Tatttoo Barbie

Mothers are pissed. Oh no! *Sarcasm*

Apparently, a lot of parents are upset about...hold on, I just noticed something. Why do we always say "Mothers are angry" when we talk about products affecting children, especially little girls. Thats a problem.

Anyways. They dont like tattoo barbie. And I will be linking this discussion to you from Jezebel. Yes, I read a lot of Jezebel on a daily basis. Anyways, this is talking about one mom who was livid about this barbie but I am sure that there are more where that came from. As many people commented, why in the hell would anyone be anti-tattoo barbie? What message does it send to young girls, thats its okay to tattoo their bodies? No! That is a horrible thing to teach young girls. What we should teach them is that they have to try their whole life, and I do mean their WHOLE life trying to obtain the physical appearance of Barbie.

Im sorry, but people that are against things like pregnant barbie or interracial dating barbie or casual alcohol drinking barbie are stupid. Because Barbie, by herself, teaches the wrong message. And actually, I am not making up pregnant Barbie...I think she once existed. Anyways, whatever. I dont care. I wouldnt give my future child a barbie anyway.

Stealing

Okay, so to make this simple. I believe that stealing is bad. To steal from another human being is just so unacceptable. At the same time, when people are in poverty and can hardly eat and havent taken a bath in weeks or had a roof over there head in months, I understand.

I also want to say that I actually don't have a problem with stealing from companies as much as I do from people. When people steal from people they take away what those people worked for and what is dear to them. Stealing from ASDA/Walmart is stealing from a corporation that doesnt do jack shit for the wellbeing of the world. In my opinion. Shopping there is bad enough. I would never steal because 1. I dont believe in it really and 2. Im not so poor that I have to steal from stores.

When people steal clothing, I think its stupid. Thats just consumerist. When people steal food, I seriously have no problem. I know this sounds wrong but I dont. People are struggling man. If I was homeless and hadnt ate in weeks or something....I would steal food. Im sorry. Its true. And when its a child in the situation, I encourage it! If children are hungry and their parents are struggling, steal food. I mean, at the worst case scenario. If you have asked for it and you have tried to obtain it by other means...well shit, if it aint working, steal it.

This is a story about a young boy who was caught stealing food. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090402/NEWS0107/304020017/1055/NEWS
He was charged, which I think is wrong! And I also think its wrong that they put him in foster care so quickly, but that is another story.

Stealing something for gain is wrong, stealing something for survival. Not so wrong. I will probably edit this post cause I had to write it quickly.

Littering

Littering is wrong because the world, the environment, is not your apartment, and neither is mine. Of course I have littered before. Actually, I just accidently did it. I was trying to bother my flatmate by throwing a piece of paper at him and then realized that the piece of paper was of course, not going to go on the ground and was going to go on the grass. Bad me. And I need to pick it up next time I go outside.

The littering I am talking about is the very intentional one. I have seen people litter..............next to garbage cans. Its like...its RIGHT THERE. Two more steps. Right there. But no, they litter. I was on the train the other day and this man, kid you not, blew his nose, wiped his nose off and all that good ish and then threw his tissue under a bench. I was looking at all of this through the window. I thought to myself, no. I mean no. Here is this business man, in a suit, with a briefcase, throwing his tissue, looking to throw his tissue under the bench. Now that isnt as bad when it is outside but I have seen people do the same.

Whats the point? Are we so lazy we have to just throw our unwanted, non-biodegradeable shit on the ground? Even the stuff that is...I mean, geez.

I think this is GREAT. The xmas fast food campaign said that littering rose 17 perceent in the last 5 years in Wolverhampton. Thats crazy. Now I am going to admit, I throw gum on the ground. Damn, thats horrible of me. How can I not consider that litter? I dont do it often, but I will say I have did it 4 times in the last 6 months or something. I dont know. But I need to do it 0 times. Now I really appreciate the feces one. I am so sorry, but I am really laughing at the picture.





LOL. That is just really cracking me up for some reason. How childish. Anyways. We shouldnt litter!

Selling "Virginity"

First, before I get started, I would like to recommend this book along with my post. I have yet to read it because I am going to buy it when I get back home to America.

This is very sad and lately, their have been a lot of stories like it. LINK

This will be very quick. This is Bad. Very bad. Not her. She's not bad. Because just like what I said in my post about Jade Goody, it goes for this woman and the alike as well. This should not be an option. A woman should not have to sell her body, so she can go to school, so she can get her family out of poverty. Women's bodies are forever for sale and available. Find me 10 articles about men selling their 'virginity' for 10,000 and up. You wont. Don't go google it, because you wont. Men who like to have sex with virgins have a few simple reasons. 1. They will always be remembered. 2. They think they will get a virgin submissive girl 3. Because 'taking a women's virginity' is the ultimate goal! Its the wowzer, the one you tell stories about. Its almost mythical. 4. They will get to break the hymen which means the vaginal will most lightly be 'tight."

Virginity...catch this...is a SOCIAL CONSTRUCT. A virgin is not some mythical woman who is pure and gentle and a girl. That's another creepy ass component. Some people think that its a woman's first sexual experience that makes them a woman and that's why some men who like to have sex with virgins like the whole turning girls into women. Now, get me straight. If the term virgin was only a word, possibly a medical term that was attributed to someone who hadn't had sex their first time yet (with a man or a woman) then I would say, of course its not a social construct. But the term 'virgin' comes with a whole lot else. Its about purity. Its about the idea that sex takes away from purity and we all know who have to be pure...women. Women are supposed to be pure. Virginity is associated with the virgin Mary and the birth of Christ and blah blah.

And this is crazy. I don't even want to comment on it, its so crazy.

What kills me is that people, a lot, don't know that women tend to break their hymen way before they have penetration. Especially if they use tampons during their menstruation (which is why religious people were against tampons...they turn women into whores!). Women can break their hymens riding bikes!

Bottom line is that this woman has the right to sell her social construct for 10000 euros to help her family. Its sad that that was her only option. And hear me, because I seem to get in a lot of arguments with people about this, "Ohhh well she could have worked here or there or saved up or blah blah." But name one more thing that a woman can do other than sell her body that would get her this kind of money. One, poverty shouldnt be so bad that she has to go to extremes, Two, womens bodies shouldnt be so readible (made that word) to sell. Its simple. Same as stripping and regular prostitution (This is virginity prostitution, as I call it). On top of that, what if this man is a murderer!

Point is. Patriarchy. Which goes hand and hand with religion. Purity. Virginity. Poverty. Women. Yea.

Consumerism

My link today is actually going to be a link to the documentary that I just finished watching. It is the one mentioned below with my bottled water post. LINK . Oh and I also want to link a documentary that I watched the day before yesterday. LINK. I really encourage you to watch these. And while I am at it, I saw another documentary in London called The Age of Stupid. That's good too. It is about an hour and a half. Even though I am not talking about the privatization of water or the environment per say, in this post, I am talking about consumerism which is related, closely, duh. I think these documentaries (except the Walmart one) are the best examples of why consumerism is "bad." Of course, if your anti-consumerist in America, that makes you a communist. Yea, idiotic. My point is, I can not write a post about how all consumerism is bad and how everyone who every buys anything is going to hell. That's silly.

I can hate capitalism and consumerism but that doesn't make me any less of a capitalist or a consumer. I live in a society where it is impossible to be anything else. I have watched three documentaries in the last 2 weeks that were environmental and also economical. And I say they were economical because they all tackled the issue of consumerism. The reason why we are having climate change is because people know how to consumer and not conserve. And this has been placed on western societies by companies and advertisements and oh...selfishness and prejudice and the inability to think. All of that good stuff. I am a victim of it! You will not here me say that I don't go shopping or I don't get warped into this idea that the more I have the better. We are told this everyday! Its a very difficult task to fight it but I am committed to doing so.

Even if we weren't talking about depleted the worlds resources for the smallest percent of the world population, what were also talking about is the exploitation of people. We are told to consume, consume, consume. It fucks us and it fucks other people. But yet, we continue to participate in it. Every economic system looks great in theory, I know that. I am not saying that capitalism shouldn't exist. What I am saying is that there are serious problems with it. Capitalism cannot exist without a loser and a winner. Capitalism also cant exist without rampant consumerism. It's just how it works. So, I actually will talk about the badness of consumerism in all three documentaries (that I have linked above and that you should watch).

The documentary about Walmart (Which owns Asda, so yes, your contributing) and their evils. Aside from how their employees. Actually, I think its interesting that the doc didnt even get into that, but anyways. To make it plain and simple. Walmart clears out small businesses in towns, puts up its superstore and makes suppliers compete with costs from the East. Whats REALLY ironic is that there are people that lose their jobs because of Walmart and end up havign to work an shop at Walmart because their arent any other options. Prime example, you work at a company that makes tvs. Walmart comes in. You want to supply Walmart with tvs, Walmart wants to buy them for the same price that they are buying them from China, you cant afford it, you go out of business, their isnt anywhere to work, you now work at Walmart. Now, aint that bout a bitch. And what reaalllllllyyyyyy kills me is that Walmart screams America while they wipe out American businesses and put their money in China, who America has a large ass debt too. I remember learning a year ago or so that the Chrysler building in New York is owned by China. LOL. That shit is too funny. I have to check on that to make sure it is true.

Then we have flow. That talks about the privatization of water. I wont go into too much detail about this because I think you should watch it. I will say...how in the hell does anyone own water? Water is a natural resource that people will die without. What really gets me, is that these companies will plop down on land, take the water for free, bottle it and then sell it back to the people in which the water really belongs to. And people just buy that water up like Jesus handed it down himself.

This is why consumerism is bad. Because people don't think. People don't believe in being smart consumerists. And I dare say that if you really want to argue consumerism, being a smart one doesn't exist. I can decide never to drink Dasani because its bottled water and it steals water but as soon as I pick up a Coke or a Sprite or High C Orange, I am paying Coca Cola to make fucking Dasani. You cant be a 100% smart consumer. But a little bit helps. Supply and demand. Stop using something, less will be made, price will go up, hopefully less people buy it and so on and so fourth. But consumerism exploits people. The countries where water is being privatized are brown. Yes, their stealing water from America but they are PRIVATIZING water in fucking Ghana, Thailand, Ecuador, seriously. This is too fucking much for me. Next thing you know, somebody gonna ration out the sun for a unreasonable price.

I feel like I am all over the place here. But it makes me so angry. We are ruining the world in so many ways. So many ways. If we continue to consume, we will speed up climate change and run out of resources, but I guess its good getting a start on privatizing water, because then the people who have money will buy it and those that don't, wont. And then that will solve the problem of who gets the rest of the resources. And apparently, it will solve the problem of non-white third world countries by wiping them out.

Oh heres another LINK. It's about consumerism and its effects.

I love this statement.
"I can imagine it, therefore I want it. I want it, therefore I should have it. Because I should have it, I need it. Because I need it, I deserve it. Because I deserve it, I will do anything necessary to get it."

This is how people think. And the last part is the one that really fucks everybody over. It doesn't matter who you exploit, whose resources you take away, what you do to the environment, you need that new purse or that new toy or that new whatever, that was made in China for 2 cents a fucking hour, that Americans lose jobs over, that workers in China cant demand better wages for, that isn't biodegradable and that you wont have longer than a month. Seriously. It's crazy.

Okay, this is disorganized and long. But I don't care. This is a uk org about consumerism. http://www.enough.org.uk/

I need to figure out, everyday, something I can consume less of. I don't think anyone can be perfect and I don't think all consumerism is bad. Buying a shirt because you like it and want a new shirt is fine. Buying 10 new shirts, everyday, because you feel pressured to be like everyone else in a culture in which everyone is like everybody else, is problematic. My problems with crazy consumerism is more than the environment and more than the economy, (and lets not forget the people it exploits) its also about people. I think today, more people get their self worth from the things that they own than who they really are. And that's why consumerism is perfect. Tell people they need more so they can be perfect, when perfect isn't achievable, so then they'll never stop buying. Crazy.

Drinking Bottled Water

So I have known for some time now that drinking bottled water is not good for the environment. I have limited my usage but I still feel bad. I need to stop it completely. It is bad for the environment for a number of reasons. It creates more waste, plastic bottles, that go unrecycled most of the time. Sometimes it is just water from the tap being resold (this, I guess, is just an ethical issue).

Apart from environmental reasons, its just plain disrespectful. Im sorry. It is. It is so so so so so disrespectful. It is a slap in the face to any person struggling in the many countries where clean water is not available. When I hear someone go "Ohhh, noooo, IIIII, dont drink water from the tap. Its gross. It tastes weird. Its not fresh enough." I want to smack the shit out of them. I want to pull them by their ear, dragging them to a computer, so I can show them the millions of people drinking water from streams where oil has been dumped and fish are dying, from puddles in the woods, from wells that have fecal matter in them, and the list goes on. How fucking dare you? Its such an asshole, western thing to say. It really is. How quickly we forget our privileges! Im telling you.

What would it be like to wake up in the morning and not be able to drink a glass of water, brush my teeth, wash my face. As a matter of fact, its even more disrespectful than I thought. Not only do people that drink bottled water say fuck the environment but they also damn near mock anyone not getting access to clean water. I gots to stop drinking bottled water.

And from a western point of few. How in the hell do you resale something that is free. This people are selling us water! Water people. This doesnt make any sense. The article I linked ya too talks about how you can even see that coca cola and pepsi are marketing water even more now a days because pop gets such bad press for it's unhealthiness.

When does consumerism stop? Okay, thats it. I am writing about consumerism tomorrow. And I need to stop drinking bottled water, I need to be a responsible consumer...if there is one. Oh yea, ill talk about that tomorrow.

LINK

I NEED TO SEE THIS DOCUMENTARY

Eating Cats and/or Dogs

Oh yes I did put a picture up of my cat. And no I wouldnt eat her. She is just too adorable. I would never eat a "pet." But that is my topic of today's blog.

Okay, I want to start writing but I cant stop looking at that cute little face. Tabitha Sammantha is her name. She is my love. Shes getting fat too!

So. Now. Where was I? Yes, is it okay to eat cats and dogs?

To me that's just asking if it is okay to eat Animals. Which I think I will save for another post, eating animals in general. This time I will just write about eating cats and dogs. The idea of eating pets.

Its pretty simple though. All animals are animals. Just because we can "domesticate" some doesnt mean that they stop being animals. I love how western cultures like to look down on many eastern cultures for eating dogs and cats. Its like "Oh no, cats and dogs, no no. But pass me some pig." Pigs are animals and actually YOU CAN have them as a pet. And we have fish as pets but we eat those.

I think its so convienant for the west to make judgements about the east. Partly because of racism. Its us and them. People who eat cat and dog are the OTHER. It's ridiculous. Anything that any other culture does that the west doesnt do just seems to be gross and savage and whatever. But the fact that (I dont know if British do it) American meat markets cut the feet off of young cows to make their meat good enough to veal, doesnt seem all that superior?

I think its interesting. Because I think countries that ate cat and then stopped did so because of the stereotypes and hatred placed upon them in the west. In some Asian countries it is seen as western and hip and a sign of being of wealth to have pets because having pets isnt really common. On a side note, I think that a lot of people actually think that pets are common here. Like if I just had Tabitha and one day said I was hungry and killed her and ate her. It isnt like that.

Also, if your dirt fucking poor and you aint (yes, aint) ate in days and you see a lil fido or snickers walking by...you gone eat. Thats it. Im sorry. If you are hungry and poor and on the streets, and you have some kind of access to a frying pan. You would eat a cat.

I wouldnt eat a cat or dog because I love em too much and I have been socialized not to. But that doesnt mean I am going to racially stereotype people for it or look at them as if they are some savage nonhuman creature. Let's get a grip! The West is not the right and everything the wrong. Some people need to take their heads out of their asses and get a world view, not an euro/ethnocentric one.

THIS IS A GOOD ARTICLE> ACTUALLY READ IT!