Things that boil the blood

I have a friend that does not read the paper. She doesn't watch the news or surf the Internet. I'm assuming she relies on others for major happenings in the world, but she refuses to seek it out because it is all too depressing and life is short. I never got that. I love reading the newspaper in the morning. I check the news on Twitter and the Internet frequently during the day. But this summer I became overwhelmed with my own emotions and discovered that she was right. There is more helplessness and despair written about then there is happiness and I couldn't take it. I gave up on the newspaper this summer and it was a refreshing change.

This week, however, I returned to it after my husband renewed our yearly subscription. I have a system in reading the paper. I go in the order of our paper with A, B, and C. I read the front section where the world news tells me how fucked up this country is and then I move to the B section where I learn all of the local happenings. The inside of B is the entertainment section and I read that before moving on to my happy place in C; the sports section. The last section has the puzzles to keep my mind sharp, and I save those for when I'm preparing dinner while I'm waiting for pots to boil and dishes to bake.

Tuesday's news had my blood boiling, and when my blood boils I soothe it by writing my frustrations on my blog to share with my twenty-five millions of readers. Because nothing makes me happier than boiling someone else's blood when reading my opinions. So here goes:

Taylor Swift - she countersued a radio host's litigation of a 2015 suit accusing Swift of falsely having him fired after her manager and mother reported to the station that the host had inappropriately groped her. The suits went to trial last Friday and continued on Monday. First, Swift's name was dropped by a judge in the radio host's suit for insufficient evidence suggesting she had made the whole thing up. He eventually lost the suit altogether after the jury came back on the other side. That left Swift's case for assault and battery. She won.

My problem came when I read the following by the New York Times, "Jurors awarded Swift the $1 in compensation she had demanded." I had a problem with the word demanded. Yes, I know the word is used in terms of law, but demand is defined as "to ask for peremptorily or urgently" as in with a force like pounding on a table top, and really, this was the word to use for a $1? There wasn't another word to be used like asked, requested, or appealed? Why is it that the woman whose skirt was lifted by the radio host and whose rear was grabbed the by radio host is the demanding one? For a dollar in compensation?

On the other end of it, the radio host's lawyer "urged the jury to focus on his client's desire to clear his name and to recoup about $260,000 in lost wages." Why wasn't he demanding the $260,000? Why was she demanding, but he was urging, desiring, recouping, and clearing his name? This is just the little things that happen to show me that we haven't moved forward like we should've when it comes to equal rights for women. Instead the woman is demanding. For a dollar. It's small, sure, but it's these small things that boil my blood. Yay, Taylor Swift for pushing forward on this, paying out of her own pocket and asking nothing but a $1 from the radio host to show women that reporting an assault can be done without fear of facing a lawsuit from the attacker. At least we got that.

NFL and the kneeling during the anthem - First, there was all of the speculation of why first time kneeler Colin Kaepernick is without a football team since declaring himself a free agent. For weeks I read article after article with various opinions about why he isn't collecting an NFL paycheck, and the one I agreed with the most was a writer who wondered why Kaepernick's fellow colleagues were quiet on this subject. Where were the ones who took a knee in protest with him? Hmmmm...I wondered. Good point.

Now that the preseason games have begun, we have more kneeling. Marshawn Lynch, out of his one year retirement where he didn't have the opportunity to join the bandwagon, made the news first by sitting on a cooler during the anthem. Since it does no good for reporters to question Lynch we don't know if he was just tired from getting back into shape after a year off or making a point, but boy, once two or three other players refused to stand during the anthem reporters were all over them.

Here's my blood boiling deal. Stop it. I don't care if you are standing or sitting or kneeling or picking your nose during the national anthem. The point was made last year and now it's seriously time to move on because it isn't solving the real problem. If you want to fight back against an injustice in America, there are a hell of a lot of better ways to fight. Put your money into an organization that fights for your rights. March and carry a protest sign that lets the world see what you feel. Sitting down on the sidelines during the national anthem, isn't getting the point across to those idiots who aren't going to be swayed from their ignorant stand. It also doesn't tell me a damn thing. For all I know, unless you are interviewed and tell me the reason for your sitting, I might think you are sitting because you prefer the confederate flag and all it stood for back in the day. Because there are idiots out there that do believe that. It's time to move forward on this sitting issue and get to the heart of the matter another way. Speak out, and do so loudly with bold actions. Ugh.

Tim Tebow - OMG! He is here locally playing baseball and every day there are two or more articles about this guy including today's article rehashing his University of Florida glory days. I've never been more tired of everyone picking on this guy. Why? Because he is nice? Spouts his thoughts on religion? More writers want to see him not succeed in sports than those who want to see him flourish. Because apparently that makes a better story? Frankly, it doesn't. I'm bored with it all. He was a god here in Florida during college. So he couldn't make it in the pros? Not everyone does. His choice to try baseball is not newsworthy this far past his arrival into the sport. Jeez, the minor league has never had this much journalist interest. I'd rather hear about NFL players who have retired. What's Troy Polamalu up to these days? Move on guys, please.

Darcy: "I don't think I would have thought anything about the word demand in that sentence, and since when did Tim Tebow start playing baseball?"

Sometimes those remarks boil my blood too, but that's another entry.