Tolerance: a little bit goes a long way.

It may seem strange that I’m writing a post about tolerance.  Anyone who’s spent five minutes with me knows I am not the most tolerant human being who ever existed. I use the word ‘cunt’ to describe exactly 22.7% of the people I meet.

I do, however, believe it’s important to be tolerant of people’s lifestyle choices.  Religion and diet (two strange, seemingly unrelated areas) are particular lifestyle choices where I think a bit more tolerance is needed. Why these two areas in particular? Because they usually come with reasons that are of high importance to people, and play a major part in their lives.

My Facebook newsfeed is often flooded with memes questioning the validity of religion, or making fun of anyone who believes in God. It’s become a bit of a trend to mock religion. The people who post these things aren’t bad people. In fact, some of the nicest people I know are atheists. Personally I'm not an atheist, but I'm not a fan of organised religion either. It's complicated, but I have my reasons. 

Religion is simply a lifestyle choice, and we usually don't know (or need to know) the reasons behind it. Someone may choose religion because they've lost someone and cannot cope with the thought that they are gone forever. They may be prone to depression, and at times religion could be the only thing keeping them alive. Or, quite simply, it may be just what they've always done and it makes them happy. Whatever the reason, who are we to belittle them? Implying someone lacks intelligence because of their lifestyle choice is just not cool. It's not a matter of being uneducated. It's a personal choice.

As for diet, it’s another hot topic prone to ridicule. Much like religion, whatever the reasons are behind someone's particular diet choices, they are significant to that individual. Whether it be looks, health, stamina, longevity, or simply choosing not to diet because 'life is short'. These are all choices that are important to us, that stem from our own personal life experiences and beliefs.
 

I personally choose the Paleo diet, simply because I’ve done a lot of research and I believe it’s better for me based on my family history of health related issues. Furthermore, the food I eat is fucking good and I enjoy it.  If you’re a healthy person and feel good on bread and pastas, then grout that shit out my friend.  You’ll be saving a lot of money…I’m about to default on my mortgage due to the price of grass-fed steaks and smoked salmon.  

Occasionally I talk  to people about my particular lifestyle choices. Hell, I may even write a blog post about my thoughts on religion or being Paleo at some point. That doesn't mean I'm trying to convert anyone. It just means it's a part of my life and I find it interesting. Feel free to ignore it, or even respond by pointing out the flaws in the research. I don't mind. Better yet, just feel happy for me that I am enjoying my particular lifestyle choices, even if they're different to yours.

Valentine's Day Sucks

Whether you’re single or in a committed relationship, these days I think most people agree that Valentine’s Day is a bit of a toss.

No-one knows the exact origins of Valentine’s Day. There are suggestions it began in ancient Rome with the feast of Lupercalia, which occurred annually in mid-February. This feast involved naked drunken men sacrificing goats and whacking single women with the hides. After the whacking, the men randomly drew the names of single women from a jar and were ‘coupled’ with them.

Totes romantic.

Move forward to the 3^rd century AD. Legend states that marriage had been outlawed by the Roman Emperor as it was not good for war – married men preferred to stay home with their wives rather than go out and fight. A Christian priest by the name of Valentine said ‘f#@k the institution!’ and married people in secret. On February 14th he was executed.

According to most sources, Valentine’s Day is a culmination of these two events – the Pagan ritualistic fertility feast, and the martyrdom of Saint Valentine.

Over time Valentine’s Day has become a day of men showing women their affections in the form of chocolate and roses, rather than slapping them with dead animals. Retail outlets go all out with their advertising in an attempt to guilt couples into spending their hard earned cash on crap they don’t need, in attempt to show each other what they should already know. Even the aisles of your local supermarket become adorned with heart shaped junk, chocolates and roses. There’s no escape.

Valentine’s Day has become an over-commercialised joke. I say let’s go back to the Pagan parties; perhaps a modern adaption without the nudity, dead animals, or pulling names out of jars. All we’re left with is people and alcohol.

Valentine’s Day becomes a schooner with your mates…perfect.

New Girl

I hate the new girl. Hate is a pretty strong word, I know. I want to be a better person, but I just can't help it.

I almost take it as a personal insult when she strolls into the office ten minutes late (as usual) wearing jeans and a shitty looking t-shirt. Seriously, she works in an office. She's over 30. Yet she still hasn't figured out what is 'office appropriate' clothing?

Then there's the thongs on casual Friday. Casual Friday is the only day when it is actually acceptable to wear jeans. You wear your jeans with a decent top (usually a polo with the company's logo on it) and enclosed shoes. New Girl, however, downgrades her normal 'trashy' weekday outfit by adding a pair of thongs. Wallah! Casual Friday outfit sorted.

On days when she does wear proper shoes, new girl takes them off at her desk and warns us about the smell. Charming.

New girl tries to initiate conversation with co-workers all day. You can hear is her annoying voice mumbling away to someone who's willing to give her 5 minutes of attention, followed by a forced laugh that sucks a little bit of life out of me every time I hear it.

New girl dawdles around like as if she's got nothing to do. She does a little bit of work, prints something off, then slowly, sloooooooowly strolls to the photocopier. No sense of urgency. Must not hurry, she could lose a thong.

New girl NEVER, EVER puts stuff in my in-tray (YES I AM A HORRIBLE, PEDANTIC PERSON). There is a big tray on my desk. I made a sign for it. It says IN-TRAY. If I ask her to do anything it always ends up on my keyboard, on my desk, on my chair...or she disrupts me from the job I am in the middle of (and charging a client out by the frigging minute for) by murmuring 'here you go' and reaching it out to me. I stop what I am doing, turn around, get the frigging bit of paper, and throw it in my frigging in-tray. Right...back to what I was doing.

Yes yes, I'm a cunt.

The fact that she mutters and mummers fucking annoys me too. Shit, seriously...speak up bitch. Either decide you're going to say something or decide you're not going to say it. You can't 'half' say it. And it's not that she's shy. She can tell you anything (and everything) via email or text. Although you may not be able to decipher it... it's in typical 12 yr old internet-wanker speak, with spelling mistakes and no capitalisation.

She calls me babe. Fuck I hate that.

I'm hoping with age comes more tolerance and blissful indifference. Her dumbness, slowness, mumbling, bad dress sense, stinky feet and maturity of a 12 year old really shouldn't concern me. Being shoved in an office with someone you can't stand for eight hours a day really brings out the worst in you.

Carbon Tax Rant

The expected cost of living rise due to the carbon tax seems to be the only thing most anti-carbon tax warriors focus on. I can understand why people are concerned about this (I'm not thrilled about it myself), however there are a couple of much bigger issues that need to be considered. These are the economic impact, and the (lack of) environmental impact.

The economic impact is due to competitive disadvantage. Adding an extra cost to Australian producers is going to disadvantage them against producers of the same goods who are located in countries that do not have this additional cost. If our output suffers, Australian jobs can be lost due to decreased production. Since global demand will remain unchanged, the diminished supply of goods from Australian companies will simply be filled by foreign countries who will increase their production, leading to my second point.

My second point is that globally emissions may remain unchanged. As previously stated, if Australia's output reduces due to a decline in local production because of our competitive disadvantage, then a foreign country will simply increase their production to meet existing global demand. This foreign country may not have any carbon emissions scheme in place; they could in fact be a much worse polluter. So while Australia's carbon emissions may have been successfully reduced, globally emissions are likely to remain very much the same.

It's great that the Government is taking the initiative to do something about a concerning problem. Unfortunately, the approach they have chosen to take is one that I believe will have negligible impact on world-wide carbon emissions, and a significant (negative) impact on the Australian economy. The only way a system like this could work would be if the whole world was on board with exactly the same scheme.

Angry Mum on Breastfeeding

You may have heard about a recent episode of channel 7's Sunrise, where douche bag Kochie made a tool of himself by saying that breastfeeding mothers should be 'more discreet' and 'be a bit classy about it'.

Kochie, as an expert in the subject of breastfeeding, suggested a couple of ways mothers could be more classy and discreet: sitting in a corner and turning their backs to people, and/or putting a blanket over their baby and the (disgustingly offensive) boobage.

My question to David Koch is: Why the hell should they have to? As far as I'm concerned, as long as the mother isn't running around with her boob out squirting milk at random passers by (which is hilarious by the way), then it's fine. If she is simply feeding her baby, it's never inappropriate.

What he's really saying is that he's uncomfortable seeing a boob flopped out. That's cool, I get it. Sometimes I see someone breastfeeding in a public area and think 'whoa, that's a lot of boob! I'm a wee bit uncomfortable and don't know where to look.' I feel this way because it's simply not what I'm used to. Society tells us boobs are private and sexual.

But here's the the thing - If I see a breastfeeding mother and feel weird and uncomfortable, it's my problem. The fact that I'm not used to it doesn't make it wrong. It doesn't make the mother 'less classy'. She's doing what she needs to do in whatever way she feels comfortable. It's ridiculous, given the purpose of breasts, that someone should expect a mother to hide herself away in a corner or cover up with a blanket. She doesn't need to alter her behaviour - we need to alter our thought processes.

I think it's fantastic that society is slowly changing to be more accepting of breastfeeding mothers. I'm glad most women (and a lot of men) are standing up and calling Kochie the douche bag he is. It's a sign that we as a society are evolving.

Breasts exist to feed babies. Let's all deal with it.

If You're Not a Feminist, You're an Idiot.

What exactly is feminism, and why are many women so quick to repudiate it? According to Google (the fountain of all knowledge), the definitions are:

fem·i·nist

Noun

A person who supports feminism.

fem·i·nism

Noun
The advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men.

Based on its definition, I'm hoping I don't have too much faith in the human race when I say that I believe there would be very few people in this part of the world who would not support the advocacy of women's equality to men.

Many females these days will actually tell you that they are anti-feminism. I pertain that it's not feminism itself that so many women are against - it's society's perception of feminism. Often feminists are portrayed as loud, angry, hairy man-haters. Understandably, most females who actually are feminists (but may or may not know it) prefer not to be depicted in this way. Many women try to renounce feminism by making contradictory statements like 'I'm not a feminist, but...<insert comment relating to the need for gender equality here>'

As a feminist myself I don't hate men, I'm not (overly) loud, and am rarely hairy. I like to take pride in my appearance and (usually) try to dress nicely. If a man does complement me on my appearance, well then that's great. Feminism isn't about letting yourself go, not shaving your legs and hurling insults at every man who looks in your general direction. Most heterosexual feminists like to look nice to the opposite sex, we just don't want to be reduced solely to our appearance. No human does.

I probably do sometimes fit the 'angry' part of the feminist generalisation. However my anger is more to do with women than men. Men who make sexists comments aren't worth bothering about, it's just ignorance and I don't have time for it. My reaction is usually 'Meh...bogan'. What does piss me off is women who perpetuate sexist stereotypes by acting like twits around men as a way of flirting. Why reduce yourself to that?

We are still nowhere near where we need to be in regards to equality: men are still getting paid more than women for the same jobs, women are still judged more on their appearance than their abilities, and women who work the same hours as men are still expected to do most of the housework and child rearing. It doesn't make much sense, so of course I'd like to see change. That doesn't make me an obnoxious antisocial man-hater, it just makes me someone who likes to stand up for what's right.

There really shouldn't be such a negative connotation around feminism. Society's misconceptions about feminism can only be changed if more people (both men and women) aren't afraid to stand up and call themselves feminists.