Colonialism 2.0

It looks like March 2012 is the month of the Great White Hope. It seems as though all month, I’ve been having conversations about the difficulties I’m having with approaches of some organizations and people to development in “third-world” countries and neighborhoods. To me, these approaches feel like the beginning of Things Fall Apart. It’s like: “Hey guys! Remember that time we colonized brown people? That was awesome! Let’s do that again! Except this time lets use N.G.Os!”

Today in Dear Prudence

Q. Housekeeper: This is a problem I am sure a lot of people would love to have. My boyfriend and I are in our late 20s and we both have good salaries. We talked about moving in together and we are fairly compatible. But here is the thing: He has a housekeeper. (That sound you hear is all my girlfriends rolling their eyes.) I do not think we need a housekeeper. Two people keeping a two bedroom apartment clean should be manageable. He thinks that if he hates to clean and can afford to pay somebody else he should. While I can’t see anything outright wrong with that, part of me feels like he is indulgent and immature. I don’t like to do a lot of things, but I do them anyway. He told me that if we let the housekeeper go then I will be totally responsible for all the cleaning. I think that is also unreasonable. Why can’t he just pick up after himself? What if we can’t afford a housekeeper in the future? Will he have any idea how to be self-reliant? Is it so wrong that I think we should be responsible for keeping such a small space clean?

A: Please dump this guy so he can find someone who will appreciate that a man who wants to pay someone a fair wage to keep his apartment clean is a keeper.

I’ll take him.

[Slate]

Fucked Up Shit: November-December Edition

1. Florence + The Machine, “No Light, No Light” Video

Yo, Florence, girl, you know I love your music, but this shit is pretty fucked up. I mean you start with blackface, then he’s a voodoo priest? AND THEN he’s the scary black man chasing the white woman down the street. You really could’ve put the song behind a trailer of Birth of a Nation and saved everyone time and money. AND you are saved at the end by a bunch of white people? Jesus.

Wait… This is a Thing?

[youtube http://youtu.be/Fh4JI4AJi7I]

Not to get involved in the issues and concerns of the Wizards of Waverly Place set… but. er uh… A Swagger Coach? Here’s how I imagine Ryan’s resignation:

Umm…Yeah…So This Happened

Normally, I don’t post on the weekend, but this could not wait until Monday.

What a World

“A Louisiana man arrested yesterday for driving around a Walmart parking lot with his penis exposed explained to cops that “he gets aroused” when visiting the retail giant, according to a police report.”

Either he’s REALLY into low prices and poor treatment of employees or he’s a Mr. Ghetto fan.

[The Smoking Gun]

Shine on you crazy diamond

So I didn’t know until they were dropped that Foxy Brown was facing charges for violating a court order because she allegedly mooned her neighbor. However, my favorite part of the whole thing is this:

Hurray for Straight Male Privilege!!!

There is so much fuckedupness going on in this rant. Homophobia, ageism and underneath it all a misplaced expectation that any woman should sleep with him without him having any redeeming qualities. Top that all off with not understanding how to work the airplane controls since he mistakingly broadcasted the rant to every airplane Houston Center air traffic control frequency.

Seriously???

Almost as interesting as the study is the fact that the journal article is titled “Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing” while Tufts University’s own press release headline and the concept that most media outlets have run with is, “Whites Believe They Are Victims of Racism More Often Than Blacks” a subtle difference but an instance where, in the subtlety lies the difference between greatly ignorant and fucked up and “hmm, that’s an interesting and skewed toward fucked up view of racism.” But guess which one gets you more eyeballs?

Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing

Degrees Can’t Teach You Class

One would think that since this woman is so well-educated, she would know that crazy and well-educated are not mutually exclusive.

[Gawker]