Good grief! It’s been about a hundred years since I updated this thing – and unfortunately, my gallant return to this blog doesn’t come in the form of a particularly wistful or insightful analysis on any kind of video game thing. Nah. I kind of just want to update my readers on recent stuff that’s been happening, and share some cool events and links. So here we go!
I’ve been watching the #1reasonwhy hashtag on Twitter with an anxious kind of understanding. Like, part of me wants to jump right in and post a dozen of my own experiences, but I’ve also learned what happens if you say that shit publicly: you’re berated, blamed, dismissed. I’ve been there.
But why the fuck should I have to fear posting this? I’ve been quiet on Twitter and Facebook lately, for many reasons, but you know what? I think I’ll make my own list of Reasons Why right here:
Click to embiggen me!
You know, this is – for the most part – strangely accurate. “Police computer-fraud squads” sound like the dreamy technological fantasy of an eighties-era Imaginationland, but we really do have those now! Their officers are probably not as sharply dressed, however. Why did people think, three decades ago, that we would one day revert to dressing like Fonzie, anyway?
(Via Twitter. Sorry, I forget who specifically.)
So I don’t usually write about non-game stuff, because I don’t typically find it very interesting. But you’ll have seen this god-awful trend by now, and possibly wondered, “what the fuck?” You know the one I’m talking about: all of a sudden, the otherwise well-behaved girls on your Facebook friends list are making lewd status updates that are frankly quite uncomfortable to read, leaving you wondering if they weren’t intending such a message to be seen only by a significant other. “I like it on the floor. I like it on the dining room table. I like it in the shower lol.”
Who had any idea that this was referring to a lady’s preferred placement of purse? Furthermore, who had any idea this viral stunt was supposed to raise awareness of breast cancer? Less than half the people posting these innuendo-filled statuses, if my own Facebook’s friends list is anything to go by. Keeping handbags in the shower or on the kitchen counter don’t make much sense, after all, but I guess “I like it on my shoulder” wouldn’t have sounded anywhere near as sexy. I’ve even seen guys add to the confusion by joining in with gems such as “I like it any which way but loose. But actually, loose is fine too.”
I keep this in the shower. Yeah.
I could say that somewhere along this internet chain of Chinese whispers the original point was lost, but I don’t think it had much of a point to begin with. I applaud anyone who is genuinely trying to raise awareness about serious issues like breast cancer, but you don’t go about it by turning it into a big, snickersome joke. I highly doubt that any breast cancer sufferers, or people who know or have known them, are really thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great to raise awareness of my plight by encouraging my friends to make lewd Facebook status updates full of double entendres in a very tenuous connection to my (hee hee!) breasts?”
Personally, I had no clue what this was about until I googled the damn trend, so I’m not seeing its awareness-raising potential. Somehow, I’m thinking even the pink ribbons had to be more effective than this. After all, the tiny amount of money those ribbons cost is still a tiny amount of money more than any breast cancer charity will be seeing from Facebook. The whole stunt feels like a way for people to make themselves seem cheeky yet magnanimous, all without having to chip into funds reserved for the designer purses that they apparently like keeping on the couch.
So instead of letting each other think we’re sexually deviant with our high-school-grade wit, how about we be really deviant this month and actually donate some money to a breast cancer charity?
