After naively thinking that the vast majority of people in Australia aren’t as racist as India say we are, I’ve been dealt a slap in the face.
Or, rather, my housemate was dealt a punch in the face by two men trying to mug him.
He only got away with a punch because when they asked him if he was Indian he said “No, I hate Indians!”
Society is sick sometimes.
A couple of months ago I got a call from someone from OnTrack, which keeps tabs on what students do after they leave school. I’d had a call from them already this year but for whatever reason I thought hey, I’ll tell them what I’m up to again - my situation has changed quite markedly since then. So they asked the typical questions and I answered without thinking too much. Finally, they asked me where I saw my career headed. I said that ideally I’d be working in (my dream industry), depending…
“… on whether you’re a f_cking retard?”
I gave a surprised laugh.
“You know you’re a f_cking retard, don’t you?”
“… wait, what?”
*indiscernable, sinister, creepy whisper* then: “You’re a f_cking retard.”
“What? Who is this?”
*the whisper repeated*
Dial tone.
A few days ago I was called by what I thought at first was an old man with smoker voice. It was hard to understand him, but I remember him saying, in a harsh, angry tone, something like this:
“When was the last time you had sex? You know it was rape, wasn’t it?”
The rest was just an angry, unremarkable tirade of insults. A tirade that repeated itself - a recording. After about two and a half minutes, it hung up on me.
I’m confused, do other people get strange calls like this?
THIS WAS ME, age 13.
Dani and I used to sit in the front row of our classroom, and at random moments throughout the year our teacher would walk up to me, shake her head and say “She just doesn’t get it.”
Dani would say “No, she doesn’t.”
I would explode: “WHAT DON’T I GET?!”
And they’d chuckle to each other.
I was smack bang in the middle of that venn diagram.
Fun Fact: Two seconds after reading this comic I signed up to be an organ donor.
I’ve been half-meaning-to for ages, but this was the thing that actually prompted me to do it.
After giving blood for the first time the other week, I feel like The Perfect Australian CitizenTM.
“Pluto is still a planet. Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity—a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned.”
- Laurel Kornfield
The basis for my agnosticism.
For Kyle.
A little part of me thinks it’s political correctness gone too far. But most of me agrees with what she’s saying.
A teaser?
“Two and a Half Men is the perfect title. Because there are no women in it. Sure, there are beauty queens, fat ladies, mean mothers, pushy bitches, ex-wives, bunny boilers, dumb blondes and whores. But no female characters, just caricatures. No women. Just slaves, trophies and bitches. I’ve used that line before. Once. I used it to describe The Footy Show’s treatment of women.
But the similarities do not end there. Two and a Half Men is also a morally bankrupt orgy of chauvinism and media-sanctioned misogyny. Both shows are on Channel Nine. The show is a vehicle for a chauvinist creep who sees women only as potential conquests, stalkers waiting to happen, clingy nesters, conniving, demanding or insane.”
Nobody really gets me when this sort of thing that Catherine Deveny describes bothers me.
That’s the real pity.
Mary Parker Follett looks like she fell from the top of the ugly tree, hit every branch on the way down, bounced off the ground and hit all the branches on the way back up then landed face first on to a rock.
Also her hair looks like lava.
—
Good to know my young man’s not shallow.
Poor Mary.
My mother said it was simple to keep a man, you must be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom. I said I’d hire the other two and take care of the bedroom bit.
- Jerry Hall
— And, for the record? If I were her I’d hire men.
“Twelve new inspectors employed by the Government in July have inspected 138 suspect houses, of which 25 were unregistered.”
Some lovely council men visited me the other day and gave us an inspection. Does that mean my house is on the suspect list? They say these laws are to protect the poor and vulnerable - that means it’s true, I AM POOR AND VULNERABLE.
So why, Mr. Government, will you pay all this money to fix all these dodgy rooming houses where poor, vulnerable people live, but will only give one of these poor, vulnerable people $15 A FORTNIGHT TO LIVE ON because she’s 18 and her parents must therefore be supporting her?
Luckily I am awesome and able to convince employers that I am and that they should pay me money.
But I shouldn’t have to, when any deadbeat 25+ year old can be given more than enough money just for pretending to study, regardless of whether or not they’ve ever worked a day in their lives. Older people can bludge away on their government money, while I am left to fail subjects because I haven’t got time to do the assignments.
(Also please send some inspectors back here so I can tell them the washing machine hasn’t worked in over a month and the landlord is still “getting around to it”. Thanks.)
I can’t believe I never saw this before! It’s all so clear now!
(NB: Bowie is still the hottest incarnation of Bowie.)
