way, a horrible tragedy is happening to America.
Every time Iran makes the news I’m reminded all over again of how vital it is to distinguish between people and their governments.
Like, that’s something that should almost go without saying and yet is so easily and often forgotten–or deliberately obliterated in nationalist propaganda–and it’s true in so many different places all over the world. (‘Sup, The Russians™?) But it’s downright whiplash-inducing to compare the relationship between the U.S. and Iranian governments with what happens when you actually get Americans and Iranians interacting with each other and/or each other’s cultures. (Usually some variant of “holy shit you guys are awesome.”) It just brings it into such sharp relief.
Anyway. From the inhabitants of the ~~Great Satan~~ to the inhabitants of the ~~Axis of Evil~~: godspeed, you guys are awesome, sorry about the fuckheads who run our country & best of luck braving the fuckheads who run yours, don’t let the bastards grind you down.
A few years ago I part-owned a shirt with a Confederate flag on it. Well, sort of, it was one of those really cheap shirts you see in pop-up stores where the design on it is just like a bunch of random stock patterns and words? It was kinda like this I think except well, obviously a cheap knock-off of that kind of t-shirt. And a couple of Confederate flags, it turned out, were buried in the design, pretty small but still visible. I used to wear that shirt to bed every now and again because it came down to my knees, like a nightie.
I’m British and high school didn’t really teach any American history beyond the Cold War basics. I had no idea what that flag actually meant, exactly how bad it was. I knew it was an American thing, obviously. I thought it was the state flag of Texas, because I had vague recollections that The Dukes of Hazzard was associated with it and wasn’t that set in Texas? (Actually it was not.) I thought the flag had been probably co-opted by racists a lot during its history, I had a suspicion about that (in the same way the EDL co-opt the English flag, or used to) based on vague snippets I knew of Texas and its stereotypes, but the idea that it was racist in and of itself, that that was more or less its entire point, that never dawned on me.
…..Until it did, obviously. So we packed up the shirt in a bin bag and I guess it either went to the tip or a recycling place or something.
Anyway I suppose the moral of the story is that if something turns out to be racist, no matter how useful or vaguely aesthetically pleasing it is, you should get rid of it.