I have heard this argument many times but I think we have to be extremely careful about how we use it. The privileging of groups over individuals in some cultures allows a myriad of abuses -of individuals- to carry on unreported and unacknowledged. It is used to shame women, LGBTQ individuals and other oppressed…

I agree with that sentiment in some cases, but when we're speaking of entire countries there are no clean houses and I doubt there will be in our lifetime. I'm not trying to be cynical, or say the US shouldn't strive to improve itself. But we kind of need to rely on what we have, not wish for the impossible. (Also, in…

I love them too, though I agree it's hard to find stuff like that. I would wear long swishy skirts and bell sleeves all the time if I could just walk into any store and buy them. Sometimes I watch fantasy/ sci fi movies/ shows where all the women are wearing long dresses and hoods and stuff and get supremely jealous.

Exactly. Oppressive cultures serve those in power within them. The only ones who benefit from cultural relativism are those who aren't facing oppression. Ironic considering cultural relativists trumpet themselves as being anti-oppression.

Ah, makes sense. I am a lowly Canadian so somewhat insulated from these things.

This seems like a good place to state my opinion that Draco Malfoy was one of the worst-treated characters in the HP books. Given his background he could have been written as really interesting, even in the earlier books. Instead he remained a stereotypical bully-with-thug-henchmen throughout.

Do any real people actually say 'Kraut'? The only place I've seen it used is in British novels. Ones written by old people.

"Fat girls, shouldn't talk"

True. I don't know what people expect of celebrities when they say they are 'fake'. Either they have an obviously fabricated persona or they try to be 'real' and a 'girl next door' but somehow still end up getting called fake. I think if I was famous I'd be hesitant to show any personality traits at all. And then I'd…

I don't know how different the US is from Canada but here many people I know live with their parents and it works just fine. I think we are maybe a little more relaxed than Americans about that stuff, but not by much.

Ack, don't get me started with the "entry level" stuff. After graduation I looked through many, many "entry level" job postings (as in, they were literally listed as that) and many of them had requirements of between three and five years' experience. Someone with that much experience is not entry level. They are not…

I'm not discounting the influence of America on countries in which it has historically intervened, but Japan has been an independent and prosperous nation for a long time. The Japanese are quite capable of thinking and acting and changing for themselves. There just seem to be certain areas in which they don't want to.

I love it for those reasons as well. I love Sansa in general, but something particularly interesting to me is the portrayal of Arya and her father. Ned Stark and Arya both represent, at least at first, archetypes that we have seen many many many times as protagonists in fantasy stories. But as the story goes on we see…

The worst decade for fashion is always the decade that came right before the current one. As a kid in the 90s I thought 80s fashion was disgusting and 70s was cool. By HS/ college people thought the 80s was cool again. I'm pretty sure kids now think 2000s is disgusting and 90s is cool. I've heard people who were kids…

This is a really good point. I feel like prestigious schools get to market themselves based on what their graduates are doing now, when really, the reason they have so many graduates doing exceptional things is that they educate exceptional people. People who would do exceptional things regardless.

Agree re: Sansa! She finally became my favorite as I knew she was destined to, and then we don't even get to see her during the final 2 episodes? Lame, writers. I hope they are holding back so they can give her a super-awesome intro scene in the next season.

Can we please retire the term "special snowflake"? There has to be a more original, less obnoxious way to remind others how much more fantastically self-aware and cool you are than them.

I have the same issues, and have done the same. If the flight attendant tries to stop me I just kind of put my hand on my stomach and say "It's my stomach, I have to" with a pleading expression. It always works, lol.

Not to go off on a tangent, but I would put those two in vastly different categories. Vaccines lead to decreased illness, while large-scale food production has been shown to lead to increased illness (large scale=more room for error=more cases of food poisoning and other food-related illnesses, which is why we see so…

OT, but why does every comic book/ sci fi thing ever need to have a character named Raven? There's even one on that new CW show The 100.