Taking Offence

I wasn't going to say anything but then I made the mistake of watching.

What I saw was the incredibly transphobic episode of an alleged sitcom called Moving Wallpaper. Although it never stops the average Daily Mail reader I thought I would view the offending show before passing comment, this has the rather unfortunate necessity of visiting the once proud commercial broadcasters site and watching again.

The more depressing thing is that ITV does have a good record portraying homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered peoples over the years. In Coronation Street, other dramas like Bob And Rose, reality and documentaries. Compared to other broadcasters who might veer onto the sensationalist which has a EPG attention grabbing title or a dull and worthy documentary which paints us as just pathetic victims.

I was not around for the supposed bad old days where the comedy non-white was a fixture in many comedies (there are exceptions where race was tackled well like Rising Damp and Porridge). However the 80's sitcom gay is well remembered, crude, lazy, stereotypical, without any dimension and offensive.

It starts off buttock clinchingly bad with a reference to surgery leading to a shot of a pair of scissors, references to "sausage factory" with funny sitcom music which replaces the canned laughter which tells you that was supposed to be a joke. The character is deliberately set up to be a unlikeable character which the writers attempt to make it OK to mock her and her transsexuality.

The joke was on her, not on the bigoted or ignorant jokers and gave them the impression that it was fine to be prejudiced and discriminate against transgendered women (and by possible extension trans men) in the workplace as well as wider society.

Comedies can be edgy and original but this was nothing of the sort.

Anti-Starbucks Based Rant

To me Starbucks stands for a lot of things I despise, what I want is a cheap cuppa most of the time not a overpriced double wocca choca latte with my daily calorie intake catered for in a few mouthfuls. I do wonder how they have at times avoided the whole super-size me controversy that dealt McDonalds a almighty kick when essentially both are pushing fatty products most of the time. I would be tempted to say there's an element of snobbishness. Yes they do also sell black espresso's but MackyD's sell carrot sticks, doesn't mean most are going to touch it.

What else its the most expensive for crap coffee a taste tester gave them 1.5 out of 5 compared to Caffe Nero's 4 and was found by Which? researchers to be the most expensive. To be fair this is a free market and people buy brands for the lifestyle rather than quality or price Also their previous success forced many rivals to improve their offering. But hey, you read the title, you don't expect me to be really nice and I haven't even started on their business and employment practices.

In short not a fan, much like Lord Mandelson.

My First Visit

The first time I walked out, I got to the gate, checked there was no one up the road, got to the gate and carried on walking up the road through a dark park round a few streets and back again. I was so scared.

Sometime after that I got ready to go to to a group in my local region. My MP3 was playing You Love Us by the Manic Street Preachers, as I neared the venue but I couldn't go in, I suppose I had used up all my courage getting there that I had none left. So I just loitered for a bit, think this time I will go in but I never did. Which makes it sound like a big fail, but taking the positives, it wasn't. As you can see from a photo taken on my old mobile my make-up was rather poor and the wig could be better but it didn't matter, I learnt a lot that day. Namely I wasn't going to be pelted with bricks for going out and I can do it.

Evil Overused

You know from watching those dumb list shows called things like The 100 Most Evilest People In The World Evah!!! Voted by the sort of person who thinks that sort of thing is important but not voting for their Councillor or MEP. Before I topple off my soap box cue smug voice-over. "At 100 he may be called the man of steel, but he doesn't have much appeal according to you, its Stalin!". With Kerry Katona garnering more votes than Saddam Hussain, the top three comprising of the latest pantomime villain from a reality show, Chris Moyles and Fred Goodwin.

All in all the use of the word evil is used too much. There are several definitions of evil, includeing the secular, religious and the philosophical. This is going to be a short argument because what detailed religous education I recieved in my youth has faded and I went for history at A-level. The point is that anybody doing anything remotely wrong or imoral gets called evil when it devalues true evil when it happens. Like many forms of modern slavery and trafficking and acts of mass slaughter for example.