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Eight Percent of Your Parents Think Your Name is Totally Stupid

That name, that name you have been carrying around your entire long life, the name about which you may have often wondered, “Why God why?!?” – as it turns out, it has your parents, the very same parents who gave you that ridiculous name in the first place, wondering the exact same thing.

According to what I am sure was a scientifically meticulous study done by the hard working people at YourBabyDomainName.com, two out of every twenty-five parents have baby name remorse, an increase of three percent since the studies of previous years. Can you say “first world problems” three times fast, Anakin and Leia, Jacob and Bella?

We all sit and wait for the celebrities we love to hate to finally admit they feel like idiots for choosing names like Apple, Pilot Inspektor, Audio Science, Moon Unit and Diva Thin Muffin. Seriously. Unfortunately, it seems to be simply poor schmucks who named their kid Ottoline and ended up calling her Sparkle who get saddled with all the regret. What is the world coming to, people?

I myself am a near victim of name regret. My parents were, in fact, going to name me Melissa. Fortunately for me, they were lucky enough to meet another Melissa with me in utero and realized that they would have to destroy me and start all over again if anyone ever dared to call their daughter by this other Melissa’s nickname, Missy. I shudder at the thought. There are absolutely no nicknames for Melissa that rhyme with ‘sex.’ I don’t know what I would have done with myself!

Since the study showed that half of respondents felt they were swayed by stupid media and fashion trends, and another third thought their name was original when they picked it but later discovered that other people had the same “unique” idea, one can’t be faulted for wondering aloud if the remaining 17% of folks are just ridiculously indecisive about something that you’re not really allowed to be indecisive about in the real world. After all, a toddler who gets her name changed every year for her birthday is going to be pretty high maintenance, not to mention identity confused!

Pamela Redmond Satran of baby name website nameberry.com told the Daily Mail, “We also see baby name regret in parents who listen too much to the advice of others, who cave in to family pressure to name the baby after grandpa, for instance, or who give up on a name they love because the in-laws make fun of it. They often wish they had listened to their own hearts.”

There are a lot of things I might let my in-laws have their fair say in, like world politics and economics, what we’re having for Christmas dinner, or whose car we should take on our next cross-border shopping spree. What I intend to name my next child? Not one of those things.

Do you have baby name regret? If you feel stupid for the name your baby ended up with after the dust and placenta settled, we want to hear your story!

posted by BexvanKoot in Media Stupidity,Plain Ol' Stupidity,Pop Culture Stupidity,Relationship Stupidity and have Comments Off

More Reasons Not to Believe Anything That a Stupid Plastic Package Tells You

After that whole Taco Bell fiasco, how concerned are you about what you eat? How much of  your food is real? I don’t mean “food” that is passed off as such merely because it’s edible. Just because it was once alive doesn’t mean that it’s good to eat. We seem to have lost this very basic knowledge. Do you often rely on cardboard boxes or plastic bags to tell you what you’re eating? Do you read the fine print?

If not, here are a few good reasons to start. Things are often even more stupid and disgusting than they appear!

Berry Ridiculous

Blueberry muffin from Tim Horton’s (or wherever you buy your blueberry muffins in America… Starbucks?) or a bowl of General Mills Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal? Your blueberries may not be blueberries at all, but rather “a concoction of sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and — of course — artificial food dye blue No. 2 and red No. 40″ found in bagels, muffins, cereals and breads made by big name companies across the continent. If you want to get some fruit in your diet, eat a blueberry, not a bagel.

“Freshly” Squeezed Stupid

Have you ever freshly squeezed an orange, or been to a tropical area and had someone freshly squeeze a liter of orange juice for you? Ever noticed that while each glass is delicious and alive, it tastes a little bit different each time, depending on the variety and ripeness of the oranges, the soil they were grown in, the air and the rain.

Ever wonder how companies manage to make “freshly squeezed” orange juice that all tastes the same? The secret is not GMO oranges or even pasteurization. After the oranges are “freshly squeezed” the juice is stored in sealed containers and completely stripped of every bit of oxygen. This allows them to store the juice for up to a year… and it also completely removes all of the taste, since the flavor molecules have been effective destroyed. All that’s left is sugar water. To this sugar water, artificial “flavor packs” created by perfume and flavor scientists are added to give each brand a unique taste, and doesn’t have to be labeled on the ingredients because the chemicals are “derived from orange essence and oil” and so somehow is supposed to be naturally occurring in fresh OJ. Hmm.

You’ve Got Wood

Alright, folks, now it’s really time to check your fridge and your cupboards: ice cream, shredded “cheese” products, syrup, waffles, white bread, Weight Watchers food (!), cereal, pastry, pre-made meals in bowls of just about any kind, McDonald’s and other fast food, cookies and frozen desserts, pudding, even Nestle brand hot “cocoa” mixes. If you see the word “cellulose,” please throw the food away (in a Food Bank donation box, ideally) and pick up something smarter. Why?

Cellulose = wood. From trees. Or cotton.

Cellulose can serve as a good source of dietary fiber for people who don’t eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains, Ms. Slavin says. The USDA’s most recent dietary guidelines recommend young women get 28 grams a day of fiber and young men consume 38 grams.

People who don’t eat fruits or vegetables? Seriously? Even if I didn’t believe that whole grains are poisonous, this puts America’s ridiculousness into a whole new light.

posted by BexvanKoot in Corporate Stupidity,Media Stupidity,Plain Ol' Stupidity,Science Stupidity and have Comments Off

Stupid Sex: A Mile-High Mistake, Lame Nicknames, Bra Salesmen and Dumb Birth Control!

1. If you are ever even remotely tempted to try and get busy between the plastic toilet and the barely-locked door of the airplane lavatory while you’re at 30,000 feet, here’s another good reason to resist the urge… at least on the anniversary of America’s most memorable airplane-related violence.

Stupid Sex: A Mile High Mistake, Lame Nicknames, Bra Salesmen and Dumb Birth Control!   Stupid American Culture, Brainwashed Americans, Stupidity of Americansvideo platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Seriously, if you were just “making out,” perhaps you could have kept it in your seats. Sure, the attendant might ask you to ease up a little if you start to get all handsy, but come on now… you can’t make it from LA to NY without some T&A?

2. In case it wasn’t clear after that little stunt you pulled after The Office’s big gay kiss, just because Steve Carrel gets some laughs with it on TV does not mean it’s a good idea for you to do it at work!

Doctors and even secretaries at NYU Langone Medical Center were so convinced that longtime pediatric nurse Kristen Haight was a 41-year-old virgin, they repeatedly urged her to hop in the sack, she claims in a $45 million lawsuit claiming her medical records weren’t protected.

She alleges that pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Jeffrey Wisoff repeatedly referenced “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” movie, and reassured her that sex is “like petting something furry for the first time.”

If that was a come on, Doctor, you should know that “small and furry” hasn’t exactly been great a selling point since Alice & Wonderland was published. If you’re not a virgin yourself, it’s still fair to say you haven’t had sex (for free) in at least four decades.

3. Ever gotten the wrong response when you asked someone if an outfit made you look fat? Try being forced to do it in front of some random dude who has to size you up in order to fit you into a pair of bra and panties. Seriously.

Thanks to the strict segregation laws in [Saudi Arabia], women have been banned from working in sales or using fitting rooms. That means that women buy thongs and negligees from male salesman who size them up by looking at them. In one recent incident, a woman asked for a 32C padded bra, and the salesman told her, “No, you’re not a C.”

Dude. You might as well have told her that you didn’t serve “her kind” in your establishment, so she could come back with her crew of bra salesladies to kick your butt out, Pretty Woman style. Probably wearing a different dress, though. ”In 2008, financial adviser Reem Asaad launched a campaign to allow women to work as clerks in lingerie stores. Thanks to her efforts, shops have been ordered to switch to female employees by the end of the year.” Take that, sales jerk! They took ‘yer jobs!

4. Does birth control make you stupid? Well…. a recent study from UC Irvine suggests:

Women using hormonal contraceptives for as little as one month remembered more clearly the main steps in [a] traumatic event – that there had been an accident, that the boy had been rushed to the hospital, that doctors worked to save his life and successfully reattached both his feet, for instance. Women not using them remembered more details, such as a fire hydrant next to the car.

So, without birth control we can remember all the little details, like the environment in which an event took place. With birth control, women were “better” at remembering things that actually happened. What does that even mean? That some of the women who weren’t on birth control were also smoking too much pot that day and couldn’t remember whether it was little Timmy’s hands or feet that needed re-attaching? WTF?

posted by BexvanKoot in Corporate Stupidity,Media Stupidity,Plain Ol' Stupidity,Pop Culture Stupidity,Relationship Stupidity,Science Stupidity and have Comments Off

Media Stupidity of the Week: Planking (again) and Coning; Vampires and Dancers Attack!

Lots of great All-American Stupidity in this week’s reflection on the news. So, what’s trending in stupid?

Planking gets expensive, and coning is so over.

I don’t think I need to reiterate that planking is one of the dumbest inventions of the modern world, but now it’s not just stupid… it’s painfully stupid. In the wallet.

In what is (probably) the world’s “first workplace planking prosecution” ever, two men have been fined $1500 each by a court in Australia for planking at work and posting stupid planking photos to Facebook. Somehow, very mysteriously, those Facebook photos found their way into the hands of WorkSafe inspectors who determined that planking is not up to workplace safety codes. Yes, not just a stupid planking story, but a stupid Facebook firing too! It’s got everything, really.

“This prosecution isn’t about planking, it’s about workplace safety,” Mr. McQuillen said.

“The workplace isn’t a playground and forklifts are not toys to be played with.”

Mr. McQuillen said the men, when asked their reasons for doing it, both replied: “Stupidity”.

Shouldn’t honesty count for something?

And, right here in the land of the free, folks are taking a stand against ridiculous internet meme pranks, too!

The gone-viral video is a bit of a mystery. Did the lovely blonde really not know what the drive thru manager was talking about, or was their coning plan completely foiled? Either way, Anonymous McDonald’s Manager, we salute you.

When weirdos attack – vampires and dance troupes are freaking out!

Setting the scene: a 69-year-old man spies a confused young blonde get out of a car at a gas station and try to call for someone to pick her up. He invites her to join him as he sits up in his motorized wheelchair on the porch of an abandoned Hooters, and promptly falls fast asleep, no doubt dreaming about the good old days. He wakes up to the crazy chick babbling something stupid about being a vampire and trying to bite his face off! Bleeding and in a shock, he hot-wheels it out of there and to the gas station, where he reports the incident.

When the police arrived on the scene, they found 22-year-old Josephine Rebecca Smith “… half naked and covered in blood, but uninjured. They said she had no idea what happened or why her clothes were off. Ellis said she was dressed when he last saw her, police said.” Despite her vampire strength and skills of manipulation, the police managed to arrest her and charge her with aggravated battery on an elderly person, the court setting bail at $50,000. Better hope she has some rich vampire friends before it’s time to go out into the yard!

And, while the rumor that they are probably vampires has yet to be started, New Mexico local street dance troupe the Zinsations has been opening up a can of whoopass too, this time at least not on senior citizens. No, it is Facebook bullies who are taking the brunt of the brutality this time.

So, just how hard are New Mexico street dance groups? The eldest is an 18-year-old Police Athletic League boxer… and the only guy who was still left standing got away with having his backpack stolen and a strong right hook to his already injured-and-in-a-sling arm. Watch out, So You Think You Can Dance judges! These dancers are badass!

posted by BexvanKoot in Media Stupidity,Plain Ol' Stupidity,Pop Culture Stupidity and have Comments Off

If You’re Sexist And You Know It…. Fall for Some Stupid Pick Up Artist?

You know the kind of guy I’m talking about… that creep who’s read way too many David D’Angelo eBooks or makes funny faces to himself while listening to his copy of The Mystery Method in his iPod on the subway home from work, all the while scanning the car for potential flirting victims. You’ve no doubt seen the barrage of absurd books, the stupid reality TV stunts, the ridiculous online circle jerks. Even with a vast array of scientific background and psychological insight, this stuff makes me gag.

If you are for some reason the luckiest woman alive and have never met a pickup artist, would you know how to spot one?

“Pickup artistry puts a renewed emphasis on the “hostile” part, encouraging men to pair sexist manipulation with stupid hats to ensnare women into sex at the first possible opportunity. Their ”speed seduction” strategy directs a man to compete aggressively for a woman’s attention, lightly insult her, then isolate her before steering her to bed.”

For example, Mystery (aka Erik von Markovik) claims to have “slept with over 100 women, potentially several hundreds of women and has had an unknown number of girlfriends.” One of his claims to fame includes training other “Dating Gurus,” including a man named after the crazy Fight Club freak Tyler Durden. His “celebrity girlfriends” include a Russian makeup artist, a psychology student, his baby mama and some “Mexican girl” – that’s seriously how she’s identified.

So have you ever wonder just who exactly gets all hot and bothered by the cheesy lines and manipulative tactics?

Studies into the effects and mechanisms of this kind of relationship dynamics (if you can call such “get laid”-goal driven interactions “relationships”) have begun to emerge. The results to the burning question of “Why? Why does any woman fall for this stupid crap?” may not be all that surprising, but it is a lame reflection of the sad state of humanity today. All those dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of women (if you believe the hype) falling for the new niche of “seduction celebrities” out there are a sexist bunch themselves, likely to agree with statements that aren’t just plain wrong in the eyes of everyone I know and love, but almost offensive.

Someone in my Facebook feed used the phrase “reverse sexism” yesterday. I don’t get what’s “reverse” about things like “reverse racism” and “reverse sexism”. Sexism doesn’t presume you’re a man who thinks girls are dumb. Any presumptions based solely on gender are prejudices which lead to sexism. In the most recent study focused on the narcissistic seduction movement, women who were more inclined to fall in line for some stupid seduction tactics were also likely to agree with statements like ”Women seek to gain power by getting control over men” and “A good woman should be set on a pedestal by her man.” Check out all of the statements in the Ambivalent Sexism Survey to see what I mean. Researchers Jeffrey Hall and Melanie Canterberry reported of their study “Sexism and Assertive Courtship Strategies,” of 363 college students and 850 adults:

“Women who have negative attitudes about members of their own gender find men who treat them in a dominant way during courtship more desirable because it is consistent with their sexist ideology.”

Can anyone explain to me why this kind of ridiculous recipe for date-rape is legal, but consensual prostitution is illegal? Yes friends, it’s a stupid, stupid world.

posted by BexvanKoot in Media Stupidity,Pop Culture Stupidity,Relationship Stupidity and have Comments Off