Rob

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Thoughts on Ethnicity

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

I’m going to ask you a question.  Before you answer it,  I want you to read the rest of this blog while thinking about it.

The question is this:  What is your ethnicity?

It might seem like a simple enough question.  I bet an answer popped into your head as soon as you finsihed reading it.  It may be the correct answer.   However, I want you to think about it for a moment.

What defines ethnicity?  Is it the color of your skin?  Is it where you live?  Is it what language you speak?  Is it where your ancestors are from?  Is it something else?

It could be any of those.  I guess it is really up to the individual to define the term for his or herself.  I’ve been thinking about this question since I was involved in a discussion yesterday evening about this very topic.

My great-grandparents came over to the United States from Poland.  They continued to speak the language when they arrived, and had children who spoke Polish.  But those children also learned English which became their primary language.

As time went on, and generations were born to my family, the use of Polish diminished as did the Polish customs that the family had brought with them from their homeland.  Soon, my generation was born any trace of the “old country” was all but gone.  I suppose you can say that the family was “Americanized.”

So, here’s my second question:  Am I Polish?  Am I Polish-American?  Or am I just American? 

At what point does “American” become an ethnicity?

Those who come from Italy are italian.  Those from France are French.  Germans come from Germany.  But, who are the people that come from America?  Why do we put our ancestors’ ethnicities in front of “American” when we say who we are?

If I were to move to Italy and become a citizen, would I be considered American-Italian?  Or Polish-Italian?

Where do we draw the line?

If I were to go back to Poland I would realize just how Polish I’m not.  The same for an African-American who’s never been to Africa (not to mention that Africa’s aa continent, not a country so I’ve never understood the term African-American as it seems to apply to all blacks.  Not every black person in America has roots in Africa.)  How about an Asian American who’s never left the continental United States?  Are they of the American ethnicity?  Keep in mind, I’m talking ethnicity and not race.

It’s a good question to ask yourself, and I’m curious to hear opinions on this.

 

 

 

 


We’re All Winners!!

Monday, April 21st, 2008

I read somewhere recently that a principal at some midwestern school has outlawed the game of tag. I believe she described it as a “game of intense aggression,” and is therefore unsuitable for the children of her school.

Along with this, dodgeball has been outlawed in many schools. Apparently it’s too violent as well.

In many parts of the country, little leagues have stopped keeping score.

I’m getting sick and tired of hearing this “every kid’s a winner” bullshit. Every kid is not a winner. Every kid should not be treated as a winner. If you want your kid to be a winner, teach him how to win.

You can’t expect children to grow up to be functioning adults if you coddle them until they’re 18. Can you imagine what a skewed sense of the world they’ll have? As soon as they leave their parents home, the world is going to crush them because they haven’t been properly taught how to succeed in it.

We’re being way too easy on children. We walk on eggshells with them because we’re afraid their feeling will get hurt and they’ll grow up with problems. It’s our generation of 30-somethings that’s doing this, too. For some reason we don’t want our children to have the same difficulties in school that we did. We want everything to be easy for them, everything handed to them on a silver platter.

I’m sorry, but the world doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to fail. You’ve got to lose. You’ve got to embarass yourself once in awhile in order to really know how to win. That’s life. You have to expose children to the harsh realities that await them someday so that they can actually handle it.

Let your kid lose once in awhile. It’s good for him.


Fags Unite!

Monday, March 31st, 2008

No, I’m not bashing here.

Because I am a fag, and proud of it.

Don’t worry, guys, I still like the ladies, but I’m going to proudly call myself a fag.

Why, you ask? Because I am, and so is anyone else who opposes Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. According to the Phelps clan, that is. It has nothing to do with homosexuality any longer. In Phelps’ eyes, a ‘fag’ is anyone not a member of his congregation.

This past weekend Topeka, Kansas was the scene of the first annual Million Fag March, a peaceful protest against Phelps and his cronies. The motto of the protest is that freedom of speech works both ways. Fred Phelps may have the right to picket when and where he pleases, and so do the rest of us.

While I believe a peaceful protest against the WBC is a valiant and wonderful idea, I have to question whether or not it will serve the purpose intended. While Fred Phelps and his family are nothing but an array of vile creatures, this protest may give them attention that they do not deserve.

I’ve always been a proponent of ignoring the WBC and its idiocy. The more attention given to them, the more of the spotlight they monopolize. What they want is media attention, and anything done to attract that attention is welcomed by them. Even protests against them. Especially protests against them.

Fred Phelps is an old man who’s probably going to be dead sooner than later. Depending on whatever religion you follow, he’s either going to burn in Hell or come back as a retarded squirrel. Or just not exist, if you don’t believe in an afterlife.

Once he’s gone, that Church is not going to have the momentum to go on like it has been. I don’t think his daughter, Shirley, will be able to garner the same following as he has and the ‘movement’ will die.

Let nature take its course.


The ‘Miracle’ Of Birth

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

So, a transgender man is pregnant.  It’s all over the news like it’s some sort of an amazing feat.

This ‘man’ still has the reproductive system of a woman.  Now ‘he’s’ pregnant.

Why is this news?  Why are people fascinated by this?  This woman gets her breasts removed, grows some facial hair and starts living as a man.  But she still has a vagina, uterus and all that other stuff women have that are used to make babies.

Technically, she’s still a woman.

Women get pregnant.

It’s not some scientific breakthrough, not some freak of nature.  It happens all the time.  That’s why the world still has people. 

I don’t understand what the big deal is.

Anyway, here’s the link to an article about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4526582&page=1


The Tumor Rumor: Evolution Of A Headline

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

So, is Patrick Swayze going to be dead in a month?

Some sources say yes, and quite a few people are getting up in arms about it.  Here’s one article on the subject, taken from TransWorldNews:

Patrick Swayze Diagnosed With Cancer, Five Weeks Left to Live

Patrick Swayze, best known for his role in Dirty Dancing, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told that he has just five weeks to live.

Swayze, 55, has been sick with the disease since he was diagnosed in late January with pancreatic cancer. The cancer has since spread to other organs and now the actor/dancer is dying.

For the past month, Swayze has been traveling to Stanford University’s prestigious cancer center in Palo Alto for radical chemotherapy, but his doctors are no longer optimistic that the treatments will be successful, according to the National Enquirer.

Swayze received three treatments of chemotherapy, causing the tumor to shrink, but less than his doctors had hoped for. He was then told that he should prepare for the end.

For more people news, please check out http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=14&wcat=16

Note the source.  Yup, that’s right, The National Enquirer.  The same ‘newspaper’ that rose to fame by printing stories of celebrities getting raped by Sasquatch and giving birth to alien children.

The difference this time is that other news sources are picking this story up and giving it publicity.  They’re treating the Enquirer as a credible source.

Since when is the National Enquirer a trusted news source?  Is it becoming more credible on its own or are readers just getting dumber?  Is this now a reliable source of news?

I suspect that the reports of his limited lifespan are being greatly exaggerated.  It just pains me to see the National Enquirer taken seriously by other news sources that are supposed to be credible.

UPDATE:  Fox News is now reporting this story citing the same sources.  Apparently they’re using the Enquirer as a credible source as well.  Here’s the link:

Swayze-ness

UPDATE:  Celebrity gossip hound Perez Hilton is now reporting on his website that this story is in fact true.  He claims someone representing Swayze released a statement confirming his illness. 

I’m finding this so fascinating because it just shows the evolution of a headline story.  By tomorrow this will be all over the news, if in fact the confirmation is true.

UPDATE: People.com has revealed that the rumors regarding the actor’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer are true, but his imminent demise is not.  Here’s the statement from his doctor as reported by People:

“Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far,” Dr. George Fisher says in a statement. “All of the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic.”The actor’s rep adds: “Patrick is continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects. The outpouring of support and concern he has already received from the public is deeply appreciated by Patrick and his family.”

And that, kids, is how the media works.  I hope you enjoyed today’s foray into its inner workings.  I guess the lesson here is this:  Tabloids aren’t credible.  They publish anything they can get in order for you to buy their publication.  Thanks to some pretty resourceful folks on the internet, tomorrow’s issue of the National Enquirer which features the story of the Swayze’s battle for his life will sell far fewer copies as the truth has come out.

But don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to make light of Patrick Swayze or his condition.  I actually like him as an actor, and have enjoyed many of his films.  I hope he makes a full recovery.  My purpose here was to use it as an example of how rumors spread because of the media.  I was lucky to catch this one in its infancy stage, so I ran with it.


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