Things That Really Piss Me Off

Well, that would be a really long list, so let's just start with one thing that is really fucking annoying and absurd today. I cannot stand ads, period, I should say that up front. I do not watch commercials, I only listen to free public radio (when I rarely listen to the radio at all), my kid only watches channels that don't have commercials like PBS, Noggin, and Boomerang (while I can still control it). That said, I am subjected to A LOT of forced commercials while reading the news or watch the funny on the internet. These are free services that are invaluable so I don't complain, mostly I just read something else while the commercial is playing. However, there is another kind of online advertising there is no getting around. I was reading a very important article from the NY Times, no less, about the janjaweed returning to their scorched-earth strategy in Darfur-- a very disturbing picture of mass murder and the true definition of terrorism-- and right next to it sits a model who, through no fault of her own, is standing there in a t-shirt making a stupid face, proclaiming she's "KIND OF A BIG DEAL" across her boobs. I don't have to explain why this is so fucking insulting to a crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent victims and displaced millions of others, while most of the world, including our good old US of A, looks the other way. Either don't use these types of ads (the kitty litter jeanie shaped like a toilet on the second page of the article somehow doesn't really measure up either), or find a filter that works. I can only block inappropriate ads from showing up after I see them, but I don't get paid to advertise specific products on my site, and I am not the New York fucking Times. I can't be the only one who notices this shit and wonders what the psychological effects are on how the subconscious perceives these issues and images.

Please see this and this about the Darfur conflict, ridiculous ad-free.

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