The World Kind of Sucks, But I Want it to be Better

It's been a fucking rough year.

And I will make no apologies for my language, because it's absolutely true. It's been a fucking rough year. Between what's going on in the rest of the world, specifically the Middle East, the sort of militarized police-state that's starting in our own backyard (itself in response to the murder of an unarmed black teenager but with the police on the wrong side of the issue), the loss of a comedic legend to such tragic circumstances, and the biggest push back against feminism I've ever seen, I hope you'll indulge me some profanity.

I can't say if the state of things is the worst it's been in a long time, or that this is the average and I'm just finally aware of it. I also can't say which scenario would be worse if it was true.

So I want to address two of the situations and see if I can't find some goddamn sunshine somewhere in each endless oozing bog of hate and tension and fedoras with neckbeards.

1) Ferguson and the Wrong Response

You know about Ferguson now, and hopefully all the details around it. I'm not going to waste time rehashing things that other people have already done a good job of describing/dissecting. So I want to focus on just the positives with this one.

I know it's difficult to find anything bright in what's happening, but I'll be damned if I can't pull something kicking and screaming into the light. First of all, the fact that this is national news and is still being looked into is a step in the right direction. It means people are finally taking notice of an issue that has gone unchallenged for a very long time. I'm not saying that it's going to be a magical fix and now there are never going to be any problems again and that issues in race relations are solved forever because I'm not brain-damaged or Rush Limbaugh.

What I am saying is that a dialogue has the potential to grow out of this tragedy, and if white people shut up long enough instead of having the knee-jerk reaction of "I'm not racist so don't blame me," we might actually get somewhere with it for once.

I'm realistically optimistic with this one. I want good things to happen, and I want them to happen fast. I want our police to be demilitarized because they shouldn't have been fucking militarized in the first place. I want to live in a country where someone can walk anywhere they want without worrying if the people who have sworn to protect and serve them might just pull out a gun and shoot them simply for who they are.

We'll see where it goes. I can't say with any certainty right now because I'm not a fortune-teller. It's a tipping point.

2) Nude Photos and Why They're Not Your Damn Business

I refuse to Google Jennifer Lawrence right now, and that's upsetting because she's my celebrity crush and she looks hella fine all the time. But I also want to respect her because she's just had a major violation of privacy and it's not my place to further that.

Here's the absolute truth, and I might look like an asshole for a minute so bear with me: I was very tempted to look at them when I heard. It's that initial response of curiosity and, sure, attraction to Jennifer Lawrence that made me want to look. I overcame that and didn't look. And that doesn't make me some sort of shining example of humanity. It makes me a regular human. I don't win points for not looking at someone's private photos because that isn't even the lowest bar to reach for. It's ground level.

I'm sure a lot of other people who haven't looked at them were also tempted. But the sensible part of me won out about three seconds after this initial reaction because I'm not a shark who just smelled blood, and that analogy is dumb in the first place because if you are comparing yourself to an animal without higher brain functions you need to be culled from the genetic pool. And seriously, shave the damn neckbeard. There's never been such a thing as an attractive neckbeard. If you can't grow facial hair on the rest of your face then you don't deserve to have any. Those are the rules. Lose the fedora, too. Al Capone could pull it off because he was a gangster and didn't care about the law. You cry when World of Warcraft lags.

Anyway, back on point. I haven't looked at Jennifer Lawrence's non-consensual (there you go, Paige) leaked photos, or any of the photos from any of the other celebrities. Some of you might say, if you're a dick, that it's the same thing as porn. Which is utter bullshit, because porn is a medium where the participants are willingly putting the material out there for consumption.

So, back to happiness, because I really need a dose of it right now. For every douchebag I've seen praising the release of these photos, I've found two more people denouncing him as a sexual predator and scum of the earth. So yay for mild progress.

In Conclusion

I firmly believe in the concept of the vocal minority, and I think that's all the mouth-breathers are. With any issue we have today, the last dicks among the straight white male population, and it is almost always the straight white males, will fight extra hard as their precious worlds become more in-line with common sense and decency.

But I don't think they're going to win out. And I'm holding on to that hope because I really do believe in the best of people, and I think the best of people will make the world a better place.