anotheranon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anotheranon) wrote2011-11-19 08:23 pm
anotheranon) wrote2011-11-19 08:23 pm
and in other news
I have not been living under a rock. I am aware there are things going on in the wider world, I just don't often write about them because others do it better and I find it frankly depressing to follow the news too closely. But two things are so much on the radar that I find it impossible not to comment:
The Occupy movement: I'm glad people are no longer complacently accepting that what's good for the rich is good for all, and while the protesters may not proffer solutions I'm glad they're airing their grievances and sticking to it. While I understand criticism about their lack of unified message, I'm frustrated with complaints that essentially boil down to "get a job/take a shower" - it's disheartening to hear this "dirty hippie" reductionism, especially from my own generation.
My broader concerns are the increasing militarization of law enforcement* and arrest of reporters - dirty hippies or no, the protestors aren't violent and the show of force far exceeds the need. The suppression of reporters is chilling - maybe I'm naive but we don't do that in America. We also don't destroy libraries (hat tip![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladyaelfwynn). If nothing else maybe OWS will bring greater attention to these.
Related: Occupy's A55hole Problem: Flashbacks from an Old Hippie and Occupy Wall Street-Tea Party Venn diagram.
The Sandusky Sex-Abuse scandal: I'm appalled that the Penn State students rioted over losing their football coach instead of something like the assistant coach raping young boys. I've watched the cult of football from afar and am well aware that star athletes and coaches get favorable treatment but.. but...I'm just flapping my arms here! One of these things is grotesquely worse than the other. And why is Sandusky getting national airtime to tell his side of things? Short of denying that he did ANYTHING, how does he expect to spin this, and why are people listening?
Yes, Penn State should lose their team for the rest of the season; bring 'em back next year with a whole new coaching staff if the students need to have a team so damn much. Funny, I went to college to get an education.**
*Yes, most of the links are from liberal sources. This is mostly because I already had the links or they were the first thing that came up on Google - I don't want to spend all day looking up every side of the story. Readers are responsible for their own news intake.
**Yes, I know football brings in a lot of money and schools need it in these times of rising costs. But Christ on a crutch...
The Occupy movement: I'm glad people are no longer complacently accepting that what's good for the rich is good for all, and while the protesters may not proffer solutions I'm glad they're airing their grievances and sticking to it. While I understand criticism about their lack of unified message, I'm frustrated with complaints that essentially boil down to "get a job/take a shower" - it's disheartening to hear this "dirty hippie" reductionism, especially from my own generation.
My broader concerns are the increasing militarization of law enforcement* and arrest of reporters - dirty hippies or no, the protestors aren't violent and the show of force far exceeds the need. The suppression of reporters is chilling - maybe I'm naive but we don't do that in America. We also don't destroy libraries (hat tip
ladyaelfwynn). If nothing else maybe OWS will bring greater attention to these.Related: Occupy's A55hole Problem: Flashbacks from an Old Hippie and Occupy Wall Street-Tea Party Venn diagram.
The Sandusky Sex-Abuse scandal: I'm appalled that the Penn State students rioted over losing their football coach instead of something like the assistant coach raping young boys. I've watched the cult of football from afar and am well aware that star athletes and coaches get favorable treatment but.. but...I'm just flapping my arms here! One of these things is grotesquely worse than the other. And why is Sandusky getting national airtime to tell his side of things? Short of denying that he did ANYTHING, how does he expect to spin this, and why are people listening?
Yes, Penn State should lose their team for the rest of the season; bring 'em back next year with a whole new coaching staff if the students need to have a team so damn much. Funny, I went to college to get an education.**
*Yes, most of the links are from liberal sources. This is mostly because I already had the links or they were the first thing that came up on Google - I don't want to spend all day looking up every side of the story. Readers are responsible for their own news intake.
**Yes, I know football brings in a lot of money and schools need it in these times of rising costs. But Christ on a crutch...
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Though I maintain my serious problem with how we deify athletes and are willing to put up with seemingly any malfeasance from our celebrities as long as we're still entertained, there is something similar going on here with head injuries and high school football (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/football-high/attention-players-parents-coaches/). That no one is calling a halt to high school football until a remedy can be found is boggling.... is permanent cognitive damage worth it just to kick the pigskin?
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A couple weeks ago, he was sorting through some old photographs, and he showed me one of himself and his team-mates, all lined up on the whatever yard line. He pointed at different individuals, saying things like, "This guy was an astrophysicist, this guy here was an architect like me, this guy was a doctor, this guy was a lawyer, this guy here was..."
Almost every one of these guys he played with was highly educated and went on to have a successful, highly-skilled career.
I couldn't keep the shock off my face, and he saw it and said, in disgust, "Yeah, I know. A far cry from the academic expectations that athletes have today."
I'm around him a lot, so I've gotten an inside tour into the cult of football, and where it came from. But where it's gone is so ridiculously awful. The riots....there are not words for how unbelievably insane that was especially in light of how the OWS people are being treated.
Ugh.
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