One of the DU ads that frequently pops up on my workplace computer...

[Orrex]

Features an attractive young woman wearing a white sundress and standing in a meadow, with a big, boldface declaration "I CHEAT FOR MEN OVER 40."

I hasten to add that this is my workplace computer, so it's not as though I'm surfing to any naughty sites and generating those kinds of tracking cookies.

I know that DU doesn't really control the ads that pop up, but come on!

[mountain grammy]

1. Star membership=no advertisements

[seabeyond]

2. i so feel for the younger generations. our generation, in our behavior, has so set them up

for a world of hurt.

[F4lconF16]

3. How so? nt

[seabeyond]

5. in so many many ways. i have spent two decades discussing with my sons, when it is our generation

creating what they will live. adopt. address. so they can be prepared. also, because, so often my generation is blaming kids today, (teens, 20's) when it is literally our doing, teaching, example. we do not own it. we point the finger.

i do it, to keep me honest. then the kids do not have a come back, when it is on them to own. ect...

in this? hey.... i will fuck all you tired, old, responsible, men that are scared to death getting old. prey on your vulnerabilities. and hurt a family, just cause.... fun?

just so much in this. lol.

what do you see it teaching our teens and older, walking into relationships?

all of this, encompassing so many areas we are being conditioned and taught. i think it is horrible, taking away all ability to trust alone. which is a sad sad place to be in a relationship.

why would anyone want to get in a relationship today?

i look at the young 20 women and ask, god... this is what you have to live?

and the young 20's boys and say... see it, see see see so you do not fall into this shit of privilege and entitlement, that the net endorses.

tough.

[F4lconF16]

6. It is a challenge to be young at this point in time.

I don't say this because of my age and my life, but because I've seen it in too many other people. There is so much happening, and it is so overwhelming that we don't even know where to begin. Our generation is dealing with ceaseless war, a corrupt political machine, endless surveillance, a failing economy, skyrocketing housing prices, huge racial issues, impending disaster from climate change...I could go on. It is, to people who don't really understand what's going on in the world, very hard to get a grasp on. It's terrifying for those of who do have an idea. It appears unchangeable, this monolith of oppressive institutions and ideas. And it makes it very easy to avoid thinking about it altogether.

Part of this is our culture, our media. Online, TV, magazines, newspapers, video games, etc. They force shit like this ad on us 24/7. Everything is monetized, everything is made to sell. And that includes people; almost always women. For people who are scared to think about the world, they have to accept what is sold to them, fed to them, because the only way to avoid it is to think. They are taught that we are not people--everything in our culture, our society, says that we are labor and consumers. We are statistics. Our employment is unstable--we don't matter. We're not people. And so it makes it very easy to accept things like this ad. We are dehumanized at every part of our lives, so this ad is not abnormal to us, the ideas it says are not abnormal.

I can't imagine being a woman through all of this. To be told by everyone everywhere that your life has no value of its own, only when you are accepted by a man. To be told you're too fat, too skinny, not pretty enough, too pretty--you whore, that your skin is not light enough, hair not long enough, sexuality not constrained enough, that you can't speak or think because that's not what ladies do, to be exposed to and subjected to this shit constantly. And then to add on to that all of the other stuff of our generation? That's tough.

But that ad wasn't directed at women. It was directed at men, still by far the most powerful group in the world. And what scares me is that I see good men falling to this predatory culture all the time, because life is hard, and they're scared to think. Scared to be themselves, to be true to themselves and people around them. This weekend I realized I'm probably going to lose another friend or two because of exactly this. They were solid people last year, good men who, while not perfect, were aware of the world, aware of these ads. But they're falling into the world of obliviousness. They are party-ers, they are frat boys now. They've changed, and now they make comments, say things about women that they would not have used to. They are falling into their roles in this culture, accepting the entitlement, accepting the things they do not think about. And it's sad, and it's scary, because they are the type of men I would have hoped would be able to understand. But they do not, and they do not want to.

A world of hurt, yes. That's what we're headed for. Thankfully I have people in my life that are not like this culture, that resist it, that are themselves above all else and draw strength from that. I don't know where I'm headed with this post at this point--just some thoughts that have been bouncing around my head.

[seabeyond]

7. i was interupted by a call from my son who is at university....

Our generation is dealing with ceaseless war, a corrupt political machine, endless surveillance, a failing economy, skyrocketing housing prices, huge racial issues, impending disaster from climate change...I could go on.

all of this, lol with religion that just needs to go.

now. i will continue reading.

yes. this is in your guys conversations.

[seabeyond]

8. you are right on. very insightful, perceptive. this. all of this. this is what i am talking.

and the very conversation i was having with my son telling him.... BUT, i am around so many late teens and 20's. the conversations, awareness, .... this is what you guys have going for you and watching the spectacle. this has also served you guys well, and i am seeing many late teen, early twenties saying, no thank you.

[F4lconF16]

4. Yeah, there's a whole host of those types of ads pretty much anywhere online.

I get them in other places too. They're constant--says a lot about our culture, unfortunately. Thank goodness for adblock/no-script.

[CrispyQ]

9. What I've noticed about ads, is that they appear random until

you go to a site & look at something. I went to a vitamin site & the next thing I know the DU ads are showing me vitamin ads. If you are concerned about the random ads, try viewing some mundane items at some retail site, like Amazon, & see if the types of ads you see change.

[Orrex]

10. That's a good suggestion. I'll give it a try!

[seabeyond]

11. thank you. yes. i noticed that. but i didnt let it sink in.

i noticed and said, yea... now i am seeing cars, or.... much better. good point

[CrispyQ]

12. I think the reson you have to "work" to get less offensive ads

is because the ads that get the most hits are the ones that are displayed the most. ???

on edit: Which says a lot about our culture that ads for men over 40 cheating are loaded over car ads. ~heavy sigh.