My new relationship

As this is open knowledge on my Facebook feed - and on someone else's, as will be noted in a moment - I ought to mention here that I have a girlfriend. After meeting a few short weeks ago and dating, my girlfriend and I made it official today and announced it publicly. We are crazy for one another and are breathless with excited anticipation at where life takes us from this day forward.

Flat-Earthers

On Facebook, I follow some pages that are to do with photography or science. Something that has concerned me in recent weeks is the prevalence of "Flat-Earthers" commenting on them. I don't mean people commenting jokingly about how the Earth is flat but people who genuinely think that this is the case.

Pun partially intended but what on earth is this nonsense? How can anyone, is this day and age, think that the Earth is flat? There is zero evidence to prove the flatness and plenty to prove that it's a sphere. An obvious example is watching a ship on an ocean: As the ship descends over the horizon, it's because it's travelling the curvature of the planet.

Has idiocy increased or is it just becoming more obvious because of social media? Anyone who believes that the Earth is flat and insults others for understanding that the opposite is true deserves to be laughed at as though they're an imbecile - because they are.

Bad parenting (on a bus)

I posted this to Facebook earlier:

"I observed earlier and example of "how not to parent". I was on a bus back to Clifton when a boy of about six or seven started to be told off; he was being a bit mouthy - not rude, just being silly and talking a little bit of nonsense, as kids that age tend to do. Rather than perhaps advise him to keep his voice down a tad, his mother instead loudly asked him if he was stupid, called him stupid and told him to "shut [his] mouth".

I'm not a parent (yet) nor would I want to tell others how to raise their kids but that seemed to me like a completely inappropriate way to handle the situation; I thought it was a gross overreaction towards a child who wasn't being much of a nuisance, if at all."

 What do you think?

Deflection over Executive Order 9066

Today marks the signing of Executive Order 9066 in the United States. This order was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and led to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. In modern society, the internment camps are noted as a stain on America.

Actor George Takei was interned in one of these camps when he was a child; as a result, he is against anything that remotely resembles them ever returning. On his Facebook page, he often posts about the camps and why it is important for them to never re-materialize in any form. Any reasonable human being would agree with him.

Unfortunately, whenever the internment camps are raised in Internet discussion, there are some people who don't listen to the message that the camps were unacceptable and shouldn't return. These people instead use the camps to deflect from any terrible policies developed by today's Republican Party. Why? Because FDR was a Democratic president and in their eyes, this is enough to dismiss any civil rights progression the Democrats have achieved in the seven and a half decades since.

No one has ever argued that because a Democratic president issued an order to set up the internment camps that the camps were therefore okay. No one. In fact, that a Democrat did issue it is part of the reason why today's Democrats are vocal about how terrible the camps were and why they should never be seen again; the main reason, of course, is that it's morally wrong to isolate and segregate people based on their ethnicity. "A Democrat did it!" is just a childish deflection from developments in American politics today.

The message here? Yes, a Democratic president was behind the internment camps for Japanese Americans in the latter half of World War II but no one today says that it was acceptable because the president was a Democrat; the people who discuss the camps now are doing so to remind others that they were a dark part of American history and should remain in the past.

More obnoxiousness

I posted this to Facebook a few hours ago:

"We're currently in an age of the Internet in which posting memes or claiming that someone needs a safe space are somehow considered both valid and winning 'arguments' against a well-researched point. Just when you think it couldn't possibly worsen, online incivility manages to pull our shorts up over our heads and tie them in a knot* by sinking to a lower level.

What is it now? The latest trolling method comes in the form of the 'trash dove' - a gif of a purple cartoon dove, which is used to derail discussions by obnoxiously flooding comment areas with it. People give up debating when they have to scroll through some clown posting the gif 50 times or more in one thread.

(*not my phrase)"

Honestly, this new troll tactic involving the dove gif is really obnoxious. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a new alt-right trick; in recent months, people have been responding to alt-right insults by either wearing them with pride or throwing them back. As a result, the power of the alt-right's tactics has been reduced. Coming up with a new way to troll is consistent with alt-right Internet behaviour.

That's not how you debate

I wrote this on Facebook earlier:

 "I was taught that debate goes like this:

1. Person or Group A makes an evidence-backed claim.
2. Person or Group B disagrees but support it with their own evidence.

Not:

1. Repeat step one.
2. Person or Group B disagrees and either yells at A to find evidence to support B's argument or demands that A find evidence for the claim A has already given evidence for.
3. B engages in insults if A points out the absurdity of this.

The latter seems to be increasing in popularity..."

I was inspired to write the post because in the past couple of days, on a discussion I noticed a bunch of people criticising some statistics but they offered no evidence to support their claims, although the statistics had a source themselves. When I politely asked for sources to be provided, the response was the people insulting me and demanding that I provide evidence to support the statistics that they were criticising. I ended up blocking a bunch of them because while for the most part I shrug off online insults, even my patience has limits when it comes to dealing with trolls.

Running for course rep

I posted this to Facebook a few hours ago:

"It's election season...here at NTU! After much consideration, I have just nominated myself for 'Humanities Joint Honours 1st Year Course Rep'. In other words, it's like the class rep role I had at Central last year except that, if elected, I'd be representing all Joint Honours students, not just one class or all those doing English and Media like me. Voting begins sometime late next week and Joint Honours students are the constituency voting on this position.

I was encouraged by both my course leader and an admin who organises rep-related matters to use my recent article from the "Nottingham Post" about my time at Central to demonstrate why I'd be an ideal course rep. :) I don't know what my chances are but I hope I receive a respectable showing!"

Being a class rep at Central involved listening to feedback from the students I represented and passing it along in learner voice meetings. A course rep's job is similar, only there are a few more meetings to attend. We'll find out before the end of the month whether or not I have won.

Muslim hugs

This positive article appeared on my Facebook feed yesterday:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/trump-rally-hugs?utm_term=.dy4OZ1lz9#.vc24xDdgy

Hajer Sbehawi and her much-younger sister, both from Michigan, attended a rally of Hillary Clinton's main rival in the United States presidential election. Their purpose was to spread love and to educate the participants of the rally that Muslims, such as themselves, are not at all violent - they're just people, like everybody else. Sbehawi reckons that many people at such rallies have never met a Muslim and are ignorant rather than purposely hateful.

What is sad is that Sbehawi and others like her feel that it's necessary to educate others that Muslims are not inherently violent. I met several Muslims at college and it would be ridiculous to assume that all, most or even just a handful of them were evil people. They were there to learn and to make friends - the same reason that everyone else went to college.

Relevant tweet

I saw this image of the following tweet posted to Facebook earlier:

I would say that "medical degrees from Infowars University" are what these people who are diagnosing Hillary Clinton via the Internet all possess. Infowars is a far-right fringe site and an Alt-Right troll den; it is not a reliable source by any means and should not be trusted.

Hillary Clinton and her health

I wrote this on Facebook earlier as my response to the reaction about Hillary Clinton's recent bout of pneumonia:

"Yesterday, my post to remember 9/11 was to say that the best way to honor the victims is to be more understanding and less hateful - to foster cooperation. I'm appalled that in the 24+ hours since Hillary Clinton felt ill at a 9/11 memorial service, I have witnessed online the opposite of what I had hoped for: Massive, massive amounts of vitriol - expressions of glee at her being ill and seemingly countless people wishing for her demise. Even on websites politically favorable to her, comments sections are littered with those celebrating her being sick.

While I am not surprised by this sort of behavior, I am disappointed. Actually, the fact I'm not surprised is a disappointment in itself, as it shows the level of decorum within political arenas is currently atrocious. It's one thing to not support a candidate but another to cheer any harm towards them."

What I didn't say is that Clinton being ill does not, by any means, excuse the long history of bigotry committed by her main opponent in this election. It is ridiculous to suggest that being sick - and easily treatable in this case, I should add - suddenly makes Clinton "unfit" for the presidency when none of her opponent's comments, so matter how gruesome, have done the same for him. Clinton has been campaigning hard and attended a 9/11 memorial in high heat and humidity even though she should have been in bed; this shows strength on her part.

Fifteen years

In light of it being fifteen years since the events of September 11th, 2001, I wrote this on Facebook earlier today:

"Fifteen years since 9/11...I think the best way to remember and honor those who died that day is to not use them as an excuse to hate others but to instead use them to encourage understanding and cooperation. Why? Because the 9/11 casualties were themselves victims of hatred; spreading more hatred is not only disrespectful to them but also leads to further deaths and resentment. Does the world not have enough anger already?"

Sadly, 2016 appears to have been an excellent year for hatemongers. I've seen quite a lot of horrible comments online before, of course, but this year has been especially vitriolic. The hate needs to retreat.

Phone maker joke

In light of the new iPhone, I posted this joke to Facebook today:

"So, Apple has replaced wired headphones with wireless. In the long-running game of smartphone maker one-upmanship, our favourite South Korean company announced the upcoming "Samsung Galaxy Blank" - a phone without a screen; makes an excellent paperweight. Meanwhile, Google suggested that its next Nexus might not even have corporeal form - users instead rely on imagination for functionality. Unfortunately, patent trolls claim ownership of both ideas. Stay tuned for more Onion-like news!"

 It should be noted that my phone is a Galaxy Note!

Michael Phelps

I wrote this on Facebook about Michael Phelps, with regards to his wins in the current 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro:

"Michael Phelps is truly an impressive athlete; unlike those who are talked up as great and then go on to lose, he is dismissed and goes on to win (such as when he wasn't believed about being able to pull off eight golds in 2008) - not to mention his leaving retirement to compete once again. My family have been fans of his since the 2004 Games, so we're glad he's now the most-decorated Olympian - certainly a worthy and decent person for the title."

Phelps has always come across as genuine whenever we've seen or heard him be interviewed. He's definitely deserving of all his success; that he's competed in so many Olympics and performed strongly in all of them is a testament to him.

Mocking a non-native speaker

I posted this to Facebook earlier:

"It is inappropriate and unfair to be angry with or mock someone who doesn't speak English as their first language and thus, occasionally makes an error or has to research a word or two or more while communicating. Such a person has taken the time to learn the language; the correct course of action is to help them if they desire help rather than moan at them for not being able to speak it properly. They want to learn! Can't ask for more than that."

I followed it up by saying that I was in no position to be a critic of a non-native speaker of English given that I only know a small amount of another language and all that knowledge comes from a computer game.

Post-Indiana 2016

I posted this to Facebook a few hours ago:

"Non-partisan (and a bit lengthy) thoughts on the post-Indiana state of the 2016 US presidential election: The surrenders of Cruz and Kasich ensure that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. The party establishment was unwise to dismiss him as a joke and laugh him off - Trump has been successful at keeping himself relevant for years, so underestimating him was a bizarre mistake.

On the Democratic side, the establishment there has been making the same mistake of underestimating Bernie Sanders. An insurgent candidate pulling off surprise wins at this point in the race is, to my knowledge, unprecedented. Insulting/dismissing him and his supporters would be as unwise as underestimating Trump so far has been.

This is a fascinating election; Obama-Romney 2012 is increasingly looking like a sleep-a-thon by comparison."

When Donald Trump announced his campaign last year, I didn't think he was running as a joke - I thought he should be taken seriously and I was right. The Republicans who are despairing at him having defeated all of his opponents so far ought to have done more to stop him, if they were that concerned.

As for the Democrats, Bernie Sanders continues to poll well and rack up wins; in fact, many of the upcoming states are favorable to him - perhaps more so now that Trump essentially has the Republican nomination, as some people who voted Trump to keep out Ted Cruz might switch to support Sanders in primaries. Regardless, it is a mistake for anyone on the Democratic side to discredit Sanders and his supporters; if he doesn't win the nomination, it won't be helpful for the Democrats for his voters to keep out of the presidential race.

More to learn about Harry Potter

I saw this article from the Heart radio network appear on my Facebook feed this evening:

http://www.heart.co.uk/showbiz/amazing-facts-about-harry-potter-2015-2016/#EoWYgXqPrLCtTCdO.97

We're still learning about Harry Potter, even after nine years since the final book was released. New books are on the way, of course, so we'll continue to learn more about the Potter universe for the foreseeable future.

"This One Brave Soul Spoke Out Against Internet Procrastination. The Response Completely Changed My View On Life!"

I posted this to Facebook a few hours ago:

"Recently, I've become more active in *not* clicking clickbait headlines. So far, it has worked and has saved me valuable time for more productive tasks. Should have done it sooner!

However, even before I started, the type of headline I was ignoring was 'Person 1 said something and Person 2 DESTROYED them!'. These aren't even clickbait anymore...they're just outright ridiculous and entered old hat territory when I read about how certain US presidential candidates were DESTROYED this way (some several times, in fact) yet still have active campaigns."

I usually groaned, tutted or muttered something whenever I saw such headlines but I continued to read articles associated with them until I saw a dozen or so pages about Donald Trump being "demolished", "destroyed" or "obliterated" by someone who made some mildly witty remark about something he'd said. The blatantly-bogus headlines became boring (and no, this isn't an endorsement of Trump - it's possible to be a critic and still reject nonsensical claims about someone or something).

Oh, and the clickbaity title for this post is intentional; it's from a comment I posted on my Facebook post when a friend and I were joking about this topic. This is, by far, my longest blog post title.

Criticism of the youth

I recently posted this to Facebook

"When I am much older than I am now, something I promise to do then is to *not* insult generations of people younger than me. There is this tedious trend in which the generations in charge of the world complain about those who come after them. The people who will reach adulthood in twenty years time will have lived in different shoes than me; it will not be my place to judge them and in the event I renege on this promise, please call me out on it."

The current new generation or two receives an awful lot of criticism from the very generations that were responsible for raising them. Before, those older generations received criticism from those that raised them. Rather than continue the cycle, my intention is to treat those younger than me with respect, as I already do and should do because being considerate towards others is what a person should do as a decent member of society and not a douche.

Another type of tedious behaviour

Earlier today, an article in my Facebook feed about the singer Ariana Grande appeared. The article was innocuous and there was nothing negative present. Yes, I think it's obvious where this is going...

In the comments section, cue "Who" and "Who is Ariana Grande" silliness. Actually, I should call it trolling. Why? Because the people making said comments knew exactly who Ariana Grande is - anyone who follows the Facebook page on which the article made a feature is almost certain to be media-aware enough to know who she is. Rather than a genuine desire to learn, the comments were a trolling attempt; the people took issue with the singer herself and the "who" comments were to imply that she is a has-been.

This was confirmed when I posted a comment about the people making said comments. While several people agreed with me and "liked" my comment, others resorted to posting misogynistic nonsense about Grande and attacking me; others resorted to MRA trolling, as for some bizarre reason, they saw my comment as "white knighting" Grande. Soon afterwards, they followed the previous foolishness up with petty insults. Typical.

Much as I hate to tell someone to "Google it" if they ask me a question, if you're currently using the Internet, you might as well Google something rather than ask someone about it.

It was twenty years

This was my evening contribution to Facebook:

"This recent February 7th marked twenty years when my family and I moved to California from the UK; somewhere at the end of February or into March of that year, we moved to a town called Patterson, located near Modesto in CA's Central Valley, a region home to the state's agriculture (and epic heat).

I completely forgot on the day that it had been twenty years, as back on this February 7th I was more concerned about catching up on exercise than I was remembering an anniversary of mine.The day we emigrated seems as though it happened not only in another lifetime but in another universe completely."

Twenty years...such a long time ago.