You guys must be new here

TL;DR – Black students at Emory University kindly request that the anonymous messaging app, Yik Yak be banned on campus, due to incidents of students anonymously making racist comments

Man, who would’ve guessed that if people were given the shroud of anonymity on the internet, they might just say some critical things!  Who would’ve also guessed that in spite of the idealistic world full of equality for all, that there still exists, racism?  Who knew??

Not that I’m condoning the behavior in question here, but honestly these students must be new, to like, modern society.  I’m also not saying that they should sit around and take it, when racists are capitalizing on the veil of anonymity and saying some racist garbage, but the harsh reality is that shit is most certainly nothing new.

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The fallacy of casual League of Legends

Typically, whenever I play League of Legends, I play ARAM, because they’re quicker, not taken nearly as seriously as Summoner’s Rift matches, and as odd as it is to say, considering the occasional anxiety and unhappiness of randomly getting a champion you don’t like, there’s something inherently relaxing about ARAM, because there’s an accountability that is taken off the table, by everyone having their players randomly chosen.  I take a lot of flack about my enjoyment of ARAM from some of my friends, but I don’t really care, because I like ARAM, and I think it’s a mode where it kind of helps players actually dare to think outside of the box, instead of falling into “the metas” that people only on the highest level of play dictate, and everyone believes they can emulate.

However lately, I’ve been playing Summoner’s Rift again, because I’ve again been entertaining the thought of taking the plunge into ranked play, to see where I could end up on the gargantuan player pool of League.  Last season, I placed into Silver II, and I made little effort to try and climb out, because it was very late in the season, and secondly I just didn’t care that much.  Ultimately, I was hoping that I could squeak my way into Gold-tier, so that I could get the Victorious Morgana skin, whom only Gold or higher players received, but alas, it was just not in the stars for me to get there.

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How about Slob Shaming?

Shaming, in general is not a good thing.  Fat shaming, skinny shaming, slut shaming, handicap shaming; shaming in general is a behavior that’s pretty much frowned upon, globally speaking.  I mean, I’m not going to pretend like within the comforts of close friends and confidants, I won’t say some utterly crass and horrible things that probably succeed in shaming someone out there, in the pursuit of laughs and joking around, but when the day is over, I too would say that I frown upon shaming as a serious practice, overall.

But what if there’s a group of people that absolutely must be shamed?  A group that (hopefully) everyone can agree that, need to be called out in some capacity, to try and rectify their shameful tendency(ies) to begin with?  Would it really be considered shaming if everyone agrees that they should be shamed?

People who don’t flush toilets.  People who don’t wash their hands.

Now I obviously can’t speak for women’s restroom etiquette, but I’d wager that there are plenty of gals out there that can think of a person or persons off the top of their head that they have mentally earmarked as being a perpetual person who indulges in some less-than-acceptable sanitary practices.

I’m talking about the shaming of slobs.  Slob Shaming.

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What are the point of rules?

Do not enter.  One way.  No left turn.  No U-turn.

Without any hyperbole, I can confidently say that every single time I hop into my car, I watch another driver violate one or more of these laws, and get away with it scot-free.  I ask myself if I could get away with it, and convince myself that I would be the one who gets caught for attempting such blatant disregard for posted laws.  And before I can decide to be a rebel and break the seemingly-inconsequential of inconsequential laws, I’m already headed in the correct, legal direction instead.

Even in Midtown, near where I work, where it’s a veritable maze of detours, where arriving at point B, a block away from point A requires four blocks of driving to circle around closed streets, using detours and congested paths rampant with stupid Georgia Tech students, I opt to take the legal route, because I like to believe that I’m somewhat of a paragon.  Meanwhile, I pull into the parking lot only to witness numerous cars ignore the signs that state DO NOT ENTER and DETOUR and come the route they want to use, and get away with it without any reprimand.

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Rank shaming is basically the lamest form of flaming

I was playing League of Legends one day (big surprise), and I was in a game with a teammate of marginal talent, repeatedly dying.  Eventually they blamed their performance (or lack thereof) on the royal lag, which is obviously the reason why anyone has a bad game, because everyone is extremely talented at League of Legends and the only thing that can suppress their immense talent would be uncontrollable ISP maladies.

Anyway, my natural response to someone whining about lag was to basically tell them to stop playing, because let’s face it, it’s not fair to their current and their future teammates to repeatedly enter games with their true talents inhibited by connectivity issues, and not necessarily said to (entirely) antagonize them.  But naturally, since 95% of LoL’s player base are functioning deadbeats, they naturally took it personally and decided to spend the rest of the game antagonizing me as best as they could, which is to say pathetically and completely ineffectively.

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Wrestling’s insufferable era

I haven’t really been paying as much to wrestling as much as I had been in prior months, but I recently watched a match because my friend brought up an interesting observation that piqued my interest and made me want to see it for myself.  It was during the Big Show vs. Roman Reigns match on the 12.22.14 edition of RAW, where the crowd inexplicably turns on Roman Reigns.

Up to this point, Reigns had been built up as a face (good guy) that was rapidly ascending through the ranks, and had potential World Champion contender written all over him.  He’d been derailed for the better part of the last few months with more or less a back injury, but has returned to television in recent weeks.  His character gave no reason for the crowd to turn on him; contrarily, WWE even had his character have a minute or two during a live event to telecast “an update” on his health, and a general cheeseball face message that he’d be back and working hard ASAP.

But (a noticeable contingent) the crowd still turned on him anyway.  During his match with the Big Show, at moments of the match where he would signal for his signature maneuvers, brief periods of time where both performers could catch their breath and let the crowd react, the reactions from the crowd were not (all) the expected cheers of fans supporting the good guy, but that of boos and jeers of people voicing their disapproval.  More than once, a puzzled look can be discerned from Reign’s face, and even at the end of the match, Big Show himself looks a tad perplexed by the unexpected crowd reaction throughout the match.

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The trolliest car on the road

You want to get over a lane, and the car you’re planning on getting in front of speeds up and prevents you from doing so.  Never mind the fact that there is nobody behind them, you’re just not getting in front of them.

You want to merge onto the interstate, and the car in the lane you’re trying to merge onto doesn’t speed up or slow down and makes you have to adjust your speed for them to wait for them.  Never mind the fact that there is nobody in the adjacent lane for them to have made the courtesy move into, you’re the one who’s going to have to adapt.

You are in a parking lot that flows one way, and around the corner comes the car going in the opposite direction.  Whether they realize their folly or not, they still own it and act as if you are inconveniencing them, when they inevitably glare at you as they pass going in the wrong direction.

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