Why is it ok, or somehow progressive, to shame virgins?

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Thursday July 03, 2014 · 4:37 PM PDT

2014/07/03 · 16:37

This diary is in response to comments in a Front Page diary from earlier today. The diary pointed out the republican response to the hobby lobby decision, which of course contained the predictable amount of slut shaming.

Unfortunately, it seems many people here took this as a perfect opportunity to bash other people for their sex lives.

btfsilence

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Tuesday February 26, 2013 · 7:42 PM PST

2013/02/26 · 19:42

On January 10, a sixth grader at the Darby Township School in Darby Township, Pennsylvania was attacked by two bullies and suffered a broken nose and a concussion as a result. A few days later, he started having seizures, and was placed in a medically-induced coma. The DelcoTimes indicated that, as of February 8, this student had been in a coma for over two weeks. Since then, the coma lasted another two weeks. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/.... Fortunately, it appears that the student is now out of the coma, although still in recovery.

Unfortunately, the punishment meted out by the school for this attack on a student - which left that student with a broken nose and over four weeks of being in a coma - was a measly 2-day suspension. What you'd expect a student to get for showing up late to classes a few times or talking back to a teacher. Not what you'd expect a student to get for a particularly brutal attack, even as assaults and batteries go.

And it doesn't seem like Darby Township School principal Ashwina Mosakowski and district superintendent Stephen Butz have followed their own policies in meting out such a trivial punishment. Darby Township schools provides for four levels of infractions, and reads, in pertinent part:

Violence to another person or property posing a direct threat to the safety of others and is clearly criminal in nature may include but is not limited to the following:
-    Possession, use and/or transfer of weapons (real, fake or suggestive of) (Act 256 of 1995)
-    Sale and/or transfer of unauthorized substances (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, chemicals, etc.)
-    Major theft (includes possession and/or sale of stolen property)
-    Arson in or around school buildings or on school buses
-    Tampering with fire alarms and/or extinguishers
-    False fire alarms and/or bomb threats
-    Breaking and entering
-    Assault/battery to teachers and other students
-    Vandalism
-    Any other criminal acts committed at school or during school related activities
The disciplinary options that may be used include:
-    Parent Conference
-    Out-of-School Suspension (Up to 10 days)
-    Expulsion
-    Referral to School Police and Authorities with possible citation
-    Additional Outside Agencies as needed
-    Alternative Placement In/Out of the District
-    Restitution of Property and Damages
-    Other Appropriate Board Action

If this incident didn't necessitate expulsion, or at least more than a mere 2-days suspension, one can't help but wonder what might? If this doesn't merit the maximum penalty, what exactly would? If a student threatened to hit someone with a fake weapon, would the school have treated that so leniently? If, instead of sending someone into a coma, the bullies had been caught bringing marijuana into school, would their punishment be a mere 2-day suspension? What if they had pulled a fire-alarm? What does that say about our priorities?

On the plus side, NBC reports that police are now investigating this attack. Although whether they actually do something about it, or try to sweep it under the rug like the school administrators have, remains to be seen.

And, in other news, bullying victims are over 4 times as likely to develop many psychological disorders lasting into adulthood than non-bullied students. http://www.chicagotribune.com/... But I suppose that such things aren't as important as someone pulling a fire-alarm.

The one conspiracy about climate change that is actually true.

btfsilence

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Saturday January 19, 2013 · 7:59 PM PST

2013/01/19 · 19:59

(note: the intent of this diary is not to be an exhaustive analysis of the politics or economics of fossil fuels and climate change, for which much has been written by more knowledgeable people than me. This diary is a response to one specific type of argument raised by certain right-wing conspiracy theorists).

Amongst a lot of the Alex Jones/NWO/Illuminati conspiracy theorist crowd, its taken as an article of faith that those raising warnings about climate change are part of some globalist conspiracy to create a one world government.

Of course, these CT'ers ignore the fact that, when it comes to the most important issue facing the world - climate change and global environmental destruction - we already do have a de facto one world government, dedicated to the continued use of fossil fuels. And it includes the U.S., the EU, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Australia, and just about every other powerful country. Not to mention most of the worlds largest corporations. Sure, these entities may have their differences - and may fight over who gets to profit from which fossil fuels - but when it comes to climate change and the continued use of fossil fuels, they all seem to have a vested interest in downplaying the risk.

For example, the 5 biggest emitters of carbon dioxide are China, the U.S., the EU, India, and Russia. Not exactly a list of powerless entities. The top 5 per capita emitters, with population over 10,000,000, are Australia, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Kazakhstan - with Russia, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands not too far behind. Again, we are not exactly talking about the Maldives, here.

And who can forget the top coal producers in the world: China, the U.S., India, the EU, Australia, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and Kazakhstan. And the top oil producers: Saudi Arabia, Russia, the U.S., Iran, China, Canada, the UAE, Mexico, Kuwait, Iraq, Brazil, Nigeria, Venezuela, Norway, and Algeria. Just about a list of the most powerful countries in the world.

Of course, some might say that, sure, certain countries may emit a lot of CO2, but the big money is behind the powerful scientist and environmental lobbies. Nevermind that, of the world's 15 largest corporations 10 of them are oil, coal, or national gas companies (Royal Dutch Shell (#1), ExxonMobil (#2), BP(#4), Sinopec (#5), China National Petrolum (#6), State Grid (#7), Chevron (#8), ConocoPhillips (#9), Total (#11) and Gazprom (#15)).

Granted, these are a powerful bunch of companies. But they obviously lack the clout of goliath's like the World Wildlife Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists....

So it certainly does seem like a conspiracy is afoot, in effect if not in deed - just not the conspiracy most conspiracy theorists seem to believe in.

Poll

25 votes Show Results

When it comes to climate change - which is the more likely conspiracy?

25 votes Vote Now!

When it comes to climate change - which is the more likely conspiracy?

It does seem like the powerful have a vested interest in downplaying climate change

24 votes

Wake up sheeple!! Everyone knows that climate scientists wield the TRUE power

1 vote

Thank you, gun owners, for protecting us from tyranny!

btfsilence

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Thursday January 17, 2013 · 4:53 PM PST

2013/01/17 · 16:53

I would just like to take a moment to thank you for protecting us from the tyranny of the Federal government.

I mean, yeah, I guess you guys didn't really do anything to stop slavery (which some people seem to think is pretty tyrannical) - that took the Federal government. And you guys didn't stand up and prevent segregation. That actually, again, took the Federal government. And you didn't do anything when paramilitary groups like the KKK were harrassing and killing people. But, hey, lets let bygones be bygones.

And, sure, despite talking about FEMA camps all the time, you didn't do anything when the U.S. actually sent people of Japanese descent to real internment camps.

And, to talk about the present day, none of you took up arms to defend against Gitmo, or the large numbers of people in prison for nonviolent offensives. Heck, some of you are the biggest proponents of such things.

Come to think of it, the one time a significant number of you took up arms to protect against Federal government tyranny - it was to defend your rights to own slaves.

But i'm sure you gunowners actually protecting all of us from tyranny is just around the corner. So I, for one, salute you.

NCAA sanctions team for lack of institutional controls!

btfsilence

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Thursday July 12, 2012 · 11:49 PM PDT

2012/07/12 · 23:49

Some of us doubted that the NCAA would do the right thing, but finally, on June 12, 2012, the NCAA put its foot down and sanctioned a most deserving University for a complete lack of institutional control.

The offense, of course, was, well, as the Washingtpost Explains...

The problems came from the school’s system of “shopping” for courses, where students attend classes for three weeks at the beginning of a term before registration. That meant that under NCAA rules, some athletes were not considered full-time students when they took the field.

The corrupt institution was, of course, Caltech. Granted, Caltech athletic officials discovered and self-reported the problems. But the NCAA has shown that no program is above the rules. And a lack of institutional control will not go unpunished.

Kudos NCAA, for doing your noble reputation proud!

I reserve the right to judge Mitt Romney harshly for what he did as a teenager.

btfsilence

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Thursday May 10, 2012 · 7:50 PM PDT

2012/05/10 · 19:50

Some people say that we shouldn't judge Mitt Romney harshly for his being a bully in his teenage years.
(note: While this diary title is a riff on a diary title on the rec. list, I realize that diary was lampooning those who think we shouldn't judge Romney for his actions. Unfortunately, its an attitude that I've seen expressed seriously by a disturbingly large number of people around the interwebs.)

Me? You better believe I'm going to judge Mitt for the bullying he did when he was younger. And why shouldn't I? Its not like the effects of the bullying go away for the victim of the bullying. Those of us who bear the scars of bullying, be they physical or emotional, carry that burden around with us well into adulthood. We don't magically leave these scars in our childhood. It changes our personality and leads to diminished prospects in terms of jobs, relationships, and friends. Its hard to overstate the negative impact it can have on a person's mental health.

As Emily Anthes wrote in the Boston Globe:

These neurological scars, it turns out, closely resemble those borne by children who are physically and sexually abused in early childhood. Neuroscientists now know that the human brain continues to grow and change long after the first few years of life. By revealing the internal physiological damage that bullying can do, researchers are recasting it not as merely an unfortunate rite of passage but as a serious form of childhood trauma . . .studies have shown that the emotional abuse from peers turned out to be as damaging to mental health as emotional abuse from parents

And as Dr. Michael Miller, editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter noted:

Victims of chronic childhood bullying are more likely to develop depression or think about suicide as adults compared with those who weren't bullied.

And as the Suicide Prevention Resource Center noted:

Bullying, and especially chronic bullying, has long-term effects on suicide risk and mental health that
can persist into adulthood (Arseneault et al., 2010). One review of the research concluded that bullying
can cause (or contribute to) “comparatively low levels of psychological well-being and social adjustment
and to high levels of psychological distress and adverse physical health symptoms” (Rigby, 2003).

So being a victim of bullying ain't exactly left behind in childhood. So why should a bully, when he is an adult, bear no negative judgments from the bullying he did when he was younger? That negative effect is certainly a lot milder than what the victims face as adults.

Of course, some people do change and improve, and certainly their teenage misdeeds may not be the full measure of their worth as a person. But I still reserve the right to judge them for those misdeeds.

So yes, I will judge Mitt Romney harshly. What can I say...he'll get over it.

RSS

Why is it ok, or somehow progressive, to shame virgins?

Bullying victim in coma for several weeks. Bullies punished with 2-day suspension...

The one conspiracy about climate change that is actually true.

Thank you, gun owners, for protecting us from tyranny!

NCAA sanctions team for lack of institutional controls!

I reserve the right to judge Mitt Romney harshly for what he did as a teenager.