I thought I'd give ya'll a lil remix of the last few posts I've put up these last couple of weeks. Call me lazy or uncreative, but it is what it is, enjoy!
1) A few nights ago, I attended the Laugh Factory for the first time. I was surprised at the talent that I heard would be drop by unexpectedly and just kill the audience. You never knew when people like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, or Dane Cook, love him or hate em, would perform. Unfortunately, this was not one of those nights. The talent was good, the food was better, and as long as the drinks kept coming, I was a happy camper. As I sat there listening to the routines, I noticed a similar trend in jokes that never seem to get old with the crowd….relationships. Ah yes, when in doubt, bust out the marriage routines. One by one, each comedian would whine about how much his marriage sucked or how his kids hated him because he could never do anything right, further dwindling himself into self-deprecation to the enjoyment of the audience. Now granted, this was a comedy club, so of course they’re going to put themselves down in order to get a few laughs, but what I’ve begun to notice, the issue I will be talking about in my blog, is the increasing trend in not only comedy clubs, but in mainstream media itself where men have begun to be portrayed as dim-witted idiots who are completely submissive and lack any kind of spine that would allow for them to stand up for themselves.
Turn on the TV and watch any primetime show or commercials and you will see it. Shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond” or “The King of Queens”, featuring the husband who every episode gets an earful from the wife, often ending with her giving him an ultimatum of succumbing to what she wants done or if not, denying him sex. Commercials are especially what caught my attention to this issue. There are too many to list but if you watch closely, many of them will present it in a kind of way where the male is childish figure while the female who may be his wife or girlfriend, is the motherly figure who knows best and any attempt to see things differently from them usually results in her referring to him as “silly”. KFC had a great example of this where two grown businessmen were sitting in a stroller crying like babies because they hadn’t eaten yet. Suddenly, the wife appears with a chicken sandwich, talking to them in baby talk saying “awwww, there you go, is that much better?” The two men react by hopping up and down in their seats clapping their hands wildly. Now let’s think about this for a second, what kind of message is this conveying? The way I see it, it sends the message that men have begun to lose their sense of self-reliance and one could even say that it puts women in a negative light by conveying the fact that women are still in charge of feeding their husbands.
Now much of this may sound like it’s no big deal. We’re all grown men and women; we understand that it’s an attempt at humorous marketing or an attempt to liven up a sitcom, right? Yes, but what happens when these stereotypes begin to be portrayed in children's shows? What kinds of messages are we sending to our children about what is considered “ok” and “normal”? How is this going to affect their behavior towards others when they grow up? Will young girls see that it’s ok to treat people in this fashion and more importantly, will young boys allow themselves to be treated that way? Over the next few months, I will be discussing these issues and the effects they may or may not have on our next generation of young men and women, as well as any articles that deal with this issue. Till then, this Stewie Griffin signing out on his first official post, peace!
2) Hey ya’ll, I’m back again to educate as well as entertain you readers out there in cyberspace by bringing you some blogs I’ve come across lately that you just might find intriguing. I’ll have to admit, at first I felt that I was going to be alone in this endeavor, but as I began to look around for blogs that shared similar interests in my subject, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how many were out there. Most of these blogs focused on men’s rights as well as exposing the attempts to feminize the males in society, something I’ll be discussing in great detail. Of course there were some out there whose goal it seemed to be about bashing women rather than examining the bigger picture, that is, how the media is playing a large part in influencing men how to act. Let it be known that my blog is not about that. I am a believer in gender equality, which is why I feel it is important to bring attention to the shift in gender roles and how men are beginning to be viewed by the media and ultimately, by society itself in a negative way. Many will disagree of course and claim that it’s merely society’s way of poking fun at how “all” men tend to act, very similar to how we men tend to be accused of grouping women into one kind of stereotype. I welcome all opinions, male or female. I was pleasantly surprised on how many points of views I came across, and just to make sure I wasn’t referring to an all male group of bloggers, I came across some that were even from women who felt that feminism had come and gone and that there was no need to bring it back. She felt that once it had passed, many women still enjoyed taking care of the household, while only a small group was left feeling like their rights or representation had failed to be met. In the end, I decided to go with another blog that seemed more provocative and one that left me thinking differently about how I viewed feminism in society.
So the blog that I decided upon was titled "
What Men Are Saying About Women". Despite the fact that is posts are few and far in between, with only 10 posts in 2008 and only 1 in 2007, the writer “Percy Anvil”, discusses in rich detail many topics about feminism in mainstream society, usually by examining news articles from the U.S and the U.K. as well as various videos dealing with women. His writings seem to be more academically geared rather than professionally, with an audience being catered obviously more to men than women, similar to what I am attempting, except for the fact that I will be posting more frequently. His posts are at times controversial, but I suppose that's what’s expected when one deals with the topic of feminism. Regardless of what side you’re is on, you’re bound to disagree with some of his points, which I think makes it such an interesting topic to discuss, but anyway, there doesn’t seem to be as many posts as I thought there might be for one who seems so outspoken on the topic. Perhaps he decided to call it quits, or is just out there somewhere gathering his thoughts. Either way, he needs to hurry it up and post some more! Two of the more interesting posts that I found on his blog involved one that dealt with single mothers’ children being responsible for 70% crime rate and the other on the statistics between male and female valedictorians. Overall, his blog seems as much informative as it is entertaining and I’ll be looking forward to his future posts. I encourage everyone to check it out, as it should keep ya’ll entertained while I continue scouring the web for some other juicy blogs. Till next time, Stewie Griffin has left the building, peace!
3)"We write frankly and fearlessly but then we 'modify' before we print."
- Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi
It's interesting how over time, the reader can get to know the character of the writer or people in which they speak of through complex sentence styles, metaphors, and figures of speech. We can begin to construct an image of a person. We can come to understand the values for which they stand for, the type of hobbies and activities they enjoy partaking in and even the age of the writer based on the kinds of pop culture references they talk about or use as an example. In the world of blogging, I feel the various writers have begun to exemplify the first half of Mark Twain's quote, while the latter has begun to fall by the wayside, thanks to the anonymity of the internet. One can no longer feel accountable for what he or she says. Despite the fact that it can be both a positive and a negative thing, I see it from the perspective that one can now freely express his/her views without any personal censorship. In regards to my topic, it can be at times a touchy subject. It's the kind of topic that if discussed in a classroom or at a party, it would no doubt result in a heated debate between the sexes. As a result, many people remain quiet, despite possibly being well informed on the subject, due to social pressure. That is why blogging is such a wonderful tool. It allows those who we'd never expect to be so outspoken on a particular topic to express their views in a way that may or may not contrast sharply with their public persona.
When one comes across Youngbuck's "
The Rantings of A Young Man In A Feminized Society", the voice you hear is exactly the one his blog title describes. He's a man in his mid 20s who see's the world a bit differently than most people might, perhaps in a George Carlin kinda way; by that I mean in the similar fashion of how Carlin felt the government or media was having too much influence on how we dress and live our lives. He brings to attention in his trademark style of rants full of exclamation points, things he observes in his workplace, from issues such as dress codes biases to articles he finds on domestic violence .He seems confused as to why men decide to marry when he feels that the warning signs are all around us. I agree with many of his points and at times also feel just as frustrated with the way men allow themselves to be treated as doormats. You get a feel of what he stands for and the kind of family he grew up around when he comically discusses going to his cousin’s house for Christmas in, "Are you on the down low?".
"I haven't seen you with anyone since you left that China girl." (She refers to my ex-girlfriend who is Filipina as a China girl, even though she knows her name and knows she's not Chinese".
I laugh, because I can relate to having family members question me on the holidays about whom I'm seeing and whether or not am I going to bring them around to the family. His style at times changes to a more sarcastic and even comical approach, almost as if to give the reader a break from the emotionally charged posts. I feel his wild style of writing and commentary is more than enough to keep me reading his blogs in the future and I encourage you to do the same. Well, it seems like my laundry is almost done, so I better wrap it up. Until next time, this is Stewie Griffin signing off, peace!
