Fuck You PEDA

This is PEDA passing out fliers in New York City, dressed as the KKK.

There you have it, and yes I've taken the liberty to change their name. People Enlisted to be Dehumanizing Assholes just seems that much more fitting. Most anything I can say on this shockingly cruel misuse of KKK imagery has already been said better by Womanist Musings but I have to vent my sheer and total disgust.

On the subject of their protest of the AKC (American Kennel Club) spokesperson Michael McGraw said "Obviously it's an uncomfortable comparison". No Mr. McGraw it is not "uncomfortable" it's unconscionable. You have absolutely zero right to appropriate the horrors of the black struggle for any reason, ever.

But apparently Mr. McGraw wasn't content with merely having debased one entire people, because he also spewed this gem: But the AKC is trying to create a "master race" - "It's a very apt comparison". As much as McGraw would like to assure us that the long history of fiercely destructive hate, violent rapes, and murder after sickening murder perpetrated by the Klan, is one in the same with breeding dogs, he has also touched upon the widespread dehumanization of many peoples by uttering the term "master race". Because while David Frei (Spokesperson for the Westminster Kennel Club)

is admittedly a part of the dog-show business, I am quite certain he has never incited genocide, poisoned innocents, nor conducted unethical and gruesome medical experiments, atrocities actually committed by actual "master race" enthusiasts. To make any comparison is not only grossly lacking truth, it carelessly invalidates the tragedies endured by every Holocaust victim, and all other victims who have been similarly made to suffer such acts of inhumanity.



..But I guess they were just trying to one-up their last campaign which centered upon the thorough objectification of women.

Valentines Day Promotion Using a Repeat Sex Offender

This is me being incensed with AT&T's new Valentines Day themed phone commercial featuring one of the most notorious male chauvinists to ever be animated - Pepé Le Pew. It begins with Penelope the Pussycat just finishing up after having painted her backside and tail with the classic white stripe of a skunk when her new phone (which I'm not promoting here) chimes, announcing a received text message. Then her heart begins to beat wildly in typical cartoon fashion after having read the message from her long-time stalker and repeat-attacker. The promotion is meant to be subtle and simultaneous. Firstly reminding the would-be customer that the holiday which is the commercial embodiment of romance is fast approaching, that the object* of your affections is expecting a gift, and finally that they have just the product for you! Regardless, their cute artifice has thoroughly failed to impress me. Instead I'm left thinking, What the fuck?

Their marketing ploy rests upon the hope that the general audience does in fact remember these cartoons, and that they hold some degree of nostalgia for them. But concocting an ad featuring mutual affection between Pepé and Penelope undermines the premise of the majority of the classic cartoons. Because in reality Penelope was not a starrey-eyed lover of Pepé, but rather a victim. Usually first of some unnamed character or element which prompted her to disguise herself as something other then a cat, and afterwards of Pepé himself. Episode after episode Penelope's will was overpowered as she was grabbed, restrained and fondled with her displayed reactions ranging from annoyance to horror. That's what's commonly known as sexual assault.

Despite that, Pepé Le Pew is widely recognized as a symbol of romantic love. With AT&T's commercial only furthering the despicable notion of Pepé as a "charmer" and "ladies-man" rather then a sexually aggressive criminal. I won't feign bewilderment at why we promote the complete and utter disregard to womens autonomy to our children in the disguise of something benevolent and sweet, it's merely one more brick in the wall of patriarchy. I am however still extremely miffed that nobody at AT&T had the good judgment to let the "amorous" meme in question die out.


* and I do mean object.

Hope for a grown-up in the White House.

The significance of this continues to floor me. We have a leader, a President, flawed as he may be, who has demonstrated a willingness to be an adult. As I am too young to remember the Clinton administration all I can attest for are these past eight years of Mr. Unmentionable making excuse after excuse, followed by hefty shifts of blame and rounded out with large amounts of blabbering like a delusional and linguistically handicapped moron. Compare that to this: President Obama saying "I consider this a mistake on my part...". How fucking refreshing.

Where campaign slogans fail to instill hope, a statement of accepted responsibility has worked wonders.