Clash of the titanic twits

Yes, one more Broadsheet article for the day. Anyone who knows me knows that I can not stand Bratz Dolls. They look like prostitutes. I'm also not fond of Barbie. So when I read about the Barbie v. Bratz lawsuit, my first thought was, let them fight to the death. Um, and how's that for trivia, Barbie has a middle and last name.

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Barbie vs. Bratz XVII: The Reckoning
Brace yourself, America: The enduring struggle between the forces of Barbie and the forces of Bratz is gearing up for a final, epic battle -- albeit not fought on the blood-stained field of Golgotha but on the more traditional terrain of the courtroom.
Mattel, which first introduced the world to the miracle of structural engineering known as Barbie Millicent Roberts in 1959, is suing the living daylights out of Bratz creator Carter Bryant, a former Mattel employee, on the grounds of copyright infringement. Looks like there's only room for one lushly proportioned polyurethane poppet in town.
And in no uncertain terms! Wait till you see the frantic internal Mattel memos released as part of the court documents, describing the success of the Bratz brand as "a rival-led Barbie genocide." Yes, the G-word, conjuring horrible images of shaven-headed Skippers corralled in Barbie prison-of-war camps being terrorized by machete-wielding Bratz dolls (or maybe that was just my sister and me). Not content to let Barbie have the last word, MGA memos counter that Mattel planned to "litigate to the death" (italics mine) and that "this is a war, and sides must be taken."
It's interesting to note the context of these memos -- written in 2003, as the nation geared up for war and the militaristic language of "you're either with us or against us" was at its peak. But in 2008, with all of us sadder and wiser, all parties would do well to remember that most little girls have the sense not to view inanimate objects as role models, and instead think of the fate that eventually befalls the vast majority of these toys, Barbie and Bratz alike: They wind up bald, naked and covered in dog slobber in a pile beneath the bed, condemned forever to a dollie Gitmo of their owner's creation.
I think Barbie herself said it best: "Pizza party, anyone?"
-- Rachel Shukert

I'm no arbiter of moral justice. . .

but what the hell is wrong with people? This whole Miley Cyrus/Vanity Fair photo thing us ut-ter-ly ridiculous. Girls who have grown up playing with prostitutes, oh, I'm sorry "Bratz dolls" are now feeling some bizarre moral superiority over a chic showing her back in a wierd, artsy, gay magazine. I mean, really, who reads Vanity Fair that will get a hard on for one square foot of fifteen year old flesh?

I feel slightly torn. I wish there was such a thing as decency and simple modesty. But I do not believe that one "artistic" photo can give any actual bearing on a person's real life. The fact of the matter is that our lives are our own and I wish that Miss Miley had told Disney to blow it out their asses. She could quit what she's doing RIGHT now and live like royalty for the rest of her life. When will it be too late to get out from under the commercial thumb of her creators? How many kids have gone away to college and self-destructed in the vacuum of freedom their parents' had sheltered them from?

Where do we get this puritanical sense of righteousness? I suppose part of this comes back to the whole "girls are mean" thing that's been so prevalent as of the last several years. When do we stand up and say stop? You have no right to pass judgement. You need to begin to make decisions about your own life, shallow and sheltered as it may be, way before you can destroy someone else's. Just cut it the fuck out.

As for the photo of Miley and dear old dad referenced in this other Broadsheet post, whoa, super creepy.
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Girls on Miley Cyrus: She's a slut
There comes word today of what teenage girls really think about Miley Cyrus after the scandal over her bedsheet photo shoot: They say she's a "slut" and "whore." In today's New York Times, reporter Susan Dominus talks with a handful of New York City girls about the controversial Vanity Fair photos. The teenagers -- many wearing skimpy skirts, cleavage-framing dresses and tight baby tees, and painted with glitter and Barbie-esque blush -- describe Cyrus using words usually reserved for tagging the locker of the girl rumored to have slept with half the high school football team. Dominus frames their response perfectly:
Dressing sexy, as she and so many of her classmates do, was one thing. Dressing in bedding, seemingly otherwise unclothed, was apparently quite another: contemptible, an actual evocation of sex itself. It's a paradigm about this generation of teenage girls that's perplexing to anyone who's aged out of it: They exude sexuality, even as they've internalized a language of shame and anger around it, a language that makes anyone who crosses some ever finer line of appropriate behavior a slut or a whore.
-- Tracy Clark-Flory

Constant crime

I'm not sure if I've just become aware of the glut of shootings/murders in this city I hold so dear, but within the last 2 weeks, four people have been shot within about ten minutes of my apartment. Three of the shootings were fatal. I feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to relate these events. I'm including links articles regarding each incident.

Monday, April 14 Man charged with shooting mail carrier in St. Louis
Monday, April 21 2 men shot to death near StL nightclub
Tuesday, April 22 Boy, 14, playing with gun kills teen

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing stltoday.com as a news source. I'm referencing their articles because they reported on each incident and seem to have the most current information.

My own bias towards law enforcement and media

I am gaining more perspective on the events of Monday, April 21 as mentioned in my post on Tuesday, April 22. I have had time to discuss the shooting that appears to have made a stronger impression on the community than I realized.

First, let me confess my own innate ability to utterly ignore or be ignorant of the feelings, opinions, beliefs, and/or misconceptions of the people around me. I tend toward righteous (I hope) indignation as my first response. After speaking with several people about the thoroughness of the investigation and the comprehensiveness of the media coverage, I think I have a greater appreciation for how the situation is being handled.

I never had any thought about avoiding the area where the shooting took place. I'm not sure how it didn't occur to me that some people would be a little more trepidatious to venture out for a good time so near the scene of an, as yet, unexplained attack. I never imagined that the discretion with which the other local business in the area were being treated, was actually in place to avoid labelling this up-and-coming neighborhood as a primarily gay area. And that avoidance is not completely unreasonable in light of the fact that there are some who might turn such a place into a barrel of fish and open fire. I'm still jusifying this behavior with my vision of in your face identity. I think back to stories I've hear of groups of gay men engaging in brutal fights with those who would dare to reproach them. A friend explained that he felt we've come a long distance in being able to be comfortable in public: hopefully far enough that we can avoid constant physical confrontations.

I'm also questioning my own tendancy to subscribe to some idea of the inherent incompetance of law enforcement organizations. I'm not sure if I'm just willing to leap to conclusions since this incident hit so close to home, or if my mistrust of governmental organizations is completely rampant after 7+ years of being lied to and manipulated. Ditto, my feelings on the media. Am I too quick to feel that there is inadequate coverage of a story I hold so dear, when there are constantly issues both under and misreported throughout America.

Finally, how do we treat these victims with the respect owed to fellow humans? I so easily jumped into the political implications behind this shooting. I did not take one moment to pray for their families and friends to be graced with God's peace and understanding. Where is the line between fighting against ideas and fighting for people?

Should the media report on possible gay connection in shooting?

There was a shooting early in the morning on Monday, April 21 in St. Louis, MO.

Here's the link to the most up-dated story I could find about the shooting.

Here's the problem with the coverage of the story. The two victims were male. They were found shot behind a primarily straight bar. But, the bar is closed on Sunday. The bars that were open on the block nearest the victims are primarily gay bars.

One of the first questions I asked a friend who works at a nearby bar was whether he thought it was a hate crime. On Monday, I had that same discussion with many other friends. I'm torn about the seeming lack of exploration of the possibility of hate as a motivation for the crime. Part of me feels like that should be on the forefront of the investigation, but part of me is thrilled that the story is not being sensationalized and turned into a sordid drama because the victims may or may not be gay.

Rumors will always spread in the wake of a major tragedy like this. Of course, rumors spread even more rapidly within a small, somewhat insular, community. I think that the rumors are the reason I would like more transparent coverage of the story. Some in the community have already decided that there must be some connection between the men being gay, and their being murdered.

Here are a few of the hearsay comments circulating in the city regarding this crime:
-The gentlemen could have met someone on the internet and decided to meet in person.
-The gentlemen may have been in town on business.
-Police don't think money was missing from the victims.
-Maybe they knew the shooter, since he/she would have to have been in such close proximity to have killed them.

These are all ideas that could lead to assumptions regarding the motive for the shooting which could cause any number of negative conclusions about both the crime and the scope of the investigation. I want a comprehensive analysis of the crime. I want that to be reported in the media clearly and without bias. So far when I have googled "gay shooting St. Louis", there was no reference to this incident. I'm surprised no one has blogged about the incident. I can only hope that there is an open honest discussion of what has happened and how it will be followed up by law enforcement. The best outcome from a horrible situation is that we are all forced to think and perhaps create our own opinions that can be educated and dynamic.

The stupidest gender inequity visual. . .ever.

These are so ridiculous, I could scream. So, girls don't need school and it's utterly out of the question that a boy would be interested in attending a theater performance.

These are rugs available at Lowe's, ostensibly for children to play with.