My interest in true crime gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia while watching eighty kids have fun with murder… and one Grinch.

Parent claims an elf-murder activity at school left her child traumatized: ‘There was a crime scene in one of the classrooms’

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/parent-claims-elf-murder-activity-school-left-child-traumatized-crime-scene-one-classrooms-213742237.html

By Maggie Parker, 6 December 2018

A murder-themed exercise at a British elementary school has some parents bloody mad.

Flowery Field Primary School staged a murder for 8- and 9-year-old students to solve as a writing exercise, according to the Manchester Evening News. The victim and suspect were elves, which could be scary for kids, since Santa’s helpers are usually portrayed as cute and carefree creatures in Christmas tales.

Billy: KEWL! Murder! Let’s find the bad guy!

Sally: Is he okay? The poor doll is going to be okay, right?

Billy: DEAD! Bang bang!

Sally: *cries*

One parent told the Manchester Evening News that the activity left her child traumatized.

.There was a crime scene in one of the classrooms,. the mother, who chose to remain anonymous, said. .There was police tape and a table had been knocked over, and there were blood smeared on one of the tables..

A tweet from the school matches this description, with photos of fake blood droplets on tables, caution tape blocking off areas of the school and police evidence reports filled out in kid scribble.

.The idea was Elf had been murdered by another Elf,. the parent explained. .My daughter came home and she was absolutely traumatised.” And she insisted that there are others who are upset with this gruesome writing lesson. .I.m not the only parent who felt like that. A lot of the kids in Year 4 were unsettled by it..

While children are bound to learn about gruesome events in history lessons at least, the level of involvement has shaken some students. .I am very open with my children and I understand you can’t protect them from everything. But my child was very upset last night and had to sleep in my bed,. the mom said.

What a waste of a teachable moment. Does Mommy think girls should be sheltered from a harsh reality? By who, one one wonders?

She claims “a lot of the kids” were unsettled yet she’s the only one on record complaining.

The school, on the other hand, doesn’t see any issue with it and tweeted multiple enthusiastic updates on the fake investigation Wednesday.

HAHAHAAA! Now there’s some Christmas cheer! I bet the boys had fun. When I was that age, I sang “Deck the Halls With Gasoline” because I had to go caroling. “Light a match and watch the gleam…” “Go home, Gunner.” “YAY!”

.The children were all excited and they really did buy into it,. Ian Fell, head teacher of Flowery Field, told the Manchester Evening News. .One of the children said to me .I am definitely being a detective when I grow up… As for the rest of the students, he claims they were all as excited. .Of all of the 90 children who took part, none of them showed anything but full engagement,. he boasted.

.I have been a teacher for 30 years and this is, in my judgment, an appropriate, engaging and exciting thing that children aged eight and nine have done. They have been so up for it,. he shared. He’s not worried about upsetting any other parents. .I am really looking forward to see the quality of the outcomes. We are not trying to keep this a secret and we will be Tweeting about the rest of exercise today..

On social media, it seems there haven’t been any other complaints; all of the tweets regarding the lesson are supportive.

It seems there’s hope for Merry Olde England after all. ‘Tis the season for that kind of thing.

 

And just in time for Cuck-Mas!

ST. ALBERT, Alta. . A man in Edmonton who made international headlines for holding onto a wrapped Christmas gift from a high-school girlfriend who dumped him nearly 50 years ago finally learned what it was on Thursday when she travelled to the city and opened it for him.

Adrian Pearce, now a married father of two, received the small present wrapped in shiny, purple paper shortly before Christmas 1971 from Vicki Allen, who was his very first sweetheart at George S. Henry Secondary School in Toronto.

But when she handed it to him, she broke up with him. Dejected, Pearce returned to his family’s home, threw it under the Christmas tree and vowed never to open it.

The story last December about the unopened gift appeared on TV, newspapers and websites around the world. And as Allen stood on a stage in a packed cafe northwest of the city and peeled away the paper with Pearce standing beside her and his wife, Janet, in the audience, she herself didn’t know what she’d see because it was so long ago and she’d forgotten.

“Oh no!” Allen exclaimed when she finally saw. “I can’t give that to him!”

It was a small book called “Love Is: New Ways To Spot That Certain Feeling” with a cartoons and sayings about love.

“The irony is extreme,” Allen cried.

Oh, God, please make the pain stop.

Adrian Pearce, new holder of the World’s Record for Longest Time Pining For A Cold-Hearted Skank. If the lines around his eyes are any indication, his current wife is a piece of work, but I don’t want to go too hard on Janet Pearce:

For years, even after he’d married, Pearce still placed the dog-eared gift under the tree every Christmas. He enjoyed the mystery of it, but eventually his wife put her foot down when their daughter, then five, wanted to open it.

The poor wife, watching her husband pine for that lost love… for THIS lost love:

They learned the reason Allen dumped Pearce all those years ago.

It turned out that while Allen was shopping for Pearce’s gift at the mall, she met another boy and he kissed her on the spot.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I kissed him back,” Allen said.

You held a torch… for half a century… for THAT.

Pearce has since written a book about the whole experience, and his wife and Allen contributed chapters.

“The Swinger Life in Alberta”, I’ll guess.

“I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we’re friends. My wife is friends with (Vicki),” Pearce told the crowd.

“We’re in a fantastic place where all you can feel is love.”

Or as the New York Post put it:

Wife stays with moron who put unopened gift from ex under the tree for 47 years

https://nypost.com/2017/12/26/wife-stays-with-moron-who-put-unopened-gift-from-ex-under-the-tree-for-47-years/

 

Cause and effect. Here’s the cause: a puff piece (slightly dated) celebrating the latest in solar energy, which is such a good idea that the State of California is now coercing its usage.

California to require solar panels on most new homes

https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/06/california-to-require-solar-panels-on-most-new-homes/

By Jon Fingas, 5 May 2018

There’s no question that solar power is entering the mainstream, but California is about to give it a giant boost. The state’s Energy Commission is expected to approve new energy standards that would require solar panels on the roofs of nearly all new homes, condos and apartment buildings from 2020 onward. There will be exemptions for homes that either can’t fit solar panels or would be blocked by taller buildings or trees, but you’ll otherwise have to go green if your property is brand new.

Free unicorn rainbow farts! To be stored in hideously expensive, hideously toxic nickel-metal-hydride-hybridized-lithium-polymer jars.

The plan doesn’t require that a home reach net-zero status (where the solar power completely offsets the energy consumed in a year). However, it does provide “compliance credits” for homebuilders who install storage batteries like Tesla’s Powerwall, letting them build smaller panel arrays knowing that excess energy will be available to use off-hours.

Hello, cronyism! Elon Musk has been spending a lot of time on somebody’s casting couch, to be the lucky winner of those Orwellian “compliance credits”.

The new standards are poised to hike construction costs by $25,000 to $30,000 (about half of which is directly due to solar), but the self-produced energy is estimated to save owners $50,000 to $60,000 in operating costs over the solar technology’s expected 25-year lifespan.

Assuming regular good weather for decades, assuming accurate, long-term usage estimates and ignoring maintenance & repair costs, you’ll thank us after half a lifetime. Unintended consequences not included.

Short of a surprise rejection at the Energy Commission’s May 9th vote, this will make California the first state to have a solar panel requirement. [It got approved.] It’s relatively easy to do this in the region given California’s abundance of warm, sunny days and high real estate prices — it’s hard to see this happening in the American Midwest, where winter and lower home prices could make solar decidedly less practical.

Northern California sometimes has a cloudy day, too, but anything that works for San Diego is good enough for Eureka!

Critics have complained that this could make California’s housing shortage worse by pricing people out of those homes that are available, and note that most people in the state only really draw on non-renewable energy when they come home from work and strain the electrical grid.

The electric grid wouldn’t be “strained” if Sacramento didn’t keep trying to dismantle it wholesale. Our legislators are at war with reality.

Even so, this could change the landscape for both California’s energy and the market as a whole. Right now, no more than 20 percent of new single-family homes in California include solar power. Boost that by five times and that’s a lot more business for panel makers and installers. That, in turn, could reduce the costs of panels and make solar more affordable in many places, not just in California or even the US.

The only reason solar power doesn’t work is we haven’t tried it hard enough! Haven’t believed in it hard enough! Like Communism.

What a wonderful world we’ll have thanks to mandatory, expensive bureaucratic initiatives, according to Engadget. But here’s the effect, in a postscript to this article:

Due to repeated violations of our rules and guidelines, the comments section to this article has been closed.

And deleted.

 

…According to a full-time seminarian interviewed by Christianity Today magazine. While the results are predictable, it’s a question that needs asking as the remnant of Christianity watches all the official denominations weld together into the Apostate Orthodox Church 501c3 Nonprofit Organization.

.What Should I Do to Become a Pastor?.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2018/september-web-exclusives/what-should-i-do-to-become-pastor.html

By Derek Hiebert, 12 Sept. 2018.

Recently a young man asked me this question via text message. I imagine you have been asked the same question by someone in your congregation.an eager person looking to take the next step in their spiritual growth.

And you told those aspirants to get professional help… “you” here being pastors, the target readership of this article. You didn’t give them opportunity to lead services or teach a brief Bible class, no, you told him to go away and become a competitor without your assistance.

Tell me that’s not what you do, pastors.

You probably have a safe guess as to what my answer was, especially since I am the director of the Western Seminary Seattle Teaching Site. We all know the assumed logic in America for landing a career:

1. Decide what to do with your life.

2. Go to school to learn the skillset.

3. Graduate from said school.

4. Get hired for a job using that skillset.

He’s correct, and the problems with this are obvious: Step 1 is really hard when you’re age 17 and not born gifted. Step 2 is unaffordable. Step 3 is reserved for wimmins and non-whites. And Step 4 is straight-up wishful thinking.

Now substitute “school” with .seminary,. and voil?! You have a career in pastoring . right?

You might be surprised to learn that this isn’t the answer I texted back to the aspiring pastor, and it isn’t the answer I hope pastors give congregants who ask the same question. In the Bible, those God called to shepherd his people didn’t look at their ministry work as a career.at least not in the way we understand the concept. Their learning came first from development in the context of a local church, with an eye for Christ-centered conviction, character formation, and the ability to make and multiply disciples. Formal training, if they received it, came after the core development they received within the local church.

A pleasant surprise for him to admit this. Of course, if he actually believed that Christ’s example was a good one…

That is not to say I am anti-seminary. As I wrote above, my full-time job is with a seminary. Academic training is an important resource for those entering full-time ministry. My aim here is not to discourage pastors from recommending seminary,

…then he’d be out of a job.

but to provide an intentional order of steps they can offer aspiring pastors that starts long before formal, academic training. This model comes in part from my personal experience of being mentored in the local church prior to attending seminary and in part from my current work counseling people toward theological training.

And even more, I expect, from your personal experience of attaining success via credentialing and seniority rather than devotion to Father or strength under trial.

Step 1: Learn to Kiss Ass

Oops. Ahem:

Step 1: Commit to a local church and begin serving.

This may seem basic, but it’s too important to skip, and it isn’t a given. A friend of mine recalls meeting several people during his seminary education who had not committed to a local congregation in years. Some were indecisive. Others were jaded. Many couldn’t imagine joining a congregation that didn’t fit their ideal vision of church.one they hoped to implement right after graduation.

I one listened to a combined assistant-pastor-and-Christian-school-director give his idea on how to foster local talent. After ten years of membership and low-level service, he thought laymen would have proven themselves sufficiently qualified to handle backroom church tasks such as groundskeeping oversight. Another 10-15 years and they might move up to budget work, not including budget decisions. So, about 20 years of rent-seeking to go from “guy off the street” to “Bible study substitute teacher”.

This while I was working though a correspondence seminary in the hopes that a low-level certification would impress them. That was money spent poorly.

You bet some of us potential pastors are jaded. But oh noes, we “lack commitment” if the pew cushion hasn’t yet conformed to our butt.

If a pastor’s primary task is to shepherd a local church, the sooner aspiring pastors commit to life in the local church.in all its imperfection and beauty.the better prepared they will be for future pastoral ministry. It is primarily in the context of the local church where on-the-job ministry training begins.

Before I began any formal leadership role in the local church, I immersed myself in volunteer ministry by serving with middle school students in the youth program. There, I began to learn what it means to be a servant: committing to show up for weekly youth events, helping with setup and cleanup, making space in my schedule to spend one-on-one time with kids, and enduring all-nighters and weekend retreats. I was not paid to serve in this way, nor was I given an “upfront” role. I was merely one of a team of servants giving of my time, energy, and gifts to serve the church.

I tried that by volunteering to work with kids. I don’t like kids but was tired of running the slide projector. They assigned me to the sixth graders. Although wild, most of them liked me well enough except for one problem kid who did everything from publicly slandering me to distributing porn. I was not trusted with enough authority to remove him from the group because “he needed a father figure”. I quit in frustration.

Step 2: Read the whole Bible at least once.

Holy illiterate, Batman! Didn’t you do that when you first became a Christian? A Protestant, no less? But I suppose it’s advice that must be given in Current Year. Sola Some-O’-Scriptura!

I worry that the process of reading the entire Bible is becoming a lost art. That’s unfortunate for any Christian, but for potential pastors, it is devastating. Admittedly, this is a step I didn’t experience early in my faith and church experience. I was encouraged to read portions of Scripture.key narratives and memorable passages.before I began leading in ministry, but reading the whole Bible was not part of my regular practice until later.

OMG. The blind are leading the seminary.

Step 3: Learn how to make disciples and shepherd people.

The Great Commission undergirds all pastoral ministry. There is no pastoring without disciple-making. It is absolutely imperative that aspiring pastors learn what the Great Commission ought to look like in the local church and everyday life.

During my early development, I learned that making disciples happens not just through weekly, large-group teaching, but through one-on-one and small-group environments. In one situation, I had built a relationship with a middle school boy who was deficient in his reading ability. Part of my discipleship strategy with him was reading Scripture, as well as books from the Chronicles of Narnia. This was immensely fruitful for both of us. He learned to read, and I learned how to do life-on-life discipleship.

He impresses me again by giving lip service to the Great Commission, such are my expectations. But the example he gives is not one of discipleship. Useful, yes, appropriate Christian conduct, yes, but that kid wasn’t about to be delegated any authority. This is a bait-and-switch.

Pastors often say things like, .Seminary didn’t teach me how discouraging it would be to toil in obscurity,. or, .Seminary didn’t train me to shepherd distracted people and naysayers.” Those things should be discovered in the discipleship process of any committed Christian, and I encourage you to push aspiring pastors in those areas before discerning a particular call to pastoral ministry.

One wonders what Director Derek of Western Seminary does train them to do. 501c3 Administration, pontificating and Koine Greek are my first three guesses.

Step 4: Pray and listen for God’s direction toward ministry.

Aspiring pastors cannot answer the question “How do I become a pastor?. until they have first answered the question, .What is God telling me to do?. Whatever your view of “calling” into ministry, the potential pastors you’re guiding won’t get very far without committed time in prayer and listening to God. I encourage this step after someone has spent time serving and making disciples because it is during those experiences when people typically begin to get a specific sense of God’s leading.

When I attended a Charismatic church, there was one time in a small group we were discussing the voice of God. Pastor called for a show of hands; turned out, he and half the group claimed to hear God’s audible voice on a daily basis, advising them on how to live that particular day. I regret to say that I was too dumbfounded to speak any of the limitless potential sarcastic responses I’ve thought of since then.

A month later, I was talking with the music director and he mentioned how that incident freaked him out. I agreed and he was thrilled to find a second guy who thought as he did.

Truth time: If God wants to micromanage your life then He won’t wait for you to ask His permission to do it. Put your dollar in the vending machine of life, make your choice and own the consequences. Don’t wait for the voices in your head to relieve you of responsibility first. That will not help.

Step 5: If God is leading toward pastoral ministry, begin to look at seminary.

I insert this step near the end as a way to define the nature and purpose of seminary. Unlike the typical role of education in the modern American model of career building, seminary is not the end-all means of ministry training, nor should it be the first step in the training regimen for future pastors.and I trust many seminaries would agree.

What is the purpose of seminary? Serious question, what is it? Is it a graduate school for men who are already working as pastors? Then Derek missed a critical opportunity to complain about seminary credentialism being used as a gatekeeper for paid pastoral jobs. Is it to qualify men as acceptable pastors? Then Derek should not have advised them to first learn on-the-job. Is it to cover the inevitable deficiencies of what most pastors do to recruit talent? Then why didn’t Derek call that out given the opportunity?

They offer a unique context for honing theology and ministry theory, but they are not the kind of environment where potential pastors can learn the crucial skillsets of shepherding and making disciples. This context can only be found within the local church.

You cannot learn theology from a book or a class. The Pharisees were living proof of this, having been fanatically devoted to the holy texts while completely missing the point of them.

I am living proof of this. What I read about marriage in the Bible was the opposite of what every pastor I knew of was teaching, back in the 1980s. I was very confused. Scripture couldn’t be wrong about marriage & human nature but the entire Church, independently and uniformly, was acting like it was. Surely not EVERY pastor and priest could be wrong about such basic theology.

Turned out, EVERY pastor and priest I knew actually was wrong… and fatally, rebelliously wrong at that. But I hadn’t had the life experience, the maturity to act on Biblical teachings in the face of stiff opposition.

You can’t get that kind of education from Derek’s seminary. Therefore, you don’t want a graduate of Derek seminary to tell you about God, even though he might be able to do so in the original Hebrew. You want a battle-scarred, burned, jaded, shot-up survivor of the trenches to tell you about God.

This post is a setup for one on Theodicy. Boxer mentioned he wanted to read about that topic from a Christian perspective and it’s difficult because a theological explanation of suffering is not the way to teach it. A rational explanation of why you must be miserable is useless. A personal example of “I went through the Valley of Darkness first and here is what I learned” is priceless. Because most Christian leaders are Derek types, they have no clue about this.

So, reread this post. Who would you trust to teach about God: Derek or me? That is why I had to suffer. Not that I’m looking for a position, but the quote “All things work together for the good of those who know Christ”, well, seeing is believing.

 

Honeycomb on Boxer’s blog tuned me in to the Holy Grail of Cuckoldry: Psychology of Men & Masculinity? is a quarterly publication and registered trademark of the American Psychological Association. Seems that the people who were convinced by peer pressure that humans aren’t sexually dimorphic if they feel strongly about it later decided to improve their understanding of male psychology, the stresses it faces and hegemonic masculine norms. With help, of course, from their new friends, the homosexual psychopolitical persons of color.

Get your popcorn ready for a whirlwind tour of official science that can’t be replicated!

I perused the sample articles on their website:

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/men/sample.aspx

Masculine Norms, Peer Group, Pornography, Facebook, and Men’s Sexual
Objectification of Women

Renee Mikorski and Dawn M. Szymanski (Female ratio 2 of 2)

In this study, we examined the relations between 3 dimensions of traditional masculine gender role adherence (playboy, power over women, and violence) and likelihood to sexually objectify women via body evaluation and making unwanted sexual advances. In addition, we examined the moderating roles of association with a male peer group that abuses women, pornography consumption, and Facebook use in these links. Participants were 329 heterosexually identified undergraduate men who completed an online survey.

Two chicks used an online survey to prove porn and normal male behavior (and Facebook?) make men abusive to women. I can do better science than that with a meme generator:

Results revealed that endorsement of playboy and violence masculine norms and higher levels of pornography use uniquely predicted more body evaluation of women.

Honey, I want you to look like THIS!

Pornography use, Facebook use, the interaction of playboy norms and association with abusive male peers, the interaction of power over women norms and association with abusive male peers, and the interaction of violence norms and association with abusive male peers were unique predictors of making unwanted sexual advances.

“Wives, obey your husbands” -God. “Don’t associate with God.” -American Psychological Association

.Do You Even Lift, Bro?. Objectification, Minority Stress, and Body Image Concerns for Sexual Minority Men

by Melanie E. Brewster, Riddhi Sandil, Cirleen DeBlaere, Aaron Breslow, and Austin Eklund (Females 5/7)

Compared with their heterosexual counterparts, sexual minority men may experience a greater pressure to conform to a “culturally desirable” body type, body shape, and/or size that meets the standard of attractiveness set forth by this unique culture. However, with regard to “preferred” body types for sexual minority men, data are mixed. Some studies suggest that.akin to heterosexual women.they feel pressure to be thin, while other studies find that sexual minority men are driven to gain bulk and have more defined musculature.

These differing results happen because some fags like to be on top and some like to be on bottom. Even perversions of the sex act favor a dominant masculine and submissive feminine, something the APA is no longer allowed to notice.

Use of AAS is common among male athletes and body builders. However, steroid use is also prevalent among nonathletes, with 1% of U.S. college students reporting the use of AAS during their lifetime. Research suggests that men who use AAS wish to achieve a more muscular body as well as an increase in athletic performance; some men also report that, given the changes to their bodies, using AAS allows them to feel more confident.

There’s no other reason to use anabolic steroids. And yes, being strong feels good. You could have simply asked us, females.

However, use of AAS is more commonly linked to psychological disorders, such as
anxiety and depression, as well as physical concerns, including cardiomyopathy and hypertension than positive outcomes. As such, use of AAS can lead to lifelong physical and psychological concerns for men. Considering the established link between steroid use and negative physical and psychological variables, its use in men may actually be suggestive of a body image disorder similar to bulimia or anorexia nervosa in women.

More likely, these men thought of steroids as a magical needle of injectable muscle, didn’t do their gym work and ended up with manboobs and no balls. Similar to women.

College Men’s and Women’s Masculine Gender Role Strain and Dating Violence Acceptance Attitudes: Testing Sex as a Moderator

by Ryon C. McDermott, Paige D. Naylor, Daniel McKelvey, and Lacy Kantra (Females 8/11)

The people investigating the consequences of porn should be investigating these authors. We could call it a confirmation study, maybe?

Contextualizing Behaviors Associated With Paranoia: Perspectives of Black Men

by Della V. Mosley, Kathryn Haynes Owen, Sharon Scales Rostosky, and Robert J. Reese (Females 11/14)

“Barriers to Psychopolitical Well-Being for Black Men”

There are several barriers to psychopolitical well-being that Black men must cope with and/or resist. The term psychopolitical emphasizes the “inseparable nature” of psychological and political aspects of wellness. This framework seeks to remedy deficits commonly found in psychological literature on well-being that privileges individualistic, decontextualized approaches to functioning that are found to be less effective for theorizing about Black people and their concerns. This more holistic approach considers how oppression, experienced as structural sociopolitical exclusion with biopsychosocial costs, relates to the inequitable distribution of wellness; and is therefore problematic across personal, relational, and collective realms.

“Psychopolitical”, I can use that. Are these fools going where I think they’re going?

For example, in a series of studies related to implicit crime-related bias toward Black
Americans, it was found that police officers and undergraduate students made bidirectional associations between Blackness and crime. Personal aspects of Black masculinity were crucial as it was Black male faces that were found to be more quickly associated with crime-related objects. Additionally, more stereotypical Black male faces and features were more often falsely identified by police in a lineup task.

Yep, they went there. Memo to all psychologists and sociologists, stereotypes exist for valid reasons. I love how they lumped together police officers and undergraduate students. They both need more education in order to believe their leaders?

Implicit racial biases related to criminality are prevalent for Black men. For example, outcome data on New York City’s “Stop and Frisk” policy indicated that .685,724 stops were made in New York City in 2011; 88% of those stopped were not charged with any crime; 84% of those stopped were African-American or Latino. (Center for Constitutional Rights, 2012). Black men also account for the largest percentage of inmates (37%; Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice, 2014), despite comprising only 6% of the United States population (United States Census Bureau, 2012). These data suggest that stereotypes and implicit biases against Black men lead to oppressive relational interactions (e.g., lack of police support when in need, dehumanization) and collective level costs (e.g., mass incarceration, economic disadvantage).

They went there and bought a freakin’ farm. This is dogma, not science. This should never have passed peer review.

Integrating Self-Concept Into the Relationship Between Drive for Muscularity, and Disordered Eating and Depression, Among Men

by Mike C. Parent and Tyler C. Bradstreet (Females 11/16)

I thought this one could be interesting because men rarely suffer from eating disorders (other than “too many bacon cheeseburgers” and “Top Ramen-induced scurvy”). Depression is associated with eating changes but that’s not an eating disorder, that’s depression sucking the fun out of life and bacon cheeseburgers. Women have eating disorders because they’re naturally self-conscious about their beauty. What kind of man would be that self-conscious about… his beauty… uh-oh.

Research on men’s health has increasingly recognized the importance of depression and eating disorders among men. The present study sought to extend extant work on self-concept and depression to men, incorporating muscularity-related attitudes and behaviors, and also incorporating risk for disordered eating.

Interesting they didn’t use the word “masculinity”.

Two samples, one of 204 heterosexual college men and one of 197 gay and bisexual men sampled online, were recruited. Participants completed measures of drive for muscularity, self-concept, depression symptoms, and eating disorder symptoms. Data were analyzed using a structural equation model in which the relationships between drive for muscularity attitudes and behaviors, and depression and eating disorder symptoms, were mediated by physical self-concept, global physical self-concept, and self-esteem.

The model was supported for the gay and bisexual men sample, but not for the college men sample. Implications for future research with men, and integration of body-related variables into therapy with men, are discussed.

Fags again. Yes, girly men who care about their girly figures should be expected to develop girly problems more often than real men.

And that’s why the study didn’t use “masculinity”.

Men.s Depression: Endorsed Experiences and Expressions

by Miranda M. Nadeau, Michael J. Balsan, and Aaron B. Rochlen (Females 12/19)

The current study investigated the subjective expressions of a hypothetical depression experience in a community-based sample of 268 men. Participants were asked to imagine undergoing 1 of 5 difficult life events while completing measures of traditional depression, masculine depression, and conformity to hegemonic masculinity norms. More than 20% of men who would describe themselves as depressed as a result of the potential event failed to meet traditional diagnostic criteria.

“Imagine if you were depressed. What would be your symptoms?”

“I would be depressed… because my boss asked me to replicate your findings. I don’t want to pull stuff out of your ass.”

“Okay… we understand… you’re a hegemonic masculine normie.”

Of those who denied the possibility of experiencing depression, approximately 70% met traditional criteria for the disorder. In addition, a significant number of men endorsed a unique profile of symptoms not captured by traditional notions of depression (e.g., feeling that one needs to handle problems on one’s own and feeling under constant pressure). Finally, men who adhered to hegemonic masculinity norms were more likely than other men to endorse anger and aggression as aspects of depression. Considerations and implications for future research are discussed.

Translation, healthy men tend to have anger as part of their depression instead of female crying episodes. THAT is a testable hypothesis, not hegemonic masculinity norms.

The Role of Social Class, Ethnocultural Adaptation, and Masculinity Ideology on Mexican American College Men’s Well-Being

by guess who, three taco-benders: Lizette Ojeda, Brandy Pin.a-Watson, and Gerardo Gonzalez (Females 14/22)

Two words: population size.

Three words: authors’ personal bias

Five words: PhD = Pile of Horse Dung

Drive for Muscularity in Asian American Men: Sociocultural and Racial/Ethnic Factors as Correlates

by Hsiu-Lan Cheng, Ryon C. McDermott, Y. Joel Wong, and Susanna La (Females 16/24???)

Why does THIS survey not use “masculinity”?

Drive for muscularity is a prominent factor in men’s body image concerns; however, researchers have typically examined this construct in samples of predominantly White, non-Hispanic men. The present study extended existing sociocultural theories of men’s body image by examining the relative contributions of media internalization (i.e., general internalization and athletic ideal internalization of media body image portrayals), acculturative experiences (i.e., acculturation to mainstream American culture, enculturation to one’s heritage culture), and racial stressors (i.e., perceived
racial discrimination, perceived perpetual foreigner racism) as predictors of drive for muscularity attitudes and behaviors in a large sample of Asian American college men (N 338).

Whew, no fags! They just want to find out why yellow gymbros exist, which somebody thought was money well spent. My guess would be that a healthier diet with real meat, not sushi and that Korean not-cabbage, helps them grow bigger. One could test this by comparing average heights across generations, another measure of nutrition-derived health. Fun fact: Most American men would not fit in medieval-produced body armor because we never suffered famine in childhood.

After controlling for participants. self-esteem…

sigh

…body mass index, ethnicity, and generational status in the U.S., hierarchical regressions revealed that greater acculturation to mainstream American culture and perceived perpetual foreigner racism predicted unique variance in drive for muscularity attitudes over and above the contributions of both forms of media internalization.

Translation: Asians who abandon their Asian roots get more buff. That is consistent with both better nutrition and American concepts of self-reliance.

Body image concerns, historically viewed as women’s issues, have been increasingly observed in men. Although the sociocultural standard of physical attractiveness for
women focuses on thinness and a slender body shape, the standard for men emphasizes a muscular body ideal. The ideal physique for men, as reflected in the Western media, is
tall and muscular, with wide shoulders, large biceps, a hefty chest, and a narrow waist low in body fat and, although highly valued, is also unrealistic to attain.

The phrasing of this paragraph makes me think that the author believes the sexiness of big, tall, strong men is a social construct. Meanwhile, Roosh is on record saying that the reason women like visibly huge muscles with low body fat is because they can’t tell the difference between a strong man and a weak man unless it’s that obvious.

Asian American men, like most men in the United States, are surrounded by rampant media portrayals of highly muscular male body images. Though largely unattainable, the muscularity ideal is espoused by the American public as an embodiment of hegemonic masculine norms…

There’s that phrase again. These researcher are from different universities yet share curiously similar language.

…such as self-reliance, competitiveness, dominance, and physical strength. Because
muscularity is often associated with masculinity, researchers have noted that minority men who may not fit the typical masculine body ideal are often unhappy with their appearance and may feel less masculine. Asian American men, in particular, may be at a disadvantage to meet the ideal body standards because of a biological predisposition to body types that depart from the White-centric aesthetic ideal.

Why do they think bulging biceps is white-centric? What female prefers a small, weak man to a big, strong man? …No, she only slept with Harvey Weinstein to get into Hollywood.

Moreover, the U.S. media often denigrate the Asian male physique, racializing them in restrictive or negative images such as small, unathletic, nerdy, socially awkward, and lacking sexual and romantic competencies.

That’s the price of being smart, kids. Sex is fun but women and heavy weights just aren’t as interesting as math class. My sympathies. Asian traditions of conformity don’t encourage confidence, either.

Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that Asian American men are aware of the negative media and public stereotypes against them, which may promote greater drive for muscularity as a stereotype-countering strategy.

Why is it a problem if Asian Americans want to get buff? Are the authors being intolerant of their chosen lifestyle? Or did the Asian male authors fail a massive shit test by the Asian female authors while “researching” this paper?

Measuring Masculinity in the Context of Chronic Disease

by Suzanne K. Chambers, Melissa K. Hyde, John L. Oliffe, Leah Zajdlewicz, Anthony Lowe, Addie C. Wootten, and Jeff Dunn (Females 20/31)

Masculine beliefs are influential in men’s responses to illness; however, current measures of masculinity may not be salient for highly prevalent chronic diseases such as prostate cancer. To address this gap, a contextualized measure of masculinity for men with prostate cancer was developed.

This article is just rude. “How masculine does prostate cancer make you feel?”

Masculinity and Men’s Self-Harm Behaviors: Implications for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Disorder

by Jonathan D. Green and Matthew Jakupcak (Females 20/33)

This one is legit. It might deserve its own post.

Masculine Consciousness and Anti-Effeminacy Among Latino and White Gay Men

by Francisco J. S?nchez, F. Javier Blas-Lopez, Mar?a Jos? Mart?nez-Pati?o, and Eric Vilain

There’s no chance any of those authors are cis-male. Females 24/37.

No Harm in Looking, Right? Men’s Pornography Consumption, Body Image, and Well-Being

by Tracy L. Tylka. Final count, Females 25 of 38. 66%, nearly identical with current college enrollment gender ratios. We may now discontinue all sexual affirmative-action programs.

Suffice to say, she thinks porn gives men bad self-images because they’re comparing themselves to society’s ideal masculine appearance. Total hamsterbation. That’s what porn does to women… because they have to outperform pictures that never disrespect the viewer and sex dolls that never get fat. God forbid that a woman should ever have poor self-image because she can’t outperform a DOLL.

Time for dinner.

 

Two articles today, both illustrating how the world’s religions, and Christianity in particular, have been reduced to intercompatible, UN-recognized, faith-based NGOs. While these articles are from a Catholic perspective, the Protestant Church is also wholly invested in environmental activism. I remember driving past a local Lutheran church a couple years after giving up on it. There was a sign about the kids planting Earth Gardens to learn about caring for the environment.

God does not care about the environment. He has described, in graphic detail no less, how He will destroy it all. And why not? This reality is the diaper of our spiritual infancy. We aren’t going to live here forever and God did not exhaust His imagination with the creation of Earth. It was one week of effort, as He described it.

The Christian concern is for the souls of our fellow people. Environmental issues, the ones that aren’t crypto-globalist wealth redistribution conspiracies, are important only to the degree that they impact the welfare of humanity. If flattening the rain forest is the price of cheap food then God’s Will is for us to flatten the rain forest. Goodbye, three-spotted arroyo smelt fairy frogs! Science never knew ye.

Religious Leaders in Colombia Unite for “Prophetic Task” of Environmentalism

https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2018/11/29/religious-leaders-in-colombia-unite-for-prophetic-task-of-environmentalism/

By Thomas D. Williams, 29 November 2018

This photo is from the linked article.

This photo could have been.

A group of leaders from different religious traditions in Colombia have united in a common quest to protect the tropical rain forests and the land rights of indigenous peoples.
Last week, Catholic, Anglican, Buddhist, and evangelical leaders, along with scientists and indigenous people, met for three days at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Xaveriana University and inaugurated a coalition known as the “Interfaith Rainforest Initiative..

In a joint declaration at the end of the conference, the faith leaders embraced “the sacred task of curbing the environmental impact of climate change” especially as it affects the deforestation of tropical rainforests.

The article has a link to the published document but I can’t read Spanish.

This task “unites us with a concern and a commitment that transcends the frontiers of our religions and spirituality,. the declaration states.

Full stop. CHRISTIANS are saying that protecting the environment is more important that worshiping the correct deity? “I personally don’t think you should be sacrificing chickens to Baphomet but we’ll overlook that and coexist if you make a financial contribution to the world government in the name of Rainforest Biodiversity.”

This is exactly the paganism of the Roman Empire. You can worship any deity you want so long as you also worship Caesar.

.We believe that one of the most urgent issues in our country today is the protection of tropical forests and all those who have been born and grown up in them and continue to form part of the equilibrium of their ecosystem,. the signers stated.

The “prophetic task” of caring for creation, its flora, fauna, and its natural riches “is part of a global effort that is being developed with the support of U.N. Environment Programme and international cooperation,. the statement reads.

The leaders of the different faith traditions said they had been inspired by the 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si, written by Pope Francis on the care of the environment.

.The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,. the pope wrote. .In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish..

In that text, Francis also decried new environmental “sins” by which man disrespects nature, such as the destruction of “the biological diversity of God’s creation,. the degradation of “the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate,. as well as “stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands..

I won’t say all Popes are antichrists but I will say this one is. His speeches are globalist talking points, when he isn’t ordering his own bishops to stop investigating child molestation accusations against clergy. That was the USCCB in a recent Baltimore meeting.

For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God,. the pope said.

Per Scripture, the only sin that is against our selves is sexual sin. Frankie Boy might think about that the next time he announces a press conference to dialogue about how he is deeply, deeply thinking about being concerned about for the people who are noticing all the clerical bugmen in the system.

In their declaration, the religious leaders assembled in Colombia said that faith traditions have much to contribute toward the care of the environment.

.We need to add a moral, ethical and spiritual dimension to the defense of tropical rain forests,. the statement reads. “And we need to spread that message among members of our religions and spiritual groups..

.We are losing topical forests at a speed that has no precedent,. said Juan Bello, Colombia director for U.N. Environment. .We need new kinds of leaders who complement the work that governments and NGOs are already doing to prevent deforestation..

A regional UN director is the spokesman for churches? China isn’t the only government trying to write “the State is you new god” into the holy texts.

Next article, same news website:

In response to global warming, the idea of personal sacrifice resurfaces

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/12/01/in-response-to-global-warming-the-idea-of-personal-sacrifice-resurfaces/

By Dennis Sandowski, 1 December 2018

He’s talking about our leaders making personal sacrifices, right? The people who want to save the rainforests are the ones who will be forced to give up their homes to live in recyclable cardboard housing at 1400 calories a day, right?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A major scientific report by 13 federal agencies that concludes that climate change poses dire economic consequences to the United States and already is affecting the well being of people serves as a warning that demands action to protect the earth, Catholics working on environmental concerns said.

Personal response can encompass the simple or the complex, but some action is required of everyone if the consequences foreseen in the 1,656-page report are to be avoided, they told Catholic News Service.

You can be sure that every one of those 1,656 pages predicting the near future’s drastic, life-ending weather changes are completely without error… because the government said so? The same government that assured us in the ’90s that banning chlorofluorocarbons from our hair spray would be sufficient to prevent this? I want my CFCs back… AND my DDT, the only good thing we ever sent to Africa.

.We really have to wake up and get serious about tackling this issue, particularly reducing our energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,. said Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant. .We need to realize if we don’t get really serious about this soon our children and grandchildren will seriously suffer..

Yes, let the living today suffer on behalf of a vaguely defined future people. Question: If I refuse to have kids then do I get to enjoy all the benefits of all the suffering of my ancestors? Because your system is currently arranged to make ME suffer for YOUR kids.

The congressionally mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment, released Nov. 23 by the White House, projects that climate change will cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars a year by 2090. It points to worsening health, reduced farm production, stressed natural areas, lost work and classroom hours, and widespread destruction of coastal and inland property if carbon emissions are not reined in.

Dude, they’re called seasons. Winter rain cost my company two days of reduced productivity just this past week. It was not a disaster. Frankly, a little relief in the workload was welcomed. And I saved ten bucks on a car wash.

Do you know what else causes billions of dollars of lost productivity, stresses natural areas and reduces work & classroom hours? VACATIONS!

Elderly and poor people, children and minority communities are the most vulnerable, said the report, which was developed by more than 200 scientists and environmental experts from the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments, national laboratories, universities, research institutions and the private sector.

If we eliminate the old… and young… and every minority… then we get… middle-aged white men, who by decree of the chilamony courts are never poor. Were 200 experts from a continent’s worth of governments, national laboratories, universities and research institutions truly needed to reach this conclusion? Don’t lie about the private sector being a willing participant in this. They’re the only people who know that the real causes of lost productivity and resources are… the existence of governments, national laboratories, universities and research institutions.

President Donald Trump dismissed the assessment, saying simply, .No, no, I don’t believe it,. in response to a reporter’s question about the projected economic impact of global warming. He claimed Nov. 26, without citing evidence, the U.S. air and water are “the cleanest we’ve ever been and that’s very important to me..

Trump’s dismissive attitude is a legit example of heroic leadership in Current Year. The bar should not be that low but it is.

Trump.s response falls in line with a series of policy changes during his administration. New regulations and laws in at least 49 areas related to the environment – from vehicle mileage standards to emissions from coal-fired power plants – have been enacted or proposed since 2017, according to Harvard Law School’s Environmental Regulation Rollback Tracker.

They might as well shed that skin suit of “this isn’t about totalitarian redistributionist socialism”. It’s been stinking of rot for a long time.

.Earth.s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities,. the report said. .The impacts of global climate change are already being felt in the United States and are projected to intensify in the future – but the severity of future impacts will depend largely on actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the changes that will occur..

This means that for the good of humanity, either Al “An Inconvenient Truth: I Invented the Internet” Gore will be forced to give up his three private jets and four mansions, or I’ll be forced out of my tiny apartment to live in a van by the river. Note: Al Gore’s 200 friends wrote this.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledged the challenges posed by climate change in a 2001 statement, .Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue Prudence and the Common Good..

The statement noted that climate change .is not about economic theory or political platforms, nor about partisan advantage or interest group pressures,. but rather “about the future of God’s creation and the one human family . about the human stewardship of God’s creation and our responsibility to those who come after us..

Dude, seriously. That rotting skin suit of yours makes my eyes bleed. Throw it out already.

.We are brother and sister to one another. In that context, don’t you sacrifice for the one you love, especially if the one you love is hurting? That means we have to live differently. We have to do a radical shift,. Lasky said. [Father Michael Lasky, a Conventual Franciscan who serves as director of Justice, Peace and Care for Creation Ministry for the order’s Our Lady of Angels Province based in Ellicott City, Maryland.]

Apparently not, Father. Apparently, I sacrifice YOU for the one I love, which might be my pet crested gecko from New Caledonia. Because its homeland is endangered by the unprecedented amount of hot air being released from your hometown’s think tanks on the far side of the planet.

Don’t worry, our trashing your home and job and life will be nothing personal even though you’re an Evil Man for what you’re unknowingly doing to the environment.