What's your excuse?

Sorry I'm Not Sorry

When I posted the above image on Facebook, I was just trying to say that I am extremely well-educated. I'm naturally smart, but I also make education a priority. I'm sorry you responded to the image by reflecting on your own failings. I won't go into details about how things were hard for me too -- how I struggled with science classes and worked 35 hours a week while taking a full course load at school, too. I won't even mention how it took ten years for me to get the three degrees I have, and how I got both my teaching credential and my Masters while working full time as a teacher.

What I will say is this: it's not my responsibility if you're too dumb and lazy to get an education. If you're jealous of me and my high levels of attainment, you can work to improve yourself and alleviate those feelings of inferiority. Stop being inferior to me and you won't feel inferior anymore.
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Update

Wow, what a whirlwind! It seems like people really hate me over this. Many people are saying that I must be naturally gifted, or have circumstances that allow me to advance my education in ways that others don't. Of course it would be silly to say that everyone should be exactly like me! Not everyone is born with the intelligence I was gifted with. People are different! I just wanted to inspire people to be as good as me. With hard work, anyone can attain high levels of education, and that's something you should strive for. If that makes you feel bad about yourself, that's not my fault. I am the product of discipline, dedication, and desire. I just wanted to inspire you to start on your own educational path. I feel so misunderstood. I'm an inspiration!
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New Blog Post, Y'all!

This morning I saw in my news feed a bunch of posts and news items about people who had dropped out of school for a life path they found more fulfilling. I can't believe that in America in 2013, we would be celebrating people who choose to be dumb! They were saying that school wasn't for them, and they were proud of it and loved themselves anyway! I know getting an education is hard, but I can tell you -- it is worth it. I just think we are breeding a strange mentality when we celebrate people who choose not to be smart. Smart and well-educated go hand-in-hand, and there's really no way these people can be smart while choosing not to get their education. It's really shameful, and they should be ashamed of themselves. And we should all be ashamed for giving them a platform to celebrate their stupidity. Shame is really the message to take away from this.
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I'm Banned from Facebook. 

So, apparently some people thought that last blog post was too critical of dummies and I was reported on Facebook for it, so they took the post down. But I made sure to include it here because, hateful or not, I think everyone deserves to hear my thoughts on the subject! Again, if you feel bad about yourself for being really, really dumb, that's not my fault, but yours. But some people took my words to mean that you shouldn't love yourself if you're dumb, or that you should be ashamed of yourself. I didn't mean that. I meant, you shouldn't love yourself and you should be ashamed of yourself until you strive to get smarter. And then, when you are smart like me, you can love and accept yourself as you are. I have a passion for intelligence and education (and, can I make this point often enough? I believe the two are interchangeable and inextricably linked), and I just think everyone should value the same things I do. In fact, I don't really understand that there are other things out there that people value. So, sorry-not-sorry for ruffling some feathers out there, but I have to stand up for what I am passionate about!


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If it was unclear, the above was satire. And though I hate to drive even more traffic to this gal's page, here's the link if you're so inclined.

Maria Kang been making the news a lot (like, a LOT a lot) lately for her views about obesity. And obesity is a problem. But poor health and fat aren't as closely related as she makes it seem -- I know plenty of people who have a high BMI and are very fit athletes, and of course there are the people in terrible health who are slender. And she says we should celebrate people who are a result of discipline and hard work. But that's sad to me -- that she believes the only kind of discipline is the kind that results in physical fitness. People have other priorities, and can and should be celebrated for the successes they have in other areas. Nevertheless, even though I disagree with Ms. Kang on many things, I was going to decline to comment on it. But the rant that was removed from Facebook was egregious. It was aimed at a group of women who were celebrating and loving themselves, and who had put themselves out there, quite bravely, only to be lambasted by the likes of Kang, who finds their bodies unappealing. Kang is a fitness model, and she sells fitness and diet-related products for a living. I'm happy for her that she looks as great as she does. But the bottom line is that the women in the Curvy Girl campaign announced, "I am beautiful and I am deserving of love," and Kang replied, in effect, "No." That's some bullshit right there.


It's good to eat right. It's good to be healthy. I wish I wasn't so fat. And I agree with Kang that it's important to work towards improvement goals (not only physical ones, but including those). But my question for you, today, is "What's your excuse… for not loving yourself as you are?"

P.S. I don't think the smart/well-educated and thin/healthy analogy here is a perfect parallel (for example, I don't think people who are fat have "dropped out" of trying to be, you know what I'm saying?), but I do think that the idea that linking fat to unhealthiness in every instance is fallacious, and I think Kang's statement that you can tell if someone is unhealthy "just by looking at them" is both insulting and weird.