Haterade

Two Things

Number one:


I am a big fan of the HGTV show If Walls Could Talk because I am a history dork and an architecture dork. If you've never heard of this show, they basically examine historical homes and the homeowners' historical finds. There is a grody capitalist part where they get an appraiser in to tell them how much their silver doorknobs are worth, but most of the show is about examining the history of the place. Who lived there. What was interesting about them. I love the way the show takes big events like Prohibition and explores how they touched individuals. The speakeasy shows are my favorite. Imagine that your house was a speakeasy in the 1920s? How much cooler is that than owning a condo built in the 80s?

I find it kind of odd when people restore homes down to the decor and furniture. It is kinda weird to live in a museum of 1735, but many of them talk about their homes like they are important links to the past, which is nice. Some of them even consider themselves "stewards" of the homes, rather than just homeowners. The implication being their own needs and desires are not as important as the public good the home will provide.

My problem, or my "thing" with HGTV's presentation of these homes is that sometimes they seem to gloss over or leave out important little facts. Like for instance, SLAVERY. Many of the restored historic homes are in the South and many of them are former plantations. At least three times, I remember seeing episodes where family members bought back their old family plantations and restored them. And you know what? Not one of those shows mentioned slavery. One went so far as to associate the original homeowner with Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. A cotton plantation and no mention of slaves? Clearly the families were quite prominent. They go to great lengths to show how interesting or sweet these people were. Not a peep about slavery. I call bullshit on that. Sorry HGTV, nice try, but you aren't doing history. You suck at it, actually.

Second Thing:

I saw an Asian American woman in an SUV today on my way home. The back of her SUV had a sticker that said "McCain Palin 08."

And then my head exploded.

Now, Asian American women can be conservative politically, and many are. I know there are organizations like Asian Americans for McCain. I guess I'm not offended that she was Republican. But McCain!? He used "gook" in a sentence. And that sentence was "I hated the gooks." And he followed that sentence with, "I will hate them as long as I live."

I'm starting to get freaked out. Two weeks left.

Anyway, this is a good opportunity to direct you to another awesome blog:
Angry Asian Man