Giraffes and Barbie, I Just Don't Get It

Giraffe (Photo credit: Thomas Rousing)

I will admit I don't keep up with a lot of current events. I get a dose of the Today show a few days a week as the family I work for always has it on when I come in, but that's about it. I guess this makes me uninformed on a lot of things, but frankly I find most news depressing. I sit there and shake my head at the world we live in. At the same time it does leave me counting my blessings.

Tonight insomnia has struck so I was on Facebook and ended up reading a few news articles and watching a few videos. AS usual there is some seriously sad and messed up stuff going on out there. A woman Craigslist killer, that poor giraffe in the Danish zoo, drugs, homelessness, poverty... I could go on and on. But do you know what I saw the most fuss over? Barbie. Yep, you read that correctly. Barbie on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 50th Anniversary Swimsuit issue. It seems that the doll sexualizes and objectifies women by being on the magazine cover. Hasn't there been a debate over Barbie and the self image she promotes since the beginning of time? It sends the wrong signal to little girls they say. Really, because it's Barbie in a swimsuit. I suppose what has me just shaking my head while I write this is that if it was a supermodel on the cover being "sexualized" it wouldn't cause this sort of stir because models wear swimsuits in this magazine. I'm not here to debate Barbie, supermodels, swimsuits, body image, or the sexualization of women or dolls in the media. My point is, that's what's got people talking? Barbie?

Children starving across the globe, that upsets me. Homeless people shivering in the streets. Hard working people not being able to get healthcare. Car bombs. Terrorist attacks. Our troops not getting paid enough. Child abuse. Rape. Animal abuse. I could go on and on. The Danish giraffe had me a lot more riled up than Barbie. Does that make me not part of the in crowd?