Room 101

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I have recently been watching a lot of old BBC panel shows. One of the best little nuggets of gold I have found is the panel show: Room 101. It’s one of those great British panel shows that for some inexplicable reason, other than the fact that Brits seem to love routine, has stood the test of time. No really though. I saw an episode where Germaine Greer looked young and it was still ok to play clips from Jim’ll Fix It.

Anyway, the main premise of the show, which still remains today, is that if you had a room where you can put all the worst parts of life and lock them tidily away in a nice little room (Room 101), what would you put in?

Thus, I decided to explain what I would currently like to be in Room 101. Enjoy or don’t. I’m too tired to care.

Generation Bashing:

Here’s the thing: I used to think it was ok to hate on my own generation, because we aren’t that political, we come across as apathetic and we all like to fiddle with I phones and shit, or so members of older generations used too tell me.

One thing I wasn’t aware of was that every generation before mine and generations to come promised to bring about the destruction of civilization as we know it.

So, the point I’m making is that if you think that Gen Y won’t be able to carry on with keeping the world from imploding on itself, you should know that your parents thought the same about you. Their parents also thought the same thing about them, until we are essentially left with a never-ending cycle of promised destruction. And what happened? Not much. We’re all pretty fine. In fact, we’re better than ever.

Communication is easier and we can all still manage to do it. Nothing is lost - except perhaps the charming innocence of a time with less information in it. But let’s face it, we’re all better off in a world with less ignorance aren’t we?

Call me a wide-eyed optimist, but I think everything is going to be more than ok.

Also, I’d like to point out to my generation as well, can you PLEASE all stop bashing the generation below us? Gen Zer’s will be more savvy and technologically-enhanced than we could ever hope to be, before they turn 5. One day they will run the world from a microscopic computer chip and you will quake in fear. Might as well be nice to them now, eh?

Slut Memes:

My little brother belongs to this ‘Slut Memes’ group and thus it was brought to my attention. I’m genuinely ashamed that someone I’m related to, unashamedly, belongs to a group like that. By group of course I mean little wankers on Facebook that think that shaming women for having sex or wearing short-shorts is funny.

Feminism has far from done the job it set out to do and we have so, so far to go yet. Which is why it’s important that women never shut up about stuff like this.

‘Slut memes’ essentially consist of memes like this:

Or this:

 HAHAHAHHAHAHA. IT'S HER FAULT THAT MEN ARE PIGS BECAUSE SHE HAS TITS AHAHAHAHAHHAHA OW MY SIDES!

 ALSO THIS:

 

(Misogyny and racism are like besties, amiright?)

If I have to point out what’s wrong with these memes, then you’re not my target audience and you can probably stop reading now. What I want to do is bring this to your attention. This mentality is so tired and SO backwards, I cannot believe it is being gleefully transferred onto the teenagers of today.

When did slut shaming become ok in the school playground again?

I realize how ironic it is that I follow this after an anti-generation bashing bit, but I think it is a result of an inevitable ebb and flow of cultural ‘cool,’ which has simply caught up to the next generation.

For some reason with the influx of young women wearing next-to-nothing,  a patriarchal society feels threatened and now comes in the form of self-flagellating hormonal young boys.

I can only hope that as these young boys, like my younger brother, get older they realize the dangerous affect such a mentality brings into the world we live. Especially, when it starts to seep its way into legislation and politics as it already has done for thousands of years.

Another thoroughly disappointing part of this group is that so many its members are young women as well. I can only imagine the self-hatred these women must enjoy inflicting on members of their own gender, just for what? Because women like wearing what they want too? Or because they are sexually free?

How low is the depravity of the world that parents from Gen X and younger let their children wonder around thinking that if they are sexually stimulated by a woman’s behaviour or actions, that it’s the woman’s fault!

If you thought this mentality had died, you’ve only got to look under your own nose Australia. It’s alive and some of the youth of today are keeping it alive. For the most part, that’s our fault – the parents, so let’s pick up our game!

Smokers Who Whinge:

To bring this to a lighter point, this is my third and final peeve of the moment.

If you want to inflict lung cancer on yourself, go ahead and be my bloody guest. Well, actually, technically I’d rather you weren’t my guest, at least don’t do it in my house.

The point I’m trying to make is that the smoking bans were enacted, so that people, like me, who don’t want to die of lung cancer, don’t have too.

I have overheard, heard directly and just generally had to put up with whinging from smokers saying that it’s too much nanny stating from the government. And they talk about people that complain about second-hand smoking like they’re someone who is simply being a fussy eater. Oh! You’re such a fussy eater! I’m sorry for offending your senses with a lack of Camembert cheese.

In all of this discourse, I feel the point is lost that second-hand smoke does kill. This isn’t homeopathy we’re talking about here, this is real, published in scientific journals, fact.

If the government is making it harder for you to kill yourself and other people around you, then you accept that and you deal with it.

I know you might say, well Jemma, what about drinkers? You must drink. Well, I’m not a big drinker and I only drink occasionally.

All the same, I’m also fine when it comes to nanny-stating with anything potentially harmful and if alcohol restrictions are put in place, I’ll be fine with that too. We certainly need to reduce the amount of alcohol-related deaths in this country anyway.

So, all of you whinging smokers can sod off!

That’s my shtick for the day. If you had the chance, what would you put in Room 101?