Let’s End Short Man Syndrome Now!

Some womens worst nightmare is to put on their heels to go out with their man and look like this couple

The last time I went to a club this guy who couldn’t have been taller than 4′10″ walked over to me and told me how beautiful I was. My initial reaction was “why is this miniature man talking to me.” Then I gathered myself and remembered that this guy couldn’t help how tall he was and therefore did not deserve anything short of the same polite response a taller guy would have gotten. I realized at that moment that deep down my natural reaction to shorter men is the same as those of women who are taller than me who think it’s perfectly acceptable to ridicule a man just for being under 5′ 8″ tall. This came as a surprise to me since I actually like, dare I say prefer, short men. At 5′ tall I barely clear the midget* threshold myself so what would I look like descriminating against my short brethren.  Besides what would I do with an extra foot and a half of man.

Maybe women are conditioned by nature to seek out taller men (protectors) just like men might be conditioned to look for women with bigger boobs (child nurturers). I don’t know, but for some reason women tend to think it’s a violation of the natural order of things to date a guy who is shorter than they are. This works out well for tall men, but the shorter a man is, the shorter his end of the stick is in this arrangement.  I think this arrangement is the cause of the chip that seems to be on the shoulders of men shorter than 5′6″ tall. This chip is also known as Short Man Syndrome or  Napoleon Complex.

 Short Man Complex is such an unfortunate reality for women like me who prefer the asthetics of a shorter man  because underneath their short cuteness lies a multitude of scars inflicted by the women who have ridiculed them all their lives. Many of them have spent their entire lives either trying to overcompensate for their height or wallowing in a feeling of inadequacy. So I’m writing this blog entry as a request to women of all heights to show a little love to a short man today. I’m also asking that from this day forth we all agree to refrain from saying things to short men like the following:

“This ride requires that you be 6′ tall to get on”

“”When you grow another foot give me a call”

“Aww aren’t you cute!” (while patting them on the head)

 Don’t do it for yoursef. Do it for the woman who will one day embrace this short man and have to deal with all the  short man issues that you helped to create. If women can just agree to come together and create a united front, we can end short man syndrome now.

But on the other hand if it weren’t for short man syndrome maybe we wouldn’t have a lot of the wonderful things that their need to overcompensate have contributed to the world. Would Katt Williams(5′4″) be the funny elf** of a man that he is if he were more than 3 apples high? Maybe, but I don’t think he could pull off the perm as well as a taller man. Would Prince (5′3″) be able to find purple high heeled boots in his size to entertain us in if he were taller? Short man syndrome might be at the root of the works of Picasso (5′4″), Martin Luther King (5′7″), even Ghandi (5′3″). At any rate, just because there may be a silver lining on short man syndrome there’s still no excuse for the mistreatment that short men have had to endure over the years. So I repeat. Ladies please show some love to a short man today.

 

 

* I know that the politically correct term is little person. But the term little person is so non-descript. Since I’m writing about little people who don’t actually qualify as “little people” I went with the less acceptable term midget. Please don’t send me hatemail about my insensitivity. This blog entry is all about love for vertically challenged people! Incidentally as I wrote this post I watched the new show on TLC “The Little Couple.” They’re so cute! 

** When I call Katt Williams an elf, I do it  out of love.

The coverage about Sotomayors statement just rubs me the wrong way

Every time I watch television news I get more reasons to hate everything about politics. I can’t for the life of me understand why they are making such a big deal out of the statements made by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor  in some of her past speeches. I even saw an article that said they are actually asking her to apologize for her statements about a wise Latina woman making better decisions than a white man. Why should she have to apologize for that???? Maybe a wise Latina woman would have a different perspective on certain issues than a white male that could lead her to make better decisions. Sometimes she might make better decisions sometimes she might not . Who cares? You can’t prove a statement like that anyway. I don’t care if she said it 20 times and meant it every time. A statement like that doesn’t make her racist. Prosecuting someone just because they’re white would be racist (and I’m using the definition of racist loosely here since it’s questionable whether a minority can even be racist). People of all races over use the term racist anyway. The same word can’t be used to describe people who hung people from trees just because they were black as the one used to describe someone who just spoke their mind. If ”she’s a racist” is best they can come up with as an argument for why she shouldn’t be appointed because she made that statement, they really need to get grip on life.

Maybe all this forced political correctness is just rubbing me the wrong way. What’s the point of free speech when every statement you make will be disected and held against you even when no one gets hurt by your words. My theory is the reason they’re making such a big deal out of is is the fact that a white man couldn’t make a similar statement about another race and keep his job. If my theory is correct I say tough cookies. That’s one of the residual effects of this countries racist past. Black people have had to live with far worse residual effects of slavery since the day slavery ended. So white men can’t openly express their thoughts about people of other races. Someone cue the violins.  When the residual effects of slavery were being passed out, white men got off pretty easy.  Count your blessings and be glad karma hasn’t swung around and made you pay for your ancestors actions.

 There’s a chance that it’s not just politics that’s the problem here. I would imagine that television news is at least partly to blame for my disgust about this topic. They always pick the most divisive issue and create a whole sense of drama around it. I hope that the people who are actually making decisions about this nomination (or any other important issue) aren’t as shallow as the news channels. Maybe I’m just overdue for my periodic break from all 24 hour news.

In the name of religion

I try to keep religious debates off the pages of my blog due in part to my own mixed feelings about the subject that I would rather not discuss or debate publicly. But the recent murder of abortion doctor George Tiller and the coverage of this incident really got me thinking about some of the heinous acts that get carried out in the name of religion. It absolutely baffles me the types of acts people will justify under a belief that they are doing what God would want them to do. The absurdity of this type of thinking and the sheer danger of these types of acts is incredible. I wouldn’t call myself a religious scholar but I was brought up in (and continute to attend) church and based on my understanding of God I strongly doubt that God is behind any of these extremist acts. By strongly doubt I mean I feel like the people who carry out these acts are misguided at best, but could most accurately be described as overzealous sociopaths.  

People have been hesitant to use the term terrorist to describe the groups that advocate violence against abortion doctors, but I fail to see the difference between the acts that they advocate and the acts carried out by the 9-11 terrorists. The 9-11 terrorists believed that they were carrying out the will of God by killing people that they felt supported views they found morally reprehensible. Anti-abortion extremists justify violence because they feel as though the are killing people who commit acts that they feel are morally reprehensible. Looks to me like the only difference is the scale of the acts. Is terrorism okay if it’s in the name of a cause you believe in?

How one can advocate life and murder in the same sentence is a mystery to me. I guess the same way people can be pro-life and pro-war or pro-gun in the same sentence.

It might be safe to say that religion, or the misinterpretation and misapplication thereof, has been at the root of more murders than any other source in the history of mankind. Then again that might not be the safest thing to say since some people will justify any action in the name of their religious beliefs. So let me be clear that I was not making those statements to condemn religion. As a side note I personally don’t think God himself even likes religion. But the religion versus relationship with God debate is a blog for another day on another persons blog. <end side note> I will, however, openly condemn overzealousness in any arena, including religion.  I most strongly condemn overzealousness when it results in heinous acts committed in the name of God. If you’re going to commit evil acts don’t blame your dirty misguided acts on God. That’s the biggest cop out on the planet since I have yet to see anyone successfully bring God into the courtroom to defend himself.