Yes, it is very funny and, no, it is not real. It’s actually a parody of Miss America contestants mouthing off whether or not evolution should be taught in schools (which is also funny).

Miss Idaho is my favourite. Or maybe Miss Arkansas is. I can’t decide.

Political correctness gone mad.

A pre-school in Sweden has decided to stop calling children ‘him’ or ‘her’ in a bid to stop them falling into gender stereotypes. The Egalia preschool, in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, has made the decision as part of the country efforts to engineer equality between the sexes from childhood. As well as the decision to stop using the words, the taxpayer-funded school also carefully plans the colour and placement of toys and the choice of books to assure they do not fall into stereotypes. [via]

What, exactly, is a “gender stereotype”? And why is having a penis or vagina (or both, if you’re from Pedi) demonised? I get it; “rugby is a boy’s sport” is a gender stereotype because girls are also able to play rugby. But it’s not difficult to figure out why the said stereotype persists.

The school opened last year and is on a mission to break down gender roles – a core mission in the national curriculum for Swedish preschools.

Break down gender roles? Why? Well, the school believes that “society gives boys an unfair edge”. Therefore, the best way to resolve that is by pretending that boys don’t exist. Obviously.

Meanwhile, nearly all the children’s books deal with homosexual couples, single parents or adopted children. There are no ‘Snow White,’ ‘Cinderella’ or other fairy tales. ‘Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing,’ says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher.

Yes, because we definitely don’t want our girls to be girlie and pretty; we want them to be muscular trolls that play rugby.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating the differences between masculinity and femininity. There is, however, plenty wrong with sweeping them under the carpet, particularly to the point where words are banned and education becomes misguided and confusing. There is a reason why Snow White and Cinderella exist; they’re childhood fantasies. For example, no mother dreams of becoming a divorcee living in a downscaled apartment after losing the house to her adulterous husband.

In the animal kingdom, most males and females attract one another through their differences; continuation of the various species would cease otherwise.

This Swedish school is perpetuating ignorance rather than knowledge. And so are the parents who send their kids there.

An Australian news anchor recently interviewed the Dalai Lama and decided to tell him the “Dalai Lama orders a one-with-everything pizza” joke.

Unfortunately, it bombed.

There’s a lesson in here, somewhere.

And thus, seagull-cam is born.

I’ll bet that the seagull also uploaded the video to YouTube. But he’ll probably deny it.

Because he’s not replying to my emails.