I guess I have more to rant about…probably should just be a weekly thing for me. It seems like everyday there is something that people are outraged over, which makes me outraged at their outrage.
Potato Head
This entire story is idiotic. First of all, no one ever reads the entire story. The headline is all they get and they immediately become furious. I almost fell victim to this sort of idiocy. I saw the headline and a few people’s reactions, and I assumed I knew the whole story. I figured they were making the toy gender neutral, which seemed stupid to me since there was a boy or girl version of the toy, why would it matter? You could just get a boy the Mrs. Potato Head…
Then I did the smart thing and read the article. Hasbro is just rebranding the line as Potato Head. There will still be a Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head. Also, now the playset will include pieces to create any type of family the kid wants (two moms, two dads, mom/dad, whatever else is out there). Cool. Definitely not worth having getting worked up over.
Actually, when I see people freaking out, I wonder if that was all part of the plan by Hasbro…here is how I picture the meeting going:
Ted from Marketing: Hey, I have an idea. I think we should rebrand the line as Potato Head.
Bob from Sales: What? Why? That will cause people to think we are doing that gender neutral crap, why would we want that?
Ted: Well that is the genius part of it, we rebrand the line to Potato Head and it will drum up interest in a toy that no one thinks about except when one of those Toy Story movies comes out.
Bob: True. Sales have been in the toilet for years now. I bet the libs will rush out and buy a new hip, Potato Head. But won’t that turn off the conservatives?
Ted: Yeah, but they will either buy a Potato Head and destroy it to make some protest video. Or they will find Mr. Potato Head in stores and assume those are the old ones, which they will still buy because they are not some liberal pussy. But those will all still be under the Potato Head line.
Tina from PR: I will sent out a press release to FoxNews and OAN, they will cream in their pants over this. They will be so pissed at what is happening to our country. It will be like buying Super Bowl ads the level of coverage it will get and we won’t have to spend a dollar of ad money!
Yep, definitely how that went down.
Fandom of Shitty People
I actually forgot to mention this the other day. I love all the people questioning if they can like (or outright declaring they will no longer like) something they used to love because the creator turns out to be an asshole. Here are a few examples…
- JK Rowling. The creator of Harry Potter made an idiotic comment about trans-people. Then, instead of admitting she was wrong, she doubled down. It was all very dumb. Some Potter fans are saying they will no longer read the books, watch the movies, play quidditch, or whatever else Potter folks do.
- John Cleese. The Monty Python member came to Rowling’s defense. Naturally he was called a transphobic asshole monster. People basically compared him to Trump or Hitler. They were never going to watch Monty Python again!
- Joss Whedon. The director turns out to be an asshole. Seriously. He is an awful human. And yet, people say things like “I guess I can’t watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Firefly anymore!”
WHY?
I will still watch those shows and movies that he created. I will still watch Monty Python. And I will still be vaguely aware of Harry Potter and probably watch one of the movies if they are on TV and nothing else is on.
First of all, many people go into creating any of these works. Just because Joss Whedon sucks does not mean that Sarah Michelle Gellar or Nathan Fillion were not amazing in their roles. And what about all of the other people who worked on those shows/movies? I am sure they are proud of it and would want people to watch. Maybe, I don’t know.
Secondly, take someone like Rowling or Cleese for example. I think you have to look at their whole body of work (in regards to the beliefs and deeds, not artistic work, but that probably should be put in there as well). I think both of them are fairly good people and have been on the more liberal side. Not going to lie, the trans issue is confusing and screaming at people for not being an expert is probably not the best way to get people on your side. Now, she was definitely wrong to double down, but I am sure being rage Tweeted at that you are a transphobic asshole will probably put a person on the defensive.
Thirdly, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. Sometimes we change. I look back at my blog and read some of the stuff I wrote and I cringe. But, I have grown as a person and I am hopefully a better person. Could Joss Whedon become a better person? Maybe, he will need way more work than to just stop writing about boobs.
More $15 Minimum Wage Stupidity
I am sick of people saying dumb shit about the minimum wage increase. My favorite is “my husband makes $25/hour as a pipe-layer, why should some burger flipper or other non-skilled job make almost as much as him???” First, we have all laid some pipe and it takes zero skill (hahahaha, I crack myself up, my wife will not laugh, but can attest to the zero skill part). Second, why the hell do these people care so much what someone else makes? Be happy with what you make and be happy that other people make something too. It is not a competition to see who makes the most. We already have Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, fuck those guys.
But honestly, I would love to see one of these guys come work in a restaurant and be a cook for a few busy shifts. Nothing better than having twenty checks come out of the printer in ten seconds and then have a waitress yell back that she forgot to type in no onions on that one. Or that she forgot to put in an order, can you make it on the fly? Oh, two steaks extra well, let me have that right out for ya.
And again, wouldn’t it be nice to know that if you lose your good job that pays $25/hour, that maybe you can go work somewhere for minimum wage until you find another job in your field. $15/hour is not the same as what you were at, but it is also much better than $7-$8 per hour.
The Reply All Controversy
Okay, this is a funny story (sorta). Reply All is one of my favorite podcasts. They were doing a story about the racism at Bon Appetit magazine. After the second episode, former Gimlet Media (the company that owns RA) started Tweeting about how the reporter for the story (a producer on RA) and one of the hosts (PJ) were hypocrites and that basically you could replace Bon Appetit for Gimlet and it would be the same story.
RA decided to cancel the four-part story. PJ and the producer left the show. Alex (the other host) released a statement saying that they would be taking a break to think about things and how they should move forward. He apologized and said they would not air the final two episodes of the story (which totally makes sense).
Here is what bothers me: why take a break (unless they were on break already, then whatever)? Address the issue and continue doing stories. What does a break accomplish? It just comes off to me as one of those things people say, but is meaningless.
Okay, I am done ranting for this week.
