It’s true. We’re all just a bunch of babies.
Here are reasons to fear for humanity’s future from this past week’s headlines:
Michael Bloomberg May Run for President
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the personification of a politician portraying himself as a nanny. He loved to ban things. In fact, his entire tenure was comprised of him staying up at night thinking of the next thing to ban. Here is a list of stuff he prohibited, or tried to, during his time as head of one of the greatest cities in the world (via Gizmodo):
– Sodium levels in processed foods (2010)
– Styrofoam packaging in single-service food items (2013)
– Sodas larger than 16 ounces (2012)
– Chain restaurant menus without calorie counts (2008)
– Less than a 2-1 ratio of female and male restrooms in new public buildings (2005)
And this guy could be president of the United States? Oy vey!
That’s right. The former billionaire mayor has been rumored to launch an independent campaign for a seat in the Oval Office. Many say he has no chance, and others say he would play spoiler, much like Ross Perot and Ralph Nader. Reports say he could spend as much as $1 billion on a bid.
If his time in New York City was any indicator, he would be a terrible, terrible president. Just imagine a Bernie Sanders/Michael Bloomberg ticket. Oh the humanity!
Lena Dunham: Criticizing Hillary Clinton is Sexist
Did you know any criticism put forward against 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is sexist? Yep. Before you criticize her for her role in Benghazi, Libya, emails and Wall Street, you should realize you’re being “rabidly sexist,” at least that’s what a woman named Lena Dunham thinks.
Speaking in an interview with Variety magazine, the actress said the media coverage of Clinton is gendered and sexist (though it should be more like her supporters drooling all over the president-in-waiting).
“The way that Hillary Clinton’s been talked about in the media is so gendered and rabidly sexist in every single portrayal. Whether it’s the attacks on her personal life or the adjectives that are used to describe her clothing, we have to do a full reexamination.”
Dunham added: “”If we were allowed to talk about male candidates like that, I’d have a f***ing field day. Like, I literally want to make a list that we hand to media outlets that says, like, ‘These are the words you can’t use when describing a female candidate.'”
For a so-called writer who uses the word “like” every sentence, who is she to tell the media anything?
Moving forward, we should just believe everything Clinton says and simply bow our heads to honor the former Secretary of State. Political discourse be damned!
Sweden’s Asylum Seeker/Refugee Problem
If you didn’t realize it yet, Europe has an asylum seeker problem. It has gotten so bad that there is talk of deportations and wealth confiscations.
Over in Sweden, the Scandinavian country that everyone in the United States and Canada wants to emulate, officials are reportedly looking at deporting up to 80,000 failed refugees. However, many doubt that it will happen, and even if it did it’ll take several years to accomplish.
This would represent close to half of the applicants who came to Sweden last year.
“The first step will be to go with voluntary return, and to create the best conditions for that,” said Interior minister Anders Ygeman. “But if that doesn’t work, we will need to have returns backed up by force.”
The Dictionary is Gender Bias
This story is confirmation that we in the West have nothing better to do. Thanks to technological advancements, we have way too much time on our hands. With this allotted time, we start to create problems for ourselves and ask the question: am I offended?
A scientist says the Oxford Dictionary is sexist. Writing an article in Medium this past week, anthropologist Michael Oman-Reagan, he accused the dictionary of using sexist examples when defining words.
For instance, the dictionary wrote “a rabid feminist” to help define the word rabid. It also used “the rising shrill of women’s voices” top help define shrill. There are a couple of other examples. He says something has to change.
“Having studied sociocultural linguistics, I know that dictionaries are not only describing language, they also prescribe and shape the way language and meaning is produced and standardized, whether that is the intention of a publisher or not,” Oman-Reagan wrote.
So, what if the dictionary used “the siring shrill of men’s voices”? Would there be the same level of outrage? Probably not.
Here’s a better question: is this a form of microaggression?
Study: Antidepressants ‘Likely Increase Suicides in All Ages’
For years, people have warned about the dangers of pharmaceuticals, particularly anti-depressants. They have blamed these drugs for suicides, murders, savage-like behaviors and so on. Companies who make these drugs are also accused of underreporting side effects deaths linked to the drugs.
A new study has now confirmed these suspicions.
According to a review conducted by Nordic Cochrane Centre and analyzed by University College London (UCL), the most common anti-depressants doubled the risk of suicide and aggressive behavior for those under the age of 18. Although some traits aren’t found in adults, study authors noted that misreporting of such data created a “serious underestimation of the harms.”
Nordic Cochrane Centre Professor Peter Gotzsche, the lead author, said in a statement:
“Antidepressants don’t work in children, that is pretty clear, in the randomized trials children say that they don’t work for them, but they increase their risk of suicide. What I get out of this colossal under-reporting of suicides is that [antidepressants] likely increase suicides in all ages. It is absolutely horrendous that they have such disregard for human lives.”
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