One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treausre

The country of Nacirema honors a special group of gods. The people of Nacirema collect objects for these gods and present them as sacrifices. For the entire week the citizens of Nacirema put together objects that they no longer want and save them for the gods. The sacrifices are saved in sacred boxes and are added to throughout the week. They present these sacrifices in plastic shrines outside of their houses for the gods to take away. The citizens repeat this sacrifice once every week. The most sacred of objects are placed in a special green shrine next to the less worthy objects. The gods glorify the objects in the green shrine because they can be used to create other objects. The gods take away these objects in a giant green truck that eats the objects for the gods. The citizens repeat this ritual once a week. The ritual is sacred to the Nacirema culture because it helps the citizens as well as the gods.

When People Are Ignorant...

I'm a person with a lot of pet peeves. I get annoyed when people use the wrong form of your/you're, I hate when people say "game time" when I ask what time it is, and I can't stand when people put things in the sink that aren't dishes. These pet peeves are all a little strange, and when people do them I'm annoyed but not offended; however, when people use the words "retarded" and "gay" to mean something other than what they actually mean, I can't tolerate it. I think it started in middle school. When people realized that being gay or retarded was something "bad" and that it should be used in a negative way. People use it all of the time.

"That homework assignment was so gay".

"Oh my god, that TV show is so retarded".

Why do we say things like that? We aren't being sociologically mindful when we use those words to mean things are stupid. I admit I've done what I'm condemning right now, but I no longer do it and I try to make other people stop it as well.

Being gay does not mean you're stupid. Being retarded does not mean you're stupid. Gay and retarded are not words synonymous with stupid. So when people say things like, "That show was so retarded" I let them know that retarded is not synonymous with stupid and that there are so many more appropriate adjectives in the world, and using the words retarded or gay to mean something else is abusing the English language and making that person look ignorant.

We need to realize that people who are retarded, mentally challenged, homosexual, heterosexual, disabled, or perfectly "normal" don't like to be called stupid! If people continue says, "God that's so gay" I'm going to continue to say, "Oh, so it's attracted to the same gender that it is which is socially acceptable?"

When TV shows start becoming attracted to other TV shows, I'll let the whole gay thing slide, but until then...it's not cool, man.