Five Shallow Thoughts

October 27, 2003 - 11:46 p.m.

Last Five Entries:
The Party's Over
July 11, 2004
The Next Day
2004-03-31
My Nervous Breakdown
2004-03-30
True Confessions: My Life as a Female Impersonator
March 15, 2004
Bite Me
February 29, 2004

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I have no in-depth thoughts. Here are five shallow thoughts.

1. I'm so glad that so many media sources are making a ton of money over the kidnapping, rape, and torture of fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart. Her parents must be proud. And soon wealthy. And apparently much better at exploiting their daughter than her kidnappers were.
2. A woman from Afghanistan is a contestant in the Miss Earth competition. According to the Reuters article, "For Vida Samadzai, it has been a long journey from underneath an all-encompassing burka in Afghanistan to baring nearly all by a Manila swimming pool in a red bikini." You've come a long way, baby. You've gone from Middle-Eastern patriarchal exploitation, to Western patriarchal exploitation. Congratulations. "'I would like to make people aware that as Afghan women we are talented, intelligent and beautiful,' Vida, posing in a revealing swimsuit, told Reuters." And her bikini is slung low enough to reveal a lot of that talent and intelligence. "Whether she ends up with the winner's tiara or not, Vida plans to take her message of female liberation back to Afghanistan later this year." In America, it always seems that freedom is equated to the amount of sex and violence available to the general public. And I think that's why a lot of non-Western cultures reject America. Instead, why not promote free elections, equal pay for equal work, quality education available to every child, and due process of law for everyone equally? Oh yeah, that's right, because America doesn't have any of those things.
3. I become more and more convinced that George W. Bush is unbeatable in 2004 as his comments become stupider and stupider. Apparently, Bush believes that the increase in violence in Iraq is a sure sign of American success. The increasing coordination of attacks is a sign that the enemy has become desperate. The media is biased and "filtering the news," because it reports the tens of deaths in Iraq every day, rather than focusing on on the good news, like Haliburton making an obscene amount of money to rebuild the infrastructure (which is subject to daily sabatoge) and the schools re-opened (though it's too dangerous for children to actually attend). Sadaam is coordinating attacks even though he's been out of power for months. The war is over even though American soldiers are killed daily. 2 + 2 = 5. The sky is green and the grass is blue. Love is hate, hate is love. That Bush's approval rating ever creeps above zero is a depressing statement about the level of civic awareness in this country.
4. I guess Jeb Bush has demonstrated to us all that the government knows what's better for your family than you do.
5. Here's a gem from the world's most famous child pornographer, Britney Spears. She's quoted as saying that she will stop showing so much skin in photo shoots. "Not that it's dirty or tacky, but it is really revealing and I wouldn't want my kid, at 21, to be dressing like that." But of course, for everyone else's teenage children, (un)dressing like Britney is fine.

Britney Spears is opposed to sexualizing children.