So there's this Buzzfeed article...
Nov. 20th, 2013 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lliiraCN: Rant against someone who is willfully ignorant, also I mention lynching
There's this Buzzfeed article that's ignorant, ridiculous, and completely idiotic on every conceivable level. Okay, that doesn't really narrow it down for a Buzzfeed article, does it? I expect it's a troll article for hits, but if so, fine, I took the bait. I've been seeing nonsense like this around quite a bit recently, and it enrages me. Here is the link if you want to know what I'm ranting about: http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinabarca/skills-your-grandparents-had-that-you-dont
1) My grandparents could not write very legibly. They were fond of typewriters, and then of computers. When writing by hand, they used a long-hand scrawl that's harder to read than the print that my parents' and later generations are fond of. As someone who has trawled through archives trying to decipher different styles of handwriting, which changed from decade to decade and person to person, I am thrilled that we no longer do this. I spent more time trying to figure out what the 19th century Quaker woman whose diary I based a biographical paper on was saying than on analyzing it.
2) They had these things called phonebooks. Both white pages and their own personal phonebooks. They would write numbers in said personal phonebooks, and keep them by the phone. They would put people's names in the phonebooks, and their phone numbers and addresses with them, along with any notes, like birthdays. They did not memorize the numbers of all their friends and acquaintances. The only difference is that we more often do this electronically now.
3) Does the article writer really think "kids these days" are too ignorant to quickly figure out a phone book, even if they've never seen one before? We still use the same basic system, just electronically.
4) My maternal grandparents knew diddly squat about cars. "Take it to the mechanic when the blinky light is blinking" was it. My paternal grandmother could change a tire, and so can I. Plenty of people of my generation know plenty about cars. This is not a generational thing. This article is bullshit.
5) My maternal grandparents could not do home repairs. My paternal grandmother could, as she was an incredible mechanic who was an engineer during WWII. (Then she got fired for not being a man after WWII. Oh yeah, they sure were better than us back then.) My father is far more hopeless with home maintenance than I am. Again: this is not a generational thing, and this article continues to be bullshit.
6) Yeah, uh, we can use paper maps too. And electronic maps are no less "real" than paper ones.
7) My maternal grandmother could tie a lot of knots, as she embroidered and knitted. So can my mom, for the same reasons. So can I, and I can actually tie more than my grandmother could because I made friendship bracelets and delved into fancier embroidery than she did. My grandfather must have been able to, because he was a paratrooper in WWII, but it wasn't a skill he ever used after that. I have no idea if my maternal grandmother could tie other than basic knots, because there was simply no reason to in her life. Our grandparents were not all fisher folk from Nantucket.
8) We also know how to write checks properly. We pay our rent with checks, among other things. Why should we retain this skill that's not so necessary, anyway? My grandparents didn't know how to thatch a roof, either.
9) GrandMOTHERS knew how to sew. Not, usually, GrandPARENTS. Thanks for trying to pretend there were no gender roles in this perfect golden past of yours, Buzzfeed writer! Also, I do in fact know how to sew -- how to make pants, etc. I do not do it because it is a pain in the ass. That's the same reason my grandmothers stopped sewing even though they had the knowledge. It takes a large amount of time, and that is time a woman now can spend doing other things. If you don't enjoy it, you don't have to do it any more. This is a positive change. (The fashion industry and sweatshops are another matter, but discussing that might take some actual thought, and I'm pretty sure the writer of this article cranked it out in five minutes between vodka shots.)
10) Lolwhut. So our grandparents were all auto mechanics and farmers. Farmers of everything, too; they could raise soybeans and pigs and corn and strawberries and apples and cows and... uh, yeah, right. I'm more of a country girl than my grandparents were and know more about farming than they did.
11) ALL KIDS THESE DAYS ARE THE WORST KIDS THESE DAYS AND DURING THE WORST EXAMPLE YOU CAN POSSIBLY FIND. Whatever. Oh, you know something else "our grandparents" knew how to do that this generation isn't so good at? Lynching! Brought the whole community together, that did. And they could put those knot skills to use and everything. Now, my grandparents never lynched anyone and actually fought against racism, but if you're going to take what you see as good from the past, ignoring the bad is incredibly dishonest.
12) No young people are creative these days. NONE. WTF is this nonsense? It's simply a blatant lie. Troll.
13) Oh look, this person is also completely ignorant about dance too! They used the foxtrot and Twist as examples of non-sexual dances. THEY USED THE FOXTROT AND TWIST AS EXAMPLES OF NON-SEXUAL DANCES.
How much work does it take to be as ignorant, self-hating, and altogether willfully stupid as this article writer? I hope they're only trolling for hits, because if they actually believe this stuff, they are really pathetic.
There's this Buzzfeed article that's ignorant, ridiculous, and completely idiotic on every conceivable level. Okay, that doesn't really narrow it down for a Buzzfeed article, does it? I expect it's a troll article for hits, but if so, fine, I took the bait. I've been seeing nonsense like this around quite a bit recently, and it enrages me. Here is the link if you want to know what I'm ranting about: http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinabarca/skills-your-grandparents-had-that-you-dont
1) My grandparents could not write very legibly. They were fond of typewriters, and then of computers. When writing by hand, they used a long-hand scrawl that's harder to read than the print that my parents' and later generations are fond of. As someone who has trawled through archives trying to decipher different styles of handwriting, which changed from decade to decade and person to person, I am thrilled that we no longer do this. I spent more time trying to figure out what the 19th century Quaker woman whose diary I based a biographical paper on was saying than on analyzing it.
2) They had these things called phonebooks. Both white pages and their own personal phonebooks. They would write numbers in said personal phonebooks, and keep them by the phone. They would put people's names in the phonebooks, and their phone numbers and addresses with them, along with any notes, like birthdays. They did not memorize the numbers of all their friends and acquaintances. The only difference is that we more often do this electronically now.
3) Does the article writer really think "kids these days" are too ignorant to quickly figure out a phone book, even if they've never seen one before? We still use the same basic system, just electronically.
4) My maternal grandparents knew diddly squat about cars. "Take it to the mechanic when the blinky light is blinking" was it. My paternal grandmother could change a tire, and so can I. Plenty of people of my generation know plenty about cars. This is not a generational thing. This article is bullshit.
5) My maternal grandparents could not do home repairs. My paternal grandmother could, as she was an incredible mechanic who was an engineer during WWII. (Then she got fired for not being a man after WWII. Oh yeah, they sure were better than us back then.) My father is far more hopeless with home maintenance than I am. Again: this is not a generational thing, and this article continues to be bullshit.
6) Yeah, uh, we can use paper maps too. And electronic maps are no less "real" than paper ones.
7) My maternal grandmother could tie a lot of knots, as she embroidered and knitted. So can my mom, for the same reasons. So can I, and I can actually tie more than my grandmother could because I made friendship bracelets and delved into fancier embroidery than she did. My grandfather must have been able to, because he was a paratrooper in WWII, but it wasn't a skill he ever used after that. I have no idea if my maternal grandmother could tie other than basic knots, because there was simply no reason to in her life. Our grandparents were not all fisher folk from Nantucket.
8) We also know how to write checks properly. We pay our rent with checks, among other things. Why should we retain this skill that's not so necessary, anyway? My grandparents didn't know how to thatch a roof, either.
9) GrandMOTHERS knew how to sew. Not, usually, GrandPARENTS. Thanks for trying to pretend there were no gender roles in this perfect golden past of yours, Buzzfeed writer! Also, I do in fact know how to sew -- how to make pants, etc. I do not do it because it is a pain in the ass. That's the same reason my grandmothers stopped sewing even though they had the knowledge. It takes a large amount of time, and that is time a woman now can spend doing other things. If you don't enjoy it, you don't have to do it any more. This is a positive change. (The fashion industry and sweatshops are another matter, but discussing that might take some actual thought, and I'm pretty sure the writer of this article cranked it out in five minutes between vodka shots.)
10) Lolwhut. So our grandparents were all auto mechanics and farmers. Farmers of everything, too; they could raise soybeans and pigs and corn and strawberries and apples and cows and... uh, yeah, right. I'm more of a country girl than my grandparents were and know more about farming than they did.
11) ALL KIDS THESE DAYS ARE THE WORST KIDS THESE DAYS AND DURING THE WORST EXAMPLE YOU CAN POSSIBLY FIND. Whatever. Oh, you know something else "our grandparents" knew how to do that this generation isn't so good at? Lynching! Brought the whole community together, that did. And they could put those knot skills to use and everything. Now, my grandparents never lynched anyone and actually fought against racism, but if you're going to take what you see as good from the past, ignoring the bad is incredibly dishonest.
12) No young people are creative these days. NONE. WTF is this nonsense? It's simply a blatant lie. Troll.
13) Oh look, this person is also completely ignorant about dance too! They used the foxtrot and Twist as examples of non-sexual dances. THEY USED THE FOXTROT AND TWIST AS EXAMPLES OF NON-SEXUAL DANCES.
How much work does it take to be as ignorant, self-hating, and altogether willfully stupid as this article writer? I hope they're only trolling for hits, because if they actually believe this stuff, they are really pathetic.
