(no subject)

[pearwaldorf]

Being a sheep, I don't think I have too many unpopular opinions. Well, unpopular for the crowd I hang out with, I mean. This meme intrigues me. I'd like to see more people do it.

1. There are stupid people in the world who have no hope of changing. Ever. I'm not talking about the mentally disabled--they don't have a choice in the matter of their intellectual capacity. I'm talking about people who have all of the intellectual resources and cultural enrichment opportunities in the world available to them, and still persist in their views regarding whatever as the be all and end all of their paradigms. Rich conservative college students come to mind, as do dogmatic progressives of all stripes.

2. White progressives who like to talk about diversity and overthrowing the racist system need to fucking understand why most minorities aren't raving pseudo-revolutionaries like they are. When all you want is the system to cut you a little bit of slack, and you're working three jobs to pay rent, who the fuck has time to plan for the new world order? Also. To automatically presume that the color of your skin automatically makes you part of the system or oppressed by it is race think in the worst manner possible.

3. Honest questions about cultural heritage are gladly answered, but do not presume simply because I am Chinese I know everything to know about China or the other cultural traditions of all the other yellow and brown people of Southeast Asia.

4. If you are grossly overweight (and by grossly I mean like 300+ pounds), you should not expect to get disability or any special sort of government help because of your size. A disability is beyond one's control. Living off extra value meals and Cheetos is not.

5. Writers do not have a moral obligation to answer to feedback. It's nice, but it's not a fucking obligation.

6. Howard Dean is not the savior of the Democratic Party. He's a politician, like all the rest of them (except maybe Kucinich, who's too granola to stand a chance). Granted, he's better than Bush, but then again, the three-headed assmonkey is better than Bush.

Wow. I am so not deviant in my opinions.

Comments

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

1. It seems that everybody has their own views on "stupid people," and who they comprise, and why the world will always have them. I choose not to designate a group of people as "stupid," as a)it strikes me as horribly cliched, and b)if you believe that there are people in the world who are stupid and will always be no matter what, then fighting for change is futile. I see this as somewhat of a non-conformist view. Others would label me overly optimistic and naive. (^_^)

2. My sophomore year of college, a bunch of progressives formed an anti-racist club. I went to one meeting-- it was peopled entirely by white folk, and they didn't see anything wrong with that. I guess they just figured that people of color weren't as interested in changing the system as they were. Didn't even occur to the stupid fucks to get involved in the work taking place at the Black and Latino student unions, or the millions of clubs on campus by and for international students. Sigh. Don't even get me started on the Japanese club that not only had no Japanese students, but that students of Japanese decent specifically warned one another not to take part in.

3. So... does your family eat dogs? Heh heh... just kidding. =P

4. I think it's faulty to assume that all overweight people got that way because of their eating habits. In our culture, fat is constructed as a moral failure (and, not consequently, often associated with the working class), and as such nobody feels they should receive anything for their apparent downfall. I would counter this by saying that a)there is a definite and highly influential genetic component to body size, and b)I lay a lot of the blame for a culture of people who are simultaneously overfed and suffering from malnutrition at the feet of a capitalist culture who sends us mixed messages about consumption and body size. I'm also bitter, because although I don't fit into your grossly overweight category, most stores seem to consider me too overweight to wear clothes appropriate to my age group, if they have clothes I can wear at all.

5. Yes.

6. Howard Dean is, in my opinion, an asshat, and if it weren't for the possibility of having Bush for another term, I wouldn't vote for him. Forgive me if I don't trust a "democrat" who favors the death penalty and opposes gun control. And you'll have to forgive me if I'm feeling a bit surly toward the Democratic party and its candidates for, in the light of Massachusetts allowing same-sex marriage, rushing to assure the moderate-to-conservative public that even though they're in favor of some form of civil unions, they'd never go to the extreme length of giving us queerfolk equal rights. Thanks for nothing, pigfuckers.

That is all I have to say to that. Back to the pasture, you fucking sheep. =P

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

I love you too, dear.

re: 4--oooh, there's so much socioeconimic factors going into that though. Like if you live in upper Harlem, and you've got twenty minutes on the way home from work to get food for your kids--CHEAP food--and there are no supermarkets in your neighborhood, only fried chicken places. (Slight exagerration, but very slight. Healthy food is frequently just plain *not available* to poor people, and when it is they have to pay a lot in time and money to acquire it.) Similarly, if you are poor and/or undereducated, the jobs you can get pretty much involve zero or minimal movement, all day long, and you will work long shifts and have no time to exercise ever. And in most places in the US, walking is somethign one does very little of in everyday life--you *have* to go out of your way to exercise. And that takes up time, which is, alas, money.

ahem. sorry. a bit of a toasty button, there.

[sergej.livejournal.com]

Well, the last five sound about right, but you are wrong on the first point. It's not the stupid people who have no hope of changing, it's you who has no hope in them changing. You are implying that these stupid people should be shot at once. I apploud you for your boldness, but you are just an arrogant, young girl. I hope you'll know better one day.

I'd agree if you instead of “ever” wrote “the likelyhood of that never happening is very, very large.”

[cosinesky.livejournal.com]

I'd agree if you instead of “ever” wrote “the likelyhood of that never happening is very, very large.”

I actually read the latter as implied because she said they have no hope of changing, not no ability to change.

[frown.livejournal.com]

4. If you are grossly overweight (and by grossly I mean like 300+ pounds), you should not expect to get disability or any special sort of government help because of your size. A disability is beyond one's control. Living off extra value meals and Cheetos is not.

i really agree with this, actually. the newspaper here just recently ran an article condemning funeral homes for charging so much extra for the burials of obese individuals (again, 300+ pounds), stating that since americans are collectively getting fatter and fatter, the world just needs to adjust everything up, so the norm is larger. i might agree with that in terms of, say, mainstream fashion, but when people start pushing for things like extra-large COFFINS for morbidly obese people to be made less expensive (despite the fact a lot more goes into making them) on account of the high number of morbidly overweight individuals -- well, i think all of that energy might be better spent on a walk. or a diet plan. or anything, really. no one's genetic make-up naturally makes them weigh more than 300 pounds, unless they have a really serious disorder. which most of those people don't.

ahem. anyway, yeah, i definitely share that unpopular view.