It is a truth universally acknowledged that just about everyone knows a Bridget, is a Bridget, or wants to be a Bridget.
I get why this movie is branded a chick flick, but I respectfully disagree. This is a movie about choices, about being yourself and true to yourself even if that might be a little wonky, and about love. Aren’t those common themes? If not, maybe they should be.
And as funny as the movie is, I tend to think the book even funnier, but then you don’t get the cast, toss up.So whether you’ve found your reindeer jumper magic or still asking where’s the loo, keep going, because as long as you’re having fun…that’s the real magic.Happy Christmas!
There’s a War on Christmas? Using terms like Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings suggest that Christmasis being attacked? Wow, I didn’t know Christmas was that insecure or vulnerable. Kind of makes a mockery out of the soldiers who fight in real wars.
I love Christmas. Especially what used to be the spirit of Christmas. People caring about others. Although that seems to have dimmed over the years. Now it’s about rushing and shopping and whining and complaining and First World Problems…
Stores use terms like Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to allegedly be inclusive. It’s really to extend the shopping period. The sustained commercialism has made for sustained greetings. To sell more. Christmasdecorations in malls, city streets, etc. up before Halloween, before Remembrance Day.
They blast Christmas music into stores for months. Santa Claus parades block the streets.
More cars congest the streets and highways. Christmas movies swarming the airwaves for 2-3 months per year.
Others started using Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings to reflect the Christian holiday wasn’t the only religious or non-religious celebration this time of year. Wait, we wouldn’t want to include others in a time of giving.
What about people who don’t celebrate Christmas? Or those who don’t want it extended? Can you imagine Christmas if you weren’t Christian? Or maybe didn’t like Christmas? Or don’t have family and friends to celebrate with?
You can’t go to a store to get a pair of socks without crowds; blaring Christmassongs; people running around like it’s the zombie apocalypse (that might be more fun); low or no stock; and very harried store personnel.
I suppose some believe the ‘Christ’ part of Christmas is being attacked. Times have changed, people seem to worship their cell phones more than Christ. And I doubt all the scandals that have rocked the various religions have helped.
Does someone saying Happy Holidays offend you? Does it offend Christ? If you have a strong faith in something, don’t you believe despite the odds?
If you receive a Christmas card that says Season’s Greetings does it make the fact that someone bought a card, wrote in it, addressed it, sent it to you via snail mail mean less?
The term, War on Christmas was popularized by a FOX News host, that should tell you something. Politicians, pundits, celebrities, charities all exploit Christmas to further their agendas just as many corporations, stores, charities, churches, etc exploit it to make money. John Gibson was simply regurgitating the whining with his book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse than You Thought.
Yet Christmasis bigger than ever. Santa is still selling Coke.Jesus is still praised at midnight masses. The War On Christmas is failing. Commercialism is still going strong.
If you want Christ in Christmas, he’s there.
If you want the Grinch in Christmas, he’s there. If you want to just enjoy the season…enjoy it.
Looks like we’re stuck with Christmas three months a year and for me, it’s a bit much, but it doesn’t steal away my love of Christmas…but it does keep me away from shopping.
Haven’t seen this special? Guess you’re deliberately avoiding it and that’s your choice.
This cartoon and the book of the same name are a Christmas tradition for many.
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS quirky bits:
Done on a small budget, there are quirks, continuity issues, choppy animation and some quite scantily mixed sound moments. I think it adds to the love.
A Charlie Brown Christmas aired Thursday, December 9, 1965. Followed the Gilligan’s Island, “Don’t Bug the Mosquitoes” and pre-empted The Munsters (nooooooo!!!).
Charles M. Sculz insistedABC not have a laugh track. I like that. I hate laugh tracks. I’ll laugh when I feel like laughing, I don’t need to be cued.
Lucyrefers to Charlie Brown as Charlie, first, last and only time he’s referred to by his first name only. He’s been called Chuck and Charles.
It has been rumoured that the negative publicity aluminum Christmas trees received in the special caused their demise. Hugely popular between 1958-1965, just two years after the first airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas these trees ceased regular manufacturing.
Kathy Steinberg(Sally) and some of the other children couldn’t read yet so the lines were fed to them, sometimes only one or two words at a time. Most obvious in the line, “All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share”. I think it gives an appealing authenticity.
The original broadcasts of A Charlie Brown Christmas includes references to their sponsor, Coca-Cola.
“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” ~Charlie Brown
I guess Christmas or any part of life is about what you make it.
There are people in this world that build it, grow it, strengthen it, enhance it. They bring principles. They bring love. They bring compassion. They bring hope. Nelson Mandela believed in justice for all and fought for it.
Known by many as Madiba (his Xhosa clan name) or Tata (Father), Mandela gave more to this world than he took. Was he a Saint? No. Was he a champion? Yes, in the truest sense of the word. A hero who showed that strength and power come not from force and oppression, but from hope, kindness, love, and peace.
Nelson Mandela had this poem on a scrap of paper during his long, unwarranted incarceration…the strength of Mandela (and the poet, William Ernest Henley) are truly inspiring and have inspired others.
Invictus (Unconquered/Undefeated)
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
~William Ernest Henley
The world is a sadder place today because he is no longer here. It is a better place that he was here.
Goodnight Nelson Mandela. Thank you for showing the world that nothing is impossible.
I liked the movie better than the book despite the change in locations. I don’t say that too often.
Maybe it was Harry Connick Jr. I’ll blame him. No, I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean it.I found the characters in the book didn’t give me what I wanted or maybe I was expecting too much. It is a great read, just not fantastic.
As romcoms go, it has more to offer than many. It offers loss, grief, sorrow, change, renewal, love, and hope with small storms of laughter. And the lesson of going on when you’re ready to go on, how you’re ready to go on, after any kind of loss.
Oh and there was Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Gerard Butler and James Marsters…
Sorry book, I probably should have read you before I saw the movie. My bad.Love isn’t replaced, only added to.
To be honest, I picked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because as a book addict I found the title intriguing.
Not the light read I had hoped for that day, with the exception of a few oddly funny moments provided by the Narrator, Death. I can see why it’s been on The New York Times Best Seller list for close to 300 weeks.
I’m guardedly optimistic that the film adaptation, with the talents of Brian Perceival (Downton Abbey, North and South, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Old Curiosity Shop, Shakespeare Retold), Michael Petroni (Till Human Voices Wake Us), Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shine, Munich, Shakespeare in Love), Emily Watson (War Horse, Gosford Park), will do this book credit.
Germany, World War II.Liesel, a young Jewish girl whose blonde hair helps her ‘pass’ calls herself, The Book Thief. Splayed among the everyday life with her foster parents are tormenting nightmares of her mother and dead brother, unexpected kindness by some, evil of others, and the looming authority of an excessively engaged Narrator.
Finishing the book, I sat for several minutes, waiting. I didn’t know for what. Only that I felt I shouldn’t just move on, not to another book or chore or activity. I needed to be in that place.
Then the pure horror and joy assailed me. It has all happened many times before and it will happen again. Humans going after humans, various reasons in various ways. People helping and standing up for others, even when it’s dangerous to do so. We are a drumming paradox stroking and punching through time, an echo of who we should be and are.
I have to agree with Death, “I am haunted by humans”.
What can I say about this masterpiece that hasn’t been said thousands of times and ways?
And if we’re going to involve the movies or TV series made of this novel that’s wow, just wow. P & P is warm fudge topping over heavenly hash ice cream.
It is a kitten’s purr.
Silk on your skin.
A musical piece that caresses your soul.
It is all that the blarry, scratchy, low-manners modern world isn’t.
It is perfection that one can visit and relax. It is tea.
Tea with fresh crumpets.
Tea with fresh crumpets and jam.
One of the images that pops to mind when I think of Halloween isBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
Not the movie, although it was funny, the Joss Whedonseries that was ubercool and scary.
This series was all about the writing. It was quick, clever, droll, goofy and wicked cool.
Buffy had it all: bad vamps, good vamps, sexy vamps, tall dark and brooding vamps, Drusilla, Spike, zombies, spirits, demons, witches, Faith, warlocks, geeks, pop culture, gypsies, computer nerds, dysfunctional family units, ghosts, goblins, gym, ghouls, librarians, magic, love, TheMaster, death, sex, hope, The Bronze, friendship, Dracula, teenagers, The FirstEvil,Nathan Fillion (who first auditioned for the part of Angel in 1996), bullies, field trips, Watchers, The Council, high school, werewolves, lifestyle choices, hope, fear, horror, laughter…everything you could want in a show and of course, slayers.
Although Sarah Michelle Gellar was the star of the show as Buffy, she was nothing without herScooby Gangand all the other amazing characters, fiends, villains, supernaturals, paranormals, other dimensionals, and of course, her wardrobe, which was quite extensive.
This is a Halloween must see. Watch it for the coolness, return for the witty. Whether you like it or not, it’s all good, 5 by 5.
It’s interesting that Buffy has become such a cult classic because it didn’t always have the top ratings at the time, of course we were watching it on theWB, but it sure had a lot of hardcore fans. It’s really shape-shifted TV.
My fav Buffy character is still always Xander. Who’s yours?
This is what I learned from watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown way too often.
1. A young child can stay out all night alone, with no adult supervision, as long as it’s on Halloween night, in a pumpkin patch, waiting for someone to meet them…
2. Jumping into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker is a bad idea. Tried it once, turns out, very bad idea.
3.Charlie Brown should have gotten some candy at Halloween. I wanted to give him some of mine, what about you?
4.Pigpen, the child who walks around in a cloud of dirt is more likable than CharlieBrown.
5. If someone moves a football each time you go to kick it, Good Grief, stop believing them, it’s a theme. Same goes for many situations.
6. A person can have moral standards. Sally agrees to sit in the pumpkin patch with Linus, but threatens to slug him if he even tries to hold her hand.
7.Lucy actually cares about her little brother, Linus (even more than their parents). She goes and gets him from the pumpkin patch at 4am and sweetly puts him to bed. She gets him extra candy while trick or treating. It’s a whole other side of Lucy.
8. Charlie Brown is a hopeless optimist. No matter how people in his ‘community’ ignore, hurt, or bully him, he keeps believing and keeps trying. Or maybe he just has low self-esteem.
9. Dogs like to dress up as World War I Flying Aces for Halloween and fly around on their Sopwith Camels aka dog houses fighting the Red Baron. Who knew?
10. A signed contract doesn’t always mean what you think it means, there could be a loopholes.
11. It’s ok to give a child rocks for Halloween instead of candy. I’ve never tested this one.
12. Schroeder was a talented little dude, I always hoped he’s make it big until I realized he was just a cartoon, then I still hoped he’s make it big.
13. Linus wrote to The Great Pumpkin saying everyone tells him TGP is a fake, but he believes in him. He adds if TGP is a fake he doesn’t want to know. Is this denial or trying to hold onto his beliefs? People do it all the time, with politicians, God, family members, spouses, etc. Even if we know something is not true or wrong, we often don’t want to know.
I guess that’s why we love the sweetness and gentleness of things like Snoopycartoons. We remember fondly those times when things were simple, when you could believe, trust, and hope. Life has become complicated. Peanutsis simple fun.
This was an awesome show, can’t say enough about how amazing it was.
Cast was unbelievable, story was ripper, and it was brilliant.
So why did this astonishing show only last one season? We do know Fox likes to cancel some well-loved shows. Even cancelled Family Guy then picked it up again later when they finally figured out people liked it, duh. PerhapsWhedon’son-going widescreen battles (I agree, it’s a Western, just in space), or the order of episodes, or concept.
In the end, whatever the reasons, only 11 out of the 14 episodes ever aired. Maybe people just weren’t ready for it or it was a stupid decision to cancel it. I can think of others, TerraNova…
It has since become a hit, beloved by many, missed by the few who first watched it…It’s had its imitators, but none can capture the passion of the original.
I did like the tip of the cowboy hat in the CastleHalloween episode where Nathan Fillion wore his Mal outfit…but it’s not the same.
Joss Whedon you are astonishing, and thank you for at least giving us Serenity as a consolation prize.
I don’t care what anyone says, I adore watching William Shatner, in just about anything.
Sure he’s narcissistic, but he uses his superpowers for good, not evil.
He’s also funny, silly, asinine, but always charming. If you can see this one-man show live, awesome, luckily there’s also a DVD.
Dressed casually Shatnerleads us on a magical tour of memories, ours and his.
He shares very personal stories, famous encounters, ridiculous exploits, and talks about Star Trek(of course) all in that oddly heartening, exaggerated style that’s so many have mocked over the years.
It might be his age, but in this one-man show (then again, isn’t that everything he does, really?) Shatner ponders death, those he has lost as well as his own mortality. Yet somehow it’s all comforting and poignant, not morbid. “Love is the difference between the cold light of the universe and the warmth of the human spirit and life doesn’t have to end when love is present.”
If you’re a Shatner fan you’ll enjoy the well over an hour of Trek talk, how his kidney stone became $25,000 for Habitat For Humanity, picking out a pine casket for his father because he thought his Dad would appreciate the thriftiness, his, er, singing career, broke living in his truck, meeting Koko the signing gorilla, acting with Christopher Plummer and James Spader…
If you’re not a Shatner fan, watch something else.
“Death is the final frontier.”
The whole show was pure Shatner – eccentric, engaging, and egocentric, but with a heart as big as his head (tough to do). He makes me smile.
I went to see this movie on opening day 1993 and a few more times in the following weeks. I had no children with me. I also bought the VHS tape when it came out, the soundtrack, and later the DVD. I may or may not have some small toys from the movie and a few TNBCT-shirts over the years, one possibly bought as recently as today.
To say I love this movie is too serene.
Like most Tim Burton films TNBC is funny, dark, deep, and stabbed full of obvious messages.
The main character is a skeleton named Jack Skellington.
He’s the Big Mouldy Cheese of Halloween Town, he’s the Pumpkin King, he has it all, fame, fortune, adulation. But he’s bored with his job. He wants more.
He discovers Christmas Town and sees it’s marketing potential. He figures this must be what he was destined to do.
So he rebrands himself and retrofits Halloween Town to do this new gimmick, Christmas.
Things go terribly, dreadfully, horribly wrong, of course.
The day or should I say eve is saved, mostly with the help of Sally who has loved Jack just as he was.
The Christmas brand is salvaged, as is that of Halloween.
Short story extended, Jackrealizes he had everything he needed to make him miserably happy in Halloween Town all along. Cue a gruesomely romantic scene.
Crushed into all that? Lots of cool songs by Danny Elfman (sigh, I still love Oingo Boingo), mayhem, fun, drama, lots of funny lines…one of the best films every made.
“Jack, please, I’m only an elected official here, I can’t make decisions by myself!” ~Mayor of Halloween Town
It’s a marketing dream in one nightmare.
The making of this film is almost as interesting as the film itself. Astonishing. Many have poached from, peeled back, and tried to copy the mastery of this movie in the 20 years since it’s release, but this masterpiece is incomparable.
Makes sense that it’s really just a remake of another perfect classic, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Can’t see it? Think about it.
TNBC combines Christmas and Halloween so naturally, I’m in.
Here in the West too many of young girls pay more attention to their: hair, make-up, clothes, shoes, boys, shopping, how many pictures of themselves posing in front of a mirror in sexy outfits making duck lips they can post online, and other such frivolities than education.
They don’t know or understand that girls from other countries are dying for the education too many Western girls ignore in favor of more trivial pursuits. They don’t get that girls around the world want to be educated, free, not sold into slavery of one kind or another.
This book, I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai makes your heart-break and sing all at once.
Her story is well-known. A young Pakistani girl whose amazing father instilled the love of learning into his beautiful daughter. He could have seen her as a bartering chip toward a good arranged marriage; instead, he cultivated her mind and knew she could be anything she wished. He gave her choice. The first hero of the story. Malala spoke up for Pakistani girls to have an education.
Knowledge is the key to happiness. She knew this and wanted to help others.However, in speaking out she attracted the attention of the Taliban who believe the same things she does, knowledge is power. So they tried to silence her, with a bullet. Malala and two other girls were shot on their school bus. All survived.
History repeated itself, in trying to silence her voice they made it louder. And stronger. And heard by so many more.
Malala has since toured the world with her message of hope and learning. She’s only 16, but she’s co-authored a book, continued her activism, won awards, and has the ear of world leaders. She has triumphed in the face of adversity and has fought back to spread her message of hope and education far and wide.
I hope Moms and Dads will read this book with their daughters and sons. Instead of yet another trip to the mall, new cell phone, tickets to see Justin Bieber, or more clothes, read it with your children and talk about what it means and what they can be. I get saying Malala is a role model, not Miley Cyrus.
Having a uterus shouldn’t decide what a woman will be. We need more people to help this world, repair the problems, to make it better, not just more people. Everyone should have choices.
Enjoy this book. It is a beacon of light in an often foggy world.
Difficult to believe I’ve been watching Murdoch Mysteries for going on 7 Seasons (we need more!)
The books by Maureen Jennings are great, but the series is fantastic.
This Canadian drama stars Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch, a complicated police detective working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1890s to early 1900s. It’s absorbing, a little daft, but always intriguing and keeps you mesmerized.
Brilliant job of combining ‘The Gilded Age’, a time when the world seemed to have so much promise with hints of amazing things to come, with a splash of reflection on how things started or went wrong; hindsight being 20/20 and all that.
Valuable lessons, drama, murder, mystery, romance, laughs – Murdoch Mysteries has it all. The only thing that could make it better, perhaps a recurring role for Paul Gross. Just a suggestion.
This remarkable drama has caught on worldwide, with good reason. Enjoy!
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Del Ray)
I can still read this and laugh so hard it hurts. Contains one of the best scenes ever written, in the tea house with the biscuits, I’m giggling just thinking about it; if you haven’t read it, read it just for that. What am I saying, if you haven’t read it?
One of the most entertaining books ever written and apparently inspired by a drunken evening in Austria with a Hitchhikers Guide to Europe in his pocket, sounds about right.
Adams also wrote and acted briefly in Monty Python and wrote a few Doctor Who scripts.
Worked on video games.
I have no words.
A delight to the gray matter and darn you Douglas Adams, you’re one of the reasons my laugh lines are so deep! No, I forgive you and miss you. In this case as entertaining as the on screen offerings of this have been, the book is so much better. All 4 (or 5 depending on your belief system and the hour of day) books in the trilogy are fantastically mythically rereadworthy.
Although Adams left too early at 49, his written works, his activist causes and his understanding of absurdity of it all remains to entertain and amaze us.
And don’t forget a towel is one of the most useful things you can carry with you on your journeys so celebrate towel day May 25th.
Douglas Adams‘ present location: Highgate Cemetery, Highgate, United Kingdom
Ayn Rand conjured up the cult of Objectivism, which, to the best of my knowledge, is a philosophy whose principal doctrines include but aren’t limited to: reality is detached from consciousness; the practice of concept formation and inductive logic helps attain objective knowledge from perception; apt moral function is the pursuit of one’s own happiness, aka rational egotism; laissez faire capitalism is the only morally correct social system; and selective replication of reality into a physical form (ie. art) can adjust humans’ metaphysical ideas.
Objectivism was branded as a viewpoint intended to define not only human nature, but the nature of our world.The cult aspect of Rand’s work, to believe self-interest, said pursuit of self-interest, and the concept that people are somehow heroes for pursuing self-interest is beguiling. Logic ruling man is always an enthralling thought, but seldom happens, and rarely among Rand’s followers or herself. Like most, this philosophy has been so warped, exploited, and perverted it is a pathetic wraith of Rand’s intentions.
This book, Ayn Rand Cult by Jeff Walker(Open Court) is an interesting, fairly objective read although way too long and ragged at times (like this review), but consider the subject matter.
Many believe Rand’s ideas and beliefs are relics of a bygone era. It’s resurgence, while kept low-key is growing steadily, especially among the extreme right-wing political parties. Although their choice of prophet, an Atheist,Pro Choice woman is baffling.
Reason and logic are admirable, but they are susceptible to the whims, lies, and willful misunderstandings of humans who wield them as weapons against those who may resist.
As for the issues with laissez-faire capitalism, where do I begin? Look around the answers are attacking us each day.
While I have found the ideas of Rand’s work seductive at times, I find it improbable that my own happiness above all others is noble and absolute.
I’ve noticed in the last few years people have become obsessed with books and movies about dystopian societies.
Why? Maybe because we’re already living in a dystopian society controlled by those who destroy the very world that gives us life, for short-term profit and power. Worse than that, we let them.
The Walking Dead is a mainstream hit, a soap opera about a post-apocalyptic world where people are being ripped apart by zombies, fighting each other, and still finding time for romance. It’s more about the people, their interactions, what they will do under horrible situations, etc., the zombies are just to make it different than an actual soap opera, well, sort of.
In George A. Romero’s original vision of zombies they were an allegory about consumerism run amok; they’re about each of us consuming each other by over-consuming.
We find them fascinating because we see ourselves in them, the darkness inside, the monster within, a ravenous beast who lives only to consume, to devour, to munch through or chomp down.
There is something strangely admirable about zombies, they are who they are. No lying, no cheating, no deception, no manipulation – they want to tear your flesh apart and eat it and they make no bones about it. Are they even the bad guys or is it the humans who terrorize and torture each other?
Let me sum this up by a quote from the man that started it all, George A Romero –
“I expect a zombie to show up on ‘Sesame Street‘ soon, teaching kids to count”.
His point being, that’s how mainstream they’ve become in our attempt to accept and somehow justify our insane consumerism.
Not saying I don’t like this show, it is so well-crafted it’s impossible not to view and enjoy.
The Walking Dead (in Black and White)
B&W adds a whole other dimension to this series and of course, is reminiscent of Romero’s independent 1968 B&W unique horror standard, Night of the Living Dead. It’s also a great way to sell more DVDs. I really love the B&W version, it’s spookier, moodier, creepier and what real horror is about. Hey, I just love B&W.
In the meantime, check out the graphic novels, much grittier, but quite interesting.
I mostly try to watch shows when they first come on. I try them on like a new shirt – do I like them, are they durable, are they practical, are they a flattering colour, do they make me look fat, well, maybe that’s a bad simile (is there a good one?), but you get my point.I don’t wait for months or years for someone to tell me a show or movie is awesome or until it’s in vogue or whatever. I guess I like to decide to watch shows because I like it, or I decide I dislike them hate it or just forget it or don’t care. I was riveted to X-Files from the first moment I watched it, glued to the screen.
It was mesmerizing. Dark, mysterious, evocative, seductive, gross, and even baffling.
It was a expedition within a journey that just made me want to move forward, that is until Tea Leoni had David Duchovny quit and Season 9 was just so-so, but of course not wanting to miss any of the mythology I trudged on, hoping it would get better. And then Tea Leoni lived through all of Jurassic Park 3, whining in that nasal, oh, but I have moved off into the shadows. She’s not so bad. Duchovny was a big boy; he made his own choices.
This was about weird and wild, creepy, supernatural, alien, government conspiracies, but it was also one of the greatest love stories in TV history. Mulder and Scully weren’t just friends, partners or lovers, they were complemented each other.
They were funny and entertaining.
X-Files is still one of the most amazing shows ever to grace the small or big screen.
Another movie maybe? Revive the series…Just sayin’.
Hel-lo McFly! Apparently we now throw parties to celebrate people lying, cheating, slandering, and manipulating. We love it. We tell our children not to bully. However, we love it. Mixed messages, no, try diametrically opposed.
Gordon Ramsey spewing out enough spittle to drown most of NY – don’t yell at people.
Honey Boo Boo – don’t tease or call people names.
Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, FoxNews, and Sun News – don’t spread gossip, rumours, lies, false ‘news’, propaganda, BS, innuendo, and slander.
Real Housewives – don’t hit, yell, lie, spread rumours, harass, and abuse.
It’s embedded in our culture; all of society seems to feed off bullying. We pretend to value people, but really we value drama, electronics, money, power, and more drama.
Bullying is not only acceptable, it’s rewarded. This makes schools and social situations a developmentally deranged breeding ground of bullying.
As if the bullying in school wasn’t bad enough, now the latest tool – cyberbullying. No sanctuary, no escape, and oh so public humiliation.
Bosses destroying you as you’re just trying to make a living; parents screaming, frothing, hurting instructors, coaches, teachers, refs, players, and other parents; governments with hate laws, calling citizens terrorists and radicals, lying, stealing, attacking – home isn’t even safe for some people.
This isn’t good-natured teasing or joking around. The victims are traumatized and even kill themselves to get away.
Certain characters, TV shows, etc. were supposed to be extreme examples of people conducting themselves poorly. Now aggressive images penetrate so deeply into children, adults and society in general that we can’t remember that so instead we worship that bad behaviour.
We cheer when contestants scheme, lie, and manipulate to win. We buy products to emulate spoiled, narcissistic meanies. We hold parties to celebrate bad guys. Our own governments bully and cater to bullies. Then tell our children not to be bullies. Can you see their confusion? The ultimate do as I say, not as I do.
Ways to stop bullying. Puppet shows? Lectures? Selective policies? Non-enforced laws? Ummm, waste of time.
Here’s a simple way – stop promoting bullying as glamorous and cool.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that just about everyone knows a Bridget, is a Bridget, or wants to be a Bridget.
So whether you’ve found your reindeer jumper magic or still asking where’s the loo, keep going, because as long as you’re having fun…that’s the real magic.
Happy Christmas!
I’ve noticed in the last few years people have become obsessed with books and movies about dystopian societies.
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