The left one is the poison one

[clevermanka]

Dunno how many of you read the online comic Girl Genius, but today's episode has one of the best lines ever. Translated from the original Jager:
"If those idiot princes get a look at her, she's gonna win this thing with a houseplant and a dead mouse."

And now from the editorial corner, a brief comment on the New York Times story about mothers sacrificing this xmas season to buy gifts for their little ones.

Come Christmas, McKenna Hunt, a gregarious little girl from Safety Harbor, Fla., will receive the play kitchen and the Elmo doll she wants. But her mother, Kristen Hunt, will go without the designer jeans she covets this season.

For Ms. Hunt and for millions of mothers across the nation, this holiday season is turning into a time of sacrifice. Weathering the first severe economic downturn of their adult lives, these women are discovering that a practice they once indulged without thinking about it, shopping a bit for themselves at the holidays, has to give way to their children’s wish lists.

“I want her to be able to look back,” Ms. Hunt declared, “and say, ‘Even though they were tough times, my mom was still able to give me stuff.’ ”

OH NOES! Poor little mummy won't be able to purchase herself those hundred dollar jeans? And she can only afford to buy little McKenna a "Grand Walk-in Kitchen" (which comes in two giant boxes), a Doodle Pro ($17.99 at ToysRUs), and four other brand-spanking new items that I have no doubt all cost around $20 apiece? Dear god, what is the world coming to? Somebody fucking give this woman a bailout package, STAT!

I can't even begin to articulate the obscenity of this. Obscene, you ask? Really? HELL YES. Obscene.

I know this is going to cause another shitstorm of people rallying around the precious Future of Our World to say "Oh, Miss Red, you're just coloring everyone with the same paintbrush. The spoiled, pampered, and entitled children are in the minority. You're just old and bitter. Go back to your dark hole of hate and anger and lighten up on little Jimmy (or McKenna, as the case may be). The kids are alright!"

Yeah, well you know what? I don't believe you. And neither does the New York Times. So suck it.

There are a lot of good parents and a lot of good kids out there, yes. I have friends who are good parents who don't indulge in this sick behavior and I am so grateful to you for not adding your kids to the pile of god damned chum dropped into the water as a lure for the corporate commercial sharks. But the majority of the kids today? Are fucked up, people. And who fucked them up? Hmmmmm....

In a staggeringly appropriate chance of fate, please check out today's Sinfest.


Golly, where do you think Ishida got that idea?

Comments

[solan-t.livejournal.com]

I hit 'designer jeans' and just couldn't stand to keep reading the quote. Ugh, ugh and more ugh.

[solan-t.livejournal.com]

And, by golly, I am glad enough people recomended Girl Genius to me that I FINALLY read it from the start. So much funny (and eye candy) I would have missed out on.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I am glad enough people recomended Girl Genius to me

And I am glad you are not a dipshit parent! Thank you. No, seriously. Thank you.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Don't read the rest of the article, then. You might give yourself an aneurysm. It came pretty close to taking me right out. GAH.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

I read it and it burned me.
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gllllllachk-ptui.
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If I'm getting gifty, then it will be homemade or a book.



ps: I'm hoping, for Chris' sake, that the right one is alcohol dispensing.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm picking up a case of wine at Jensen's in less than an hour. Dude. I so need it.

[annamatic.livejournal.com]

No designer jeans? Oh, fucking waaahhh. Those people don't know a goddamn fucking thing about sacrifice. Raising a family of three on less than $30,000 a year, buying all thrifted clothes and store brands, deciding whether to pay the phone bill or gas up the car, that is sacrifice.

I will refuse to raise any Speshul Snowflayke kid who is entitled to everything. Grrr.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't mean that sarcastically. Thank you. Our oceans levels are rising fast enough as it is. Imagine what it's going to be like when all those special snowflakes melt from the heat of Real Life.

[cskippy2000.livejournal.com]

A-Fucking-Men.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

For real.

[the-themiscyran.livejournal.com]

Barf. Just. Barf. Sometimes I can't believe that we're the same species as people like designer-jeans-woman. I felt the same way a few weeks ago when there was an article in the JayPlay by a girl who had "learned a lot of life lessons" because she had totaled, through complete carelessness, might I add, 3 cars since she started driving. By the time I finished reading it, I was outraged with her parents, who had not only kept her in cars, but paid "at least five of her speeding tickets", plus moving violations and diversions. How in the hell are kids supposed to learn anything about life when their parents act like that?!

Rah! Get off my lawn!

PS - I didn't know that yours was poisonous, too. ;)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that yours was poisonous, too. ;)

TOTALLY.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Boils down to this: Parents aren't doing their kids any favors when they encourage their children to think the world will coddle them, that they will find success without effort. In fact, that attitude is destroying the economy right now, so one could argue that parents who engage in this are responsible for that destruction.

The "Grand Walk-in Kitchen" (http://www.step2.com/product.cfm?product_id=1402) costs more than any combination of toys I ever got for a childhood Christmas, combined. We're supposed to feel sorry for this woman? We're supposed to be glad she's wasting that much money on a fake kitchen?

Good lord. Maybe a depression right now is just what these kids need to learn a few lessons. Too bad it fucks up everything for the rest of us, too.

PS: I don't think it's strictly generational. I mean, look at Lil' Georgie Bush - he got everything handed to him on a fucking plate, despite his failures. I think, perhaps, it has more to do with socio-economic position more than generation, because "middle class" used to be, well, sorta poor, at least in my memory. We've all been living on play money for the past 20 years. The kids you see at school are the products of that, and I suspect that your vision of this generation is skewed by the fact that the truly poor can't go to college.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

It's not strictly generational, no. But I know for a fact that I'm seeing it a lot more now than I used to, even five years ago. Kids are definitely worse than they were when I started managing undergraduates at the computer lab ten years ago. Things are definitely changing--and not much for the better.

[renniemom.livejournal.com]

I agree. And I am finally starting to see the dis-service I've done my teenager by spoiling her too much. Some of it may have been single-parent guilt at the start, but it became a bad habit of taking the easy road. But I think I've finally gotten it--at least somewhat. 2009 is going to be a different, and often difficult, year in our household but changes will be made and the struggle will be worth it. (this is turning into a hijack and should be a post/thought of it's own...)

For the record, I appreciate your opinions and insights--especially when we start on different sides of an issue. I often learn from your perspective. So Thank You.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

You're welcome--and no worries about hijacking.

Best of luck to your family in the coming year. Change is hard, especially for kids. It's very brave of you to keep working on your relationship with the teenager instead of giving her up as a lost cause to focus on the younger child.

You have a good heart.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

Setting time and money aside and REALLY teaching your kid to cook would be worth the price.
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Fake kitchens irritate me.
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Teach Real Skills Now!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I was about six or so when I saw and asked for an Easy-Bake Oven advertised on TV. My grandma took me into the kitchen and taught me how to bake a freaking pie with the Real Grown Up oven.

Thank gods I was raised by (mostly) reasonable people.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Sinfest has been intermittent lately, but when he's on, he's been ON.

I love that one, and may iconize it. Would you like a copy?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

No, but thanks for the offer.

[stuology.livejournal.com]

It is unfortunate that the NY Times completely missed the mark on their definition of sacrifice.

Maybe it was how I was raised. My mother sometimes went without food so we could eat. And sometimes, I couldn't eat three meals a day. It must be skewing my perspective.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

"Unfortunate" and "missed the mark" are the understatements of the year.

I wish more people had your skewed sense of perspective.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I count this right up there with giving EVERY kid who participates a damned trophy.
Whatever happened to excellence?
Designer jeans made me throw up a little. Giant fuckin' play kitchen gave me heartburn.
What's next?
oh dear, we have to move to a bigger house, poor us, the taxes are such a sacrifice?!!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I count this right up there with giving EVERY kid who participates a damned trophy.

And elementary school graduation ceremonies? What the FUCK? "Here, little buds! Congratulations on finishing a legally mandated minimum requirement!"

NO. Just...no.

[grnvixen.livejournal.com]

No sympathy from me for giving up the designer jeans. Now giving up a new pair of jeans and mending, for the umpteenth time an old pair, to be able to get one pretty nice holiday gift for the kid and/or a nice dinner they could enjoy as a family, *that* would get my atta girl.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

See stuology's comment, above, on accurate examples of "sacrifice." Sheesh.

I don't think Ms. Hunt will most likely ever have my sympathy or "atta girl" for anything. Bleh.

[professormass.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just. Wow.

I mean, I know I've been harping on a lack of cash lately, but seriously. "I couldn't have my designer jeans, but my baby is awash in consumerism, so life is good!"

I keep having people ask me why I'm not buying Sage more educational toys. My response? I am the educational toy. He doesn't need $1000 worth of Fisher-Price and Baby Einstein and fucking Lamaze toys.

I'm actually convinced he's learning more and having more fun with a homespun blanket than the few toys we've bought for him, anyhow.

People. I swear.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Empty cardboard box = best toy for anyone, human or beast.

[theoneinblue.livejournal.com]

Huh. I get the sense that Ms. Hunt is just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "sacrifice." What she bought her daughter is more than what all four of us kids would have gotten in one Christmas. Perhaps two. Geez. And my mom never wore designer jeans unless she accidently found them at a thrift store.

This is consumerism at its finest.

Reality check, please.