"I was a little afraid, as an African American. I mean, I knew where my family tree might end up. But I went on ancestry.com anyway. And I found out my great great grandfather was born a slave--but died a businessman. And that was worth finding."

You know what? Fuck you. Seriously. Are you implying that slavery is shameful for slaves and their ancestors? That not dying free was not just a personal failure, but something to be transmitted to your progeny? Seriously, fuck you. Every forefather (and mother) of yours that died in chains should be more than a little ashamed of you right now. They didn't do anything wrong.

Sorry, that ad just set off a whole bunch of triggers for me.

Tom, I am so sorry. I'm glad you've got some time with the severance package, though.

Sheep-herding bunny

ita,

I see that fucking ad every fucking day. I have the same fucking reaction.

To be fair, the ad with the White woman is just as bad.

Tom, sorry to hear about the layoff, but remember that I got laid off and am now in a job I love with better pay. So, this could be a good thing.

God damn, ita !, thank you. I'd seen that ad and just thought it was cheesy and crass, but I totally missed just how seriously fucked-up it was. I feel like a totally privilege-blind dumbass now. But it's a good thing. I want all my blind spots kicked to pieces.

To be fair, the ad with the White woman is just as bad.

I only saw that because my fingers were too slow on the remote. What's the white chick's spiel?

I am not only certain to never use ancestry.com, but I'm going to work out where to write to complain about that. I think it's horrific, and I want to get that on their record.

Ooh, that ad is ridiculous.

I am very annoyed--I have two friends that we try to do dinner together around once a month. The one friend cancels ALL THE TIME, usually at the last minute--usually with a good excuse, but it's still really annoying, since we all have busy work schedules and it's hard enough to schedule in teh first place. We hadn't gotten together since November, and I emailed them and we scheduled for today. The other one is having mad drama at work, but we arranged to be eating at a restaurant next to her office building, and she figured she could at least come have a drink, if not stay for a whole dinner. ....and then half an hour ago, the cancelly one? Canceled. So now I don't get to see EITHER of them. GRRRRRRR.

I'm sorry for your loss, ita.

Tom, I'm sorry about your layoff. I hope you have enough time away from work to recover, and then get something much more satisfying than your last job.

ita,

okay, I exaggerated, but this is the one I am referring to:

[link]

woman: I found out my great great grandmother gave birth to 5 children and only one survived. I feel so lucky.

WTF? Lucky? No lady, that isn't the term I would use. That's how we all got here because some of our possible ancestors survived birth and many others did not. Oh well.

That's life!