Thursday, November 26, 2009

It is Good to See Hate Still Exists in This Country

So an article tonight caught my eye.  It is about a new billboard put up outside of a small town in Colorado.  Here it is:
 
I protect their right to say it, but this is the exact reason that we need to educate people.  This is why we liberals feel that spending money on education is an important thing.  This person/group that devised this piece of ignorant racist hate is why we want people to think and read and know what is actually happening in the world.
There are many things wrong with this opinion.
First of all, Obama has shown his birth certificate, but these people choose to ignore that.
Second of all, he is not Muslim, or even if he was, that would not mean a fucking thing people.
Third, even if Obama was a Muslim and even if he was not born in the US, then where is the connection to Ft. Hood there??
There are so many leaps in logic on this that it spun my head when I saw it.
They want people to believe that there is some huge cover-up or something going on, which they have NO PROOF of.  They have their wild and crazy speculations that do not hold water.  Anyone that can think about this for more than 5 seconds sees this.  I am surprised that this billboard was not written in crayon with the level of thought that we are dealing with.
This is what happens to ideas that are dying.  When an ideal is compromised, then the survival instinct kicks in.  Just like a person caught in a corner, they become desperate and lash out.  Their reason does not hold water, they do not have any kind of proof, they turn to ad hominem attacks and any other tool that is within reach.  Really this is just sad and pathetic.
Who contrives this?  Are they living in a bunker twirling their mustaches and hatching plans to take down anyone that is slightly different?
No...
These are follow people.  These are our neighbors and people that we work with.  It bothers me that some of these people are at heart good people that truly just do not understand or choose to stay ignorant for fear or security.  Bush scared so many people so badly that they think that everyone that is not white, christian, and rich are the enemy attempting to take down everything we believe in.
I pity these people.  If ignorance is bliss, then they must be in heaven, but I still pity them.  They are sad and as we evolve as a society they will find themselves more and more lost and lonely.  At least we, the people of character and empathy will be there to keep them company in their dark days.
I think I am going to stop now before I stoop to their level....

Monday, November 23, 2009

Musical Revolution

Music is a weird thing:  It can recall so many memories, fears, loves, and joys in a simple melody.  Bands come and go, but some stay around for a long time, others disappear leaving behind a legacy pressed in vinyl that people will listen to for many years to come.

For anyone that knows me, I am a huge fan of The Beatles, as many of us are.  They were hands down the greatest and most influential rock band and will continue to be for the future.  There is no sight of anyone taking them down.

Anyway, back in February there was a leaked version of the song "Revolution" that was almost 11 minutes long and seemed to fulfill the rumor of a version of the song that connected the song "Revolution1" and the sound scape of "Revolution 9", both found on what we call "The White Album".  I recently listened to this and was blown away.  First of all, if you need any evidence to the fact that The Beatles were the greatest, all you have to do is listen to "Revolution" and "A Day in the Life" and that should convince anyone.  Second, this was like hearing a brand new song by your favorite band.

Did you ever have that?  A band that you loved so much and could not wait for their new album or single to come out?  I know that feeling so well, mainly from when I was younger.  Now, I am far more patient and other things are important in life.  When I was in high school though, everyone came to me because I always had the newest music before anyone else and a trustworthy opinion on it, along with the meanings and references.  When I first heard this new Beatles version of "Revolution", called "Revolution 1, Take 20", I found that feeling all over again.  It was as if I was a kid, brimming with amazement at the newest release from my favorite band, which in those days were Tool, Nine Inch Nails, or Cake.

A melody is a simple thing.  If you are unaware of the parts of music, the melody is the tune, the thing that you hum when you have a song stuck in your head.  It is wonderful how we as people can find these associations, a simple thing like "ba-da-da-lalala" can find its way into the depth of what some people would consider a soul and transport you to a time or place, a feeling or range of feelings.  Sometimes when I hear certain songs I feel as if I am Billy Pilgrim becoming unstuck in time.

Please my dear readers, comment on your songs, where they take you emotionally, and the stories behind them.  Continue to rock on, and here is the link to that Beatles version if you want to check it out for yourself:
http://nevergetoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2009/02/beatles.html

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Meditations on Food and Sex

I love my food. 

Some of us really enjoy our food, others despise it, and others really do not care much about it.  Here is America we are taught a few different things from our parents depending on cultural differences.  There are two main viewpoints and some people get one, some get the other, while some people are torn and taught both.

1. Eat all your food.  There are starving kids in Africa that could live for a week off of what you throw away.
2. You ate too much.  You are fat.

Now, there is most definitely a major problem with obesity in this country.  There is also an issue with eating disorders.  On top of it, we are force fed the idea that your image means everything from the time we are young children.  This is where it all clashes.  What are we supposed to do?

To top the issue off even more is the prevalence of video games, computers, and of course television.  These are all things that keep us from getting off of our fat asses and taking a walk.  They also help with the fact that we do not really have to converse with people face to face anymore.  Intelligent conversation, the evil riot-starter is out the window as well.  As long as we are still happy watching that reality garbage, we no longer have to want things.  As long as we, bovine America, are being force-fed Doritos by some asshole with a bad toupee or some dysfunctional family with a million kids, then we will sit and be happy as Hindu cattle.

I know I know, television is not all bad.  I agree, it isn't, just most of it.  Advertising is one of the major culprits here.  If we do not have the best body, the coolest shoes, the nicest skin, the most awesome iProduct, then we are even bigger losers than we already feel like and, again, no one will want to have sex with us.

Is that what is all boils down to?  Sex?  We all know that sex sells in advertising and all that, but I am thinking that it is the heart of everything.  We are, for the most part, endowed with this very strong instinct to want to reproduce.  We are built to survive, but that survival instinct is really only in place to fuck.  I remember that time in high school, puberty, and those feelings that a young man gets.  I felt like I wanted to have sex with everything, not to mention that I could many many times in a row.  To a young guy, anything can make you want to.  It is so hard to get anything done when every math problem reminds you of sixty-nine, biology class reminds you of the female body parts, and when you are trying to do sports the cheerleaders are distracting ever move.  It is frustrating and overwhelming.

Sex.  We want to reproduce.  The smart people in marketing, those assholes that see everything as a dollar sign know this.  What are our fears and insecurities rooted in?  The fact that if we do not have a biggest tits, hardest penis, or most awesome car, then it is less likely that we will find a beautiful mate to reproduce with.  You will not be the alpha male and only get the sloppy seconds of of the alpha male.  You are a sub dominate example of a human and therefore do not get to mate with the people that will produce the smartest and most attractive offspring.

Is this what our ancestors meant for us?  Did they toil and fight for survival so that some smooth young prick can tell us what to eat, what to wear, and how to treat a woman? 

It all seems so unnatural. 

I do not offer much in the way of conclusions, just questions.  It just occurred to me that the cavemen are probably looking down on us and thinking that we are morons.  They may have worked harder than we do, but at least they had a purpose and something worth being proud of.  Voltaire famously stated that we much "cultivate our garden".  This is what we, as a society, seem to not be doing enough of.  We are too busy giving our children diabetes while destroying the planet.

I guess that at least we are multitasking this issue.  All I can think of is a drunken frat idiot yelling "I've got two beers!!"

On that note, I feel like asking Donald Sutherland if I can buy some pot from him.  =)

Monday, November 2, 2009

AdSense Makes No Sense

So I added these ads onto my blog and have been disappointed so far in what their automatic engine has decided are the ads that will best work on my blog.

Just a few minutes ago I noticed one at the bottom that just pissed me off something fierce.  It was an ad against gay marriage in Maine, a vote that takes place tomorrow.  Fuck that.
Here it is:
Hate

I do not want to endorse any of those idiots that think that denying someone the right to marry based on sexual preference is okay.  I think I will write a nasty letter to Google over this even.  I want everyone to know that not ONE of their arguments against gay marriage holds water when you actually think about it; when you take more than 5 seconds to consider this.  It is just another way for religious types to cast their moral values on other people.  It sickens me and I will get into a debate with anyone any day of the week over this.  I have been arguing for gay rights since I first learn how to form an argument and I am tired of it.

Are we still children here?!  Are we this cynical as a nation?  I thought that our society has moved past this.  At least I know that gay marriage will become legal in Maine, as it has in many other states now, and will soon be in California again.

I am usually against name-calling, it is no way to argue a point, but I am just getting so frustrated over this argument.  I think that is what they want though.  If we get frustrated enough that we resort to the way that neocons like to "argue", then they win.  Fuck that shit.  I want to sit and call them all a bunch of people using religion to hide their thinly veiled racism and fears.  They do not understand, so they push away.  I want to call them a bunch of ignorant pricks, but I will not resort to that.

I welcome any of you to comment or email me through the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page.  Come on, I am ready to throw down with this any day of the week.  I have logic and reason on my side, you have nothing.  I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE on this topic!

...and one last thing:  Google, you should be ashamed of yourself.  If your little crawlers worked at all, then your AdSense crap would know that this blog is for reason and humanity, not junk science and silly beliefs or superstitions that do not make ANY SENSE.

Month Number 2

Thanks for the few readers, writers, and comments that we have gotten over the first month of existence!

Today is the start of November and I want to talk a bit about what November means to me.

There are a few family things, my mother's birthday for one, and of course Thanksgiving, but that is not all.  For those that have known me for awhile you will know that my favorite writer in the late Kurt Vonnegut.  I have read everything that I could possibly find of his and will continue to search and hope for more.  And for anyone that has read much Vonnegut, you know that his writings are personable as well as very personal.  We readers of him know many facts about his life.  We feel like we knew him.  That sad April night in 2007 was hard for many of us...the news broke to me in a text message from a friend reading something along the lines of "I am sorry...about Kurt".  Just reading that...I knew he was gone along with all hopes for a new piece of fiction and the chance to shake his hand once in my life.

The reason that I think of him here in November is because his birthday is the 11th of this month.  On his birthday I celebrate a personal tradition of buying a pack of unfiltered Pall Malls and enjoying each one, trying to get slightly closer to his life in some way.

As I sit here, I realize that I am looking back, which reminds me that this writing must be a failure because it was written by a pillar of salt.  If you do not understand what that means, you have not read enough of KV.

The first thing that I read of Kurt's was Slaughterhouse-Five.  Some of my friends had read it and told me that I would love it.  I  knew about Kurt, but had never gotten around to reading him.  Finally one of my dear friends forced the book on me.  I read it all in just a couple of hours.  From the first moment that I read the opening title page I knew that I would love this book.  I had never read something so silly and honest at the same time, which if you know me, then you know that is my style 100%.

After that I reread the book.  Then I went out to one of my local used book stores and picked up another book, this one was Breakfast of Champions.  I was again blown away with humor and all the time realizing my values.  Someone once asked me before this if I was a humanist, based on a conversation of personal philosophies.  At the time I had answered no.  Through Vonnegut I realized that I was and that my understanding of what a humanist is was greatly misinformed.  Vonnegut had a way of making anyone understand.  I now had quotes and reasons to sum up all of my ideas.  I guess what he gave me was validation.  I was not alone and I was not crazy.  This opened up all new doors of thought and reason for me, and Kurt did it all with a smile and a joke, even in the most horrible of times.

I always think of when he wrote about himself in the underground meat locker.  They listened to bombs dropping and nothing but Hell above them.  Someone made a small joke and no one laughed, but he wrote that they were all happy that he said it.

Since that time, I veraciously bought every book and read it very quickly.  I buy used copies are book stores to give away to people or leave around on bookshelves, hoping that some person will see it and become curious.  I know I have gotten a few people into him, but who knows how many overall...

Kurt was the Honorary President of the AHA.  After his death, the position was given to the brilliant Gore Vidal.  As much as I respect that decision, there is a major difference there.  Reading some of the recent interviews with Gore, he seems to have become very bitter in the world.  He has lost hope in our society.  That is something that I do not believe Kurt would have ever done.  One of his sons wrote after his death that his father was an eternal optimist striving to be a pessimist, wanting to be depressed but having far too much hope for that.  I believe that about him.

I guess I am just talking about him and for those that read this and know nothing about him, I am probably boring you, but it is my blog so if I want to write a long article about my hero and his affect on me, I will.  That is the beauty of this medium.

I guess the reason this is on my mind so much more is that I relate to that attitude so much.  I am known as a rather happy person.  I consider myself a realist, but I am considered by most as an optimist.  I would say that I am a cautious optimist at best, but more like a hopeful realist.  I see hope everywhere and reasons to be happy.  Kurt assisted me with that and I miss a voice like that in our world.

There are a few great voids  in the world today.  They are all heroes of mine, and we need them:

Kurt Vonnegut - We need guidance, we need a voice for the public to help them understand what we are all about and why we should be loving one another.
Carl Sagan - He was the voice of science to the public and since his death we have no one of his clarity, reason, or visions out there that can command a crowd as he did.  The "Pale Blue Dot" speech is one of the greatest things ever written.  I think that his loss is one of the only reasons we have such a misunderstanding of science in our current society.
Jim Henson - I cried as a boy when Jim died.  I still weep from time to time when I think of my son growing up in a world where adults, the ones that create children programming, seem to have nothing but contempt for their audience.  Jim treated kids with a beauty and an art, with a general respect for their ability and intelligence that has not been matched.

For people that are unaware, humanism is not a bad thing.  In fact, there is a good chance that you are one and do not even know it.  Whether sacred or secular humanism, learn about what it means.  Kurt once stated that he would vote for the first person that ran under the banner of the beatitudes, but none of them do.  That is one of the best ways to think of what we stand for.  The beatitudes.

I also often quote the idea that if Jesus Christ had walked the Earth, and if he actually said the wonderful things that he said, then what would it matter if he was the son of God or not?  I quoted that to a Christian friend of mine and she agreed.  I like that.

Now I shall let you all go your separate ways.  Feel free to contact me with the "Contact Us" link at the bottom if you want to know more about him or his writings, or humanism in general.

Also, if anyone can find out where he is buried, please share.  I want to start a tradition not unlike the "Poe Toaster".  I would leave notes with reason and quotes on his grave along with a shot of something that would make my breath smell like "mustard gas and roses".