What's in the news?

Started by Beorning, September 21, 2014, 07:02:11 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Renegade Vile

Quote from: Lilias on June 07, 2016, 09:08:05 AM
As there is also a Miss Asian America and a Miss Native America, my guess is they continue to exist in order to buck the overwhelming 'white Barbie doll American is beautiful' media status quo, by providing exposure and opportunities to members of ethnic minorities, and in turn making them role models for younger generations of the same. Such pageants exist in several other countries, actually.

But doesn't that drive them even more into their own little box? The close-minded people are still not going to watch Miss Asian America, for example, so they won't exactly change their minds. As far as I know, there's only one Miss World, one Miss Universe, etc. So why not one Miss America that's all inclusive? Sure, the aforementioned racists won't vote for anything but their own race, but are they really a majority or a vocal minority?
It just seems counter-productive to combat this by actively avoiding it.
<< Unavailable for New Games >>

Lilias

Quote from: Renegade Vile on June 07, 2016, 09:28:08 AM
But doesn't that drive them even more into their own little box? The close-minded people are still not going to watch Miss Asian America, for example, so they won't exactly change their minds. As far as I know, there's only one Miss World, one Miss Universe, etc. So why not one Miss America that's all inclusive? Sure, the aforementioned racists won't vote for anything but their own race, but are they really a majority or a vocal minority?
It just seems counter-productive to combat this by actively avoiding it.

The target audience of minority pageants is not close-minded people. It's people (especially girls) of the particular minorities, who are in need of public figures they can relate to, and of some kind of assurance that they are not ugly just because they don't fit the white Anglo mould. That's without even starting on the education and career opportunities that can open up for the winners.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Renegade Vile

Quote from: Lilias on June 07, 2016, 09:38:21 AM
The target audience of minority pageants is not close-minded people. It's people (especially girls) of the particular minorities, who are in need of public figures they can relate to, and of some kind of assurance that they are not ugly just because they don't fit the white Anglo mould. That's without even starting on the education and career opportunities that can open up for the winners.

Winners of the pageant get education and career opportunities? The US really is the land of opportunity then, over here, Miss Belgium doesn't really open a whole lot of doors beyond being able to spend a year cutting ribbons and then going back to whatever you were doing before you entered the pageant.
So the purpose of these pageants is not to promote inclusion but rather that diversity exists?
<< Unavailable for New Games >>

Lilias

Quote from: Renegade Vile on June 07, 2016, 09:42:11 AM
Winners of the pageant get education and career opportunities? The US really is the land of opportunity then, over here, Miss Belgium doesn't really open a whole lot of doors beyond being able to spend a year cutting ribbons and then going back to whatever you were doing before you entered the pageant.

Not a single scholarship offer for Miss Belgium? Man, you people are stingy. :P

Exposure can work well, career-wise. Make the right impression, communicate well, and people will likely want you to work for them. It's not a coincidence that many beauty pageant winners go into media work or NGOs after their tenure is over.

Quote from: Renegade Vile on June 07, 2016, 09:42:11 AM
So the purpose of these pageants is not to promote inclusion but rather that diversity exists?

Rather like telling people that being born part of a minority is not an irrevocably bum deal. :-)
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Renegade Vile

Quote from: Lilias on June 07, 2016, 09:52:32 AM
Not a single scholarship offer for Miss Belgium? Man, you people are stingy. :P

Exposure can work well, career-wise. Make the right impression, communicate well, and people will likely want you to work for them. It's not a coincidence that many beauty pageant winners go into media work or NGOs after their tenure is over.

Trust, whether right or wrong, pageant winners make -no- impression over here. We don't really equate how good someone looks to how good they'd do in any job except modelling. But, as for modelling careers, Belgium pretty much does not show up on the international radar. At all.

Quote from: Lilias on June 07, 2016, 09:52:32 AM
Rather like telling people that being born part of a minority is not an irrevocably bum deal. :-)

Hm. Still weird to me as that sentiment just doesn't exist here. We've had Miss Belgiums of just about every ethnicity with enough of a presence in this country. I think a few years back we had one with Turkish roots, some time before that a woman with Congolese roots. No-one aside from the aforementioned racists really cared in the slightest.

Maybe it's because the whole pageant thing just isn't a big deal over here. They try to make it seem like that with media attention, but their ratings aren't exactly stellar.
<< Unavailable for New Games >>

Avis habilis


RedRose

Quote from: RedRose on June 06, 2016, 01:45:27 PM
I can tell you that unfortunately it does cause many problems.
Every Ramadan here in France we have non-religious Muslims who get insulted or beaten up for drinking/eating in public, for ex.
I once found a guy (religious looking) hidden near my house and eating a sandwich. He was really embarrassed to be seen. It's only later that I understood what the hell had happened.
And as I was saying... non religious Muslim waitress serves alcohol and gets slapped. First day of Ramadan in Nice, France
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2016/06/08/01016-20160608ARTFIG00084-nice-une-serveuse-giflee-pour-avoir-servi-de-l-alcool-pendant-le-ramadan.php
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Lustful Bride

But if they are non religious, why should it matter? It should only matter when one who follows the religion does it.

Oniya

Exactly.  It's like when the super-fundamentalists in our country get bitchy about gay marriage.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Lustful Bride

Quote from: Oniya on June 08, 2016, 03:49:02 PM
Exactly.  It's like when the super-fundamentalists in our country get bitchy about gay marriage.

*nods* If its not your own people breaking the rules then what does it matter? :P

LisztesFerenc

Quote from: Oniya on June 08, 2016, 03:49:02 PM
Exactly.  It's like when the super-fundamentalists in our country get bitchy about gay marriage.

  Likely there's also a racial component here. The belief that a non-practicing Arab is "betraying" their race by not following the dominant religion of their ethnicity. Also, unless I'm missing something, a Muslim is simply a follower of the Islamic faith, so you cannot have a non-religious Muslim.

Oniya

There are correlations in other faiths.  There's a segment of the Christian population that is sometimes referred to as 'C&E Christians' (i.e., they show up at church for the Christmas and Easter services, but still follow the basic tenets, believe in the divinity of Christ, and so on.)  There are Jewish people who only keep kosher during Passover. 

Pointedly,  the woman in question wasn't even drinking the alcohol, she was serving it - presumably to a non-Muslim.  This would be akin to berating a Catholic from handing a non-Catholic a Big Mac on Good Friday.  Or indeed, berating a Muslim from giving food to a non-Muslim during Ramadan (while they, themselves, fasted.)  Do they expect all Muslims who work in restaurants to take the month off?
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

TaintedAndDelish

Quote from: RedRose on June 08, 2016, 12:12:51 PM
And as I was saying... non religious Muslim waitress serves alcohol and gets slapped. First day of Ramadan in Nice, France
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2016/06/08/01016-20160608ARTFIG00084-nice-une-serveuse-giflee-pour-avoir-servi-de-l-alcool-pendant-le-ramadan.php

That's horrible. I hope they get these people and jail them.

The Telegraph has a slightly longer article on the same topic and gets a little more into politics.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/08/waitress-assaulted-on-french-riviera-for-serving-alcohol-on-firs/


TheGlyphstone

If that article is right - she was in fact an observant, religious Muslim as well.

Scribbles

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on June 09, 2016, 12:53:19 AM
If that article is right - she was in fact an observant, religious Muslim as well.

I'm not sure I understand, does it matter that she's serving alcohol? It's not like she's drinking it...
AA and OO
Current Games: Stretched Thin, Very Little Time

Renegade Vile

Quote from: Oniya on June 08, 2016, 06:13:18 PM
Pointedly,  the woman in question wasn't even drinking the alcohol, she was serving it - presumably to a non-Muslim.  This would be akin to berating a Catholic from handing a non-Catholic a Big Mac on Good Friday.  Or indeed, berating a Muslim from giving food to a non-Muslim during Ramadan (while they, themselves, fasted.)  Do they expect all Muslims who work in restaurants to take the month off?

Don't be surprised that the Muslims in question don't understand their own faith enough to realize how their actions made no sense. Just look at the number of Christians who misuse the tenets of their own faith, either on purpose or because they believe that's what the good book (which they've probably never read) says. I'm sure the equivalent exists over there.
<< Unavailable for New Games >>

Lustful Bride


Lustful Bride

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-women-in-combat-taking-the-man-out-of-job-titles/ar-AAgP6Cw?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

With women joining the military it brings in a problem of jobs with the word "man at the end"

Rifleman, Yeoman Airman etc.

I have no idea how I feel about this. Part of me feels its unnecessary while the other half feels it is fair in some points.

Aethereal

#3268
           I'm in the "fair, but not really necessary" club, too.

           I'll admit to purposefully using the "implicitly male" neutral terms for female characters and entities on purpose in my writings every now and then, though. So female gods and so on and so forth.

Oniya

Every time I hear 'Yeoman', the first image in my mind is Yeoman Janice Rand from ST:TOS.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Renegade Vile

Quote from: Lustful Bride on June 09, 2016, 11:31:45 PM
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-women-in-combat-taking-the-man-out-of-job-titles/ar-AAgP6Cw?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

With women joining the military it brings in a problem of jobs with the word "man at the end"

Rifleman, Yeoman Airman etc.

I have no idea how I feel about this. Part of me feels its unnecessary while the other half feels it is fair in some points.

I guess the only problem I would have with it is what it would look like in official texts and the like. Suppose you're writing a document describing expected behavior of crewmembers on a ship, you'd have to use, for example, yoemen and -women every single time. Might make an already, intensely boring block of text longer and worse to read *snorts*. A small thing, I know, but I don't see why it's a problem to make some rank and job descriptions gender-bound; provided the "man" in the title comes from the male gender and not the overall name for humanity that's sometimes used: the race of Man/Men. Though I don't think that's used very often anymore, is it?

I do wonder how many female combatants actually care though, I've read about a number of officers preferring the moniker "sir" when addressed by their inferior officers/staff instead of "ma'am", but I have no idea what their reasons were for that.
<< Unavailable for New Games >>

Avis habilis

Bacteria found growing on the Dalek in the BBC lobby prove effective at exterminating other bacteria.

Oniya

Quote from: Avis habilis on June 10, 2016, 08:12:46 AM
Bacteria found growing on the Dalek in the BBC lobby prove effective at exterminating other bacteria.

That may be the only thing I share to Facebook this week.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Lustful Bride


AmberStarfire

This is very sad. :( A man walked up to Christina Grimmie after a show when she was signing autographs and shot her. She died from her injuries.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/the-voice-singer-christina-grimmie-shot-while-signing-autographs-after-concert/news-story/ea4c39a16e6658f433a016288c860318