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Aug. 21st, 2016 06:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* This is exactly how scary I think it is. "Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle Was Even Scarier Than You Think:" http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-assassination-dog-whistle-was-scarier-than-you-think-w433615
* "Amandla Stenberg Drops One Truth Bomb After Another in Recent Video:" https://mic.com/articles/144942/amandla-stenberg-drops-one-truth-bomb-after-another-in-recent-video?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.jbCwFLaLv
* "100 Years of Beauty - Episode 23: Hawaii (Misty):"
* "100 Years of Beauty - Episode 22: Puerto Rico (Alex):"
* It is my belief that Punk, Goth, and Metal were at one point all Xer responses to us all believing we'd never see 30 between the Plague, Nuclear War, and Environmental Destruction. Punk is a raging against the dying of the light. Goth is "If we're going to live in the ruins, we might as well enjoy the aesthetics and have a good time with what's left." Metal is "If the Apocalypse is coming, might as well be horseman." Of course, back in the beginning they were all blurred lines.
* The Racism and Sexism has been a serious issue in the coverage o the Olympics this year. In my opinion it has always been a problem with the coverage and I've been complaining about things like body shaming female athletes and creepy racism in particularly opening ceremonies, but often just in general for as long as I can remember. I was really pleased that this year the rest of the country seems to finally be fed up with it.
One of the many reasons I've come to quietly loathe the male Equestrian commentator is that he is a man that looks at an athlete in her early thirty, clearly a grown woman, and calls her "girl." The thing is that I would be more more lenient with this sort of thing if they were talking about a fifteen year old gymnast, because that is a gray line, but you know what? I can't remember any of the Gymnastics commentators making that slip as they scrupulously called the women "athletes" on every occasion I can remember, which got me thinking about how much progress there has been in my lifetime in the area of Gymnastics commentators. See, it used to be gymnastics and figure skating commentators were the worst most sexist pieces of shit covering the Olympics. (I hated Dick Button with a passion over his cruel comments about the bodies of teenaged girls and was over joyed when he finally retired. Fuck you, Dick Button!) I still remember my fury listening to them relentlessly body shame Mary Lou Retton for having a muscular athletic body instead of looking skinny and pre-pubescent. A lot of world class gymnasts have developed dangerous eating disorders because of the pressure involved in trying to do one of the hardest sports in the world while under pressure to look delicate and frail. It has done irreparable harm to the athletes themselves and to all the little girls watching who wanted to be like Nadia or Mary Lou or Kerry or Gabby. It is already a cannibal sport that chews up bodies and spits them out damaged. We don't need adult men verbally obsessing over young girl's bodies and trying to make them feel like shit on top of that.
But this year was different. For all the shitty sexist things going on with the NBC commentary, gymnastics was... not perfect, but a damned sight better. There are still issues around age and weight, but every single comment I heard about the girl's bodies was either 1. The same sort of list of ACL injuries, illnesses, and the like they had for the male gymnasts, which is totally fair and pertinent to performance, or 2. Directly related to how some apparatus are a little easier or harder for people who are shorter or taller. They don't do this with the men, so I'd like to wave good bye to this, but I'm not sure I can convey to someone who can't remember how bad it was how much progress this represents.
There was horrible racist shit on the internet including from other gymnasts aimed at Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles,(I am really furious about the treatment of Ms. Douglas particularly), but not once did I catch the commentator's pulling out the racist unwoman meme or body shaming Simone the way they used to attack Mary Lou. I realize this is an incredibly low fucking bar, but it took most of my life time to get there and the rest of the NBC commentators don't seem to have gotten the memo, despite us being well into the twenty first century. Again, not perfect, especially around Gabby Douglas, Oksana Chusovitina, and a couple of the Chinese gymnasts, but I see a strong upward trend and I'd love the commentators in other sports to step up their game.
* Synchronized swimming is beautiful an I love that it exists, but at the same time, it is a very weird activity if you think about it. I mean, imagine being the first one to think, "Hey, why don't you and I hold our breathes a really long time underwater upside down while frantically waving our legs about in unison. Then after a bit I will throw you through the air without touching bottom."
* I also love that rhythmic gymnastics is a Thing. If they broadcast it, I would watch it every year the way I do figure skating. I suppose it's no surprise to anyone that watching ballet with props is one one of my favorite things about summer Olympics.
* Louisiana is having a major flooding disaster, the worst disaster in this country since sandy. Want to help? http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/post/148963870683/the-lonely-one96-almalexiaslouisiana-is
* California is now an official disaster due to out of control fire made worse by the drought. https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.comhttp://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/asia/indonesia-drug-executions/
* "Amandla Stenberg Drops One Truth Bomb After Another in Recent Video:" https://mic.com/articles/144942/amandla-stenberg-drops-one-truth-bomb-after-another-in-recent-video?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.jbCwFLaLv
* "100 Years of Beauty - Episode 23: Hawaii (Misty):"
* "100 Years of Beauty - Episode 22: Puerto Rico (Alex):"
* It is my belief that Punk, Goth, and Metal were at one point all Xer responses to us all believing we'd never see 30 between the Plague, Nuclear War, and Environmental Destruction. Punk is a raging against the dying of the light. Goth is "If we're going to live in the ruins, we might as well enjoy the aesthetics and have a good time with what's left." Metal is "If the Apocalypse is coming, might as well be horseman." Of course, back in the beginning they were all blurred lines.
* The Racism and Sexism has been a serious issue in the coverage o the Olympics this year. In my opinion it has always been a problem with the coverage and I've been complaining about things like body shaming female athletes and creepy racism in particularly opening ceremonies, but often just in general for as long as I can remember. I was really pleased that this year the rest of the country seems to finally be fed up with it.
One of the many reasons I've come to quietly loathe the male Equestrian commentator is that he is a man that looks at an athlete in her early thirty, clearly a grown woman, and calls her "girl." The thing is that I would be more more lenient with this sort of thing if they were talking about a fifteen year old gymnast, because that is a gray line, but you know what? I can't remember any of the Gymnastics commentators making that slip as they scrupulously called the women "athletes" on every occasion I can remember, which got me thinking about how much progress there has been in my lifetime in the area of Gymnastics commentators. See, it used to be gymnastics and figure skating commentators were the worst most sexist pieces of shit covering the Olympics. (I hated Dick Button with a passion over his cruel comments about the bodies of teenaged girls and was over joyed when he finally retired. Fuck you, Dick Button!) I still remember my fury listening to them relentlessly body shame Mary Lou Retton for having a muscular athletic body instead of looking skinny and pre-pubescent. A lot of world class gymnasts have developed dangerous eating disorders because of the pressure involved in trying to do one of the hardest sports in the world while under pressure to look delicate and frail. It has done irreparable harm to the athletes themselves and to all the little girls watching who wanted to be like Nadia or Mary Lou or Kerry or Gabby. It is already a cannibal sport that chews up bodies and spits them out damaged. We don't need adult men verbally obsessing over young girl's bodies and trying to make them feel like shit on top of that.
But this year was different. For all the shitty sexist things going on with the NBC commentary, gymnastics was... not perfect, but a damned sight better. There are still issues around age and weight, but every single comment I heard about the girl's bodies was either 1. The same sort of list of ACL injuries, illnesses, and the like they had for the male gymnasts, which is totally fair and pertinent to performance, or 2. Directly related to how some apparatus are a little easier or harder for people who are shorter or taller. They don't do this with the men, so I'd like to wave good bye to this, but I'm not sure I can convey to someone who can't remember how bad it was how much progress this represents.
There was horrible racist shit on the internet including from other gymnasts aimed at Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles,(I am really furious about the treatment of Ms. Douglas particularly), but not once did I catch the commentator's pulling out the racist unwoman meme or body shaming Simone the way they used to attack Mary Lou. I realize this is an incredibly low fucking bar, but it took most of my life time to get there and the rest of the NBC commentators don't seem to have gotten the memo, despite us being well into the twenty first century. Again, not perfect, especially around Gabby Douglas, Oksana Chusovitina, and a couple of the Chinese gymnasts, but I see a strong upward trend and I'd love the commentators in other sports to step up their game.
* Synchronized swimming is beautiful an I love that it exists, but at the same time, it is a very weird activity if you think about it. I mean, imagine being the first one to think, "Hey, why don't you and I hold our breathes a really long time underwater upside down while frantically waving our legs about in unison. Then after a bit I will throw you through the air without touching bottom."
* I also love that rhythmic gymnastics is a Thing. If they broadcast it, I would watch it every year the way I do figure skating. I suppose it's no surprise to anyone that watching ballet with props is one one of my favorite things about summer Olympics.
* Louisiana is having a major flooding disaster, the worst disaster in this country since sandy. Want to help? http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/post/148963870683/the-lonely-one96-almalexiaslouisiana-is
* California is now an official disaster due to out of control fire made worse by the drought. https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.comhttp://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/asia/indonesia-drug-executions/