As I write this, it is of course an ungodly hour of the night/morning, depending on your overall outlook on such matters. On top of that, I find myself back in the intellectually devoid cesspool that is Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Thankfully, my time here will be short - a few days, at most - and I won't have to be subjected to the aura of decay and stagnation that permeates the environment here like an oil spill.
It's sad, really. I have spent a good amount of time away from this place, and upon my return, I find that very little has changed. A few new buildings have sprouted up, mostly more chain companies trying to penetrate the more bucolic environs of America in hopes of gaining even more of those fat-ass dirty dollars that we all seem to be so obsessed with, but the people are just the same as ever.
It strikes me as sad, however. I feel for these people the same way that one feels for the broken and destitute who have nowhere else to go. These people are born here. They live here all their lives, doing their best to carve out some kind of niche for themselves. They find someone that they can stand for longer than ten minutes at a time and procreate. They raise their children, and then die here. They never leave. The children go on to perpetuate the cycle.
This breaks my heart.
I think it's mostly because I cannot fathom the idea of wanting to stay in one place your entire life. Some people are content with that, and that's fine, but do you ever stop to really think about what the world outside of your town of choice might be like? There's literally an entire planet full of wonders and amazing things to witness and experience, and you can honestly sit there and tell me that you don't care about all that, that this land you're on is the only land you care about? I would - and do - find that very hard to believe.
But listen to me, sitting here, waxing eloquent about the merits of travelling and expanding your horizons. That's hardly what I want to talk about.
Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure just what it is that I do want to talk about. I am about to see one of my best friend's married, and shortly after, I am undergoing the Great Migration and moving out to California. As of August the 6th, I will officially be a California resident. Things are about to move in a great way; I can feel it in my gut.
And yet here I am, sitting in Chambersburg, wising that I was somewhere else. I really hate this town, and already I can feel it poking and prodding at my very soul, trying to suck me back into its sweet oblivion. No, my friends. This will not do. This will not do at all.
Until the next time I remember that I have a responsibility to this blog.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Socially (Un)acceptable
I recently made a Facebook status the other day, saying that people in Alcoholics Anonymous are usually too fundamentally broken to realize that they've turned themselves over to a broken concept and a failed ideal. As you can imagine, this was met with mixed reaction, mostly toward the negative.
While I expected this fully, what I found to be the most interesting was why the negative comments were... well... negative. For the most part, it seems that people took what I said at face value and were offended before even really thinking about it. Again, I expected this to happen, but it came from people I never would have imagined would react to something I said of this caliber in this way.
As it turns out, they have/had some reason or another to defend this organization, and that's alright by me. If the system - broken as it is - works for you, then go for it. It doesn't work for me, because I can't help but to see it for what it really is: a business designed to keep you coming back. Let me elaborate.
I am an entrepreneur. I have decided that I am going to start giving back to the community that has given me so much. I start looking around at my options, and I see that most - if not all - of them have been done to death. So, what do I do? Simple: follow the rules of business. It's worked out for me well in the past, so why wouldn't it apply here?
To start, I need to create a market. This isn't always the easiest thing in the world to do, because you can't always convince people that they really need what you have (E.G., the Shake Weight) and trying to do so can be quite expensive. I start looking around and I notice something: The town I'm in has a ton of drunks. Ah-ha! That's it!
I go through the proper channels of setting this up, talking about my crusade against alcoholism and the evils of addiction. It's great PR, plus it makes people a lot more willing to give me what I want. You know, "for the greater good" and all that. Everything gets the green light, I get some volunteers to help set up shop, and open my doors to the poor, the sad, the desperate, and the broken. Let's do some good deeds.
The first few weeks are slow, sure, as there are people coming in and out. After a while though, it takes off like a shot. Suddenly, almost overnight, you're regional instead of just local. Soon after, you're national, as the news of what you're doing takes off. Government grants start pouring in. Free money! This money has to be re-invested into the program, though, and as I read the fine print, I notice that the more people enrolled into this program I have, the more money I get.
This sets certain cogs into motion. I start remembering how to run a proper business, and my mind sticks on one thing in particular: It's always cheaper, and therefore more profitable, to continue doing business with an existing client than it is to open a new account altogether. In retail, it's called "repeat business." So, how do you get that?
Well, since we created a market that let people know that alcoholism and addiction really do exist and are terrible, terrible things, wouldn't it be just as easy to convince them that they'll always be sick? That they can't do it without you?
As it turns out, it's a lot easier than you might think. All you have to do is beat it into their head that they will never not be an addict or alcoholic ever again. Ever. And when you have a whole group of people convinced about this, it becomes easier to make the newcomers buy into it, as well. After all, we're all only human, and if we have several other humans telling us the same thing for long enough, we start to believe it ourselves. It's only a matter of time. Hanging out in the barber shop and all that.
So, now that I've explained all this, does it start to make sense why I feel the way I do? At the end of the day, AA does good work for the community and for society, but I sometimes wonder what the cost really is. It's still a business, after all. There are people who work for this organization who all need a paycheck - particularly in the administrative side of things. The money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the government through grants. The more people that AA has enrolled in its program, the more money it gets to keep things operational.
With this in mind, it's not really in their best interest to get you sober and keep you that way. Why else would they keep telling you "you can't, you can't, YOU CAN'T!"? This isn't proper or even reasonable behavior. In any other social setting, someone constantly telling you that you can't do something is considered rude and even unpleasant to be around, and yet we still have this group saying "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"
This is the problem with any kind of organization that has a foreseeable end-goal. It's not self-perpetuating enough, and if the goal is hit, what comes next? This, my friends, is the dirty truth of organizations like AA and NORML. Yes, they are doing a lot of good, but at what price? They intentionally roadblock you in the name of helping you, but really for the sake of more money.
Am I really the only person that sees something wrong with this?
Listen, folks. I'm not saying that you should boycott this organization, or write rage-filled letters to them, or anything else like that. I want to clarify that all I'm doing is what I always do: Telling you how I see it, and why I see it that way.
I'm also here to tell anybody struggling with addiction of any kind right now that you can do it. You can overcome it. All it takes is the proper desire to do so, and the acceptance of yourself in its entirety. Once you accept yourself, the rest of what AA teaches you comes along naturally. You can't keep denying yourself. You are sick, yes, but there is a cure, and that cure is yourself! You really can do this, and if you need that help of a group of people going through the same or similar circumstances, then by all means go for it. Just don't let them convince you that you will never get better again, because that's a load of crap. There is an end to this disease.... you just have to want it.
While I expected this fully, what I found to be the most interesting was why the negative comments were... well... negative. For the most part, it seems that people took what I said at face value and were offended before even really thinking about it. Again, I expected this to happen, but it came from people I never would have imagined would react to something I said of this caliber in this way.
As it turns out, they have/had some reason or another to defend this organization, and that's alright by me. If the system - broken as it is - works for you, then go for it. It doesn't work for me, because I can't help but to see it for what it really is: a business designed to keep you coming back. Let me elaborate.
I am an entrepreneur. I have decided that I am going to start giving back to the community that has given me so much. I start looking around at my options, and I see that most - if not all - of them have been done to death. So, what do I do? Simple: follow the rules of business. It's worked out for me well in the past, so why wouldn't it apply here?
To start, I need to create a market. This isn't always the easiest thing in the world to do, because you can't always convince people that they really need what you have (E.G., the Shake Weight) and trying to do so can be quite expensive. I start looking around and I notice something: The town I'm in has a ton of drunks. Ah-ha! That's it!
I go through the proper channels of setting this up, talking about my crusade against alcoholism and the evils of addiction. It's great PR, plus it makes people a lot more willing to give me what I want. You know, "for the greater good" and all that. Everything gets the green light, I get some volunteers to help set up shop, and open my doors to the poor, the sad, the desperate, and the broken. Let's do some good deeds.
The first few weeks are slow, sure, as there are people coming in and out. After a while though, it takes off like a shot. Suddenly, almost overnight, you're regional instead of just local. Soon after, you're national, as the news of what you're doing takes off. Government grants start pouring in. Free money! This money has to be re-invested into the program, though, and as I read the fine print, I notice that the more people enrolled into this program I have, the more money I get.
This sets certain cogs into motion. I start remembering how to run a proper business, and my mind sticks on one thing in particular: It's always cheaper, and therefore more profitable, to continue doing business with an existing client than it is to open a new account altogether. In retail, it's called "repeat business." So, how do you get that?
Well, since we created a market that let people know that alcoholism and addiction really do exist and are terrible, terrible things, wouldn't it be just as easy to convince them that they'll always be sick? That they can't do it without you?
As it turns out, it's a lot easier than you might think. All you have to do is beat it into their head that they will never not be an addict or alcoholic ever again. Ever. And when you have a whole group of people convinced about this, it becomes easier to make the newcomers buy into it, as well. After all, we're all only human, and if we have several other humans telling us the same thing for long enough, we start to believe it ourselves. It's only a matter of time. Hanging out in the barber shop and all that.
So, now that I've explained all this, does it start to make sense why I feel the way I do? At the end of the day, AA does good work for the community and for society, but I sometimes wonder what the cost really is. It's still a business, after all. There are people who work for this organization who all need a paycheck - particularly in the administrative side of things. The money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the government through grants. The more people that AA has enrolled in its program, the more money it gets to keep things operational.
With this in mind, it's not really in their best interest to get you sober and keep you that way. Why else would they keep telling you "you can't, you can't, YOU CAN'T!"? This isn't proper or even reasonable behavior. In any other social setting, someone constantly telling you that you can't do something is considered rude and even unpleasant to be around, and yet we still have this group saying "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"
This is the problem with any kind of organization that has a foreseeable end-goal. It's not self-perpetuating enough, and if the goal is hit, what comes next? This, my friends, is the dirty truth of organizations like AA and NORML. Yes, they are doing a lot of good, but at what price? They intentionally roadblock you in the name of helping you, but really for the sake of more money.
Am I really the only person that sees something wrong with this?
Listen, folks. I'm not saying that you should boycott this organization, or write rage-filled letters to them, or anything else like that. I want to clarify that all I'm doing is what I always do: Telling you how I see it, and why I see it that way.
I'm also here to tell anybody struggling with addiction of any kind right now that you can do it. You can overcome it. All it takes is the proper desire to do so, and the acceptance of yourself in its entirety. Once you accept yourself, the rest of what AA teaches you comes along naturally. You can't keep denying yourself. You are sick, yes, but there is a cure, and that cure is yourself! You really can do this, and if you need that help of a group of people going through the same or similar circumstances, then by all means go for it. Just don't let them convince you that you will never get better again, because that's a load of crap. There is an end to this disease.... you just have to want it.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Filtration Units
There have been many times throughout my life that I have gotten into trouble for not thinking about what I was saying before I said it. It's happened so many times that I've completely lost count, and it pains my head just to even consider thinking about it.
You see, the problem is that I tend to say exactly what's on my mind at the time, and that doesn't always sit well with people. They tend to react to truth - any kind of it - with defensive hostility. As soon as you say something that they aren't comfortable with, they start snapping and figuratively saying "Hey! Stop pissing in my Cheerios!"
After having spent some time considering the subject, I kind of want to talk about my conclusions on it.
I have noticed in my twenty-seven years of existence that when someone asks for your input, they aren't being very clear about what it is that they're actually requesting. Usually (not always, as there are exceptions to every rule) they are asking you to agree with them or take their side on the situation. They are not actually seeking out any kind of alternate perspective on it, but instead seeking out some kind of validation for their own feelings. They want someone else to say "It's alright to feel that way. You are totally justified in this."
I can certainly understand that for some situations, such as when you just turned down a job based on some moral principle, despite how much it paid. However, for the most part, people seem to want justification for being a jerk towards someone else, or because they are uncertain about some decision that they just made in one situation or another.
Again, I can understand the need for validation (Lord knows that I have experienced it enough to understand) but what I can't understand is the uncertainty in what you're saying/doing. Why would you doubt it? For all the talk of "having filters," people seem to be really unsure of what it is that they're doing.
I am beginning to draw the conclusion that people filter too much, and that's causing everybody to be unsure of what it is that they're doing. We are being told time and again that we have to be careful not to make anybody angry with our words, and this is resulting in way too much coddling and pussy-footing as far as I'm concerned, and the way I see it, it's preventing true progress from being made.
You see, we are rapidly getting to the point where to tell the truth to someone, you have to tell about ten lies just to start getting to the point. Example:
What You Say: Maybe pink isn't a color for you....
What You Mean: That shirt is hideous and you look like a reject from the 90's.
Yes, one is considerably meaner than the other, and the first way certainly spares some feelings.... but so what? The truth is the truth, and we should never, ever be ashamed of telling it at any given time, and certainly we shouldn't be so afraid to hear it.
When you tell someone the pure, unadulterated truth, something strange happens. The strange thing is that they react. React! Why is there any reaction to the truth beyond acceptance and understanding? I simply cannot understand.
I know the old saying that "the truth is harsh." Well, I posit that the harsher the truth, the more real it is. Reality is not a place of happy sunshine lollipops and rabbits. It's a harsh land out there, reminiscent of America as portrayed by the Fallout series, and you have nothing in this world - truly - if you don't have honesty, and more importantly, an honest idea of what honesty is.
Confusing, I know, but bear with me.
I think that people are lying to themselves about what honesty is. As a species, we seem to have this collective idea honesty means "agreeing with me." Sorry to break it to you like this, but that's a load of crap, and if you have this view of honesty, then you need to pull your head out of your ass.
Someone being honest does not mean that they are going to agree with you automatically. It means that they are going to tell you how they see the situation, and, if necessary, tell you what they think should be done in it. This means that they will sometimes agree with you - maybe even mostly - but there will be times that they don't, and as your friend, relative, mentor, and so on, it is not only just common decency but their responsibility to tell you the truth when they don't agree with you/your actions, and why.
They are not trying to change your mind. They are not trying to say that you're a bad person. They are simply telling you why they think that you are wrong. Let me say that again, only with emphasis on the important part: They are simple telling why they think you are wrong!
So, we all know that perception is reality, right? Well, I'm sure we all know the saying, yeah, but do we really know what that means? That means that everybody is perceiving the truth differently. This makes the truth - and honesty in general - a tricky concept. You can't just take one source of anything and say "This is the truth," because you just simply don't know. You have to look at the same thing from different perspectives to see what it really is.
Have you ever had a friend that everybody else swore was an asshole, and yet they treated you with nothing but respect and kindness? It's kind of like that. If you know someone like that, chances are they were being completely honest with someone and they didn't like it. Now, how they were being honest - and that's a discussion for later that probably won't happen - is entirely up in the air. Maybe they were honest about who they were really and screwed someone over, or maybe it was that they said or did something despite the opinion of the other person; who knows?
Further, who cares?
It has nothing to do with your relationship with that person.
Again, another discussion for a later time that will most likely never come.
I digress.
There are many different views on what is true and what is false, and as human beings we are blessed (or cursed, depending on how you think about it) with a brain that, despite its clunky design (David J. Linden lovingly calls it a "kludge"), does some rather amazing things for us in our day-to-day lives that we completely take for granted. One of these things that it allows us to do is examine something and see it for not only what it really is - or what we perceive it to be - but to look at it for what it could be.
When you look out of your window, what do you see? What does your brother see? Maybe your pets? What is it, really, that you see? I'm sure that if you asked the people listed, they would tell you. Perhaps it's what you see, as well, or maybe they are looking at the same thing in a different way. Your brother could see a creek where you see a stream. Pretty much the same thing, the only varying principle in their nomenclature being their size. Sure, it's not a very distinctive difference, but when it comes to the nature of communication, it can mean everything. Which paints a more impressive picture in your mind? Stream, or creek?
This is where things get tricky.
If someone were to ask you and your brother what you saw out of the window, your accounts would be similar enough, but the one detail that differs is that he says creek where you would say stream. Neither one of you is lying, as far as either of you are concerned, but that would be entirely up to whoever asked you the question. This person now has to formulate what was really seen based on the information that they have. Ultimately, it is up to them to decide on what is there - creek or stream - and that then becomes their truth.
With me so far? Good.
Now, I want to make this very clear: There is a world of difference between having a different view of the truth and outright lying to someone. Lying is something that you only do to manipulate a situation to your advantage - or rather, perceived advantage - in some fashion or another. This could be the advantage of favor, or financial gain, or some perverted sense of self-interest. Even though I am just as guilty of being a liar as any one of you currently reading this entry, I still don't understand the driving factor behind it. I have taken to a different method altogether, but I'll save that for a later entry.
When it comes time to tell the truth to someone - the truth as we see it - we hesitate because we are taught that nobody's feelings should ever be hurt, because that's just wrong. We are taught that if we just don't hurt the feelings of others, the problems of the world will just magically vanish one day. Yeah, a beautiful concept, but human nature is never going to let that happen, especially not with this kind of conditioning.
We are being desensitized to the truth and how to take it every single day, and there are various reasons for that. I intend on going into them at some point, but not tonight. Tonight, it's all about the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
The sake of the feelings of other people - both in general and towards us as people - is clouding our judgment. Sometimes, Sally needs to hear that she's turning into a bit of a whore. The harsh reality of a situation can shock someone back into sense, and realize what it is that they're doing. It can be a benefit to them, rather than a detriment, if they would just take the time to realize that you're not attacking them.
We can't be honest with each other, because we run what we want to say through so many filters that we are taught we need from an early age that we are forgetting our own humanity in a vain attempt to be more humane toward each other. If we would just say how it is that we really feel and make what we really want clear to other people right from the get-go, then I think the world would be in a better place.
Now, I'm not saying to go out and be a dick to people, because that's not the point of the truth. If you are using the truth to intentionally hurt people, then you are a monster of the highest caliber and I hope that there's a special place reserved in Hell for people like you. You are the ones that ruin the truth for everybody else.
That being said, I challenge you all to stop talking with filters, unless the situation deems it necessary (IE a job setting). But when you're not being paid to have certain courtesies, just start telling the truth! It's not that hard. Just look at something and say "Hey! That's not right!" or "Hey! This is awesome!"
Don't forget to clarify why. That helps a lot.
So the next time you are talking with someone and you find them blunt and direct, you should be thankful that you're talking with what is probably an honest person. That, or an absolute jackass.
I could just be a sociopath, though.
You see, the problem is that I tend to say exactly what's on my mind at the time, and that doesn't always sit well with people. They tend to react to truth - any kind of it - with defensive hostility. As soon as you say something that they aren't comfortable with, they start snapping and figuratively saying "Hey! Stop pissing in my Cheerios!"
After having spent some time considering the subject, I kind of want to talk about my conclusions on it.
I have noticed in my twenty-seven years of existence that when someone asks for your input, they aren't being very clear about what it is that they're actually requesting. Usually (not always, as there are exceptions to every rule) they are asking you to agree with them or take their side on the situation. They are not actually seeking out any kind of alternate perspective on it, but instead seeking out some kind of validation for their own feelings. They want someone else to say "It's alright to feel that way. You are totally justified in this."
I can certainly understand that for some situations, such as when you just turned down a job based on some moral principle, despite how much it paid. However, for the most part, people seem to want justification for being a jerk towards someone else, or because they are uncertain about some decision that they just made in one situation or another.
Again, I can understand the need for validation (Lord knows that I have experienced it enough to understand) but what I can't understand is the uncertainty in what you're saying/doing. Why would you doubt it? For all the talk of "having filters," people seem to be really unsure of what it is that they're doing.
I am beginning to draw the conclusion that people filter too much, and that's causing everybody to be unsure of what it is that they're doing. We are being told time and again that we have to be careful not to make anybody angry with our words, and this is resulting in way too much coddling and pussy-footing as far as I'm concerned, and the way I see it, it's preventing true progress from being made.
You see, we are rapidly getting to the point where to tell the truth to someone, you have to tell about ten lies just to start getting to the point. Example:
What You Say: Maybe pink isn't a color for you....
What You Mean: That shirt is hideous and you look like a reject from the 90's.
Yes, one is considerably meaner than the other, and the first way certainly spares some feelings.... but so what? The truth is the truth, and we should never, ever be ashamed of telling it at any given time, and certainly we shouldn't be so afraid to hear it.
When you tell someone the pure, unadulterated truth, something strange happens. The strange thing is that they react. React! Why is there any reaction to the truth beyond acceptance and understanding? I simply cannot understand.
I know the old saying that "the truth is harsh." Well, I posit that the harsher the truth, the more real it is. Reality is not a place of happy sunshine lollipops and rabbits. It's a harsh land out there, reminiscent of America as portrayed by the Fallout series, and you have nothing in this world - truly - if you don't have honesty, and more importantly, an honest idea of what honesty is.
Confusing, I know, but bear with me.
I think that people are lying to themselves about what honesty is. As a species, we seem to have this collective idea honesty means "agreeing with me." Sorry to break it to you like this, but that's a load of crap, and if you have this view of honesty, then you need to pull your head out of your ass.
Someone being honest does not mean that they are going to agree with you automatically. It means that they are going to tell you how they see the situation, and, if necessary, tell you what they think should be done in it. This means that they will sometimes agree with you - maybe even mostly - but there will be times that they don't, and as your friend, relative, mentor, and so on, it is not only just common decency but their responsibility to tell you the truth when they don't agree with you/your actions, and why.
They are not trying to change your mind. They are not trying to say that you're a bad person. They are simply telling you why they think that you are wrong. Let me say that again, only with emphasis on the important part: They are simple telling why they think you are wrong!
So, we all know that perception is reality, right? Well, I'm sure we all know the saying, yeah, but do we really know what that means? That means that everybody is perceiving the truth differently. This makes the truth - and honesty in general - a tricky concept. You can't just take one source of anything and say "This is the truth," because you just simply don't know. You have to look at the same thing from different perspectives to see what it really is.
Have you ever had a friend that everybody else swore was an asshole, and yet they treated you with nothing but respect and kindness? It's kind of like that. If you know someone like that, chances are they were being completely honest with someone and they didn't like it. Now, how they were being honest - and that's a discussion for later that probably won't happen - is entirely up in the air. Maybe they were honest about who they were really and screwed someone over, or maybe it was that they said or did something despite the opinion of the other person; who knows?
Further, who cares?
It has nothing to do with your relationship with that person.
Again, another discussion for a later time that will most likely never come.
I digress.
There are many different views on what is true and what is false, and as human beings we are blessed (or cursed, depending on how you think about it) with a brain that, despite its clunky design (David J. Linden lovingly calls it a "kludge"), does some rather amazing things for us in our day-to-day lives that we completely take for granted. One of these things that it allows us to do is examine something and see it for not only what it really is - or what we perceive it to be - but to look at it for what it could be.
When you look out of your window, what do you see? What does your brother see? Maybe your pets? What is it, really, that you see? I'm sure that if you asked the people listed, they would tell you. Perhaps it's what you see, as well, or maybe they are looking at the same thing in a different way. Your brother could see a creek where you see a stream. Pretty much the same thing, the only varying principle in their nomenclature being their size. Sure, it's not a very distinctive difference, but when it comes to the nature of communication, it can mean everything. Which paints a more impressive picture in your mind? Stream, or creek?
This is where things get tricky.
If someone were to ask you and your brother what you saw out of the window, your accounts would be similar enough, but the one detail that differs is that he says creek where you would say stream. Neither one of you is lying, as far as either of you are concerned, but that would be entirely up to whoever asked you the question. This person now has to formulate what was really seen based on the information that they have. Ultimately, it is up to them to decide on what is there - creek or stream - and that then becomes their truth.
With me so far? Good.
Now, I want to make this very clear: There is a world of difference between having a different view of the truth and outright lying to someone. Lying is something that you only do to manipulate a situation to your advantage - or rather, perceived advantage - in some fashion or another. This could be the advantage of favor, or financial gain, or some perverted sense of self-interest. Even though I am just as guilty of being a liar as any one of you currently reading this entry, I still don't understand the driving factor behind it. I have taken to a different method altogether, but I'll save that for a later entry.
When it comes time to tell the truth to someone - the truth as we see it - we hesitate because we are taught that nobody's feelings should ever be hurt, because that's just wrong. We are taught that if we just don't hurt the feelings of others, the problems of the world will just magically vanish one day. Yeah, a beautiful concept, but human nature is never going to let that happen, especially not with this kind of conditioning.
We are being desensitized to the truth and how to take it every single day, and there are various reasons for that. I intend on going into them at some point, but not tonight. Tonight, it's all about the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
The sake of the feelings of other people - both in general and towards us as people - is clouding our judgment. Sometimes, Sally needs to hear that she's turning into a bit of a whore. The harsh reality of a situation can shock someone back into sense, and realize what it is that they're doing. It can be a benefit to them, rather than a detriment, if they would just take the time to realize that you're not attacking them.
We can't be honest with each other, because we run what we want to say through so many filters that we are taught we need from an early age that we are forgetting our own humanity in a vain attempt to be more humane toward each other. If we would just say how it is that we really feel and make what we really want clear to other people right from the get-go, then I think the world would be in a better place.
Now, I'm not saying to go out and be a dick to people, because that's not the point of the truth. If you are using the truth to intentionally hurt people, then you are a monster of the highest caliber and I hope that there's a special place reserved in Hell for people like you. You are the ones that ruin the truth for everybody else.
That being said, I challenge you all to stop talking with filters, unless the situation deems it necessary (IE a job setting). But when you're not being paid to have certain courtesies, just start telling the truth! It's not that hard. Just look at something and say "Hey! That's not right!" or "Hey! This is awesome!"
Don't forget to clarify why. That helps a lot.
So the next time you are talking with someone and you find them blunt and direct, you should be thankful that you're talking with what is probably an honest person. That, or an absolute jackass.
I could just be a sociopath, though.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Celebrations
For those of you that don't know, I am currently in California, on an extended vacation that had a mission, not to mention the time needed with Donna and the opportunity to unwind.
The mission: Find a job, and secure housing. This mission has been half-way successful, as I have secured gainful employment out here.
Incidentally, this is just one of many fortunate events that have been happening lately, though, regrettably, I cannot talk about all of them to their full extent and will instead choose to not talk about them at all. That's not the point, though. The point is that I have been blessed greatly, and I am seizing the opportunity that I hear knocking.
Today - also incidentally - is the day that I celebrate yet another year of somehow managing to avoid an act of stupidity on such a grand scale as to kill myself. Yes, it is my 27th birthday, and I am spending it with some really good friends.
That being said, I feel the need to express my viewpoint on the traditional views of birthdays, how they are celebrated, and so on.
Oddly enough, this is where I start to get into trouble.
The current tradition of celebrating one's birthday is something that we are indoctrinated in to from an early age. We are taught from day one that the day that only amounts to either what I said at worst, or, at best, the day that marks your anniversary of your exodus from the womb.
My problem with this is that we are taught how to be selfish from an early age, fed by the illusion that you are deserving of material desires simply because you didn't die some how for another year. This isn't really what I would call healthy, as the path of the Fear starts with selfishness, usually. While there are, admittedly, other routes to it, the most traveled is the one of the selfish prick.
I admit that I wanted stuff growing up as a kid, but in my defense, who the hell doesn't? We were kids. There isn't a kid alive right now that wouldn't take a toy if you told them nobody had to pay for it, and there wasn't any harm in taking it. Congratulations! Here's a prize, just for standing there!
That being said, it starts to give the unchecked a sense of entitlement. Tie this into the fact that kids are being told more and more at such a young age that they are special, ad nauseum, you can connect the dots to people becoming more selfish and more materialistic than what is necessary.
Growing up, I started to connect these dots. I weaned myself off, slowly, by asking for less and less each year. It got to the point that by the time I was in my late teens, I wouldn't ask for much of anything beyond requesting a specific kind of dinner to my mother, who would usually oblige if it were possible on the short notice I am apt to give.
I have always hated the ideas of the traditional birthday party, because it only enforces the idea that you are somehow special or important for a single day for nothing more than standing there and existing. I know the idea is comforting to some, that they can have at least one day a year of some sort of significance, but I honestly believe that they are missing the point.
I believe that the point of a birthday is to celebrate, absolutely, but not exactly overtly. One should take the time through the day to reflect on what it is that they have accomplished in the past year. After all, each year we make it through without the Universe unfolding in a way that kills us, we become stronger, wiser, and, smarter.
Hopefully, anyway.
People always look at me funny when I tell them that my birthday is just another day to me. That's because it is. The only thing that I treat differently about it is that I take time to think about what all I have done in the past year, and assess on how I feel about it. I look at it from all angles, my mind some times going to darker places, but I find it necessary. I look at everything I've done - achievements, advances, mistakes, and so on - and examine it and learn from it what I can.
When I have a birthday, I absolutely want to be around other people, but it's only people that I feel like being around. That's pretty much any other day for me, and the fact that I choose one troupe over another is absolutely nothing personal against anybody that wasn't there. The reason is because to me, it's just another day.
This makes it awkward, though, when I'm in a situation like I am as I write this. People feel as if they should go out of their way to give me some sort of special treatment, and I feel weird accepting it. I don't expect special treatment on my birthday, because special treatment of any kind makes me feel dirty, somehow.
I'm not saying that everyone should take it to that extreme, but I would posit that everybody could use a revaluation of their current philosophies on birthdays. Presents are fine, and I'm not saying that you should give it all up. I tend to take my philosophies to the absolute limit, but that's mostly because of my personality.
What I am saying is that instead of expecting people to go out of their way to be nice to you, or acknowledge your presence, realize that this is a time for more internal celebration than external. Be around people that would make you feel most relaxed at the time, or good, or whatever positive emotion you enjoy the most, and just exist and reflect. Celebrate for yourself that you have lived another year, and look forward to another one.
The Adventure takes us many places on this coil. There are far too many things to see and do, conversations to have and people to meet all along the way that it just isn't worth it to be selfish. It only leads to the Fear, and that's not where you want to be.
Or I could really just be a sociopath.
The mission: Find a job, and secure housing. This mission has been half-way successful, as I have secured gainful employment out here.
Incidentally, this is just one of many fortunate events that have been happening lately, though, regrettably, I cannot talk about all of them to their full extent and will instead choose to not talk about them at all. That's not the point, though. The point is that I have been blessed greatly, and I am seizing the opportunity that I hear knocking.
Today - also incidentally - is the day that I celebrate yet another year of somehow managing to avoid an act of stupidity on such a grand scale as to kill myself. Yes, it is my 27th birthday, and I am spending it with some really good friends.
That being said, I feel the need to express my viewpoint on the traditional views of birthdays, how they are celebrated, and so on.
Oddly enough, this is where I start to get into trouble.
The current tradition of celebrating one's birthday is something that we are indoctrinated in to from an early age. We are taught from day one that the day that only amounts to either what I said at worst, or, at best, the day that marks your anniversary of your exodus from the womb.
My problem with this is that we are taught how to be selfish from an early age, fed by the illusion that you are deserving of material desires simply because you didn't die some how for another year. This isn't really what I would call healthy, as the path of the Fear starts with selfishness, usually. While there are, admittedly, other routes to it, the most traveled is the one of the selfish prick.
I admit that I wanted stuff growing up as a kid, but in my defense, who the hell doesn't? We were kids. There isn't a kid alive right now that wouldn't take a toy if you told them nobody had to pay for it, and there wasn't any harm in taking it. Congratulations! Here's a prize, just for standing there!
That being said, it starts to give the unchecked a sense of entitlement. Tie this into the fact that kids are being told more and more at such a young age that they are special, ad nauseum, you can connect the dots to people becoming more selfish and more materialistic than what is necessary.
Growing up, I started to connect these dots. I weaned myself off, slowly, by asking for less and less each year. It got to the point that by the time I was in my late teens, I wouldn't ask for much of anything beyond requesting a specific kind of dinner to my mother, who would usually oblige if it were possible on the short notice I am apt to give.
I have always hated the ideas of the traditional birthday party, because it only enforces the idea that you are somehow special or important for a single day for nothing more than standing there and existing. I know the idea is comforting to some, that they can have at least one day a year of some sort of significance, but I honestly believe that they are missing the point.
I believe that the point of a birthday is to celebrate, absolutely, but not exactly overtly. One should take the time through the day to reflect on what it is that they have accomplished in the past year. After all, each year we make it through without the Universe unfolding in a way that kills us, we become stronger, wiser, and, smarter.
Hopefully, anyway.
People always look at me funny when I tell them that my birthday is just another day to me. That's because it is. The only thing that I treat differently about it is that I take time to think about what all I have done in the past year, and assess on how I feel about it. I look at it from all angles, my mind some times going to darker places, but I find it necessary. I look at everything I've done - achievements, advances, mistakes, and so on - and examine it and learn from it what I can.
When I have a birthday, I absolutely want to be around other people, but it's only people that I feel like being around. That's pretty much any other day for me, and the fact that I choose one troupe over another is absolutely nothing personal against anybody that wasn't there. The reason is because to me, it's just another day.
This makes it awkward, though, when I'm in a situation like I am as I write this. People feel as if they should go out of their way to give me some sort of special treatment, and I feel weird accepting it. I don't expect special treatment on my birthday, because special treatment of any kind makes me feel dirty, somehow.
I'm not saying that everyone should take it to that extreme, but I would posit that everybody could use a revaluation of their current philosophies on birthdays. Presents are fine, and I'm not saying that you should give it all up. I tend to take my philosophies to the absolute limit, but that's mostly because of my personality.
What I am saying is that instead of expecting people to go out of their way to be nice to you, or acknowledge your presence, realize that this is a time for more internal celebration than external. Be around people that would make you feel most relaxed at the time, or good, or whatever positive emotion you enjoy the most, and just exist and reflect. Celebrate for yourself that you have lived another year, and look forward to another one.
The Adventure takes us many places on this coil. There are far too many things to see and do, conversations to have and people to meet all along the way that it just isn't worth it to be selfish. It only leads to the Fear, and that's not where you want to be.
Or I could really just be a sociopath.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Responsibly Irresponsible
Well... That was certainly a shock. I went to link something to a friend of mine and found that, for some reason, my blog had been removed. I'm not entirely certain who did it, or why, but it seems to be back now. Obviously.
The weirdest thing about that is that I never received an email or any other kind of contact regarding any kind of violation that would result in my ramblings becoming removed for one reason or another. The only thing I can figure is that whoever did it got mad that I didn't have anything valuable in my inbox and decided to be a jerk and yank the blog.
So, anyway, I'm sitting here at a friend's house, doing my good deed of the week and agreeing to watch his spawn for him while he works tomorrow/today/meaningless title to a title-less concept, and on the way, I started thinking about responsibilities and what mine are, and how I always put them off until the very last minute.
For example, I have yet to file my taxes, mostly because I am a fool.
That aside, what amazes me is just how responsible I am about my irresponsibility, paradoxically. I was discussing with a good friend the other day about this very thing, and that's what planted the seed. We were talking about how we always put things off until the last possible minute, but it always manages to get done and done on time, correctly, the first time. For the most part.
Or something along those lines.
Really, what it boils down to, is that I feel the need to live for the adventure of living, and not for the sake of it. Life is short - too short to just take for granted and let slip you by. We aren't getting any younger and we sure as hell can't live forever. Not in a physical sense. So... why not experience anything and everything you can?
I'm not saying go hog wild and completely blow off responsibility by getting yourself hooked on hard drugs because who the hell cares anyway kind of thing, but I am encouraging the taking time off from work and doing more than just lazing about the house in one fashion or another. Ever wanted to go to Maui, for example? What, realistically, is holding you back? Chances are, nothing that's of any real consequence anyway, so why not go ahead and do it?
I have had many adventures in my time due to many factors, such as a willingness to take stupid risks in the name of entertainment and good old-fashioned American mischief, and a lack of proper impulse control. My friend has a hard time of getting me out of the house to just come and hang out, but at the slightest suggestion of adventure or something out of the ordinary, I jump at it, because.... well, again: Why the hell not?
Example: If all someone wants to do is hang out, I'd rather sit at home and play a video game. However, if someone wanted to go knock on every door in Baltimore until we found someone he was looking for, I'd be all over it, because that just sounds like an afternoon to me.
Look, I'm not saying to do stupid things like going around, knocking on doors, but I am encouraging you to go out and do the things that you really want to do. Why sit around inside, sulking, when you can go for a hike or to a cafe or something to meet someone new? Why pass up the opportunity to make the day an interesting one, rather than a dull one?
What is stopping you? Honestly?
I say that what's stopping you is nothing more than you just not really thinking about it. The thought to do something out of the ordinary crosses your mind, but chances are, you dismiss it immediately because why bother with the unknown? You may not be doing anything interesting right now, but at least you know what to expect.
Am I right?
Probably not, but it was worth a shot.
I also just got to thinking about the things that I write here. When the blog went down, I realize that I've been taking it for granted. It's a lot more important to me than just some place to dump random thoughts. It's also a portfolio, of sorts, as there are many sub-sections that I have that are not available to the public (at this time) view, many of which contain other writing projects and even a few completed works. It was then that I realized that in my taking it for granted, I was being responsibly irresponsible with it. Sure, I posted in it, but not with the regularity that it deserves.
I won't go on some tangent, promising you more frequent updates, because that will probably never happen. I don't share all of my thoughts with you all, because I'd never stop writing. While that's awesome, it's also not exactly realistic, because I don't have a way to make money off of this talent.
Another reason that I write in this blog is that I feel what I have to say with any particular entry is important. At first, at least, and then I go back and read what I wrote and usually feel lousy about it afterward. Some would say that's me being self-aggrandizing, and they'd be right, most likely.
I feel particularly lousy about this writing now, even before it is completed, but that's alright by me. I'm sure someone can glean some form of meaning from it somewhere, and if that's what happens, it doesn't really matter how I feel about it, after all.
Or I could just be a sociopath. Who knows?
The weirdest thing about that is that I never received an email or any other kind of contact regarding any kind of violation that would result in my ramblings becoming removed for one reason or another. The only thing I can figure is that whoever did it got mad that I didn't have anything valuable in my inbox and decided to be a jerk and yank the blog.
So, anyway, I'm sitting here at a friend's house, doing my good deed of the week and agreeing to watch his spawn for him while he works tomorrow/today/meaningless title to a title-less concept, and on the way, I started thinking about responsibilities and what mine are, and how I always put them off until the very last minute.
For example, I have yet to file my taxes, mostly because I am a fool.
That aside, what amazes me is just how responsible I am about my irresponsibility, paradoxically. I was discussing with a good friend the other day about this very thing, and that's what planted the seed. We were talking about how we always put things off until the last possible minute, but it always manages to get done and done on time, correctly, the first time. For the most part.
Or something along those lines.
Really, what it boils down to, is that I feel the need to live for the adventure of living, and not for the sake of it. Life is short - too short to just take for granted and let slip you by. We aren't getting any younger and we sure as hell can't live forever. Not in a physical sense. So... why not experience anything and everything you can?
I'm not saying go hog wild and completely blow off responsibility by getting yourself hooked on hard drugs because who the hell cares anyway kind of thing, but I am encouraging the taking time off from work and doing more than just lazing about the house in one fashion or another. Ever wanted to go to Maui, for example? What, realistically, is holding you back? Chances are, nothing that's of any real consequence anyway, so why not go ahead and do it?
I have had many adventures in my time due to many factors, such as a willingness to take stupid risks in the name of entertainment and good old-fashioned American mischief, and a lack of proper impulse control. My friend has a hard time of getting me out of the house to just come and hang out, but at the slightest suggestion of adventure or something out of the ordinary, I jump at it, because.... well, again: Why the hell not?
Example: If all someone wants to do is hang out, I'd rather sit at home and play a video game. However, if someone wanted to go knock on every door in Baltimore until we found someone he was looking for, I'd be all over it, because that just sounds like an afternoon to me.
Look, I'm not saying to do stupid things like going around, knocking on doors, but I am encouraging you to go out and do the things that you really want to do. Why sit around inside, sulking, when you can go for a hike or to a cafe or something to meet someone new? Why pass up the opportunity to make the day an interesting one, rather than a dull one?
What is stopping you? Honestly?
I say that what's stopping you is nothing more than you just not really thinking about it. The thought to do something out of the ordinary crosses your mind, but chances are, you dismiss it immediately because why bother with the unknown? You may not be doing anything interesting right now, but at least you know what to expect.
Am I right?
Probably not, but it was worth a shot.
I also just got to thinking about the things that I write here. When the blog went down, I realize that I've been taking it for granted. It's a lot more important to me than just some place to dump random thoughts. It's also a portfolio, of sorts, as there are many sub-sections that I have that are not available to the public (at this time) view, many of which contain other writing projects and even a few completed works. It was then that I realized that in my taking it for granted, I was being responsibly irresponsible with it. Sure, I posted in it, but not with the regularity that it deserves.
I won't go on some tangent, promising you more frequent updates, because that will probably never happen. I don't share all of my thoughts with you all, because I'd never stop writing. While that's awesome, it's also not exactly realistic, because I don't have a way to make money off of this talent.
Another reason that I write in this blog is that I feel what I have to say with any particular entry is important. At first, at least, and then I go back and read what I wrote and usually feel lousy about it afterward. Some would say that's me being self-aggrandizing, and they'd be right, most likely.
I feel particularly lousy about this writing now, even before it is completed, but that's alright by me. I'm sure someone can glean some form of meaning from it somewhere, and if that's what happens, it doesn't really matter how I feel about it, after all.
Or I could just be a sociopath. Who knows?
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
How Christianity Ruined the World
I've been sitting around lately, unable to formulate a thought coherent and cohesive enough to put onto this thing, and therefore, have been letting it and other projects collect metaphorical dust. What I didn't know then, but do now, is that there has been something on my mind lately and I just couldn't put a finger on it.
Now, as I go into this, some may begin to question my sanity, and I'd have to assure them that this is only proper, and that I encourage it to be done with every person that you encounter on a daily basis. Just in case.
What's been on my mind is the lack of progression as more than just a society, but as a race in general. If there is intelligent life out there besides human beings, I'm confident that they've already found us, made contact, and then said "To Hell with these people. They're too violent."
It amuses me to think that they have Cockney accents.
Not only are we a violent species, known throughout history as far back as we can trace it to be killing each other (read here for further reference) - scientifically and religiously, both! - but we are also very easily led.
The problem with this is that we kind of let it happen, and have been doing so for countless ages. Ever since mankind first got drunk and said "To Hell with moving around! I'm staying here!" and the first real city formed, we have decided that we needed a leader. The problem with this is that there are people out there who only see opportunity and grab for it whenever possible, and they are usually pricks of the highest caliber. In today's day and age, we call them lawyers.
Back then, they were referred to as "Your Majesty."
Oh, we also continually refer to one as "Your Holiness."
I cannot believe that we, as human beings, believe that the Pope is the mortal voice of God, and that everything that flows from his mouth is Divine. I'm not saying that every Pope has been a prick, because there are certainly many cases of the opposite. The problem is that there are just as many cases of douche-baggery in the Papacy. This has led to many a bad decision being made with seemingly good intentions, but the weed of corruption is there, and its roots are starting to form in the lower echelons of the Catholic hierarchy, as is evidenced by many recent events.
While I and many more have a long list of complaints about the decision-making capabilities of the "mortal voice of God" that is conveniently elected, there is one in particular that I feel has made a devastating blow on humanity as a whole: The decision to go at odds with science.
Many people say that it's because science is an evil thing that exists only to disprove the existence of God. I understand how some people would come to those conclusions, seeing as how quacks and charlatans abound in every profession that you can possibly think of. The opinions of this special breed of jerk exist solely to anger others, and should be excused as such.
Any good scientist will tell you that they just aren't sure about the existence of God Himself, even if they dispute happenings in the Bible. Being uncertain about something isn't the same as outright not believing. To feel and see it otherwise is simple foolishness, and if this is how you react to the things that science says are happening and how it is that way, then you should be ashamed of yourself!
Or pat yourself on the back, because my list of railings against science are equally long. We may get to talking about that later, but for now, more to the point.
In the days of the Renaissance, the Church got offended by things that scientists and other creative minds were saying and doing. There was a cultural revolution going on, and they feared losing their grip of power on the people. A silly and needless fear, to be sure, but one they felt was valid nonetheless. They declared these free thinkers to be sinners, heretics, and blasphemers. They oppressed them into submission.
Those that resisted were the ones who formed what was to be forever known as the Illuminati, but again, that's a different discussion for a different time that is probably never.
I feel that it was around this time that creative minds went into hiding. This is evidenced at the fact that the only real technological jumps we made in the years following were, for the most part, for the purposes of killing each other, or preventing ourselves from being killed long enough to kill someone else first. This vicious cycle was brought about due to not only the metaphorical war being fought against science, art, and so on, but the physical ones that were constantly being fought "in the name of God."
It seems that the Church began to forget about the 11th commandment that Christ Himself brought to us: Love thy neighbor as you would yourself.
I find that the Church and those belonging to the far Right tend to be the first to cry out when their freedoms - the one of religion in particular - are being tread upon, but are also the first to plow right over the express freedoms of other individuals "in the name of God."
What kind of God tells us to do one thing, but then expects something else that can only be described as the almost-polar opposite? Certainly not the God that I believe in, because the One that I know shakes His head at such things.
This can probably be linked to the fact that many belonging to the far Right tend to believe more in knowing their Bible than they do in knowing God, and taking such old language so literally as to become completely blind to love of anyone that is outside of this bubble of yours is shameful to Him, and what He really wants for you. For all of us.
I'm not going to turn this into a preaching session, don't worry, but that is some food for thought.
The Church has since been fighting against some of the most brilliant of innovations in technology, not the least of which was stem cell research. They have constantly lobbied Congress to pass abortion laws nation-wide, all because they can't separate their moral stances from their political ones. They have constantly stuck their noses where they don't belong for far too long and impeded on us for so long that we have suffered for it by not being where we should.
Too often does the religious Right preach messages of hatred, intolerance, and fire and brimstone. They have made us afraid of anything that is on the Outside. They have taught us to fear anything that is different, because if it's different, it is against God.
Despite us being told to be fruitful and multiply, we are taught that sex is an evil and dirty thing. Despite being told to love our neighbor, we continue to speak and show hatred towards them, and further try to impede on their rights to be happy, just because their vision and lifestyle of it doesn't match ours. We are being taught, from a very young age, to match the image of God deemed appropriate by one guy, whereas God wants us each to represent Him in His way.
We have strayed very, very far from these principles that were given to us so many thousands of years ago (the world is not 6000 years old, thank you very much) by the One that we say we follow and love with our lives and all our hearts... the One we refer to as "Father."
And yet we disrespect Him so.
It's no longer just affecting small groups of people, though. It's now gotten to the point where the whole world has been held back, and now we're in a situation where the excrement has hit the air conditioning as a result. Our very planet is facing issues that, I believe, had science been given a fair chance to grow alongside with religion instead of constantly against it, we would have already had solutions to these issues by now and they wouldn't even be of concern.
Or I could just really be a sociopath. Who knows?
Now, as I go into this, some may begin to question my sanity, and I'd have to assure them that this is only proper, and that I encourage it to be done with every person that you encounter on a daily basis. Just in case.
What's been on my mind is the lack of progression as more than just a society, but as a race in general. If there is intelligent life out there besides human beings, I'm confident that they've already found us, made contact, and then said "To Hell with these people. They're too violent."
It amuses me to think that they have Cockney accents.
Not only are we a violent species, known throughout history as far back as we can trace it to be killing each other (read here for further reference) - scientifically and religiously, both! - but we are also very easily led.
The problem with this is that we kind of let it happen, and have been doing so for countless ages. Ever since mankind first got drunk and said "To Hell with moving around! I'm staying here!" and the first real city formed, we have decided that we needed a leader. The problem with this is that there are people out there who only see opportunity and grab for it whenever possible, and they are usually pricks of the highest caliber. In today's day and age, we call them lawyers.
Back then, they were referred to as "Your Majesty."
Oh, we also continually refer to one as "Your Holiness."
I cannot believe that we, as human beings, believe that the Pope is the mortal voice of God, and that everything that flows from his mouth is Divine. I'm not saying that every Pope has been a prick, because there are certainly many cases of the opposite. The problem is that there are just as many cases of douche-baggery in the Papacy. This has led to many a bad decision being made with seemingly good intentions, but the weed of corruption is there, and its roots are starting to form in the lower echelons of the Catholic hierarchy, as is evidenced by many recent events.
While I and many more have a long list of complaints about the decision-making capabilities of the "mortal voice of God" that is conveniently elected, there is one in particular that I feel has made a devastating blow on humanity as a whole: The decision to go at odds with science.
Many people say that it's because science is an evil thing that exists only to disprove the existence of God. I understand how some people would come to those conclusions, seeing as how quacks and charlatans abound in every profession that you can possibly think of. The opinions of this special breed of jerk exist solely to anger others, and should be excused as such.
Any good scientist will tell you that they just aren't sure about the existence of God Himself, even if they dispute happenings in the Bible. Being uncertain about something isn't the same as outright not believing. To feel and see it otherwise is simple foolishness, and if this is how you react to the things that science says are happening and how it is that way, then you should be ashamed of yourself!
Or pat yourself on the back, because my list of railings against science are equally long. We may get to talking about that later, but for now, more to the point.
In the days of the Renaissance, the Church got offended by things that scientists and other creative minds were saying and doing. There was a cultural revolution going on, and they feared losing their grip of power on the people. A silly and needless fear, to be sure, but one they felt was valid nonetheless. They declared these free thinkers to be sinners, heretics, and blasphemers. They oppressed them into submission.
Those that resisted were the ones who formed what was to be forever known as the Illuminati, but again, that's a different discussion for a different time that is probably never.
I feel that it was around this time that creative minds went into hiding. This is evidenced at the fact that the only real technological jumps we made in the years following were, for the most part, for the purposes of killing each other, or preventing ourselves from being killed long enough to kill someone else first. This vicious cycle was brought about due to not only the metaphorical war being fought against science, art, and so on, but the physical ones that were constantly being fought "in the name of God."
It seems that the Church began to forget about the 11th commandment that Christ Himself brought to us: Love thy neighbor as you would yourself.
I find that the Church and those belonging to the far Right tend to be the first to cry out when their freedoms - the one of religion in particular - are being tread upon, but are also the first to plow right over the express freedoms of other individuals "in the name of God."
What kind of God tells us to do one thing, but then expects something else that can only be described as the almost-polar opposite? Certainly not the God that I believe in, because the One that I know shakes His head at such things.
This can probably be linked to the fact that many belonging to the far Right tend to believe more in knowing their Bible than they do in knowing God, and taking such old language so literally as to become completely blind to love of anyone that is outside of this bubble of yours is shameful to Him, and what He really wants for you. For all of us.
I'm not going to turn this into a preaching session, don't worry, but that is some food for thought.
The Church has since been fighting against some of the most brilliant of innovations in technology, not the least of which was stem cell research. They have constantly lobbied Congress to pass abortion laws nation-wide, all because they can't separate their moral stances from their political ones. They have constantly stuck their noses where they don't belong for far too long and impeded on us for so long that we have suffered for it by not being where we should.
Too often does the religious Right preach messages of hatred, intolerance, and fire and brimstone. They have made us afraid of anything that is on the Outside. They have taught us to fear anything that is different, because if it's different, it is against God.
Despite us being told to be fruitful and multiply, we are taught that sex is an evil and dirty thing. Despite being told to love our neighbor, we continue to speak and show hatred towards them, and further try to impede on their rights to be happy, just because their vision and lifestyle of it doesn't match ours. We are being taught, from a very young age, to match the image of God deemed appropriate by one guy, whereas God wants us each to represent Him in His way.
We have strayed very, very far from these principles that were given to us so many thousands of years ago (the world is not 6000 years old, thank you very much) by the One that we say we follow and love with our lives and all our hearts... the One we refer to as "Father."
And yet we disrespect Him so.
It's no longer just affecting small groups of people, though. It's now gotten to the point where the whole world has been held back, and now we're in a situation where the excrement has hit the air conditioning as a result. Our very planet is facing issues that, I believe, had science been given a fair chance to grow alongside with religion instead of constantly against it, we would have already had solutions to these issues by now and they wouldn't even be of concern.
Or I could just really be a sociopath. Who knows?
Friday, March 09, 2012
Eh?
I'm feeling the need to rant. About what, I don't know yet, but something tells me that we'll be seeing a full-fledged entry here soon. Hopefully I'll have time at work today to mull over the details.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
A Preview Of Another WIP
Here's a bit of what I'm currently working on, and it's actually holding my attention. It has no title yet. I'll decide it later, maybe.
What the hell is going on here, I wonder? Why can't I see anything? Why is everything made of agony? These are some of the more filtered thoughts running through my head as I begin to come around.
I attempt to roll over, and this proves to be the worst idea I've had since.... well, whatever the hell it was that got into my head that got me into this situation to begin with. The pain was unimaginable. It resembled something that would normally be reserved for only the harshest descriptions of Hell the place, not the expression.
It's around this time that I decide that I'm just about done with this blindness. With much force of will - and I assure you, noble readers, there was much of it despite my horrid state - I managed to open my eyes.
The world slowly came into focus. The process was expedited thanks to me somehow managed to coerce my leaden arms into functioning just enough to rub the nights eye mucus from my face. A glance at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand, finding that it's far beyond the night before. In fact, it's closer to the very next night.
With a loud groan that could shake the dead, I manage to sit myself up straight. This causes a lance of pain from behind my eyes as if someone shoved a red-hot poker through my frontal cortex. My eyes close, and the dreaded blackness returns, along with the Fear. My forehead falls to my hands, and the agony resumes.
Holy shit, what did I do? Further, when did I get an electric alarm clock? This thought disturbs me into actually looking around at my surroundings, which honestly hadn't before held any kind of import into me. What I see evokes only one thought:
I must be in Hell.
The room I'm in, which I can only assume was of the cheap motel variety that was popular for travelers, adulterers, swindlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, drug addicts and so on back in the 20th century, and really haven't changed much since then. I find stains and odd mold on the carpet, and the furniture is all rotten. The smell in the air is that of fungus dead twice over, with newer, more superior and therefore more smelly fungus to take over.
I look up, my sense of clarity getting sharper with each passing minute as the pain behind my eyes dulled to a small yet persistant throb, at the window. There are Venetian blinds - who the hell still uses those? - covering the window. I sigh, wondering just what backwoods town I've managed to land myself in this time.
Gritting my teeth, I stand up, feeling the white hot pain shooting throughout my body. Every motion seemed to bring more and more pain, and of course, the Fear as well. After standing still for a few moments, I blink a few times and wait for the world to stop spinning. When it finally does, I open the door and step outside.
The sights awaiting my eye orbs was not what I was expecting at all. Rather than the familiar hustle and bustle of city life that I am so accustomed to, I find myself standing on the second floor of a seedy motel, staring out at what can only be described as scorched earth. The ground was hard soil, sun-baked to cracked perfection. The office of the motel was, like the rest of the structure, in dire need of some general repairs and a new coat of paint.
Sighing, I close the door behind me, not even caring whether or not it's locked. It's time to get some goddamn answers. I walk down the steps, each one creaking its protest as I put my weight on it, the wooden planks looking just as bad as the furniture inside of the small room.
I head over to the office, my eyes now darting around, taking in my surroundings. Really, there wasn't much else to see beyond the various cacti in the desert and a few of those ever-living shrubs that are sold to unsuspecting consumers, even to this day. Shaking my head, I walk into the main office.
Behind the counter sits a fat man wearing thick glasses, reading a dirty magazine. His long, black greasy hair is pulled back into a ponytail, which does absolutely nothing for the widow's peak on his head that seems to have gained far more territory than what most men are comfortable with. He is wearing a white tank top - also known as a "wife beater" due to it being the choice garment of blue-collar workers who like to drink a whole lot of alcohol and then beat their spouses - and it seems to not exactly be a clean garment, judging by the foul-looking green blotch of a stain that can be seen on it. A long, thick cigar hangs from his mouth, permeating the atmosphere with pleasant-smelling carcinogens.
All in all, this guy was a total Neanderthal.
I clear my throat to get his attention. "Excuse me."
He looks up at me from his book, raising a thick bushy eyebrow as a form of query. "Whaddya want?"
What a question that was! I wasn't prepared to be questioned; rather, I was fully prepared to do the questioning. As a result, I wasn't exactly on guard in my reply. "Well... I was wondering.... that is...."
"Come on, wanker! I ain't got all day! Tryin' to run a business here!" the motel worker said, not even bothering to hide his magazine, and blatantly ignoring the wall clock that was in desperate need of a battery change, differing by a good three or four hours from the digital clock in the room, and sitting still, silent, and very dead.
"I came from room 204... I don't remember ever even checking into this place. Truth be told, I'm not even entirely sure where 'here' is. What can you tell me?"
"Room 204? Hell, kid, I thought you left days ago!"
I blinked at him, perplexed. "Days?"
"Yeah... you came here about four or five days ago, all hopped up on..... something."
Well, as much as I wanted to argue with the guy, I knew that I simply couldn't, as this isn't exactly out of the ordinary for me. That certainly explains the condition I woke up in! "You wouldn't happen to know if I mentioned anything about where I came from, do you?" He grinned at me then, placing his magazine down. "Boy, you didn't need to say word one. You came in from the City."
"The City?"
"Wow. You must have been really whacked out, kid. Here, let ol' Gus show you." And with that, he places his meatpaws on his desk and used them to support himself a bit as he lifted his bulk up out of the cheap office chair - also stained - and walked around to my side of the counter. He pulls on some sun glasses and heads to the front door. "This way."
I follow him outside and walk to the road. He turns off to the left - not being entirely sure where I am at this point, I couldn't tell you what the cardinal direction was - and I follow his fat, sausage-like finger. Down the straight, two-lane narrow asphalt road, I see large structures in the distance. The unmistakable sign of civilization! I'm saved!
"About how far off is that place?" Gus furrowed his brows, quite obviously trying to think harder than he probably has in years. At last, the answer comes. "About ten miles, give or take."
Damn. Too far to walk. I sigh, shoving my hands in my pockets. I quirk up a bit as I feel something in my pocket. Several somethings, actually. I pull my hands out and take look. There is a half-full package of cigarettes, a matchbook, two vials - one with white powder, and one with a greenish-blue thick liquid - a cell phone, a set of keys with a FOB attached, and a folded up piece of paper. I thank Gus for his help, getting a grunt as a reply, and head back to room 204 to further examine the items in my possession.
Entering the ramshackle room, I close and lock the door, trying my best to ignore the fact that this lock seems about as useful as nipples on a medieval breastplate. I sit down on the bed, Indian style, and pore over the contents of my pockets.
The phone is I mess with first. As luck would have it, it's completely dead. A quick scan of the room shows that there is no charger for it anywhere. Why would there be? If I really just spent the past four or five days or longer in a haze of drugs and debauchery again, it would only make sense that I would lose things of import like this. Now if only I could figure out how the hell I got this thing to begin with.
The next item on my list to examine is the folded paper. The keys couldn't possibly belong to me, as I don't own a car. I'll have to find their proper owner, or toss them into the desert somewhere, hopefully to be swallowed by an iguana monster. The vials could wait, as I had a good feeling what was in those.
The paper is folded into the shape of a shuriken. This is odd, as I lack the manual dexterity required for such artwork. Further, there is hand-writing on it, and what's more is that it's legible! Cleary, this can't be mine!
What the hell is going on here, I wonder? Why can't I see anything? Why is everything made of agony? These are some of the more filtered thoughts running through my head as I begin to come around.
I attempt to roll over, and this proves to be the worst idea I've had since.... well, whatever the hell it was that got into my head that got me into this situation to begin with. The pain was unimaginable. It resembled something that would normally be reserved for only the harshest descriptions of Hell the place, not the expression.
It's around this time that I decide that I'm just about done with this blindness. With much force of will - and I assure you, noble readers, there was much of it despite my horrid state - I managed to open my eyes.
The world slowly came into focus. The process was expedited thanks to me somehow managed to coerce my leaden arms into functioning just enough to rub the nights eye mucus from my face. A glance at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand, finding that it's far beyond the night before. In fact, it's closer to the very next night.
With a loud groan that could shake the dead, I manage to sit myself up straight. This causes a lance of pain from behind my eyes as if someone shoved a red-hot poker through my frontal cortex. My eyes close, and the dreaded blackness returns, along with the Fear. My forehead falls to my hands, and the agony resumes.
Holy shit, what did I do? Further, when did I get an electric alarm clock? This thought disturbs me into actually looking around at my surroundings, which honestly hadn't before held any kind of import into me. What I see evokes only one thought:
I must be in Hell.
The room I'm in, which I can only assume was of the cheap motel variety that was popular for travelers, adulterers, swindlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, drug addicts and so on back in the 20th century, and really haven't changed much since then. I find stains and odd mold on the carpet, and the furniture is all rotten. The smell in the air is that of fungus dead twice over, with newer, more superior and therefore more smelly fungus to take over.
I look up, my sense of clarity getting sharper with each passing minute as the pain behind my eyes dulled to a small yet persistant throb, at the window. There are Venetian blinds - who the hell still uses those? - covering the window. I sigh, wondering just what backwoods town I've managed to land myself in this time.
Gritting my teeth, I stand up, feeling the white hot pain shooting throughout my body. Every motion seemed to bring more and more pain, and of course, the Fear as well. After standing still for a few moments, I blink a few times and wait for the world to stop spinning. When it finally does, I open the door and step outside.
The sights awaiting my eye orbs was not what I was expecting at all. Rather than the familiar hustle and bustle of city life that I am so accustomed to, I find myself standing on the second floor of a seedy motel, staring out at what can only be described as scorched earth. The ground was hard soil, sun-baked to cracked perfection. The office of the motel was, like the rest of the structure, in dire need of some general repairs and a new coat of paint.
Sighing, I close the door behind me, not even caring whether or not it's locked. It's time to get some goddamn answers. I walk down the steps, each one creaking its protest as I put my weight on it, the wooden planks looking just as bad as the furniture inside of the small room.
I head over to the office, my eyes now darting around, taking in my surroundings. Really, there wasn't much else to see beyond the various cacti in the desert and a few of those ever-living shrubs that are sold to unsuspecting consumers, even to this day. Shaking my head, I walk into the main office.
Behind the counter sits a fat man wearing thick glasses, reading a dirty magazine. His long, black greasy hair is pulled back into a ponytail, which does absolutely nothing for the widow's peak on his head that seems to have gained far more territory than what most men are comfortable with. He is wearing a white tank top - also known as a "wife beater" due to it being the choice garment of blue-collar workers who like to drink a whole lot of alcohol and then beat their spouses - and it seems to not exactly be a clean garment, judging by the foul-looking green blotch of a stain that can be seen on it. A long, thick cigar hangs from his mouth, permeating the atmosphere with pleasant-smelling carcinogens.
All in all, this guy was a total Neanderthal.
I clear my throat to get his attention. "Excuse me."
He looks up at me from his book, raising a thick bushy eyebrow as a form of query. "Whaddya want?"
What a question that was! I wasn't prepared to be questioned; rather, I was fully prepared to do the questioning. As a result, I wasn't exactly on guard in my reply. "Well... I was wondering.... that is...."
"Come on, wanker! I ain't got all day! Tryin' to run a business here!" the motel worker said, not even bothering to hide his magazine, and blatantly ignoring the wall clock that was in desperate need of a battery change, differing by a good three or four hours from the digital clock in the room, and sitting still, silent, and very dead.
"I came from room 204... I don't remember ever even checking into this place. Truth be told, I'm not even entirely sure where 'here' is. What can you tell me?"
"Room 204? Hell, kid, I thought you left days ago!"
I blinked at him, perplexed. "Days?"
"Yeah... you came here about four or five days ago, all hopped up on..... something."
Well, as much as I wanted to argue with the guy, I knew that I simply couldn't, as this isn't exactly out of the ordinary for me. That certainly explains the condition I woke up in! "You wouldn't happen to know if I mentioned anything about where I came from, do you?" He grinned at me then, placing his magazine down. "Boy, you didn't need to say word one. You came in from the City."
"The City?"
"Wow. You must have been really whacked out, kid. Here, let ol' Gus show you." And with that, he places his meatpaws on his desk and used them to support himself a bit as he lifted his bulk up out of the cheap office chair - also stained - and walked around to my side of the counter. He pulls on some sun glasses and heads to the front door. "This way."
I follow him outside and walk to the road. He turns off to the left - not being entirely sure where I am at this point, I couldn't tell you what the cardinal direction was - and I follow his fat, sausage-like finger. Down the straight, two-lane narrow asphalt road, I see large structures in the distance. The unmistakable sign of civilization! I'm saved!
"About how far off is that place?" Gus furrowed his brows, quite obviously trying to think harder than he probably has in years. At last, the answer comes. "About ten miles, give or take."
Damn. Too far to walk. I sigh, shoving my hands in my pockets. I quirk up a bit as I feel something in my pocket. Several somethings, actually. I pull my hands out and take look. There is a half-full package of cigarettes, a matchbook, two vials - one with white powder, and one with a greenish-blue thick liquid - a cell phone, a set of keys with a FOB attached, and a folded up piece of paper. I thank Gus for his help, getting a grunt as a reply, and head back to room 204 to further examine the items in my possession.
Entering the ramshackle room, I close and lock the door, trying my best to ignore the fact that this lock seems about as useful as nipples on a medieval breastplate. I sit down on the bed, Indian style, and pore over the contents of my pockets.
The phone is I mess with first. As luck would have it, it's completely dead. A quick scan of the room shows that there is no charger for it anywhere. Why would there be? If I really just spent the past four or five days or longer in a haze of drugs and debauchery again, it would only make sense that I would lose things of import like this. Now if only I could figure out how the hell I got this thing to begin with.
The next item on my list to examine is the folded paper. The keys couldn't possibly belong to me, as I don't own a car. I'll have to find their proper owner, or toss them into the desert somewhere, hopefully to be swallowed by an iguana monster. The vials could wait, as I had a good feeling what was in those.
The paper is folded into the shape of a shuriken. This is odd, as I lack the manual dexterity required for such artwork. Further, there is hand-writing on it, and what's more is that it's legible! Cleary, this can't be mine!
Dusty
Now, I'm not entirely certain what has gotten into me lately that I haven't been having the usual flashes of inspiration to write in this blog like I was for a while there. I'd really like to say that I've been doing better things with my time, but that's just simply not true. The truth of the matter is that I've been subjecting myself more and more to the human condition, as every once in a while I decide that I'm going to give it another go, regardless of the data collected from the last time I made such a decision.
The world is still interesting and people are still blissfully ignorant of it.
However, with each new jaunt or adventure or journey or trip or whatever the hell you want to refer to it as into the public that I take, I am finding more and more that we, as a society, are compartmentalizing ourselves. This, of course, feeds into Circle Logic, which I'm still working on fleshing out, but it's also quite disconcerting in the directions that it's taking.
For example, were you aware that there are large amounts of people out there who are rallying against you right now, in a bold yet arrogant attempt to make the things that they find morally reprehensible when it comes to decision-making completely illegal? I know, I know! It's crazy! Or "cray-cray," as the kids are saying these days.
Now, I know that I wrote about something like this not too terribly long ago, so I won't sit here and beat a dead horse. I'm just going to take a bit of time - as in basically the rest of this paragraph, this visual representation of millions upon millions of 0s and 1s, all being calculated at speeds that most of you ingrates can't even begin to comprehend - to talk about it a little more. Just because you think abortions are wrong, that doesn't mean that they should be made illegal. It's not murder when you do it during the first trimester. If you don't think that's true at all, consider that the brain isn't even formed yet, and without the brain, we don't even have a soul yet. So take your fullness of ego and self-righteousness and shove it up your rectal cavity, because I really am sick and tired of hearing what you have to say. It is rarely, if ever, contextual or even well thought out. It's actually reminiscent of listening to a lower-class Republican (read: ignorant redneck) defending the invasion of Iraq.
Moving on, I started a new writing project last night. I'm hoping that it bears some fruit and I can get past the first couple of chapters. I figure that if I can make it to a fifth chapter or whatever - or at least 4k words - I'll be alright. Will that happen? Probably not, because I'll end up finding something else with which to waste my time. Who knows? Maybe I will finish it up and post it somewhere for people to read and enjoy and loathe and so on. Maybe, maybe not.
Other than that, not much else to report. I just didn't feel like this blog not having an update - even a minor thing like this - once again for yet another month. There's just too much going on in my head and not enough patience in reserves for me to be able to get it all down to paper. I would really, really like that, but I'm also entirely too much of a goddamn realist to have any hope of that happening. Instead, I am fighting to get down as much as I can, and eventually I'll make sense of this jumbled mess of words, ideas, thoughts, emotions, concepts, contexts, and so on.
Anyway, that's about it for now. Might do something a little more serious later tonight.
The world is still interesting and people are still blissfully ignorant of it.
However, with each new jaunt or adventure or journey or trip or whatever the hell you want to refer to it as into the public that I take, I am finding more and more that we, as a society, are compartmentalizing ourselves. This, of course, feeds into Circle Logic, which I'm still working on fleshing out, but it's also quite disconcerting in the directions that it's taking.
For example, were you aware that there are large amounts of people out there who are rallying against you right now, in a bold yet arrogant attempt to make the things that they find morally reprehensible when it comes to decision-making completely illegal? I know, I know! It's crazy! Or "cray-cray," as the kids are saying these days.
Now, I know that I wrote about something like this not too terribly long ago, so I won't sit here and beat a dead horse. I'm just going to take a bit of time - as in basically the rest of this paragraph, this visual representation of millions upon millions of 0s and 1s, all being calculated at speeds that most of you ingrates can't even begin to comprehend - to talk about it a little more. Just because you think abortions are wrong, that doesn't mean that they should be made illegal. It's not murder when you do it during the first trimester. If you don't think that's true at all, consider that the brain isn't even formed yet, and without the brain, we don't even have a soul yet. So take your fullness of ego and self-righteousness and shove it up your rectal cavity, because I really am sick and tired of hearing what you have to say. It is rarely, if ever, contextual or even well thought out. It's actually reminiscent of listening to a lower-class Republican (read: ignorant redneck) defending the invasion of Iraq.
Moving on, I started a new writing project last night. I'm hoping that it bears some fruit and I can get past the first couple of chapters. I figure that if I can make it to a fifth chapter or whatever - or at least 4k words - I'll be alright. Will that happen? Probably not, because I'll end up finding something else with which to waste my time. Who knows? Maybe I will finish it up and post it somewhere for people to read and enjoy and loathe and so on. Maybe, maybe not.
Other than that, not much else to report. I just didn't feel like this blog not having an update - even a minor thing like this - once again for yet another month. There's just too much going on in my head and not enough patience in reserves for me to be able to get it all down to paper. I would really, really like that, but I'm also entirely too much of a goddamn realist to have any hope of that happening. Instead, I am fighting to get down as much as I can, and eventually I'll make sense of this jumbled mess of words, ideas, thoughts, emotions, concepts, contexts, and so on.
Anyway, that's about it for now. Might do something a little more serious later tonight.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Am I Racist, Or Just A Sociopath?
Just had an interesting conversation with a good friend. It involved the stance on illegal immigration. While my stance alone could fill a blog, that's not really what I wanted it to be about.
This is a hot topic issue lately, and it's honestly just not something that I feel strongly enough about to really muster any more than a single fuck to give about. I mean, honestly? I understand the issue of how it affects the economy for many Americans that are losing jobs to it, but that wasn't really a huge thing until we started hitting a recession.
Yeah. I just said it. Before you get mad, really sit down and think about it. It was always just a small issue to bring up during political debates, to garner what was once a niche group. Recession hits, and suddenly it's on the top of everybody's shit list and at the end of the day, it's really just a big a problem as it always has been.
I personally feel we brought it among ourselves. We let the problem get there because we were complacent in our excess. Now that things we once had are suddenly going away because we can no longer afford them, we suddenly want to point the finger at something or someone, because it surely can't be our own fault. We're victims here, after all.
Take a moment to really think about it. If you were in a situation where you country's economy and government have both basically collapsed in on themselves, and there isn't really a lot of work to be had, what would you do? Simple. You'd do the human thing, which is take the path of least resistance.
For the record, the following is a good point brought up by someone else in the conversation, and I feel it needs to be on the record, as I agree with it 100%.
Anyway, you see that just a few hundred to thousand miles north, you can hike it up to a country where you could make far more money than you would there. You're going to do it eventually. I know I would.
That being said, if I recall, white Americans are the biggest illegal immigrant problem in the nation, truth be told, seconded only by African-Americans. We brought them here, after all, to help out our infestation.
Don't believe it? Go ask a true Native American.
Anyway, stepping down from the soap box and moving on to the main portion of this entry, I personally have no problems with Asian illegal immigrants. When they come here, we can't really moan about them taking jobs from Americans. Have you ever tried being anything but an Oriental and try to get work at an Oriental-run business of any sort? It rarely happens, and when it does, it's usually in the salon businesses, and it normally doesn't last very long when it does.
The workers of these places are typically family or close friends of some sort, or friends of friends. No outsiders allowed. I'm sure the same can be said of many kinds of local businesses here in America, as the mom and pop dream shops were run until the invention of major corporations.
In the end, I see the Asian illegals coming into this country, getting a job that I had less than zero chance of getting to begin with, and actually contributing to society in some fashion or another. Even if it's making me fatter than what I am, I support them 100% in their endeavors, and give them a salute.
This is a hot topic issue lately, and it's honestly just not something that I feel strongly enough about to really muster any more than a single fuck to give about. I mean, honestly? I understand the issue of how it affects the economy for many Americans that are losing jobs to it, but that wasn't really a huge thing until we started hitting a recession.
Yeah. I just said it. Before you get mad, really sit down and think about it. It was always just a small issue to bring up during political debates, to garner what was once a niche group. Recession hits, and suddenly it's on the top of everybody's shit list and at the end of the day, it's really just a big a problem as it always has been.
I personally feel we brought it among ourselves. We let the problem get there because we were complacent in our excess. Now that things we once had are suddenly going away because we can no longer afford them, we suddenly want to point the finger at something or someone, because it surely can't be our own fault. We're victims here, after all.
Take a moment to really think about it. If you were in a situation where you country's economy and government have both basically collapsed in on themselves, and there isn't really a lot of work to be had, what would you do? Simple. You'd do the human thing, which is take the path of least resistance.
For the record, the following is a good point brought up by someone else in the conversation, and I feel it needs to be on the record, as I agree with it 100%.
Anyway, you see that just a few hundred to thousand miles north, you can hike it up to a country where you could make far more money than you would there. You're going to do it eventually. I know I would.
That being said, if I recall, white Americans are the biggest illegal immigrant problem in the nation, truth be told, seconded only by African-Americans. We brought them here, after all, to help out our infestation.
Don't believe it? Go ask a true Native American.
Anyway, stepping down from the soap box and moving on to the main portion of this entry, I personally have no problems with Asian illegal immigrants. When they come here, we can't really moan about them taking jobs from Americans. Have you ever tried being anything but an Oriental and try to get work at an Oriental-run business of any sort? It rarely happens, and when it does, it's usually in the salon businesses, and it normally doesn't last very long when it does.
The workers of these places are typically family or close friends of some sort, or friends of friends. No outsiders allowed. I'm sure the same can be said of many kinds of local businesses here in America, as the mom and pop dream shops were run until the invention of major corporations.
In the end, I see the Asian illegals coming into this country, getting a job that I had less than zero chance of getting to begin with, and actually contributing to society in some fashion or another. Even if it's making me fatter than what I am, I support them 100% in their endeavors, and give them a salute.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Second Annual Obligatory Post
Well, I certainly hope you all had a good celebration to herald in a new year full of the same kinds of mistakes and overall bullshit antics that make our lives so incredibly fun.
Keeping with the tradition started last year, this is the annual Obligatory Post, where I join everyone else in making promises that I likely won't be able to keep, but will do my best to aspire towards, anyway.
I'm currently sitting here at a friend's house, bantering back and forth with him about a future project that we have some very real aspirations for. The only problem with this is that our personalities clash a good bit, due to constant miscommunication.
Admittedly, this is mostly my fault.
Anyway, without taking that overly-critical path, I just figured I'd take some time to catch everyone up about things. I've been mentioning to various writing projects all year long - some of which were surprisingly well-received. I want to assure all those interested that those projects haven't been forgotten, only delayed.
I've been on a severe time crunch this month, working myself at my day job half to death to be able to afford a very important ticket, as well as the time off being taken that will follow, starting today. I've not had time to do much of anything but work this job, hence why my posts have been irregular lately, and why they've not really been following the theme I was trying to set down.
Don't worry; the next time that I make another post, I want it to be the follow-up to the basis of my philosophy. I really want to share this idea with you all, and I do have plans on continuing the short story snippet that I posted a few months back. That particular project has just hit a brick wall.
I also decided to open a Twitter account so that it would make it easier for those of you who don't have blogger accounts to follow me if you are interested.
I will probably be silent for the next two weeks, not making another post until probably exactly 14 days from today. If it does happen, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Well, that's about it. Be safe, and try not to break any promises.
Okay?
Keeping with the tradition started last year, this is the annual Obligatory Post, where I join everyone else in making promises that I likely won't be able to keep, but will do my best to aspire towards, anyway.
I'm currently sitting here at a friend's house, bantering back and forth with him about a future project that we have some very real aspirations for. The only problem with this is that our personalities clash a good bit, due to constant miscommunication.
Admittedly, this is mostly my fault.
Anyway, without taking that overly-critical path, I just figured I'd take some time to catch everyone up about things. I've been mentioning to various writing projects all year long - some of which were surprisingly well-received. I want to assure all those interested that those projects haven't been forgotten, only delayed.
I've been on a severe time crunch this month, working myself at my day job half to death to be able to afford a very important ticket, as well as the time off being taken that will follow, starting today. I've not had time to do much of anything but work this job, hence why my posts have been irregular lately, and why they've not really been following the theme I was trying to set down.
Don't worry; the next time that I make another post, I want it to be the follow-up to the basis of my philosophy. I really want to share this idea with you all, and I do have plans on continuing the short story snippet that I posted a few months back. That particular project has just hit a brick wall.
I also decided to open a Twitter account so that it would make it easier for those of you who don't have blogger accounts to follow me if you are interested.
I will probably be silent for the next two weeks, not making another post until probably exactly 14 days from today. If it does happen, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Well, that's about it. Be safe, and try not to break any promises.
Okay?
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