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LOLcat-related, sometimes tenuously
Wednesday, 17 October 2007 09:00 amMore musings in the Department Of Oh God My Students Don't Use The Internet: I doubt whether my students' ignorance of LOLcats will materially affect their wellbeing, but today's revelation of student ignorance chilled me. Setting: tut on feminist science fiction, Tiptree's "The Women Men Don't See", which is brilliant and should be read by everybody, and which contains a bit where the female protagonist talks about women's rights: "Men are more aggressive and powerful, and they run the world. When the next real crisis upsets them, our so-called rights will vanish like - like that smoke. We'll be back where we always were: property. And whatever has gone wrong will be blamed on our freedom."
Not unnaturally, I was relating this to the current erosion of women's rights in America under the frothings of the religious right, about which Tiptree seems to me to be scarily prescient. Upon which an otherwise bright and engaged student, said innocently, "Oh, is that happening?" She has been absolutely and completely oblivious to the recent anti-abortion bills, denial of sex education, gay marriage issues and other manifestations of mad frothing. It's a scary thing when you realise that not only are our rights being eroded, but a substantial chunk of us aren't even noticing.
Dark prognostications aside, here is an exercise in feline voice, by John Scalzi (whose actual fiction I really must get around to reading, his blog is always so entertaining) which makes LOLcats look stupid. "Opposable thumb thing person" is my new favourite phrase.
And, by the way: to whom have I madly and incautiously lent my Season 1 of Doctor Who? Have exhausted the Usual Suspects, who all indignantly deny possession. Help my poor memory! Confess! The box is a mini-Tardis, you really can't miss it. To inspire you, and weakly continue the LOL-theme, LOLWho. Not the really good page, but I can't seem to find it again. Sigh.
Not unnaturally, I was relating this to the current erosion of women's rights in America under the frothings of the religious right, about which Tiptree seems to me to be scarily prescient. Upon which an otherwise bright and engaged student, said innocently, "Oh, is that happening?" She has been absolutely and completely oblivious to the recent anti-abortion bills, denial of sex education, gay marriage issues and other manifestations of mad frothing. It's a scary thing when you realise that not only are our rights being eroded, but a substantial chunk of us aren't even noticing.
Dark prognostications aside, here is an exercise in feline voice, by John Scalzi (whose actual fiction I really must get around to reading, his blog is always so entertaining) which makes LOLcats look stupid. "Opposable thumb thing person" is my new favourite phrase.
And, by the way: to whom have I madly and incautiously lent my Season 1 of Doctor Who? Have exhausted the Usual Suspects, who all indignantly deny possession. Help my poor memory! Confess! The box is a mini-Tardis, you really can't miss it. To inspire you, and weakly continue the LOL-theme, LOLWho. Not the really good page, but I can't seem to find it again. Sigh.
