We wrote a blog last week about MTV’s monstrosity “Jersey Shore,” and we said (joking) that we’d like to hunt down the executive who greenlit the show.

Well, New York Post TV critic Linda Stasi has done the legwork for us. In her column Tuesday, Italian American Stasi says that a fellow Italian American is responsible for the reality show, which was shot in Seaside Heights, N.J.

The executive is Tony DiSanto, MTV’s president of programming. Talk about a traitor to one’s own kind.

DiSanto is not taking calls from the press.

Photo By Scott Gries, Photo Group, MTV

We have met Stasi, a talented writer whose columns are often laugh-out-loud funny. She is also pretty and very gracious and down to earth. We were waiting to see her weigh in on “Jersey Shore,” which critics claim slurs and stereotypes Italian Americans, painting them as “guidos,” a derogatory term.

Stasi did not find anything funny about “Jersey Shore.”

She wrote that the show’s moronic participants were “degrading and debasing themselves — and, by extension, all Italian-Americans — and furthering the popular TV notion that Italian-Americans are gel-haired, thuggish, ignoramuses with fake tans, no manners, no diction, no taste, no education, no sexual discretion, no hairdressers (for sure)…and no ambition beyond expanding steroid- and silicone-enhanced bodies into sizes best suited for floating over Macy’s on Thanksgiving.”

She added that a show like this about African Americans, Asians, Hispanics or Jewish people would never be allowed on the air.

Now tell us how you really feel, Linda. We happen to agree with her.

We’re not Italian American, but we grew up in north Jersey, “Sopranoland,” and (we know it’s a cliche) some of our best friends are Italians. We know and love their culture. One friend Donna, who we’ve known since we were eight, has a Master’s Degree and works for foreign agricultural aid in D.C. Her brother is a brain surgeon.

“Jersey Shore” does not do them, and their immigrant backgrounds, any justice.

Italian American groups are calling for MTV to cancel the show, and according to The New York Times, at least one advertiser, Domino’s Pizza, has already pulled its ads from “Jersey Shore.”

In its debut last Thursday “Jersey Shore” drew a 1.3 rating in MTV’s key demo of 12- to 24-year-olds. It had an audience of 1.4 million total viewers, according to MTV.

We are waiting to see if MTV and DiSanto — and MTV honcho Judy McGrath, one of the smartest and most sensitive executives we know — will do the right thing and pull the plug on “Jersey Shore.”

The adjective derogatory means showing strong disapproval and not showing respect. …

• Mr Siripong claimed to have killed Sunan in a fit of anger after she made derogatory remarks about him.

• We made an agreement with each other that neither of us would say anything derogatory about the other.

• “Four-eyes” is a childhood derogatory term for someone wearing glasses.

• India’s Election Commission, after inspecting video footage of Mr Gandhi’s speech, had said on March 22 that he had used “highly derogatory references and seriously provocative language of a wholly unacceptable nature”. …

(From Bangkok Post)

I’ve just got back from a viewing of the film ’District 9′ and thought I’d share my thoughts on it given that I’m the only person still up in the house and have no one else to talk to. For anyone who doesn’t know what it’s about, the film takes place in Johannesburg, aliens landed 20 years ago and their huge mothership remains dormant and hovering above the city. The aliens, referred to as ‘prawns’ (an insulting term for anyone let alone aliens) have been placed into a slum known as District 9. Bureaucrat Wikus van de Merwe is sent by his employers to evict the aliens and move them to a new settlement camp ‘District 10′. Unbeknown to the humans, who are the villains in this film, an alien, his friend and son have been gathering fluid for the last two decades so they can return to the mother ship and leave to go back home. I won’t say any more than that as I don’t want to spoil it, but it is a good film and well worth a view. My only gripe is that the first half is better than the second which does get predictable, and it also reminded me somewhat of a cross between ‘The Fly’ and ‘Mac and Me’ (and I’m still waiting for the sequel to that one. Mac and Co promised they’d be back in 1988 and haven’t been seen since).  Anyway, District 9 does set itself up for a sequel at the end so only time will tell. Thanks for reading. 

Firstly it was bonus payments for bankers seen as largely responsible for the ‘credit crunch’, and then excessive expenses claims by members of parliament (MPs).

Although these activities were not necessarily illegal, the British public has been enthusiastically encouraged by the press to denounce them as immoral.

This common view that dubious morality is endemic amongst those in positions of power has been highlighted recently by the ironic election success of a Croatian politician with a campaign slogan of ‘All for me, nothing for you’.

From a psychological perspective, such beliefs illustrate the ultimate attribution error, where negative behaviours of individual members are seen as typical of an entire out-group.

On closer inspection, however, this simple moral dichotomy is more complex than it may first appear. For example, MP’s expenses have been likened to so-called ‘Spanish practices’, a derogatory British term that continues to be surprisingly widely-used despite its racist implications. Such practices are questionable non-contractual working arrangements that benefit the employee and have become accepted as normal over time. These typically occur within heavily unionised industries, and have previously been the subject of industrial disputes.

Rather ironically then, many of those claiming the moral high-ground in terms of MP’s expenses commonly take advantage of exactly the same kind of ‘unofficial benefits’, suggesting that morality is a somewhat flexible concept.

Interestingly, the very term (mis-)used to describe these practices is a further example of the ultimate attribution error, being one of a number of historic British slurs attributing negative behaviours to foreign nationality out-groups.

‘Spanish practices’ of MPs from the Mail Online

Sunar, D. (2009). Suggestions for a New Integration in the Psychology of Morality

Giles, D. & Shaw, R. L. (2009). The Psychology of News Influence and the Development of Media Framing Analysis

The yellow part of an egg is called the yolk and the white part is the egg-white.

There is a word with the same pronunciation, but it is spelt Y-O-K-E. This is a very funny word. Traditionally, a yoke is a collar for oxen pulling a plough or cart. Irish people tend to use this word in a variety of ways.

Well, Irish people might refer to “that yoke”, to identify an object whose noun eludes them. A humorous example of this is “yoke-a-me-bob”. This term can be applied to an array of items for complicated gadgetry or simple forgetfulness.

“Yoke” can also be used in a derogatory context. See our colleague over there playing a game of pool? I could refer to him as “that yoke over there”. This would imply that I think him to be useless or not worthy of a name.

“Yoke” might be used to describe certain anatomy. If my friend refused to come out for a pint, I might question the benefit of staying in and playing with his yoke. Do you get the application of the word in this context?

No, it isn’t a good thing to play with your yoke. And no, you shouldn’t do it in public.

~Exaggerations of the sinful scribe John; “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written”

Wellwateredgarden says:

According to the last verse of the book of John in the Christian Scriptures (“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” – John 21:24) Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

paarsurreys says:

Hi friend wellwateredgarden

I would like to mention here something from Second Coming 1835-1908

The Promised Messiah says:

Let it also be noticed that this not only detracts from the prophethood and apostleship of Jesus (on whom be the peace of God) but it is also derogatory to his claim to spiritual eminence, holiness, love, and knowledge of God, to which he has repeatedly given expression in the gospels. Just look through the Bible; therein Jesus clearly claims that he is the Light of the world, that he is the Guide, and that he stands in a relation of great love towards God; that he has been honored by a clean birth, and that he is the loved Son of God.

How then, in spite of these pure and holy relations, can a curse, with all its significance, be attributed to Jesus? No, never. Therefore, there is no doubt that Jesus was not crucified, i.e., he did not die on the Cross, for his personality did not deserve the underlying consequence of death on the Cross. Not having been crucified, he was spared the impure implications of a curse, and no doubt it also proves that he did not go to heaven, for going to heaven formed part of this whole scheme and was a consequence of the idea of his having been crucified.

Therefore, when it is proved that he was neither accursed, nor did he go to hell for three days, nor did he suffer death the other part of the scheme, namely, that he went to heaven, is proved to be wrong. On this point the Bible has more evidence which I proceed to state below. There is the statement of Jesus: ‘But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee’ (Matthew: chapter 26, verse 32).

This verse clearly shows that Jesus, after he had come out of the tomb, went to Galilee and not to heaven. Jesus’ words ‘After I am risen’ do not mean his rising up alive after he was dead; rather, as in the eyes of the Jews and the common people he had died on the Cross, he used words beforehand consistent with what they were to think of him in the future, and indeed, the man who was placed on the Cross, in whose hands and feet nails had been driven till he had fainted from pain, had become as good as dead; if such a man was saved from such a calamity and if he recovered his senses it would not be an exaggeration on his part to say that he had come to life again.

There is no doubt that after so much suffering, Jesus’ escape from death was a miracle; it was no ordinary event. But to think that he had died is wrong. It is true that in the books of the New Testament words of this kind occur, but this is a mistake of the writers of those books, just as they had committed mistakes in recording several other historical events. Commentators who have made researches into these books admit that the books of the New Testament have two parts: (1) the spiritual instruction received by the disciples from Jesus (peace be on him) which is the essence of the teachings of the Gospel; (2) historical events — like the genealogy of Jesus; his arrest and his being beaten; the existence in his time of a miraculous pond, etc.

These, the writers recorded by themselves; they were not revealed; rather, they were set down in accordance with the writer’s own ideas. In some places there are undue exaggerations, as where it is stated that if all the miracles and works of Jesus were recorded in books, the earth would not be able to accommodate these books. How exaggerated is this statement!

http://www.alislam.org/library/books/jesus-in-india/ch1.html

Paarsurrey says;

If the works done could be accommodated in this world; why could not the written accounts of the same accommodated in the world?

I further had to add that verses 24-25 were clearly an addition to the book of John. A little thought would reveal that the language of these verses is clearly a later addition by somebody; it is incongruent to the previous verses in the chapter. Those who say that the Bible is not corrupted; must see through it, if they have some insight and sight with them.

I give here opinion of the research scholars about it from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_21
Verses 24-25

The chapter is closed by two verses that sit incongruously with the remainder of the chapter – referring to the author of the gospel (whoever it might be) in the 3rd person (“… for we know that what he says is true”).

[edit] Manuscript evidence

In an essay, contributed on behalf of scholars unconvinced of any decisive sense of “originality” to John 21 (published in 2007), Felix Just wrote: “We (unfortunately!) do not possess any ancient manuscript of John that actually ends at 20:31.”[1] In other words, ancient manuscripts that contain the end of John 20 also contain text from John 21. So if John 21 is an addition, it was so early and so widespread, that no evidence of the prior form has survived.

Both Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27) and the United Bible Societies (UBS4) provide critical text for John 21.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_21
Verses 24-25

I love Jesus and Mary as mentioned in Quran.

Thanks

I am an Ahmadi peaceful Muslim

Seem familiar to anyone?

Today I learned that it does not pay  to try to always be helpful. Don’t put your two cents in,  just keep your freakin mouth shut!

Sometimes you just have to look in the opposite direction no matter how much it may bother or hurt you.  In any business efficiency is a must yet there are many who lack it. This obviously makes it hard for your “operation” to run smoothly but you must find a way.

I have been with my current employer almost two years and it was the worst time I ever spent. I will skip over the B.S. I went through with my coworkers. My main point is about my boss. He is not efficient, is definitely not a good manager and gets something out of belittling other people. Not to mention he is selective with the person that he does treat like a human being. When he does, he rubs it in everyone else’s face. You could not imagine how many times he blamed me for situations at our establishment when they were not my fault or only chose me to do the dirty work. Although I am a very hard worker and take pride in what I do (Vet Tech) he has called me lazy, had the nerve to give me a speech about finding myself, has tried to make me change my school schedule to accommodate him when he was short staffed, tells me after almost two years that I do not deserve a raise, he has told me he does not respect me and has more respect for my other co-workers and my personal favorite…he “accidentally” hit me with a book once.

Why did I not quit you ask? Because I thought I had the odds against me. I am in my late twenties but some people still don’t see me as an adult, I am a female and I am Latina. The job market at this current time is not on my side either. I have sat here taken his crap thinking one day something will happen and he will value me as an employee. NEVER HAPPENED.

So going back to dealing with my coworkers B.S. for a second. I asked one in particular to call me so we could speak about some issues I was having. This was learning from the last time we tried to speak and she made a scene in front of our clients.  I wanted to bring to her attention some tiny things  she was doing to make my work performance poor. Yes, that’s possible.  Well that was stupid of me. She began to scream as if she was 4 years old having a tantrum and ended in saying we will let the boss decide what happens. I mean WTF!  Little did I know trying to be adult about the situation would bite me in the ass.

Yes, there are parts that I am leaving out but you can trust I was a very good employee but just cared to voice things that I should not have gave a shit about. So, my boss calls me into this “meeting” with him, myself and the coworker. He lets me explain my side for two seconds lets her speak for 10 minutes and then begins to belittle me in front of her which might I point out is incorrect for ANY boss to do. For one hour, twenty two minutes and fourteen seconds my boss reminds me how lazy he thinks I am, how he feels more of the situations that go bad in the work place are due to my negligence (keep in mind I work 3 days a week) and then finally decides to tell me I am fired for a situation that had nothing to do with my work performance. Funny thing, toward the end I started to finally get fed up with him and started emailing out my resume. I even got an offer at another hospital but declined because I felt bad when someone else I worked with suddenly quit.  Some might say I’m stupid but I think it’s because I have a goo heart. Lesson learned.

The moral of my story is to not let your boss or any superior speak to you in a derogatory manor. Stick up for yourself and if they have a problem with that you don’t need to work there. You are better than that! Don’t let anyone try to bring you down. Remember, no matter what situation you are in, things could always be worse. Get out of it while you can and don’t think you will never find a job again. You might even have to struggle financially for a while but you can make it just believe in yourself. Your self worth and self respect is much more valuable than money.

If you are going through this or something similar, I would say make it your business to buy the best quality pocket size voice recorder because you WILL be using those recordings later. I will let you draw your own conclusions.

Now before you start to feel sorry for me just know that although it was almost to late, I got a back up plan. ALWAYS have a back up plan!

What’s up ho? Hey Hooker-Face.

Women adore calling their lady friends by these lovely monikers. It’s like an insult filled with genuine love. If a woman fails to refers to you in those terms, you are not a true friend. She does not feel comfortable with you. Perhaps there is no trust. Period.

But, why the names that bring about images of women of the night? Women of, shall I say, Ill-repute? That is quite difficult for most women to explain. Perhaps we think we are being clever. Maybe there is some truth in what we are calling each other.

In reality, no woman wants to be called a “slut.” That’s one of the worst possible insults one female can bestow upon another. But, when your best friend Lindsay calls your cell and greets you with a “Hey skank,” you’re okay with it. You’re okay with it, because the two of you are cool. It wasn’t out of spite. It was out of affection. Lindsay doesn’t really think you are selling yourself on the street corner. Lindsay doesn’t believe that you sleep around with several men a week. And, even if you did, you two are ‘girls.’ It’s totally okay. No one really needs to know the details of your seedy sex life anyway. You slut.

Here is a compiled list of the affectionate names women call each other (and my personal favorites), whether it be through simple conversation, the phone, texting, and anything else:

*Ho, Hooker-face, slut, skank, fatty, streetwalker, man-eater, C#$%, Twat, Hooch, Hoochie, Ghetto ho, dyke, lesbo, bimbo, Shawty, HoodRat, whore, bitch, be-yotch, tramp, stripper, pole dancer, fat ass, and fugly*

These make me smile. When used appropriately. If we are not ‘down,’ and you call me a fugly– we’re gonna have words.

Keep in mind men, you are not permitted to use these at any point with a lover or a friend. Not even in the playful manner mentioned above. Unless you are gay. It’s kind of like White people using the N-Word. Off limits brotha. Don’t ask why. Just accept it and move on.

Later Be-yotches.

 Some of our more astute readers might have noticed an addition to our right hand sidebar yesterday.  The OneSeventeen team wants to show our support of the Special Olympics and their fantastic campaign to end the derogatory use of the word “retarded.” (From here on out, known as the “r-word.”)  Using respectful, considerate language is a key piece in respecting others and acknowledging the dignity of all people.  This is an incredible opportunity to dialogue with our young people about the power of the words they use and a prime example of a movement we’d liked to engage in with our PlumbBrain youth community. 

There’s a great video on the Special Olympics site where Soeren Palumbo, who’s sister is mentally challenged, shares why the r-word isn’t ok.  

My mother has been on a campaign against the r-word her entire life, and several of my friends can attest to her stopping the car in heavy traffic to inform one of my middle school friends that she “would not use the word retarded as a derogatory remark” in my mother’s presence and she could “considering blacklisting it from her vocabulary, because throwing “retarded” as an insult only makes you look ignorant.”   I think many kids don’t realize the insulting insinuations that come from using words like “retarded” and “gay” as synonyms for “stupid, dumb, ignorant, and foolish” and many others.   The chorus I repeated in my own classroom upon hearing the r-word was, “there are people who are retarded by no choice of their own and you will not make fun of them or insult them in this classroom.”  Several times during the semester we’d end up in longer conversations about the r-word, but my one liner typically shut students down pretty quickly and conveyed my point.  After a few weeks, I’d delight in hearing my students call one another out on using the r-word. 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 is National Day of Awareness about the use of the r-word in this country.  Visit the r-word’s site and sign the pledge to be part of changing the conversation about the r-word!  

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Today I want to speak about something that has been bugging me for quite a while – the perceived notion of something that is called “slang”. Here’s an excerpt of the definition from Wikipedia:

On defining Slang:
“It is a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater responsibility.“

First of all, a term or word can only be taboo in certain circles – there is no single word that is taboo for the entirety of all humankind, or say all of the English-speaking peoples. In fact, the notion that a word can be banned from a language for its derogatory meaning is pure, excuse my french, bullshit. Words are words – they exist to voice our thoughts in audibly understandable patterns. Banning a word does nothing to the fact that we still have the meaning of the word in our heads. For example, if the word “cunt” were to be banned, people would not instantly forget that the word existed, or what the word meant. They would be forced to use synonyms that in some cases probably would not be able to confer the right meaning, such as the original word would have been able to (hence the usage of the original word). Instead, the people would feel censored in their right to express themselves, and rightly so.

The second part of that definition that really riles me is the “higher social status or greater responsibility” bullshit (there, I said it again). Social equality is by no means a reality, and this definition is just exemplifying the wide gap that exists in most Western societies. So, the language of the “streets” is too dirty for high society? A few days ago I spoke about register and the differences in register pertaining to status within the society – a homeless person might not be as eloquent as someone who graduated from Harvard. However, someone should not be looked down upon by his speech or his register. “Slang” is just an excuse to condemn speech not pertaining to certain standard set by the higher-ups, rendering it inferior.

A recent story from the world of music illustrates my point. Nas, a very successful Hip Hop artist in the US had to change his album title due to pressure from the music industry. Nas, someone who is very outspoken when it comes to Freedom of Speech, originally planned to title his album Nigger (well aware of the implications the name would have for music industry), but had the change the name after huge amounts of pressure from the press, the rest of the music industry, and his own label. The album went on sale with the name “Untitled”, and in one track Nas tells the story of the album title and reassures that “his true fans know the name of the album“.

So, an African American, admittedly the only group on this planet that is officially allowed to use the N-word, was forbidden from using the word as his album title because of the possible complaints? How low has the world come that freedom of speech is so distorted, that perfectly normal aspects of language are branded inferior, and that whole words are banned from use just because someone was offended – if every time someone was offended by something we had to ban the thing that offended the person, we wouldn’t have very much left that was unbanned.

Further reading:
Nas changes album title

Official artist website on Def Jam

Slang on Wikipedia

-Moritz

Government Sanctioned Depictions of Hinduism

Pakistan’s Education Minister, Asharaf Qazi, declared that the concept of Jihad will remain in Pakistani textbooks as a part of its curriculum and that the Islamiyat secondary school curriculum will cover Quranic teachings, Haqooq Allah, Rights of God, life of Prophet Muhmmad, etiquette and prominent personalities of Islam — all from a militant Islamist perspective. Ironically, this intolerance is indirectly financed by the U.S., which supplied $62.7 million in 2006 for education in Pakistan.

Extracts (translated from Urdu to English) from the government-sponsored textbooks approved by the National Curriculum Wing of the Federal Ministry of Education demonstrate the derogatory and inflammatory portrayal of Hinduism to the children of Pakistan:

*

Grade IV: “The religion of Hindus did not teach them good things, [and the] Hindus did not respect women.”
*

Grade V: “The Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam.”
*

Grade VI: “The Hindu setup was based on injustice and cruelty.”
*

Grade VII: “Hindus always desired to crush the Muslims as a nation [and] several attempts were made by the Hindus to erase Muslim culture and civilization.”
*

Grade VIII: “Before Islam people lived in untold misery all over the world.”
*

Grade X: “Islam gives a message of peace and brotherhood…There is no such concept in Hinduism.”

In addition to these negative depictions of Hinduism, many government run schools in Sindh force Hindu students to take Islamic studies classes. Hindu students and other minorities are denied the opportunity to take classes in their own religions, and often struggle in the Islamiyat courses. These schools include N.A. Bechar Government Primary School, also known as Syed Mahmood Shah Gazi, and Sindh Madrasatul Islam School, in Karachi. Although the education board has technically implemented an alternative ethics course, in reality the schools and teachers still force non-Muslim students to take the Islamiyat classes.

A jury found Lori Drew guilty of three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization, in violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In the past, that law has primarily been used in hacking and trademark theft cases. Use in the manner Drew was convicted is unprecedented. Drew faces up to a $300,000 fine and three years in prison.

Drew was accused of involvement in a hoax in which she helped create a fictitious 16-year-old boy on MySpace and then sending messages from the character appearing to flirt with teenage neighbor Megan Meier. She then made it appear the fictitious boy made derogatory comments about Meier, saying the world would be better without her. Meier hanged herself shortly afterwards.

Drew was initially charged with felony conspiracy and of intentionally causing emotional harm. She was found not guilty on the emotional harm charge and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the conspiracy charge.The trial occurred in Los Angles, the jurisdiction where servers of the social networking site are located.

The attorney seeking dismissal has argued that it is not a federal crime to violate the terms of service of MySpace.

JOHOR BARU: A soldier is suing three superior officers for alleged slander and abuse at the Tanjung Sepang military post two months ago which left him deformed. He is seeking RM250,000 as compensation.

Prebet Khanafi Umar, 27, of the Royal Malay Regiment’s 10th Battalion, filed the suit at the Sessions Court Registry here yesterday.

He named his operations officer Mej Norazmi Idris, intelligence officer Kapt Saiful Adli Ishak and battalion commander Lt-Kol Adnaan Mahmod as the first, second and third defendants.

Pbt Khanafi, from Sarawak, said in his statement of claim that Mej Norazmi and Kapt Saiful had summoned him to the headquarters of the Tanjung Sepang post in Sungai Rengit, Kota Tinggi, at 10pm on Nov 3.

There, they supposedly accused him of raping an illegal immigrant and stealing her belongings during an operation on illegal immigrants, Pbt Khanafi said.

The two allegedly uttered a derogatory phrase against him, he said, adding that he was also stripped naked, had ants placed on his private parts and had a bayonet pointed at him to force a confession from him that he had raped the woman and stolen her things.

Pbt Khanafi claimed that he was hit with a computer power cord, kicked all over the body and punched and slapped on the face and body. As a result, he said he sustained cuts and bruises on the body and fractured his left hand.

He received treatment at Kota Tinggi Hospital and the military hospital in the Majidee camp.

During an assembly at the Tanjung Sepang post’s tactical headquarters on Nov 5, he said, Kol Adnaan had falsely accused him and three colleagues of rape and stealing. – Bernama

This blog has become very massive very quick.  I have added a Tag Search (to your right) to help you in finding information on boycotts, letter writing, and other information.  Every post has a “tag” such as “Prop 8″ or “Marches”. 

Kicking A Lion respects everyone’s freedom of speech.  However, you took away my freedom of marriage so I will be moderating (and deleting) derogatory comments.