REMINDER: WE HAVE MOVED

We are now located at http://skeptigirl.wordpress.com.

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR LINKS, GOOGLE READER, ETC.

Thanks!! Read more...

WE HAVE MOVED

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR LINKS

Given the sometimes epic suckitude of Blogger (no decent stats counts, poor post templates, etc.) we are moving to the slightly less suckitude of Wordpress (no custom page templates unless you pay - sigh, but more ability to keep track of things).

So those of you who follow us on Google Reader or via Blogger, update your feeds and website links to:

http://skeptigirl.wordpress.com

Just change "blogspot" to "wordpress". See you over there. Read more...

On Autism

I read something disturbing over at Respectful Insolence today. The father of a little girl with autism has taken to all manner of nonsense to try to "fix" his "toxic" daughter.

I am officially done feeling sorry for these parents. And here's why.

Conventional treatments for autism include behavioural therapy, and depending on comorbid conditions and symptoms, some medications.

The "alternative" therapies in this case? Repeated chelation-provoked urinalysis, stem cell injections into the lumbar spinal CSF, eliminating gluten from the diet, measuring excretions for metal, nifty gadgets like the Doctor's Data Lab, lipophilic detoxification, EDTA and glutathione pushes, stress detoxification systems, and graphing the progress of all this -- because if it's in a graph, it's science.

If any of these barbaric, torturous treatments were magically legitimate (for the sake of this argument) and were practiced within "Western medicine" you better believe, as one commenter said, that "the AoA [Age of Autism] people would be up in arms about the 'torture' of 'allopathic' medicine!" They sure would. And vaccines are toxic? Right.

I understand that having a child with a disability is hard (as much as I can, not being in that situation myself but seeing it second-hand through my job). I understand that this can be a great stress on parents and families as a whole. Sometimes people get divorced due to the strain. Sometimes parents develop depression and anxiety because of the child's frequent and special needs.

But one of the worst things about these sorts of parents specifically, is that they seem unwilling or unable to accept their children as they are within the context of caring for their needs. They seem more interested in changing them to make them more "normal" and when that inevitably fails, they continue to see their child as "broken", to be fixed with any tool available one after another. This attitude is profoundly dehumanizing to autistic people. All of the time spent with these misguided attempts to fix their kids is time not spent getting to know them and time not spent helping them with established effective treatments.

[Keep in mind that I'm not saying that they don't love their children. That is absurd.]

Children with autism can be helped, but they are not "toxic" or "broken" kids in need of "fixing" with frequent invasive "treatments". Putting these kids through all this twice victimizes them -- 1) they are associated with a stigma of disability and 2) it is assumed that they will never be happy, and their family will never be happy, unless they can become "normal".

At first I thought "It's hard. I get that they are just trying to do their best for their child, however misguided" but then I stopped to think about the motivations of these particular people. It is a subtle distinction that ignites my wrath. Rather than provide as much adaptation as possible for the child to reduce strain in daily activities (accepting the fact that the child may always live with some level of disability), they strive to fix them no matter what the necessary endurance as long as the child comes out 100% normal as compared to other kids in their age group. They are not doing this necessarily maliciously, but it is certainly awful.

And that is why I no longer feel sorry for these parents. I do not approve of their coping mechanism, I do not approve of the way they dehumanize their children, and I do not approve of torturing kids who are already dealing with hardships associated with the sometimes challenging nature of autism.

There are countless parents of autistic children that work just as hard to do what they have to do to accept their child and help them overcome their challenges, all the while realizing that their child is an individual with individual needs who is not toxic, but rather afflicted with a neurological disorder. Would we subject children with cerebral palsy to this nonsense? Why do we continue to torture our autistic children?
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Who's (fake) honouring me now? Maybe?

I'm linked in the sidebar on a blog called "The Good Kentuckian". I have the honour of being listed under the heading "Atheists & Homosexuals - Evil Intertubes Run By Demons", indicating correctly that I am a homosexual, an atheist, evil, an intertube, and a run by demons. At least I managed to narrowly escape the most damning label of all: "liberal". [Shudder.] I can't even imagine the label I would have been under if middle name was also Hussein...

But as with most sites like this I was having a hard time telling whether or not it's really a poe site. So, let's take a tour.

I was alerted to this blog's presence due to a huge list under the "links to this post" section from my most recent post (because that's the post that shows up in the sidebar...so those links might move to this post once it's published). I just said "post" a lot. Anyway, so I poked around there for a while.

First let's look at the other sidebar labels:

1) Blogs of Patriotic Christians
2) Regional Blogs - May or May Not be Evil
3) America-Hating Blogs to Watch Closely (which includes Pharyngula and Skepchick).
4) The Worst Human Beings Alive - They're Going to Hell (which includes the ACLU).
5) Atheists & Homosexuals - Evil Intertubes Run By Demons (which also includes The Friendly Atheist -- I'm honoured to be included in the same category as such a great blog).
6) Feminazi Nation of Christ-Haters (which of course includes Feministing).
7) Intertubes for Science & Reason - They're All Going to Hell! (which includes Science Based Medicine).
8) Godless Heathens and/or Traitors to America (which includes Quackwatch, Snopes, and What's the Harm).

Wow. I subscribe to a lot of the blogs he listed there and now I'm alerted to some other potentially great blogs. I'm amazed that I made it onto the radar with these awesome people.

Damning evidence to the "they're serious" theory:
1) There's an atheist "A" with a link to the out campaign.
2) A link to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster with the "warning": Click above only of your soul is strong.
3) A frigging link to a countdown to the alleged 2012 "apocalypse". Blatant irony.
4) Many of the blogs under his first category are not hyper-Christian blogs.
5) Many of his followers seem like rational people.

Evidence for the "they're serious" theory (or, thought of more correctly, further evidence of irony):
1) A link to Wikiality.
2) An article (one of probably several, I didn't look that hard) about Obama that emboldens and superfonts his middle name with every single mention.
3) Everything else.

This is a very very convincing parody. In fact, this is one the best fakeries of fundie-ism I have ever seen. If you want a laugh, check it out.

Bravo, sirs and madams. You win the internets. Thanks for the link.
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Fundie Friday: VenomFang X-ed?

There's some weird business going down with VenomfangX these days. His account has been closed on YouTube. Not suspended. Closed. Also, his website has been taken down and there is a message saying that his parents have closed it because they don't agree with his views. Hmm...what is going on here?

The gist of it is: VFX's parents allegedly caught him committing fraud and finally decided to parent him for a change. This video also summarizes the situation nicely (and to most excellent music).

Essentially this is the timeline:

1) VFX asks for donations via PayPal that he said were going to be donated to a Children's hospital in Toronto. Fans donate. He makes money.

2) VFX posts several videos asking for money for various reasons. The reasons change over time and the intended use for the money also changes. Details can be found here.

3) VFX basically commits theft [see video notes, as well] involving 2 PayPal accounts and the sick kid money. I want to barf, and so do even some of his former (hopefully) followers [see #4].

4) VFX posted a video on his YouTube account claiming that his parents had received death threats from Muslims. [Seeing as how he has a history of lying about threats, I am skeptical of this claim and wonder if he made that up in an attempt to make Muslims look bad.] He stated that because of this, and because his parents do not support his religious views, he will no longer be posting on YouTube. He apologizes for offending anyone.

5) VFX's YouTube account was closed.

6) VFX's website was shut down, apparently by his parents (with no mention of death threats). There is also an apology in that note for having caused "offense".

7) VFX apparently starts a new YouTube account under the clever and elusive pseudonym "VenomFangX1" and immediately begins uploading videos as of 6 May, 2009. As of this writing, there are 29 videos on this account featuring PCS, all of them added within the last few days. Not too terribly concerned about his parents' well-being then, perhaps... [Unless it's not him. None of the videos are new.]

So VFX marches on?

I feel bad for this kid -- wanton destruction of reason and apparent criminal activity notwithstanding. It's possible he's just a brat, but something may be terribly wrong in his life to illicit this behaviour. I am skeptical that his parents are involved without outside supporting evidence. VFX has a history of lying and orchestrating dramatic gestures to get what he wants (and possibly fill some pathological need that is not being met otherwise) so the parental persecution may be a part of his web of lies, for all I know. Is this a cry out to his parents?

Shawn, if you're reading this:

You are a well-spoken (despite the actual words coming out) decent-looking kid, but your behaviour is appalling. I am genuinely concerned for your mental well-being. Help is available. Please, if you care about yourself and your family, seek help. Even if you don't have a specific issue, talking to a professional can help figure out what is troubling you. I don't want to turn on the news in 10 years to see your cult compound being burned to the ground by the Canadian equivalent of the ATF, killing you and 30 or so additional -- otherwise innocent -- people. Nor do I want to read reports of your suicide.

I'm not saying you need help because you are religious. I am saying you need help because of aberrant and, lately, criminal behaviour paired with latent rage and emotional problems. Many people are religious. Although illogical, that doesn't automatically mean they have a mental health problem. I suspect that you, due to the behaviour I have observed, may need the help of a professional.

If God existed, I doubt he would want to you hurt yourself or anyone else, mentally or physically. I doubt he would want you to be so angry and intolerant. And if he does exist and want those things, he's a dick and doesn't deserve such devoted allegiance. Jesus was reportedly a kind, caring man. Such a man would not approve of this behaviour. Please let someone help you.

Edit: Also, to clarify, should the threats turn out to be true this time, I sincerely hope that neither Shawn nor his family have been or will be harmed in any way. Disagreement is no excuse for threats.

Edit: Made some edits and added links for clarity as more information became available to me about this disturbing and borderline (at best) sociopathic situation.
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Mars alien skull

Apparently anything vaguely spheroid with 2 dark spots on it is considered an alien skull these days. So says The Telegraph which published the following picture the other day with the title "'Alien skull' spotted on Mars". At least they used quotes around "alien skull". But then they have this gem of a picture caption:

An oddly shaped space boulder appears to show eye sockets and a nose leading to speculation it might be a Martian skull.

Sigh.


Really?

Who is speculating? Other than cranks who have nothing better to do, and The Telegraph, I can think of no one who would bother to speculate about a rock with no apparent size markers being an alien skull. However, as the sentence was written in passive form, the reader is left to speculate as to who is doing the speculating. Seeing as how this article appears in the newspaper's science section, it's not so far a leap that people might assume "some" means "scientists". I can tell you that no credible scientist is remotely speculating that.

So despite the glaring lack of scale in the photo (as presented -- perhaps they are consulting another version of the photo), the vast collective intelligence and scientific rigor of the internet forums tells us that:

The skull is 15 cm with binocular eyes 5 cm apart. The cranial capacity is approximately 1400 cc. There appears to be a narrow pointed small mouth, so this creature most likely is a carnivore.

I need to start a new feature called "Are you kidding me?" A carnivore because of a narrow pointed small mouth? I'm thinking that was a kind of poe, because they appear to be making this assumption based on some kind of information, and the only information they have is Earth, but these carnivore skulls that I found on the most cursory Google search do not resemble this alien.

Even if they had matched though, how would it be possible for anyone to determine based on skull shape alone what an alien's diet is? Answer: They couldn't have, because there is no reason to believe that an alien carnivore would have necessarily evolved typical Earth carnivore characteristics (or any predictable characteristics, for that matter) based on a given diet.

The article vaguely pokes fun at this speculation, but does not bother to interview anyone who would know about space rocks and could give an appropriate analysis. Probably because what they would say would amount to: "It's a rock, you hosers. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some groundbreaking science to do." Nevertheless, this article propagates nonsense by failing to clearly label it as such and by promoting this information at all in a widely-distributed newspaper under the "Science" section.

What this headline should have read: "Slow news day: Completely unremarkable rock found on Mars"

That article is a perfect example of what is wrong with newspaper science sections. Journalists should not be writing these sections, scientists should -- maybe instead of blogging... hmmm... Read more...

Skeptical At Work: Kimbo Edition

Mojo is away for work and one of his coworkers made a comment about bumblebees that he found suspicious. Not having the internets available to him, I looked up the information and offered to do this post this in his stead.

The Claim: Bumblebees bite (as opposed to sting).

My immediate response to this was "I don't even have to look this up to know that's wrong, but I will look it up anyway." So I did and here's what I found.

Bumblebees do not bite. They have stingers. On their asses. Well, more specifically, the girl bees have stingers because they don't have little bug "penises". So only the queens and female worker bees can sting. The males have a genital capsule instead of a stinger.

One thing I did learn that I didn't know though was that bumblebees can sting more than once. I always thought all bees couldn't sting more than once, but it turns out that bumblebees do not have barbs on their stingers so they don't get ripped off like, say, a honey bee stinger. The smooth stinger of the bumblebee allows them to sting you to their liking.

Looking things up is neat. I learned something about bees and when Mojo informs his coworker about the "bites" research, so will he. The system works.
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Fake swine flu site warning

Read this very convincing joke (I'm assuming) article. It looks perfectly normal, and even has links to the BBC along the sides and the BBC logo on top. Also, typing in the root of the web address redirects to BBC's main page. Hmmm... Anyway, notice a paragraph out of place?

After death, this [H1N1] virus is able to restart the heart of it’s victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believe to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”

Now, I'm no doctor, but...that sounds a bit fishy. Also, it is completely out of place with the rest of the article, which simply describes the current outbreak pattern and WHO raising the "scary freak out infection level" to an ominous "six".

The article's title is "EU quarantines London in flu panic", which they don't actually discuss directly. Hmm, that's odd... Incidentally, just to be clear, I have found no corroborating stories suggesting that London is really quarantined.

Then, the bolded sub-title article "summary" is:

There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in London due to mutation of the H1N1 virus into new strain: H1Z1.

It's almost like they accidentally mashed together 2 different articles. One a plot summary of 28 Days Later, and one an actual news story. So on first glance, it looks like you're reading news and then, the rational thinker goes "wait". Unfortunately...well we all know how many rational people there are out there. And how many people know how to use the interwebs and wouldn't notice the URL difference.

It would have been a funnier joke if it were written Onion style and they just owned the joke, but it seems like it's just a few paragraphs of nonsense mixed in with boring normalcy. That says to me "malicious" rather than "funny" intent.

Finally, the cherry on top (well actually near the end in a box labeled "what to do" with a few other items):

If you feel yourself passing away, then notice your strength and vigor returning at an alarming rate, please attempt to restrain yourself to prevent infection and harm to others.

And the advisory:

Have you been affected by the zombie strain of swine flu? You can send your experiences using the form below. You can also send your questions about the decision to raise the alert and we will send it to our health experts.

Buh? I don't even know.

I'd laugh, but it's not funny and a dollar says one of my friends tells me about this tomorrow for serious.
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The end is nigh

They could have given a show to anyone. ANYONE. All they have to do is interview people and talk about daily events and whatever. Anyone with half a brain is decent to watch doing this in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, Oprah went in another direction by hiring the ultimate burninating stupid of...

Jenny McCarthy. [Note how glaringly misleading the press notice is.]

1) Are you even surprised, really?

2) Are. You. Fucking. KIDDING ME!?!?!?

Before I completely blow my shit, a list of more appropriate choices than Jenny McCarthy:

A) A monkey. Not even a trained monkey. Just a regular, cute monkey being all cute yet mature and sensible (well, in comparison) with a hint of noble sophistication.

B) Helen Keller. Seriously, this was one interesting chick.

C) A manatee. If they can write for Family Guy, they can host a talk show. Although I suppose it would be filled with random cut-aways that are tangential to the topic of the show and that may get annoying after the 10th time in 5 minutes, but hey -- people still watch Family Guy and don't seem to notice the crippling annoyance of such storytelling. Surely this writing principle can be applied to daytime if it has survived prime time this long.

D) A ventriloquist's doll from a 1920s Vaudeville act with a cabbage in place of the long-lost head, tattered clothes, and a creepy ability to still move its eyebrows.

E) Anyone else, no matter the species, on the fucking planet. Who hopefully won't cause the downfall of the planet with his/her bullshit.

Seriously. What the fuck. I'm almost speechless. I mean really. I don't even know what to say. Oprah's done it again. And she'll do it again...and again...[weeps]. I am both unsurprised and totally flabbergasted. It's an odd feeling. Like sort of a chest tightness. Actually, I hope that they haven't finally done me in with a heart attack...perhaps I should go get checked out by my reputable family doctor with years of experience an expertise in human health and medicine. But then I was fine after Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls gave me the same feeling... I'm sure it'll pass.

And the practical problems! Not only will there be countless people repeating the mindless bullshit she will inevitably spew, but Orac will develop crippling finger injuries from all the blogging and facepalming.

If I thought it would help, I would beg Oprah to stop and give someone sensible a talk show contract for a change. Someone interesting and strong, yet rational. Maybe even a little fun. Pamela Gay, maybe. Or Phil Plait. Come on Oprah, work with me here!

Fuck this. NASA: We gotta get on this whole moon base thing. Seriously. I can't get far enough away from the inevitable apocalypse this will cause. Need any occupational therapists on the moon? Sure you do. And if not, I'll sweep the fucking floors. Call me!

Edit: OMFG... One of these days she's going to run for office, isn't she? Yuppy/McCarthy, 2016. That did it. The last lingering threads of my coronary arteries have shredded themselves into oblivion. To the hospital! Whee!
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Weekend Tidbits

Every campfire you've ever had has given you cancer...apparently. You thought you were having fun making s'mores, but really you were getting all kinds of cancer.

The most hilarious bag of crap you will ever read about practices all manner of woo and is not apologizing for it. Fierce! My favorite parts were the time travel and de-spiraling DNA into the 4th dimension. Dude, you've got facepalm on your shoe.

Apparently in abstinence-only education, you don't even learn where babies come from, let alone how they are made. Incidentally, that's a pretty neat learning device.

You sick with the flu? Stay the flarg home!

The saddest and funniest thing you will ever see. Also check out the related news story. Read more...

Our heroine weighs in on swine flu...rationally

With all the crazy talk surrounding swine flu these days, I thought a more optimistic and rational approach might help talk people down off their various freak-out ledges. Come with me, gentle reader, on a journey to the land of Reason and Sanity...

Really if we want to freak out, we should look no further than the seasonal flu. That shit is balls-ass scary. ...If you stop and think about it. ...IF each case and each death were reported on the news every day. ...IF it was a new strain with no human resistance that we don't know much about.

So far this year, about 13000 people in the US have died of the regular, boring, run-of-the-mill Seasonal Flu. So far this year, 150 people in Mexico are suspected to have died from Swine Flu.

"Um, still waiting for that optimism..." Put this into context. Consider all the deaths so far this year from car accidents, cancer, etc. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of this illness, but certainly it is not the killer bug of epic proportions that some have talked themselves into fearing. We should probably relax and stop worrying about daily fluctuations in statistics that are sensationalized due to novelty...and the bomb. Stop worrying about that too while you're at it. We simply don't have near enough information to justify a panic.

The effects of Swine Flu appear to be very similar in severity to Seasonal Flu -- so far -- unlike the more severe 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. That is, in terms of death rates. So far. Despite reports that the flu is "worse" in Mexico, there is not enough data to support that conclusion. It's possible there were more deaths reported in Mexico because it has been brewing there longer and there were more cases -- meaning it's possible that many cases went unreported because of a lack of severe symptoms back when people thought they had the regular flu and treated it as such (i.e., stayed home with soup, rather than reporting to authorities for testing). So, in other words, a rate of 70/10000 deaths seems high, but consider that many thousands of cases may have gone unreported before the scare which would bring that number way down.

The growing concern now though is the rate at which Swine Flu can spread throughout the population because of its novelty. Also of concern is the way in which the virus makes us sick. If this is the type of flu to cause a "cytokine storm", it can be lethal in otherwise healthy people -- meaning that young, nubile 20-somethings (for example) may be at risk compared to the traditional elderly and infant population. It's scary when healthy people die, particularly as that has been the pattern so far in Mexico.

What should we be worried about?

1) Swine flu, if it spreads, will cause many illnesses at once potentially leading to economic problems when people can't show up for work, health care problems when the system is overloaded and the workers are sick and can't report in, and social problems when people panic because they are picturing "The Stand" happening all around them.

2) Fear itself. Speaking of panic, many people being sick at once also means many people dying at once. People die of the flu all the time, but it is spread out over a flu season. With humans having no immunity to the novel Swine Flu, illnesses and death have the potential to occur in a big clump, making people lose their shit.

3) People are kinda dumb. If people don't practice safe hygiene (and let's face it, folks -- do you wash your hands every time you go to the bathroom? or touch a garbage can? or handle money?) and continue to report to work while sick (which people will most certainly do, all the time, and particularly in this economy when staying home from work is an unaffordable luxury), the flu may spread rather quickly.

"What do I do?? WHAT DO I DO??? For the love of god, you've gotta tell me!!"
- Homer Simpson

1) If you are experiencing flu like symptoms (especially in an area with suspected swine flu cases), please for the love of all that is rational stay the balls home. Please. Yes, it really does suck that you have to miss a few days of work, but it sucks more that your coworker's baby just died of the flu because you went to work.

2) Hygiene. It's not that complicated and can be achieved in a few easy steps:

- Wash hands with regular soap. Wet hands, add soap, lather for 15 seconds, rinse with warm water, towel off, and use the towel to turn the taps off. Avoid soaps with Triclosan. It's overkill.

- Sanitizer is regular alcohol. It is not an antiviral or an antibacterial drug. You are not going to create an epic race of super bugs by using 62% ethyl alcohol gel with your hand washing routine until this blows over. Use disinfectant wipes (regular alcohol is fine) on your workstation (phones, computers, etc) and/or common-use items. Wash dishes with soap.

- Sneeze and cough into your arm or shoulder rather than your hands. If you sneeze or cough into your hands, use sanitizer and then wash them immediately. If you are coughing profusely onto yourself, you should probably not pick that day to give out your patented special hugs.

- Do not wear a mask. People mostly wear them incorrectly and they tend to give a false sense of security. Just wash your hands, avoid licking strangers for a while (I know it's hard to resist, but we all have our crosses to bear during this thing), and you should be fine.

3) Don't fall for the latest panic-driven, opportunistic charlatan taking advantage of the frightened masses. Such as:
4) Don't assume that symptom management = wellness. Flu virus can be carried in the absence of symptoms. Just because you're not freely snotting at the nose because you took a half a bottle of DayQuil doesn't mean you're germ free. You still have to wash your hands...and avoid licking people.

5) Don't pronounce the word "pandemic" as "apocalypse". Pandemics can be severe or mild -- the word indicates global distribution, not severity.


The irony is that when this all blows over, people will go: "Why was everyone freaking out? Nothing even happened. Stupid scientists and/or politicians and/or media." If this turns into nothing, I suspect we will have the CDC (in the US), the WHO, and the PHAC (for us Canucks) to thank for that. Although correlation doesn't equal causation, I don't want them to back off just to see if they are having a real impact. An overreaction is better than an underreaction, IMHO -- the kind of underreaction that may have allowed the Swine Flu out of Mexico in the first place.

So relax...in a vigilant sort of way. Wait until an infection pattern makes itself more clear. Be hygienic and proactive, but don't panic. So far, this isn't a SARS-level emergency. And please, please don't be the cocky little shits you know you are. We all do it. We all go to work/school sick. Stay the frig home if you're sick! Please and thank you.

For a fantastic and rational resource on Swine Flu, see the blog Effect Measure. Paul Revere provides continual updates, usually more than once daily, on topics concerning Swine Flu -- from the hard science behind flu genetics to CDC updates and discussion. It's all there. He's also affiliated with a database website and forum called Flu Wiki which has even more general flu information.

Edit: Also see this blog (H5N1) for lots of resources and links on avian flu and swine flu.

[One final note: I am not an expert in infectious disease. I do work in health care, but my area of practice is rehabilitation. Much of the information comes from the internet resources of people who are experts in this field, but it's possible I've misinterpreted some information. If anyone sees any errors, please let me know and I will correct them. Thank you. Also, just to make myself clear: I am not trying to downplay the seriousness of this flu. I simply want to emphasize that so far we do not have enough data to panic and run for the hills. So don't panic.] Read more...

Worst. Series. Ever.

I finished reading the Twilight books. Why do I do these things to myself? Impressions after the fold.

Ok...so in New Moon Edward decides to take off for reals and most of the book is about Bella and her friend Jacob being inappropriately friendly considering her crippling emotional problems and total lack of romantic interest. Pretty much nothing happens.

In Eclipse, the most disturbing book of them all, Bella and her boys (Edward and Jacob) are in this weird emotionally-unhealthy love triangle. Some vampire tries to kill Bella -- aaaand that's pretty much the book. The reason I say this one was the most disturbing was because of how frustratingly stupid it was regarding Bella's relationships. Everyone would say "this sucks/is wrong/etc" and then would do it anyway. There's a part in the book where within a page and a half, Bella goes from "I should kiss Jacob" to "I'm having an epiphany, I have to let him go" (the word epiphany is actually used) to kissing Jacob anyway. That was some epiphany...if you completely change the definition of the word.

Finally, in Breaking Dawn there's a huge vampire stand-off. The whole book sets it up. Dozens of vampires show up to a final show down. There are entire scenes where Bella sets up a passport etc for certain characters to escape. And then NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS. I'm not even kidding. There they are, in a field, getting ready for battle, a bunch of battle-y things getting set up and then NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS. They walk away. Everyone. And the end line is, seriously: "And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever. the end."

Are you fucking kidding me? I read 4 books for that?! I'm not exaggerating. I want you to know that I'm being completely serious, so I'll spell it out one more time: The ultimate climax of the entire series of books is that a ginormous group of vampires with special powers gathers for a confrontation and NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS.

The books are peppered with good points (the Quileute legends, the character's back stories, the gnarly powers) but all of those points are lost in that they go absolutely nowhere. They are just stuck in the books disjointedly with no connecting theme. And to have that all set up for 4 books and then use none of it is a crime upon literature.

Were I younger with a less academic eye, I may have liked these books...until I got to the end and realized that the author couldn't come up with an ending so she essentially didn't write one. But the question on most people's minds isn't about how good or bad the books are, it's about how "appropriate" they are for 12 year-olds. I would say that they are, to a point. I would advise parents to read anything their kids are reading (same goes for TV really) so they can talk about it rather than censor their virgin eyes/ears from anything "offensive". My biggest objections come with Book 3 where we learn that if a girl isn't interested, you just have to force yourself on her hard enough until she caves, because secretly she's totally into it. Other than that, the book mostly suffers from sucking so hard their brains may vacuum out of their eyes.

So should our kids read it? Sure, why not. But IMO, we should encourage them to read much better books too so they can gain an appreciation for a decent story, and literature in general, rather than reading and re-reading the same 4 crappy books. The whole point of reading is imagination, of which these books are sorely lacking.
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