Shit that Pisses Me Off
- Publisher
- Magenta
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2011
- Category
- General, General, Feminism & Feminist Theory
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781926891309
- Publish Date
- Oct 2011
- List Price
- $1.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Challenging thoughts about everyday things: casual day at the office, calling people Ms. and Mr., parenting without a license, flying a national flag, women's fiction, drugs and sports, profit and loss, marriage, the weather report, hockey brawls, jury duty ...
Philosophy with attitude.
Because the unexamined life is dangerous.
Note: All of the pieces in the Shit that Pisses Me Off series (4 volumes) have been anthologized in either Sexist Shit that Pisses Me Off (2nd edn) or Just … Think about It! (2nd edn), along with almost a hundred additional pieces (in each case), and both are available in eformat and paperback.
"I find Peg Tittle to be a passionate, stylistically-engaging writer with a sharp eye for the hypocritical aspects of our society." George, Amazon
"Peg raises provocative questions: should people need some kind of license to have children? Should the court system use professional jurors? Many of her essays address the imbalance of power between men and women; some tackle business, sports, war, and the weather. She even explains why you're not likely to see Peg Tittle at Canada's version of an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. It's all thought-provoking, and whether or not you'll end up agreeing with her conclusions, her essays make for fascinating reading." Erin O'Riordan
" … thought-provoking, and at times, hilarious. I particularly loved 'Bambi's cousin is going to tear you apart.' Definitely worth a read!" Nichole, Goodreads
" … a pissed off kindred spirit who writes radioactive prose with a hint of sardonic wit …. Peg sets her sights on a subject with laser sharp accuracy then hurls words like missiles in her collection of 25 cogent essays on the foibles and hypocrisies of life …. Whether you agree or disagree with Peg’s position on the issues, Shit that Pisses Me Off will stick to your brain long after you’ve ingested every word—no thought evacuations here. Her writing is adept and titillating … her razor sharp words will slice and dice the cerebral jugular. If you enjoy reading smart, witty essays that challenge the intellect, download a copy …. " Laura Salkin, thinkspin.com
"Not very long, but a really good read. The author is intelligent, and points out some great inconsistencies in common thinking and action …. may have been channeling some George Carlin in a few areas." Briana Blair, Goodreads
"What she said!!! Pisses me off also! Funny, enjoyable and so right on!!!! Highly recommended." Vic, indigo.ca
"Tittle’s pieces are atypical of philosophical writing in the best ways: of interested to non-specialists yet instructive, profound yet entertaining. Tittle has a pitch perfect sense of presenting difficult concepts understandably while avoiding condescension; she can challenge readers without overwhelming them and all the while respecting their intelligence. She also proves that good thinkers need not be wishy-washy and unable to offer solutions—a common and often warranted indictment of philosophers. In a culture in which public discourse too often reduces to hollering and sloganeering, Tittle’s work is a model of intellectual civility. She makes her views clear while demonstrating a voice of reason and integrity, not one of shrillness and volume." Ron Cooper, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, College of Central Florida
About the author
Peg Tittle, feminist, writer, philosopher, is the author of What If...Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy (2004) and Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason (2011). She is also the editor of Should Parents be Licensed? Debating the Issues (2004). Her articles and essays have been published in a number of North American magazines and journals and she has been a columnist for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, The Philosophers' Magazine, and Philosophy Now. She is also the author of six screenplays. What Happened to Tom? is her first novel. She lives in Sundridge, Ontario.
Excerpt: Shit that Pisses Me Off (by (author) Peg Tittle)
You Oughtta Need a Licence for That
We have successfully cloned a sheep; it’s not unreasonable, then, to believe we may soon be able to create human life. Despite Frankenstein visions of a brave new world, I'm sure we'll develop carefully considered policies and procedures to regulate the activity.
For example, I doubt we'll allow someone to create his own private workforce or his own little army.
And I suspect we'll prohibit cloning oneself for mere ego gratification.
Doing it just because it's fun will certainly be illegal. And I expect it won't even be imaginable to do it 'without really thinking about it', let alone 'by accident'.
I suspect we'll enforce some sort of quality control, such that cloned human beings shall not exist in pain or be severely 'compromised' with respect to basic biological or biochemical functioning.
And I suspect one will have to apply for a license and satisfy rigorous screening standards. I assume this will include the submission, and approval, of a detailed plan regarding responsibility for the cloned human being; surely we won't allow a scientist to create it and then just leave it on the lab's doorstep one night when he leaves.
Thing is, we can already create human life. Kids and addicts do it every day.
And though we've talked ourselves silly and tied ourselves in knots about ending life—active, passive, voluntary, coerced, premeditated, accidental, negligent—we’ve been horrendously silent, irresponsibly laissez-faire, about beginning life.
We wouldn’t accept such wanton creation of life if it happened in the lab. Why do we condone it when it happens in bedrooms and backseats?
It should be illegal to create life, to have kids, in order to have another pair of hands at work in the field or to have someone to look after you in your old age.
It should be illegal to create a John Doe Junior to carry on the family name/business.
It should be illegal to have kids because, well, it just sort of happened, you didn't really think about it.
And it isn't possible to create life 'by accident'—men don't accidentally ejaculate into vaginas and women don't accidentally catch ejaculate with their vaginas. (As for failed contraception, there's follow-up contraception.)
And it should be illegal to knowingly create a life that will be spent in pain and/or that will be severely substandard.
As for the screening process, we already do that for adoptive/foster parents. Why do we cling to the irrational belief that biological parents are necessarily competent parents—in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary? We have, without justification, a double standard.
Oh but we can't interfere with people's right to reproduce! Right to reproduce? Merely having a capability doesn’t entail the right to exercise that capability. (Re)Production, with its attendant responsibilities, should be a privilege, not a right.
And yes of course, this proposal, this argument for parenting licenses, opens the door for all sorts of abuses. For starters, who will design and administer the screening process? But look around: it's not as if the current situation is abuse-free. In fact, millions of the little human lives we've created so carelessly are being starved, beaten, or otherwise traumatized. Millions.
To be succinct: the destruction of life is subject to moral and legal examination; so too should be the creation of life, whenever and however it occurs.