... in which shrewd product placement's gonna make me a star
Random stuff, of the "I can be more random more than you, raaah!" variety.
Caring For Your Introvert is a pretty amusing article about what it actually means to be an introvert. It takes the piss out of extroverts possibly a little too meanly, and I think the actual Keirsey/Myers-Brigg stuff is more useful (especially when it's remembered that it's a continuum, people, not an either-or), but it does raise some good points. There's way too much bollocks of the "how to stop being an Introvert, you weirdo" sort around - and that's among the people who know what one is. Extroversion is not the be all and end all, and being a minority does not make something weird or stupid or gross or unhealthy: things that point out that people are different is all good with me.
Which brings me to this. If you have a look at that, and don't notice anything potentially objectionable apart from the awful treatment of women described in the post, then I will bet you that you are in North America. And probably the USA.
Cause seriously, that "abroad" is just really pissing me off. Amanda Marcotte is not stupid, she's not a bigot; she often has something interesting to say. But she still says "abroad" like of course everybody reading is in America. Assuming that lots of her readers are American is understandable on the English-speaking bit of the internet, but all of them? It doesn't take much - say, using the word "international" instead - to prevent the little moments of "oh, non-Americans are other, then, THANKS" that add up to the kind of worldview that drives me batshit crazy. And while this certainly hasn't been eradicated on the rest of the globe - god, I'm in the country of the Daily Mail, so believe me when I say I'm aware of that - and it's not every American-identified person, it does seem to be a very American problem. I've been to nineteen countries in my life if you don't include the USA, and all of them were better at this than the States. And it's so frustrating to those of us who'd really like to like the USA more, because it doesn't have to be like that.
Though actually, the most annoying thing about it is that it's freaking celebrated. Seeing everything from a solely American perspective is shouted around as a good thing, like of course it's the best way and how could you ever even think of thinking otherwise? It's everywhere: it's just assumed, and there's no real way of challenging it. I really wish there was some way of getting the people who do that and just somehow making them see how the rest of the world sees that, how horrible and harsh and unrelentingly cold that seems to the people who aren't totally convinced by that idea. How that's actually saying that the rest of us are less, are sub-human. Bleugh.
On happier topics, I was just emailed this bit of news - the Sentinel is coming out on DVD. For definite. On April the 18th. SQUEE! It's only the first season, but, still - we get Blair and Jim! We get people being knocked out with a vending machine, and cheesy chase scenes, and hilariously eighties "dun-dun-DUN!" close-ups on Jim's senses, and the ridiculously cute and domestic gayness that only the Sentinel can provide. Hurrah!
Caring For Your Introvert is a pretty amusing article about what it actually means to be an introvert. It takes the piss out of extroverts possibly a little too meanly, and I think the actual Keirsey/Myers-Brigg stuff is more useful (especially when it's remembered that it's a continuum, people, not an either-or), but it does raise some good points. There's way too much bollocks of the "how to stop being an Introvert, you weirdo" sort around - and that's among the people who know what one is. Extroversion is not the be all and end all, and being a minority does not make something weird or stupid or gross or unhealthy: things that point out that people are different is all good with me.
Which brings me to this. If you have a look at that, and don't notice anything potentially objectionable apart from the awful treatment of women described in the post, then I will bet you that you are in North America. And probably the USA.
Cause seriously, that "abroad" is just really pissing me off. Amanda Marcotte is not stupid, she's not a bigot; she often has something interesting to say. But she still says "abroad" like of course everybody reading is in America. Assuming that lots of her readers are American is understandable on the English-speaking bit of the internet, but all of them? It doesn't take much - say, using the word "international" instead - to prevent the little moments of "oh, non-Americans are other, then, THANKS" that add up to the kind of worldview that drives me batshit crazy. And while this certainly hasn't been eradicated on the rest of the globe - god, I'm in the country of the Daily Mail, so believe me when I say I'm aware of that - and it's not every American-identified person, it does seem to be a very American problem. I've been to nineteen countries in my life if you don't include the USA, and all of them were better at this than the States. And it's so frustrating to those of us who'd really like to like the USA more, because it doesn't have to be like that.
Though actually, the most annoying thing about it is that it's freaking celebrated. Seeing everything from a solely American perspective is shouted around as a good thing, like of course it's the best way and how could you ever even think of thinking otherwise? It's everywhere: it's just assumed, and there's no real way of challenging it. I really wish there was some way of getting the people who do that and just somehow making them see how the rest of the world sees that, how horrible and harsh and unrelentingly cold that seems to the people who aren't totally convinced by that idea. How that's actually saying that the rest of us are less, are sub-human. Bleugh.
On happier topics, I was just emailed this bit of news - the Sentinel is coming out on DVD. For definite. On April the 18th. SQUEE! It's only the first season, but, still - we get Blair and Jim! We get people being knocked out with a vending machine, and cheesy chase scenes, and hilariously eighties "dun-dun-DUN!" close-ups on Jim's senses, and the ridiculously cute and domestic gayness that only the Sentinel can provide. Hurrah!