(no subject)

heavenvhellvus, I think I found something that describes you perfectly.  ;-)

( Boring ranting about schoolwork and stress and bad days below the cut )

The only interesting thing I've done recently is going to a panel on the hijab last night, which consisted of a history professor, a religion professor, and three Muslim students who shared their experiences about wearing the hijab (two of them still do; one of them used to, doesn't anymore, and plans to do so again sometime in the future).  The room filled up pretty quickly; people ended up sitting on tables and on the floor or standing, and eventually people who came late had to be turned away.  It was very fascinating -- I won't get too much in detail because I'm too tired to talk about it at length right now, but it was interesting to hear about the history (especially since before Islam was around, the veil was a symbol of status for very wealthy women), how different people interpreted the few verses in the Qu'ran about women's clothing, and the personal experiences of the students, especially how differently they were treated when they wore the hijab (both positively and negatively, how a lot of the negative comments came from other Muslims, and how well they handled them), how the hijab has been a symbol for empowering women, how it relates to their faith, values, and identity, sexual harassment, how treatment of people who wear the hijab in the U.S. has gotten better recently, etc.  It was pretty long, but I certainly don't regret going.

Lately I've been reading about the fallout (or lack thereof) from the "Midd Kid" video I talked about in the last entry, and what's really been pissing me off is how people who say they're offended by the video, or even just don't like it all that much, get dogpiled on by people who tell them to "lighten up," that they don't "get it," that it's "just satire," that they're being "oversensitive," to "get the sand out of their vaginas," etc.  (Not all of them are the actual words used, but that's the sentiment that seems to be going around.)  Why can't people who are offended or taken aback by something be listened to and not be jumped on all the time?  More often than not, they have something important that they want to say, something meaningful to add to the conversation, something that would be emotionally satisfying and make people think.  And yet no one responds to these criticisms rationally -- in fact, no one gives the chance for anyone with an opposing viewpoint to make a good criticism in the first place; they just get shouted down with the same old bullshit arguments that equate criticism with fun-hating, childish whining, and "wanting to be offended by something."  And you know, maybe some of it is whining and wanting attention, but how the hell can you tell unless you actually listen to them first and hear what they have to say?  Besides, those kinds of people are the proverbial rotten apples that shouldn't spoil the bunch.  When people say these things to anyone who ~*~dare criticize their fun and hilarious parody~*~, they get shut down, they get silenced, they stop being a part of a community they want to be (and in this instance, are paying) to be a part of.  And that doesn't build communities, that forms cliques.  Even if you think it's silly, to someone else it can be offensive, even if they know or believe they ought to know it's "silly," and it's not right to make assumptions on what everyone else thinks because you think that way, or imply that the way you think about something is the only right way.  This kind of thing has pissed me off for a long time now, and I wish people who did this would cut it out.  It makes me wonder how the hell people like that ever got admitted to this school in the first place -- methinks it wasn't because they were actually intelligent, but that they were able to hide their lack of it extremely well.  XPPP

........I think I need to go back to the TF chat room one of these days.  Hm.

All right, here's this week's (late) song:

I'm basically featuring this for the kick-ass video; it's a shame the song is rather boring. In fact, most of Massive Attack's latest album is boring; "Paradise Circus" is probably one of the few good songs on Heligoland, partly because the absolutely amazing Hope Sandoval is on it, but I didn't want to feature the video for it because it's very, very NSFW -- not that I haven't featured NSFW stuff on here before, and I certainly will continue to do so, but I think the video might be a little bit.....much for some people.  Oh well, there's the link, you decide.  ;-)  No matter what, though, Portishead has aged far better anyway.  :P