On apologies and contraception

[hasufin]

I have an uneasy relationship with apologies. To me, it often seems as if it's just assumed that saying "I'm sorry" or some equivalent is enough to absolve someone of any responsibility for their actions. Actually, according to Altemeyer's research that's exactly the case, with people who rely on prayer (without seeking to atone to those they have

Comments

[chiisai_d]

Thank you for the information. I'm not a big fan of Limbaugh, either.

[hasufin]

I hope it comes in handy. I'm toying with making this entry public and linking it on twitter.

[thewronghands]

Yep, with you all the way here. I couldn't believe it when I tuned in to a random station in New Orleans, and there were two guys talking about what a slut this woman they'd never met or interacted with was, and how much sex she must have if she had spent all that money on condoms, and how many men she might be fucking. What? Really? I changed the station, appalled. Cascading creepy.

[hasufin]

Yeah. Beyond the creepy misogyny - yes, men are to an extent celebrated for being sexually active, women are supposed to be nuns unless spoken for, and that's not right at all - it's so damned ignorant. Do these people just plain not know how birth control pills work and what they do? Even if you only know the functional level and don't know the biology behind it, equating pills with condoms is such a complete line of bullshit. And Limbaugh isn't being called on it - it's being fucking repeated. Grrr. If they're that ignorant of sex education, I hope they never get to have sex.

[silvrdragn]

No, they *don't* know how birth control pills work. Thinking that it's ok to miss days of your pill because you're not having sex right now is one of the most common ways women get pregnant while taking it, and that doesn't even get into the ignorance of men who feel they don't *need* to know because it's the woman's problem.

[hasufin]

Oi. That's rather disturbing, regarding both men and women.

[silvrdragn]

The common mode of (lack of) apology on the internet means i get disproportionally happy when somebody issues an actual, legitimate apology over something.

One of the oddest things to me about this whole current Limbaugh drama is that in addition to calling her a slut and a prostitute, he also suggested that she and all of her equally slutty friends should film all of the sex they're having and post it on the internet for everybody to watch, since we're all paying for it. To me that seems like it should be considered, if anything, *more* inappropriate, but I have barely seen it mentioned. Is it just too far down in the transcript for people to be getting to? Doesn't make as concise of a Twitter soundbite? Or do others really consider the slut accusation the bigger deal?

[hasufin]

It is hard. I'm not great about it. Also, there are especially with Internet drama many cases were two people on opposing sides were both out of line, and there's the fear - reasonable, in my experience - that an apology won't be met with a reciprocal apology.

And I agree - the "video" thing is I think worse, but "slut" and "prostitute" make easy soundbites and can be directly cited. The entire commentary was wrong, and he should apologize and admit not only that he should have called ehr those thigns or leveraged his status as a celebrity to make personal attacks on someone he disagreed with, but he should also apologize for misleading people and being outright wrong in his entire stance.

Also, dear Buddha, I want a pony and a plastic rocket ship.

[silvrdragn]

Plastic rocket ships are pretty easy around here, but we've been begging for a pony for years without result.

[hasufin]

Maybe you need to sacrifice an RSS feed to Buddha for him to grant you a pwny.