Jan. 7, 2024 Gaps in knowledge: I have thought about things when I saw as a teen. I see how I know some things, but not the whole thing.
When you get older and learn more, you can see the gaps.
The difference between ignorance and stupidity: I saw an episode of Jenny Jones when I was in jr. high school. This was the out-of-control teenage girls who wear tight and revealing clothes and say things like: "When I grow up, I want want to be a stripper."
They go to boot camp.
Boot camp captain: Do you know what the difference between ignorance and stupidity is?
Ignorance is you don't know better.
Stupidity is you do know better, but you do it anyway.
Mar. 17, 2024 Post Secret:
Classic secrets:
Does this scare you how dumb people are?
Jun. 2, 2017 Justin Berry: I was thinking about him on Oprah and he talked about taking off his clothes and doing doing sexual things on webcam for money.
This episode aired in 2006. I was talking about this with my friend Angela and we're 20 yrs old.
Angela: Are people really this dumb? By the time you're at that age (13) don't you kind of know what was right and wrong by then? I think he knew what he was doing was kind of wrong, so I don't see him as 100% victim.
Gaps of knowledge: none.
Ignorance or stupidity?: none.
Justin wanted to make it seem like he was ignorant, and he didn't know that taking off your clothes and doing sexual things on webcam for money is kind of wrong. Or at the very least, not a good thing to do.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: No, because Justin knows that taking off your clothes and doing sexual things on webcam for money is bad.
Well here's an example about a dumb thing a teen did on the internet. I wrote about this before:
This is from my Jun. 2016 blog post:
Apr. 10, 2016 "When online friends aren't who they seem": I read this article in Seventeen magazine Apr. 2006 issue at the library. This is from a long time ago, but I totally remember the story. I'm going to paraphrase it here:
"When online friends aren't who they seem"/ charities
Apr. 10, 2016 "When online friends aren't who they seem": I read this article in Seventeen magazine Apr. 2006 issue at the library. This is from a long time ago, but I totally remember the story. I'm going to paraphrase it here:
Steph is often talking to people online. If a guy hits on her, she blocks him. After awhile, she got 300 guys blocked. Then later she talked to a guy online and then she felt this connection. She invited him to her house to watch TV. He came and she thought he was cute. They watched TV and then started making out and had sex. From what it seemed, it came off as consensual.
The next day, he did come over again and they had sex. She introduced him to her little sister and he seemed to want to have sex with the sister too.
Then she got pregnant and told her mom.
That's all I remember. I don't know what happened to the baby.
I have the Jun. 2006 issue and Lo, 19 yrs old from Orange, California wrote a letter commenting on it. The letter:
"What did Steph expect, inviting someone she barely knew to her house? And the number one consequence for sleeping with someone without protection is pregnancy- she's lucky she didn't get a disease too. I'm disappointed and glad that you printed this story. It showed girls what not to do: Don't invite the creep over, don't introduce him to your family, and- oh yeah- don't sleep with him!"
My Jun. 2, 2017 opinion: When I read the story, I thought it was really dumb.
So you'll block guys that hit on you on the internet, but you will invite a stranger over to your house?
The rules are this since I was growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s. I read this in teen magazines and in computer class.
Don't tell anyone in a chatroom:
Your name
Your address
Your phone number
What school you go to
If you want to meet someone from the internet:
Meet in a public place
Bring a friend or friends, or a family member, parent
Apr. 3, 2024:
Gaps of knowledge: Steph had a huge gap in knowledge and logic.
Ignorance or stupidity?: I would say stupid. This was a big lapse in judgement. I did ask the question:
So you'll block guys that hit on you on the internet, but you will invite a stranger over to your house?
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Yeah, I'm scared that Steph gave out her address to a stranger and had sex with him.
Mar. 1, 2025 The girl who's in a religion that doesn't allow her to talk to boys: Erin wants to know who it is. I don't know Erin very well, so I don't know what was going through her mind.
This was in gr. 9 health class:
Erin: Can you tell me what her exact grade is? I promise I won't tell anyone.
Miss. Johnston: No, so you can tell everybody that there is this girl in this grade who's in a religion that doesn't allow her to talk to boys? No.
Gaps of knowledge: Erin had a gap in thinking she was going to get to know this out of any student in this class or school.
Ignorance or stupidity?: I would say stupid. I think Erin knows or predicts that Miss. Johnston wasn't going to tell her, but she asked anyway.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: No.
This is from my Dec. 2021 blog post:
grey issues (Part 1)/ Justin Berry/ intervention/ abortions
Jan. 29, 2019 Gr. 7 eating disorder flashback: I wrote about this before, but I will write about it again.
It was at lunchtime.
Ashley goes to throw out something. Angela then tells me, Leslie, Heidi, and Spyrola.
Angela: Whenever she thinks she ate too much, she throws it up so she won't get fat.
We all say "That's bad."
Ashley comes back.
Angela: I just told them that after you think you ate too much, you throw it up so you won't get fat, and all 4 of them say that's bad.
Ashley: I've only done it like 5 times.
I thought Ashley was going to yell at Angela: "Why did you tell them that? This is personal and private."
You guys are either:
"That's good that Angela told 4 peers that. She wants to help Ashley and show her that 4 peers thinks this action is bad, so stop doing it."
"That's bad that Angela told 4 peers that personal and private information. I won't be telling Angela anything personal and private."
"Angela should be telling Ashley's parents or a teacher about this. They are the ones who have authority and Ashley will listen to them."
It was at lunchtime.
Ashley goes to throw out something. Angela then tells me, Leslie, Heidi, and Spyrola.
Angela: Whenever she thinks she ate too much, she throws it up so she won't get fat.
We all say "That's bad."
Ashley comes back.
Angela: I just told them that after you think you ate too much, you throw it up so you won't get fat, and all 4 of them say that's bad.
Ashley: I've only done it like 5 times.
I thought Ashley was going to yell at Angela: "Why did you tell them that? This is personal and private."
You guys are either:
"That's good that Angela told 4 peers that. She wants to help Ashley and show her that 4 peers thinks this action is bad, so stop doing it."
"That's bad that Angela told 4 peers that personal and private information. I won't be telling Angela anything personal and private."
"Angela should be telling Ashley's parents or a teacher about this. They are the ones who have authority and Ashley will listen to them."
Feb. 22, 2020 Intervention: The correct term that Angela was doing by telling 4 peers about Ashley's problem was intervention.
Too many variables: At the time, it was the end of gr. 7, and Angela didn't really know the 4 of us that well. It wasn't until gr. 8 that she, Leslie, Heidi, and I started getting closer.
It could have gone badly like:
One of us could have sided with Ashley:
Tracy: Yeah, well throwing up after you eat because you're afraid of getting fat is bad and all, but being fat is worse.
One of us could have told other people about Ashley's problem: How did Angela or anyone know that the 4 of us aren't going to tell other classmates about this?
This is from my Aug. 2023 blog post:
grey issues (Part 2)/ how well do you know your friends and family?/ truth and lies
Apr. 3, 2024:
Angela:
Gaps of knowledge: Angela was 12 yrs old and in gr. 7. She was an honors student and continued to be one and graduated out of university. Her personality is the same with being smart, mature, serious and responsible.
She had very good intentions to help Ashley and get her to stop throwing up after she thinks she ate too much. However, the strategy was average at best and mediocre at worst.
There was this gap of knowledge for Angela, because it could have gone badly.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Is Angela ignorant for telling Ashley's secret eating problem?
Is Angela stupid for telling Ashley's secret eating problem?
I would say Angela is smart, but the strategy is mediocre.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: I'm not scared of Angela telling people's personal and private information.
Ashley:
Gaps of knowledge: There is a gap.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Stupid. She knows that eating too much and throwing it up because she's so afraid of getting fat is bad.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Some of you may be worried about Ashley and her eating disorder.
Angela did tell me that Ashley got pregnant as a teenager.
Tracy's experiences:
Angel season 1 ep "Five by Five":
Cut to a bus station at night.
Cut to a Man in his 30s and smoking a cigarette. Faith is in her late teens.
Man: New in town right? You got the new in town look.
He walks with her.
Man: This is a dangerous part of town this time of night for a young lady, you know. A lot of people are trying to take advantage of a situation like that. Especially if you don't have any money, a place to stay, I might be able to help.
Faith: I'm cold.
Man: Oh yeah, warm is my middle name.
He takes off his jacket and she beats him up.
She gets his wallet and keys.
Faith: Now I got money, and a place to stay.
She puts on his jacket.
Faith: I think I'm going to like it here.
@cya2139
2000:
14 yr old Tracy: That's how old I was when I first saw this. I know Faith is a bad guy. When I was watching this, I thought the Man was a bad guy and I predicted Faith is going to beat him up.
I was 50% right that he was a bad guy.
2007:
22 yr old Tracy: I bought the Angel season 1 DVDs at a discount. When I re-watched this, I thought:
"He is not just a bad guy. He is a pimp. Why would a man like that be at a bus station at night and going to a teen girl?"
I wrote about this scene before in 2007 before my blog. I had read a magazine article about a young woman's similar experience at a bus station, until a woman in a volunteer organization came over.
As for the last Youtube comment: when I saw this at 14, 22, and now at 38 yrs old, I don't have any sympathy for the man who got beaten up.
He didn't do anything to her yet. He was a pimp and he was going to get her to be a prostitute.
Gaps of knowledge: There is a gap. 14 yr old Tracy was 50% right that he was a bad guy.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Ignorance. 14 yr old Tracy didn't know he was a pimp.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Some of you may be worried about Tracy not knowing that he was a pimp.
2002:
Buffy season 6 ep "Dead Things": The bad guys Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan accidently kill Warren's ex- girlfriend Katrina. First they hypnotize her and she is under this spell and she is controlled by them.
Warren was going to have sex with her first, and then the others. Katrina then is able to wake up from the spell, and then she tells them that this is rape.
16 yr old Tracy: When I first saw this, I didn't think it was rape.
I guess the magical and supernatural spell kind of distracted me and I didn't know that this is rape.
When Katrina says it is, then I was like: "Yeah, that is."
I also didn't see or feel any drama, conflict, or tension in this scene. If I knew they we're going to do an illegal act or hurt Katrina, I would have seen and felt that.
I didn't know that Katrina was in real and present danger.
Gaps of knowledge: There is a big gap.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Both? I didn't know it was rape. When Katrina said it was, then I knew it was.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Some of you may be worried about Tracy not knowing that this is rape.
Buffy season 6 ep "Seeing Red": When Spike attacks and tries to sexually assault Buffy in this ep. He was on top of her on the floor.
I also did see and feel drama, conflict, and tension in this scene.
16 yr old Tracy: This is sexual assault. Buffy was in real and present danger.
Gaps of knowledge: none.
Ignorance or stupidity?: none.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: No, because Tracy knows this is rape.
This is from my Aug. 2013 blog post:
joke flops/ funny and annoying/ funny wedding video
Sexual harassment: I've mentioned this before. This was the worst joke flops I have ever seen. It was also in gr. 10 and this guy was pretending he was interested in my friend by saying disgusting and sexual things to her for 20 min. He was suffering from delusions of grandeur that he thought was so funny, but no one else was, especially my friend. He also suffered from low level of emotional intelligence because he couldn't see how offended my friend was. It's not until she cried and walked out that he was like: "Oh my God, I totally offended her."
Apr. 3, 2024:
15 yr old Tracy: When he started saying sexual things to her, I already felt disgusted and uncomfortable. I knew if he continued this, my friend was going to cry.
A few minutes into this, I thought: "This is sexual harassment."
I knew this is what he was thinking: "This is funny and stupid. I'm playing and pretending. This is fake. She knows this is fake. Everybody knows that this is fake."
2 other girls told him to stop.
I wanted to tell him to stop, but I knew he wouldn't listen to me.
This is what would have happened:
Tracy: Stop saying sexual and disgusting things to her. This is not funny. This is sexual harassment.
Guy: This is totally fake and she and everybody knows this is.
Tracy: Yeah, but it's not funny. If you keep doing this, you're going to make her cry.
Guy: No, I won't make her cry.
When my friend cried, and walked away really fast, he was very shocked and surprised. There were like 20 people who saw this.
Why was this so terrible?
Here's this guy who is talking and sexually harassing this girl for 20 min. and in- person. He was present and in real- time the whole time.
He can see this:
- facial expressions
- body language
- tone of voice.
My friend:
- didn't laugh
- didn't really engage with him
- she threw some of her chips at him
- she walked to the other side of the hall at 3 different times
She walked away from him 3 times.
There were some obvious signs that she didn't like him saying those things to her.
There was like forewarning from her.
Guy: Looks like somebody needs some tongue.
Friend was crying and held out her hand in a stop sign.
Friend: Stop it! It's not even funny!
She looked scared, angry, upset, and disgusted. I would even say she was traumatized.
15 yr old Tracy:
Gaps of knowledge: none. She knows this is sexual harassment.
Ignorance or stupidity?: none.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: No, because Tracy know this is sexual harassment.
The Teenage Guy sexually harassing my friend:
Gaps of knowledge: Huge gap and he doesn't know this is sexual harassment.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Ignorance.
- lack of self- awareness
- lack of emotional intelligence
- lack of knowing about women
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Yes, because he doesn't know that this is sexual harassment and he made a girl really scared and upset.
Tracy accidentally offended her friend: This was in 2013.
It wasn't like my case where I accidentally offended my friend because
1. I made a light and fun joke about one of her interests.
2. Also how I called and left messages like: "Hi, it's Tracy, I'm just calling to talk." I leave messages like that to all my friends.
My case was that I only talked to and called my friend once or twice a month for 1 hr at a time. I send 3 emails/ blog posts a week.
There really isn't any in-person or video calls where you can see the:
- facial expressions
- body language
Phone: tone of voice.
Email: text
My friend didn't tell me or give me any forewarning like: "Don't call me and leave those messages."
I may have accidentally gotten my friend angry, but I didn't traumatize her.
Nobody's perfect, and everybody has blind spots.
27 yr old Tracy:
Gaps of knowledge: There is a gap because there is only some communication with my emails and phone calls.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Ignorance because Tracy didn't know what her friend was thinking and feeling because her friend never told her.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: No, because Tracy didn't do anything really terrible.
She didn't know what her friend didn't like about her calling her and leaving a message.
Mar. 3, 2025 The time Tracy's friend offends Tracy: We were not in each other's daily lives.
My friends aren't in my daily life at all. I only see them on Facebook:
I was 34 yrs old. My friend is 33 yrs old.
May 30, 2020: This is one time where my friend invites me to do something fun.
Friend: Do you want to go to the Water Park with me?
Tracy: I don't like swimming.
Friend: Of course but you’ll always be into staying home and doing nothing with your life
Jun. 3, 2020:
Tracy: That sounds kind of mean. However, I am interested in mini golfing in wem. Doing nothing with my life? You don't read my blog, and even if you do, I don't write down everything that I do. It's like I don't write this down or tell people unless it's for sure.
Friend: Ok I’m sorry yes mini golfing will be fun
Friend: Ok I’m sorry yes mini golfing will be fun
Tracy: I was thinking about that mean comment you sent me. Did something happen to you prior to you emailing that? Then you get angry and decide to take it out on me? I have done that before.
Friend: Sorry yeah I’m always bored and lonely at home I need to find activities to do when this pandemic is over
My opinion: I didn't know my friend was bored and lonely. She worked a full- time job and lived by herself (so she has to take care of the laundry and cooking), so I thought she was busy.
Miscommunication: These adult Tracy with her friend's examples are more about miscommunication.
Mar. 1, 2025 Sexual assault:
Gr. 12 drama class: I wrote about this before.
Teenage guy: Oh here's what I'll do. I'll get a girl pissed drunk, and then I'll take advantage of her.
Tracy: That's rape.
Teenage guy: No, it isn't.
Gr. 11 girl: Yeah, it is.
Gaps of knowledge: There is a big gap.
Ignorance or stupidity?: I'm leaning more to ignorance.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Yeah, because he doesn't know this is rape.
This is from my Oct.. 2023 blog post:
"How TikTok's 'girl math' trend is changing the online money conversation"/ "'Boy math' explained: People are mocking embarrassing and shameful things men do and they're using the backwards logic of men to do it"
Oct. 15, 2023 Tyra Banks "The Teen Pregnancy Epidemic": This is probably my favorite episode:
Jessica 2 min 34 secs - 4min 16 secs: She wants to have a baby with her ex- boyfriend.
She came back on the show later:
Jessica: After I saw myself on TV, I realized how stupid and ridiculous I sounded and looked and realized that I'm not ready to have a baby at all.
She starts crying.
Jessica: Oh thank you Tyra for having me on your show and making me realize I'm not ready to have a baby.
Sue- Ann 4min 23 secs- 14 min 33 secs: Sue- Ann wants to have a baby and she knows how to take care of them.
Sue- Ann's mom is there and is crying. Sue- Ann cries too. This was able to stop Sue- Ann from getting pregnant.
Kiara 19 min 19 sec- 22 min 57 secs: She's 13 yrs old and pregnant. Her friend is 13 yrs old and was trying to have a baby. They both took a pregnancy test and Kiara found out she was pregnant and her friend wants her baby.
Katheryn 26 min 53 secs -28 min 35 secs: Get on welfare, Legal Aid and give you an apartment. She wanted to have a baby so she can live on her own and not with her parents.
These girls look and sound really stupid in wanting to have a baby.
Gaps of knowledge: Huge gaps.
Ignorance or stupidity?: Some of you may say they're ignorant and others say they're stupid.
Does this scare you how dumb people are?: Yeah, this kind of scares me.
The other 2 blog posts of the week:
"Canada sees 25,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs as hacking activity soars"/ "Facebook job ads illegally discriminate, female truckers say"
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/03/canada-sees-25000-unfilled.html
"Ottawa announces new program to support women entrepreneurs"/ "A Breast Pump Startup Wants to Give Working Mothers More of Their Day Back"
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/03/ottawa-announces-new-program-to-support.html
My week:
Mar. 4, 2025 Leo poll:
Sara P, Edmonton, Alberta, would like to know:
Have you been financially able to donate to any charities or organizations this year?
No 57.05% (2666)
Yes 42.95% (2007)
My opinion: No.
Women's charities:
Mar. 5, 2025 Community League meeting: This was fun.
Italian Bakery: We got donuts from here. I ate a Oreo topping with Boston cream donut, and a Oreo caramel topping donut. The caramel one was kind of too sweet for me.
They were kind of bigger and more filling than the Tim Horton's donuts.
Mar. 7, 2025 Winners opening in Southgate: They're opening on Mon. Mar. 10.
