The music has changed!
I'm sure only a tiny fraction of you actually let the music play (instead of instantly hitting pause*) but I really feel like one of the best ways to get to know a person is by what music they like/listen to. The songs I choose to put on this blog are songs that make me happy and if you don't like them, that's fine. I'm glad you don't all like the music because if we were all the same, and liked the same things, conversations would be boring and there would be way fewer emojis.
*The pause button is the little daisy flower thing, just in case you hate the music so much that when you can't find the pause button, you have to mute the entire computer (it happens, I have done it).
I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long. I will abide by the promise I made last May (when I started this blog) that this will not just become one of millions of slowly decaying blogs, but be a positive influence on the Youth Of Today's minds. Okay, maybe that wasn't the promise, or the outcome, but it is the dream.
This post is going to be a light-hearted one because:
a) I can't be bothered to thesaurus-up long, confusing words and google the definitions of these long, confusing words.
b) I've already ruined the mood by saying 'daisy flower thing' and mentioning emojis.
c) I've just had a long cry about my exams and it's kinda making writing a heartfelt essay on how you have to be able to exert power to discriminate against someone, or how we all have to accept the inevitability of death, and dying, in order to not alienate people in our society who are termincally ill sound as appealing as letting my two year old brother lick my face.
I thought I'd go through the songs on my new playlist and explain why they make me happy. Yes, I've already done this with Scissor Sisters but I love writing lists and I love being happy.
1. In The Long Run - The Staves
I was introduced to The Staves by a friend of a friend (who is now, hopefully, my friend too). I can't quite remember when, or where, but I know that it has definitely improved my life. I love harmonies and I love three part harmonies even more. The Staves write such beautiful songs and this is my favourite because of the Beyonce-esque run* on the word 'long'.
*The thing where singers make one syllable last for a couple of minutes by travelling to many different realms of musical perfection.
2. Magic - Eliza Doolittle (originally by Coldplay)
I didn't really choose this song because of the song, but because of the artist. I have loved Eliza Doolittle since about Year 8 (12 years old) when I first heard her song Pack Up. It was a song about not caring about what people say and leaving behind your 'worries'. It was the song that made me genuinely stop caring what people thought about me, and instead just focus on what I wanted. It was also the song that gave me the incentive to buy knee-length purple converse. So, mixed results.
3. I Try - Macy Gray
I only really heard this song properly about 8 months ago when me and my mum were in the car on the motorway. It was after we'd just been to look around Bristol and I remember me and my mum trying to guess the words to it and failing miserably. It's also super catchy and just a real classic.
4. At The River - Groove Armada
I can't remember when I first heard this song but everytime I do now, I get this really nostalgic feeling I can't quite pinpoint. To me, it sounds like a blend of The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. Completely random but so right.
5. Care - Hudson Taylor
I had never heard this band play before but I agreed to go to their gig with my friend in Nottingham. It was so good and I loved every single one of their songs, this one in particular. It reminds me of those friends in Year 7 who would be like "Omg 'Generic Female Name' said this about you yeah she really hates you - I'm only telling you because I'm your friend". I don't think that's quite what the song was intended to be about.
6. Lovers' Carvings - Bibio
I had this friend in Nottingham who was essentially a music prodigy (or at least the most music prodigy-y friend I had) and we used to send each other music we were listening to. My stuff was all cheesy and high-pitched and his stuff was either beautiful or electronic and made me feel way too uncool to be his friend. Anyway, this song was one of the many he sent me and now it brings back happy memories of listening to all these weird electronic songs and hating them all unless they had some sort of lyric. Like I said, way too uncool.
7. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
This song is completely self-explanatory and anyone who says they have never felt at least a little twinge of joy when listening to this song is lying. Top. Tune.
Sorry I've been too busy to write on this thing. I will try and write a couple more during exam-time but I warn you, they may reflect my emotions a little too much and put you into an almost trance-like state of stress.
Just joking, I'm totally unstressed. *nervous breakdown laugh*
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Friday, 6 March 2015
Let Them Wear Jeans.
I'm going to give you a quick run through of what the world would be like without feminism.*
*Yeah, yeah, I know, more of that boring equal rights stuff but hey, it's my blog so deal with it.
Without feminism, women wouldn't be allowed to play sports such as football or rugby.
Without feminism, rape within marriage would still be legal.
Without feminism women wouldn't be able to wear jeans.
Without feminism, women wouldn't even be given the choice as to whether to vote or not.
Without feminism, women wouldn't have any education other than learning to cook and sew.
Granted, there are still people, male and female, who are victims of this sort of injustice. Slavery and trafficking is still a very real threat for millions of people. And we can't forget about them. But, we can take small steps. Every single thing feminism achieves brings the human race a few steps forward in wiping out all forms of injustice, which is why we can't stop.
I've been reading Caitlin Moran's book 'How to Be a Woman' (well technically I read half of it then had to give it back in to the school library) and it got me thinking about when girls deny being feminists.
She said something about how she doesn't even argue with these women who say they're not feminist because by expressing that opinion, they are already contradicting themselves. Without feminism, these girls wouldn't be able to discuss the prospect of gender equality in public anyway.
I can guarantee every single woman who says she isn't a feminist has worn trousers once in her life. I can also guarantee that she has been offered to play football (or any sort of sport really) at least once in her life.
Basically, in a round-about way, I'm saying that most women who think they're not feminists actually are. And, unsurprisingly, most of them do not actually believe men are superior to them.
Please sign this petition standing up for girls who aren't offered an education because why wouldn't you?
https://www.upforschool.org/petitions/stand-upforschool-2?signature_token=f1eb05e1c3222527d9cbe8e46d306bfcfd7e2d72
*Yeah, yeah, I know, more of that boring equal rights stuff but hey, it's my blog so deal with it.
Without feminism, women wouldn't be allowed to play sports such as football or rugby.
Without feminism, rape within marriage would still be legal.
Without feminism women wouldn't be able to wear jeans.
Without feminism, women wouldn't even be given the choice as to whether to vote or not.
Without feminism, women wouldn't have any education other than learning to cook and sew.
Granted, there are still people, male and female, who are victims of this sort of injustice. Slavery and trafficking is still a very real threat for millions of people. And we can't forget about them. But, we can take small steps. Every single thing feminism achieves brings the human race a few steps forward in wiping out all forms of injustice, which is why we can't stop.
I've been reading Caitlin Moran's book 'How to Be a Woman' (well technically I read half of it then had to give it back in to the school library) and it got me thinking about when girls deny being feminists.
She said something about how she doesn't even argue with these women who say they're not feminist because by expressing that opinion, they are already contradicting themselves. Without feminism, these girls wouldn't be able to discuss the prospect of gender equality in public anyway.
I can guarantee every single woman who says she isn't a feminist has worn trousers once in her life. I can also guarantee that she has been offered to play football (or any sort of sport really) at least once in her life.
Basically, in a round-about way, I'm saying that most women who think they're not feminists actually are. And, unsurprisingly, most of them do not actually believe men are superior to them.
Please sign this petition standing up for girls who aren't offered an education because why wouldn't you?
https://www.upforschool.org/petitions/stand-upforschool-2?signature_token=f1eb05e1c3222527d9cbe8e46d306bfcfd7e2d72
How to Win Every Argument.
One thing my Global Perspectives teacher said the other day really stuck with me. She said 'You can't have a fully formed opinion without a thorough understanding of both sides of the argument'.*
*Not verbatim.
This is one thing I've really had to work on these last few months or so. In Politics, we have to be able to debate both sides of an argument, regardless of your personal opinion. This is obviously beneficial because of like mark schemes and all that boring stuff but it also teaches you to be open to other opinions and really understand how someone could believe something different to you.*
*Most of the time it's not that deep. It's usually stuff like 'Should we have more referendums?' - gritty stuff, I know.
We had a debate in Biology last week about stem cell research and I had to argue on the against side. This was really hard for me because I am so passionate about new scientific discoveries and giving people the best possible chance of survival, but am also Christian so believe in preserving life. So, not only was this internal debate going off in my mind, I also had to piece together the couple of kinda lame ideas I'd had in preparation for the debate into a comprehensive argument.*
*I'm prone to headaches.
The outcome of the debate doesn't really matter (namely because it was a Biology lesson not the House of Commons) but what I took away from it was that I am finally starting to be able to clearly see two sides of a debate.
Writing that makes me realise how, to anyone else, this is like nothing. Being able to think is hardly an achievement. It reminds me of when your really fit, sporty friends are like 'Omg I got my PB in 100m backcrawl today' and you're like 'Please would you pass me the crisps'.
No-one cares.
This is just a bit of a heads up to people who strongly believe something. People won't take you seriously in an argument/debate if you don't consider their opinion.*
*This is coming from my experience of many, many hopeless arguments where I forgot that it is possible to not agree with my opinion. (Like, what?)
So be acceptant, open-minded and most importantly, kickass.
*Not verbatim.
This is one thing I've really had to work on these last few months or so. In Politics, we have to be able to debate both sides of an argument, regardless of your personal opinion. This is obviously beneficial because of like mark schemes and all that boring stuff but it also teaches you to be open to other opinions and really understand how someone could believe something different to you.*
*Most of the time it's not that deep. It's usually stuff like 'Should we have more referendums?' - gritty stuff, I know.
We had a debate in Biology last week about stem cell research and I had to argue on the against side. This was really hard for me because I am so passionate about new scientific discoveries and giving people the best possible chance of survival, but am also Christian so believe in preserving life. So, not only was this internal debate going off in my mind, I also had to piece together the couple of kinda lame ideas I'd had in preparation for the debate into a comprehensive argument.*
*I'm prone to headaches.
The outcome of the debate doesn't really matter (namely because it was a Biology lesson not the House of Commons) but what I took away from it was that I am finally starting to be able to clearly see two sides of a debate.
Writing that makes me realise how, to anyone else, this is like nothing. Being able to think is hardly an achievement. It reminds me of when your really fit, sporty friends are like 'Omg I got my PB in 100m backcrawl today' and you're like 'Please would you pass me the crisps'.
No-one cares.
This is just a bit of a heads up to people who strongly believe something. People won't take you seriously in an argument/debate if you don't consider their opinion.*
*This is coming from my experience of many, many hopeless arguments where I forgot that it is possible to not agree with my opinion. (Like, what?)
So be acceptant, open-minded and most importantly, kickass.
Thursday, 5 March 2015
How Gone Girl Screwed With My Mind.
Who sees the real you?
Bit of a deep one for you today. I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm writing this in between watching Nashville (like when it's buffering) so it may be slightly bitty. Just so you don't feel left out of the video-watching club, here's a video by Soul Pancake (a Youtube channel).
As you can probably tell, this video is what prompted me to write this post.*
*I can't come up with deep subjects like this all on my own.
Anyway, it really got me thinking about who sees the real me (funnily enough) and I thought I'd just pour out all my thoughts into this blog in an attempt to see it more clearly. Does that make sense? I feel like this post is just going to drag me deeper into the void of self doubt. Ah well, as long as it isn't too long...
The first thing I thought when I watched this video was: What does see mean? It could mean understanding and really knowing a person, or it could be mean, like, literally seeing. I'm guessing the video is focusing on the former because it's deeper and easier to add emotive background music to.
In that sense, I don't think anyone sees 'The Real Me' because I'm not sure who that person is. Before you start to think I'm going to go off on some longggg tangent about finding myself and Jesus and self-acceptance and all that stuff, I'm not. Because I don't think I'm there yet. Or more accurately, I don't think this 'there', this final destination, is even on my map. I think we're all a lot of people. We're who the person you're interacting with needs, we're who a certain decision needs to be made, we're who we need to be to get through the day.*
*Can you tell I've read Gone Girl?
And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with being a different person with different people because everyone does it. Maybe it's not very noticeable in a lot of people, but sometimes it's just little things. For example, someone may react differently to a question depending on who's asking and what the consequence of their answer will be, or someone may laugh at a joke they would never find funny in a different situation.
I am a lot of people. I'm a typical, hard-working student in Biology, I'm an argumentative feminist in Politics, I'm a frustrated failure in Maths, I'm an annoying big sister with my brothers, I'm an ill patient at the doctors and an exhausted teenager in my room.
So no-one sees 'The Real Me' because I'm never all of those things at once and I'm never in a situation where I need to be.
Just writing this, I've come up with an idea. Whenever you feel yourself being one of your 'many selves', think to yourself 'Who/what am I being this person for?'. When the answer is 'Me', then you've found yourself.
Bit of a deep one for you today. I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm writing this in between watching Nashville (like when it's buffering) so it may be slightly bitty. Just so you don't feel left out of the video-watching club, here's a video by Soul Pancake (a Youtube channel).
As you can probably tell, this video is what prompted me to write this post.*
*I can't come up with deep subjects like this all on my own.
Anyway, it really got me thinking about who sees the real me (funnily enough) and I thought I'd just pour out all my thoughts into this blog in an attempt to see it more clearly. Does that make sense? I feel like this post is just going to drag me deeper into the void of self doubt. Ah well, as long as it isn't too long...
The first thing I thought when I watched this video was: What does see mean? It could mean understanding and really knowing a person, or it could be mean, like, literally seeing. I'm guessing the video is focusing on the former because it's deeper and easier to add emotive background music to.
In that sense, I don't think anyone sees 'The Real Me' because I'm not sure who that person is. Before you start to think I'm going to go off on some longggg tangent about finding myself and Jesus and self-acceptance and all that stuff, I'm not. Because I don't think I'm there yet. Or more accurately, I don't think this 'there', this final destination, is even on my map. I think we're all a lot of people. We're who the person you're interacting with needs, we're who a certain decision needs to be made, we're who we need to be to get through the day.*
*Can you tell I've read Gone Girl?
And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with being a different person with different people because everyone does it. Maybe it's not very noticeable in a lot of people, but sometimes it's just little things. For example, someone may react differently to a question depending on who's asking and what the consequence of their answer will be, or someone may laugh at a joke they would never find funny in a different situation.
I am a lot of people. I'm a typical, hard-working student in Biology, I'm an argumentative feminist in Politics, I'm a frustrated failure in Maths, I'm an annoying big sister with my brothers, I'm an ill patient at the doctors and an exhausted teenager in my room.
So no-one sees 'The Real Me' because I'm never all of those things at once and I'm never in a situation where I need to be.
Just writing this, I've come up with an idea. Whenever you feel yourself being one of your 'many selves', think to yourself 'Who/what am I being this person for?'. When the answer is 'Me', then you've found yourself.
Saturday, 21 February 2015
Lovey Dovey Ghetto Princess.
I have loved Scissor Sisters since, like, forever. There's just something about their music that makes me want to eat a handful of glitter, jump on a train to Vienna and buy a herd of wild pugs.
All whilst singing at an only-dogs-can-hear pitch and thrusting rhythmically.
After writing that pretty graphic (yet realistic) description of me dancing, I realised I didn't really know what else to write about this. So, I'm going to list my favourite of Scissor Sisters' songs and give a brief insight into why they make me so happy.
5. I Don't Feel Like Dancin'.
This goes without saying, really. I just find it so great that the one song professing not dancing is the single best song at making you want to dance. Also, literally nobody knows the words to the rest of the song except the line 'I don't feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today'. Personally, I like to sing the first line as 'Wake up in the morning and the mojo's in the place, my heart can take a chance but I don't whither either way'. According to azlyrics.com (reliable source, I know), the actual lyric is 'Wake up in the morning with a head like ‘what ya done?’ This used to be the life but I don’t need another one'. Let down. To be perfectly honest, I don't even think Scissor Sisters know what the actual words are to this song. They just shimmy gracefully through the song, trying to make it rhyme.
4. Skin Tight.
Lesser known, but a classic. Well technically it's not a classic for exactly the reason I just highlighted, but it sounded like I knew what I was talking about. I love this song because the lyrics are like properly beautiful and emotional yet they choose to put them to a rave-worthy bass and make it a groove, rather than a ballad. I don't know about you, but I love a groove. This is the sort of song I can imagine dancing to in the rain.
3. Filthy / Gorgeous.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the genius of this song. I can pretty much guarantee that every single one of you will have at least one memory of listening to this song. And that memory will either be excruciatingly painful to recall or will make you smile reading this. It's just one of those songs. Personally, I have countless memories of dancing to this at parties, generally with my parents and their friends. Yes, that means that 6 year old me used to innocently sing the words to this song (or at least some version of the words) with adults that knew perfectly well what the lyrics meant but let me belt them out to crowds of strangers anyway.
2. Invisible Light.
I don't know why I love this song so much, but I really do. I can just imagine the chorus being the soundtrack to almost every single good moment in my life. I listen to it when I'm sad or grumpy or bored (or any other mood that requires me to wear extra eyeliner). Just listen to it, and hopefully you'll understand.
1. Fire with Fire.
This is my favourite song of all time, not just of the Scissor Sisters collection. I cry almost every single time I listen to it, or I energetically dance solidly for the entire song. My moods vary a lot. I think it's a combination of the piano riff at the beginning, Jake Shears' shameless vocals, and probably my favourite lyrics ever written. If there was ever a song that came close enough to describing me, it would be this one. Fire with fire. It's practically my motto now. Not that I'm validating 'revenge'; I'm a firm believer in the 'if someone hits you, turn the other cheek' party line. But 'turning the other cheek', to me, doesn't mean forgetting about it. If someone hurts you, or something you care about, you have a right to question it and to stand up for what you believe in. So even if your fire is a huge bonfire, or the tiny flame hiding underneath the coal, you're still fighting.
So, at the end of that rather long 'list', I hope you have something to take away from it. Even if it's just that I had a slightly dysfunctional childhood. At least you now know a little bit about why I am, well, the way that I am.
#bornthisway #cheesyinspirationalmetaphorsforlife
All whilst singing at an only-dogs-can-hear pitch and thrusting rhythmically.
After writing that pretty graphic (yet realistic) description of me dancing, I realised I didn't really know what else to write about this. So, I'm going to list my favourite of Scissor Sisters' songs and give a brief insight into why they make me so happy.
5. I Don't Feel Like Dancin'.
This goes without saying, really. I just find it so great that the one song professing not dancing is the single best song at making you want to dance. Also, literally nobody knows the words to the rest of the song except the line 'I don't feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today'. Personally, I like to sing the first line as 'Wake up in the morning and the mojo's in the place, my heart can take a chance but I don't whither either way'. According to azlyrics.com (reliable source, I know), the actual lyric is 'Wake up in the morning with a head like ‘what ya done?’ This used to be the life but I don’t need another one'. Let down. To be perfectly honest, I don't even think Scissor Sisters know what the actual words are to this song. They just shimmy gracefully through the song, trying to make it rhyme.
4. Skin Tight.
Lesser known, but a classic. Well technically it's not a classic for exactly the reason I just highlighted, but it sounded like I knew what I was talking about. I love this song because the lyrics are like properly beautiful and emotional yet they choose to put them to a rave-worthy bass and make it a groove, rather than a ballad. I don't know about you, but I love a groove. This is the sort of song I can imagine dancing to in the rain.
3. Filthy / Gorgeous.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the genius of this song. I can pretty much guarantee that every single one of you will have at least one memory of listening to this song. And that memory will either be excruciatingly painful to recall or will make you smile reading this. It's just one of those songs. Personally, I have countless memories of dancing to this at parties, generally with my parents and their friends. Yes, that means that 6 year old me used to innocently sing the words to this song (or at least some version of the words) with adults that knew perfectly well what the lyrics meant but let me belt them out to crowds of strangers anyway.
2. Invisible Light.
I don't know why I love this song so much, but I really do. I can just imagine the chorus being the soundtrack to almost every single good moment in my life. I listen to it when I'm sad or grumpy or bored (or any other mood that requires me to wear extra eyeliner). Just listen to it, and hopefully you'll understand.
1. Fire with Fire.
This is my favourite song of all time, not just of the Scissor Sisters collection. I cry almost every single time I listen to it, or I energetically dance solidly for the entire song. My moods vary a lot. I think it's a combination of the piano riff at the beginning, Jake Shears' shameless vocals, and probably my favourite lyrics ever written. If there was ever a song that came close enough to describing me, it would be this one. Fire with fire. It's practically my motto now. Not that I'm validating 'revenge'; I'm a firm believer in the 'if someone hits you, turn the other cheek' party line. But 'turning the other cheek', to me, doesn't mean forgetting about it. If someone hurts you, or something you care about, you have a right to question it and to stand up for what you believe in. So even if your fire is a huge bonfire, or the tiny flame hiding underneath the coal, you're still fighting.
So, at the end of that rather long 'list', I hope you have something to take away from it. Even if it's just that I had a slightly dysfunctional childhood. At least you now know a little bit about why I am, well, the way that I am.
#bornthisway #cheesyinspirationalmetaphorsforlife
Friday, 13 February 2015
Fueled on Anger and Glitter.
So I'm in an eclectic mood. That's a fancy way of saying I can't think of one thing to write about and I keep having random thought processes so need to write it all down.
Firstly, who's psyched about the Fifty Shades of Grey film? Not me. Honestly, until like a week ago I was avidly watching the trailers (mainly to catch glimpses of Jamie Dornan topless) and didn't really see the harm in a kinda-porn-y film being released (did I mention Jamie Dornan?!). But then I read an article quoting all the dodgy stuff in it and was like 'Ohmygosh ew what is this'.*
*I was probably less American schoolgirl-y but that was the general drift.
Basically, the books (who knew it was a trilogy?) are about a supposed 'love' story between Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. The inverted comments refer to the fact that Christian literally rapes Anastasia. That's not a love story, that's sexual (and emotional) abuse. Sorry for the crudeness but it makes me so angry that books like this are allowed to exist. I'm not condemning the entire genre of 'erotic fiction' (ew, writing that makes me squirm) because I understand that appeals to some people, but a book promoting rape and abuse is not right. Neither am I judging BDSM practitioners (that's the official term, in case you thought I was being weirdly formal) because a true BDSM relationship is based on consent, which the 'relationship' in Fifty Shades of Grey is not.
Urgh, rant over.*
*Well I'll probably continue to rant about it to anyone that will listen.
Moving on. So, I have this friend who is a walking contradiction. I've literally never met someone so internally (and externally) at conflict. For example, she loves Ariana Grande (don't shoot her please guys) and wears pretty bows in her hair and is like seriously hot, but also has some crazy obsession with seeing a dead person, has no qualms about killing animals (I've only ever witnessed her flushing zebrafish eggs and water fleas down the sink so maybe that isn't a very good example) and thinks mothers can kill their children if they want to. Of course, I'm kinda hypocritical considering I love pink but will destroy anyone who assumes I like pink because I'm a girl, and I want to be a doctor but have a full-on phobia of injections. I think this is why we get on so well. Neither of us are what we appear to be, which is good, because why should we have to live up to what other people expect us to be? I think I may have just turned her (fairly innocent but still heartless) personality into a feminist rant. Typical. Anyway, I just wanted to mention her because I think she's great (but she does suck at biology experiments).
I want to pick a little bit of what I just said and expand upon it, because it's kind of important. Just because I like pink, sparkles and James Blunt, does not mean I'm naive, or think girls can't kickass as much as any other gender out there. Just because I wear makeup, does not mean I think girls should base their self-worth on how attractive other people think they are. Stop stereotyping and generalising 50% of the population. And while we're at it, stop stereotyping any group in society because...well, just because.
So, that's about it. Well it's not really, I'd say that's about 1/3 of the stuff going through my brain right now, but that was the write-down-able third. Here's a little crazy contradiction-y fact for you to end your day with:
Firstly, who's psyched about the Fifty Shades of Grey film? Not me. Honestly, until like a week ago I was avidly watching the trailers (mainly to catch glimpses of Jamie Dornan topless) and didn't really see the harm in a kinda-porn-y film being released (did I mention Jamie Dornan?!). But then I read an article quoting all the dodgy stuff in it and was like 'Ohmygosh ew what is this'.*
*I was probably less American schoolgirl-y but that was the general drift.
Basically, the books (who knew it was a trilogy?) are about a supposed 'love' story between Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. The inverted comments refer to the fact that Christian literally rapes Anastasia. That's not a love story, that's sexual (and emotional) abuse. Sorry for the crudeness but it makes me so angry that books like this are allowed to exist. I'm not condemning the entire genre of 'erotic fiction' (ew, writing that makes me squirm) because I understand that appeals to some people, but a book promoting rape and abuse is not right. Neither am I judging BDSM practitioners (that's the official term, in case you thought I was being weirdly formal) because a true BDSM relationship is based on consent, which the 'relationship' in Fifty Shades of Grey is not.
Urgh, rant over.*
*Well I'll probably continue to rant about it to anyone that will listen.
Moving on. So, I have this friend who is a walking contradiction. I've literally never met someone so internally (and externally) at conflict. For example, she loves Ariana Grande (don't shoot her please guys) and wears pretty bows in her hair and is like seriously hot, but also has some crazy obsession with seeing a dead person, has no qualms about killing animals (I've only ever witnessed her flushing zebrafish eggs and water fleas down the sink so maybe that isn't a very good example) and thinks mothers can kill their children if they want to. Of course, I'm kinda hypocritical considering I love pink but will destroy anyone who assumes I like pink because I'm a girl, and I want to be a doctor but have a full-on phobia of injections. I think this is why we get on so well. Neither of us are what we appear to be, which is good, because why should we have to live up to what other people expect us to be? I think I may have just turned her (fairly innocent but still heartless) personality into a feminist rant. Typical. Anyway, I just wanted to mention her because I think she's great (but she does suck at biology experiments).
I want to pick a little bit of what I just said and expand upon it, because it's kind of important. Just because I like pink, sparkles and James Blunt, does not mean I'm naive, or think girls can't kickass as much as any other gender out there. Just because I wear makeup, does not mean I think girls should base their self-worth on how attractive other people think they are. Stop stereotyping and generalising 50% of the population. And while we're at it, stop stereotyping any group in society because...well, just because.
So, that's about it. Well it's not really, I'd say that's about 1/3 of the stuff going through my brain right now, but that was the write-down-able third. Here's a little crazy contradiction-y fact for you to end your day with:
Marilyn Monroe had a higher IQ than Albert Einstein.
Sunday, 1 February 2015
You've got a cold? Write a will.
Do you think people who don't agree with animal testing should be allowed to take paracetamol?
I have asked so many people this question in the last month and no-one has given me a straight answer. I asked some meat-eaters and they all grunted, shrugged and limbo-ed under the question; I asked a vegan and she grunted, shrugged and promptly stepped around the limbo pole; and then I asked myself, to which I replied by grunting, shrugging to no-one in particular and despairing at the awful metaphors I come up with.
I'd never thought about it until I heard someone give a presentation about animal testing. Not from an animals-are-people-too, burn-the-zoos perspective, but from a scientific perspective.
I'm sure all of you have heard the horrible facts about the living conditions of animals in laboratories. I'm sure most of you have read the news about PETA's regular stunts. I'm even sure some of you have seen Legally Blonde II.
And as much as those facts horrify me, as much as I admire PETA's passion, and as much as I love Legally Blonde, I still think animal testing is necessary sometimes.
Don't shoot me, don't shoot me, don't shoot me.
I say sometimes with honesty. Testing cosmetics on animals is cruel, unnecessary and barbaric. But testing medicines, treatments and new medical equipment is completely justified. Without animal testing, billions of people would have died from malaria, 235 million people would currently be struggling to breath on a day-to-day basis because of asthma, and every single cancer patient that has survived purely because of medical treatment, would be dead.
Granted, a vaccination for malaria may have been created eventually, but countless lives would have been expended during the failed clinical trials. The majority of the 235 million people living with asthma will never be hospitalised because of asthma attacks but many of them will, and they wouldn't survive without the medicines we have today. And perhaps some of those cancer patients could have fought it off eventually, or found a homeopathic cure, but without chemotherapy, radiotherapy and all the other scary sounding therapies, the cancer survival rate would be down by ten fold, maybe more.
That means, in less number-y terms, the 'one child dies of malaria every minute' advert would be a whole lot scarier; I probably wouldn't be alive, and if I was, I would be hospitalised all my life (being treated with what medicines I don't know); and cancer would be an even bigger threat than it already is.
Without animal research, the human population wouldn't have survived the epidemic of the common cold.
I googled about some animal research alternatives and there are some, but they are impractical and very, very time consuming. For example, you can synthesise skin cells in a petri dish and test on them but then you can't know how the treatment affects bodily functions. Kinda pointless, seeing as the reason most drugs never reach the drugstore is not because they don't work, but because they do extra stuff that you don't really want happening.
So, after that fact (and perhaps emotion) overload, let's do a U-turn back to the beginning of this post. I chose paracetamol because I can almost guarantee that all of you have used it at least once, and most of you on a regular basis. But I could have asked:
Do you think people who don't agree with animal testing should be allowed to take paracetamol, receive any hospital treatment, or even give their pets medicine?*
*You never really think about the benefit of animal testing on animals, but animals need painkillers (large animals during child birth), insulin for diabetes and vaccines for diseases too.
Why should people who are so vehemently against something, reap all the benefits from it?
At the end of the day, you can't tell someone they're 'not allowed' to take medicine, or that they can't have an x-ray for their broken leg, but I just want people to really think about the implications of living in an animal-testing free society. We wouldn't have hospitals (what's the point without the treatments?), and if we did have some sort of care centre, we'd all be in it.
But then again, technically humans are parasites on Earth, stripping it of life and resources. And if we all die at some point, why not sooner rather than later?
As you can tell, the internal debates in my head are endless.
I have asked so many people this question in the last month and no-one has given me a straight answer. I asked some meat-eaters and they all grunted, shrugged and limbo-ed under the question; I asked a vegan and she grunted, shrugged and promptly stepped around the limbo pole; and then I asked myself, to which I replied by grunting, shrugging to no-one in particular and despairing at the awful metaphors I come up with.
I'd never thought about it until I heard someone give a presentation about animal testing. Not from an animals-are-people-too, burn-the-zoos perspective, but from a scientific perspective.
I'm sure all of you have heard the horrible facts about the living conditions of animals in laboratories. I'm sure most of you have read the news about PETA's regular stunts. I'm even sure some of you have seen Legally Blonde II.
And as much as those facts horrify me, as much as I admire PETA's passion, and as much as I love Legally Blonde, I still think animal testing is necessary sometimes.
Don't shoot me, don't shoot me, don't shoot me.
I say sometimes with honesty. Testing cosmetics on animals is cruel, unnecessary and barbaric. But testing medicines, treatments and new medical equipment is completely justified. Without animal testing, billions of people would have died from malaria, 235 million people would currently be struggling to breath on a day-to-day basis because of asthma, and every single cancer patient that has survived purely because of medical treatment, would be dead.
Granted, a vaccination for malaria may have been created eventually, but countless lives would have been expended during the failed clinical trials. The majority of the 235 million people living with asthma will never be hospitalised because of asthma attacks but many of them will, and they wouldn't survive without the medicines we have today. And perhaps some of those cancer patients could have fought it off eventually, or found a homeopathic cure, but without chemotherapy, radiotherapy and all the other scary sounding therapies, the cancer survival rate would be down by ten fold, maybe more.
That means, in less number-y terms, the 'one child dies of malaria every minute' advert would be a whole lot scarier; I probably wouldn't be alive, and if I was, I would be hospitalised all my life (being treated with what medicines I don't know); and cancer would be an even bigger threat than it already is.
Without animal research, the human population wouldn't have survived the epidemic of the common cold.
I googled about some animal research alternatives and there are some, but they are impractical and very, very time consuming. For example, you can synthesise skin cells in a petri dish and test on them but then you can't know how the treatment affects bodily functions. Kinda pointless, seeing as the reason most drugs never reach the drugstore is not because they don't work, but because they do extra stuff that you don't really want happening.
So, after that fact (and perhaps emotion) overload, let's do a U-turn back to the beginning of this post. I chose paracetamol because I can almost guarantee that all of you have used it at least once, and most of you on a regular basis. But I could have asked:
Do you think people who don't agree with animal testing should be allowed to take paracetamol, receive any hospital treatment, or even give their pets medicine?*
*You never really think about the benefit of animal testing on animals, but animals need painkillers (large animals during child birth), insulin for diabetes and vaccines for diseases too.
Why should people who are so vehemently against something, reap all the benefits from it?
At the end of the day, you can't tell someone they're 'not allowed' to take medicine, or that they can't have an x-ray for their broken leg, but I just want people to really think about the implications of living in an animal-testing free society. We wouldn't have hospitals (what's the point without the treatments?), and if we did have some sort of care centre, we'd all be in it.
But then again, technically humans are parasites on Earth, stripping it of life and resources. And if we all die at some point, why not sooner rather than later?
As you can tell, the internal debates in my head are endless.
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