stupidist thing I've read in a looooong time (Norway and Ikea)

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  • Reply 21 of 36
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pins and needles

    Stupiderlikafox, in the link... white is not a mix of all colors. brown is. white is exactly the opposite, white is the absence of color.



    And i think that Ikea should make stick figures as to leave the sex of the figure questionable, and just name them a name that could be used for a man or a woman... like larry. or susan.



    But really, name it sam. Samantha.. or Sam... both are called sam.




    but then you'd be saying that mixed-race cross-dressers or transvestites would be best suited to assemble furniture



    (i am of mixed race, light brown skin, have tried cross-dressing, and managed to put together some ikea stuff before... yay! my new career... modelling for the ikea assembly manuals... sweet )
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  • Reply 22 of 36
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    i'm just at a loss because the catalogues (not the instruction manuals/sheets) are always full of kids and families and bla bla bla.



    The construction instructions... well... to be honest I've never even SEEN people depicted. Its usually just black and white line art.



    I mean, how much frikken Ikea furniture do you even have to buy and put together to realize "hey, there's only guys putting furniture together" in those black and white instruction sheets??? Its just absolutely crazy and silly! Normal people would look at the furniture illustrations, not if there is a dude or a chick putting it together!!!



    Ugh, I can't believe I'm actually wasting time on such a stupid thing. I guess they have nothing better to do while hibernating in winter.
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  • Reply 23 of 36
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    I absolutely support you on this one. I mean how dare that Norway Prime Minister criticize a small mom and pop retailer like Ikea. How dare he amble through the catalog on a Sunday morning and think of something other than replacing a futon. Next thing you know they'll be calling out those quaint little Wal-Mart stores. It's a slippery slope to equality for women! I am outraged.
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  • Reply 24 of 36
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    one thing is equality, another is delirum.



    I'm all for equality... but there is a boundry when you actually believe it can better society and stuff, and another is waste everyone's time on petty issue when you could actually be using it for more important things like homelessness, pollution, etc.
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  • Reply 25 of 36
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    You value poverty and the environment more than gender issues. I might too, but I don't think we should just ignore other problems when we see them and when we have the opportunity to solve them. The Prime Minister had that opportunity and he used it.



    You're complaining?
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  • Reply 26 of 36
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Power to the people through IKEA catalogues, the cultural determinator of our times.



    When we let stereotypes guide our orientation through life we don´t learn to be individuals with our own unique history and abilities. Learn the children from before kindergarden that they are unique and are able to do what they want. Then furniture assembling persons won´t have to be role models for you. Then role models are not chosen if they looks like you but if they possess a certain quality that you can identify yourself with.




    Thanks for this clever answer.
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  • Reply 27 of 36
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ShawnJ

    You value poverty and the environment more than gender issues. I might too, but I don't think we should just ignore other problems when we see them and when we have the opportunity to solve them. The Prime Minister had that opportunity and he used it.



    He has that opportunity because he has been voted into office to solve important issues. He can only bring up so many issues at a time, because here is a limit to the public attention he can get. And he chooses to spend it on a nonissue like furniture assembly instructions? The man's an idiot. He makes about as much sense as if he had called a press conference and commented on how nice frogs look swimming in a pond.
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  • Reply 28 of 36
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gon

    He has that opportunity because he has been voted into office to solve important issues. He can only bring up so many issues at a time, because here is a limit to the public attention he can get. And he chooses to spend it on a nonissue like furniture assembly instructions? The man's an idiot. He makes about as much sense as if he had called a press conference and commented on how nice frogs look swimming in a pond.



    You're only *assuming* it took a great deal of time for the Prime Minister to notice the disparity and complain about it. How can that be? The guy has the attention of the press, and used it far better than our President has-- prepackaged propaganda news segments and press conferences with a stacked press corps and previewed questions. I think gender issues are important. And I think you're making this out to be way more complicated and involved than it really is.
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  • Reply 29 of 36
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gon

    He has that opportunity because he has been voted into office to solve important issues. He can only bring up so many issues at a time, because here is a limit to the public attention he can get. And he chooses to spend it on a nonissue like furniture assembly instructions? The man's an idiot. He makes about as much sense as if he had called a press conference and commented on how nice frogs look swimming in a pond.



    umm maybe we should all have a think about norway's record on environment, homelessness, and poverty issues... maybe then we'd realise that this guy had to do something like focus on gender issues because i may be wrong, but northern europe (not including UK) has a lot of their shit sorted out my friends... dude was running out of problems to solve, he just bought a new Fallal cabinet or something, looked at the manual, and was like, ohhh yeah, i'm back in business...
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  • Reply 30 of 36
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
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  • Reply 31 of 36
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pins and needles

    Stupiderlikafox, in the link... white is not a mix of all colors. brown is. white is exactly the opposite, white is the absence of color.





    It's kind of off-topic but see:



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color



    for more info.
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  • Reply 32 of 36
    So I'm glad that we all agree that this is a sensible, positive step, and that it is only 'ridiculous' or 'stupid' in that we each have our own pet Norwegian Social Problem that we'd dearly like to see fixed, and it upsets us to see their elected officials spending their time on anything else but that narrow focus until our own particular hot-button issue has been 100% solved.



    (Apart from Anders of course, who thinks that any society foolish enough to be swayed by stereotypes deserves to have their children exposed to 30-year-old gender roles)
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  • Reply 33 of 36
    According to Ikea, they have included illustrations of women in their instruction manuals, since 1987. Unfortunately, I haven't found any source on the web for copies of Ikea manuals, so I can't verify that. Does anyone around here have a recent purchase of unpronouncable furniture? If so, please scan the manual or tell us if it's male-only or multi-gender.



    Prime Minister Bondevik expressed that he had trouble assembling Ikea furniture. Perhaps it's all just sour grapes from a feeling of inadequacy.
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  • Reply 34 of 36
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    *cough* ikea.com *cough*



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  • Reply 35 of 36
    newnew Posts: 3,244member
    ok, here's the funny part. The Prime Minister is actually educated as a priest, and heads a right/conservative coalition government...
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  • Reply 36 of 36
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ShawnJ

    *cough* ikea.com *cough*







    Thanks for the link, but I'd already gone through their website looking for online instruction manuals. The online support (which is a wonderful animated character, named Anna) states:



    Quote:

    If you don't have the instructions to assemble an IKEA product, please contact the store from which you bought the product and they'll be happy to provide new instructions. Very soon you'll be able to ask me to send you instructions via mail for any of our products!"



    I did notice that, on the page that you linked to, there is a picture of a woman in a kitchen. Ikea are running rampant over gender stereotypes.



    Bøycött?
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