(no subject)
I'm having a mix of emotions right now, and at first I wasn't sure I wanted to post about either of them, the first part because it's spammy and the second because I'm not sure I can properly articulate myself, but recent events in both areas have pushed me to make the post.
First, the good
Dude, I totally owned those shoes Fraser was wearing. OMG best thing ever. His voice!!!!!!
Also, coming back to add- Fraser in the backseat with his wig off and makeup on and hair all sweatyspiky is the hottest thing I've ever seen.
Coming back AGAIN-
"Ray! Manners!"
"You know Benny, there is a limit."
"A limit to proper etiquette? I think not."
OH JESUS. THE DANCING. Why the fuck is he doing a pirouette? Oh my God, people, this is the most incredible thing ever.
And that last conversation, with Fraser getting mad that he's not Ray's type and "You're so sensitive!" and eeee. Best thing EVER.
The second, and far more serious matter, is related to much more current events.
The most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life, hands down, more than anything, more than all the internet shock sites or horror movies or anything, was on a tv show. I do not remember the name, but I can tell you that it was on Spike TV and it was either about "incredible real-life videos" or "incredible police videos" or something of that sort. This episode was showing at maybe three in the afternoon. I wasn't trying to watch-- I was in the living room doing something else and my brother had it on for lack of anything better to do. In the segment that got to me, the police were called in regarding four girls (probably in their early twenties) who had handcuffed themselves to a tree stump in the middle of a bank. They were protesting something, I don't know why. The officers asked the girls to leave, and they would not. There were threats of legal punishments. I think maybe one or two left. All I remember was what the officers finally did. They put tear gas on a q-tip and stuck it in the girl's eyes. She was screaming in pain. I can't remember anything else, only my sense of nausea and horror and disgust. The girls weren't hurting anyone. They were handcuffed to a tree, and the officers decided to react so violently, so deliberately and sadistically violently. But what really got me was that someone had decided "Oh my God, we need to PUT THIS ON TV!" I couldn't believe I'd seen it, not as part of some news report, but just as part of a collection of videos viewers were supposed to be fascinated by.
If you've been looking at headlines today, you've probably seen the one about the University of Florida student tasered for, apparently, acting violently during a campus discussion thing with John Kerry. I don't want to debate the ethics of the actions of the police-- others can do that far better than I can, and as bad as this sounds, to form my own judgment would require me to watch the obligatory youtube video (in a sad bit of full-circleness, the video is prominently linked on spiketv's homepage) and I will not do that. I've already seen enough. A short clip was played on the noon news here in Detroit. I couldn't see anything, it all happened so fast, but what can clearly be heard is the student begging "Don't taser me, I didn't do anything!" and then screaming in pain. Now, at least this was a news show, with a reason to play the clip, but there was no warning for graphic content.
And I just don't get it, I really don't. Seeing a nipple at, what, nine or ten pm during the Super Bowl is going to scar children for life, but we can show someone begging not to be hurt at noon? I know it's a school day, but kids could easily be watching. These things, these moments of real people in pain, are somehow less offensive than nudity or profanity. Sally Field can't say "goddamn" at ten on a school night, but three o'clock is a fine time to show very large police officers causing pain to young women? How does that make any sense? I'm 24 and I wanted to vomit after I heard that clip; what could it do to a six year old? This kind of moral policing is incomprehensible to me.
(to cheer myself up i'm watching goofy sga interviews. and then i'm going back to fraser as a girl.)
First, the good
Dude, I totally owned those shoes Fraser was wearing. OMG best thing ever. His voice!!!!!!
Also, coming back to add- Fraser in the backseat with his wig off and makeup on and hair all sweatyspiky is the hottest thing I've ever seen.
Coming back AGAIN-
"Ray! Manners!"
"You know Benny, there is a limit."
"A limit to proper etiquette? I think not."
OH JESUS. THE DANCING. Why the fuck is he doing a pirouette? Oh my God, people, this is the most incredible thing ever.
And that last conversation, with Fraser getting mad that he's not Ray's type and "You're so sensitive!" and eeee. Best thing EVER.
The second, and far more serious matter, is related to much more current events.
The most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life, hands down, more than anything, more than all the internet shock sites or horror movies or anything, was on a tv show. I do not remember the name, but I can tell you that it was on Spike TV and it was either about "incredible real-life videos" or "incredible police videos" or something of that sort. This episode was showing at maybe three in the afternoon. I wasn't trying to watch-- I was in the living room doing something else and my brother had it on for lack of anything better to do. In the segment that got to me, the police were called in regarding four girls (probably in their early twenties) who had handcuffed themselves to a tree stump in the middle of a bank. They were protesting something, I don't know why. The officers asked the girls to leave, and they would not. There were threats of legal punishments. I think maybe one or two left. All I remember was what the officers finally did. They put tear gas on a q-tip and stuck it in the girl's eyes. She was screaming in pain. I can't remember anything else, only my sense of nausea and horror and disgust. The girls weren't hurting anyone. They were handcuffed to a tree, and the officers decided to react so violently, so deliberately and sadistically violently. But what really got me was that someone had decided "Oh my God, we need to PUT THIS ON TV!" I couldn't believe I'd seen it, not as part of some news report, but just as part of a collection of videos viewers were supposed to be fascinated by.
If you've been looking at headlines today, you've probably seen the one about the University of Florida student tasered for, apparently, acting violently during a campus discussion thing with John Kerry. I don't want to debate the ethics of the actions of the police-- others can do that far better than I can, and as bad as this sounds, to form my own judgment would require me to watch the obligatory youtube video (in a sad bit of full-circleness, the video is prominently linked on spiketv's homepage) and I will not do that. I've already seen enough. A short clip was played on the noon news here in Detroit. I couldn't see anything, it all happened so fast, but what can clearly be heard is the student begging "Don't taser me, I didn't do anything!" and then screaming in pain. Now, at least this was a news show, with a reason to play the clip, but there was no warning for graphic content.
And I just don't get it, I really don't. Seeing a nipple at, what, nine or ten pm during the Super Bowl is going to scar children for life, but we can show someone begging not to be hurt at noon? I know it's a school day, but kids could easily be watching. These things, these moments of real people in pain, are somehow less offensive than nudity or profanity. Sally Field can't say "goddamn" at ten on a school night, but three o'clock is a fine time to show very large police officers causing pain to young women? How does that make any sense? I'm 24 and I wanted to vomit after I heard that clip; what could it do to a six year old? This kind of moral policing is incomprehensible to me.
(to cheer myself up i'm watching goofy sga interviews. and then i'm going back to fraser as a girl.)