Columns, Opinion

TAMOLA: Where’s our Humanity, Y’all?

Working in food service merits its criticisms. The yogurt didn’t contain enough strawberries, the granola didn’t crunch in the desired manner, the yogurt tasted too tart, etc. Since you, yogurt consumer, paid around $5 for this, I’m going to let you sound off. It’s yogurt. Really. I can’t really go home and cry regarding yogurt criticism, as I only have 45 minutes with my therapist every week, and I need time to get to my daddy issues and poor self-image.

Frozen yogurt is not a big deal. This might be an offensive statement to those of you who eat, sweat and breathe the frozen lactose, so I apologize. I’m grateful that the only online feedback medium my job has is Yelp, which I occasionally read at the shop on a slow day. This semester, a professor informed us that if we wanted to bear witness to the true ignorance of this world, we should check out the comment section of any news article.

Well someone give that man a pony, because he really hit the nail on the head. This week, I was scouring Facebook — you know seeing which girl I sat next to in the eighth grade got married this week, liking memes that my mom posted, etc. — when I moseyed on over to the trending section. From stories about Derek Jeter (boyfriend) to Joe Biden, Facebook has all your news bases covered. A story about a woman, Jessica Arrendale, caught my attention.

Arrendale died last week after the father of her child shot her in the head. Different news outlets are reporting that this man was her husband; others are saying he was her ex-boyfriend. I don’t really think that detail matters.

As she bled to death, she managed to place her 6-month-old child in the toilet bowl to protect her.

So how did I go from yogurt to this, and what the hell am I trying to say? Well, in the comments section, people all around the country decided to chime in to share what they felt could have prevented such a situation.

Jessica Arrendale should have known better than to stay with a man who abused her.

I don’t think she really needs criticism for her choices…considering the fact that she was horrifically murdered and is now you know, dead.

But what do I know? Maybe she could benefit from you blaming her for being in a relationship with someone who exhibited abuse. Please, keep your insightful and groundbreaking anecdotes coming.

Let’s not focus on the fact that she saved an infant, but that she essentially brought her viscous attack on herself. Great. Splendid. Wonderful.

Maybe we should all have to take an IQ test to use the Internet.

This reminded me of how I felt regarding people’s reactions to the assault of Christy Mack.

Christy Mack works in the adult entertainment industry. SO AUTOMATICALLY, YOU ARE BETTER THAN HER. Thank you for letting me know, America.

Mack’s ex-boyfriend, a Mixed Martial Arts fighter known as “War Machine” (born as Jonathan Koppenhaver), reportedly beat Mack unconscious. According to the Huffington Post, her injuries included 10 broken bones, a broken nose, broken teeth, a fractured rib and a ruptured liver as a result of multiple kicks to her lower body.

She’s clearly a lowly creature and a whore, and she deserves whatever happens to her, right?

“She is a typical porn skank.”

I’m sorry, random TMZ user, could you please enlighten me on what being a ‘typical porn skank’ entails? Do all actors in the adult entertainment industry literally get their teeth beaten out of their skulls, or is that something one is allowed to negotiate in his or her contract? You seem to have a lot of knowledge regarding the subject, so if you could email me and let me know, I’d feel a lot more informed. Thanks so much.

That’s another thing: If I read one more godforsaken article which began with “PORN STAR Christy Mack beaten,” I figured I’d just take a year long break from the Internet. I’m sorry, but who cares that she works in porn? Why is that the FIRST detail we must know in regards to knowing this story? This just encourages people to make ridiculous comments. Feelings of superiority are pungent. You are not better than someone who works in the adult film industry just because you do not work in the adult film industry. Life does not work like that.

The scholarly comments just kept on coming.

“This guy f—– his life for this piece of trash.”

Oh yes, let us all shed tears for poor War Machine. He is the true victim here! He didn’t even get to “finish the job,” as he has been reported stating the night of the incident. GOD, I hope he’s okay! Maybe we should send him a fruit basket.

Dear God people. Don’t you realize the magnitude of your statements? Picture the most vulnerable person you love the most in your life. Now imagine him or her being labeled, judged and derided in the way we have labeled, judged and derided others. For me, that doesn’t feel too good.

I’m not perfect. I have criticized people unfairly. I’m human. But damn y’all, where are all of our souls at? Sometimes I think we all need to revert to the third grade and think before we speak (or comment). It doesn’t really matter what I think you might be thinking.

Anything I say will probably be judged, and if I get really lucky, I’ll be called a stupid bitch in the same breath as well.

Lovely.

2 Comments

  1. “So how did I go from yogurt to this, and what the hell am I trying to say?”

    …if you have to actually ask this – 6 paragraphs down, no less – then you are not saying anything at all.

    Comments sections are dumb. But a writer needs to be able to take criticism.

    And needs to be able to say something worth while in a concise way (not by leaning into it through your yogurt stories).

  2. Call me crazy, but this column seems like it was inspired more by the comments that were made on your last column than any of the examples that you used here. A little passive aggressive, no?

    I appreciate your attempts at making this more newsworthy.. but if you can’t write a column without mentioning frozen yogurt once… then this is going to be a long semester.

    Seems like we’re reading the same column every week to be honest.
    And, actually, did you even answer your own question, “What does this have to do with yogurt?” because I can’t seem to find the answer.
    I think you said it best when you said, “What the hell am I talking about?”