Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Fear
In this post-9/11 American culture, fear is a norm. Of course, both fear and the "post-9/11 culture" are cliches. 9/11 didn't change America, we did. And fear wasn't the name of the game of Americans until we made it that too. We made fear the national past time. Fear. Fear. Fear. From agoraphobia to xenophobia and everywhere in between, this is a nation of scared children. This nation cannot live up to the fact that it's little dream bubble was popped by three fucking airplanes. Get over it. We are no less safe today than we were on 9/10. It's a fallacy created by the neo-con minority, then in power, as a means to grab control of our lives out of under us.
It's worked too. You fear everything today. You suspect every foreign person is an enemy and a hater of your ideals. You're afraid as you walk down the street, ride the bus, get the mail, or even stop at a red light. They might get you. After all, everyone's out to get you. Clearly, you're entirely full of shit. No one is out to get you. There is no one that you should fear. Fear is the tool of those who want power over you and nothing more. It doesn't protect you; it limits you. Don't let others have power over you; don't fear the unknown; and don't avoid your life just because someone might at some point maybe could possibly want to do you harm. Reality check, most people don't want to harm you. It doesn't matter if they're Black or White, gay or straight, rich or poor, old or young. A vast majority of Americans just want to get along with their lives in peace. What's there so much to be scared of then? There is nothing to go bump in the night. It's in your head America. It's in your head.
Don't fear the unknown. Learn it. Understand it. And embrace it or move the fuck on. This culture of fear that we live in is destroying our nation and destroying our lives individually. Go to the malls again, live within your means, do what you want to do without alarm, feel how you want to feel without reproach, and most of all get it through your head that we're all in this life together and there's no sense looking for bogymen around ever corner.
C'est la vie.
-FFF
It's worked too. You fear everything today. You suspect every foreign person is an enemy and a hater of your ideals. You're afraid as you walk down the street, ride the bus, get the mail, or even stop at a red light. They might get you. After all, everyone's out to get you. Clearly, you're entirely full of shit. No one is out to get you. There is no one that you should fear. Fear is the tool of those who want power over you and nothing more. It doesn't protect you; it limits you. Don't let others have power over you; don't fear the unknown; and don't avoid your life just because someone might at some point maybe could possibly want to do you harm. Reality check, most people don't want to harm you. It doesn't matter if they're Black or White, gay or straight, rich or poor, old or young. A vast majority of Americans just want to get along with their lives in peace. What's there so much to be scared of then? There is nothing to go bump in the night. It's in your head America. It's in your head.
Don't fear the unknown. Learn it. Understand it. And embrace it or move the fuck on. This culture of fear that we live in is destroying our nation and destroying our lives individually. Go to the malls again, live within your means, do what you want to do without alarm, feel how you want to feel without reproach, and most of all get it through your head that we're all in this life together and there's no sense looking for bogymen around ever corner.
C'est la vie.
-FFF
Monday, February 16, 2009
Random Musings
Who decided that wavy lines will determine whether or not something in a sketch is hot?
Why are toilet seats separate from toilets? I'd think that they would just be part of the bowl. It would certainly be cleaner if they were all one solid piece.
Why do we use the terminology "end of the runway" for the place where planes take off from? Logically speaking shouldn't that spot be the beginning of the runway? Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
And... If you don't support marriage in a legal sense... (you don't think that the government should have a say in civil marriage) then what do you call your in-laws?
Why are toilet seats separate from toilets? I'd think that they would just be part of the bowl. It would certainly be cleaner if they were all one solid piece.
Why do we use the terminology "end of the runway" for the place where planes take off from? Logically speaking shouldn't that spot be the beginning of the runway? Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
And... If you don't support marriage in a legal sense... (you don't think that the government should have a say in civil marriage) then what do you call your in-laws?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Rantings of a Mad Man Part XXII: My Game
Looking back at the last couple of months, clearly I have been out of my groove. It's time to get back on my game with Rantings of a Mad Man Part XXII...
1. Guantanamo Bay spits in the face of the American forefathers. Almost literally too.
In 1775, John Adams represented in court those British soldiers who had fired on American colonists (albeit accidentally), an event which would later be called the Boston Massacre. Why did he do this? He did this because he believed that to create, nay to earn, the right to have the freedoms that we desire, that we must uphold those same freedoms regardless of the instance. John Adams represented the British soldiers because he wanted to make an example to show the colonists how Americans will treat others.
So, onto Guantanamo Bay, a place where the American government today holds people without trial, without evidence, and for undetermined amounts of time simply because of a baseless fear that they might not like us enough to want to kill us. Ironically, doing so causes more people to dislike us and more people to want to kill us. Go figure.
Regardless however, such actions fly in the face of the founders of this nation and are reprehensible at best and hypocrisy regardless.
2. Leftists who have come off their Obama-high. Seriously people, did you honestly expect that the day he took office the sun would rise in the west, the waters would recede, and the world would be born anew? And, then you have the gall to say that he has in some way failed you. In actuality, you had seen what you wanted to see from him. You fooled yourselves into believing that the world would automatically be fixed at noon on January 20th. Some of you bought the lines that the DNC fed right and independent voters. He is a politician and thus must work within politics to be successful. Don't get me wrong, he will benefit this nation. But, the goals you have set for him are so lofty I'm amazed that you could even believe them in the first place. The idea that one person will end racism is foolish. The idea that one person could repair our legacy in the world is idiotic. The idea that one person could end majority politics that run back through the Reagan Administration immediately is absurd. You've set the bar too high and when it isn't met you lose all faith. The fact is that some things have changed immediately. Theory mostly. Actions will be taken based on those theories. Only once those actions have been taken will change be made. You sit there and scorn the theory and whine about how nothing has changed yet. Give it time. Bush, inept as he was, couldn't destroy this country in a day, so too neither can Obama rebuild it in one.
3. The global warming argument. Yes, that's right everyone, I'm going to rant about global warming people. Don't worry though, it's not that I disagree with you per say. I don't. And I certainly don't agree with the opposing argument, that man cannot affect change in the environment. We see this every day. Pollution of air, water, and land, nuclear waste, CO2 emissions, destruction of the rain forests, soil erosion, depletion of the Midwestern water table, and so on. We do change the environment for the worse. This is what we should be focusing on. We should stop bull shitting ourselves that we give a damn about the environment. Most people don't, at least in that form. People care about a good place to live and a long and healthy life. If you want to affect change, even if you do truly care about the environment, the only way to get the masses to follow in suit is to relate it to them. The majority of Americans don't have a vested interest in polar bears or mountain lions. They just don't. But they do have an interest in having a clean place to live. They are interested in safe food for their children. They are interested in seeing their own lifestyles continue. Farmers want good soil. City dwellers want clean air and less traffic. Suburbia would rather businesses move into empty buildings instead of leaving them abandoned to build new ones. These are the changes we must affect. It isn't about an abstract idea called global warming or the temperature rising 2 degrees over the past 100 years or the sea levels rising possibly at some unknown point in the future. It's about showing people how their lives can be made better, easier, and healthier by responsibly working with the environment instead of recklessly working against it.
4. 25 Things About Me- It is a sad descriptor of American society today that the only way we can become close to other people is based on the free release of tidbits of ourselves in a sterile and safe place. It is to socialization as masturbation is to sex. Fun and helpful, yes, but not everything. 25 Things About Me is proof that we are truly an anti-social society. That and txting.
5. 25 Things about Me- because I never claimed to be apart from the pack on this one...
1. Guantanamo Bay spits in the face of the American forefathers. Almost literally too.
In 1775, John Adams represented in court those British soldiers who had fired on American colonists (albeit accidentally), an event which would later be called the Boston Massacre. Why did he do this? He did this because he believed that to create, nay to earn, the right to have the freedoms that we desire, that we must uphold those same freedoms regardless of the instance. John Adams represented the British soldiers because he wanted to make an example to show the colonists how Americans will treat others.
So, onto Guantanamo Bay, a place where the American government today holds people without trial, without evidence, and for undetermined amounts of time simply because of a baseless fear that they might not like us enough to want to kill us. Ironically, doing so causes more people to dislike us and more people to want to kill us. Go figure.
Regardless however, such actions fly in the face of the founders of this nation and are reprehensible at best and hypocrisy regardless.
2. Leftists who have come off their Obama-high. Seriously people, did you honestly expect that the day he took office the sun would rise in the west, the waters would recede, and the world would be born anew? And, then you have the gall to say that he has in some way failed you. In actuality, you had seen what you wanted to see from him. You fooled yourselves into believing that the world would automatically be fixed at noon on January 20th. Some of you bought the lines that the DNC fed right and independent voters. He is a politician and thus must work within politics to be successful. Don't get me wrong, he will benefit this nation. But, the goals you have set for him are so lofty I'm amazed that you could even believe them in the first place. The idea that one person will end racism is foolish. The idea that one person could repair our legacy in the world is idiotic. The idea that one person could end majority politics that run back through the Reagan Administration immediately is absurd. You've set the bar too high and when it isn't met you lose all faith. The fact is that some things have changed immediately. Theory mostly. Actions will be taken based on those theories. Only once those actions have been taken will change be made. You sit there and scorn the theory and whine about how nothing has changed yet. Give it time. Bush, inept as he was, couldn't destroy this country in a day, so too neither can Obama rebuild it in one.
3. The global warming argument. Yes, that's right everyone, I'm going to rant about global warming people. Don't worry though, it's not that I disagree with you per say. I don't. And I certainly don't agree with the opposing argument, that man cannot affect change in the environment. We see this every day. Pollution of air, water, and land, nuclear waste, CO2 emissions, destruction of the rain forests, soil erosion, depletion of the Midwestern water table, and so on. We do change the environment for the worse. This is what we should be focusing on. We should stop bull shitting ourselves that we give a damn about the environment. Most people don't, at least in that form. People care about a good place to live and a long and healthy life. If you want to affect change, even if you do truly care about the environment, the only way to get the masses to follow in suit is to relate it to them. The majority of Americans don't have a vested interest in polar bears or mountain lions. They just don't. But they do have an interest in having a clean place to live. They are interested in safe food for their children. They are interested in seeing their own lifestyles continue. Farmers want good soil. City dwellers want clean air and less traffic. Suburbia would rather businesses move into empty buildings instead of leaving them abandoned to build new ones. These are the changes we must affect. It isn't about an abstract idea called global warming or the temperature rising 2 degrees over the past 100 years or the sea levels rising possibly at some unknown point in the future. It's about showing people how their lives can be made better, easier, and healthier by responsibly working with the environment instead of recklessly working against it.
4. 25 Things About Me- It is a sad descriptor of American society today that the only way we can become close to other people is based on the free release of tidbits of ourselves in a sterile and safe place. It is to socialization as masturbation is to sex. Fun and helpful, yes, but not everything. 25 Things About Me is proof that we are truly an anti-social society. That and txting.
5. 25 Things about Me- because I never claimed to be apart from the pack on this one...
- I am gay.
- I am an atheist.
- I like blonds mostly.
- Nearly ever person I've been attracted to in the past 2 years were Sagittarius's. Strange but true.
- I'm fairly certain that the mattress I sleep on at home was the one I was conceived on.
- Number 5 doesn't bother me.
- I'm very anti-social. Mostly because I've lost faith in man's ability to be intelligent.
- I see connections were others see difference. I can be a peacemaker or a problem causer at the same time.
- My favorite color is green.
- My eyes phase between green, yellow, and blue. Only one half an eye at a time.
- For a thin person, I love food.
- I am a pessimistic optimist. I believe true love is possible, just not likely to be found.
- I hate fish. People say that it's an acquired taste. I don't think I should have to acquire a taste.
- I don't drink.
- I don't smoke anything.
- I do still have a good time.
- Smoking is very unbecoming and unattractive. Honestly, what reason could you have for actively killing yourself?
- I think that the vast majority of people would be happy to let others think for them. I am one of those thinkers.
- I am a very strong writer who can't find the time to write.
- I've felt physical pain that made me beg for death.
- I love the beach and I love being outdoors on a warm day.
- I don't like loud people. There should always be room in companionship for silence.
- I love poker and can be very good at it if I don't over think.
- I am not a stereotype; I follow my own path.
- I would like to meet you. I'd like to meet everyone once. Whether I'd like to meet you again will be determined by how you act.
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