xkcd

by **michaelandjimi** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:05 am UTC

OK, this thread is for ranting, as per the title. Only other thread I could find was 14 posts long, very specific, and old.

Ground Rules: As per forum. No inflammatory comments.

E.G. That Annoying Coworker = Fine
How Homosexuals Should Be Burnt = VERY NOT FINE.

Glad to get that over with.

My rant? Feminist Literary criticism. I had an encounter with it in my Extension English class.

Not everything is a phallic icon, people. I'm pretty sure that when Frank Herbert wrote Dune he didn't think "Oh, I know, lets have him ride worms because they look like a penis." No, he probably went "I need something that lives underground, and would look cool. Hmmm... not slugs. I know! A worm!"

Just because it is longer than it is wide and doesn't have protuberances sticking out of it, does not mean it is a phallus.

A gun is built the way it is because it is practical.

Most of the other feminist criticism is fine by me. I had more to rant about it in my head, but it seems to be gone now.

Oh, also: You can broaden this thread to "What gets in your grill" because not many people will have fully-fledged rants, but might just be annoyed.

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: Suffice to say that while the whole phallic thing still tends to escape me unless it's blatant, most of the undercurrents that appear in this post are silly. Feminist Literary Criticism is p cool imo and I'm guilty of having done some myself. The only reason I haven't deleted the rant from this post is because I understand it to be bad form in this fora.

SECOND EDIT: Hell yeah, I have the power to change the title!

by **the_bandersnatch** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:39 am UTC

How people seem to never actually grow out of the helpless child phase, and still would really prefer someone else to do everything for them. This is especially true if you work in IT support - on a daily basis I have to know, not only my job, but also be a janitor, carpenter, furniture mover, electrician, and give advance on a variety of subjects from human resources, business analysis, systems development, facilities issues. Being a glorified nanny for adults is really starting to get my goat.

Hmm... goat. Gives me an idea... I think I might buy a goat (or goats, depending on cost), and release it on the call floor at work, to much mirth. :twisted:

by **michaelandjimi** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:54 am UTC

A nanny-goat, eh?

by **thecommabandit** » Fri May 16, 2008 10:06 am UTC

the_bandersnatch wrote:Hmm... goat. Gives me an idea... I think I might buy a goat (or goats, depending on cost), and release it on the call floor at work, to much mirth.

Sounds like a plan! Perhaps a bit more practical for your last day though.

by **Robin S** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:39 pm UTC

If you buy three, remember to number them 1, 3 and 4.

by **doc leech** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:54 pm UTC

Rant, eh? All I want to know is who is organizing the hoard of men with unusually full bowels who follow me around to bathrooms and won't let me CRAP IN PEACE!!! RRARAAGGAGHRR!!!! There's about 15 EMPTY bathrooms within a few seconds walk of this one, and even IN this one there are about 15 empty stalls... so what in gods name possesses you to pick the stall RIGHT NEXT TO ME?!? And the only way a human being can make shit sounds like the ones I hear is if it was already shit before they ate it. For gods sake, eat a banana.

by **sleepygamer** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:56 pm UTC

Wow, I was going to make this tread a few weeks ago, but then I started playing Half Life 2 instead...

Okay... RANT TIME!!!

<rant>

PEOPLE WHO FIND IT NECESSARY TO POINT OUT THAT I HAVE LONG HAIR.

I know I have long hair, and I you don't have to go, "Gee Willikers YOU HAVE LONG HAIR" like it's just sprung from my scalp, GAH!

</rant>

Short one.

by **pseudoidiot** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:14 pm UTC

I hate asshole drivers. Those people that jerk out around me, only to cut me off to get on the offramp right in front of me. Are you really in so much of a hurry that being 15 feet further really makes a difference?

Similar rant: when it's clearly posted that a lane is closing a mile ahead and people still get over at the last minute or, even worse, drive all the way up until there's no more lane. ASSHOLES!

People that won't let me over when I'm being polite by not cutting you off and turning on my blinker? FUCK YOU!

Okay, I could go on a lot longer about bad drivers, so I'll stop and save my fingers the exertion.

by **segmentation fault** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:46 pm UTC

pseudoidiot wrote:Similar rant: when it's clearly posted that a lane is closing a mile ahead and people still get over at the last minute or, even worse, drive all the way up until there's no more lane. ASSHOLES!

YES.

its one thing if youre like "oh man i cant go any further what the hell?" its another to be like "well theres too much traffic in this lane so let me get into the one i know is about to end just to cut off said entire line of cars and CREATE EVEN MORE TRAFFIC I AM A GIANT DOUCHEBAG."

by **Spoffin** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:50 pm UTC

michaelandjimi wrote:My rant? Feminist Literary criticism. I had an encounter with it in my Extension English class.

Not everything is a phallic icon, people. I'm pretty sure that when Frank Herbert wrote Dune he didn't think "Oh, I know, lets have him ride worms because they look like a penis." No, he probably went "I need something that lives underground, and would look cool. Hmmm... not slugs. I know! A worm!"

Just because it is longer than it is wide and doesn't have protuberances sticking out of it, does not mean it is a phallus.

A gun is built the way it is because it is practical.

Most of the other feminist criticism is fine by me. I had more to rant about it in my head, but it seems to be gone now.

Oh, also: You can broaden this thread to "What gets in your grill" because not many people will have fully-fledged rants, but might just be annoyed.

It is pretty rich to claim that everyone is obsessed with penises when you're the one seeing everything in phallic terms

by **Robin S** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:53 pm UTC

I would assume that the examples in the OP are cited from specific claims by said literary critics.

by **dracharys** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:05 pm UTC

sleepygamer wrote:like it's just sprung from my scalp

That would be cool!

I hate toilet attendants!

Ok, so you sat there and watched me pee, you've disabled all of the other taps so I can only use the one that you turn on, there are no working driers and all of the hand towels are conveniently placed in your lap. Why should I pay for this service!?

by **jazzmansteve** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:46 pm UTC

This bloke in my class at college (americans: not your kind of college, the english, sixth form kind).
I don't there has ever been anything in his live that has not been the most intense experience he's ever had. Everything he mentions is either amazingly spectacular, or utter shite, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground where things are just... alright.

But the thing that really gets on my tits is when you make a witty comment in class and everyone has a bit of a giggle, yeah fine, but no, from the other side of the room erupts this laughter as if I was a comedian on top form. Ok, you might think its flattering that someone finds my jokes funny, but not really to the extent where the joke is completely destroyed like that, I like to think im subtle person.

If he doesn't I think im going to kill myself
or maybe him

...yeah, just him

OK, now i realise that it doesn't sound all that bad on paper, but I needed something to rant about, I feel a little now better I think

by **pkuky** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:55 pm UTC

that. also, undershirts, overshirts, wierd, unecceccery clothes. also, girls who complain they're cold and tell me to close the window when they have two coated they just took off so they can show off they chest.

by **Robin S** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:09 pm UTC

jazzmansteve wrote:This bloke in my class at college (americans: not your kind of college, the english, sixth form kind).
I don't there has ever been anything in his live that has not been the most intense experience he's ever had. Everything he mentions is either amazingly spectacular, or utter shite, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground where things are just... alright.

But the thing that really gets on my tits is when you make a witty comment in class and everyone has a bit of a giggle, yeah fine, but no, from the other side of the room erupts this laughter as if I was a comedian on top form.

I know a guy who's similar, at least with respect to the laughing. Occasionally, when he realizes he's doing it, he apologizes. I don't blame him; it's not his fault. Some people just have extreme moods / attitudes / whatever. Hating them for it won't get you far, though if he annoys you that much it may make sense to stay out of his way when possible.

by **benjhuey** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:44 pm UTC

pseudoidiot wrote:Similar rant: when it's clearly posted that a lane is closing a mile ahead and people still get over at the last minute or, even worse, drive all the way up until there's no more lane. ASSHOLES!

Gah, old drivers as well. A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a line of traffic leading to a four-way intersection with traffic lights. Most people need to go straight, but the light is short, so traffic builds up quickly. I, however, need to turn left, and the street is unusually wide (to allow for parking on both sides) and I can normally circumvent a bunch of cars to reach my desired lane. But on this day, a school buss is stopped in the opposing lane (about 40 yards up from me) to drop of some kids, so no one can pass on either side. The lady behind me, however, having an apparent visual range of only 20 feet, decides to attempt the pass and ends up staring the buss down, effectively blocking its path. HOW COULD YOU NEED SEE THAT GIANT YELLOW WALL WITH THE FLASHING LIGHTS?!?! Even though she didn't deserve it, someone was smart enough to let her back into the correct lane so that traffic wouldn't build up in the intersection, leading to more problems.

</rant>

by **pseudoidiot** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:49 pm UTC

Oh, yeah, getting into turning lanes too soon is another of my many driving pet peeves. At my previous job, the office was about 1/4 mile from a traffic light, and the way I went to work meant, I drove past that intersection, and a little later get into the turning lane to make a left turn into the office parking lot. There were people ALL the time getting in the turning lane that far away (again, about 1/4 mile) and being in my way. And of course they'd look at me, like how DARE I BE IN THEIR TURNING LANE. Gah! Douchenozzles!

by **Awia** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:53 pm UTC

sleepygamer wrote:PEOPLE WHO FIND IT NECESSARY TO POINT OUT THAT I HAVE LONG HAIR.

This bloody annoys me too, why oh why do you all have to point it out?

"Dude, you have really long hair"
"I fucking know! And I knew the last 5 times you told me! Look over there, he has blue hair, go annoy him!"

by **benjhuey** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:00 pm UTC

sleepygamer wrote:PEOPLE WHO FIND IT NECESSARY TO POINT OUT THAT I HAVE LONG HAIR.

People who find it necessary to point out how tall I am, how thin I am, how blond my hair is, how my blond hair doesn't match my dark eyebrows...

pseudoidiot wrote:getting in the turning lane that far away (again, about 1/4 mile)

Wow, that is pretty far. As for my path, I've only just realized this past month that I can turn to the right on an earlier street to meet the intersection from a much less trafficked direction (thereby passing ALL the cars at once). Unfortunately, I just realized twenty minutes ago that I should never have to travel that direction again (it was going home from picking up my sister from her school, but school just ended today, and she will be going to a different school next year anyway).

by **Dobblesworth** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:38 am UTC

My rant:
People who complain about things, and in doing so, contradict their previous complaint.

Example:
For the past several years now the housing market in Britain has been f***ed up. Prices have skyrocketed and the populist media has been full of objections regarding "House Prices Too High For First-Time Buyers" - that was the headline, week in, week out. These features would be accompanied by sullen-faced grads fresh out of uni, or even the more experienced-types looking to move out of a flat and into a basic home to get on the market. They had my sympathies.

We have now hit the Global Credit Crunch. Through some level of economics that I don't really know and/or can't be arsed to research at 1:30am, this has affected mortgage prices and the house prices themselves. The house prices are now dropping, some say in free-fall. The media are suddenly singing from a completely different hymn sheet and despairing that the economy is going into a down-turn and reverted from the super-inflated state it has been these past 18 months or so. Come on you f***wits, you can't call yourselves professionals by not mentioning the fact this gives those bleeding first-time buyers the chance they've been looking for all this time.

Thanks though to Andrew Marr, who tonight on Jonathan Ross, rationally covered the issue and was the first person I'd seen (and I do tend to follow news stations closely) to point out the gain for first-time buyers and the fact that prices were too high prior to this crash.

Ok rant over.

by **Ramses IV** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:26 am UTC

I was thinking about this the other day. It's pretty specific and odd, but I think it should be said.

[rant]

People have no respect for the mail carriers. Postal workers, that is. Yesterday I was on a walk and I was crossing the street. A postal worker was crossing the street the same direction as me, but much further up the street. Then, I suddenly see this blue car shooting down the street, completely ignoring the stop sign and intersection. The car is barrelling towards the postal worker, and I manage to get out a grunt of alarm. She notices the car and dodges to the side, mere feet away from the car. The car, however, swerves to the the side, along with the postal worker, so she has to dodge to the other side, and the car, makes a turn around her and continues gunning down the street. As it passed me, I saw this openmouthed, completely out of the zone teenager. A Junior or Senior in high school. She might have been high, acting the way she did with that look on her face. The postal worker and I were completely speechless, and could do nothing but watch the car disappearing round a bend. She looked completely outraged. It was all I could do to yell a little "What the Hell?!" and she gave a little angry snort.

WTF!

Not just in this case, either. I've noticed in almost all situations people are rude to or at least completely ignore mail carriers. Show some F-ing respect. [/rant]

by **aeki** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:37 am UTC

michaelandjimi wrote:Not everything is a phallic icon, people.

I don't know, dude, have you looked at your power button recently? Clearly the line symbolizes the phallus and the circle symbolizes the whatever-the-latin-term-for-the-vagina-is, and when they're transposed they represent an endless cycle of electric life and death. It's like an orgy happening right there on your computer.

by **Flying Betty** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:43 am UTC

sleepygamer wrote:PEOPLE WHO FIND IT NECESSARY TO POINT OUT THAT I HAVE LONG HAIR.

Gee Willikers your hair is long! How long have you been growing it? Are you ever going to cut it? I used to have long hair, but then I got sick of it and chopped it off. You should donate it. You know- give it to the little kids who have cancer!

Blargh!

by **NightStar** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:20 am UTC

Flying Betty wrote:Gee Willikers your hair is long! How long have you been growing it? Are you ever going to cut it? I used to have long hair, but then I got sick of it and chopped it off. You should donate it. You know- give it to the little kids who have cancer!

Translated, this means: "I really don't know how to relate to you, and that makes me feel uncomfortable! So I'm going to comment on a really obvious aspect of your appearance, possibly the one that is vexing me so much! I will be totally complimentary and overenthusiastic, hoping to establish a rapport, so that this situation appears less awkward!"

It's really sad how people react to "different" people, even after thousands of years of civilization. Let's move past the tribe mentality, yeah?

Edited to point out that I am in basic agreement with the sentiments of Flying Betty and sleepygamer

by **Zohar** » Sat May 17, 2008 7:42 am UTC

Not applicable to anyone in this thread, but I get slightly annoyed by people with a zero post count who keep posting in forum games. It makes me feel like they're not part of the community. It's like waking up, going to your kitchen, seeing a guy you don't know eat your breakfast cereals and everyone's going "it's OK, don't worry", and then that guy leaves and you never see him again. Stay! Talk! Be someone! Don't just abuse our imaginative games for your own amusement, there are plenty of other options!

Also, a big YES on the bad drivers. And those people who blow their horn the second the light turns orange.

by **AngrySquirrel** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:04 pm UTC

What is wrong with people!!? Seriously, how is it possible for adults to feel that they have the right to take out their petty resentments towards a person on some random kid that's related to that person?

Spoilered for longness and stuff:

Spoiler:

Backstory: All my life I've been the one who was "different" in my hometown and my old class. I used to be a lot better at speaking with my fists than with words and very often I would have to because well, in tiny communities like my hometown, if you are looked at as "different" then you are free bait. I used to get into a lot of fights and there were a lot of people who hated me without ever letting me know exactly why. If I did something wrong then I was a horrid child that would never amount to anything, but if any of the other kids did anything to me it was "oh well, kids will be kids". There was especially one girl who I'd get in a lot of trouble with, she hated me , I don't know why, but she did, and she would do anything she could to make my life miserable. I moved away from that place when I was 16 and I haven't been back there since, except for 4 day trips around Christmas where I don't really deal with anyone who isn't family.

So last week I went back home on a little trip to see my family and play with my cousins (4 and 2 years old completely insane kiddies). My oldest cousin, 4 year old, had been drawing on a picture that she wanted to enter into a competition for her kindergarten and some of the lower classes at school, she really loves drawing and making things with her hands, so she was superexcited and had been working a lot on her picture. The "competition" (no real prize, no real competition, just kids getting to draw stuff and then hang it up in a gallery and show it off to their parents and relatives that drop by on the day of the competition, then everyone who participated gets a little prize and all is well) was for kids in the kindergarten and for first and second graders. My cousins parents had to be at work on the day of the competition, and my cousin was a bit sad since she'd be one of the few kids there with no relatives around, so I decided I'd go with her since I'm supposed to be her cool aunt and to cheer her up. So we get there, my cousin goes to hang up her picture and one of the ladies who are behind the competition takes the picture she's been drawing, tears it down and throws it in the garbage. This lady is the same girl I'd get into a lot of fights with when I was a kid. I ask her what the fuck she think she's doing and she answers me "this picture is of too poor quality for this competition, it's a mockery to what this is all about" and walks away with a smug look on her face. My cousin was now crying because the picture she was so proud of is being thrown in the garbage and a grown-up who will be her teacher in a few years is telling her that it's of "poor quality" and "a mockery", while looking smug and happy about it. I know that she is doing it to be a bitch against me, it's a contest for kindergarten kids, there is no such thing as poor quality, there are stick-men and doodles and red houses with suns above them, what the fuck can be mocking about a picture my cousin has drawn of herself? So I pick the picture out of the garbage, straighten it out and hang it up again, then I spend the rest of the time we're there standing in front of it ready to stop anyone who tries to take it down again, while trying to get my cousin to stop crying. We end up going home early to eat ice-cream since my cousin don't want to be there anymore. Now she has gone from loving to draw pictures and constantly drawing to refusing to even touch her pencils.

How is it possible to be so petty? In my opinion there is nothing lower than taking your resentments against people out on kids. My cousin has never done her any harm whatsoever and that bitch (pardon the language) still feels smug about hurting her like that. For getting a chance at getting back at me for some hatred that I don't even know what comes from (yes, I've even asked her straight out why she hates me so much, she just said "I don't hate you, you're just...special..."). I don't mind her putting up rumors about me behind my back, or all that shit she pulled when we were growing up, but she has gone too far now. Way, way, way too far. The worst thing however is that she is going to be my cousins teacher in a few years, she gets to control a part of her future and there is very little I can do about it.

by **michaelandjimi** » Sun May 18, 2008 1:50 am UTC

Robin S wrote:I would assume that the examples in the OP are cited from specific claims by said literary critics.

Yeah, they were taken practically verbatim out of study guides. Although, I think Spoffin was talking about the literary critics themselves - that the critics were being hypocritical by claiming everyone else was obsessed when they were the ones finding them.

aeki wrote:I don't know, dude, have you looked at your power button recently? Clearly the line symbolizes the phallus and the circle symbolizes the whatever-the-latin-term-for-the-vagina-is, and when they're transposed they represent an endless cycle of electric life and death. It's like an orgy happening right there on your computer.

OH... MY... GOD! *predicts protest outside of microsoft*

Why does it have to be so very cold, even when the sun is shining?

by **|Erasmus|** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:33 am UTC

AngrySquirrel wrote:What is wrong with people!!? Seriously, how is it possible for adults to feel that they have the right to take out their petty resentments towards a person on some random kid that's related to that person?

Spoilered for longness and stuff:
Spoiler:
Backstory: All my life I've been the one who was "different" in my hometown and my old class. I used to be a lot better at speaking with my fists than with words and very often I would have to because well, in tiny communities like my hometown, if you are looked at as "different" then you are free bait. I used to get into a lot of fights and there were a lot of people who hated me without ever letting me know exactly why. If I did something wrong then I was a horrid child that would never amount to anything, but if any of the other kids did anything to me it was "oh well, kids will be kids". There was especially one girl who I'd get in a lot of trouble with, she hated me , I don't know why, but she did, and she would do anything she could to make my life miserable. I moved away from that place when I was 16 and I haven't been back there since, except for 4 day trips around Christmas where I don't really deal with anyone who isn't family.

So last week I went back home on a little trip to see my family and play with my cousins (4 and 2 years old completely insane kiddies). My oldest cousin, 4 year old, had been drawing on a picture that she wanted to enter into a competition for her kindergarten and some of the lower classes at school, she really loves drawing and making things with her hands, so she was superexcited and had been working a lot on her picture. The "competition" (no real prize, no real competition, just kids getting to draw stuff and then hang it up in a gallery and show it off to their parents and relatives that drop by on the day of the competition, then everyone who participated gets a little prize and all is well) was for kids in the kindergarten and for first and second graders. My cousins parents had to be at work on the day of the competition, and my cousin was a bit sad since she'd be one of the few kids there with no relatives around, so I decided I'd go with her since I'm supposed to be her cool aunt and to cheer her up. So we get there, my cousin goes to hang up her picture and one of the ladies who are behind the competition takes the picture she's been drawing, tears it down and throws it in the garbage. This lady is the same girl I'd get into a lot of fights with when I was a kid. I ask her what the fuck she think she's doing and she answers me "this picture is of too poor quality for this competition, it's a mockery to what this is all about" and walks away with a smug look on her face. My cousin was now crying because the picture she was so proud of is being thrown in the garbage and a grown-up who will be her teacher in a few years is telling her that it's of "poor quality" and "a mockery", while looking smug and happy about it. I know that she is doing it to be a bitch against me, it's a contest for kindergarten kids, there is no such thing as poor quality, there are stick-men and doodles and red houses with suns above them, what the fuck can be mocking about a picture my cousin has drawn of herself? So I pick the picture out of the garbage, straighten it out and hang it up again, then I spend the rest of the time we're there standing in front of it ready to stop anyone who tries to take it down again, while trying to get my cousin to stop crying. We end up going home early to eat ice-cream since my cousin don't want to be there anymore. Now she has gone from loving to draw pictures and constantly drawing to refusing to even touch her pencils.

How is it possible to be so petty? In my opinion there is nothing lower than taking your resentments against people out on kids. My cousin has never done her any harm whatsoever and that bitch (pardon the language) still feels smug about hurting her like that. For getting a chance at getting back at me for some hatred that I don't even know what comes from (yes, I've even asked her straight out why she hates me so much, she just said "I don't hate you, you're just...special..."). I don't mind her putting up rumors about me behind my back, or all that shit she pulled when we were growing up, but she has gone too far now. Way, way, way too far. The worst thing however is that she is going to be my cousins teacher in a few years, she gets to control a part of her future and there is very little I can do about it.

*sigh* I feel sorry for you, and your cousin.

I -really- hate people.

Doesn't really matter who, just people. Especially ones like that, though.

I guess that's all I have to rant about.

by **Fat Tony** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:40 am UTC

This isn't something I'm bothered by, but a rant nonetheless.

Spoiler:

I ended up in this outfit last summer at nerd camp (Duke TIP). I had brought enough clothes so that I would wash once a week and be good, so the first Friday, I had planned to make a trip to the laundrozone. Somehow, I ended up forgetting about it, and by the time I remembered, we had to be in bed, so I just went to sleep.
I woke up the next morning and realized that the only clean clothes I had were a pair of jeans, a couple pairs of underwear, and a sock, so I ran around frantickly asking for clothing (even though I would have been perfectly content with wearing just my jeans, but hey), and all I managed to get was a pair of socks (very convenient) and a low-cut red spandex top from a chick who was, like, twice my height and half my weight.
I had to accept it, but there is one inherent truth that all men are instinctively fully aware of: one cannot dignifiably wear spandex without dressing as a superhero.
So, I decided to take the remaining pair of clean underwear, place it on the outside of my jeans, tie the towel I had just the night before come into posession of (for the first part of that week, I was drying off after showers with paper towels) around my neck, don a pair of sunny g's, and become 90s boy!
It worked out nicely because that evening was the 90-themed dance, so I just lost the cape, put on my trademark black corduroy hoody, and became Axl Rose =D

Spoiler:

Edit: I ended up in a similar situation two weeks later, but instead of borrowing a hot chick's low-cut spandex, a black guy hooked me up with some duds. I ended up wearing a giant white T-shirt and unnecessarilly baggy jeans, but hey, I had clean clothes. He said he only let me borrow them because at that point in time, I wore And1's =D

by **benjhuey** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:46 am UTC

|Erasmus| wrote:I -really- hate people.

Doesn't really matter who, just people. Especially ones like that, though.

I guess that's all I have to rant about.

Sometimes, that's all it needs to be.

And AngrySquirrel, it bothers me to the point of blind furry that there are people like that out there. I'm very sorry you had to meet one of them.

Fat Tony, not too shabby. Honestly, thanks in part to some of my friends, if I saw you walking around in that getup, I wouldn't think twice about it.

by **zaqwithaq** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:36 am UTC

Intolerance....it's the worst type of stupidity
I hear it all the time in the classes that aren't all honors

I think its horrible there's swastikas scratched on our trees and the type of conversations I hear in P.E. are along the lines of
"would you rather have a gay friend or a child molester friend?"
"oh definitely a child molester gay people scare me."

I'm not gay but I mean seriously thats like would you rather be black or murder 50 people? and they say I'd rather be a killer!
That just bothers me that they only see that one weird kid as a gay kid not someone with a personality or a life!!! ITS THE 21st CENTURY PEOPLE GAY MARAGIES ARE OK NOW!!! AFRICAN AMERICAN'S AREN'T BEING SEGREGATED!!!!!!!!

LIVE WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

k i'm done...sorry if that actually offends any one...

by **eternal luna** » Sun May 18, 2008 6:26 am UTC

A 3-part rant:

1. A friend and I got chosen to attend a Young Women's Leadership seminar held last Friday, with the participants composed of 2 girls from Year 11 of 45 schools. Out of those 45 schools, only 6 were public highschools. Goddamn it, I'm so sick of this. We, the kids in public schools, are never encouraged, never told we can do anything we want, be anything we want. Sure, at a selective highschool we get much more of that treatment than an ordinary one, but it's more the "You are extraordinarily smart, so you can all go into science and medicine as a career" type of encouragement. Now, the friends I have in ordinary comprehensive schools- the teachers mostly don't want to be there. They give up. So those that are talented, but weren't entered in the selective schools test, or couldn't afford to go to a music or arts school or whatever, surrounded day in and day out by other students who don't want to work hard (often because no one believes it will amount to anything), get dragged down into that kind of behaviour.

My English Extension teacher mentioned a few weeks ago an instance of this unfairness- at a school like ours, we usually have at least 20 students doing Extension 2 English in Year 12, and we have maybe 3 teachers available as mentors for those students. At some private schools, the most they have is 2 students, but the entire English faculty is available to them. My annoyance at this is tempered by the fact that we nearly always achieve better results, but it pains me to think how much better we could do with more guidance, or even more painful, how many public school kids never get the chance to chase after their dreams. Bleargh.

2. The way I keep hearing that people of my sexual orientation (I'm open to any gender/sex combo) are hated because we "can't choose which sex [we] like best". Why should I have to choose? I love all people. To me, this is akin to saying "I hate you because you can't decide which race you will stick to!" I don't see why it has to be a consideration. They're all people. They're all beautiful. Sure, I have some slight preferences for things, but they're so vastly different and in such different areas that everything has a roughly equal appeal to me.

3. My mother. Holy hell, there is so much I could rant about, but I'd probably need a whole page to myself. For now, I'll just stick to this: I'm forced to clean, a whole lot more than any of my peers, and far more often than is necessary. However, I could handle that, it's fine, my mother is ridiculously uptight and pedantic about order. The infuriating thing about this is that she keeps citing as the reason as to why I should do it: "You're a girl, and girls have to help their parents and keep the house clean." What the fuck? I'm cleaning because I'm female? Not only that, she keeps yelling about how she wasn't born to clean. What, I was? Gah. Why is it that this stereotype is still being perpetuated? I hate that so many mothers neglect to teach their sons basic cooking and cleaning skills, instead leaving them dependant on her, and, in the future, their partners to always take care of it?

by **Amarantha** » Sun May 18, 2008 7:32 am UTC

^ Also, private schools get more funding than public schools. Wtf is up with that?

My rant: shopping for a wedding dress. I already hate clothes shopping. Wedding-dress-shopping is the pits. Apparently all women want to be princesses and dress up in shiny, sweaty white-or-off-white fabrics covered in crusty beads and tacky lace and with enormous hooped skirts that feel like wearing a cardboard box. I don't want that shit, and on an island continent with a mere 20 million people, there's not enough variety to get what I do want. Also, the internet said "you'll need to allow about 6 months for your dress, but don't order it much earlier than that in case you gain/lose weight". So here I am with 7 1/2 months to go, and the shops are telling me it'll take 5-6 months to order and 1-2 for alterations. So I have no time at all. I'm going to have to take time off work to look in all the shops, and then will probably have to get one designed specially, which also causes stress, because what if it doesn't work and there's no time to fix it. So, yeah. Elope. I mean it.

by **Wanderingcowboy** » Sun May 18, 2008 8:37 am UTC

Amarantha wrote:^ Also, private schools get more funding than public schools. Wtf is up with that?

My rant: people who think private schools get all the good stuff. I went to a private school, we definitely didn't get more funding than the public school system of my area. The public school got state taxes, we didn't. In fact, my family's taxes also went to paying for the public school. The public schools actually took away two of our best teaches 'cause they could afford to pay more than we could. I mean, we did get smaller class size and more individualized attention, and there are some benefits of just being at a smaller school in general, but the public school's got much better sports equipment and many more other kinds of opportunities because they had deeper pockets/more people. So, it's not that private schools get more of things, it's always a trade-off.

by **eternal luna** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:37 am UTC

Different area? Our ceilings are made of papier-mache newspaper that turns green and falls out in clumps when it rains. We have strange plants creeping through classrooms that we nickname "Ivy". A large proportion of the tables are stuck to their frames with chewing gum. Everytime it rains more than two days in a row, the entire school floods- I'm talking knee-deep all through the quads, our drainage system dates to somewhere in the 70s. We have to fight to get a seating place at breaks, and have grade rivalry over the benches. We can't fit a whole grade in our hall. Our sports equipment is, for the most part, falling to pieces. You can't pull your chair in or out in a lot of the classrooms because the carpet goes with it and trips you up.

In Sydney, private schools get more funding.

by **michaelandjimi** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:48 am UTC

Holy crap. My school is awesome in comparison.

eternal luna wrote:My English Extension teacher mentioned a few weeks ago an instance of this unfairness- at a school like ours, we usually have at least 20 students doing Extension 2 English in Year 12, and we have maybe 3 teachers available as mentors for those students. At some private schools, the most they have is 2 students, but the entire English faculty is available to them. My annoyance at this is tempered by the fact that we nearly always achieve better results, but it pains me to think how much better we could do with more guidance, or even more painful, how many public school kids never get the chance to chase after their dreams. Bleargh.

At mine, we have two teachers who actually do the EE2 classes, but your ordinary English teachers will have a look at your major work if you want them to.

AngrySquirrel wrote:What is wrong with people!!? Seriously, how is it possible for adults to feel that they have the right to take out their petty resentments towards a person on some random kid that's related to that person?

Spoilered for longness and stuff:
Spoiler:
Backstory: All my life I've been the one who was "different" in my hometown and my old class. I used to be a lot better at speaking with my fists than with words and very often I would have to because well, in tiny communities like my hometown, if you are looked at as "different" then you are free bait. I used to get into a lot of fights and there were a lot of people who hated me without ever letting me know exactly why. If I did something wrong then I was a horrid child that would never amount to anything, but if any of the other kids did anything to me it was "oh well, kids will be kids". There was especially one girl who I'd get in a lot of trouble with, she hated me , I don't know why, but she did, and she would do anything she could to make my life miserable. I moved away from that place when I was 16 and I haven't been back there since, except for 4 day trips around Christmas where I don't really deal with anyone who isn't family.

So last week I went back home on a little trip to see my family and play with my cousins (4 and 2 years old completely insane kiddies). My oldest cousin, 4 year old, had been drawing on a picture that she wanted to enter into a competition for her kindergarten and some of the lower classes at school, she really loves drawing and making things with her hands, so she was superexcited and had been working a lot on her picture. The "competition" (no real prize, no real competition, just kids getting to draw stuff and then hang it up in a gallery and show it off to their parents and relatives that drop by on the day of the competition, then everyone who participated gets a little prize and all is well) was for kids in the kindergarten and for first and second graders. My cousins parents had to be at work on the day of the competition, and my cousin was a bit sad since she'd be one of the few kids there with no relatives around, so I decided I'd go with her since I'm supposed to be her cool aunt and to cheer her up. So we get there, my cousin goes to hang up her picture and one of the ladies who are behind the competition takes the picture she's been drawing, tears it down and throws it in the garbage. This lady is the same girl I'd get into a lot of fights with when I was a kid. I ask her what the fuck she think she's doing and she answers me "this picture is of too poor quality for this competition, it's a mockery to what this is all about" and walks away with a smug look on her face. My cousin was now crying because the picture she was so proud of is being thrown in the garbage and a grown-up who will be her teacher in a few years is telling her that it's of "poor quality" and "a mockery", while looking smug and happy about it. I know that she is doing it to be a bitch against me, it's a contest for kindergarten kids, there is no such thing as poor quality, there are stick-men and doodles and red houses with suns above them, what the fuck can be mocking about a picture my cousin has drawn of herself? So I pick the picture out of the garbage, straighten it out and hang it up again, then I spend the rest of the time we're there standing in front of it ready to stop anyone who tries to take it down again, while trying to get my cousin to stop crying. We end up going home early to eat ice-cream since my cousin don't want to be there anymore. Now she has gone from loving to draw pictures and constantly drawing to refusing to even touch her pencils.

How is it possible to be so petty? In my opinion there is nothing lower than taking your resentments against people out on kids. My cousin has never done her any harm whatsoever and that bitch (pardon the language) still feels smug about hurting her like that. For getting a chance at getting back at me for some hatred that I don't even know what comes from (yes, I've even asked her straight out why she hates me so much, she just said "I don't hate you, you're just...special..."). I don't mind her putting up rumors about me behind my back, or all that shit she pulled when we were growing up, but she has gone too far now. Way, way, way too far. The worst thing however is that she is going to be my cousins teacher in a few years, she gets to control a part of her future and there is very little I can do about it.

This is fantastically bad and I so very wish I could do something about it. I do know some people that know some people that robbed some people...

by **Nath** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:51 am UTC

eternal luna wrote:Different area? Our ceilings are made of papier-mache newspaper that turns green and falls out in clumps when it rains. We have strange plants creeping through classrooms that we nickname "Ivy". A large proportion of the tables are stuck to their frames with chewing gum. Everytime it rains more than two days in a row, the entire school floods- I'm talking knee-deep all through the quads, our drainage system dates to somewhere in the 70s. We have to fight to get a seating place at breaks, and have grade rivalry over the benches. We can't fit a whole grade in our hall. Our sports equipment is, for the most part, falling to pieces. You can't pull your chair in or out in a lot of the classrooms because the carpet goes with it and trips you up.

These things are relative. My primary school was a bunch of little buildings with asbestos roofs. I didn't notice any scary plants, but we did have our share of snakes and scorpions. As for drainage systems and benches and so on -- hmm, novel concepts. When it rained, the ground got wet. When we ate, we sat on the floor. Our sports equipment was some sand, a slide and a flagpole. And, of course, I had to walk to school uphill both ways, barefoot, in the snow, in 100 degree weather, armed only with a small protractor and two small Marie biscuits.

(I do realize this post was completely useless, but this is the rant thread. And I was serious up to and including the bit about the flagpole.)

by **|Erasmus|** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:04 am UTC

eternal luna wrote:In Sydney, private schools get more funding.

I believe this is only federal government funding, and states provide more funding for education than federal (given that it is their responsibility, primarily), so I don't know if they do get more overall funding.

by **Hawknc** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:28 am UTC

Heh...hands up all those who had that as a debate topic for school debating teams?

by **|Erasmus|** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:36 am UTC

Hawknc wrote:Heh...hands up all those who had that as a debate topic for school debating teams?

i always found organised debating incredibly lame :/

I don't mind sitting down and discussing these issues at length, but having all these rules about it takes from the realm of interesting discussion, into ungodly boring.

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