All Episodes
Previous Next
Jan. 25, 2015 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
26:29
This Week in Stupid (25⧸01⧸2015)
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to this week in Stupid for the 25th of January 2014.
I'm still trying to figure out this video software, so hopefully it comes out in a slightly higher resolution than the last video.
It's been quite some time since we heard from Jessica Valenti, so I stopped by The Guardian, and I thought we'd check out what she's been up to.
And she's discovered that the awful power of the word slut will defeat feminists' efforts to reclaim it.
She starts by telling us that for the last 20 years, feminists have been trying to reclaim the word slut.
But Jessica's finally figuring out that there is no reclaiming a word that was never good to start with.
She asks us to take the example of Leora Tannenbaum.
In 2000 she wrote Slut, Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, chronicling girls and women's experiences with the word.
She says she herself was called a slut as a high school student in the 1980s, long before the term sexual harassment was coined, and also said that I had no vocabulary to understand what happened.
It is pertinent to point out that calling someone slut is not sexual harassment.
It's an insult.
At least according to the United Nations.
But anyway, 15 years later, Tannenbaum is about to publish another book, I am not a slut, because in part the sheen of reclaiming slut appears to have worn off over the years.
When she spoke to women who called themselves sluts with a positive and defiant spirit, all told her the decision had turned against them later, and all regretted it.
What a fucking surprise.
Incredible how it's just not possible to reclaim a word that never had a good meaning in the first place.
And if you were wondering, the word slut first appeared in Middle English meaning a dirty, untidy or slovenly woman.
Why one would want to reclaim this word or adopt it as one's own is beyond me.
I have absolutely no idea.
But they're so close to realising that they're in an echo chamber.
Tannenbaum told me that when women are in close circle or close-knit community, like a protest with like-minded people or among friends who can understand the cheeky appropriation of the word, identifying as a slut can be empowering.
But what inevitably happens, especially in today's digital culture, where revenge porn, stolen pictures and cyber harassment is the norm, completely, completely unrelated concepts there, Jessica.
Don't know why you bring them up, but what inevitably happens is that it always spills outwards, as in people outside of your hugbox and outside of your echo chamber hear you and think, why the fuck is she calling herself a slut?
That has never been a good thing.
And she goes on to say, beyond women who try to reclaim slut for themselves, other feminists have rightfully asked why we should try to reclaim a word with so much baggage, especially a word that impacts different women differently and brings a lot more pain than righteous justice.
It's not just feminists who are saying this.
They're saying, don't bother, there's no point, you cannot win this fight.
But it gets better, so much better, as the progressive stack comes fully into play here.
Slut walks, for example, are no longer the coarser celebration they once were because some women of colour spoke out against the ways in which protests and the reclamation of slut focused on the ability of white women to simultaneously embrace the word and reject its meaning.
Those awful white women, if only they would just let the black women speak first.
A group of black female academics, activists and writers wrote an open letter explaining that, as black women, we do not have the privilege or the space to call ourselves slut without validating the already historically entrenched ideology and recurring messages about what and who the black woman is.
Oh fucking hell, they're going to start talking about intersectional oppressions now and how white women should shut their mouths and stop talking.
And white women are going to be stupid enough to shut their mouths and stop talking.
Can they see the problem with the progressive stack yet?
Rutzka's professor and writer Brittany Cooper wrote, to organise a movement around the reclamation of a term is in and of itself an act of white privilege.
Fucking why?
Why is that an act of white privilege?
I mean, haven't black people reclaimed the word nigger?
I thought that this was something that anyone could do.
Oh my god, I just don't understand this kind of bullshit.
I don't think they understand this kind of bullshit.
Otherwise, Jessica Valenti would have been like, whoa, or all of them would have been like, well, we can't do a slut walk.
We cannot do a slut walk.
That's white privilege.
But they didn't know that.
They didn't think about it.
Possibly because, you know, privilege is invisible to those who have it.
And they had no other choice now but to go, yeah, you know what, we can't reclaim that word.
We're so sorry.
We're sorry, black people.
I'm so sorry we weren't taking your feelings into consideration.
And in response to this, some slut walk organizers have changed the name of their protests.
Today, while a handful of slut walks remain, the excitement over the movement has waned noticeably.
Jesus Christ, you defeated yourselves, you idiots.
I know this next article isn't from the previous week, but I missed it when it first came out, and it really pisses me off.
I've only just learned about it.
Russia says drivers must not have sex disorders.
Russia has listed transsexual and transgender people among those who will no longer qualify for driving licenses.
Fetishism, exhibitionism, and voyeurism are also included as mental disorders now barring people from driving.
Russia, what is the connection between these fetishes and whatever you want to call them, mental, I don't even want to call them disorders, but whatever you want to call these preferences to driving, how do they affect a person's ability to drive?
The government says that it is tightening medical controls for drivers because Russia has too many road accidents.
I really doubt that the number of road accidents that Russia suffers from is anything to do with transsexual transgender people, fetishes, exhibitionism, or voyeurism.
I imagine it's probably something to do with alcoholism.
But you know what, I haven't even looked at the statistics and I can't even be bothered.
Where is your proof that any of this has anything to do with a person's ability to drive Russia?
Where is your proof?
You don't have any.
I think that you'll find this is coming from a place of intense bigotry.
In addition to this, pathological gambling and compulsive stealing are also on the list.
Russian psychiatrists and human rights lawyers have condemned the move.
Because they're not idiots, presumably.
The announcement follows the international complaints about Russian harassment of gay rights activists.
And in 2013, Russia made promoting non-traditional lifestyles illegal.
Listen, Russia, you are free to act in any way you want.
It's, you know, your country.
But this is getting a bit silly.
I mean, I have defended Russia in certain aspects against what I feel is unwarranted slander from the West, but this is getting silly.
There's nothing wrong with these things.
I know that you're a traditional country, you don't like these things, but they're not harming anyone.
There's nothing harmful about people being transgender.
Before Captain Andy and the Mangina crew jump on me, I'm not talking about gambling and compulsive stealing.
For fuck's sake.
Even though, are they really things that should disbar someone from being able to drive?
I don't really see what they have to do with a person's ability to drive.
Valery Evtushenko at the Russian Psychiatric Association voiced concern about the driving restrictions.
Speaking to the BBC Russian service, he said that some people would avoid seeking psychiatric help fearing a driving ban.
And I think they're completely right.
And given the size of Russia, I have a funny feeling that a ban on driving could be a real problem for a lot of people.
The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights called the new law discriminatory.
Duh.
Yes, of course it's discriminatory.
And said it would demand clarifications and seek support from international human rights organisations.
Which I think is a really legitimate thing.
I think this is ridiculous.
I think that this is a rather regressive thing to do.
So now on to something that a lot of people sent me and I still can't understand why this was featured on the BBC website.
Party invoice.
Boy sent bill for birthday no-show.
A five-year-old was billed for failing to attend a friend's birthday party, resulting in threats of legal action.
Wouldn't it be their parents that were billed?
I mean, what is the fucking income of a five-year-old?
Alex Ness from Cornwall was invited to the party just for Christmas.
An invoice for £15.95 was sent to his school friend's mother, Julie Lawrence, who said Alex's non-attendance left her out of pocket and his parents had details to tell her that she was not going.
Alex's father Derek said he had been told he would be taken to the small claims court for refusing to pay.
Alex's parents had accepted an invitation to the party at a dry ski slope in Plymouth, Devon just before Christmas.
However, they realised their son was double booked and due to spend his time with his grandparents, which he did.
My goodness, that is very interesting.
But the thing is, you can kind of understand where the other parents sending this invoice are coming from, because they'd obviously paid 16 quid or whatever it was to book the ski slope for this kid who didn't then turn up, and so they genuinely are out of pocket.
This is insanely petty, but I can see why the parents who paid to reserve that kid's place at the ski slope are annoyed that the other parents aren't going to give them the 16 quid for their son even though he didn't turn up because they said he was going to and they did put money down.
I mean you would think it would just be common decency to say yes sorry that was our mistake.
He was double booked we forgot.
Here's the money because you are out of pocket.
It'd be the right thing to do.
But thank goodness we've got an analysis from Clive Coleman, the BBC's legal correspondent.
I'm starting to hate the BBC.
I really am.
It's just becoming a complete waste of everyone's time.
It's all but impossible that Mrs. Lawrence will be able to recover the £15.95 party no-show fee.
Oh fucking dear.
I'm so glad that this has been settled to the satisfaction of the law.
But at least the previous story was about the actions of someone's parents.
In this one, a 12-year-old white girl gets harshly criticised for showing off her blonde box braids on social media.
What possible criticism could this girl be facing?
What possible fucking criticism could people think is necessary to level at a 12-year-old girl because of her fucking hair?
Ah, of course, it's cultural appropriation.
12-year-old Mallory Merck decided to try something new with her hair, like the white supremacist that she clearly is.
Like most 12-year-old girls, she was excited to show off her new look to friends on social media.
Things quickly escalated after pictures of Mallory and her new blonde box braids started to make the rounds.
Why?
Why would this be happening?
Why would this be happening?
Oh, that's why.
Many people found the braids to be offensive and just another form of cultural appropriation.
Well, you know what?
Fuck those people.
Caramel cream queen, fuck yourself, you're a dipshit.
The point that we're trying to make is that it's offensive.
All we have is our culture and whether you knew it or not, you took what's sup.
I know, supposed to be ours.
I don't know.
You're criticizing a child, you fucking retard.
Naturally, people were like, it's a fucking kid, you idiots.
What the fuck are you complaining about?
So, Jamila, whoever that is, decided to sum up the majority of backlash and opposition.
Yes, something as trivial as a hairstyle can be triggering or upsetting.
Let us have it.
This goes to everyone by the way.
No, you dipshit.
Let the young girl do what she wants with her hair.
She's not hurting you.
She's not taking anything from you.
You can still box braid your own hair, can't you?
For fuck's sake, you bloody infants.
It's like feeling psychological torture, especially against the backdrop of state-sanctioned murder and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Jamila, you pathetic piece of shit.
You are actually comparing a 12-year-old braiding her hair to police shooting people.
You are fucking pathetic.
Fucking hell.
There is no end to the people that social justice warriors and feminists won't bully on social media.
This 12-year-old girl issued an apology to these fucking idiots.
Though overwhelming and harsh, thank you for trying to educate me.
It's appreciated, actually.
Sorry for perhaps making it seem like I am racist or appropriating a culture.
I honestly wanted longer hair and I saw a woman on the street with box braids and I really like them.
I had no idea that it would turn me into a racist and stupid white girl.
I love it.
She likes this hairstyle on a black woman.
She's like, I'd like hair like that.
That looks really good.
You're a racist, stupid white girl.
Who is the racist here for fuck's sake?
Anyway, I just wanted a hairstyle.
My sincere apologies to anyone I have personally offended and my intent was most definitely not to hurt or offend anyone or their culture.
Listen, darling, you're a 12-year-old girl.
You do not have to apologise to these grown adults who are so piss weak that a 12-year-old girl's hairstyle offends them or their culture.
They are pathetic people and should shut their fucking mouths.
Honestly, bullying a 12-year-old girl on social media because you are offended by her hairstyle because it's similar to your hairstyle.
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
She's not a fucking racist.
You god, this really pisses me off this one.
This next story is going to tell me everything I need to know about the Liberal Democrats.
Joe Swinson, encourage boys to play with dolls.
Boys should be encouraged to play with dolls to make them more nurturing and caring.
Lib Dem Equalities Minister Joe Swinson has suggested.
Lib Dem Equalities Minister.
I think that's probably the best candidate for the least important job ever.
She said it would make them more likely to work in the adult care sector when they grow up.
Well, where's your evidence, Joe?
What are you basing this on?
Where are your statistics?
Where are you doing research?
Where are your studies?
What are you basing this on other than your own personal intuition?
And even then, who gives a fuck if they work in the adult care sector when they grow up?
If you do that, you're just going to force women out of the adult care sector.
A sector that women seem to find very rewarding.
Miss Swinson, the East Dunbartonshire MP, also criticized the messages society sends to children about gender roles.
Oh, just fuck off back to San Francisco.
Seriously, gender roles are really not as harmful as you think.
And we have completely got all of the necessary facilities for people to change their gender if they fucking want.
Just because some people, a very tiny minority of people, decide, you know what, I want to change my gender, does not mean we need to abolish the concept of fucking gender roles.
She said that changing boys' perceptions could help avoid a predicted future shortage of professional carers.
Why would there be a professional carer shortage, Joe?
Where is this coming from?
Ms. Swinson, who is a business minister, was responding to a debate called by her Lib Dem colleague and former minister Paul Barstow in the care sector.
Ms. Swinson said, The messages we send to children about the role of men and women and whether boys can be nurturing and caring, and, dare I say it, play with dolls, getting into those habits of care and nurture and that being seen as something that is just as appropriate for boys and as for girls and men and women to be involved in is, I think, important.
Well, based on what, Swinson?
I don't think it's important.
I think people should be left to their own devices to pursue the life goals and careers that they will personally find satisfying and rewarding.
You'll notice how our statements are equally as valid as each other.
Neither contains any particular relevant information or facts.
They are just our fucking opinions.
The Lib Dem minister has also suggested a novel way to help people's newborn children fall asleep.
Watching TV broadcasts of parliament.
Well, it certainly works for MPs, so I have no doubt that it's going to work for newborns as well.
This next story is golden.
I track my boyfriend's movements, because I want to trust him more, not less.
Wait, what?
I don't think you understand the concept of trust.
It wouldn't be unreasonable to call him and ask him where he was, and this app allows me to get an easy answer.
Holy shit.
Run, man, run!
So yesterday's mirror carried an interview with a woman who discovered that her husband was secretly spying on her using a smartphone app.
Obviously, it's completely wrong to track someone's movements without their permission, but this author can understand why you might want to know where someone is.
Because they are a weird obsessive stalker.
I can't remember exactly when I decided to start geotagging my partner, but I do know why.
Yeah, we all know why as well.
It's because you're fucking mental.
It wasn't that I didn't trust him.
Actually, that's exactly why it is.
It is exactly why.
Your lack of trust.
I just wanted to build that trust with cold hard evidence.
That isn't trust.
Friends who think my behaviour is creepy, controlling, or borderline obsessive, it's all of those things, have pointed out that just because you know where someone is doesn't mean they are not in that place cheating on you.
That's true, but this is something that means that I'd have a harder time getting away with it.
Have you considered that you shouldn't be so creepy, obsessive and controlling?
It's just one of those small concessions you make in relationships.
I don't complain if he leaves the toilet seat up.
He enables an app which allows me to track his location.
You know what, I might actually agree to that.
If I could get my girlfriend to stop complaining that I leave the toilet seat up, I might actually let her do that as well.
I am of course joking.
There's no way this kind of creepy stalkerish behaviour should ever be encouraged.
This isn't about invading his privacy.
No, of course not.
I would never ring up my partner and ask him to read me his last five text messages and who they're from, because that would be crazy.
But it wouldn't be unreasonable to call him and ask him where he was, and this app allows me to get an easy answer.
Fucking hell.
You just don't understand the concept of trust, do you?
And if you feel that you are with someone you have to do this with, maybe they're not the right person for you.
But this is the best bit.
The technology is made by Google.
It's mainstream and incredibly easy to enable.
Otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it, would you?
If he had refused to use it, I would only presume he had something to hide.
Yeah, that's right.
It would be him having something to hide if he'd refused to do it.
That would be the only reason he'd refuse to do it.
It's not because it makes you seem like a crazy woman.
This has moved beyond my boyfriend.
I now know where my parents are and my sibling is and their partner.
Fucking hell!
Holy shit, this is...
why is everyone enabling this?
While I'm less obsessive about checking their locations, there's something special at looking at a map of London and knowing at once where the people you love most in the whole world are.
There is something, quote-unquote, special about it, I agree.
But then she goes on to advocate that other women do this as well.
On a practical level, I can't tell you how many dull conversations about logistics this has saved.
If you want an easy life, demand access to your boyfriend's Google calendar and GPS on his phone.
I know where mine is, where he has to go, who he is with, and when he will be back.
He's not your fucking child!
But yes, it is also comforting.
There are times when he is working late or staying in a different city, and I can wake up in the middle of the night and look at his dot on the map and know he is where he's supposed to be.
Yes, that is almost the very definition of the word trust.
Fucking hell.
I just want to stress there's no connection between any of these stories.
They're not really related, even topically, this week.
These are a remarkably varied and assorted collection I have for you.
Doctor accused of child rape in US overturns extradition bid.
British court rules extradition of 48-year-old Tobias Bowen would breach human rights because he faces indefinite sentence if convicted of sex crimes in New York.
A foreign doctor accused of raping a child in the United States has been allowed to stay in Britain because he could face a tough jail term in America.
Well, if he's guilty of raping a child, shouldn't he face a tough jail term?
I know I'm some sort of old throwback, but I thought that child molesters and rapists probably should be punished for their actions, shouldn't they?
Immigration judges in London ruled that he would suffer a breach of his human rights if they allowed an extradition request by US authorities.
The 48-year-old fugitive fled New York for Africa four years ago after being charged with two counts of raping a child, Westminster Magistrates Court heard.
He's not even a British citizen.
The court was told he had settled in Milton Keynes with his wife and young family and that Britain was his safe haven.
The Magistrate Court, which deals with extradition cases across the country, ruled that Bowen's right to liberty and security under the European Convention on Human Rights was at threat from his extradition.
Um, have we forgotten that he is under accusation of raping two children?
I mean, is that not something he needs to be punished for?
I mean, is that okay that he's raped a couple of kids, but now, I mean, his his right to liberty and security are under threat, so, I mean, I'm not saying that he did it, but I'm saying that he does need to have a trial to establish his innocence or guilt.
Does he not?
He was given bail and released, and his record is not good.
He has not attended court and travelled in Liberia and the Netherlands.
Malcolm Hawkes, defending, spoke of Bowen's good character and argued that he should be allowed to return to his family.
So this guy is not going to have a trial because he may be found guilty and spend the rest of his life in America in jail.
This isn't so much stupid as it's pissing me off.
If he's committed the crime, then he needs to be tried.
If he's innocent, then he should surely be found innocent and released.
If it can't even be proved that he is guilty, he will surely be found innocent and be released.
Isn't that how the criminal justice system works in the United States?
For fuck's sake, why is this guy now the responsibility of the UK taxpayer?
This is actually pissing me off, so let's go to something that's completely banal, shall we?
German court rules that men can urinate while standing.
Well, thank you so much, German court.
You know what?
I shouldn't actually mock.
That's actually something that is a pertinent question these days.
A court in Germany has ruled in favour of a man's right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.
But the Dusseldorf judge, that's spelt wrong you idiots, ruled that the man's method was within cultural norms saying urinating standing up is still common practice.
You would think, why is anyone wasting time with this?
Well, there is some debate in Germany about whether men should sit or stand to pee.
Of course there is.
Why wouldn't there have been?
The extreme progressive left are making this pathetic thing an issue.
I love the phrasing of this last bit.
He said that men who insist on standing must expect occasional rows with housemates, especially women, but cannot be held to account for collateral damage.
Well, I mean, come on, it's really not that hard to pee into the fucking toilet.
But despite growing domestication of men in this matter, urinating while standing up is still common practice.
Growing domestication of men.
That's the bit that I found most interesting.
I mean, just say it.
Just say it.
You want men to stop being masculine.
And for my final story this week, I'm going to rag on the Scots.
Scottish Village could reap £200 million reward after gold mining plans go ahead.
A Scottish village could experience an unexpected gold rush after an estimated £200 million worth of the metal was discovered in the nearby hills.
So what's stupid about that, you're thinking?
What's the problem here?
That's a wonderful windfall, and it is.
Except, it wasn't discovered recently.
First excavated in the 1990s, the search was later abandoned after the company, Scott Gold Resources, fell into financial difficulties.
You're pulling money out of the fucking ground!
You're pulling gold out of the ground and you fall into financial difficulties.
That is a level of financial incompetence I don't think anyone else can even dream of.
▲
Export Selection