....Really??

So here I sit, a little over a week after this whole thing even started, overwhelmed by whats happened. Overwhelmed is the one word that seems to come to mind repeatedly. Slightly undeserving of that description, yes, but this thing is everywhere.

A little over a week ago, a new business (a bar) announced on social media its drink menu for its grand opening. At first glance, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. The name "Beast Mode" was on it which seemed fitting for being an establishment in the Pacific Northwest, among others that were names specific to the region or a play on words. Which brings me to the issue. One play on words did not go so quietly looked over and now its receiving NATIONAL attention.

The name of the drink is called "Date Grape Koolaid". Now I'm not one thats overly sensitive or easily offended so the fact that when it actually was pointed out to me, I giggled, might shed some light on the type of sense of humor I have. And apparently that is just NOT OK.

Heres the thing. It started out as someone, who IS probably overly sensitive and easily offended and the very reason I have to spend an entire day of training for every new job I get, devoted to whats right to say and what isn't, whats "Politically correct" and what is not, being offended by the name of this drink. I guess that when it was brought to the owners attention, he was for lack of a better word, a DICK, about the whole thing. Now today I read an article shared by a person who is in the boat of "I'm not laughing", that went into great depth about how this very thing is pretty much SUPPORTING rape if not actually causing it just by being a play on words because "Laughing about it sends a message that its okay to rape". Oh boy.

So heres where I'm pissed about it. Do I rape people? No. Do I think rape is bad? Yes. Am I siding with a guy who's being a dick about the situation? No. It simply comes down to the fact that I don't think half the people that were out there in the freezing cold on a Saturday night, protesting, even realize what it is that they're upset about. Because the issue SHOULD be that a business owner came up with a name, someone didn't like it, he was a dick to them, why is he running a business, who cares just don't go there. But now its transformed into an issue where those of us that found it slightly funny, are apparently, somehow empowering this already "out of control rape culture" that we have here before us.

....Really? THATS what you people have gotten out of this? The fact that the start of this whole thing was how poorly the owner handled it and now I'm considered ignorant and basically saying rape is okay by saying to just leave him be and if you don't like it don't go there, is ridiculous. I mean, its that simple. I don't have a problem with people being upset by something, speaking up about it, it being handled poorly, and now they have a new sworn enemy. But this isn't that anymore. And heres why.

First, we are not living in a "rape culture". We live in an EVERYTHING CULTURE. Yeah, its called AMERICA. And if you don't believe me then you obviously don't get comedy central with your basic cable package at home. Just ONE of their Celebrity Roasts make fun of EVERYTHING. It is a no holds barred, did he really just say that?, too soon?, Holy wow he went there, shit fest. And I love them. I do. And the people that don't, probably don't watch them. But to say that the "line" is rape and to joke about it through a play on words for a grand opening of a local business is going too far, is just dumb. "It was a traumatic experience and should not be joked about. Thats just rude and insensitive" You're absolutely right, it was a very traumatic experience and that shouldn't happen to people. Just like so many things shouldn't happen to people but they do anyway. But at the same time you're saying that, theres a soldier in some hospital somewhere with limbs blown off being fed through a tube due to a car bomb, chuckling at your traumatic experience. Right next to a gun shot victim who was gunned down over a few bucks in his wallet one night. And across the hall from the cancer patient receiving chemo while chatting with their roommate who was car jacked after being beaten and stabbed. You are no more special than any of these other people, yet apparently the line is drawn at you. I'm not saying that a person who was raped is less important or not important at all, because they are people, they are victims. But we can threaten to kill someone out of anger or have video games where we play soldier and blow people up or wish cancer on someone we don't like, but when a bar has a play on words for a drink name, OH HELL NO! .....Really? And I love the fact that so many are crying out, "Just change the name and we'll leave you alone" because I'm pretty sure that was a similar argument being made about the whole gay marriage/domestic partnership/civil union issue, where the one side kept saying you could have all the same things the others did, it just needed to be called something else. Did that fly? No. And I guarantee probably 90% of you that are pissed at this bar voted for marriage equality just like I did. Which it may appear to be an apples to oranges comparison, but in the grand scheme of things, its really not. Its equality too. Because to allow this man to run HIS business how he sees fit, no matter how much of an asshole he may be, without fear of protest or persecution, is also EQUALITY.
...Hypocrites

Second, a name in no way shape or form increases or decreases crimes and traumatic experiences. And if you really think it does, then YOU are the ignorant one who somehow thinks that all the problems in the world today would be stopped if we just had positive images and names for everything. WRONG. Joking about rape doesn't make rape any more okay than someone joking about murder. The solution to the worlds problems as well as the root of the problems themselves can all be traced back to one place. The HOME. My father was an alcoholic yet I'm not. I'm constantly exposed to beer commercials and TV and media promoting drinking and partying, yet I know when enough is enough. Its called guidance and it starts at home. Though my father may not have been the best father, I still had a mother that showed me right from wrong as well as a grandfather who was a model gentleman. They also helped give me a moral compass for life as well, it was called church. Yeah, didn't think I was gonna cover the whole "well what about the kids who don't have parents or parental figures" did you. Too bad. And I'm not trying to go off on a religious rant here but lets face it, whether they always believe in what that particular religion teaches or not once they become an adult, at least they had a positive guide for life after puberty. It is a thousand times more difficult to try and "fix" a full grown adult who has very screwed up views of the world and thinks rape actually is ok than it is to mold a young mind and set them on a proper course of right and wrong. Names and "pop culture" have little to do with full grown adults, it starts at home, NOT changing a name. And as far as the whole church thing goes, maybe if people weren't so eager to force God OUT of everything like school, the workplace, LIFE, then maybe delinquents that had no moral compass at all growing up because of that, wouldn't be constantly trying to force themselves IN everything like women, drug addictions, ATM's... Just a thought.

And finally to the person that wrote the article that set me off in the first place. Your username is "notyourfemininenazi".
........Are you fucking kidding me with that? You take the time to write a novel about how terrible a play on words is and its not to be joked about and it sends the wrong message and THATS your username??? Holy shit you have no right to even speak. Your name IS a play on words. The fact that I even have to ask if its supposed to mean you're not a nazi or you are a nazi just not "yours", means that you fail. Because now I'm offended. Not just by your name but by your utter stupidity. I would say you better change your username before you find me pacing out in front of your shitty studio apartment with a sign saying "Genocide is not a joke" but I'm not an easily offended and overly sensitive bitch who feels the need to speak up when I should have just kept my feminazi mouth SHUT.