The Snarky Humanist

       I have created a calendar reminder to read this blog in exactly 17 years.      Disclaimer: There are some mildly graphic descriptions of my vagina (non-sexual), so if you’re a family member who would prefer to believe I don’t possess such anatomy, this post is not for you.      In late May of 2020, after accepting the pandemic was here to stay and wondering what on earth we were going to do with ourselves for the next year, I posited to Dan, “I could ride a bike”. Since I presented this with no context (again forgetting that he doesn’t actually live in my head), he gave me his raised-eyebrow expression that meant “not following you, but please do go on”.      “Bikes. Maybe we start riding bikes. It’s pandemic-friendly and will give us a reason to leave the house.”      Dan, a formerly avid mountain biker, was unsurprisingly on board with the idea. Unfortunately, every single person in the world had the same exact idea and every bike everywhere was on back-order.      “We’ll stil

It was impossible not to be shocked and saddened when the news broke about Kobe Bryant's death yesterday. I'm not a sports fan by any measure, but of course  I know who Kobe is. He's a legend. He's a hero. He's a mentor. He's a father. He's a husband. And he was probably a rapist. I was on Twitter when the story leaked, and I have never before seen Twitter so collectively devastated. Every  post in my feed was about Kobe. The shock, the denial, the anguish for his wife and kids - the posts were full of raw human emotion. And I felt them. It was impossible not to. Personally, my life doesn't look any different with or without Kobe in it, but for millions of other people it probably felt like a punch in the gut. It reminded me of how I felt when David Bowie died. I had to cancel plans that day because I needed to drink, cry, and listen to "Oh! You Pretty Things" on repeat. David Bowie was also a rapist (consensual but underage). Of course, th

The amazing theater that was Wednesday's Michael Cohen hearing hit a few rough spots, courtesy of congressman Mark Meadows continued attempts to prove that neither he or the president are racists . Meadows first mistake was bringing out a black woman who works for the Trump administration to prove that Trump isn't racist.  I’ve already been asked a few times for the “You did a racism” GIF from #blackish Here ya go! Let em know!!! #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/4SCluGbTr2 — Lιȥ Jҽɳƙιɳʂ (@ej11lizzie) February 27, 2019 And like a lot of people who do a racism and want to defend themselves rather than just apologize for their misstep, Meadows refuted the claim that the black employee was just a "prop" by telling the court that he has black nieces and nephews. I laughed out loud.  The only time one should use the "But I have black friend, family, etc." defense when they're accused of being racist is if their goal is to illicit laugh

First, calm down. I'm voting. Everyone can agree that the 2016 election was a disaster of almost comical proportions. It was a disaster for the Democrats and Republicans alike. It was a disaster for ordinary citizen's relationships with their family, friends, co-workers, and online acquaintances. The racism, sexism, and general hatred for each other has not even remotely started to subside since we watched (mostly in horror)  Trump be sworn in as our next president. I was extremely active on social media during the election ("yay, Bernie!", "boo, Trump!", "sigh, Hillary!"). I shared recycled memes uplifting my candidate of choice and tearing down the ones I didn't like. I commented on other people's posts with "you're wrong!" and "you're right!" when (what I felt was) necessary. I was really unhappy during this time. Really, really unhappy. And scared. And angry. The specific reasons for my unhappiness will b

On October 31st, 1997, I was raped. I cannot prove it. I cannot provide physical evidence that it happened. I apologize to the internet jury that the only thing I have to offer is my story, which is linked at the end of this blog. When a woman comes forward accusing someone of raping them, I assume they are telling the truth. Getting hard data reports of rape is difficult, given that roughly 70%  of rapes go unreported , but for the 30% of men and women who have the strength to go through the ordeal of reporting their assault, it's estimated 2-10% are false claims . In this scenario, if there are 1000 rapes, and only 30% are reported, 6-30 of those claims might be false. If there are 1000 rapes, and 100% are reported, 0.6-3  of those claims might be false.  So yes, false claims happen. And the people who have done this has made it possible to accuse every. single. woman. who comes forward with a rape allegation of being a liar. Interestingly enough, this doesn't seem to be

If you've been on the internet this past week, you've probably seen this image: It shows school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez ripping up a shooting target on the left (true) and a Photoshopped version showing her ripping up a copy of the Bill of Rights ( obviously not true ). I had not, until today, seen the image on the right shared as "fact". Here is a sampling of what some gun enthusiasts said about Emma: He misspelled "ho". He's threatening a teenage girl with violence. He is also threatening a teenage girl with violence This gentleman called Emma a "failed abortion" The haulocost is different than the holocaust because of the spelling. Get it? Because she has short hair? It's funny. Thanks for the update. The sentiment of "I don't care if it's real or not! I'm outraged!" was somewhat pervasive in this thread.  Anothe