The Largest Minority

August 5th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

And here I always thought the Goombas had it the worst.

August 2nd, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Wayne Besen seems like a nice enough guy, so it really sucks that I have to hate him now for making me agree with O’Reilly. What did I ever do to you Wayne?

In explaining human sexuality as existing more along a widely varied spectrum than as something definable by two rigid options, Gore Vidal once said, “there are no homosexual people, only homosexual acts”. For Mr. T to be homophobic by Vidal’s standard, speed-walking would need to be a homosexual act. Besen sees the speed-walker in this video as gay, but why? Because he’s moving his hips in an effeminate manner? Writing off effeminate men as being gay is the same homophobic connection straight people are often guilty of making.

Attributing certain mannerisms and characteristics to a sexual preference is where we run into problems. Granted, it’s clear that Mr. T is targeting effeminate men, but effeminate does not equal gay. Arguing in such a manner-of-fact manner that this caricature must be gay only serves to reinforce stereotypes. As noble as his intentions are, I do believe it is here where Besen does more harm to his cause than good.

Despite evidence of sexual orientation being genetic, Vidal is essentially correct in assessing sexuality itself as a spectrum. Sure, many gay men are effeminate, but so are many straight men. Spend 30 minutes browsing the emo kids on MySpace if you doubt me. It’s the mannerisms of the speed-walker which Mr. T is trying to “correct”, and though that still may not be a positive message, it certainly doesn’t seem like a gay specific prejudice. Effeminate mannerisms are the clear target here, so the sexual preference of the walker is not something you can be so bold as to assume without basing them on stereotypes yourself. Speed walking is fucking ridiculous, and fortunately for the gay community, it’s not something most people would identify with homosexuals.

If anything, I’ve always found that the line between homo and hetero blurs more heavily towards the masculine end of the spectrum than towards the feminine end. For example, what’s gayer than wrestling, the military, boy scouts, prison, bodybuilding, or anything else considered macho? Hell, look at Mr. T himself. The guy wears jewelry and muscle shirts. In fact, we may be witnessing the very first televised scene of gay-on-gay crime. Now that’s progress!

August 1st, 2008 by Manila Ryce

BBC footage of the Lyre Bird can be found here.

July 22nd, 2008 by Manila Ryce

This video is from the Scared Straight program for creationists whose children don’t believe dinosaurs and people interacted.

This dinosaur appears to be a feather-covered Tyrannosaurus and is not a robot, but a costume with animatronic facial movement and a puppeteer inside.

I remember when I was young, the most interesting thing they ever had in museums were mummies. Not bandaged actors walking around and scaring children, but inanimate dehydrated dead people that you couldn’t even touch. We got jipped.

July 12th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

A bit of related comicbook trivia: Nightcrawler’s superpower is actually herpes. Teleportation is just a beneficial side effect of his treatment.

July 9th, 2008 by Sam

Hysteria over China’s supposed looming threat to US national interests (read: hegemony) continue to underlie the foreign policy consensus among both political parties, the mainstream media, and “responsible” intellectual opinion.  In an interview with the The Real News Network, Aijaz Ahmad dispels some of the myths surrounding China’s alleged aggressiveness.  When asked about arguments suggesting that the possibility of China’s economy outgrowing the US’s may potentially pose a future threat, Ahmad responds:

“Well first of all that’s a very very irrational argument: if you lose out in peaceful economic competition you should just go and invade some country.  That’s an extremely irrational argument.  And a frightening one . . . As of now, Chinese posture is completely defensive . . . first of all, China has not fought a war outside its territory since the Korean war.  For the last 60 years, China has had no troops beyond its territory.  Its military expenditure, when you look at it . . . even its nuclear program, is essentially defensive in character.  It is frightened that it will be attacked by the United States . . .”

And unlike the land of the free and the home of the brave:

“[China] does not set out to tell any country what its internal social system should be, because it has not arrogated to itself the power to police the world either military or politically.”

Internally, China is rightly condemned for its gross human rights violations and repressive police state policies.   But serious consideration of China’s foreign policy can hardly merit the frenzy that is regularly  expressed by both “doves,” like Sen. Jim Webb (see above video), and “hawks,” like Sen. Joe Lieberman, who justifies increases in defense spending due to the “serious danger of falling behind China,” a country which possesses a defense budget a tenth the size of our own.  As Robert Scheer notes, “The only adversary that interested China,” according to a Pentagon report citing intellegence community estimates, “was Taiwan, and as recent events have indicated, that game is over.”  Scheer describes the recent warming of relations across the Taiwan Straits as a “nightmare scenario for America’s military hawks in desperate need of an excuse for soaking up more than half of the U.S. government’s discretionary budget.”  But we shouldn’t “shed tears just yet for the denizens of the military-industrial complex. Why should they doubt our continued willingness to throw money at weapons that have no targets, when few in Congress or the media ever bother to notice,” let alone honestly challenge the paranoid and imperialistic assumptions that lead us to assume that those targets exist in the first place?

July 8th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Once again, The Onion provides us with an accurate view of the world through a post-9/11 lens. I would write a longer description here, but I currently need to head to Wal-Mart to stock up on duct tape and ammunition before they’re all out.

July 2nd, 2008 by John Geraghty

The South Central farm is a great model to look back on when we talk about self sufficiency in an urban climate, the creation of community democracy, and the race to save the environment. However, there are always forces to overcome when we dare to take steps towards true independence.

Being an Irishman, the creation of a community farm in the heart of South Central L.A. was not a scheme that I was previously aware of, but something that I can definitely digg. The farmland was unfortunately demolished to make way for a Wal-Mart warehouse. Yes, as if we needed more of those in the world…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH7wA5Olo18