Didn't Jack Thompson teach you anything? If you do something in a video game OBVIOUSLY you're going to do it in real life too! Duh! Why just the other day I was playing a video game where a character went up in the vaccumm of space without a spacesuit and was perfectly fine. So you CAN breathe in space after all. Care to try that one, Silenced?

Of course the particularly funny think about Silinced's one-note screed is that the GTA games have actually been particualy nuanced about urban life and gang warfare. I mean GTA: San Andreas has dealt with themes of police harrasment of Black men and the government conspiracy behind the drug trade. That game treated it's "thugs" as if they were human beings to be empathized with, and not merely two-dimensional stereotypes to be demonized (like, you know, silenced does with people)

I don't think Bush is John Mccain's "Rev. Wright" since Obama has denounced the good reverend while Mccain and the GOP directly support and enable all of Bush's failed policies. Also three out of the four mentioned are politicians who are running for/in office, which is kinda an important distinction. Let's see if you can guess which three, Joan!

Also:

Let's hope the media starts paying as much attention to McCain's association with questionable political characters as it has to Obama's

As Bart Simpson would say, "The ironing in delicious." You could replace "the media" with "Salon" and that statement could still be accurate. So get crackin', Joan.

To be fair, this piece wouldn't be so bad if you could get over the Rev Wright stuff. It was an uneeded, pointless distraction to your article.

I don't really get the big upset over this book/study. First of all, we live in a society where women are encouraged to do ANYTHING to please men. So the very idea that there are desperate-to-please people (and there are, trust me) may be overstanted, but it's not like it doesn't exist in the type of society we live in now. After all, porn often absorbs the cultural and social mores of society as oppose to dispelling them (Only "sluts" do those kinds of things. Good girls don't do that, etc. It's not like mainstream porn rejects the hyperbole either.)

And of course people can WATCH something, but not exactly LIKE it (Heather Havrilesky makes an example of that each week.) Porn being hated and porn "turning you on" aren't always mutually exclusive.

And exactly is wrong, with the idea of putting more kissing and more foreplay etc. in porn? Why is that a bad thing? I understand you're ralling aginst stereotypes, but would it be so horrible if they DID put more "romance" in porn? (which i assume means treating the other person with some kind of respect instead of merely a walking cum dumpster.)

It's partly because, unlike other pregnant men, Beatie has demonstrated a remarkable willingness to speak to the press (including dubious tabloids like the News of the World).

A "remarkable willingness" Oh is THAT what we're calling it now? In that case Heidi and Spencer from The Hills also have a "remarkable willingness to speak to the press."

Like, say Mini-me and his unfortunate situation, this "pregnant man" seems pretty content allowing himself to become a sideshow attraction for psuedo-celebrity notoriaty. It's not that complicated, people.

And I know it's tempting, but not EVERY overhyped piece of sensationalism needs to be tied into some kind of tangibly related activist cause. I just want to make this clear before Tila Tequilla's current popularity results in articles about job discrimination among Asian-Americans or some shit like that.

If someone else isn't, and does the surgery route, why is this any concern of yours?

(Damn, I typed a longer response to this, but the browser crashed, and now I need to get going. So here's a shortened version)

That's what many of the complaints are about. This ISN'T news at all. But a dull-witted, increasingly-tabloid media, a misleading headline, a fame-whore willing to expose herself and her family for their 15 mninutes (don't be surprised if "he" has a VH1 show co-starring Flavor Flav anytime soon), and desperate advocates and activist that will exploit overhyped tabloid nonsense, no matter HOW tangibly and marginally related to discuss various pet issues, say otherwise.

Today, the world has improved by his death greatly.

Um...how? As someone I'm sure Mr Helms would have despiesed (being both Black and gay, The horror!) I'll admit that I'm not breaking down in uncontrollable sobs and holding candlelight vigils for him. Nevertheless, I really don't get why I should cheer and glorify in Helmes' death? As this one poster put it, how HAS the world been improved by his death?

That way you can get the stick up there further. Some of y'all are some seriously uptight folk.

You really don't get it? She doesn't "hate" these shows at all. The point of the column is right there in the title after all. Often these programs are "bad" in quality and she knows that, intellectually at least, she should "hate" them. Nevertheless Havrilesky watches them with fascination anyway. The column is then about exploring why that is and what it then says about "us" (or at least "her.") Sometimes Havrilesky hits the mark and sometimes she doesn't but I usually do get what the overall point is.