I saw a really funny editorial that someone posted on facebook the other day about how bad Fifty Shades of Grey was. I laughed and nodded my way through most of it, because she was right on the money about almost all of it, and I'd had similar reactions when I read the book (here's her piece in case you're interested. It's worth a look).
Now, I'm going to add my two cents.
It's bad. It's so bad, that the only thing that kept me reading it, was my utter shock at how impossibly bad it was.
The entire plot, and every single character, are so completely not believable that I may quite possibly have developed a wrinkle above my left eyebrow (which raises involuntarily when I am being fed a ration of shit). aMy face never relaxed from it's "are you fucking serious?" posture throughout the whole book.
I like my men manly. I like them to be the antithesis of me, because, if you know me I am sure you're aware, I am packing enough 'feeler' for two people. I don't need a guy who's sensitive. I need a man who acts like a man. I have no desire to mess with the outlines of nature. Meaning, I want a guy who's a little pushy (where he needs to be), a little dominant, and who is far stronger, tougher, etc. than I am.
Because, if I am the pushier, stronger, tougher or more dominant between a man and myself... I don't really think of him as a man. I mean really, what kind of man gets pushed around by a 95 pound bleeding heart? Not my kind.
With that in mind, I didn't have any pre-conceived notions going into the book about disliking Christian for his dominant tendencies. By the end of it though, I was almost snorting out loud at every one of his ridiculous demands of the spineless, insecure little fuck up Anastasia, that I am supposed to believe is actually beautiful, alluring, intelligent and irresistible. Right.
I don't have to go into the details there, because it's been said. But even I, who admittedly appreciates a little bit of domineering every once in a while, was absolutely appalled at the fact that the author of this book (a woman) sat around thinking up situations in which a young lady is more or less seduced, abused, stalked, threatened, assaulted, and bordering on raped, over and over again, and is, rather than describing her rage, indignation, revulsion and shock, describing how turned on she is by this behavior on his part. And the fact that he's so not worth her time only steels her into a quest to try to turn a sadistic lunatic into a sensitive lover.
I have to ask... what kind of real woman would even consider this? And if the author is the majority of women, and I'm way off base here... Lord help us.
Now, the only part that I disagreed with in the blog I linked above, was at the end. She says something about how criminal it is that this shit is being put out there for young and impressionable women who won't know better, and may end up thinking that this type of relationship is normal or acceptable.
I... am going to sound a little heartless right now, but to me, if you are lacking the brains, sense of self-preservation or self-respect that you would have to be missing in order to fall head over heels for the douchey psycho that is this male character... if you are that stupid, I don't feel bad for you. I am not worried about this book corrupting the minds of young women into thinking that a sadist is a suitable boyfriend, because the minds that could become corrupted in that sense are past saving. Social Darwinism exists for a reason. If you have to convince a girl that a man such as this one deserves to be laughed at, not fawned over, she was fucked from the beginning, and we don't have enough space of resources for her anyway.
What bothers me more, is that this book has swept the country like wild-fire. Everyone's read it, a lot of people hate it, but a lot of people love it, too. How is that possible? How could anything that is written so incredibly poorly, be so popular?
My fear is part of something bigger that I've been noticing about books for the last few years. Think about the last 4 books that everyone you know has read. My guess is, that at least 3 of them, are The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter. (Not to take anything away from Harry Potter, I think it's imaginative and wonderful and I loved the books). What do they all have in common? They were written for KIDS!
And this one, though obviously not intended for children, is so trite, so cliche, so boring, and so fucking BAD that to me it says something quite embarrassing about us as a generation of readers. We can't be entertained anymore by literature unless it's dumbed down to a level that kids can grasp it, or it's a big, shitty pile of smut with no artistic merit whatsoever. I can't believe you could make sex scenes so abjectly not sexy or hot or appealing. And yet... look at how many copies this book has sold.
I was in a laundromat here the other day, washing my comforter that's too big for the washing machine at the house, and it was a very strange scene. A bunch of people, not old enough to be in wheelchairs, but who were, a couple with oxygen tanks, or else they were too overweight to walk without holding on to something, many of them whose hair was so greasy it was sticking to their skulls, most of whom were speaking a dialect of English that was so deep-south that I could not understand what they were saying, staring dull-eyed and transfixed into the flatscreens on the wall showing day time soap operas. These have somehow gone from being just overly dramatic and lame, like they were when I was a kid, to being overly dramatic, lame, almost soft-core porn. This was news to me.
I was quite stunned, and very sad. This is what stereotypes are based on. (Merica!) I watched these people pour themselves into the poorly designed and completely unreal characters on TV, and I was pretty certain that most of them had probably not had any kind of real sex in at least as long as they'd not been able to reach their own asses, that most of them spend their entire day eating food that isn't real food, watching TV that isn't real life, and reading books like... Fifty Shades of Grey.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monsanto really is the devil. And it's grossly contaminated the place that I currently live.
When we first got here, we met up with the rest of Josh's crew and went out to dinner. I overheard his co-worker Sarah say something along the lines of, "Try not to drink the water around here, there was a giant Monsanto plant up the road from Anniston."
I knew a little about Monsanto. I know it's kind of a dirty word. For a long, long time, the U.S. Patent Office refused to consider allowing patents for seeds, for the obvious reason that seeds are a life form and therefore cannot be described in the same terms as other 'inventions' like sewing machines, gaskets or light bulbs. Then, in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that 'live human-made micro-organisms' could be patented, and Monsanto ran with it.
They created a genetically modified seed that is resistant to it's company's other major product, Roundup Weed Killer. And because they could patent this seed, they started making farmers who purchased the seeds sign contracts stating that they would only grow crops for one season, and would throw away the seeds produced in that crop instead of reusing them in future years. Frontline did a show specifically on the suicides in India on the rise due to farmers there going bankrupt when they were not able to pay for seeds for a new crop.
In order to enforce these agreements, they employ Private Investigators who cruise around posing as surveyors or regular old townspeople, but are actually following farmers suspected of reusing seeds, taking photos and video. Then, they'll show up at said farmer's house, show them the photos, tell them that they must settle with Monsanto for infringing on it's patent immediately or they will lose their farms and everything they own, and that there is no point fighting it, because Monsanto is too powerful. They're behavior has been compared to that of the Mafia , more than once.
It would be one thing if this only ever happened to people who did knowingly violate the contract. But instead, if Monsanto seeds blow into your fields and produce crops, they can come after you, too. They've done it on many occasions. And while your average farmer might be able to afford a lawyer, he probably can't afford the legal team that would be required to fight Monsanto, and the government.
Because, we can make no mistake, this company has got it's fingers deep into our governing bodies. Clarence Thomas wrote the Supreme Court decision that made it possible for Monsanto to patent it's seeds. He was also Monsanto's lawyer in the 70's.
Michael Taylor used to be an assistant to the FDA Commissioner. Then he went to a law firm under a project that worked solely on getting Monsanto's artificial growth hormone approved by the FDA. Then he went back to become Deputy Commissioner to the FDA from '91 to '94. Then, Barack Obama gave him that job back in 2009.
Michael A. Friedman was also a Deputy Commissioner of the FDA. Now, he is Monsanto's Senior Vice President.
Linda Fisher was an Assistant Administrator at the EPA. Then she left to act as one of Monsanto's Vice President's for 5 or 6 years. Now she is Deputy Administrator of the EPA.
And, good old Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of G.D. Searle & Co., which was purchased by Monsanto in 1985, and resulted in a $12 million dollar paycheck for Mr. Rumsfeld and, I think it's safe to say, also bought a fair number or 'little favors'.
So, pretty much, the Environmental Protection Agency, charged with keeping our air clean, our water pure and our environment otherwise safe, is in Monsanto's pocket. The Food and Drug Administration, charged with keeping our food and pharmaceuticals safe to consume, is in Monsanto's pocket. And, at one time, so was the U.S. Supreme Court, and the two-time Secretary of Defense.
If they were a nice-guy company, maybe this would be less frightening. But they aren't. They've been working on moving their production in recent years into agriculture, and their image into that of a 'friend of the farmer'. I've seen the billboards. It's fucking creepy. But what are they actually responsible for making? Let's make a list;
rBGH - a synthetic growth hormone injected into cows, in order to make them produce more milk. The FDA, whom we've already established will probably say whatever Monsanto wants, claims that milk from cows treated with rGBH is no different than milk from un-treated cows. However, there have been no long term studies on this, and the only short term studies that exist come from Monsanto, who at one time described the skin eruptions, toxification of major organs, and severe pain experienced by workers exposed to an herbicide explosion at one of it's plants as, "fairly slow acting" and "irritation of the skin".
Agent Orange - Chemical used to deforest areas of Vietnam where American soldiers needed to penetrate the jungle. I don't think I have to explain what Agent Orange did to the people exposed to it. Ask your parents. My mom described Agent Orange as one of the "trigger words" for her generation. In the same way that "IED's" might be to ours... only worse.
Saccharin - fake sugar. Illegal in Canada. The USDA attempted to make it illegal in 1972, but lost, mostly because the major user of fake sugar at the time was Coca Cola who was too big to fight. In case you didn't know, the stuff is made of coal tar residue, and it's fucking bad for you.
DDT - great for killing bugs, unfortunately also great for killing anything that ate the bugs. Banned in the U.S. in 1972.
And, one of their biggest productions for over 40 years, good old PCB's. Which, for anyone who doesn't know, cause major neurological problems, endocrine problems, immune system problems, reproductive problems, and they cause big black pustules to grow on your skin. Oh, and they're carcinogenic BIG time.
This is where I got interested in this whole subject. I was watching a short documentary on food companies the other day, when this phrase came out of the narrator's mouth, "No where is this more evident, than in the most highly contaminated city in America; Anniston, Alabama."
I about sprayed coffee on my computer screen. I'm in Anniston, Alabama, right now. I remembered Josh's co-worker saying something about the plant near here. I started digging.
The plant is 2.3 miles from where my butt is currently planted. Monsanto invented PCB's, at this plant here in Anniston, in 1929. It was in the 30's that the health risks associated with PCB's started becoming widely known among manufacturers, and documents have since been exposed that show that Monsanto was very well aware of the dangers of PCB's as early as 1938. In the 50's, it was urging the plants' workers to wear protective clothing, and to shower before going home. In 1966, a bunch of Blue Gill's were dropped into the water of Snow Creek. Within 10 seconds, they all lost equilibrium and turned on their sides. Within 3.5 minutes, they were all dead, with their skin sloughing off their bodies. In 1971, the U.S. government banned the production of PCB's altogether.
The problem was, that Monsanto had been dumping tons upon tons of PCB's into Snow Creek, which feeds into Choccolocco Creek, which feeds directly into the drinking water for this town. They also buried tons of PCB's in open pits near the plant, where rainwater could freely wash the stuff into the cities water sources. And, despite knowing the dangers, they never told anyone in Anniston anything at all.
It wasn't until 1993 when a local fisherman caught a grotesquely deformed fish and sent it off for testing, that they town knew anything at all. The fish was saturated with PCB's, and the spotlight turned on Monsanto.
Since then, they've transferred the plant to one of their subsidiaries, Solutia. That's the name on the plant that's visible now when you drive by. And it's obviously less associated with the legacy of dumping carcinogenic, nasty chemicals into the drinking water of this small town for over 40 years. But the problem still exists.
I've read in more than one article, that if you live on the west side of town, you shouldn't eat, drink, smoke or chew gum while mowing your lawn. That kids should play on the concrete and not in the grass. That people should go out of their way not to disturb the dirt, or churn up the riverbeds because this whole place is still so thick with PCB's.
It isn't safe to drink the water, eat the fish, or any produce grown in local ground. I started buying distilled water at the store as soon as I found out. And all it's done is add to the list of reasons (cockroaches, poisonous spiders (who have made a meal out of Josh's leg), thugs (who are constantly milling around my house), gunshots right behind the house, the fact that racial separation here is palpable, did I mention the cockroaches?) that I want to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. I'm not much into living in a cancer pit.
I knew a little about Monsanto. I know it's kind of a dirty word. For a long, long time, the U.S. Patent Office refused to consider allowing patents for seeds, for the obvious reason that seeds are a life form and therefore cannot be described in the same terms as other 'inventions' like sewing machines, gaskets or light bulbs. Then, in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that 'live human-made micro-organisms' could be patented, and Monsanto ran with it.
They created a genetically modified seed that is resistant to it's company's other major product, Roundup Weed Killer. And because they could patent this seed, they started making farmers who purchased the seeds sign contracts stating that they would only grow crops for one season, and would throw away the seeds produced in that crop instead of reusing them in future years. Frontline did a show specifically on the suicides in India on the rise due to farmers there going bankrupt when they were not able to pay for seeds for a new crop.
In order to enforce these agreements, they employ Private Investigators who cruise around posing as surveyors or regular old townspeople, but are actually following farmers suspected of reusing seeds, taking photos and video. Then, they'll show up at said farmer's house, show them the photos, tell them that they must settle with Monsanto for infringing on it's patent immediately or they will lose their farms and everything they own, and that there is no point fighting it, because Monsanto is too powerful. They're behavior has been compared to that of the Mafia , more than once.
It would be one thing if this only ever happened to people who did knowingly violate the contract. But instead, if Monsanto seeds blow into your fields and produce crops, they can come after you, too. They've done it on many occasions. And while your average farmer might be able to afford a lawyer, he probably can't afford the legal team that would be required to fight Monsanto, and the government.
Because, we can make no mistake, this company has got it's fingers deep into our governing bodies. Clarence Thomas wrote the Supreme Court decision that made it possible for Monsanto to patent it's seeds. He was also Monsanto's lawyer in the 70's.
Michael Taylor used to be an assistant to the FDA Commissioner. Then he went to a law firm under a project that worked solely on getting Monsanto's artificial growth hormone approved by the FDA. Then he went back to become Deputy Commissioner to the FDA from '91 to '94. Then, Barack Obama gave him that job back in 2009.
Michael A. Friedman was also a Deputy Commissioner of the FDA. Now, he is Monsanto's Senior Vice President.
Linda Fisher was an Assistant Administrator at the EPA. Then she left to act as one of Monsanto's Vice President's for 5 or 6 years. Now she is Deputy Administrator of the EPA.
And, good old Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of G.D. Searle & Co., which was purchased by Monsanto in 1985, and resulted in a $12 million dollar paycheck for Mr. Rumsfeld and, I think it's safe to say, also bought a fair number or 'little favors'.
So, pretty much, the Environmental Protection Agency, charged with keeping our air clean, our water pure and our environment otherwise safe, is in Monsanto's pocket. The Food and Drug Administration, charged with keeping our food and pharmaceuticals safe to consume, is in Monsanto's pocket. And, at one time, so was the U.S. Supreme Court, and the two-time Secretary of Defense.
If they were a nice-guy company, maybe this would be less frightening. But they aren't. They've been working on moving their production in recent years into agriculture, and their image into that of a 'friend of the farmer'. I've seen the billboards. It's fucking creepy. But what are they actually responsible for making? Let's make a list;
rBGH - a synthetic growth hormone injected into cows, in order to make them produce more milk. The FDA, whom we've already established will probably say whatever Monsanto wants, claims that milk from cows treated with rGBH is no different than milk from un-treated cows. However, there have been no long term studies on this, and the only short term studies that exist come from Monsanto, who at one time described the skin eruptions, toxification of major organs, and severe pain experienced by workers exposed to an herbicide explosion at one of it's plants as, "fairly slow acting" and "irritation of the skin".
Agent Orange - Chemical used to deforest areas of Vietnam where American soldiers needed to penetrate the jungle. I don't think I have to explain what Agent Orange did to the people exposed to it. Ask your parents. My mom described Agent Orange as one of the "trigger words" for her generation. In the same way that "IED's" might be to ours... only worse.
Saccharin - fake sugar. Illegal in Canada. The USDA attempted to make it illegal in 1972, but lost, mostly because the major user of fake sugar at the time was Coca Cola who was too big to fight. In case you didn't know, the stuff is made of coal tar residue, and it's fucking bad for you.
DDT - great for killing bugs, unfortunately also great for killing anything that ate the bugs. Banned in the U.S. in 1972.
And, one of their biggest productions for over 40 years, good old PCB's. Which, for anyone who doesn't know, cause major neurological problems, endocrine problems, immune system problems, reproductive problems, and they cause big black pustules to grow on your skin. Oh, and they're carcinogenic BIG time.
This is where I got interested in this whole subject. I was watching a short documentary on food companies the other day, when this phrase came out of the narrator's mouth, "No where is this more evident, than in the most highly contaminated city in America; Anniston, Alabama."
I about sprayed coffee on my computer screen. I'm in Anniston, Alabama, right now. I remembered Josh's co-worker saying something about the plant near here. I started digging.
The plant is 2.3 miles from where my butt is currently planted. Monsanto invented PCB's, at this plant here in Anniston, in 1929. It was in the 30's that the health risks associated with PCB's started becoming widely known among manufacturers, and documents have since been exposed that show that Monsanto was very well aware of the dangers of PCB's as early as 1938. In the 50's, it was urging the plants' workers to wear protective clothing, and to shower before going home. In 1966, a bunch of Blue Gill's were dropped into the water of Snow Creek. Within 10 seconds, they all lost equilibrium and turned on their sides. Within 3.5 minutes, they were all dead, with their skin sloughing off their bodies. In 1971, the U.S. government banned the production of PCB's altogether.
The problem was, that Monsanto had been dumping tons upon tons of PCB's into Snow Creek, which feeds into Choccolocco Creek, which feeds directly into the drinking water for this town. They also buried tons of PCB's in open pits near the plant, where rainwater could freely wash the stuff into the cities water sources. And, despite knowing the dangers, they never told anyone in Anniston anything at all.
It wasn't until 1993 when a local fisherman caught a grotesquely deformed fish and sent it off for testing, that they town knew anything at all. The fish was saturated with PCB's, and the spotlight turned on Monsanto.
Since then, they've transferred the plant to one of their subsidiaries, Solutia. That's the name on the plant that's visible now when you drive by. And it's obviously less associated with the legacy of dumping carcinogenic, nasty chemicals into the drinking water of this small town for over 40 years. But the problem still exists.
I've read in more than one article, that if you live on the west side of town, you shouldn't eat, drink, smoke or chew gum while mowing your lawn. That kids should play on the concrete and not in the grass. That people should go out of their way not to disturb the dirt, or churn up the riverbeds because this whole place is still so thick with PCB's.
It isn't safe to drink the water, eat the fish, or any produce grown in local ground. I started buying distilled water at the store as soon as I found out. And all it's done is add to the list of reasons (cockroaches, poisonous spiders (who have made a meal out of Josh's leg), thugs (who are constantly milling around my house), gunshots right behind the house, the fact that racial separation here is palpable, did I mention the cockroaches?) that I want to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. I'm not much into living in a cancer pit.
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