rm ([personal profile] rm) wrote2006-06-18 10:07 am

pet peeve

Misuse of the word censorship. It's not censorship when a company doesn't want to buy your poorly written articles. Nor is it censorship when a company has guidelines about what type of content you can distribute through its mechanism. You may find the decision making process, taste, rules, guidelines or philosophy of the company disagreeable or abhorrent and they may even have a political or social agenda, but IT'S NOT CENSORSHIP!

Meanwhile, the "boy crisis" is bullshit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/07/AR2006040702025.html

[identity profile] copperwise.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Hallelujah and amen. The over- and mis-use of that word is a reflection of the entitlement culture. Generally the complaint includes the words "it's not faaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrr." One wishes for the perfection of the Satellite Controlled Global Clue Laser.

[identity profile] roadnotes.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Hear hear! There's nothing like being told that you're a big mean censor just for saying, "That's not appropriate here." And yes, I'm with you for the Clue Laser.
ext_30459: (you did not just do that.)

[identity profile] schonste.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Ugh. That is bullshit. I don't even know where to begin on how stupid all of that boy crisis is ridiculous aAAaghg.

[identity profile] marzipan-pig.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh, I thought this part was interesting:

"The Department of Defense offers a better model. DOD runs a vast network of schools on military bases in the United States and abroad for more than 100,000 children of service members. And in those schools, there is no class and race gap. That's because these schools have high expectations, a strong academic focus, and hire teachers with years of classroom experience and training (a majority with master's degrees). Of course, this solution costs money, and has none of the sex appeal of the trendy single-sex-school quick fix."

The quote leaves something out.

[identity profile] haya.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
The military school system tends to keep it's class sizes much smaller than standard public schools.

Also, the bases tend to function like small towns, so if a child is disruptive, it can be a reflection on the parents.
That increases the parents' participation.

Add that often the military spouse may not be able to maintain a steady job, so they are more available.

Re: The quote leaves something out.

[identity profile] heron61.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
My spouse [livejournal.com profile] teaotter was in such schools until she was 10 and remembers them quite fondly. Her parents were fairly poor and she remembers far less emphasis on social class and far more focus on achievement than when she left them for ordinary public schools. I think there are definitely things to be learned from such schools that do not involve vileness like school uniforms or highly problematic ideas like gender segregated classrooms.

[identity profile] heron61.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Meanwhile, the "boy crisis" is bullshit.

No kidding, I would completely understand if people were worried about young black men, because the statistics about that particular group are appalling. The part of this article that isn't total idiocy is anti-feminist backlash - young women are finally making up half of law and med school graduates and are being openly discriminated less in schools and so in the eyes of vile conservatives, this must be some sort of crisis. Ick.

[identity profile] ladyofthelog.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sure we'd have no crisis of any kind if we took the time to educate teachers more, fired incompetent ones, demanded more parent involvement, and just weren't so goddamn sexist. ARGH.

Apropos of Nothing

[identity profile] britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com 2006-06-18 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
(although I very much agree with you re: misuse of the word censorship)

...I happened to see a snack food in a local store today and thought I'd mention its existence to you.

"Hummus chips" by some company called "Plocky" - three flavors, and all of them gluten free.

http://www.plockys.com/plockys_tortilla_chips_products.html - at the bottom of the page.