Remind me to carefully vet car rental agencies next time I’m in Australia. Apparently, they let 12 year olds run the companies there.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Remind me to carefully vet car rental agencies next time I’m in Australia. Apparently, they let 12 year olds run the companies there.
Sometimes I encounter something racist/misogynist/homophobic, and I am more offended by how stupid and tacky it is than by the sentiment expressed. I think this may be one of those times, although it’s a bit neck-and-neck.
Jesus. I really wouldn’t want to run into anyone who rented one of those things.
The fact that a company can even marginally stay in business doing this makes me very sad.
Jamessweet:
Gee, think that might have something to do with your privilege? Because, you know, you don’t have to live with such sentiments being directed toward you every day of your life? Must be nice.
What color is the sky in Boy Privilege Land?
PZ, if I were a 12-year-old, I think I’d be offended at being thought of as being in charge of such a company… Anyway, I’ve brought this to the notice of @JointDestroyer, who is capable of wielding considerable pressure. Thanks for putting a spotlight on this sexist crap.
@jamessweet
Yeah, I saw the sandwich/erection one and I was like “O.o That doesn’t make any fucking sense. I’m sure it’s really insulting and horrible, but right now, it just doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
Interesting that they use a definitely copyrighted character in the form of Pinky, i can’t imagine they have permission to do so, wonder if warner brothers would be interested in seeing the story.
It’s ok, everyone, false alarm. One commenter says his wife says to chill out, she’s cool with it.
Proof that marketing can be overtly ideological, I guess. Other than that, what a crappy company.
If I were a twelve year old running that company, I’d be terrified that my mother would see those vans.
Saw a lot of those & similar in New Zealand a few years back – tiny camper vans, typically rented to European gap year travellers getting their first taste of the real world…Just A Bit Of Fun (TM) before life gets serious *rolls eyes*
I remember telling PZ after his last trip to Melbourne that ‘starya is a country overflowing with pompus, racist, misogynist assholes….
It was something he didn’t really want to hear because he thought that visiting 1 city was representative of the entire country.
Melbourne is awesome…, egalitarian, cosmopolitan and not very racist at all…. but the other 95% of the country is… it really is.
I’m offended. As someone with the sense of humor of a 12 year old, I didn’t find any of that remotely funny. It was just stupid and insulting.
What a bunch of stupid assholes. “Hey, you know what would get more guys to rent our vans?! If we paint boobs on them! It would be so funny and dudes would love it!” Yea. Not so much.
There’s being edgy and all. There can be a larger point behind something like that, even a good point if the idea is to mock the underlying stupidity. And there’s this, which is just pointlessly offensive for the sake of being pointlessly offensive.
I’m sure they’ll issue a not-apology soon.
It’s funny how the ones who claim to love boobs the most have no concept of what they actually look like.
This comes across as the misogynistic equivalent of that shooting range that had Trayvon Martin targets. I’m surprised they have any market beyond fringe idiots.
And then I remembered that the world is crawling with fringe idiots.
Although it would be kind of funny if you expected a silver Ford Fusion.
Truely an exercise in combining the tasteless with the tactless and insulting.
Yeah, I love me a good poop or fart joke, but that? That’s just… you know, I can’t even come up with a word to describe my revulsion adequately.
In ’06 I saw these for the first time while road-tripping around New Zealand, but they were all quite innocuous – comic/pop culture characters or the occasional Psalm. Leaving aside the adolescent street-art style they were quite the novelty. This latest development, however, leads me to believe the Wicked management was inordinately concerned about attracting the douche-dollar.
Not that I would’ve hired one of these anyway (I mean, come on, “edgy” is all well and good but I know street artists that can piss better quality pieces in their drunken sleep) but their dedication to attracting wankers, ferals and bogans makes me think I’d probably take my chances hitching, were these the only transport option available to me.
paulpaulus, don’t be in denial about Melbourne. Seriously, it’s not specific locations, although country is often worse than city. We have a serious racism problem everywhere.
I find it interesting that noone has commented on the misandry of the statement on the first of those vans:”Men have two emotions – hungry and horny…”. I am a man, and I have other emotions. Besides I know that those two are not really emotions.
thedude:
Its hardly misandry if it was written by some men for the amusement of some other men. Shallow and stupid, for sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misandry
Misandry is a ridiculous word that amounts to petitio principii, implying the existence of a non-existent insitutional phenomenon.
The statement is objectively degrading to men, and remains so even if it was written for some men’s amusement. It is reasonable for a man to be offended by it, even though it is not misandry.
Nevertheless, thedude, you are derailing. If you wanted to acknowledge the overwhelmingly greater harm that these messages do to women, and then mention the relatively minor offense to men, that would be understandable. But don’t ignore the vastly larger problem like you just did. No, it’s not very “interesting” that other people have their priorities in order.
You wouldn’t know of a commenter called Porco Dio by any chance? Though he was convinced all of Australia was beyond hope. Melbourne may be better than some other parts of the country, but no one should be under any illusion that racism festers here just as badly as elsewhere.
So there is no such thing as internalized misandry? Does that mean that internalized misogyny doesn’t exist either?
My last message was a reply to Lofty. The comment system on this site doesn’t seem to work like I’m used to from other sites.
The term you want, thedude, is toxic masculinity.
No, Xanthë, that is not the term I want. I know that term, and I don’t like it, because it is not masculinity, it’s stupidity. Frankly the term sounds like it comes from the Valerie Solanas school of feminism.