So, this is saturday, and that means it is my day off. Instead of not doing anything, I thought I would present to you a blog entry that I wrote and never posted. This is from December 2nd of 2010. It was not finished at the time, i will try and end it here and present a little something.
Truth is, I am doing this so I don't write about what is on my mind. Cop Out bitches!
Start of old blog:
I will get back to posting my normal blog later today, but I wanted to drop some stuff in here.
Last night I went to the hospitol because my brain hurt. This resulted in me finding out I had some infection issues going on. Nothing dirty mind you, but hey, now I know why I feel like crap. Because of this, I had a chance to take a day off of work. This resultedd in me taking copius quantities of drugs, take a ginormous nap and catch up on my reading.
This is not always a good thing, but in this case, assuming you like my funny rants, it is a very good thing.
Anyone familiar with D20 Modern will understand the title, but for those of you who are not familiar (and that is 99% of the world) need to know I am talking about the Information age.
We are now getting the party started, and the chips are falling where they may. Take wikileaks for example. This dude Assanje fully believes he is doing something fantastic with all of these documents he is putting up on the net. He talks about transparency in government, and while I agree there should be transparency, what this latest round of leaks reminds me of is E!.
A bunch of internal documents and gossip about foreign affairs. How Perezx Hilton like. I think that may in fact be the perfect analogy of what the information age is turning out to be.
With near limitless access to information at my finger tips, what I need to know, and what investigative reporters are all out to find out is who is sleeping with who, who has genital warts, and what we really think of foreign leaders.
None of it is shocking, none of it is revealing. All it tells us is stuff we already knew. That Iranian guy, the americans don't like him. Canada has few domestic terror issues. The German leader is kind of a machine... seriously. This is what you found? Maybe, just maybe if you told me that Prime Minister Harper had genital herpes which he got from a transvestite hooker, I might actually care. The rest is just stuff I already knew because I have half a brain.
The real meat of the information we get merely tells us that we are all people. I have said it before, and I will say it again. All people are people. We like to think that our leaders are different than us, but they aren't. Celebrities must be different because they are famous. They are just people. Some are good, some are bad. Some have paranoid schizophrenia and some have diahreia.
One thing we have learned from the information age is that everyone is just a person. We strive so hard to find out their foibles that we forget to realise all these people are just people, and their foibles are no different than those of the person living next to you.
For some reason we want to build them up just so we can knock them down. At times I don't get the information age. On one hand we make stars out of mentally dificient people from Neew Jersey, and then we seek to freak out when we find out they like to do stupid things.
We seem to have confused the information age with the theatrical age. Everything must be sensational. Everything has to presented as infotainment. It is like those friggin puns on news programs. Seriously, do you have to make me feel petty and small for laughing at your little cute sayings? You are a news source, not a comedy show.
As we enter the era of the cloud, everything seems to need to be bigger, brighter, more sensational. Take Playboy for example. TRhe Heff is in serious trouble. No one is buying Playboy anymore. No one wants to see high gloss pictures of plastic women in compromising positions in front of everyday backdrops.
Wanna know why? Because we can download full length movies of our neighbours doing anything and everything ever inventedd in the realm of sexual contact...with or without a partner, with or without a member of the animal kingdom.
The era of women as meat is sort of over, and now we enter the era of women as snot rags. I can't think of anything worse really at this point to liken it to.
We have gone from women as objects of desire and attention, which is not the worst thing in the world, yet still doesn't treat them as equals, and thus a problem that needs to be dealt with; to treating them as if they were an old sweat sock. Spewing tons of man juice all over women's faces, video taping them eating feces, plugging every hole with a giant sausage (not a euphamism, though could be) having them copulate with animals, 5 guys at a time. Is this progress?
Is this what the information age is all about? I want off that cloud. Where's the cloud where we are open with each other, share history and culture? Why is it that the majority of the internet is gossip, ridiculous pornography, insanity and
end of old blog.
whatever disgusting or sensational graphic images we can think.
Hooray for progress. Hooray for the need to shock ourselves in to feeling something, since we are slipping further and further apart.
Showing posts with label social commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social commentary. Show all posts
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Here is something you can't understand....
Anyone who has known me for a length of time knows I am not a fan of war metaphor. I am not a fan of using violent rhetoric to fire up the masses.
You see it all the time. The war on Christmas. The front lines of the battle to win their hearts. We need to target our political rivals. We need to destroy our enemies.
It gets to me a lot when I hear people use violence to make their point.
Maybe people don`t understand why it can be so bothersome... at least until now. The event on the weekend in Arizona. I would post links to the news stories, but due to the 24 hour news cycle, the only thing I can find is articles on how this victim is the third cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow. Really? Is that where we are going with this story? How does it effect the pretty people?
The thing is, this dude thought it was a viable idea to shoot people because of their political beliefs. What do you think made this person think that? Was it Grand Theft Auto? Was it rock and or roll music? I am pretty sure this dude was not listening to Marilyn Manson. I could be wrong, but so far he seems less like the Cypress Hill type and more like the Toby Keith type.
The point I am making is that war metaphor and violent speech has become pervasive. pervasive in only a way the comfortable people can make it. Let me be frank and clear.
Those who have experienced violence, those who understand it, and those who know the results never invoke violence in their speech unless it is necessary. Unless they mean it. The reason for this is that they know what happens. They know what it means to dominate, to destroy, to hurt others.
Only the weak minded, poor spirited, comfortable people can easily reach in to the bag of tricks and pull out, we need to target our enemies. Only the comfortable and small minded can produce a website that uses targeting reticules over the faces of their rivals and not understand the meaning of it.
As long as we keep telling people these things we will always develop the violent, disaffected mind, and we will always incite them to take actions. I haven't seen a reaction from some of these people, other than to quietly and quickly remove these images and vitiolic messages from the public eye. I can guarantee you we will hear it is not my fault. It is not what I meant.
In communication two things happen. The sender encodes a message, and the receiver decodes the message. Language, visuals, these matter people. The way in which you code your message have an effect on the way others get the message. While you continue to use war metaphor you are part of the problem.
In this case, the receiver decoded the message and was unable to draw a line between hyperbole and reality. There will always be these people. They will always misunderstand, or take things to the worst point. We cannot get around that, but we can stop fueling them.
There is a line between entertainment and satire, and the pubic discourse. Music, comedy, movies, have always, and will always create caricatures of things that go on in our society, but when our society becomes a caricature, then we have crossed the line. No longer is it that rock music is parodying the blow hard. The blow hard has gone so far int heir discourse that we have lost perspective. How can you parody the crazy when the crazy have gone to the point where Marilyn Manson says....unless I pretend to be a politician actually eating babies, I can't top them.
I want to point out someone I work with. He uses violence in his speech nearly non stop. Whenever he is perplexed, frustrated or challenged he says something about punching you in the face or smacking you hard, or some such bullshit. It is the refuge of the tired weak mind. His intellect is not strong enough to develop other statements.
In political discourse we have gone from making a change and yes we can to we need to target our rivals. We need to break them. Take our country back. The revolution is coming.
Do you see the difference? Do you comprehend the change?
There is no war on Jesus. There is no war on family values. People disagree with you. Instead of making your case, you yell, you threaten and you push.
These are bullies who want to get their way, just like the guy at work.
Their chickens now roost. Someday, somehow, the guy at work will get hurt and understand he is just a bully. I do hope the media and politicians are starting to get it. It is terribe that people had to die. It is terrible we had to have this violence descend on us for us to get the message.
I want to commend Keith Obberman for taking ownership of his role in this, and for coming out and making a strong case, for saying it better than I can. This is what Keith said.
I won't say anything about the actual weapons. I will say, escalating the rhetoric, escalating the violence is the wrong direction, no matter who is doing it.
The revolution is coming. But not the one you are looking for. Not the one that will bring happiness or a return to your values. The revolution that is coming is anarchy.
The comfortable will not survive. They will need to adapt.
Let's break the revolution before it gets started. Not by breaking the revolutionaries, but by creating an environment where it is unacceptable to be a bully. Unacceptable to fight over ideas. Make it unacceptable to target your rivals.
30 years ago people saw the way we were and spoke out against it, but we continue to go down that road.
We can blame video games, we can blame metal, but we would be wrong.
Guns, fear, anger, self loathing, self righteousness, pride, weak mindedness are to blame.
Let's stop being weak minded, and let's demand more from our leaders.
You see it all the time. The war on Christmas. The front lines of the battle to win their hearts. We need to target our political rivals. We need to destroy our enemies.
It gets to me a lot when I hear people use violence to make their point.
Maybe people don`t understand why it can be so bothersome... at least until now. The event on the weekend in Arizona. I would post links to the news stories, but due to the 24 hour news cycle, the only thing I can find is articles on how this victim is the third cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow. Really? Is that where we are going with this story? How does it effect the pretty people?
The thing is, this dude thought it was a viable idea to shoot people because of their political beliefs. What do you think made this person think that? Was it Grand Theft Auto? Was it rock and or roll music? I am pretty sure this dude was not listening to Marilyn Manson. I could be wrong, but so far he seems less like the Cypress Hill type and more like the Toby Keith type.
The point I am making is that war metaphor and violent speech has become pervasive. pervasive in only a way the comfortable people can make it. Let me be frank and clear.
Those who have experienced violence, those who understand it, and those who know the results never invoke violence in their speech unless it is necessary. Unless they mean it. The reason for this is that they know what happens. They know what it means to dominate, to destroy, to hurt others.
Only the weak minded, poor spirited, comfortable people can easily reach in to the bag of tricks and pull out, we need to target our enemies. Only the comfortable and small minded can produce a website that uses targeting reticules over the faces of their rivals and not understand the meaning of it.
As long as we keep telling people these things we will always develop the violent, disaffected mind, and we will always incite them to take actions. I haven't seen a reaction from some of these people, other than to quietly and quickly remove these images and vitiolic messages from the public eye. I can guarantee you we will hear it is not my fault. It is not what I meant.
In communication two things happen. The sender encodes a message, and the receiver decodes the message. Language, visuals, these matter people. The way in which you code your message have an effect on the way others get the message. While you continue to use war metaphor you are part of the problem.
In this case, the receiver decoded the message and was unable to draw a line between hyperbole and reality. There will always be these people. They will always misunderstand, or take things to the worst point. We cannot get around that, but we can stop fueling them.
There is a line between entertainment and satire, and the pubic discourse. Music, comedy, movies, have always, and will always create caricatures of things that go on in our society, but when our society becomes a caricature, then we have crossed the line. No longer is it that rock music is parodying the blow hard. The blow hard has gone so far int heir discourse that we have lost perspective. How can you parody the crazy when the crazy have gone to the point where Marilyn Manson says....unless I pretend to be a politician actually eating babies, I can't top them.
I want to point out someone I work with. He uses violence in his speech nearly non stop. Whenever he is perplexed, frustrated or challenged he says something about punching you in the face or smacking you hard, or some such bullshit. It is the refuge of the tired weak mind. His intellect is not strong enough to develop other statements.
In political discourse we have gone from making a change and yes we can to we need to target our rivals. We need to break them. Take our country back. The revolution is coming.
Do you see the difference? Do you comprehend the change?
There is no war on Jesus. There is no war on family values. People disagree with you. Instead of making your case, you yell, you threaten and you push.
These are bullies who want to get their way, just like the guy at work.
Their chickens now roost. Someday, somehow, the guy at work will get hurt and understand he is just a bully. I do hope the media and politicians are starting to get it. It is terribe that people had to die. It is terrible we had to have this violence descend on us for us to get the message.
I want to commend Keith Obberman for taking ownership of his role in this, and for coming out and making a strong case, for saying it better than I can. This is what Keith said.
I won't say anything about the actual weapons. I will say, escalating the rhetoric, escalating the violence is the wrong direction, no matter who is doing it.
The revolution is coming. But not the one you are looking for. Not the one that will bring happiness or a return to your values. The revolution that is coming is anarchy.
The comfortable will not survive. They will need to adapt.
Let's break the revolution before it gets started. Not by breaking the revolutionaries, but by creating an environment where it is unacceptable to be a bully. Unacceptable to fight over ideas. Make it unacceptable to target your rivals.
30 years ago people saw the way we were and spoke out against it, but we continue to go down that road.
We can blame video games, we can blame metal, but we would be wrong.
Guns, fear, anger, self loathing, self righteousness, pride, weak mindedness are to blame.
Let's stop being weak minded, and let's demand more from our leaders.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Canadian History X
People have grown very cynical about the media. Not cynical enough. I am starting this off by pulling back the curtain on something. I have never really spoken of this technique before, though it is accepted practice to do this. Some of you may have guessed this is being done.
Whenever you have something controversial to say, you line up someone to bring credibility to your argument. Usually this is done either in the form of the expert guest or one uses a streeter. A streeter is a caller or video of an average citizen.
The point is to soften the blow of what you are about to say, esspecially if it is politically incorrect or sterotypical, or even downright racist, by having someone from the group you are about to bad mouth either start the topic or agree with your assessment of the topic. It gives you free reign to say whatever it is you want. It is the media equivelant of saying "some of my closest friends are black."
I am sure you have seen it many times over the last few years. After the break we are going to talk to Ahmed, professor of Arab Studies at stuff university A, he'll tell us why it is a good idea to strip search every arab looking person who tries to board a plane. Oh ok, if Ahmed is cool with it, then it must be ok to talk about it.
Now, what happens if we replace Ahmed with Allan?
Think back a few years when the Dean of Harvard tried to bring light to the fact that women consistantly test low on math and science based testing. Rather than discussing this real issue, which has nothing to do with brain power, and possibly finding some solutions, all we talked about was how wrong it was for HIM to say it.
Flash forward two years, a famous female professor says the exact same thing, and for weeks we heard about socialization, focused teaching and tutoring issues in the middle school levels. It took us nearly two years to address the subject, merely because of the messenger.
So while I call it a cynical action on the part of the press, it is also a necessary delivery system....in some cases. It is necessary to have a discussion on some issues to bring them to light. In other cases it is merely window dressing for racism.
Now that we have laid a bit of groundwork, maybe I should get to the point.
This morning, on old white guy radio, a douche....errrr competant host, decided that it would be a great idea to bring light to the problem of gang violance in parts of Toronto. This has become, in his words of course, a serious problem in the black community. Shockingly, his first caller was obviously a black man with a heavy Jamaican accent.
Here;s the problem. He is way off base.
I am about to go out on a limb here and reveal a lot of information. Some of it could actually get me in some serious trouble, but I think it is important.
Toronto has had a gang problem for more than twenty years. I should know. I was part of the problem for 8 of those years.
Back in the late 80's and early 90's, the problem was mainly because of white sepremisist gangs. Three of them were running wild in Toronto. They were being supplied by biker gangs and the Italians. The big concern was the influx of certain cultural influences from the United States. You see, this was the New Jack City era. The time of Juice. The time of the glorification of gang culture.
In order to push back from what they feared, the organized criminal groups supported a bunch of diaffected young men and women.
These young white folks turned their hatred outwards. The worst offenders were the White Knights. They controlled a lot of territory in downtown. They were carved out a bunch of hoods by the Italians and the bikers. The Italian group wanted them to push the black gangs in the west end out, and the bikers wanted the core and harbourfront back.
Stuck in the middle of all this was the artist area. A bunch of laid back musicians and whatnot were stuck in the middle.
Violance was bound to happen. Several beatings and two murders happened in 1990. I was there for one of these. My friend Andre was killed by one of these groups. They decided to let me live because I was white. As you may understand, this pissed me off.
In the summer of 1990, and leading in to the fall, several houses and warehouses began to be burned to the ground. Suddenly the white surpremisists were getting beat something fierce. Their territory was shrinking. Two street level crews came to prominance downtown because of this. The DK and the Vanally Park Boys. The DK w2ere a bunch of pissed off disaffectedd youth influenced by a coupe of cultures. One was of course the NWA, public enemy sort of thing. The other was a punk culture. This anarchy laiden thing.
Anyway, violance insued as they fought each other for dominance. When things looked like they could not be controlled, the Italians stepped back in and Backed the Boys. The DK went the way of the bikers, which was a bit natural given the family ties some members had.
Everyone was fighting with the Triads. The Triads had the entire heroin trade sewn up. The bikers had amphetemines and the Italians had coke.
By 1998 things had exploded. The Italians had nearly wiped out the DK. The two survivors...well three, scattered to the winds.
Most of the violance west of Yonge street was blamed on the Vanally Park Boys because they were always getting caught jacking grandma.
The ineter gang violance though was always between the surrogates, the Italians rarely got dirty. The bikers took a hands off approach, offering only cheap product and all the wweaponry an army needed.
Anyway, my knowledge of what happened between 1998 and 2008 is somewhat sketchy. Bits and pieces.
What I can tell you is that, anyone who thinks gay people are pussies is an idiot. Anyone who thinks serbian gangs are acting on their own knows nothing about who actually controls things.
Flash forward to today. I assure you scarborough is not controlled by black gangs. They are the tools of two people fighting it out on a national level.
The bikers and the Italians are at it again. My brother is a victrim of this to some extent. You see he was living a lie. A lie he couldn't live with anymore. He was playing both sides. No one knew he was old school biker tool. Her was partnered with the mob on his business ventures and the old school ties might have gotten him killed if anyone found out.
The point I am making is that the violance has a source. It rarely is what you think it is. The thing that causes this behaviour is always poverty, family disorder, abuse, and drugs. The players on the street level change, but it is always the poor and disaffected. They are used and abused by the organizedd crime factors in any given environment, just as they are in the military.
How many rich people do you think are infantry grunts? Same thing on the front lines of urban warfare.
The problem I had with what doucheman had to say is that he blamed all the violance on the lack of black fathers. Seriously, I am not kidding.
What hurts is that he is correct to a certain extent. Positive, strong male role modeling is one cause of the problem. Remove the need to prove oneself, to medicate oneself, the define oneself in a way that provides some center of control and esteem and you remove the canvas chicken hawks have to paint on.
It is the people who get rich of the crime of the streets; the ones who provide the set with the moral authroity to break the rules are the real problem.
There is no way to treat this problem by attacking the source of this misuse of our youth. The powerful will always protect themselves. What we need to do is remove the incentive and motivation of the youth.
We are far beyond blame at this point. Saying it is the fault of boys having children is to deny the reality that we as a society have the power to correct this.
If we provide the proper rolemodeling, we make a difference. Yelling at those who are not doing the job merely allows those that are providing it to continue to steal our youth. We say to a deadbeat dad, or an absentee, or abusive parent. We tell them that it is their fault. We tell them to step up. We rarely provide them the tools needed. All we do is make them feel worse.
While our eyes are diverted to a symptom of the problem, the chicken hawks swooop in and become the role models. The chicken hawks whisper in the ears of our youth that they can be strong and powerful, they just have to do everything they are told. Then daddy gives them some new toys to play with.
Where are the role models. Where are the real men and women who can step up? Where are the people who can give their time, their experience to our kids. They are our kids. Like it or not, we have them, and we need to do something with them.
All I heard this morning from a frightenedd little man was we need to blame bad parents and punsih the kids more harshly. At no point did this person take any responsibility for perpetuating a system the creates the poverty and socia disease that ferments in our youth. At no time did he step up and say, we need to do something. He merely said we need to blame everyone who doesn't look like us.
I suppose you can try treating cancer by cutting it out. Sooner or later it comes back. Until we develop a cure for it, we need to irradiate it, and we need to reduce carcinogen consumption.
We need to treat our kids as if they mkatter, and we need to step in front of them and show them there is a way; a better way.
Or we can just get a black man to say other black men are to blame. This should make us feel better until we can move out of the neighborhood.
Whenever you have something controversial to say, you line up someone to bring credibility to your argument. Usually this is done either in the form of the expert guest or one uses a streeter. A streeter is a caller or video of an average citizen.
The point is to soften the blow of what you are about to say, esspecially if it is politically incorrect or sterotypical, or even downright racist, by having someone from the group you are about to bad mouth either start the topic or agree with your assessment of the topic. It gives you free reign to say whatever it is you want. It is the media equivelant of saying "some of my closest friends are black."
I am sure you have seen it many times over the last few years. After the break we are going to talk to Ahmed, professor of Arab Studies at stuff university A, he'll tell us why it is a good idea to strip search every arab looking person who tries to board a plane. Oh ok, if Ahmed is cool with it, then it must be ok to talk about it.
Now, what happens if we replace Ahmed with Allan?
Think back a few years when the Dean of Harvard tried to bring light to the fact that women consistantly test low on math and science based testing. Rather than discussing this real issue, which has nothing to do with brain power, and possibly finding some solutions, all we talked about was how wrong it was for HIM to say it.
Flash forward two years, a famous female professor says the exact same thing, and for weeks we heard about socialization, focused teaching and tutoring issues in the middle school levels. It took us nearly two years to address the subject, merely because of the messenger.
So while I call it a cynical action on the part of the press, it is also a necessary delivery system....in some cases. It is necessary to have a discussion on some issues to bring them to light. In other cases it is merely window dressing for racism.
Now that we have laid a bit of groundwork, maybe I should get to the point.
This morning, on old white guy radio, a douche....errrr competant host, decided that it would be a great idea to bring light to the problem of gang violance in parts of Toronto. This has become, in his words of course, a serious problem in the black community. Shockingly, his first caller was obviously a black man with a heavy Jamaican accent.
Here;s the problem. He is way off base.
I am about to go out on a limb here and reveal a lot of information. Some of it could actually get me in some serious trouble, but I think it is important.
Toronto has had a gang problem for more than twenty years. I should know. I was part of the problem for 8 of those years.
Back in the late 80's and early 90's, the problem was mainly because of white sepremisist gangs. Three of them were running wild in Toronto. They were being supplied by biker gangs and the Italians. The big concern was the influx of certain cultural influences from the United States. You see, this was the New Jack City era. The time of Juice. The time of the glorification of gang culture.
In order to push back from what they feared, the organized criminal groups supported a bunch of diaffected young men and women.
These young white folks turned their hatred outwards. The worst offenders were the White Knights. They controlled a lot of territory in downtown. They were carved out a bunch of hoods by the Italians and the bikers. The Italian group wanted them to push the black gangs in the west end out, and the bikers wanted the core and harbourfront back.
Stuck in the middle of all this was the artist area. A bunch of laid back musicians and whatnot were stuck in the middle.
Violance was bound to happen. Several beatings and two murders happened in 1990. I was there for one of these. My friend Andre was killed by one of these groups. They decided to let me live because I was white. As you may understand, this pissed me off.
In the summer of 1990, and leading in to the fall, several houses and warehouses began to be burned to the ground. Suddenly the white surpremisists were getting beat something fierce. Their territory was shrinking. Two street level crews came to prominance downtown because of this. The DK and the Vanally Park Boys. The DK w2ere a bunch of pissed off disaffectedd youth influenced by a coupe of cultures. One was of course the NWA, public enemy sort of thing. The other was a punk culture. This anarchy laiden thing.
Anyway, violance insued as they fought each other for dominance. When things looked like they could not be controlled, the Italians stepped back in and Backed the Boys. The DK went the way of the bikers, which was a bit natural given the family ties some members had.
Everyone was fighting with the Triads. The Triads had the entire heroin trade sewn up. The bikers had amphetemines and the Italians had coke.
By 1998 things had exploded. The Italians had nearly wiped out the DK. The two survivors...well three, scattered to the winds.
Most of the violance west of Yonge street was blamed on the Vanally Park Boys because they were always getting caught jacking grandma.
The ineter gang violance though was always between the surrogates, the Italians rarely got dirty. The bikers took a hands off approach, offering only cheap product and all the wweaponry an army needed.
Anyway, my knowledge of what happened between 1998 and 2008 is somewhat sketchy. Bits and pieces.
What I can tell you is that, anyone who thinks gay people are pussies is an idiot. Anyone who thinks serbian gangs are acting on their own knows nothing about who actually controls things.
Flash forward to today. I assure you scarborough is not controlled by black gangs. They are the tools of two people fighting it out on a national level.
The bikers and the Italians are at it again. My brother is a victrim of this to some extent. You see he was living a lie. A lie he couldn't live with anymore. He was playing both sides. No one knew he was old school biker tool. Her was partnered with the mob on his business ventures and the old school ties might have gotten him killed if anyone found out.
The point I am making is that the violance has a source. It rarely is what you think it is. The thing that causes this behaviour is always poverty, family disorder, abuse, and drugs. The players on the street level change, but it is always the poor and disaffected. They are used and abused by the organizedd crime factors in any given environment, just as they are in the military.
How many rich people do you think are infantry grunts? Same thing on the front lines of urban warfare.
The problem I had with what doucheman had to say is that he blamed all the violance on the lack of black fathers. Seriously, I am not kidding.
What hurts is that he is correct to a certain extent. Positive, strong male role modeling is one cause of the problem. Remove the need to prove oneself, to medicate oneself, the define oneself in a way that provides some center of control and esteem and you remove the canvas chicken hawks have to paint on.
It is the people who get rich of the crime of the streets; the ones who provide the set with the moral authroity to break the rules are the real problem.
There is no way to treat this problem by attacking the source of this misuse of our youth. The powerful will always protect themselves. What we need to do is remove the incentive and motivation of the youth.
We are far beyond blame at this point. Saying it is the fault of boys having children is to deny the reality that we as a society have the power to correct this.
If we provide the proper rolemodeling, we make a difference. Yelling at those who are not doing the job merely allows those that are providing it to continue to steal our youth. We say to a deadbeat dad, or an absentee, or abusive parent. We tell them that it is their fault. We tell them to step up. We rarely provide them the tools needed. All we do is make them feel worse.
While our eyes are diverted to a symptom of the problem, the chicken hawks swooop in and become the role models. The chicken hawks whisper in the ears of our youth that they can be strong and powerful, they just have to do everything they are told. Then daddy gives them some new toys to play with.
Where are the role models. Where are the real men and women who can step up? Where are the people who can give their time, their experience to our kids. They are our kids. Like it or not, we have them, and we need to do something with them.
All I heard this morning from a frightenedd little man was we need to blame bad parents and punsih the kids more harshly. At no point did this person take any responsibility for perpetuating a system the creates the poverty and socia disease that ferments in our youth. At no time did he step up and say, we need to do something. He merely said we need to blame everyone who doesn't look like us.
I suppose you can try treating cancer by cutting it out. Sooner or later it comes back. Until we develop a cure for it, we need to irradiate it, and we need to reduce carcinogen consumption.
We need to treat our kids as if they mkatter, and we need to step in front of them and show them there is a way; a better way.
Or we can just get a black man to say other black men are to blame. This should make us feel better until we can move out of the neighborhood.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Be careful what you wish for.
Well, apologies for that whole losing my mind yesterday. Not sure what I was thinking, but it is time to get back to the work of entertaining you and not me.
I don't wish to dwell on this, but a number of years ago, a few tools decided it was a good idea to crash some planes in to New York. You may have heard something about this, I think it was in the papers or something.
At the time, people went all nutso. I was living in Regina. If you do not know anything about Regina, it is that postage stamp looking thing in the middle of Canada you fly over going to somewhere that matters. The entire economy revolved around 4 things. Tractors, cows, Booze and call centers.
The day after the whole bad men doing evil thing, our boss ordered a controlled entry way along with bullet proof glass, a night security guard and a sophisticated alarm system. To give you some perspective, the over night girl had to change her name, move, take out several restraining orders and mace a man who was stalking her because of her position at the radio station. The man had showed up at work numerous times and got in numerous times, including through a known defective back door. The companies response to this very real threat was to advise her not to go out alone.
People lost it big time. A few days later some douche tried to sell terrorist insurance on the radio. I refused to air the commercial.
Anyway, my point is that people got very security conscious.
Many right wing lunapundits took the time to call for serious security. The government of the United States passed a number of bills and new lawws about security, removing many civil liberties.
Over several years, many lunapundits screamed about how lax security at air ports was. PROTECT OUR PEOPLE AND AIRWAYS they cried.
And thus, insane security measures were taken. Now we see the limits to how far people are willing to go.
Do racial profiling.
Do make us take off our shoes.
DO NOT TOUCH OUR JUNK!
This is not a rant on Mr. Tyner, the man who you can hear in any one of a thousand internet clips decrying his no fly zone.
This is in fact a rant against all the people who cried for more and more and more security. The people who failedd to notice as their liberties were being eroded. For all the people who sat by while people weere carted off and did not say anything. For all the rancorous douches who spew hate directed towards anyone named Ahmed or Habib. This is for all the crotchety old white men who are now freaking out that someone may finally check their luggage and claim they do not have to check it or even mark it as carry on.
All I have heard for the last week from the same people who brought you, toss em all in Gitmo is.....they`ve gone too far! That new, very unfortunitely name rapiscan that details the wrinkles on your man danglers or the folds in your well....witty seems lost here so I ill move on... As soon as it comes down to a beaurocrat in your pants it is all over.
Any ideas as to why they are this stringent now? I wonder if it has something to do with the underwear bomb thing from last year. Who knows. I mean, after the shoe bomber we had to take off our shoes, so it only makes sense.
The thing I find most interesting is that, save the fox new vixens (they really do not count here) I have not heard one woman complain. I have heard men yelp and scream about it. I have heard men worried about their daughter`s honour, but I have not heard a woman complain....well until this morning when one woman claimed her 11 year old daughter was felt up.
Maybe it is because women are used to handsy people. Myabe it is because women have, for so long put up with people messing about with their privates. Ask a woman who has to ride tthe subway how many times her ass gets grabbed. Ask a woman how often someone`s elbow gets to second base. I think the answer will shock you.
I am reminded of that most famous quote about sacrificing liberty for security.
Those chickens are coming home to roost people.
I am just disgusted by the number of people who waited to say something until they came for your penis.
You said nothing when they dragged your neighbour away. You said nothing when they tortured people. You said nothing when they broke all the rules and spied on us without cause.
But for the love of god, stay away from my manhood.
I feel ya Brah. I have never had a happy ending when a beaurocrat was handling my stuff, both figuratively and literally. I am sure this will be no different.
Next time, try saying don`t touch my rights instead of making about your man handle. You might get more sympathy from someone like me, who would have fought for you 5 yearts ago, but is too tired and amused to give a rat`s ass about your penis safety.
I don't wish to dwell on this, but a number of years ago, a few tools decided it was a good idea to crash some planes in to New York. You may have heard something about this, I think it was in the papers or something.
At the time, people went all nutso. I was living in Regina. If you do not know anything about Regina, it is that postage stamp looking thing in the middle of Canada you fly over going to somewhere that matters. The entire economy revolved around 4 things. Tractors, cows, Booze and call centers.
The day after the whole bad men doing evil thing, our boss ordered a controlled entry way along with bullet proof glass, a night security guard and a sophisticated alarm system. To give you some perspective, the over night girl had to change her name, move, take out several restraining orders and mace a man who was stalking her because of her position at the radio station. The man had showed up at work numerous times and got in numerous times, including through a known defective back door. The companies response to this very real threat was to advise her not to go out alone.
People lost it big time. A few days later some douche tried to sell terrorist insurance on the radio. I refused to air the commercial.
Anyway, my point is that people got very security conscious.
Many right wing lunapundits took the time to call for serious security. The government of the United States passed a number of bills and new lawws about security, removing many civil liberties.
Over several years, many lunapundits screamed about how lax security at air ports was. PROTECT OUR PEOPLE AND AIRWAYS they cried.
And thus, insane security measures were taken. Now we see the limits to how far people are willing to go.
Do racial profiling.
Do make us take off our shoes.
DO NOT TOUCH OUR JUNK!
This is not a rant on Mr. Tyner, the man who you can hear in any one of a thousand internet clips decrying his no fly zone.
This is in fact a rant against all the people who cried for more and more and more security. The people who failedd to notice as their liberties were being eroded. For all the people who sat by while people weere carted off and did not say anything. For all the rancorous douches who spew hate directed towards anyone named Ahmed or Habib. This is for all the crotchety old white men who are now freaking out that someone may finally check their luggage and claim they do not have to check it or even mark it as carry on.
All I have heard for the last week from the same people who brought you, toss em all in Gitmo is.....they`ve gone too far! That new, very unfortunitely name rapiscan that details the wrinkles on your man danglers or the folds in your well....witty seems lost here so I ill move on... As soon as it comes down to a beaurocrat in your pants it is all over.
Any ideas as to why they are this stringent now? I wonder if it has something to do with the underwear bomb thing from last year. Who knows. I mean, after the shoe bomber we had to take off our shoes, so it only makes sense.
The thing I find most interesting is that, save the fox new vixens (they really do not count here) I have not heard one woman complain. I have heard men yelp and scream about it. I have heard men worried about their daughter`s honour, but I have not heard a woman complain....well until this morning when one woman claimed her 11 year old daughter was felt up.
Maybe it is because women are used to handsy people. Myabe it is because women have, for so long put up with people messing about with their privates. Ask a woman who has to ride tthe subway how many times her ass gets grabbed. Ask a woman how often someone`s elbow gets to second base. I think the answer will shock you.
I am reminded of that most famous quote about sacrificing liberty for security.
Those chickens are coming home to roost people.
I am just disgusted by the number of people who waited to say something until they came for your penis.
You said nothing when they dragged your neighbour away. You said nothing when they tortured people. You said nothing when they broke all the rules and spied on us without cause.
But for the love of god, stay away from my manhood.
I feel ya Brah. I have never had a happy ending when a beaurocrat was handling my stuff, both figuratively and literally. I am sure this will be no different.
Next time, try saying don`t touch my rights instead of making about your man handle. You might get more sympathy from someone like me, who would have fought for you 5 yearts ago, but is too tired and amused to give a rat`s ass about your penis safety.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
200 million dollars a day.
I recently had a conversation with one of my friends about stupidity. It should be pointed out that both of us are the type of person who, on our worst day of narcissism will call ourselves average; however, most of the tiume we consideer ourselves simple.
We got in to this discussion because so much has happened lately to show us that if we are average, than average is below average.
This is to say, that if we took iq tests, we would get between 90 and 110, but the vast majority of the population would score 65....which btw is technically retarded. Of course, this is not possible, since the iq test is a median test. It shows you in relation to the population. That means if the majority of people scored 70, that would be the average, and become the new 90-110.
For those playing at home, if you want to be sure that iq tests are ridiculous and meaningless, I have been tested twice. The first time I scored 65. Yes that makes me retarded. Yes indeed, you are reading the blog of a person who is by definition, incapable of forming complex thought streams and divining multiple connections and deeper meaning from experience.
The second time I scored 157. That would make me a theoritical physicist on par with Einstein....assuming Einstein is on par with Einstein, and not just a slightly smarter than averrage hair club for men patron who was smart enough to steal the ideas submitted to his patent office.
Anyway, long story short, we came to the conclusion that we are uncomfortable with how stupid people are currently.
It mostly comes down to critical thinking. I have previously intoned a rant about how lazy we are mentally, and that continues to be the norm when we talk about critical thinking skills. Having been in a school for internship last year, I can assure you we attempt to teach these critical thinking skills early. Whether or not they take is another story.
This morning I heard something on the radio that made me go....well for crying outloud you are being stupid.
I generally like to go to sleep listening to paranoid schizophrenia radio. The one drawback of this is that the station I listen to seems to have gone to the Foxnews school of broadcasting, instead of the industry standard, Broadcast News school of journalism....which by the way I went to.
So the story goes, a study shows that those who send more that 120 texts a day are far more likely to engage in sexual activity than those who send zero text messages a day.
NO SHIT!
So they spent the next hour on this station trying to convince parents that texting causes sexual promiscuity. These people are confusing cause and effect. A person who text messages a lot is a popular person. A social person. A person who does not text message is far more likely to be a person who has few friends, or is otherwise socially awkward. Guess which of those two is more likely to be having the sex?
Once again, symptom is confused with the underlying cause, and we run away with it because it is scary....not that sex is scary. I am on record as being very very very pro sex. I would be having sex right now if the option were available.
Ok, example number two comes from the actual Fox News. Seems that they decidedd that the American President is on a trip to India that is costing 200 million dollars a day. They have come up with all sorts of crazy ideas to fit this scenario, and people are buying in to it. Right now, 54% of americans polled believe this to be true.
It is in fact completely untrue and made up. Wanna know how I know? The war in Afghanastan costs america 190 million dollars a day.
Dispatching 34 naval vessels and an aircraaft carrier to cover the president's trip woul mean about 10% of the US navy was tasked with this....instead of watching the coasts, patroling the oceans and seas and what not.
Here's what happened. An Indian new outlet cited an anonymous source as saying that this is what it cost. One of tswo things happened here. Either that news outlet made up the story, or, and this is far more likely, they misprinted it. You see, 200 million worth of the Indian currency is approximately 4 million american dollars....which makes far more sense for a trip of this magnitude.
It should also be pointed out that, for the most part, all the shit they are talking about is standard presidential entourage.
Anyway, the point here is lack of critical thinking. No one thought to go...wait a sec, that seems a bit odd, or hey, I wonder why something is the way it is.
So often we are told what to think. We let others do the thinking for us because it seems so much easier. It is faster for us to let others tell us what to think so we can get back to thinking about Grey's anatomy and whether Snooki is going to do something stupid. Spoiler elert...she is....because she is stupid.
Tomorrow I am going to talk again about what passes for entertainment, but today, I am asking you to not take what is spoon fed to you. Always thinks about why something is the way it is, always think about causality, reasons, consequences. Nothing is linear, and nothing is the way it is for one reason only.
There is always deeper meaning behind human action and interaction, though I guess by deeper, I really mean broader, cause sometimes it is just about getting laid, or about borrowing your car, and not necessarily about your undying soul.
Yep, a cigar is just a cigar, but why am I smoking it?
In the end, if I can tell you anything about the world it is this.....I am probably just trying to sleep with you, fox just wants your dollars, aliens haven't been here cause they aren't on jersey shore, and for the love of god, if you don't get it, stop claiming to be smart.
We got in to this discussion because so much has happened lately to show us that if we are average, than average is below average.
This is to say, that if we took iq tests, we would get between 90 and 110, but the vast majority of the population would score 65....which btw is technically retarded. Of course, this is not possible, since the iq test is a median test. It shows you in relation to the population. That means if the majority of people scored 70, that would be the average, and become the new 90-110.
For those playing at home, if you want to be sure that iq tests are ridiculous and meaningless, I have been tested twice. The first time I scored 65. Yes that makes me retarded. Yes indeed, you are reading the blog of a person who is by definition, incapable of forming complex thought streams and divining multiple connections and deeper meaning from experience.
The second time I scored 157. That would make me a theoritical physicist on par with Einstein....assuming Einstein is on par with Einstein, and not just a slightly smarter than averrage hair club for men patron who was smart enough to steal the ideas submitted to his patent office.
Anyway, long story short, we came to the conclusion that we are uncomfortable with how stupid people are currently.
It mostly comes down to critical thinking. I have previously intoned a rant about how lazy we are mentally, and that continues to be the norm when we talk about critical thinking skills. Having been in a school for internship last year, I can assure you we attempt to teach these critical thinking skills early. Whether or not they take is another story.
This morning I heard something on the radio that made me go....well for crying outloud you are being stupid.
I generally like to go to sleep listening to paranoid schizophrenia radio. The one drawback of this is that the station I listen to seems to have gone to the Foxnews school of broadcasting, instead of the industry standard, Broadcast News school of journalism....which by the way I went to.
So the story goes, a study shows that those who send more that 120 texts a day are far more likely to engage in sexual activity than those who send zero text messages a day.
NO SHIT!
So they spent the next hour on this station trying to convince parents that texting causes sexual promiscuity. These people are confusing cause and effect. A person who text messages a lot is a popular person. A social person. A person who does not text message is far more likely to be a person who has few friends, or is otherwise socially awkward. Guess which of those two is more likely to be having the sex?
Once again, symptom is confused with the underlying cause, and we run away with it because it is scary....not that sex is scary. I am on record as being very very very pro sex. I would be having sex right now if the option were available.
Ok, example number two comes from the actual Fox News. Seems that they decidedd that the American President is on a trip to India that is costing 200 million dollars a day. They have come up with all sorts of crazy ideas to fit this scenario, and people are buying in to it. Right now, 54% of americans polled believe this to be true.
It is in fact completely untrue and made up. Wanna know how I know? The war in Afghanastan costs america 190 million dollars a day.
Dispatching 34 naval vessels and an aircraaft carrier to cover the president's trip woul mean about 10% of the US navy was tasked with this....instead of watching the coasts, patroling the oceans and seas and what not.
Here's what happened. An Indian new outlet cited an anonymous source as saying that this is what it cost. One of tswo things happened here. Either that news outlet made up the story, or, and this is far more likely, they misprinted it. You see, 200 million worth of the Indian currency is approximately 4 million american dollars....which makes far more sense for a trip of this magnitude.
It should also be pointed out that, for the most part, all the shit they are talking about is standard presidential entourage.
Anyway, the point here is lack of critical thinking. No one thought to go...wait a sec, that seems a bit odd, or hey, I wonder why something is the way it is.
So often we are told what to think. We let others do the thinking for us because it seems so much easier. It is faster for us to let others tell us what to think so we can get back to thinking about Grey's anatomy and whether Snooki is going to do something stupid. Spoiler elert...she is....because she is stupid.
Tomorrow I am going to talk again about what passes for entertainment, but today, I am asking you to not take what is spoon fed to you. Always thinks about why something is the way it is, always think about causality, reasons, consequences. Nothing is linear, and nothing is the way it is for one reason only.
There is always deeper meaning behind human action and interaction, though I guess by deeper, I really mean broader, cause sometimes it is just about getting laid, or about borrowing your car, and not necessarily about your undying soul.
Yep, a cigar is just a cigar, but why am I smoking it?
In the end, if I can tell you anything about the world it is this.....I am probably just trying to sleep with you, fox just wants your dollars, aliens haven't been here cause they aren't on jersey shore, and for the love of god, if you don't get it, stop claiming to be smart.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Hate Tastes Like Victory?
Note: This is going to seem much more like a position paper than a blog entry. This is also the internet so I am going to spice it up with some multi media, a few musical interludes and a you tube or two. BTW, I also learned how to do html coding so that the links either open a new browser window or tab depending on your browser settings, so feel free to click away without losing your place in my wonderful soapbox sandbox.
There are a few issues which really get my motor running, tee me up, and make me get out a pen and write up a list (nsfw). Those issues, in no particular order are, abuse of women and children, the dh rule, and racism.
There are many reasons for racism, and I will touch on some of them, but what I really want to speak about is how far off the path we have strayed.
There is a theory in social psychology that talks about in groups and out groups. We strive like hell to become a part of the in group, and once there, fight to stay. We develop mores, and expected behaviours.
Many philosophers, psychic bunny rabbits, and holy rollers believe that human beings have this thing inside them that makes us strive to belong. In fact, strive may not be a strong enough word. We NEED to belong. We need families, peer groups, swinger circles, geekapolooza thursday nights at the local coffee shop. Some of us do the most ridiculous things in order to belong.
People will dress up in funny costumes, wear make up, and chant slogans just to belong to the in group. So I tend to agree that yeah, everyone has it coded in their dna somewhere that they need to belong; that without belonging life has little meaning.
Sometimes these are healthy groups, like say the boy scouts, and sometimes they are just evil and wrong, like say the Nazis.
The inescapable truth about belonging is that in order to belong, you need to not belong as well. In order not to belong, and to make you feel like you have chosen the right group to be a part of, you can do one of two things. Make your group stronger or make the other group weaker.
Here's another inescapable truth about human beings. We are friggin lazy. If you think pride is the route of all sin, I got one thing to say to you. This:
Sloth, laziness leads to us cutting corners in everything we do, that includes thinking. We develop schema just so things will be easier. In many respects, our eyesight is even based on memory instead of actually working. We see what we expect to see. I am sure many of you have taken that little reading test where the letter are all jumbled inside the words, and yet you were able to read it alright. This isn;t an example of the wondrous brain and how it can decode things, it is actually an example of how lazy the brain is. It sees what it expects to see and then makes things conform to those thoughts and ideas.
This is how we live our lives, and this is how we strengthen our groups. Not from the inside, but rather from the outside.
In a nutshell, what I am trying to get at is, groups use an external locus of control over the esteem of the group.
This can be harmless, or mostly so. Take for example the boy scouts. Here;s a little known fact about me, I was in the boy scouts....heck, I was super scout. Like always, when I actually get off my lazy ass, I do everything to the fullest. I actually achieved the highest honour in Canadian Scouting. I was the shit. I was also in Air Cadets. I know, geek rightÉ You try saying no to a hot 16 year old girl when you are 13 and she is saying, you wanna come hang out with me, learn self defense, shoot guns and learn to fly? Uhmmm no get away from me chick....yeah right. I signed up, immediately.
Anyway, the point to this trip down memory and mammary lane is that those two groups made fun of each other. When each found out I was a member of the other, they made it very hard on me. They would try everything to make me not want to belong to the other group. They did this instead of extolling the virtues of their own group. One would say the other is mean, and one would say the other was a bunch of pansies.
Sure, they could have just felt safe in that I belonged to the group and just tried to make my experience better in the group, but nah, that was a lot like work.
The problem arises when the outgroup hazing becomes destructive. Nothing bad has ever come out of projecting your fears and prejudices outward right?
Eventually it isn't enough just to denigrate.
What I am talking about is the difference between prejudice and discrimination.
Prejudice is unavoidable. We all have prejudices. We all feel things about other people and other groups. Some of it is based on fact, and some of it is based on stereotyping. Some of it is because of experience, and some of it is because we just want to feel better about ourselves.
Take the example of the NPR firing Juan Williams.
What this dude sad was that prejudice is a fact of life. Stereotyping is what we do. If you continue to listen to everything he said, you will notice he was saying it needs to stop at prejudice and not make it in to the realm of acting on it.
It is easy for us to say, when we see a muslim person we immediately get uneasy. It is much more difficult for us to examine the reasons why and to discuss how we can bridge that understanding with a little good old fashioned rethinking. It is also important to break the habit of acting on it. This is the crux of his position.
It was brave of him to admit his fear and prejudice.
It is a fear that has been reinforced time and again by north American media. It is a prejudice that we are fed constantly. To admit that you have fallen prey to this is not weakness, nor is it racism.
You see we all have prejudice, be it about the dirty bum on the streets, the guy who doesn't like star wars, or the muslim family that just moved in down the street. The difference comes when we decide how to act on it.
I mentioned Andre, and here's the thing. A group of douche bags decided that their group was put down and put upon by black people. They decided it would be good to rid the world of this scourge. Thus, they killed him, in front of me.
This was a mistake on their part because it led to me finding my own voice, and my own prejudice. It led to this attitude.
This is sort of like the epitome of what I am talking about when I say out group rage. An in group created out of anger and hate that devolves in to violence on both sides. Does it really matter if one group is righteous in their anger or not? The result is still the same.
So I think about a line from the good batman. It kind of sums up the idea that prejudice is in us, but what we do with it matters.
So in the end, we see that actions speak louder than words. Racism is about actively spreading hate. It is about actively seeking to destroy or weaken the out group. Racism is not about thinking someone is bad because of stereotypes.
I would love to be able to change the hearts and minds of everyone who has prejudice in this world for people based on ridiculous notions. I would like to be able to help people understand that in order to progress and become a more perfect society we need to shed all those things that cause fear and hatred to bring us down.
I can't. I can't make you see that people are just people. Some are good, some are bad. Some are white, some are black. Some believe in Jesus and some don't. I can't make you see the inherent value in all people....you know, until they prove themselves douches.
What I can do is change the way we act on these thoughts and feelings. We can all say it is not ok to mistreat people because of our feelings towards them, no matter what those feelings are.
We have come a long way since the caves, but there are still miles to go before we sleep.
We no longer club things over the head and drag them back to our cave when we want them. This is progress.
We still need to realise that we don't have to fight with each other to make the world a better place for our group. I am not sure what the perfect solution is, but carving out a niche for our group, being free to practice whatever strange rituals we wish to that do not harm others is a start. Not being mistreated because of this is essential.
You don't have to like me, or what I do, but that doesn't mean you should spread hatred for me. And it sure as shit doesn't mean we have to put up with that kind of behaviour.
Yet we do. We do it all the time. We ring our hands, shake our fists and say, wow that sucks big time, yet we do nothing to change it. We give acceptance that the behaviour is ok by not speaking out against it.
We hide from things we don't like because...wait for it....we are all lazy. We cannot sit idly by and let people spread hatred and fear, no matter why they are doing it.
We can accept in our hearts that people will always fear, distrust, and even sometimes hate the outgourp, but that doesn''t mean we have to sit by and let them do their thing, even if it isn't to our group.
We do each other a disservice when we don't act.
To paraphrase greatness, with free speech comes great responsibility.
We shouldn't make it so they can't say what they want. We need to make it so that they don't want to say what they want. Make them such an outgroup that they can't stand not to be in our group. The group of the sane, rational individual.
Join my group. The group of the normal average everyday person who is just trying to make their way in this world while trying not to hate on others.
Don't let hate or discrimination in to your group please.
Well that went to a different place than intended...so much for a position paper, though it did get a little technical. Oh well.
There are a few issues which really get my motor running, tee me up, and make me get out a pen and write up a list (nsfw). Those issues, in no particular order are, abuse of women and children, the dh rule, and racism.
There are many reasons for racism, and I will touch on some of them, but what I really want to speak about is how far off the path we have strayed.
There is a theory in social psychology that talks about in groups and out groups. We strive like hell to become a part of the in group, and once there, fight to stay. We develop mores, and expected behaviours.
Many philosophers, psychic bunny rabbits, and holy rollers believe that human beings have this thing inside them that makes us strive to belong. In fact, strive may not be a strong enough word. We NEED to belong. We need families, peer groups, swinger circles, geekapolooza thursday nights at the local coffee shop. Some of us do the most ridiculous things in order to belong.
People will dress up in funny costumes, wear make up, and chant slogans just to belong to the in group. So I tend to agree that yeah, everyone has it coded in their dna somewhere that they need to belong; that without belonging life has little meaning.
Sometimes these are healthy groups, like say the boy scouts, and sometimes they are just evil and wrong, like say the Nazis.
The inescapable truth about belonging is that in order to belong, you need to not belong as well. In order not to belong, and to make you feel like you have chosen the right group to be a part of, you can do one of two things. Make your group stronger or make the other group weaker.
Here's another inescapable truth about human beings. We are friggin lazy. If you think pride is the route of all sin, I got one thing to say to you. This:
Sloth, laziness leads to us cutting corners in everything we do, that includes thinking. We develop schema just so things will be easier. In many respects, our eyesight is even based on memory instead of actually working. We see what we expect to see. I am sure many of you have taken that little reading test where the letter are all jumbled inside the words, and yet you were able to read it alright. This isn;t an example of the wondrous brain and how it can decode things, it is actually an example of how lazy the brain is. It sees what it expects to see and then makes things conform to those thoughts and ideas.
This is how we live our lives, and this is how we strengthen our groups. Not from the inside, but rather from the outside.
In a nutshell, what I am trying to get at is, groups use an external locus of control over the esteem of the group.
This can be harmless, or mostly so. Take for example the boy scouts. Here;s a little known fact about me, I was in the boy scouts....heck, I was super scout. Like always, when I actually get off my lazy ass, I do everything to the fullest. I actually achieved the highest honour in Canadian Scouting. I was the shit. I was also in Air Cadets. I know, geek rightÉ You try saying no to a hot 16 year old girl when you are 13 and she is saying, you wanna come hang out with me, learn self defense, shoot guns and learn to fly? Uhmmm no get away from me chick....yeah right. I signed up, immediately.
Anyway, the point to this trip down memory and mammary lane is that those two groups made fun of each other. When each found out I was a member of the other, they made it very hard on me. They would try everything to make me not want to belong to the other group. They did this instead of extolling the virtues of their own group. One would say the other is mean, and one would say the other was a bunch of pansies.
Sure, they could have just felt safe in that I belonged to the group and just tried to make my experience better in the group, but nah, that was a lot like work.
The problem arises when the outgroup hazing becomes destructive. Nothing bad has ever come out of projecting your fears and prejudices outward right?
Eventually it isn't enough just to denigrate.
What I am talking about is the difference between prejudice and discrimination.
Prejudice is unavoidable. We all have prejudices. We all feel things about other people and other groups. Some of it is based on fact, and some of it is based on stereotyping. Some of it is because of experience, and some of it is because we just want to feel better about ourselves.
Take the example of the NPR firing Juan Williams.
What this dude sad was that prejudice is a fact of life. Stereotyping is what we do. If you continue to listen to everything he said, you will notice he was saying it needs to stop at prejudice and not make it in to the realm of acting on it.
It is easy for us to say, when we see a muslim person we immediately get uneasy. It is much more difficult for us to examine the reasons why and to discuss how we can bridge that understanding with a little good old fashioned rethinking. It is also important to break the habit of acting on it. This is the crux of his position.
It was brave of him to admit his fear and prejudice.
It is a fear that has been reinforced time and again by north American media. It is a prejudice that we are fed constantly. To admit that you have fallen prey to this is not weakness, nor is it racism.
You see we all have prejudice, be it about the dirty bum on the streets, the guy who doesn't like star wars, or the muslim family that just moved in down the street. The difference comes when we decide how to act on it.
I mentioned Andre, and here's the thing. A group of douche bags decided that their group was put down and put upon by black people. They decided it would be good to rid the world of this scourge. Thus, they killed him, in front of me.
This was a mistake on their part because it led to me finding my own voice, and my own prejudice. It led to this attitude.
This is sort of like the epitome of what I am talking about when I say out group rage. An in group created out of anger and hate that devolves in to violence on both sides. Does it really matter if one group is righteous in their anger or not? The result is still the same.
So I think about a line from the good batman. It kind of sums up the idea that prejudice is in us, but what we do with it matters.
So in the end, we see that actions speak louder than words. Racism is about actively spreading hate. It is about actively seeking to destroy or weaken the out group. Racism is not about thinking someone is bad because of stereotypes.
I would love to be able to change the hearts and minds of everyone who has prejudice in this world for people based on ridiculous notions. I would like to be able to help people understand that in order to progress and become a more perfect society we need to shed all those things that cause fear and hatred to bring us down.
I can't. I can't make you see that people are just people. Some are good, some are bad. Some are white, some are black. Some believe in Jesus and some don't. I can't make you see the inherent value in all people....you know, until they prove themselves douches.
What I can do is change the way we act on these thoughts and feelings. We can all say it is not ok to mistreat people because of our feelings towards them, no matter what those feelings are.
We have come a long way since the caves, but there are still miles to go before we sleep.
We no longer club things over the head and drag them back to our cave when we want them. This is progress.
We still need to realise that we don't have to fight with each other to make the world a better place for our group. I am not sure what the perfect solution is, but carving out a niche for our group, being free to practice whatever strange rituals we wish to that do not harm others is a start. Not being mistreated because of this is essential.
You don't have to like me, or what I do, but that doesn't mean you should spread hatred for me. And it sure as shit doesn't mean we have to put up with that kind of behaviour.
Yet we do. We do it all the time. We ring our hands, shake our fists and say, wow that sucks big time, yet we do nothing to change it. We give acceptance that the behaviour is ok by not speaking out against it.
We hide from things we don't like because...wait for it....we are all lazy. We cannot sit idly by and let people spread hatred and fear, no matter why they are doing it.
We can accept in our hearts that people will always fear, distrust, and even sometimes hate the outgourp, but that doesn''t mean we have to sit by and let them do their thing, even if it isn't to our group.
We do each other a disservice when we don't act.
To paraphrase greatness, with free speech comes great responsibility.
We shouldn't make it so they can't say what they want. We need to make it so that they don't want to say what they want. Make them such an outgroup that they can't stand not to be in our group. The group of the sane, rational individual.
Join my group. The group of the normal average everyday person who is just trying to make their way in this world while trying not to hate on others.
Don't let hate or discrimination in to your group please.
Well that went to a different place than intended...so much for a position paper, though it did get a little technical. Oh well.
Friday, October 22, 2010
lessons.tv.edu
So I have been trying like hell to procrastinate some long over due housework. To that end I have sought out anything and everything that will entertain me for longer than five minutes.
I have run out of my normal entertainment sources, so I am reaching out to new resources and sources. This has been a disappointing situation.
I have learned a few things.
First off, sitcoms and dramas come from two different universes. In sitcoms everything is about odd coupling. Contrast is key, whether it is in relation to hetero life mating or just plain mating. This is what has led to the rise of the fat slob guy with a heart of gold and a head of nickle being with the hot chick who is overly emotional.
The same holds true of any situation in a sitcom. Odd friends or polar opposite brothers, doesn't matter. The humour is all in the juxtaposition of diametrically opposed world views. It is similar to talking head shows like ye olde HANNITY and colmes.
In drama however, stereotyping is the key.
What I have noticed is not only the reason why America is fat, but also the reason why they are stupid.
For starters, let me point out that America is fat not because of their diet, but because all the thin people are dying violently. This is confirmed by the 37 network television shows based around cops and criminals. You see, only young attractive people, or slightly older, yet still attractive people are dying in record numbers.
These people are being killed by two groups. First, the other young, or slightly older attractive people who are in some way jealous, envious, or angry at the victims. These criminals are either sent to prison or killed by the police. Just so we are clear, more people are shot and killed by the police in Miami than are killed in Ontario in a year. Yeah, not kidding. I would have to track down the exact numbers, but Horatio Cain has killed more people in the last ten years than almost any other serial killer in the history of mankind. It's ok though, he is a force for justice. A sniper rifle, bazooka, knife, 9mm, wielding force for justice.
The other group of individuals killing the beautiful young people...mostly in bikinis or short shorts if they are female, or boxers if they are male, are unattractive weirdos. These are stalkers and crazy people, who by design are incredibly odd looking. They are deranged and have moles, look out! They have a slight deformity or are sick or have bad skin, and thus they kill.
In many cases they are killing because they are just not good enough.
As a side note, it should be pointed out that the stalkers who do not kill are always hot. Not kidding here people. My empirical data states that out of the 8 stalkers depicted in the shows I have watched recently, only one (from supernatural) has not been the killer or been completely hot. 3 were not the killer btw, and they were all hot, while only 1 who was a killer was slightly attractive.
I bring this up because all too often we are led around by the depictions of reality on the television. We are led to believe, or have our impressions of the world manipulated by the things we see. While in the minds of many social psychologists, real life experiences are far more influential than images in media, we cannot discount the media as a source for the way we see the world.
When every television show that is supposedly depicting real life events in a dramatic fashion builds a stereotyped view of criminals, we cannot help but feel this way in real life. We allow these images to seep in to our collective consciousness, and they do become reality for us, because we reinforce them with our behaviours and attitudes.
This is no different than the way we view romance through the lens of media. We base our understanding of love on what some writer fantasizes about. I honestly don't think you want the world to be based around my fantasies.
We tend to sit around waiting for the magical world of romance, while we allow good people, people who love us to walk right on by. We are inundated with images of what true love looks like. It looks like those douches from twilight.
Apparently it looks like a dude with smoldering eyes and pouty lips and shimmering skin and steroid created super figures.
It looks like perfect hair and bedroom eyes, and perky breasts.
We see these images constantly and it fills our heads not only with what beauty should look like, but what love should look like.
As much as I am willing to die for those I love, the option just doesn't present itself that often. I rarely, if ever, have to sacrifice my being for another person, but that is what we think love should be.
Love is never about sacrificing who you are for the other person, or even subjugating your will. Love is about celebrating the other person for everything that they are, be it good or bad. Love is about acceptance and caring, not sacrifice and tight abs.
Let me put it to you this way, if I showed up in your room tonight and watched you sleep, would you think that is love, or would you call the cops and get a restraining order? Right, so why then do we think of Edward as the embodiment of romance and love? Because he is hot? Because there is soft music playing in the background?
So if we go back to the original point of dramas and say, they depict people like me as petty jealous or crazy dudes who are so bent on our desires that we can no longer function as rational human beings, why am I not excused from partaking in the same behaviours? Oh cause it is just art and cinema, I get it.
But then why are we expected to live up to the example of the same characters put in a more positive light, and embodied in a better frame?
Some entertainment I truly enjoy, but for the most part, it is all just stupid.
Where does the stupid come from? It comes from shows that have the clue magically appear. It comes from the criminals being supposed super geniuses, yet they put their meetings and plans in their cell phones. It comes from telling me I need to conform to some sort of stereotype, or I need to search for a specific sign of love or beauty.
Stupidity comes from us accepting, as entertainment, the dumbing down, prettying up, over blowing of reality until what we see doesn't resemble anything we can expect in our lives ever.
Why do I say that? Because, since our lives are no where near the crazy surreality of television, we must accept words of comfort to meet our expectations.
Since I don't have to protect you from a pack of werewolves or vampires, and I do not have to kill your enemies, or shoot the bad guy to save your life, all I can do is say I will.
Here's the problem. It is easy to dupe you in to believing I love you. I can say all the right things. I can say that I will love you forever, and say that I would protect you from harm, and always bve there for you. I can say that you mean the world to me, just like they do in the movies.
Here's the rub. In the movies, Edward says these things, and then he does them. He says he will sacrifice everything for Bella, and then he does.
All I have to do is say them. And as long as I say what Edward says, and as long as I say what they say in all the books and movies, and look sincere when I do, you will think I love you.
Then something evil happens. Then I treat you like shit. Then I can make you feel self conscious, make you feel like you aren't as smart as me, or as kind, or like I know something you don't know. I can then treat you any way I see fit. Oh sure, at a certain point, reality meets head on with your desire and dream of what reality should be and conflict arises.
Then I have to soothe you with speech again.
This can continue for a long time, until eventually we fight constantly or you resign yourself to the new reality and stop seaking out that which you desire and settle for a water downed version of love that was based on nothing more than mutual attraction and hormonal releasing of chemicals in the brain.
You have thus been deprived of actual love. Love that was offered in other ways from other people who just didn't live up to what you expected because tv and movies told you what to expect from this life.
The same people who bring you the crime fighting Miami detective who kills more people than one should and still remain on the street are the same people who bring you Edward.
The same people who bring you cheerleaders with no heads are the same people that bring you studly werewolves.
The same people who bring you stupid criminals who give the police everything they need at the crucial moment in the show because they couldn't get the information any other way, are the same people who bring you a man with a ghetto blaster standing outside your window.
Real people can't live up to these standards, nor can you expect words to equal the sentiment in these shows.
All reality is, is a series of events where a person either proves they care about you and your feelings, or they make you feel bad. Sometimes, good people who care will make you feel bad accidentally, and they will apologize and try and fix it. Douches will intentionally hurt you and your feelings because they don't care enough about who you are to make a change in what they are, or to support you.
All I can do is stop using television as a source informing my opinions on the world...you know, other than the daily show....that is just truth.
I have run out of my normal entertainment sources, so I am reaching out to new resources and sources. This has been a disappointing situation.
I have learned a few things.
First off, sitcoms and dramas come from two different universes. In sitcoms everything is about odd coupling. Contrast is key, whether it is in relation to hetero life mating or just plain mating. This is what has led to the rise of the fat slob guy with a heart of gold and a head of nickle being with the hot chick who is overly emotional.
The same holds true of any situation in a sitcom. Odd friends or polar opposite brothers, doesn't matter. The humour is all in the juxtaposition of diametrically opposed world views. It is similar to talking head shows like ye olde HANNITY and colmes.
In drama however, stereotyping is the key.
What I have noticed is not only the reason why America is fat, but also the reason why they are stupid.
For starters, let me point out that America is fat not because of their diet, but because all the thin people are dying violently. This is confirmed by the 37 network television shows based around cops and criminals. You see, only young attractive people, or slightly older, yet still attractive people are dying in record numbers.
These people are being killed by two groups. First, the other young, or slightly older attractive people who are in some way jealous, envious, or angry at the victims. These criminals are either sent to prison or killed by the police. Just so we are clear, more people are shot and killed by the police in Miami than are killed in Ontario in a year. Yeah, not kidding. I would have to track down the exact numbers, but Horatio Cain has killed more people in the last ten years than almost any other serial killer in the history of mankind. It's ok though, he is a force for justice. A sniper rifle, bazooka, knife, 9mm, wielding force for justice.
The other group of individuals killing the beautiful young people...mostly in bikinis or short shorts if they are female, or boxers if they are male, are unattractive weirdos. These are stalkers and crazy people, who by design are incredibly odd looking. They are deranged and have moles, look out! They have a slight deformity or are sick or have bad skin, and thus they kill.
In many cases they are killing because they are just not good enough.
As a side note, it should be pointed out that the stalkers who do not kill are always hot. Not kidding here people. My empirical data states that out of the 8 stalkers depicted in the shows I have watched recently, only one (from supernatural) has not been the killer or been completely hot. 3 were not the killer btw, and they were all hot, while only 1 who was a killer was slightly attractive.
I bring this up because all too often we are led around by the depictions of reality on the television. We are led to believe, or have our impressions of the world manipulated by the things we see. While in the minds of many social psychologists, real life experiences are far more influential than images in media, we cannot discount the media as a source for the way we see the world.
When every television show that is supposedly depicting real life events in a dramatic fashion builds a stereotyped view of criminals, we cannot help but feel this way in real life. We allow these images to seep in to our collective consciousness, and they do become reality for us, because we reinforce them with our behaviours and attitudes.
This is no different than the way we view romance through the lens of media. We base our understanding of love on what some writer fantasizes about. I honestly don't think you want the world to be based around my fantasies.
We tend to sit around waiting for the magical world of romance, while we allow good people, people who love us to walk right on by. We are inundated with images of what true love looks like. It looks like those douches from twilight.
Apparently it looks like a dude with smoldering eyes and pouty lips and shimmering skin and steroid created super figures.
It looks like perfect hair and bedroom eyes, and perky breasts.
We see these images constantly and it fills our heads not only with what beauty should look like, but what love should look like.
As much as I am willing to die for those I love, the option just doesn't present itself that often. I rarely, if ever, have to sacrifice my being for another person, but that is what we think love should be.
Love is never about sacrificing who you are for the other person, or even subjugating your will. Love is about celebrating the other person for everything that they are, be it good or bad. Love is about acceptance and caring, not sacrifice and tight abs.
Let me put it to you this way, if I showed up in your room tonight and watched you sleep, would you think that is love, or would you call the cops and get a restraining order? Right, so why then do we think of Edward as the embodiment of romance and love? Because he is hot? Because there is soft music playing in the background?
So if we go back to the original point of dramas and say, they depict people like me as petty jealous or crazy dudes who are so bent on our desires that we can no longer function as rational human beings, why am I not excused from partaking in the same behaviours? Oh cause it is just art and cinema, I get it.
But then why are we expected to live up to the example of the same characters put in a more positive light, and embodied in a better frame?
Some entertainment I truly enjoy, but for the most part, it is all just stupid.
Where does the stupid come from? It comes from shows that have the clue magically appear. It comes from the criminals being supposed super geniuses, yet they put their meetings and plans in their cell phones. It comes from telling me I need to conform to some sort of stereotype, or I need to search for a specific sign of love or beauty.
Stupidity comes from us accepting, as entertainment, the dumbing down, prettying up, over blowing of reality until what we see doesn't resemble anything we can expect in our lives ever.
Why do I say that? Because, since our lives are no where near the crazy surreality of television, we must accept words of comfort to meet our expectations.
Since I don't have to protect you from a pack of werewolves or vampires, and I do not have to kill your enemies, or shoot the bad guy to save your life, all I can do is say I will.
Here's the problem. It is easy to dupe you in to believing I love you. I can say all the right things. I can say that I will love you forever, and say that I would protect you from harm, and always bve there for you. I can say that you mean the world to me, just like they do in the movies.
Here's the rub. In the movies, Edward says these things, and then he does them. He says he will sacrifice everything for Bella, and then he does.
All I have to do is say them. And as long as I say what Edward says, and as long as I say what they say in all the books and movies, and look sincere when I do, you will think I love you.
Then something evil happens. Then I treat you like shit. Then I can make you feel self conscious, make you feel like you aren't as smart as me, or as kind, or like I know something you don't know. I can then treat you any way I see fit. Oh sure, at a certain point, reality meets head on with your desire and dream of what reality should be and conflict arises.
Then I have to soothe you with speech again.
This can continue for a long time, until eventually we fight constantly or you resign yourself to the new reality and stop seaking out that which you desire and settle for a water downed version of love that was based on nothing more than mutual attraction and hormonal releasing of chemicals in the brain.
You have thus been deprived of actual love. Love that was offered in other ways from other people who just didn't live up to what you expected because tv and movies told you what to expect from this life.
The same people who bring you the crime fighting Miami detective who kills more people than one should and still remain on the street are the same people who bring you Edward.
The same people who bring you cheerleaders with no heads are the same people that bring you studly werewolves.
The same people who bring you stupid criminals who give the police everything they need at the crucial moment in the show because they couldn't get the information any other way, are the same people who bring you a man with a ghetto blaster standing outside your window.
Real people can't live up to these standards, nor can you expect words to equal the sentiment in these shows.
All reality is, is a series of events where a person either proves they care about you and your feelings, or they make you feel bad. Sometimes, good people who care will make you feel bad accidentally, and they will apologize and try and fix it. Douches will intentionally hurt you and your feelings because they don't care enough about who you are to make a change in what they are, or to support you.
All I can do is stop using television as a source informing my opinions on the world...you know, other than the daily show....that is just truth.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
I sold drugs to river pheonix.
I choose this title for a myriad of reasons.
1. I know it makes me look like a monster, and I enjoy being the thing of nightmares rather than dreams.
2. It plays well in to my topic of discussion, namely young people who piss me off.
3. Pheonix is pretty much a greta reference for this post.
4. I like making lists.
5. Unless they are to do lists.
The most disturbing development has recently come to my attention. I have only been tangentially aware of the existance of something known as the Bieber. I understood from what little information has trickled in to my cerebral cortex that he is a a mom made internet star. That is to say, his mom made him post you tube videos of himself until some image maker got a hold of it and made him a star. This may not be the whole story, but I am loathe to research this any further, so we are going to assume this is all that happened and we can blame Mrs. Beebs for this whole mess.
What mess you may ask? This Mess. Go a head and click on it, I swear this isn't a Rick Roll. This is too serious a situation for that kind of tom foolary.
Did you click on it? Do you now know the terrible thing that will end the world as we know it?
Bierber has....an autobiography.
At 16.
A biography, and more importantly, an auto biography is about more than money. It is about more than posterity. It is about more than just fame. Yet, this boy's handlers have cheapened it, and we have let them.
Bierber is now as important to the people of the world as any historic figure, because we have given him that power. We have said that your contribution to society is so important we need you to document it. You are so important to us that we need to know what makes you tick.
You wanna know what makes Bierber tick? He is 16. He doesn`t even know who he is yet. Appearently the book is about a rebellion against the fact that most people think he is going to fall from grace at some point. He claims this will not happen to him. He is incorrect.
Justin Bieber is not who he should be. I know this becuase he is too young to have confirmed his identity. Too young to have found who he is and make peace with it. He is who others want him to be. He has been forceed in to a role, and at some point in his life, that role will break down. He will rebel against that role and seek out who he really is.
What that rebellion will look like, who can say. River Pheonix took his turmoil over identity and internalized it and drugged his way to oblivion.
Michael Jackson....well....I don`t really think anyone knows the truth about what Michael Jackson did with his turmoil, but we can certainly surmise it was not pretty.
Justin Bieber, at 16 has won. We have let him. I am tired of it. I am tired of my passions being ignored.
I know this is self serving and a bit narcissitic, but at this stage in our lives, I honestly believe I have more to offer the world autobiographically than Justin Bierber. I am not saying I am more important to the world in general. He provides the world with something very valuable, and while it is not my cup of tea, I must recognize that it is still valuable, and in many ways his continued existance provides more to the world than mine. That is not the point I am making here.
What I am talking about is the point to an auto biography.
They are meant to provide the world with insight in to a person`s chartacter. To describe the events of thier life, and then, through exposition and self examination, provide context and understanding. They add to the collective consciousness of society by defining a contribution to society.
There is value in most stories, but Bieber`s is so far from finished there is no value in it. There is no character arc, no struggle, no overcoming adversity, no lessons learned.
At this point all he can teach us is; go on you tube, get noticed, sign deal, give other people control of your imnage, go on stage and perform. This is not anything new, nor is it anything worthwhile in the long run. It is a fad thing, and we see it all the time.
20 years from now, when Justin has experienced some hardship, or managed to avoid all hardship, I will want to read his story. At that time it will provide something worth reading. Right now it is merely a marketing tool and a money grab.
All too often we fall prey to these schemes, forgeting true stories and immersing ourselves in the hoopla of fame.
Look to the people in your life and relish their stories.
Look to the people you pass on the street and learn their story. It is a far better one than anything Justin Bieber has to tell at this point.
Yeah, I am jaded and pissed that Bieber gets to tell his story and I do not. That makes me a bit pathetic, and I can live with that. What pisses me off more though is that he gets to tell his story and River Pheonix doesn`t. River had something to teach us, but we will never know what it is. But we certainly can find out what turns Bieber on.
Is there no other statement on modern society that is sadder than that?
1. I know it makes me look like a monster, and I enjoy being the thing of nightmares rather than dreams.
2. It plays well in to my topic of discussion, namely young people who piss me off.
3. Pheonix is pretty much a greta reference for this post.
4. I like making lists.
5. Unless they are to do lists.
The most disturbing development has recently come to my attention. I have only been tangentially aware of the existance of something known as the Bieber. I understood from what little information has trickled in to my cerebral cortex that he is a a mom made internet star. That is to say, his mom made him post you tube videos of himself until some image maker got a hold of it and made him a star. This may not be the whole story, but I am loathe to research this any further, so we are going to assume this is all that happened and we can blame Mrs. Beebs for this whole mess.
What mess you may ask? This Mess. Go a head and click on it, I swear this isn't a Rick Roll. This is too serious a situation for that kind of tom foolary.
Did you click on it? Do you now know the terrible thing that will end the world as we know it?
Bierber has....an autobiography.
At 16.
A biography, and more importantly, an auto biography is about more than money. It is about more than posterity. It is about more than just fame. Yet, this boy's handlers have cheapened it, and we have let them.
Bierber is now as important to the people of the world as any historic figure, because we have given him that power. We have said that your contribution to society is so important we need you to document it. You are so important to us that we need to know what makes you tick.
You wanna know what makes Bierber tick? He is 16. He doesn`t even know who he is yet. Appearently the book is about a rebellion against the fact that most people think he is going to fall from grace at some point. He claims this will not happen to him. He is incorrect.
Justin Bieber is not who he should be. I know this becuase he is too young to have confirmed his identity. Too young to have found who he is and make peace with it. He is who others want him to be. He has been forceed in to a role, and at some point in his life, that role will break down. He will rebel against that role and seek out who he really is.
What that rebellion will look like, who can say. River Pheonix took his turmoil over identity and internalized it and drugged his way to oblivion.
Michael Jackson....well....I don`t really think anyone knows the truth about what Michael Jackson did with his turmoil, but we can certainly surmise it was not pretty.
Justin Bieber, at 16 has won. We have let him. I am tired of it. I am tired of my passions being ignored.
I know this is self serving and a bit narcissitic, but at this stage in our lives, I honestly believe I have more to offer the world autobiographically than Justin Bierber. I am not saying I am more important to the world in general. He provides the world with something very valuable, and while it is not my cup of tea, I must recognize that it is still valuable, and in many ways his continued existance provides more to the world than mine. That is not the point I am making here.
What I am talking about is the point to an auto biography.
They are meant to provide the world with insight in to a person`s chartacter. To describe the events of thier life, and then, through exposition and self examination, provide context and understanding. They add to the collective consciousness of society by defining a contribution to society.
There is value in most stories, but Bieber`s is so far from finished there is no value in it. There is no character arc, no struggle, no overcoming adversity, no lessons learned.
At this point all he can teach us is; go on you tube, get noticed, sign deal, give other people control of your imnage, go on stage and perform. This is not anything new, nor is it anything worthwhile in the long run. It is a fad thing, and we see it all the time.
20 years from now, when Justin has experienced some hardship, or managed to avoid all hardship, I will want to read his story. At that time it will provide something worth reading. Right now it is merely a marketing tool and a money grab.
All too often we fall prey to these schemes, forgeting true stories and immersing ourselves in the hoopla of fame.
Look to the people in your life and relish their stories.
Look to the people you pass on the street and learn their story. It is a far better one than anything Justin Bieber has to tell at this point.
Yeah, I am jaded and pissed that Bieber gets to tell his story and I do not. That makes me a bit pathetic, and I can live with that. What pisses me off more though is that he gets to tell his story and River Pheonix doesn`t. River had something to teach us, but we will never know what it is. But we certainly can find out what turns Bieber on.
Is there no other statement on modern society that is sadder than that?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Women`s issues.
I know what you are all thinking, this is going to be me complaining about how I suck with the ladies, and you would be wrong.
In recent weeks, many different issues primarily effecting the feminine aspect of humanity have cropped up, and I have been derelict in my duty as an internet pundit to wax philosophical about them.
A couple of weeks ago, the highest court in Ontario deemed certain aspects of anti-prostitution legislation unconstitutional, or counter to the charter as we say in the frozen north.
Those aspects are:
1. Communication for the purposes of prostitution.
2. Running a common bawdy house.
3. Profiting from prostitution.
So what does that mean? Basically it means the only thing illegal about prostitution is doing it on the street, which by the way is illegal when money is not involved... a lesson I learned in Ottawa from a nice police officer who decided not to bust me and my girlfriend. I gotta tell ya, nothing ruins crazy monkey make up sex in a compact car more than a cop beaming his beatstick in your car window.
Essentially, you can pimp, you can run ads, you can tell a guy named john that half and half is 150, round the world is 200 and dressing up like wonderwoman and stripping to theme from mighty mouse is 90,210. (that is a great joke btw if you get it, and if you don't it is because you are one of the 99.9% of the people in the world who took a pass on Mallrats) You can also run a happy ending message parlour, or you don't even have to bother with the pretense of an awkward, sweaty, oily rub down and just hang a red light outside your door...which is something I am considering doing just to see what happens. Can't be any worse than the douche's who frequent my porch now.
On one hand, this is a major step forward in protecting women in the sex trade from abuse as it brings these things out of the dark alleys and sheds some light on them. It provides the government to set up standards and practices which can help protect the safety and health of these women and provides for recourse and redress of grievances.
On the other hand, it does nothing to protect women who are often dragged in to these situation kicking and screaming.
Now the hope is, that because it is going to be above board, and regulated, those underground pimps will be pushed out of business, and we will see something more akin to the bunny ranch. This is true, but only to a point.
You see, people will still want to get their freak on, and they will still need someone to provide those services. Now one can make an argument that once the police are no longer focused on what two consenting adults do behind closed doors, they can focus on what one consenting adult does behind closed doors.
While this is true, it ignores the fact that the police already do this to some extent. No police force will ever admit to selective policing, but I can assure you, it exists.
I have seen police look the other way when it does not involve violence, or what we called civilians.
I have heard stories of the catch and release programs that harass more than they curtail.
It is somewhat similar to the whole parental notion, better the devil we know then the unknown demons. This is the philosophy that allows some parents to look the other way, and have basement parties for their 16 year olds to get blotto at. I can understand this philosophy to a certain extent as a certain level of experimentation and curiosity is healthy.
This is exactly the philosophy of many police departments.
Heck, I live with a drug dealer. I know he is a dealer, and I am certain the police do as well. Yet, until last night, he was quiet, respectful and went about his business in a non threatening manner. As long as he keeps that up, he will most likely never be busted, unless someone needs a headline, or he is part of a chain of events that leads to the pretty blonde girl having something bad happen to her...but that is a whole different issue.
Back on track... what some are afraid of is that this will make prostitution a viable career option for young ladies. I am not sure how true that is, or if even this would have an effect considering the million other messages that inform young ladies that they can trade sex for goods and services.
I would tell you to check out mtv, but I don't think they have a show that plays videos anymore, but that is ok, I do believe they replaced all their videos of half naked young girls simulating sex acts with everyone with half hour shows of actual young woman who have real sex with random people...I am looking at you Kardasians....though I think your show is on E! ir some equally useless television station.
There is no glamour in being a prostitute. There is nothing glitzy, sexy or empowering about it. It is a thankless, emotionless, mechanical existence full of stale intentions and broken lives. Legal or not, that will not change.
Making it legal doesn't make it a better choice than it is, merely a safer one for the majority of the people involved in it.
As for the young ladies out there who are dragged, forced, abandoned, abused, neglected in to it, this will have zero effect on that.
We are to blame for that. We as a whole. We create an environment where it is ok to sexualize children. We live in a society where we make it possible for us to turn sexuality in to a weapon.
I recently began reading a book on the issue, and the thing I learned I wish to share with you at this time is the meaning of Lolita.
You see, we bandy about this term to describe the wanton sexual advances of young girls, or more to the point, the awkward sexuality that they present as they begin to discover this aspect of themselves. We use it to fullfill a fantasy of the taboo, and to make ourselves feel better about desires that are not socially acceptable.
Thing is, that is not what the author of Lolita meant. What you need to understand is that the Lolita character is a tragic figure. A young girl who is abused and tormented by her stepfather who justifies his actions by misinterpreting her actions and then labeling them as sexual advances.
The character of Lolita never does a single thing to invite this rape and abuse. Lolita is a victim, and not a seductive underage mistress.
That is a whole new thing we have created. I am not sure what we should label what we have done, but it is not healthy and it most assuredly is not right.
We have taken the developing sexuality of pre adolescent and adolescent girls and we have adopted a new attitude. One which allows for us to misuse and abuse it for our purposes; whether we are trying to sell sexy underwear or trying to find sexual gratification actually is beside the point.
This is what creates an atmosphere where selling sex for goods and services is a viable career choice.
At the same time we are regressing in our sexual education, we are tossing out sex symbols, sexually provocative clothing and mores that don`t jive with what we say.
Is it any wonder that youth, and most especially young women are confused and manipulated into situations beyond their ability to understand them or cope?
We need to broaden education, not limit it. We need to understand how sexuality develops and deal with it naturally and without shame or prudishness.
Sex is dirty, nasty, slimy, sweaty, and sex smells bad. Sex is wonderful and natural, and a true expression of feeling, and sex feels great.
Sex is a natural aspect of who we are, and sexuality is a natural expression of society and of our inherent nature. It is a thing to be celebrated, and a thing to be smart about. It is a thing everyone should be eased in to. Sexuality should develop over time, as the person matures and develops. It is not something to be thrust on to a person too early, or left until it is too late and they have no understanding of the things they are already going through.
Sex and sexuality is not something to hide, nor is it something that needs wanton flagrant flaunting in the streets...you know, unless that is fun and consensual and so forth.
Sex and sexuality is not a thing we should fear, it is a thing we should embrace.
In the spirit of my philosophy of authentic blogging of who I am: I love sex. It feels fantastic.
Of course there are different levels of sex.
Fucking. This is that animalistic type of sex which happens when desire outweighs anything else. This is raunchy and wet and dirty. It is best done between two people who know each other and each other`s bodies. It is the most fun because it is about true abandon, but it can only come about when the parties are in touch with each other, otherwise it becomes the next category.
Screwing. This is passionless sex. This is what prostitutes do, and it is what drunken teens and twenty somethings do. It usually preceeds deep regret and shame. This is what happens when people lack understanding of their sexuality and the true nature of sex. This is what happens when two uneducated morons decide to bump uglies.
Sex. This is your generic, I wanna get off type thing. This is what people mean by getting laid. This is fun sometimes, and sometimes it is a chore, but it is almost always satisfying in a narrow way. This is what married couples do after the first year and 90% of the time. It is also the type of sex that happens to unmarried people when the spark is lost and they are too lazy to end the relationship until one of the partners decides to seek a more fullfilling outside source of gratification.
Making Love. The true art form of sex. This is what happens between two people who are connected so deeply that they just mesh. This is slow and low, and it is sensual and romantic. It is not a myth and it is not just something that happens in trashy novels or chick flicks. This is that true outpouring of emotion that happens on several occasions for married people, or people in love. It doesn`t happen all the time, but when it does, it is the most awesomest feeling in the entire universe...I am assuming, since my frame of reference is somewhat small, though I do plan a trip to Jupiter at some point.
Fetish. I do not understand this category because I don`t have one. This isn`t just BDSM; it also includes, but is not limited to, having sex with feet, inanimate objects, anyone other than me, people in mascot uniforms, food (no I am not talking about that one time with the whipped cream and cherries, that is just fun...or the banana incident, I mean people who need to use food as a sexual surrogate) and voyeurs and the like. I simply have no...uhmmm...I hesitate to use the word abnormal, but...well I haven`t crosswired sex with anything out of the standard accepted realms.
Lastly we have abuse. This is where people have crosswiured sex and love with hate and anger. Yes, one must admit that a large segment of the ladies of negotiable affection (seriously, did you think I would not get that in here) population fits in here. The abused tend to dehumanize sex and their partners. Needing that same release we all do, they have designed a system that simply is unhealthy to get it.
We need to extol the virtues of some of this, and warn against the pitfalls of other aspects.
Simply saying, stay celibate, or stay safe is not enough.
Understanding desire and connection is more important than any other aspect of sexuality. It is at the center of all of our actions and when we can master our desires, by truly understanding and accepting them, we can learn to control them, channel them in to healthy outlets and live a more fullfilling (sex) life.
Of course, what the hell do I know, I am just a lonely guy wookin pah nub in all da wong paces.
In recent weeks, many different issues primarily effecting the feminine aspect of humanity have cropped up, and I have been derelict in my duty as an internet pundit to wax philosophical about them.
A couple of weeks ago, the highest court in Ontario deemed certain aspects of anti-prostitution legislation unconstitutional, or counter to the charter as we say in the frozen north.
Those aspects are:
1. Communication for the purposes of prostitution.
2. Running a common bawdy house.
3. Profiting from prostitution.
So what does that mean? Basically it means the only thing illegal about prostitution is doing it on the street, which by the way is illegal when money is not involved... a lesson I learned in Ottawa from a nice police officer who decided not to bust me and my girlfriend. I gotta tell ya, nothing ruins crazy monkey make up sex in a compact car more than a cop beaming his beatstick in your car window.
Essentially, you can pimp, you can run ads, you can tell a guy named john that half and half is 150, round the world is 200 and dressing up like wonderwoman and stripping to theme from mighty mouse is 90,210. (that is a great joke btw if you get it, and if you don't it is because you are one of the 99.9% of the people in the world who took a pass on Mallrats) You can also run a happy ending message parlour, or you don't even have to bother with the pretense of an awkward, sweaty, oily rub down and just hang a red light outside your door...which is something I am considering doing just to see what happens. Can't be any worse than the douche's who frequent my porch now.
On one hand, this is a major step forward in protecting women in the sex trade from abuse as it brings these things out of the dark alleys and sheds some light on them. It provides the government to set up standards and practices which can help protect the safety and health of these women and provides for recourse and redress of grievances.
On the other hand, it does nothing to protect women who are often dragged in to these situation kicking and screaming.
Now the hope is, that because it is going to be above board, and regulated, those underground pimps will be pushed out of business, and we will see something more akin to the bunny ranch. This is true, but only to a point.
You see, people will still want to get their freak on, and they will still need someone to provide those services. Now one can make an argument that once the police are no longer focused on what two consenting adults do behind closed doors, they can focus on what one consenting adult does behind closed doors.
While this is true, it ignores the fact that the police already do this to some extent. No police force will ever admit to selective policing, but I can assure you, it exists.
I have seen police look the other way when it does not involve violence, or what we called civilians.
I have heard stories of the catch and release programs that harass more than they curtail.
It is somewhat similar to the whole parental notion, better the devil we know then the unknown demons. This is the philosophy that allows some parents to look the other way, and have basement parties for their 16 year olds to get blotto at. I can understand this philosophy to a certain extent as a certain level of experimentation and curiosity is healthy.
This is exactly the philosophy of many police departments.
Heck, I live with a drug dealer. I know he is a dealer, and I am certain the police do as well. Yet, until last night, he was quiet, respectful and went about his business in a non threatening manner. As long as he keeps that up, he will most likely never be busted, unless someone needs a headline, or he is part of a chain of events that leads to the pretty blonde girl having something bad happen to her...but that is a whole different issue.
Back on track... what some are afraid of is that this will make prostitution a viable career option for young ladies. I am not sure how true that is, or if even this would have an effect considering the million other messages that inform young ladies that they can trade sex for goods and services.
I would tell you to check out mtv, but I don't think they have a show that plays videos anymore, but that is ok, I do believe they replaced all their videos of half naked young girls simulating sex acts with everyone with half hour shows of actual young woman who have real sex with random people...I am looking at you Kardasians....though I think your show is on E! ir some equally useless television station.
There is no glamour in being a prostitute. There is nothing glitzy, sexy or empowering about it. It is a thankless, emotionless, mechanical existence full of stale intentions and broken lives. Legal or not, that will not change.
Making it legal doesn't make it a better choice than it is, merely a safer one for the majority of the people involved in it.
As for the young ladies out there who are dragged, forced, abandoned, abused, neglected in to it, this will have zero effect on that.
We are to blame for that. We as a whole. We create an environment where it is ok to sexualize children. We live in a society where we make it possible for us to turn sexuality in to a weapon.
I recently began reading a book on the issue, and the thing I learned I wish to share with you at this time is the meaning of Lolita.
You see, we bandy about this term to describe the wanton sexual advances of young girls, or more to the point, the awkward sexuality that they present as they begin to discover this aspect of themselves. We use it to fullfill a fantasy of the taboo, and to make ourselves feel better about desires that are not socially acceptable.
Thing is, that is not what the author of Lolita meant. What you need to understand is that the Lolita character is a tragic figure. A young girl who is abused and tormented by her stepfather who justifies his actions by misinterpreting her actions and then labeling them as sexual advances.
The character of Lolita never does a single thing to invite this rape and abuse. Lolita is a victim, and not a seductive underage mistress.
That is a whole new thing we have created. I am not sure what we should label what we have done, but it is not healthy and it most assuredly is not right.
We have taken the developing sexuality of pre adolescent and adolescent girls and we have adopted a new attitude. One which allows for us to misuse and abuse it for our purposes; whether we are trying to sell sexy underwear or trying to find sexual gratification actually is beside the point.
This is what creates an atmosphere where selling sex for goods and services is a viable career choice.
At the same time we are regressing in our sexual education, we are tossing out sex symbols, sexually provocative clothing and mores that don`t jive with what we say.
Is it any wonder that youth, and most especially young women are confused and manipulated into situations beyond their ability to understand them or cope?
We need to broaden education, not limit it. We need to understand how sexuality develops and deal with it naturally and without shame or prudishness.
Sex is dirty, nasty, slimy, sweaty, and sex smells bad. Sex is wonderful and natural, and a true expression of feeling, and sex feels great.
Sex is a natural aspect of who we are, and sexuality is a natural expression of society and of our inherent nature. It is a thing to be celebrated, and a thing to be smart about. It is a thing everyone should be eased in to. Sexuality should develop over time, as the person matures and develops. It is not something to be thrust on to a person too early, or left until it is too late and they have no understanding of the things they are already going through.
Sex and sexuality is not something to hide, nor is it something that needs wanton flagrant flaunting in the streets...you know, unless that is fun and consensual and so forth.
Sex and sexuality is not a thing we should fear, it is a thing we should embrace.
In the spirit of my philosophy of authentic blogging of who I am: I love sex. It feels fantastic.
Of course there are different levels of sex.
Fucking. This is that animalistic type of sex which happens when desire outweighs anything else. This is raunchy and wet and dirty. It is best done between two people who know each other and each other`s bodies. It is the most fun because it is about true abandon, but it can only come about when the parties are in touch with each other, otherwise it becomes the next category.
Screwing. This is passionless sex. This is what prostitutes do, and it is what drunken teens and twenty somethings do. It usually preceeds deep regret and shame. This is what happens when people lack understanding of their sexuality and the true nature of sex. This is what happens when two uneducated morons decide to bump uglies.
Sex. This is your generic, I wanna get off type thing. This is what people mean by getting laid. This is fun sometimes, and sometimes it is a chore, but it is almost always satisfying in a narrow way. This is what married couples do after the first year and 90% of the time. It is also the type of sex that happens to unmarried people when the spark is lost and they are too lazy to end the relationship until one of the partners decides to seek a more fullfilling outside source of gratification.
Making Love. The true art form of sex. This is what happens between two people who are connected so deeply that they just mesh. This is slow and low, and it is sensual and romantic. It is not a myth and it is not just something that happens in trashy novels or chick flicks. This is that true outpouring of emotion that happens on several occasions for married people, or people in love. It doesn`t happen all the time, but when it does, it is the most awesomest feeling in the entire universe...I am assuming, since my frame of reference is somewhat small, though I do plan a trip to Jupiter at some point.
Fetish. I do not understand this category because I don`t have one. This isn`t just BDSM; it also includes, but is not limited to, having sex with feet, inanimate objects, anyone other than me, people in mascot uniforms, food (no I am not talking about that one time with the whipped cream and cherries, that is just fun...or the banana incident, I mean people who need to use food as a sexual surrogate) and voyeurs and the like. I simply have no...uhmmm...I hesitate to use the word abnormal, but...well I haven`t crosswired sex with anything out of the standard accepted realms.
Lastly we have abuse. This is where people have crosswiured sex and love with hate and anger. Yes, one must admit that a large segment of the ladies of negotiable affection (seriously, did you think I would not get that in here) population fits in here. The abused tend to dehumanize sex and their partners. Needing that same release we all do, they have designed a system that simply is unhealthy to get it.
We need to extol the virtues of some of this, and warn against the pitfalls of other aspects.
Simply saying, stay celibate, or stay safe is not enough.
Understanding desire and connection is more important than any other aspect of sexuality. It is at the center of all of our actions and when we can master our desires, by truly understanding and accepting them, we can learn to control them, channel them in to healthy outlets and live a more fullfilling (sex) life.
Of course, what the hell do I know, I am just a lonely guy wookin pah nub in all da wong paces.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
When Social Justice attacks
I have to start by saying the internet is full of fail today. This blog will be no different. Those who come here expecting to be entertained today will be sadly left with hurt feelings and a sagging funny bone. Today I am putting on my Social commentator hat and wondering WTF?
I started my day with a friendly jaunt through some funny videos. This sounds great at first but in the end, I was left with one unmistakable reality punching me repeatedly in the face. The internet is for porn and swearing. It's ok, that link is not to porn or egregious swearing, it's just me attempting to spice things up with a little multi-media up in here.
What I am going on about is the fact that wherever I went there was talk of porn, links to porn, swearing, lots of swearing and more swearing. As a dude who believes the world is for experiencing and the use of language conveys great and small ideas, you would think this wouldn't bother me so much, but it kinda does. What I mean by that is we have shifted our entertainment in to shock mode exclusively. All I seem to be able to find is seriously vulgar humour. Ok, I can live with this....mostly because it amuses me, but where oh where is the entertainment for others? Where can people go to be entertained and not be grossed out at the same time?
Well here is the problem....while our entertainment is going to one extreme, so is theirs. We have our Kevin Smiths and so on, and they have...well Snark toons or whatever. As we push to our extreme, they push to theirs. I generally blame this on the American political machine and media because in their world there is only black and white, there is no room for healthy debate on any subject.
What bothers me is that we end up with nothing in the middle. No common ground with which to work from or connect with.
That brings me to my main point. Today's newspaper
I must start by saying there is no defense in the world for this woman, and I am not going to even try. Her part in the deaths of at least three people and support of a man accused, if not convicted of a long series of rapes leaves little room for one to justify her actions, so I will not even try. This is not about that, and if even one internet troller attempts to say I support her they will be flamed to the ends of the earth.
That being said, this case puts a tremendous strain on social justice and in fact justice in general. At face value one finds it hard to argue for this person to receive a pardon. But in the end we must examine what pardons are all about.
They are about a person paying their debt to society and attempting to rejoin society in a fashion that allows them some small measure of dignity along with some semblance of benefit to our community as a whole.
The government has decided, through sentencing guidelines and laws what paying a debt to society looks like. We have guidelines for offenses for the purpose of saying, if you injure our community in this way, you will pay in that way.
In this specific case, I understand, since she received a plea bargain for testimony used to convict another person she has technically not served what would normally have been given to a person who injured society in the way she did. That being said, she has, as many others have served her time and is shortly eligible for a dispensation that all Canadians are eligible for.
If there is a problem with the system, then we as a society must voice exactly what that problem is. If it is a problem with a specific case, then we must shut the heck up. why? Because the system is designed not to deal with the individual case so much as what is best for us as a whole. More on that latter.
The proposed legislation in this case is laughable. I say this because it gives even more power to a barely accountable group of individuals to make life altering decisions about other people based on public opinion. This is a travesty of justice.
I say that because public opinion is not only fickle and ever changing, but it is also controlled by the media and social pressure. The media in this and many other cases tends to frame everything in the harshest light to appeal to our most base emotions of self preservation and fear. Want to know more about that? Watch this movie.
What that means is that we can be manipulated in to an emotional response that may or may not be the truth in a situations. What is worse is that this form of social manipulation makes it nearly impossible to voice a contrary opinion.
That is in fact exactly what happened here.
The original legislation suggested would have denied this person pardon. Anyone convicted of 3 indictable offenses would have been denied the ability of applying for a pardon. This would have allowed for this case and any other case to be summarily disposed of without the chance that a number of people in the media or community could have swayed the opinions of the parole board in any way. Essentially we would say to criminals, it is not ok to commit that many serious crimes, and if you do, we are simply warning you now that it will not be tolerated, so offend at your own risk. That I believe is the point of a punitive justice system is it not? Do this, and these are the consequences.
Here's the problem. Not everybody feels that this is a good way of dealing with criminals. That means there was no way the legislation would pass. So there are politicians in this case who obviously feel that the idea was not appropriate.
Flash forward to this specific case. No one wants to be seen as the person that said it was ok for this woman to get a pardon because they know it would be incredibly unpopular, and ensure that they would never be elected again, simply because any election in the future would be based solely on this one issue. I can see the attack adds now. Do you want to vote for the person who let a sex offender and murderer out and free to play with your children? Heck, it is people like me who write the damn things.
That being said, what are we going to do about this political hot potato? I know, let's write a law that says we can deny anyone we want a pardon if we think it might make us look bad. Style over substance. It doesn;t matter what the person did, it only matters if we would lose q rating if we did it.
We are allowing people to make decisions based on popularity and public perception, not on facts or what is right or wrong.
This is the very essence of what I was talking about earlier. We are entertained in many different ways, we are shown messages constantly, but all we tend to see are the messages that stand out. Those messages that live at one extreme of the spectrum or the other, and we then tend to be pushed around by the emotion of the situation, forgetting that real lives, real people are effected by these things in ways we insulate ourselves from.
I can't admit that I find SMODcast funny for fear that someone will judge me for it based on their own beliefs or taste.
Likewise, I can't admit that I disagree with this legislation as it stands is a gross miscarriage of justice for fear that someone will say I support this woman. Hell no I don't support rape and murder, and anyone that would suggest I do doesn't know me, or even the character I play on the internet.
What I do support is a justice system free of pressure from the whims of public opinion. A justice system that seeks redemption and rehabilitation. A justice system that says, we don't like what you did, so here's a time out, and now here are some supports to allow you to return in some fashion to society in a way that is better for everyone involved while protecting those that need protection.
But then again, I am just a porn loving, fart joke spewing, mad, frustrated writer, social activist with too much time on his hands.
I started my day with a friendly jaunt through some funny videos. This sounds great at first but in the end, I was left with one unmistakable reality punching me repeatedly in the face. The internet is for porn and swearing. It's ok, that link is not to porn or egregious swearing, it's just me attempting to spice things up with a little multi-media up in here.
What I am going on about is the fact that wherever I went there was talk of porn, links to porn, swearing, lots of swearing and more swearing. As a dude who believes the world is for experiencing and the use of language conveys great and small ideas, you would think this wouldn't bother me so much, but it kinda does. What I mean by that is we have shifted our entertainment in to shock mode exclusively. All I seem to be able to find is seriously vulgar humour. Ok, I can live with this....mostly because it amuses me, but where oh where is the entertainment for others? Where can people go to be entertained and not be grossed out at the same time?
Well here is the problem....while our entertainment is going to one extreme, so is theirs. We have our Kevin Smiths and so on, and they have...well Snark toons or whatever. As we push to our extreme, they push to theirs. I generally blame this on the American political machine and media because in their world there is only black and white, there is no room for healthy debate on any subject.
What bothers me is that we end up with nothing in the middle. No common ground with which to work from or connect with.
That brings me to my main point. Today's newspaper
I must start by saying there is no defense in the world for this woman, and I am not going to even try. Her part in the deaths of at least three people and support of a man accused, if not convicted of a long series of rapes leaves little room for one to justify her actions, so I will not even try. This is not about that, and if even one internet troller attempts to say I support her they will be flamed to the ends of the earth.
That being said, this case puts a tremendous strain on social justice and in fact justice in general. At face value one finds it hard to argue for this person to receive a pardon. But in the end we must examine what pardons are all about.
They are about a person paying their debt to society and attempting to rejoin society in a fashion that allows them some small measure of dignity along with some semblance of benefit to our community as a whole.
The government has decided, through sentencing guidelines and laws what paying a debt to society looks like. We have guidelines for offenses for the purpose of saying, if you injure our community in this way, you will pay in that way.
In this specific case, I understand, since she received a plea bargain for testimony used to convict another person she has technically not served what would normally have been given to a person who injured society in the way she did. That being said, she has, as many others have served her time and is shortly eligible for a dispensation that all Canadians are eligible for.
If there is a problem with the system, then we as a society must voice exactly what that problem is. If it is a problem with a specific case, then we must shut the heck up. why? Because the system is designed not to deal with the individual case so much as what is best for us as a whole. More on that latter.
The proposed legislation in this case is laughable. I say this because it gives even more power to a barely accountable group of individuals to make life altering decisions about other people based on public opinion. This is a travesty of justice.
I say that because public opinion is not only fickle and ever changing, but it is also controlled by the media and social pressure. The media in this and many other cases tends to frame everything in the harshest light to appeal to our most base emotions of self preservation and fear. Want to know more about that? Watch this movie.
What that means is that we can be manipulated in to an emotional response that may or may not be the truth in a situations. What is worse is that this form of social manipulation makes it nearly impossible to voice a contrary opinion.
That is in fact exactly what happened here.
The original legislation suggested would have denied this person pardon. Anyone convicted of 3 indictable offenses would have been denied the ability of applying for a pardon. This would have allowed for this case and any other case to be summarily disposed of without the chance that a number of people in the media or community could have swayed the opinions of the parole board in any way. Essentially we would say to criminals, it is not ok to commit that many serious crimes, and if you do, we are simply warning you now that it will not be tolerated, so offend at your own risk. That I believe is the point of a punitive justice system is it not? Do this, and these are the consequences.
Here's the problem. Not everybody feels that this is a good way of dealing with criminals. That means there was no way the legislation would pass. So there are politicians in this case who obviously feel that the idea was not appropriate.
Flash forward to this specific case. No one wants to be seen as the person that said it was ok for this woman to get a pardon because they know it would be incredibly unpopular, and ensure that they would never be elected again, simply because any election in the future would be based solely on this one issue. I can see the attack adds now. Do you want to vote for the person who let a sex offender and murderer out and free to play with your children? Heck, it is people like me who write the damn things.
That being said, what are we going to do about this political hot potato? I know, let's write a law that says we can deny anyone we want a pardon if we think it might make us look bad. Style over substance. It doesn;t matter what the person did, it only matters if we would lose q rating if we did it.
We are allowing people to make decisions based on popularity and public perception, not on facts or what is right or wrong.
This is the very essence of what I was talking about earlier. We are entertained in many different ways, we are shown messages constantly, but all we tend to see are the messages that stand out. Those messages that live at one extreme of the spectrum or the other, and we then tend to be pushed around by the emotion of the situation, forgetting that real lives, real people are effected by these things in ways we insulate ourselves from.
I can't admit that I find SMODcast funny for fear that someone will judge me for it based on their own beliefs or taste.
Likewise, I can't admit that I disagree with this legislation as it stands is a gross miscarriage of justice for fear that someone will say I support this woman. Hell no I don't support rape and murder, and anyone that would suggest I do doesn't know me, or even the character I play on the internet.
What I do support is a justice system free of pressure from the whims of public opinion. A justice system that seeks redemption and rehabilitation. A justice system that says, we don't like what you did, so here's a time out, and now here are some supports to allow you to return in some fashion to society in a way that is better for everyone involved while protecting those that need protection.
But then again, I am just a porn loving, fart joke spewing, mad, frustrated writer, social activist with too much time on his hands.
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