Rant of the Day

[Emiliana]

I work at a high school that is about 33% white, 33% Hispanic, and 33% black. And most of the time kids are totally cool with each other. Most people's closest friends are of their own ethnicity, but interracial couples and friend groups aren't at all unusual.

But today at lunch there was a giant race-related verbal altercation between a group of white kids and a group of black kids. I wasn't there and I have no idea how it started. But I'm really sad. I thought my kids were above that.

[Portia]

I've certainly made my fair share of critique of organized religion. In the wake of the latest eruption of terror attacks, including in Paris and Beirut, I've been reading widely, trying to get perspectives from Muslims, ex-Muslims, godless French people, heads of state, and others, to the extent that I can.

Haven't come to any clear conclusions (except that it's always far more admirable to actually do something about human suffering than to actively cause it, or to smugly do nothing. The Christian group Samaritan's Purse gets mad props from me in this vein).

And then the ugly face of a specific strain of White Christian Nationalism (yes, I know there is secular nationalism and every other sort of -ism under the sun, but this is the one that keeps popping up in my readings) rears its head. Apparently ignoring the example of their confrères on the island of Lesbos, the rhetoric started out merely self-serving. "Only JESUS saves" kind of a thing. Fine, well, I'm a secular humanist, I don't have much patience for bad policy ("don't let in refugees!!1") shrouded in bad ideas.

Then I'm in the grocery store and thumb through this little tome. Honestly, my first impression was curiosity. Other authors have covered this kind of ground from other angles: Jewish nationalism, ex-Muslim critique, or aggressive secularism (what I'd actually consider myself well-read in). I thought that this kind of book could be, in fact, useful, but I swiftly concluded it made about as much sense as learning about #blacklivesmatter from my paranoid great-aunt.

THEN THE INSANITY BEGINS.

I for some reason decide to see "well what does Beck actually believe on the refugee crisis since a throwaway line in the epilogue seems to lay out a humanist case for helping the oppressed in Muslim-dominated societies."

HOLY HANNAH SHOULD HAVE PRETENDED HE DOESN'T EXIST

Actual quote from actual lady from Arizona after a long diatribe about how she'd happily never hear about anything to do with Isam ever, ever again:

These tribes are not human.

I'm not making this up to somehow back up my viewpoint. I'd much rather live in a world of Good Samaritans than ... crypto-facism.

But that's not the world we live in and I'm super sad and upset right now. It seems we give a media platform to the least ingenuous demagogues.

[yayfulness]

Yeah, that sounds about par for the course for Beckite Facebook comments. I'm really tempted to just start posting every outrageous comment I see on this page.

Daesh wants an all-out war between Islam and the West. The more I listen, the more it sounds like that's what most Americans want too. Those who would wipe out Christianity in the name of Islam and those who would wipe out Islam in the name of Christianity are two sides of the same coin. I honestly fear for the soul of our nation.

[Portia]

Went to The Economist for some reason and relief.

Oddly, the same language was used for the terrorists ("they aren't even human!"). However I quickly regained my faith in their readership at large when someone said that that was self-evidently false, and silly.

[Digit]

I have an iPhone 3GS which works fine and has been as good a phone as I wanted for the past six years. The Bank of America app suddenly says I have to update to the latest version of their app. Fine. Done that before. Their latest and greatest requires iOS 7. iOS 7 isn't available for the 3GS.

[Tally M.]

Yesterday all of my roommates left town for Thanksgiving, and the particularly messy one left all of her dishes in the sink. With milk still in some of them, so I basically have to clean them before they come home.

[Rainbow_connection]

The unkind part of me thinks you should just put them in a garbage bag and leave them for when she returns.

[Tally M.]

My parents suggested basically the same thing.

[Portia]

Yuck. I know I would clean them (I hate mildewy smells and would be scared of fruit flies) but that sucks that she was so inconsiderate.

You've reminded me to vacuum and sweep the floors before I head out, thanks!

[Emiliana]

Um, yeah. Bag em and let her deal with them.

[Portia]

But mold! ewwww

ETA: It could spoil Tally's food.

[mic0]

Freeze them then? hah

[Zedability]

Put them on the balcony in a garbage bag and make HER deal with gross moldy dishes.

[Genuine Article]

My sister once left a hot dog sitting on the stove in its old hot dog water for too long, so her roommates put it out on the balcony, still in the pot, with a sign that said "Maranda's old hot dog." And then it became a funny thing they all did, trying to publicly shame each other, and it spread to other apartments. One of the guys' apartments had a bag of lettuce that was so old it had liquefied. Blech.

[Tally M.]

Haha, defs not enough room in our freezer for them. The sink smells disgusting, which is making me want to do them less. Depending on what I end up eating tomorrow, I might just wait until she comes back on Saturday...but even then there's no guarantee she'll clean them. Truth is, I doubt any amount of passive-aggressiveness will get her to consistently clean her stuff up.

[Portia]

Yeah I vote polite but direct confrontation.

[Whistler]

I had a roommate like that. I ended up cleaning her dishes a lot, and when I left on vacation she used plastic and paper dishes (somehow that irritated me more?).

[Tally M.]

that's irritating. Like, because you weren't around to clean, she didn't make dirty dishes?

[Genuine Article]

I had a roommate like that. I ended up cleaning her dishes a lot, and when I left on vacation she used plastic and paper dishes (somehow that irritated me more?).

I hope this isn't me.

[Whistler]

I had a roommate like that. I ended up cleaning her dishes a lot, and when I left on vacation she used plastic and paper dishes (somehow that irritated me more?).

I hope this isn't me.

haha, no! I don't think you were ever roommates with this person, but she annoyed the crap out of me.