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By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/11/98 11:10:51 PM
# Replies: 45
So I'm lying in bed, listening to the radio as I'm trying to doze off, and I hear this commercial I've heard dozens of times before for a thing called the International Star Registry. The commercial suggests that you could name a star after your father for Father's Day, or your mum for Mother's Day, or heck, probably even your groundhog for Groundhog's Day... whatever, the point is you send them something like $48, and you get to name a star.
I was immediately intrigued by the humorous possibilities ("Hubble scientists have discovered that 'Ronald Reagan' is emitting a giant gasseous plume"), but more than that, I looked over their web page and didn't see any restrictions mentioned, i.e. "no profanity"...
And since there are a few visitors to the Nunnery who are alumni of the infamous Global Touch Systems Great Shitcanning of '97, I thought I might float the idea that we could pool our money and name a star "Fuck You Paul Glass".
Response #1
By: Zipperhead
Date: 6/12/98 8:28:37 AM
Count me in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Response #2
By: Kathy
Date: 6/12/98 7:57:07 PM
If any of us ever get the money they owe us, we can name lots of stars after the whole crew.
'Course, we'd need a pretty big star to name after Jeff.
Response #3
By: Ralf
Date: 6/14/98 5:08:24 PM
I didn't work there, but I heard what happened.
Count me in.
Response #4
By: sooz
Date: 6/16/98 12:57:29 PM
Who's Paul Glass?
Regardless, as long as Ralf's not wearing his pants, I'm in for $5.00.
Response #5
By: Panther Modern
Date: 6/16/98 1:37:48 PM
I'd be in.. but who's paul glass? And can we call the star "Stupid People Without lives", "Sad, But True" or "The Jason McMillon Fan Club?"
Response #6
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 6/16/98 6:58:30 PM
How about 'Wish This'...
Response #7
By: Zipperhead
Date: 6/17/98 10:52:50 AM
Paul Glass IS the scum of the earth!
Response #8
By: sooz
Date: 6/17/98 5:07:57 PM
I guess what we're trying to determine is WHY he's the scum, Zip.
Response #9
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/17/98 5:15:30 PM
He's the grinch that stole Christmas. He's the rat bastard who laid everybody off in December, and still owes most of them at least two weeks' pay.
Remember when I was unemployed and looking for work at the beginning of the year? He's the reason.
Response #10
By: Zipperhead
Date: 6/18/98 11:08:09 AM
sooz. Well what can I say. He did do 2 rounds of layoffs. I quit before they started. Like Jim says he owes a lot of us money. Me, over 3,000 of unused vacation. Even Kathy, who quit, never received her last paycheck. This man broke laws, commited Medicare Fraud, lied to employees, vendors whoever he needed to lie to to get what he needed. He lost all of his appeals to Texas Workforce Commission but still will not pay anyone. He pulled 2 midnight moves from Office Buildings he owed money to. He commited Software Piracy. The list goes on and on. We are all now having to sue him in order to try to recover any money.
Response #11
By: rorschach
Date: 6/18/98 12:59:38 PM
of course you all know that the "International Star Registry" is as big of a scam as paul glass was don't you? they only place that the name is recorded is supposedly in thier start charts... the academic community does not recognise thier "names" as legit... in fact one wonders how often they sell the same star.......
Response #12
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/19/98 1:39:16 PM
"Software Piracy"?
Egads! I don't know ANYONE that does that.
Response #13 Hmmm. I bet he wore pants, too.
Response #14 "Life has been discovered on a planet in the Paul Glass Is A Wife-Beater system!"
Response #15 "The Hubble telescope has detected huge gas plumes from the Paul Glass Is A Wrinkly Old Pedophile star cluster." Response #16 What does the black guy from Barney Miller have to do with any of you people? I think the conspiracy/paranoia is getting away with you.... Response #17
That's *Ron* Glass, you idiot.
He did a really cool New Twilight Zone with Sherman Hemsley.
(don't say a word about Leona!)
Response #18 I was watching The Jeffersons last night (ok, I walked by while it was on).
Back in the day, sit coms could say lots of politically incorrect things that wouldn't make it on the air today. Can you imagine Archie Bunker going on with his racist mantra now? Heck no. Or the way he talked to Edith, and the way George Jefferson talked to "Weezy"? Not a chance.
Sex and violence is fine now, though. As long as it's P.C. sex and violence.
And don't even let me get off on the tear about the mixed messages our society sends to kids. Our music and videos tell 'em to have sex and drugs and violence with wild abandon, while the rest of us are saying to have safe sex, and please don't die of a dread disease, and just say no, and don't tote your gun to school, please.
I told you not to let me get off on that. Response #19
I wasn't aware our music and videos TOLD anyone to do anything.
Response #20 Well, ya usually have to play 'em backwards, but yeah.
All In the Family *was* PC too, but society wasn't... yet. They were pioneers in the sense that they were tackling controversial subjects not previously touched by TV writers, but Archie Bunker's bigotry was so blatant and visible, even if *he* didn't learn any lessons at the end of the show, the audience certainly got whacked with the moral of the story.
And perhaps that whole era of media boldness *worked* in the sense that it raised societal awareness of things like racism and whatnot. Now that we've seen this stuff in society, we're uncomfortable seeing it in our sitcoms. So now we just get "Very Special Episodes" of Family Matters, for which we're warned in advance not to laugh.
PC is *good* in the sense that we're now aware of the possibility of offending our neighbors. But it's bad in the general sense that even SELF-censorship stifles creativity, and we're left with a bunch of bland, mindless programming.
I'm just glad that attractive women in skimpy clothing, car chases and shootouts don't seem to offend a vocal minority. Response #21 PC...like what I'm typing on is good.
Any other variation is just some uptight screw head that needs a humor enema. Response #22 Uhm... A humor enema would *remove* humor from the body.
No, what I think you're saying is that all those fucking assholes who threaten your precious ways of thinking and try to get you to learn a whole goddamn new language just so you can talk about fags and niggers and bitches and reeeee-tards... should just LIGHTEN UP!
:-)
Fang: All In The Family was really good at playing the extremes off each other. Did I mention that I'm in love with Edith Bunker? She's the real hero of the show, caught in the middle, just like the silent majority.
sooz: The real message of all those things people like to complain about (like music and music videos) is that you can make a buck however the hell you want to, even at the expense of taste and decency. When I've watched MTV recently (it was at gunpoint, I assure you), all I saw was a bunch of multinational corporations marketing 'attitude' and 'style' as something that I'd be incomplete without. And if I wanted 'attitude' and 'style,' all I had to do was buy Brand X, regardless of what the product actually was. So there was this advertising, and then music videos (as some kind of lame-ass 'art' that's suppsed to be entertaining, when in fact it's actually either just shocking or hypnotic) which support the advertising.
The OTHER message that advertising (and therefore media) sends is even worse: Without our product, YOU ARE WORTHLESS, you won't succeed, you won't get laid, others will dislike you, no one will respect you, your life will not be satisfying, and your breath will always be stinky. Combine this with the repetition that our advertising structure (aka 'media outlets') provides, and before long people really *do believe* they are worthless.
So sex and drugs aren't so bad, really, sooz. :-)
TURN OFF YOUR TV!
Response #23 ...along the lines of PC...Chris the Ale House bartender gave me this address and told me to write to it requesting the "HeeHaw" clip - it is supposed to be of a woman getting soaked by an amourous donkey.... coatesc@nci.radio.com I haven't had the gumption to send this potential FBI/FEMA sting operation any mail yet, but I'm sure someone here may want to poney up for it...so to speak....
...this is "A Very Special Episode", so in the interest of social cohesion, please don't laugh where anyone can see or hear you.... Response #24
You know, I use those products and yet I'm still all of those things.
Hmm.
Did you ever notice that EVERY episode of Blossom was a "very special" episode?
Response #25 It's because she slept with the entire cast. Even Joey. Response #26 Did thy ever try and handle drug abuse on that show?
She would have been a natural for a cocaine image.
Hey, there's an idea.... I want to track down cocaine fetishists... I'm suddly somehow positive they're out there... men and women who get turned on at the sight of an attractive person snorthing cocaine...
I wonder if this and the smoking fetish that's slowly gaining acceptance both have something to do with the mixture of advertising and sexuality going on in the past century? Response #27 Yep! Let's popularize watching super-models do the "dance-of-the-landed-bass" after shooting a bit too much into their veins! YEeeeEE-HAW! Watch Kathy Ireland flop, drool and froth like a beached sturgeon! Now who wouldn't pay money to see that? Response #28 We aren't ruled by a democracy, we're ruled by mediacracy. We're ruled by the media, and we do it to ourselves. We buy the papers and magazines, we listen to the radio and tv.
TURN OFF YOUR TV. Response #29 You know Homer, as much as I like you, sometimes you really need to remember that folks will express themselves in ways differnt from your logic process. A humor enema, much like the phrase "priority enema", examplifies a metaphoric notation. I.E. a tight-ass that needs to relax and let the process flow, as opposed to the control oriented mindfulness that seemingly takes place in their over regimented thought process.
At the base of it all, an non-offensive soceity will not exist until the day comes that there is indeed only one thought, and one conscienceness. As long as people have different thoughts, someone will always have one that will piss someone esle off. Wanting an enviornment and a cluture where one is isolated from any external stimuli that they might in some remote corner find offensive is just plain ludicrious and childish. "If we don't play the game I want the way I want, I'm taking my ball and going home...right now!" I say fine, go home. Just don't try to make the whole damn world conform to what you want in your home!
But I do still whole-heartedly agree that sex and drugs aren't bad Response #30 You say that a society where no one is offended can't happen without some kind of Orwellian single-mindedness. What you've got to remember, tho, is that no one is *forced* to be offended. Since we're talking about a social reality here, the way offense happens is that someone *gets* offended, AND THEN COMPLAINS. An 'offensive act' is something of an oxymoron, since the 'offense' part has nothing to do with the act itself; it has to do with the perception and judgement OF the act.
So, what we've got to do is, as you say, figure out how to get people to loosen up their social sphincters, get the bugs out of their asses, and explore the notion that things that are 'offensive' might actually turn out to be FUN!
However, from my vantage point, Fun Will Not Be Maximized if the 'offensive' act isn't something as grand as naked-mudwrestling-in-the-street or slamming-a-pie-in-bill-gates'-face or putting-lsd-in-the-water-supply, and ends up being something really stupid like calling-a-black-man-a-'nigger.' Response #31 I agree, but I suggest that it takes two to play that game: a person (or persons) to commit the "offensive" action, and a person (or persons) to take offense.
I think INTENT has a lot to do with it.
If I say something to you I *know* you will find hurtful, that's different than if I accidently hurt your feelings. One is antagonistic, the other simply careless. (Carelessness itself in our society is another evil, but that's another rant...)
Thus, using a racial slur may be entirely acceptable depending on context. Sometimes it's perfectly okay to call somebody an asshole, if you have the right kind of relationship with them.
Finally, I think it's risky to guess where that threshhold lies... you can never go wrong if you assume everyone's hypersensitive and act accordingly. That's the basis for Miss Manners' entire industry.
Response #32 Homey, there's a difference between and out and out racial slur, and some that may be meant merely as an act of offensiveness. Saying something that may offend someone, even with the intent of offending someone is entirely different that judging an entire race. Calling a black man a nigger can go either way. It can be meant as a deragotory statement, a slng conotation, or a simple coloqialism. It, as Ralf pointed out, can be a great deal dependant on the intent. While it may be true that no one is FORCED to be offended, igoring the fact that socitial norms and notions don't play a part in the degree of offense one may suffer is rather foolish.
And personally, I don't see anything wrong with any of the first 3 things you mention in your last paragraph. But then again, that's just me. I'm sure many would. Then yet again, it takes a lot to offend me, probably a lot more than most. And well let's face it, black men call other black men niggers all the time.
All in all, I think we live in a VERY much over-hyperly sensitive society these days where people are willing to sue if you so much as call an Indian anything less than a native american, a mexican less than a hispanic, or a chinese, japanese of korean person anything other aisan or ameri-asian. Hell, the fact that you are in the countyr alone signifies that your in one of the most "ethnically challenged" places on earth!
I get offeneded everyday by the hipocrisy and stupidity of government, the attitude of corporate america and geesh that only starts the top of the list, but I'm not about to close my mind to the point as to say that I do not want to hear what they have to say becasue what they say MIGHT offend me. When you stop listening to what people have to say, no matter how offensive you may INDEED find what they have to say, you not only close your mind, but you make yourself unprepared to deal with them on any level other than brute force.
I know that method is popular, but I've never really cared for it. Response #33 I've been spending far too much time on IRC.
In the midst of this wonderful, deep conversation, all I can seem to type in is:
"I'm hungry. BBL."
Response #34 I hold up the example of Jay Hova 4x4 as someone who isn't neccesarily racist, but uses the word "nigger" to be offensive. Mostly he just wants to grind the word into generic offensiveness instead of it's current special "racist" status. that and he's fucking bitter and gets pleasure from annoying and offending folk. It's an admirable form of revenge...
I actually used the word "Sand Nigger" last night, as I use it in reference to most combat flight simulation these days... since we no longer have a red threat to fight against, all the combat sims have gone for killing arabs in a territory and resource war. I started using racist terms in connection with war sims when I realized that to be anything near "accurate" with regard to the current political situation of the day. Response #35 Why not use simulated racism? Response #36
So, it'd be like a KKK version of those Deer Hunter and Bass Fishing games?
Response #37 EXACTLY. SimKlan. Response #38 SimHardDriveCrash Response #39 SimOrgy Response #40 SimBBS.
("Caht! Caht!!1")
(You have too many warez. Add more harddrive space.)
(Warning: Operation Sundevil approaching! FBI is sweeping the area. Move computer to alternate site? Y/N) Response #41
Was that from that awful Hacker game they put out all those years
ago? Where you dialed into different phone exchanges around the world?
Response #42 Operation Sun Devil! Now THERE'S a blast from the past!!!
Response #43 Personally, I loved the game Hacker! - granted at the software store I was working for we changed the "H" to a "Cr" using modern technology of blank paper, red marker and tape, but that's beside the point... you know, I haven't heard someone called a Cracker-boy for a while now. I miss the late 80's. Response #44 The 80's are still alive and well on VH1. Response #45 SimJob
By: Ralf
Date: 6/19/98 5:26:29 PM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/19/98 9:03:06 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 6/20/98 8:52:18 AM
By: Jay
Date: 6/20/98 9:06:57 AM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/21/98 12:08:47 AM
By: sooz
Date: 6/23/98 9:03:40 PM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/24/98 10:43:42 AM
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/24/98 11:44:07 AM
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/25/98 10:19:49 PM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/26/98 3:55:55 AM
By: Jay
Date: 6/26/98 10:27:44 AM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/26/98 11:41:01 AM
By: Ralf
Date: 6/26/98 12:32:40 PM
By: Mycroft
Date: 6/27/98 2:50:01 PM
By: Loki
Date: 6/27/98 6:17:21 PM
By: sooz
Date: 6/28/98 12:34:47 PM
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/28/98 9:23:57 PM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/29/98 6:13:18 AM
By: Ralf
Date: 6/29/98 7:04:51 PM
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/30/98 11:43:54 PM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/4/98 11:23:03 AM
By: Mycroft
Date: 7/4/98 3:08:13 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/5/98 10:34:33 AM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/5/98 1:00:36 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/6/98 7:18:53 AM
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 7/14/98 1:50:08 AM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/14/98 3:31:00 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/15/98 9:38:47 PM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/15/98 11:46:15 PM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/18/98 10:46:51 PM
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 7/19/98 3:42:30 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/20/98 12:26:03 PM
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 8/1/98 11:25:14 PM