Yesterday, I attended the movie "Young Adult"; a movie featuring the beautiful Charlize Theron and actor/stand up comedian Patton Oswalt.
I guess you could say the theme of the movie was about letting go of the past so that you can move forward and achieve but both characters were having a tough time doing that. Mavis Gary(Theron) was the former homecoming queen/popular girl in high school, who now is a writer of a series of books that is no longer selling and, after receiving an email from a former high school flame, returns to a little town in Minnesota to win him back. Upon arrival there, she encounters Matt Freehauf (Oswalt) whom she never noticed in high school despite the fact that his locker was next to hers all four years.(It was Patton Oswalt that drew me to this film because I wanted to see how his character was portrayed; Oswalt had played Spence on King of Queens and stands about 5'6")
It came as no surprise that Oswalt's character was the typical geek/reject who was ignored by Theron's character. She could only remember him when she saw that he was using a crutch as a result of a beating he took from a bunch of jocks in high school because they thought he was gay. She then recalls him as Matt "the hate crime kid". The incident received national attention but then went away when Matt had said that he wasn't gay and said "It turned out that it was just a bunch of jocks beating a fat kid's ass!"
And...this is where I will again lodge a complaint. The double standard! It is perfectly acceptable to pulverize and bully the short or overweight kid; it is applauded! Though this story about Matt was fiction, incidents like his are altogether real. The writer, Diablo Cody, had it correct, unfortunately. When he was gay, it sparked outrage but when it turned out he was just an overweight kid, no one cared. Why should it even make a difference? Why all the hate and discord towards the short and overweight? Why does no one care when it is such an epidemic and it ruins lives?
Could it be that society isn't really as fair, accepting and tolerant as much as it says and pats itself on the back way too much about? Maybe people shed their prejudices temporarily because they have to, because there are consequences if they exhibit them. If society was truly fair, moral and compassionate as it likes to portray itself as being, why are there still so many verbal assaults on short and overweight adults and physical assaults on short and overweight children in the schools?
Want an answer? Because there are NO consequences! It is seen as funny! Humorous! We (the short) had better develop a sense of humor about being dehumanzied at work or coming home with fat lips and broken noses. After all, what we experience is nothing compared to what other groups that have been disparaged have dealt with right? That's what society will tell us anyway. Nothing like trivializing an issue, so that they can keep on getting away with it.
Morals don't matter; what is legal does. Slavery, as immoral as it was, was legal before emancipation; people had to have a law to tell them to treat people as equals (though it wasn't until the Civil Rights movement that they finally were able to gain some semblance of equality). Even genocide is legal in some countries, though killing people is highly immoral and evil.
So, is it any surprise that we are still discriminated against and disregarded? It may be immoral and wrong but it isn't illegal and, nowadays, that's what still matters. Society just needs to mature (as did the characters in "Young Adult") and not be told that they have to. It shouldn't have to take legislation to get people to treat each other with respect and humanity
I was just watching the movie "The Reader" earlier today; this featured Kate Winslet as a former guard at Auschwitz who eventually was sent to prison for her participation in the execution of many. However, there were so many guards at those camps that weren't held accountable for what they had done and why? As depraved and evil as it was, it wasn't illegal; they were doing what they were told.
I will close with a quote from one of the characters (Professor Rohl) in "The Reader": "Societies think they operate by something called morality but they don't, they operate by something called law."
Mostly, this blog is about height discrimination, as you will see. However, I may throw in a political thought now and then, some sports talk and random thoughts.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Greg Gutfeld hosts The Factor
Greg (5'6") normally hosts Red Eye on the Fox News Channel, which airs at 3am; so, it was nice to see him hosting one of the most watched cable news programs at 8pm
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/1349394011001/the-iowa-caucuses-one-week-away/?playlist_id=86923.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/1349394011001/the-iowa-caucuses-one-week-away/?playlist_id=86923.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Miss Unverse Malaysia to remove height requirement!
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by someone with an interest in the Miss Universe Malaysia pageant but was disappointed to find out that there was a height requirement of 163cm (5'4").
The average height of a Malaysian woman is 153cm (just above 5'0").. Since the height requirement is hardly a representation of the average Malaysian woman, it is really unfair to have implemented that condition.
I had contacted the pageant director by the name of Andrea Fonseka a few days ago and she responded with some positive news. She informed me that the height requirement would be set aside so that other women can now enter but told me that other countries (Japan and Venezuela) also utilize a height standard, which should be removed as well..
Soon, women of any height will be allowed to be Miss Universe and the perception that only taller women can be beautiful will be extinguished.
The average height of a Malaysian woman is 153cm (just above 5'0").. Since the height requirement is hardly a representation of the average Malaysian woman, it is really unfair to have implemented that condition.
I had contacted the pageant director by the name of Andrea Fonseka a few days ago and she responded with some positive news. She informed me that the height requirement would be set aside so that other women can now enter but told me that other countries (Japan and Venezuela) also utilize a height standard, which should be removed as well..
Soon, women of any height will be allowed to be Miss Universe and the perception that only taller women can be beautiful will be extinguished.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
"Short men...nothing but trouble"
So, another published article by a short man hating female: Rosemary Mcleod
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/rosemary-mcleod/6105415/Short-mutts-bad-mad-and-dangerous-to-know
Gee Rosemary, can you be any more ignorant and bias? I can't believe this was even published. It reads as if a teenager wrote it.
Women continually ignore the facts and give tall men a pass because they just love their tall men don't they? Since women refuse to date and/or be seen with shorter men, who are the ones abusing all these women and why is domestic violence such an epidemic? Women are always saying that they want to be with a taller man because they feel "protected" by them, yet when they are constantly abused by them, they return to the assholes . It seems that it is these same tall men from whom they need to escape. Oh wait, that would mean women would then run to short men and God forbid they should be seen by one of their insecure friends with such a pariah. Better to be seen walking down the street with a big, hunking man who does unspeakable things to her at home...but hey, at least she won't look desperate in public (regardless of the fact that she has to wear glasses to protect her black eyes and long sleeves to hide her bruises).. He is tall and that is all that matters to these women.
This article is also another illustration of a double standard. Attacking short men so openly is acceptable; yet, a similar article by a man attacking overweight women or an article attacking gays or blacks in the same disparaging manner this woman bites and nips at short men would never make it to print. I doubt even a rebuttal to this hateful piece of trash from a short man would even get it's just due; it would just be mocked.
This woman compares short men to chihuahuas in this lame excuse for journalism but it is the continued disrespect of short men that will put us on the offensive like we are pit bulls! Then, We Will Be Trouble!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/rosemary-mcleod/6105415/Short-mutts-bad-mad-and-dangerous-to-know
Gee Rosemary, can you be any more ignorant and bias? I can't believe this was even published. It reads as if a teenager wrote it.
Women continually ignore the facts and give tall men a pass because they just love their tall men don't they? Since women refuse to date and/or be seen with shorter men, who are the ones abusing all these women and why is domestic violence such an epidemic? Women are always saying that they want to be with a taller man because they feel "protected" by them, yet when they are constantly abused by them, they return to the assholes . It seems that it is these same tall men from whom they need to escape. Oh wait, that would mean women would then run to short men and God forbid they should be seen by one of their insecure friends with such a pariah. Better to be seen walking down the street with a big, hunking man who does unspeakable things to her at home...but hey, at least she won't look desperate in public (regardless of the fact that she has to wear glasses to protect her black eyes and long sleeves to hide her bruises).. He is tall and that is all that matters to these women.
This article is also another illustration of a double standard. Attacking short men so openly is acceptable; yet, a similar article by a man attacking overweight women or an article attacking gays or blacks in the same disparaging manner this woman bites and nips at short men would never make it to print. I doubt even a rebuttal to this hateful piece of trash from a short man would even get it's just due; it would just be mocked.
This woman compares short men to chihuahuas in this lame excuse for journalism but it is the continued disrespect of short men that will put us on the offensive like we are pit bulls! Then, We Will Be Trouble!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)