Alright,
This is gonna be a quicky but just want to touch base on a few things here.
1) North Carolina voted to ban equal rights, bravo North Carolina
2) Let's stop painting them as ignorant rednecks when California beat them to the punch by a wide margin in voting down equal rights and no one was running around talking about those ignorant backwoods hillbillies in Cali-forn-i-a.
3) This is a reality check folks and for you big government types what more of an example would you like now that big government has once again trampled on rights? Marriage is not in our consitution. Marriage as a state sanctioned event is something we do not need. Stop fighting for government approval and fight for removing government from your bedroom, not just when it suits your side of things. This is EXACTLY why you want government doing as little as possible. Social cons haven't died out enough yet, you can either wait another 30-40 years and hope that shifts in another direction or you can do the right thing and help people remember that you don't need Uncle Sam to make your love for another person be official.
4) To be clear, if we're going to have state sponsored marriage I prefer it be offered to everyone equally. I don't think it is right to tie certain legal benefits to an event, and then bar people from participating in that event based on religious views about those people. But then how would the politicians get you all riled up and excited without social issues to pull at your heartstrings with that they won't actually do anything with. You know like abortion, gay marriage, legalizing pot, and all of these other things that get people worked up, that aren't changing other than token bones tossed out from time to time.
5) Let's not pretend that Obama is doing anything other than trying to sling anything he can out there to get the conversation away from the economy. Let's not pretend that the man that campaigned on "Marriage is between a man and a woman" suddenly had a revelation a couple months before election. Stop pretending any of these politicians care about your rights, they care about power and growing their source of it, government regulation.
How could marriage rights be an issue if government didn't sanction the act of marriage? There's a solution that leaves the social cons happy (their churches could refuse to do gay marriages. I'm not interested in hearing "Oh but we want the right to a church wedding..." No. You don't have the right to force a religion to go against their religion for you. You do have the right to be with anyone you like, and call it anything you like. If you want to call it marriage, go ahead. Now the social cons can govern "christian" weddings however they see fit. The homosexual community can open as many marriage churches/centers as they like.
Oh crap, a solution that reaches everyone's goals, penalizes no one's right to live their life the way they want?
Oh man, but where can we tax that?
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Autonomobots Roll Out
I often feel that culture, society, and people in a general sense argue and debate political theories not because of an inherent disagreement in goals, but a disagreement in base philosophy of life. I want to take a moment to explain what my personal goal in any political context aims to be.
Autonomy
That's the key to everything. In my opinion this was the ultimate goal of the founding fathers when they laid out the constitution and the bill of rights. We want to live in a society where any individual determines their own life path as much as possible. I don't hate big government because I hate poor people. I don't hate big government because I believe people shouldn't be able to have a quality of life. I hate big government because it takes away this very idea of autonomy.
When a change or law is debated, the first question I ask is one I believe we all should ask. "How does this restrict my ability to control my own destiny?" We're not supposed to debate from emotion. We debate from logic. The entire concept that separates humanity from a puddle of amoebic goo is that we can think for ourselves, beyond our instincts. Logic is our strongest mutant power, and far too often we throw it away to emotion and whims. Hell, I'm a pretty emotional guy in general to be honest. I have a temper that, slow to raise, is horrendous when it arrives. It's not that we can't spark a debate with emotion, but when the emotion fades we have to be able to justify that decision through logic, or it is typically a bad decision. There's a reason we don't let victims of crimes determine the punishment for those crimes.
Though the quote is probably overused, it remains a good one. "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything away." I use the example of a general hot topic as a perfect illustration of this. Gay Marriage. While the left is busy fighting for "gay rights" to be married in the eyes of the government; Social cons fight to protect their definition of "marriage" in the eyes of the government. A sane person says "Why do I need government approval to dedicate my love life to another consenting adult?" There's no reason for government to be involved in our life, so how about instead of fighting so hard for a government stamp of approval, you fight to get government out of all of our bedrooms. When you force a new law on anyone that they don't like, whether they like or dislike it for valid reasons, there will be resentment, bitterness, and future problems. What's the problem there if it's a fair law that respects autonomy you may ask? The problem is in practice.
Let's face it, there are a lot of stupid people out there. We created this problem by letting our emotions control us. I think most people accept evolution at least in part as a valid theory. I'll let the social cons hash out their beliefs of "macro" vs. "micro" and such, but especially in the "left" evolution is a very widely accepted theory. Yet we fight every day to buck this theory and go against every bit of scientific data we have. We do our best to make sure the weak survive. On average, with of course many legit exceptions, the less educated you are, the more kids you have. Don't mean to offend any Duggers out there, but social studies have shown this to always be the case that the more poor and uneducated a person is, it is far more likely that they will have more children. When we coddle these people, we ensure that their weaknesses grow. You don't see sickly lions hand fed by the strong lions. They are eaten and killed. I'm not suggest we round up our impoverished for a cookout featuring longpig-a-plenty, but I am showing how we, as a society practice principles that directly conflict with nature itself, and irony being that it's typically the side of the aisle associated with protecting nature itself. When you ask for a governing body, at force of gunpoint, to control behavior you hand the keys of autonomous life over as well.
I want to choose my bedroom partners without a law telling me I can or cannot. The only time government should restrict my actions, is when my actions restrict another person's autonomy. Case closed. End of discussion. That is it. You have no right to use military force (which is what government is) to control my behavior on anything that does not affect you or your life.
There are many conflicting theories on most political hot topics that would allow debates like this to be handled logically. However, we don't get to see that do we? Both sides play on the emotions. Republicans love only the wealthy and hate women, babies, minorities, puppies, and anything that isn't a 40 year old christian white male. Liberals hate responsibility, hard work, the bible, accountability, and anything that resembles a 40 year old white christian male. That's all we hear. For every intelligent person that can see through this bs, there are a dozen on each side repeating the lines they've been fed.
You've been lied to if you think your vote matters, assuming you fall into the intelligent category. Because no matter how much time you waste pondering the pros and cons of any topic, there are busloads of sheep waiting to mark the box they've been told to mark on both sides. This is why you cannot empower government to restrict people's lives.
The stupid will always outnumber the intelligent, and we really smart people have decided voting majorities gives the best results.
Moo.
Autonomy
That's the key to everything. In my opinion this was the ultimate goal of the founding fathers when they laid out the constitution and the bill of rights. We want to live in a society where any individual determines their own life path as much as possible. I don't hate big government because I hate poor people. I don't hate big government because I believe people shouldn't be able to have a quality of life. I hate big government because it takes away this very idea of autonomy.
When a change or law is debated, the first question I ask is one I believe we all should ask. "How does this restrict my ability to control my own destiny?" We're not supposed to debate from emotion. We debate from logic. The entire concept that separates humanity from a puddle of amoebic goo is that we can think for ourselves, beyond our instincts. Logic is our strongest mutant power, and far too often we throw it away to emotion and whims. Hell, I'm a pretty emotional guy in general to be honest. I have a temper that, slow to raise, is horrendous when it arrives. It's not that we can't spark a debate with emotion, but when the emotion fades we have to be able to justify that decision through logic, or it is typically a bad decision. There's a reason we don't let victims of crimes determine the punishment for those crimes.
Though the quote is probably overused, it remains a good one. "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything away." I use the example of a general hot topic as a perfect illustration of this. Gay Marriage. While the left is busy fighting for "gay rights" to be married in the eyes of the government; Social cons fight to protect their definition of "marriage" in the eyes of the government. A sane person says "Why do I need government approval to dedicate my love life to another consenting adult?" There's no reason for government to be involved in our life, so how about instead of fighting so hard for a government stamp of approval, you fight to get government out of all of our bedrooms. When you force a new law on anyone that they don't like, whether they like or dislike it for valid reasons, there will be resentment, bitterness, and future problems. What's the problem there if it's a fair law that respects autonomy you may ask? The problem is in practice.
Let's face it, there are a lot of stupid people out there. We created this problem by letting our emotions control us. I think most people accept evolution at least in part as a valid theory. I'll let the social cons hash out their beliefs of "macro" vs. "micro" and such, but especially in the "left" evolution is a very widely accepted theory. Yet we fight every day to buck this theory and go against every bit of scientific data we have. We do our best to make sure the weak survive. On average, with of course many legit exceptions, the less educated you are, the more kids you have. Don't mean to offend any Duggers out there, but social studies have shown this to always be the case that the more poor and uneducated a person is, it is far more likely that they will have more children. When we coddle these people, we ensure that their weaknesses grow. You don't see sickly lions hand fed by the strong lions. They are eaten and killed. I'm not suggest we round up our impoverished for a cookout featuring longpig-a-plenty, but I am showing how we, as a society practice principles that directly conflict with nature itself, and irony being that it's typically the side of the aisle associated with protecting nature itself. When you ask for a governing body, at force of gunpoint, to control behavior you hand the keys of autonomous life over as well.
I want to choose my bedroom partners without a law telling me I can or cannot. The only time government should restrict my actions, is when my actions restrict another person's autonomy. Case closed. End of discussion. That is it. You have no right to use military force (which is what government is) to control my behavior on anything that does not affect you or your life.
There are many conflicting theories on most political hot topics that would allow debates like this to be handled logically. However, we don't get to see that do we? Both sides play on the emotions. Republicans love only the wealthy and hate women, babies, minorities, puppies, and anything that isn't a 40 year old christian white male. Liberals hate responsibility, hard work, the bible, accountability, and anything that resembles a 40 year old white christian male. That's all we hear. For every intelligent person that can see through this bs, there are a dozen on each side repeating the lines they've been fed.
You've been lied to if you think your vote matters, assuming you fall into the intelligent category. Because no matter how much time you waste pondering the pros and cons of any topic, there are busloads of sheep waiting to mark the box they've been told to mark on both sides. This is why you cannot empower government to restrict people's lives.
The stupid will always outnumber the intelligent, and we really smart people have decided voting majorities gives the best results.
Moo.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Master System didn't even have an "A" button, kid
As the clock drudges forward I realize my Emerald Nuts must be lacking because I'm passing out at the dash. So I think to myself, "Hey let's see if OADS has any new blog entries, boy that guy can be entertaining!" Not only did i find an entertaining entry, I found Slacker Conservative to be at the focus point. At first, I was in blissful shock. Then, as I began to really take in the splendor that is this Great White Shark of blogs, I noticed something...
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| The guide says this is the best spot to feed from |
Allow me the pleasure of filtering your spacious tank OADS:
An Open Letter to Weapon Mods
Dear Lamprey,
Jealousy? Bitterness? Attention? Any of these would be understandable and believable reasons for the egregious actions committed by the staff at Weapon Mods. Recently, a writer from your staff took a break from his scarves, iPod, and strategic application of "The book was better" to any modernized form of media he could lay his eyes upon to piggyback a Pulitzer caliber creation from the soul of OADS. I could spend minutes pretending to care about a lack of creativity in it's writing so apparent that even Uwe Bol says "pass." More importantly is the subject matter at hand though, which leads us to the core of our response.
"Go Fuck Yourselves" - This from the guy that spent a week trying to re-align the planets to perfectly balance a series of intricate mirrors to reflect beams of the sun's energy onto sleeping caterpillars to clear a path for his beloved Mario? Pfft, "beloved Mario" of course to a man that didn't even meet mario until later in life. A child that scoffed at Mario and said "No thank you, I'm busy shooting the same nondescript tower ad nauseum on Space Harrier!" Now, past his prime, he slithers up to the warm bosom of Mario, hoping to suckle from the teet of nostalgia only to find it dry and bitter.
We know you are false.
Since you had no past with Mario, I suppose no one can fault you for not knowing the controls...I mean it's not like there was a magical toadstool at the beginning of the level telling you that you need to use your Slam (with giant McDonalds Employee style pictures of the button to trigger "Slam") attack to defeat them. No, not you, you weren't going to fall for that obvious trap! You have have avoided humiliation at the hands of "A," but at least I didn't try to sell someone on the masterpiece and genius and originality of the door puzzle that requires use of the official Mario Abacus and a Nautical map before having someone else figure it out for me by reading a placard on the wall that says "PRESS A BUTTON TO GO THROUGH THIS DOOR THAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU RIGHT NOW"
"Go Fuck Yourselves" - This from the guy that spent a week trying to re-align the planets to perfectly balance a series of intricate mirrors to reflect beams of the sun's energy onto sleeping caterpillars to clear a path for his beloved Mario? Pfft, "beloved Mario" of course to a man that didn't even meet mario until later in life. A child that scoffed at Mario and said "No thank you, I'm busy shooting the same nondescript tower ad nauseum on Space Harrier!" Now, past his prime, he slithers up to the warm bosom of Mario, hoping to suckle from the teet of nostalgia only to find it dry and bitter.
We know you are false.
Since you had no past with Mario, I suppose no one can fault you for not knowing the controls...I mean it's not like there was a magical toadstool at the beginning of the level telling you that you need to use your Slam (with giant McDonalds Employee style pictures of the button to trigger "Slam") attack to defeat them. No, not you, you weren't going to fall for that obvious trap! You have have avoided humiliation at the hands of "A," but at least I didn't try to sell someone on the masterpiece and genius and originality of the door puzzle that requires use of the official Mario Abacus and a Nautical map before having someone else figure it out for me by reading a placard on the wall that says "PRESS A BUTTON TO GO THROUGH THIS DOOR THAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU RIGHT NOW"
I hope the future offerings of Weapon Mods are prepared with more professional acumen and less geared towards reminding Michael Jordan about that time he missed a Free Throw in 8th grade.
Fuck yourself,
-SC
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Max Force and Hitman aren't going to like this...(Part 1)
Believe it or not, most of my political leanings don't come from parents, religion, or some news channel. Most of my gut feelings are based in my undying hatred of hypocrisy. Let's get this out of the way now: There is no way for anyone to live their life without being slightly hypocritical here and there. We can strive for it, but we are human and we will screw up from time to time. That being said, I do try to do just that: strive for a life without hypocrisy. Since my last blog entry caused so much controversy with my millions of readers (believe me, the countless letters I have received have been overwhelming; even the ones from far far away) I thought I might remind readers of some of my "softer" social stances.
Marijuana
Why in the world is this illegal? There's basically no good reason for it. I also refuse to really hear out any reason that doesn't begin with explaining why I might have to turn down the TV's latest stream of beer commercials to hear said argument.
I like to drink socially, it can be fun and relaxing. In the right atmosphere it can promote a good time, in darker times it can provide a comfort of sorts to drown your sorrows away. While I'm not an advocate of the latter, I can respect its limited medicinal purposes as well. As someone that, in spite of the nature of my career, tends to be a bit anti-social and a struggling "mingler," I can completely respect the idea of loosening up with a drink or two.
I feel like I'm insulting the intelligence of the reader to lay out some of these comparisons, but we might as well start at the top. We have a country full of hypocrites on both sides of the proverbial aisle that refuse to right this wrong. I can go out, get completely shitfaced if I so choose, and it is legal and for the most-part socially acceptable. Smoke a joint in my own home and spend the evening watching TV? Hardened criminal!
Can you drink too much in one evening and die? Yes, as the thousands who die every year from this can have their families and loved ones attest to.
Can you smoke too much pot in one evening and die? No, unless you asphyxiate from a comically large amount of smoke. The same way you would die from smoking too many cigarettes in an hour or too much coffee.
Who hasn't had an out of control drunk friend that was trying to fight, brawl, scratch, and claw everyone around them?
When is the last time someone was on pot and got uncontrollably angry and dangerous to be around?
News articles you won't see anytime soon?
"Man high on marijuana murders family of 4"
"Woman "stoned" on marijuana is taken to jail after assaulting someone at a bar"
Look, I'm going to spare the comparison, we all know it's bogus. If you don't know it is bogus and you are reading this blog, let me sum it up for you quickly: Marijuana has never killed anyone, it has a fraction of the known side effects of alcohol and countless other legal drugs. It has less harmful chemicals in it than a can of Coke or Pepsi.
So let's get to the course of action shall we?
From Bill Clinton's "I didn't inhale." absurd lie to "When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point" from our current president, we have a culture of amazing hypocrisy. Now supporters of BHO might go "See Pat, Obama is on your side here!" except for the fact that he has spent his first term in office cracking down on California marijuana law and will not support any movement at all to legalize it, same as gay marriage I might add....but that is for another day...
Ah social cons, how I love to despise you. But it isn't like they are to blame, not really. Sure, I've listened to my own grandmother tell me a story of how a young man she knew overdosed on "pot" and died. Yes, social cons certainly vocally lead the charge. But Roe V Wade tells me that when this country decides to stand up for itself, we don't mind telling the social cons to go to hell.
Well guess what, it's time to tell them to go to hell again. In the upcoming blog post I will lay out my plan for the effective legalization of marijuana. You see, it unfortunately is not as simple as "Yay it's legal now, go!" There has to be a structured plan to it. It does need to be regulated and controlled the same way alcohol is controlled. We don't need 6 year olds sparking up. We don't need parents getting their kids stoned (We apologies to those who enjoyed this boon growing up, but let's be honest a young developing mind does not need to be stoned).
Part of this needed change needs to have honesty on both sides.
As much as the social cons are stupid, the complete potheads will need to be squelched as well. You can't sit around smoking up every day and getting handouts, you cannot expect workplaces to lax their policies anymore than they can on alcohol.
Pot makes you lazy, it makes you lose ambition, and when used habitually it can cause serious problems in your life. That doesn't mean it should be illegal, just used as yet another measuring tool in society. No one minds the employee that drinks socially on the weekend. But the one that goes home to a handle of Jack every evening and rolls into work smelling like a bar at 9am is an issue.
You aren't going to be able to smoke in the streets because unlike with cigarettes (this is just to prepare for a future blog on tobacco) the second hand smoke has an immediate demonstrable effect on a passerby that would potentially cause unsolicited effects on their state of mind.
Stay tuned folks, the next blog gets a lot more number-crunching intensive and preachy, this one is just laying the groundwork.
Marijuana
Why in the world is this illegal? There's basically no good reason for it. I also refuse to really hear out any reason that doesn't begin with explaining why I might have to turn down the TV's latest stream of beer commercials to hear said argument.
I like to drink socially, it can be fun and relaxing. In the right atmosphere it can promote a good time, in darker times it can provide a comfort of sorts to drown your sorrows away. While I'm not an advocate of the latter, I can respect its limited medicinal purposes as well. As someone that, in spite of the nature of my career, tends to be a bit anti-social and a struggling "mingler," I can completely respect the idea of loosening up with a drink or two.
I feel like I'm insulting the intelligence of the reader to lay out some of these comparisons, but we might as well start at the top. We have a country full of hypocrites on both sides of the proverbial aisle that refuse to right this wrong. I can go out, get completely shitfaced if I so choose, and it is legal and for the most-part socially acceptable. Smoke a joint in my own home and spend the evening watching TV? Hardened criminal!
Can you drink too much in one evening and die? Yes, as the thousands who die every year from this can have their families and loved ones attest to.
Can you smoke too much pot in one evening and die? No, unless you asphyxiate from a comically large amount of smoke. The same way you would die from smoking too many cigarettes in an hour or too much coffee.
Who hasn't had an out of control drunk friend that was trying to fight, brawl, scratch, and claw everyone around them?
When is the last time someone was on pot and got uncontrollably angry and dangerous to be around?
News articles you won't see anytime soon?
"Man high on marijuana murders family of 4"
"Woman "stoned" on marijuana is taken to jail after assaulting someone at a bar"
Look, I'm going to spare the comparison, we all know it's bogus. If you don't know it is bogus and you are reading this blog, let me sum it up for you quickly: Marijuana has never killed anyone, it has a fraction of the known side effects of alcohol and countless other legal drugs. It has less harmful chemicals in it than a can of Coke or Pepsi.
So let's get to the course of action shall we?
From Bill Clinton's "I didn't inhale." absurd lie to "When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point" from our current president, we have a culture of amazing hypocrisy. Now supporters of BHO might go "See Pat, Obama is on your side here!" except for the fact that he has spent his first term in office cracking down on California marijuana law and will not support any movement at all to legalize it, same as gay marriage I might add....but that is for another day...
Ah social cons, how I love to despise you. But it isn't like they are to blame, not really. Sure, I've listened to my own grandmother tell me a story of how a young man she knew overdosed on "pot" and died. Yes, social cons certainly vocally lead the charge. But Roe V Wade tells me that when this country decides to stand up for itself, we don't mind telling the social cons to go to hell.
Well guess what, it's time to tell them to go to hell again. In the upcoming blog post I will lay out my plan for the effective legalization of marijuana. You see, it unfortunately is not as simple as "Yay it's legal now, go!" There has to be a structured plan to it. It does need to be regulated and controlled the same way alcohol is controlled. We don't need 6 year olds sparking up. We don't need parents getting their kids stoned (We apologies to those who enjoyed this boon growing up, but let's be honest a young developing mind does not need to be stoned).
Part of this needed change needs to have honesty on both sides.
As much as the social cons are stupid, the complete potheads will need to be squelched as well. You can't sit around smoking up every day and getting handouts, you cannot expect workplaces to lax their policies anymore than they can on alcohol.
Pot makes you lazy, it makes you lose ambition, and when used habitually it can cause serious problems in your life. That doesn't mean it should be illegal, just used as yet another measuring tool in society. No one minds the employee that drinks socially on the weekend. But the one that goes home to a handle of Jack every evening and rolls into work smelling like a bar at 9am is an issue.
You aren't going to be able to smoke in the streets because unlike with cigarettes (this is just to prepare for a future blog on tobacco) the second hand smoke has an immediate demonstrable effect on a passerby that would potentially cause unsolicited effects on their state of mind.
Stay tuned folks, the next blog gets a lot more number-crunching intensive and preachy, this one is just laying the groundwork.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Homosexuality not a choice? Tell that to Commander Shepherd...
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| You cannot save the galaxy until we cuddle, commander |
STOP!
Right now.
Stop fueling up the engine of anger on the jet of vigilant truth and gearing up your usual suspects of bible-thumper thwarting one liners and zingers.
Good. Now let's lay this out shall we?
In brief, I do believe homosexuality is a choice an individual makes. No, I don't remember the day I chose to be straight, but I still chose it and continue to choose it every day. Free will folks, it's a bitch. Let's explore the possible options:
1) Homosexuality/Heterosexuality is a social choice that a person makes.
2) It is an inherent trait that you are born with and cannot control.
Let's first explain why I think the latter is bunk. If this is a genetic issue, that is to say there's some "gay" gene that makes you decide to not be attracted to the opposite sex then let's get this gasp-inducer out here now: From a purely scientific standpoint, this would be an abnormality. A mutant gene, or something that in following evolution would be a negative trait. If a species is trying to procreate and survive, a genetic mutation that causes an individual to not want to be sexually active with the opposite gender would be a deterrent to survival. So since it is an abnormality, a mutation if you will, wouldn't a cure or treatment be something we should strive for? I realize how brazen that may seem, but that is precisely part of my reasoning of why that simply cannot be the case. If this was a genetic "decision" made on our behalf, it would be like any other "abnormality" and certainly someone born with this abnormality should receive medical treatment as any other abnormality. If you could determine a "depression" gene that was going to cause your child to grow up with severe depression you would want to treat it, right?
So I've given some reasoning for why it is not a genetic mutation/disease, but what makes it so clearly a choice? If I didn't choose to be straight, then I didn't choose to like redheads. I didn't choose to be cynical, I didn't choose to do basically anything. Let's brush up on some determinism.
I've never been a big fan of hard determinism. The concept that everything we do is pre-determined by some cosmic "umph" that kicked everything into gear and set all of the cogs in motion. Though it has compelling (and frustratingly difficult to disprove) arguments, hard determinism goes against every reason for living. If it is all predetermined, why even bother to care? There are those that go so far (Popper) as to be outraged by the idea of prisons because those poor people had no ability to control their destiny of being criminals. I feel that if for no other reason than to justify human existence and thought that we have to reject this level of determinism. That being the case, how can we argue that something as personal and intimate as the people we are sexually attracted to is out of our hands?
Where do we draw that line? If a person "cannot choose" what they are attracted to, why do we have bestiality laws? Child sex laws? Consent? BS, consent is an arbitrary age that we decided a person becomes an adult, in reality every generation gets "mature" younger. In ancient times there was nothing wrong with having a 12 year old spouse, anyone against this natural attraction is nothing but a bigot, right? Every psychology I've ever heard drum up sympathy for child abusers claims they typically come from an abusive past themselves. Why is this so readily chalked up to childhood abuse, but try that same logic with a gay man that grew up with a father that left at an early age, or was touched by a relative, etc and all of a sudden it is offensive and bigotry?
I subscribe to a concept of "Diminishing Free Will." In brief, we begin life with a blank slate, we are given impulses, ideas, and patterns from the world. Parents obviously play a huge role in what we become, how can this be debated? We are individuals but we get our blueprints to adulthood by the role our parents and other influences have on us. We never know what seemingly minor event changes a person forever. Did you know that I have a friend that gets utterly repulsed at the idea of chewing gum? Did you know that when I was in 3rd grade my teacher had me tell her a new joke every day because it was how she got me to interact with the class and be less afraid of speaking? Some of you may know I was a fairly bright kid that got into a lot of advanced classes, but did you know it was in part because my grandfather would sit down with me and have me read the encyclopedia for 2 hours every day when I wasn't even in school yet? There are major influences in our life that sometimes are easy to correlate. Sometimes, not so much. Why am I overweight? It's because I eat too much sure, but it's also because I lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle but why do I do that? Well because as a kid I was every bit of 5 foot nothing until basically my senior year of high school, so I was always a runt and even though I loved sports, competing with kids my age became near impossible so I began to get more involved with video games and computers, they tend not to hold the ball over your head and laugh....We all have little chains of events that make up who we are. I can put a positive spin or a negative spin on any of them, many of them I don't even know or realize, some if pointed out to me might, for whatever reason, offend me and cause me to lash out and deny, but it may still be true...or not. But these are the forces that shape who we choose to become. Did we choose to go work extra hard at being the best 5 foot tall basketball player we could be, did we call it quits and give up, or did we simply realize our limitations and choose another path? Any of these answers fit a different person, and help to define the person that we are and that we will become.
For all of this talk, the following is the most important concept to remember:
Ready?
NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THIS CHOICE. Just because I think it is a choice doesn't mean it's a bad choice or something to be frowned upon. I don't want a completely obnoxiously "flaming" individual to wear their sexuality on their sleeve and remind me every 4 seconds they are gay. I don't think that's being a bigot, if my straight friends ran around wearing a big emblem of heterosexuality and couldn't go 4 seconds without going "Boy I tell ya, i sure do love vagina" that conversation would get tiring quickly. That exception aside, I don't give a damn about your sexuality. Can you just shut up about it when it is inappropriate to discuss? Without attempting to "out" anyone or anything, just using my own facebook friends as an example I have several known gay friends. One I get along with and chat with on a semi-regular basis, the rest are hidden. The ones that are hidden are hidden because literally a day would not go by without some mention of their sexuality. Attention whores come in all shapes, sizes, and sexual preferences, and I don't want them in my life.
So should gays be allowed to marry? Absolutely.
Should gays be allowed to have rights to share benefits like heterosexual couples? Absolutely* (In the grand scheme of things I have issues with having to have a spouse to utilize this at all, it punishes those that choose to not participate in religious tradition of marriage, but as long as we're gonna have that system, it should allow ANY couple, not just straight ones)
Should a gay man have every right a straight man has? Absolutely, his personal choices in the bedroom should not affect this.
From what I've seen there is little proof or evidence that this "gay gene" is out there. This is an alternate theory for how something comes to be. Debatable? It is 100% debatable, but it's not "insulting" and it is not like trying to argue the earth is still flat, there's just as much evidence in psychology/medical science for my theory as there is for the "no choice" theory.
Teaching tolerance and acceptance should be about respecting the choices people make, not about begrudgingly accepting something because it was pre-determined.
As a final note in a more practical sense: We have to learn to respect the challenges of integrating homosexuality fairness into various situations. Let us never forget that one thing that is inherent in humanity as a whole (not the individual) is that we are greedy, sneaky, and we love to abuse things.
Your thought experiment/assignment for the day
The bathroom:
A men's and women's bathroom at an office or place of business is common practice. Which one does the homosexual need to use? The reason we separate these bathrooms is for the sake of privacy and it is divided between men and women for reasons that I really don't think I need to explain here. So if a genuinely gay man needs to use the bathroom, why shouldn't he use the women's room? Which obviously would be embarrassing for the guy since it is called the "women's" bathroom, but quirkiness of the example aside, what should we really do? If he is genuinely attracted to other men, I would feel uncomfortable using a urinal beside them the same as a lady would feel uncomfortable with me sharing the stall beside of her. So should they be "People who like vaginas" and "People who like penises" restrooms? What is the actual fair solution to this? A gay man is no less a "man" but take the semantics from it and what possible reason should he use the men's facilities? A gay woman isn't going to slide up to the urinal, but should she be in a private personal environment with people of the sex she is attracted to when they are in such vulnerable positions? Why should we not react with the same righteous indignity we would respond with if you saw me (a straight man) following a lady into the women's restroom?
So with that all being said, now how do you tackle the people who will say they are gay just to be able to go into the women's restroom?
Not every problem is cut and dry, it's not always that there is a "gays only" fountain to drink from...sometimes there are major and genuinely difficult concerns with integrating homosexuality as an "accepted" choice. The answers are not easy, and we as a society need to begin handling these decisions with maturity and rationality instead of raw emotion and back and forth attacks...
I'm sure we'll get on that as a culture right after we colonize the 8th galaxy of the galactic republic.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Razors: More than a mouse.
As a man there are certain things that just come with the territory. How do you know when you've become a man? Well, there are many measures but none more official than that envelope you get when you turn 18. No, I'm not referring to selective service paperwork; I'm talking about the nice little gift that Gillette mails every red blooded American would-be man on the 18th anniversary of their existence. Mach3, oh how I loved you. You see, there are 3 blades creating the smoothest shave ever. As my patchy peach fuzzed face would soon realize however, 3 blades really aren't that great.
Look, I know what you're thinking. "Jesus Christ, Pat; we've all heard 100 different comedians do their "razor blade" bit about the numerous blade improvements. We've all seen SNL parody commercials of the same, get some new material already! Well, fair point but it merits a bit of coverage. It was this weekend, upon getting down to my last pack of replacement cartridges, that I realized how blatantly stupid we can be as a society.
Only humanity can be intelligent enough to solve a problem perfectly, then spend the next 200 years breaking it again in the name of protecting stupidity. 3 blades? 5? Maybe the new Gillette Mach52 Swiss Army Razor will be the answer? Allow me, dear reader, to share with you the future of shaving technology. A smooth perfect shave, every time, with low cost to boot!
It used to be, so I've been told, that a boy had to learn to shave with a straight razor. It was part of a rite of passage along with learning to cook on a grill, not ask for directions, and belch your name. Here's my complaint humanity: You invented perfection years ago, but you got mad because it required some amount of care and thought be put into your appearance. Let's examine what's "wrong" with the straight razor and why I have to shell out $50 for a pack of razors to shave my face, creating a consumable and reappearing cost to my budget that used to be a one time investment.
To the first point, good. You know what? I'm sick of being the only species on the planet that can scoff at a religious person for thinking evolution is wrong, while pushing ideals that support coddling anyone too stupid to not slit their own throat while shaving. Survival of the fittest you hippie Godless bastards. If some dumbass can't get through his morning shave without severing an artery, do you think he was going to go out and cure cancer at work? No, he was probably going to fuck up my combo order. Stop saving stupid people from themselves, you're fucking up our gene pool. Do you know why we need entitlement programs? Because if you cannot avoid slicing your own throat in life, you should have died years ago. You should have went swimming with the hair dryer when you were 11 but we spared you that fate, now you get to smell bad next to me in Foodland, reading magazines in the checkout aisle knowing you'll just put it back after you get rung up, while I try to take out a small loan to buy another pack of razors.
Second point: care and maintenance. Now if there's a place in my heart for your stupid regulations Humans than appealing to laziness is your meal ticket. So I don't have to clean, sharpen, or store a big unsanitary blade for cutting my face? Wonderful! I just get to pollute the world with THOUSANDS of smaller biohazards that are built to cut their way out of any bag you store them in for disposal! Seriously, this is why I hate you people. Sure, laziness is great. Having one less chore of sharpening my razor once a month for 10 minutes certainly frees up plenty of time to go out and earn a paycheck so that I can afford to go stand in line and shop for more disposable razors that are apparently made from only the highest grade Platinum straight from Kanye's grille...is it grille or grill?
I'm sick of losing value for stupid people. Stupid people screw up everything for everyone. Stop encouraging them. If you see someone doing something blatantly stupid that might get them killed with a product, don't think "How can we prevent this from happening?" Think "Good. Go Nature, Go. Now my children have a chance to walk without scraping their knuckles because I didn't protect millions of people that would drink draino."
Look, I know what you're thinking. "Jesus Christ, Pat; we've all heard 100 different comedians do their "razor blade" bit about the numerous blade improvements. We've all seen SNL parody commercials of the same, get some new material already! Well, fair point but it merits a bit of coverage. It was this weekend, upon getting down to my last pack of replacement cartridges, that I realized how blatantly stupid we can be as a society.
Only humanity can be intelligent enough to solve a problem perfectly, then spend the next 200 years breaking it again in the name of protecting stupidity. 3 blades? 5? Maybe the new Gillette Mach52 Swiss Army Razor will be the answer? Allow me, dear reader, to share with you the future of shaving technology. A smooth perfect shave, every time, with low cost to boot!
 |
| 1 Blade? Pffttttttt that won't lift my hairs slightly as it caresses my face to semi-smoothness! Begone! |
- It's dangerous! People can cut themselves!
- It requires care and maintenance, rather than being disposable!
- Steve Jobs didn't invent it
To the first point, good. You know what? I'm sick of being the only species on the planet that can scoff at a religious person for thinking evolution is wrong, while pushing ideals that support coddling anyone too stupid to not slit their own throat while shaving. Survival of the fittest you hippie Godless bastards. If some dumbass can't get through his morning shave without severing an artery, do you think he was going to go out and cure cancer at work? No, he was probably going to fuck up my combo order. Stop saving stupid people from themselves, you're fucking up our gene pool. Do you know why we need entitlement programs? Because if you cannot avoid slicing your own throat in life, you should have died years ago. You should have went swimming with the hair dryer when you were 11 but we spared you that fate, now you get to smell bad next to me in Foodland, reading magazines in the checkout aisle knowing you'll just put it back after you get rung up, while I try to take out a small loan to buy another pack of razors.
Second point: care and maintenance. Now if there's a place in my heart for your stupid regulations Humans than appealing to laziness is your meal ticket. So I don't have to clean, sharpen, or store a big unsanitary blade for cutting my face? Wonderful! I just get to pollute the world with THOUSANDS of smaller biohazards that are built to cut their way out of any bag you store them in for disposal! Seriously, this is why I hate you people. Sure, laziness is great. Having one less chore of sharpening my razor once a month for 10 minutes certainly frees up plenty of time to go out and earn a paycheck so that I can afford to go stand in line and shop for more disposable razors that are apparently made from only the highest grade Platinum straight from Kanye's grille...is it grille or grill?
I'm sick of losing value for stupid people. Stupid people screw up everything for everyone. Stop encouraging them. If you see someone doing something blatantly stupid that might get them killed with a product, don't think "How can we prevent this from happening?" Think "Good. Go Nature, Go. Now my children have a chance to walk without scraping their knuckles because I didn't protect millions of people that would drink draino."
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