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Dec. 11th, 2012 02:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* As I went to bed last night, they were still planning the referendum on the Egyptian draft constitution for Saturday. However, Morsey has backed down on the sweeping powers he decreed for himself. I am not sanguine. He's ordered the arrest of protesters and there are plans for conflicting demonstration today.
* North Korea has attempted another missile test.
* "Afghan military: Female soldiers join elite special forces:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20673881
* There has been a mass shooting in Clackamas. It sounds like he had an assault rifle. Three dead, including the shooter, and one wounded. We continue to refuse to do anything about replacing the expired assault weapon ban or to do anything to address gun culture. I haven’t the heart to look, but I’m willing to bet that folks re already claiming that somehow if more people fired randomly fired into the crowd, that would magically have decreased casualties instead of increasing them as is what happens in reality. Yes, the gunman is always primarily to blame, but letting them have assault rifles and extended magazines makes the damage they can do worse. I’m betting there are already people claiming that pointing out that reality is “politicizing a tragedy” when the reality is refusing to talk about the murders that happen every day is a political choice also.
* Where's the rest of the news? I'm too sick to sit up any longer, so this is all that I'm writing. Sorry. What's here is mostly from last night when I could still concentrate and breathe and stuff.
* John Stewart looks at the double standard when it comes to discussing gun violence (eerily prescient):
* John Stewart on Mitch McConnell's self filibuster and him not being bright enough to understand what the debt ceiling is.
* 1. I seldom comment of celebrity news and I don't care about Royals beyond the silly hats they and people adjacent to them often wear. I have never much liked the house of Hanover/Windsor and am baffled as to the point of royalty in the 21st century, but I feel I need to comment at this point. 2. Those of you who know me know I'm also not a fan of pranks of any kind. It's not my kind of humor. It's often mean, inconvenient, and occasionally quite dangerous. I had a friend in high school who was paralyzed because someone thought it was hilarious to dig a deep hole on a ski slop and fill it with powder so as to conceal the potentially fatal hazard. His ski went into the hole and he snapped his neck. I understand normal people find this sort of thing hilarious, but I don't see how that balances him be paralyzed for life or that that is a reasonable trade off. 3. I feel strongly about medical confidentiality. I'm pretty open about my medical stuff, but people like me can still lose their jobs, their housing, or be murdered if their medical details are let out. I am also old enough to remember the huge discrimination and cruelty leveled at folks in the early days of the plague in the '80's. So I get that am extra sensitive on this point. I feel strongly that a person regardless of their celebrity status has a right to decide what they will and won't tell people about their medical condition. That goes for things as small as a cold to as big as major surgery. It certainly includes private details about a pregnancy.
So combine those things and you can guess how I feel about people tricking medical staff into giving out medical details and then broadcasting it. It's a shitty thing to do. I get that the world is full of assholes who will do this sort of thing because they can, but I reserve the right to consider such people scum. I felt that way before some poor woman died for the sake of that prank. When I first heard they had done this cruel thing, my first thought was "That poor nurse. I hope they don't fire her. I hope she's okay. I hope people aren't blaming her. I hope her life isn't ruined. I hope she's not blaming herself and that people aren't dog piling her." From my perspective, the prank was against some poor woman with a hard job and likely not enough pay. I was instantly worried that her life was ruined so these assholes could have their laugh. I was right to be worried. Now she is dead. She had a family who loved her and were waiting for her to come home. These disc jockeys claim they couldn't have foreseen that it would turn out badly, but I'd like to point out that I immediately pictured a host of bad stuff that might happen to a working class woman tricked into breaking confidentiality for a popular royal. I think anyone with a tiny bit of empathy or decency would think this is a rotten thing to do to a person. Did I guess it would go this far? No, but I think this would turn out badly for the women they tricked was obvious. I have no sympathy for the disc jockeys trying to blame others for what was ultimately their choice and their actions. That tells me they have learned nothing, for all their tears. All my sympathies are for the woman's husband and extended family.
* My cold has upgraded itself to the flu. I am accomplishing fuck all.
* North Korea has attempted another missile test.
* "Afghan military: Female soldiers join elite special forces:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20673881
* There has been a mass shooting in Clackamas. It sounds like he had an assault rifle. Three dead, including the shooter, and one wounded. We continue to refuse to do anything about replacing the expired assault weapon ban or to do anything to address gun culture. I haven’t the heart to look, but I’m willing to bet that folks re already claiming that somehow if more people fired randomly fired into the crowd, that would magically have decreased casualties instead of increasing them as is what happens in reality. Yes, the gunman is always primarily to blame, but letting them have assault rifles and extended magazines makes the damage they can do worse. I’m betting there are already people claiming that pointing out that reality is “politicizing a tragedy” when the reality is refusing to talk about the murders that happen every day is a political choice also.
* Where's the rest of the news? I'm too sick to sit up any longer, so this is all that I'm writing. Sorry. What's here is mostly from last night when I could still concentrate and breathe and stuff.
* John Stewart looks at the double standard when it comes to discussing gun violence (eerily prescient):
* John Stewart on Mitch McConnell's self filibuster and him not being bright enough to understand what the debt ceiling is.
* 1. I seldom comment of celebrity news and I don't care about Royals beyond the silly hats they and people adjacent to them often wear. I have never much liked the house of Hanover/Windsor and am baffled as to the point of royalty in the 21st century, but I feel I need to comment at this point. 2. Those of you who know me know I'm also not a fan of pranks of any kind. It's not my kind of humor. It's often mean, inconvenient, and occasionally quite dangerous. I had a friend in high school who was paralyzed because someone thought it was hilarious to dig a deep hole on a ski slop and fill it with powder so as to conceal the potentially fatal hazard. His ski went into the hole and he snapped his neck. I understand normal people find this sort of thing hilarious, but I don't see how that balances him be paralyzed for life or that that is a reasonable trade off. 3. I feel strongly about medical confidentiality. I'm pretty open about my medical stuff, but people like me can still lose their jobs, their housing, or be murdered if their medical details are let out. I am also old enough to remember the huge discrimination and cruelty leveled at folks in the early days of the plague in the '80's. So I get that am extra sensitive on this point. I feel strongly that a person regardless of their celebrity status has a right to decide what they will and won't tell people about their medical condition. That goes for things as small as a cold to as big as major surgery. It certainly includes private details about a pregnancy.
So combine those things and you can guess how I feel about people tricking medical staff into giving out medical details and then broadcasting it. It's a shitty thing to do. I get that the world is full of assholes who will do this sort of thing because they can, but I reserve the right to consider such people scum. I felt that way before some poor woman died for the sake of that prank. When I first heard they had done this cruel thing, my first thought was "That poor nurse. I hope they don't fire her. I hope she's okay. I hope people aren't blaming her. I hope her life isn't ruined. I hope she's not blaming herself and that people aren't dog piling her." From my perspective, the prank was against some poor woman with a hard job and likely not enough pay. I was instantly worried that her life was ruined so these assholes could have their laugh. I was right to be worried. Now she is dead. She had a family who loved her and were waiting for her to come home. These disc jockeys claim they couldn't have foreseen that it would turn out badly, but I'd like to point out that I immediately pictured a host of bad stuff that might happen to a working class woman tricked into breaking confidentiality for a popular royal. I think anyone with a tiny bit of empathy or decency would think this is a rotten thing to do to a person. Did I guess it would go this far? No, but I think this would turn out badly for the women they tricked was obvious. I have no sympathy for the disc jockeys trying to blame others for what was ultimately their choice and their actions. That tells me they have learned nothing, for all their tears. All my sympathies are for the woman's husband and extended family.
* My cold has upgraded itself to the flu. I am accomplishing fuck all.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-12-14 05:35 pm (UTC)