These are the types of things that run through my mind on a daily basis. Particularly as reactions to things I see, hear, or read as I go about my day.
Social Observations:
On Feminism:
Telling a woman of sound mind and free will what she can or cannot do with her able body is counter intuitive to the feminist movement, particularly with regards to the sexual liberation aspect of the movement.
Insisting that a woman cover her body out of modesty, and telling her to cover her body so she we won't be "objectified" nets the same result: A bunch of women running around under mounds of clothing so that she becomes ashamed of her body and sexuality because someone, somewhere, said she should.
On Alien Astronauts:
Skeptics who smarmily and smugly dismiss the hypothesis of intelligent life on another planet with the technology to travel in space seem to be forgetting their commonly shared belief that quasi-intelligent life forms with the ability and desire for space travel evolved from the primordial ooze right here, on Earth. Clearly if it can happen here, it can happen somewhere else, too. Also dismissing the notion that they may be smarter than us is equally damning, because really, how hard is it to outsmart most people on the planet? Not very.
On American Carnivores:
If humans were meant to consume as much meat as the average "Red Blooded" American claims, than the carnivorous Neanderthal would have out lived the Omnivorous Cro magnon. And your ass wouldn't take up two whole seats.
On Vegans:
Not contributing to abusive factory farming is a noble cause, however I guarantee you that the moment you feel a hunger pain after being stranded in a fairly desolate area, not only would you consume meat, but your co-survivors might start looking tasty, too.
On Celebutards:
Just a word of advice, be preemptive and go to rehab before you flash the world, puke on the paparazzi, or lose custody of your kids. Prevention is key!
Political Observations:
On Propaganda:
Political, social, religious; there are more than enough reasons to oppose what is happening in the world without having to make up false facts and wild accusations about whatever it is you oppose. So stop it.
On (The New) Republican Party:
They want limited government regarding labor, religion, free speech and guns so long as you don't try to unionize, practice any religion other than Christianity, say something they don't want to hear, all while having legal access to a gun, because then you're an anti-American communist terrorist. And if you're gay, forget it, they want the government to swoop into your bedroom and deport you from their peaceful, gun-toting, gay-bashing, Christian Country.
On Democrats:
Compromise will never get you more than half-way to your intended goal. Particularly when the other team is playing by a different set of rules.
On libertarians:
Libertarianism, otherwise known as what Republicanism used to be.
On Anarchism
It is extremely difficult for a group based on decentralization to get organized enough to initiate the change they want to create.
On Anarcho-Capitalism:
One question, If you have a capitalist economy with no government, laws, economic regulations or central planning, who prints and distributes the currency?
On Independents:
Here's a thought, if you got your apathetic asses off the proverbial fence you could potentially release the two party strangle-hold of incompetence on this country by forming a viable third party.
On "Free Range" Capitalism:
If competition keeps companies operating in a fair, ethical way, then why do the most competitive companies have their products made by foreign children in foreign sweatshops while they build their pseudo-monopolies at home?
If companies always pay fair market wages, why do they complain about a minimum wage standard? It couldn't be because they'd like to pay their employees less than a living wage, could it?
Religious Observations:
On Creationism:
Why does the bible depict Adam and Eve as modern day humans when we know the first humans to walk the Earth were nothing like modern day humans? Were Neanderthals and Cro magnons just a test run?
Why doesn't the bible tell us how, when, and why God created the dinosaurs? Furthermore if the Earth is only 6,000 years old, how on Earth would humans not only survive living simultaneously with dinosaurs, but also survive whatever made them extinct?
Scientific discoveries, laws, and theories are unreliable, untrustworthy, atheism promoting works with a strong anti-God bias, unless said scientific discovery might prove a story, person, timeline or event from the bible to be at least remotely plausible. Then it becomes irrefutable fact that proves creationsim.
On Intelligent Design:
If we were designed by an intelligent creator who gave everything a purpose and thought everything through, how do you explain birds with wings who can't fly? Why do humans have organs for urination, defecation, and procreation all within two inches of each other, thus promoting bacterial infections by the simple and necessary act of trying to propagate the species? That doesn't seem very intelligent to me...
Explain the platypus.
On Christianity:
If more Christians practiced what Jesus preached, the world would be a much nicer place to live in. Converting people would also be easier, too.
On Ultra-Right Leaning Conservative Christians:
Jesus preached that if you surrender your will and self completely to one, ultimate, absolute authority figure who tells you exactly what you can and cannot do at any given time in his kingdom then you will be rewarded with a Utopian Earth, with a complete lack of death, pain, struggle, violence, poverty and you will always get whatever you need just by asking the higher authority you have sworn your allegiance to. You will just have to face the fact that Jesus was a Communist.
On Extreme Religions and Cults:
Does it worry anyone else that a person's increased faith in an extreme religion or cult is directly proportionate to the amount of guns they hoard?
On Judaism:
American Jews are rather quiet and reserved, and I have yet to work up the breasticular fortitude to ask them questions like: What do you really think about Christianity? How do you know you're God's chosen people? Why do you wear those curly-q sideburns?
On Paganism and Witchcraft:
Watching "The Craft" and "Charmed" Until your eyes bleed does not make you a Pagan or a Witch. And no, you can't orb.
On Buddhism:
Why are the majority of American Buddhists that I've met either very weird, or very angry?
No, doing yoga and tai-chi does not make you a Buddhist.
I need to add a few.
Parental Observations:
On Your Child's Right To Privacy:
It is much harder to get drunk, high, pregnant, or build a bomb in your basement when your parents are constantly crawling up your ass.
Perhaps if parents invaded their child's privacy more often, fewer kids would shoot their schoolmates during class.
20 comments:
I agree, decentralization is a tricky thing when the only way we're accustomed to organizing anything is in a top-down manner. But, I think self-management is something that needs to be kept in check by collective responsibility. Yes, our Local needs to manage its own affairs and do what makes most sense under local conditions. But the membership of the entire organization needs to collectively decide on a program that we can all agree on and implement. Mostly we're not there yet, but at least there are lots of anarchists who actually see that as a goal.
Watching "The Craft" and "Charmed" Until your eyes bleed does not make you a Pagan or a Witch. And no, you can't orb.
heh heh ..... on the same line of thinking, watching Twilight 500 times does not make
anyone a vampire, no matter how much some would like to pretend it does.
m(A)tt - it's just a casual observation that I make every time I see a failed protest, group action, or direct action. It's definitely something we need to work on!
Floormodel - hey lady! Yeah, having pale skin, being macabre, and watching vampire flicks does not make you an immortal blood sucking being. No matter how elegantly you dress!
Interesting. Some comments:
"Skeptics who smarmily and smugly..."
It's easy because they are correct. We have no evidence of ET life out there. None. We can hypothesize and have all kinds of wild ideas, but the fact remains that we don't have any information to make any sort of assessment.
"...so long as you don't try to unionize..."
This is not part of any Republican Party. No one wants to stop anyone from paying to a union if they choose. The Democrats, in contrast, routinely favor forcing people into unions against their will.
"practice any religion other than Christianity"
Again, this is not any sort of mainstream idea, not even among Republicans.
"say something they don't want to hear"
And on this one the biggest movement for censorship is now coming from the Democeats.
"And if you're gay, forget it, they want the government to swoop into your bedroom and deport you from their peaceful, gun-toting, gay-bashing, Christian Country."
Can you find any party anywhere with a platform that mentions deporting homosexuals?
It's easy because they are correct. We have no evidence of ET life out there. None. We can hypothesize and have all kinds of wild ideas, but the fact remains that we don't have any information to make any sort of assessment.
Yes, and at one point we had no evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun, or even that it was round, but that didn't make it untrue. The fact remains, if life can exist on this planet, It can exist on other planets, may have existed on now uninhabitable planets, or may form on planets in the future. To think otherwise is to say deny our own existence, and technological advances towards space travel.
This is not part of any Republican Party. No one wants to stop anyone from paying to a union if they choose. The Democrats, in contrast, routinely favor forcing people into unions against their will.
Ugh, dumb ass rhetoric. The Republican party is the LARGEST proponent of privatization and union busting around. The Democrats, although staunch supporters of unions, are not forcing anyone to join a union.
Again, this is not any sort of mainstream idea, not even among Republicans.
Someone hasn't been paying attention to the New Republican party, have they? Moderates used to be welcome, but the religious right has taken it over, and if you are not a staunch Christian who votes on certain hot button issues according to Christians values, you are simply not a Republican, and they don't want you in their party.
And on this one the biggest movement for censorship is now coming from the Democeats.
No, actually it's the Republicans who don't want liberals, progressives, or Democrats to be able to air counter arguments via radio programs back to back to their own propaganda media, not the Democrats. Pundits have been fighting that tooth and nail. Oh, and Faux News' fantastic editing jobs on their "news' coverage, and the pundits inability to let anyone with a different opinion than them actually speak without yelling over them...no, they're not afraid of opposing opinions!
Can you find any party anywhere with a platform that mentions deporting homosexuals?
There are plenty in the conservative right party now who would love nothing more than to do away with homosexuals, I don't think they really care if they're removed to prison, "sexual rehabilitation centers" or deported, so long as they are out of their line of sight.
You, my dear, need to pull your head out of your ass, step back, and take a look at the New Republican party. If you don't like the criticisms of the Republican party, perhaps you ought not be in it. Everyone else is leaving it in droves for exactly that reason, my dear.
One at a time:
"Yes, and at one point we had no evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun, or even that it was round, but that didn't make it untrue"
But we DID find evidence that the earth was round. Long before Columbus, in fact.
We haven't yet seen any evidence of space aliens. Once we do, we can change the argument. Until then, you are doing nothing but making wild guesses. They may seem sensible (and to me a lot of your guesses on aliens do), but you really have no idea what you are talking about.
---------------
"No, actually it's the Republicans who don't want liberals, progressives, or Democrats to be able to air counter arguments via radio programs back to back to their own propaganda media"
That's called "freedom of the press", for those few conservative media outlets.. It is exactly the same as how magazines like "The Nation" do not want counter argument articles to run in their magazine... er "propaganda machine".
"Oh, and [Fox News] fantastic editing jobs on their "news' coverage"
Exactly, as is their First Amendment right. They do the same as the New York Times does.
And yes, it is the left, not the right at this time, who wants to change this, who wants the government to censor media.
"and the pundits inability to let anyone with a different opinion than them actually speak without yelling over them"
Just like print pundit Frank Rich of the New York Times. It's his column, so he writes what he wants. And that is how it should be.
And it is this way on electronic media. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are given a lot of control from their 'publisher' MSNBC. They are both leftists. They are not forced by the government to to air opposing opinions from conservatives. And that too, is as it should be. MSNBC too gets the First Amendment freedom to be a "propaganda machine" (a term apparently you use for those who say things you do not like).
"no, they're not afraid of opposing opinions!"
Under freedom of the press, they are free to choose whatever they want.
------------
"Ugh, dumb ass rhetoric."
Was that ejaculation a header for your paragraph?
"The Republican party is the LARGEST proponent of privatization"
So? It is good to hire the best to do government jobs.
"and union busting around."
Sorry, protecting the individual freedom of workers is not "union busting"
"The Democrats, although staunch supporters of unions, are not forcing anyone to join a union."
Actually, the fact is that the Dems favor forced unionization. They favor "card check" which abolishes the workers' right to a secret ballot (enabling unions to better harass people). They also oppose "right to work", which means that they favor workers being forced to pay dues to a union in a workplace whether or not it is in the workers' interest.
These are well-known Democratic policies in favor of unions and against worker rights.
That's called "freedom of the press", for those few conservative media outlets.. It is exactly the same as how magazines like "The Nation" do not want counter argument articles to run in their magazine... er "propaganda machine".
Censorship is censorship. No one is asking conservative shows to stop airing their opinions, or even host interviews with people of differing opinions, only that there be some balance to the information being provided. Right wing shows, news outlets, websites, papers, and radio talk-shows regularly engage in censorship by default. Maddow and Olberman host interviews with people of opposing interviews - as do more neutral platforms such as Jim Lehrer, without censoring, misrepresenting facts via editing, or shouting over their guests.
What are conservative pundits afraid of? Hearing opposing views?
So? It is good to hire the best to do government jobs.
Privatization is not always best, as we can see form the hundreds of failed privately run businesses and companies right now.
Remember, unions -not private companies- brought you the weekend, benefits, pensions, overtime pay, and the 40 hour work week.
Sorry, protecting the individual freedom of workers is not "union busting"
Working to make it harder to unionize, giving companies protections from employees who want to unionize is most certainly union busting.
Actually, the fact is that the Dems favor forced unionization. They favor "card check" which abolishes the workers' right to a secret ballot (enabling unions to better harass people).
Actually that is not what the "card check" is, number one. And number two it does not force unionization on any employee.
They also oppose "right to work", which means that they favor workers being forced to pay dues to a union in a workplace whether or not it is in the workers' interest.
What workers are forced to join a union and pay dues when they don't want to? And since when is it ever NOT in their best interest to have control over their wages, benefits, and employment through the leverage of a union?
We haven't yet seen any evidence of space aliens. Once we do, we can change the argument. Until then, you are doing nothing but making wild guesses. They may seem sensible (and to me a lot of your guesses on aliens do), but you really have no idea what you are talking about.
I never said it was bad to dismiss hypotheses that aliens have landed *here* or interacted with us, what I said was that it is stupid to dismiss the idea that they exist, period.
There are actually quite a few non-crazy theories out there. However my point is that it is ultimately stupid to dismiss the hypothesis or plausibility of it when the evidence of if it is right here, staring us in the face.
Namely, us. Our planet, our life forms, and our space travel endeavors. It is egotistical to think we are the only beings in the entire existence of any galaxy, anywhere to live, travel, or have access to technology.
Oh, and with regards to the early proof that the Earth was round, and orbited the sun? The scientists who made those observations were laughed out of the science parlors if not charged with heresy, treason, and any other charges they could tack on them.
Kind of like the people now, who have observations and hypothesis that are regularly laughed at, although not charged with any crime other than insanity. Science is a funny thing. Everyone laughs at ideas until all of a sudden they are proved correct.
I answered everything, but the post probably got deleted or something.
I'll respond on just one, rather than type it all over. If there is a point you really wanted me to address, bring it up again.
"What workers are forced to join a union and pay dues when they don't want to?"
In many states, including the "rust belt" and Northeast, most workers are forced into unions against their will due to "closed shop".
"And since when is it ever NOT in their best interest to...[list of things supposedly meant as union benefits, but aren't really]"
You finished this with a description of things that doesn't actually describe union membership.
For example, employment protection through the leverage of a union. When in fact union pressure encourages companies to outsource, downsize, and close factories and shops. Again, visit Flint, Michigan, an industrial wasteland of unemployment: a place also where a union had an incredible amount of leverage.
And "since when" means "most of the time" for workers in non-union workplaces. And as many as 49% of workers in union workplaces don't agree with the union.
They are just forced to join because a majority of them (even a slight majority of the workers) favor union membership.
For those who disagree, the membership is forced.
Clearly, the best solution to this, the best improvement, would be to protect workers' rights. To make union membership the choice of each individual worker.
I didn't delete anything - so what you've written is here for us to read.
A) Unions not only provide better benefits and better pay, it was unionization in the early 20th century that brought ALL of these benefits that ALL US employees now enjoy - such as overtime pay, weekends, 40 hour work weeks, benefits, retirement packages and the right to unionize for better pay.
b) I live in New England and NO ONE is forced to join a union. In fact, most people here clamor for union membership. Union controlled employment is the most sought after employment around. Why? Because they pay the best wages, and give the best benefits! One industry here just underwent unionization - by a majority vote of employees - despite the industries desperate attempt to stomp out their efforts. (through firings, threats, and even a law suit - which they lost).
C) Unions do not force companies to outsource. Companies here make more than enough money to operate and pay good wages and benefits. The problem is that "more than enough" simply ISN'T enough for them. Companies outsource so they can use slave, child, and forced labor in other countries to pad their bottom line, and increase their bonuses at the top. And that is the ONLY reason they outsource.
Let's lay blame where blame is due.
this is the best post about anything (or should I say everything?) that I've read in a long time. I laughed my ass off. my favorites were paganism, anarchism, and jesus is a communist, a fact that I pointed out to my mother (a very right-wing christian) a few months back, and honestly thought for moment she was going to rip my head off. I'm going to save these to read to my husband. thank you. your melba-toast humor has made my day.
Hey Domestic Anarchist, thanks for stopping in! I'm glad I could brighten your day :) I got your comment on the other post, too. Very cool all around! And no worries on the double posting, I'll just delete the repeats!
Hey there,
This is an off-topic comment. lol :D You already know my opinions on the forgoing and they don't differ from yours. I'm giving thanks for having met you, and dropping in to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.
Wonderful post as always. I particularly liked your observation on the GOP with regards to the lgbt community. As well as you observation of neo-pagans/Wiccans/druids and so on.
Good day !.
You may , perhaps curious to know how one can collect a huge starting capital .
There is no initial capital needed You may commense to receive yields with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.
AimTrust is what you thought of all the time
The company incorporates an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.
It is based in Panama with affiliates everywhere: In USA, Canada, Cyprus.
Do you want to become a happy investor?
That`s your choice That`s what you wish in the long run!
I`m happy and lucky, I started to get real money with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. It`s all about how to choose a correct partner who uses your funds in a right way - that`s it!.
I make 2G daily, and my first deposit was 1 grand only!
It`s easy to get involved , just click this link http://epetywib.envy.nu/rosiwur.html
and lucky you`re! Let`s take this option together to feel the smell of real money
My, oh, my. Only a rabid rightie could be so obsessed with such anti-union hostility.
Facts and history support you, Anok. One fact dmarks seems to ignore is the destruction of organized labor has paralleled the diminution of the middle class.
Unions are disappearing faster than taxes for the rich. He should be in heaven.
As far as lack of evidence of aliens, what does that mean? We have no evidence of humanity in Washington DC, do we?
As far as intelligent design is concerned, I believe a beaver, an otter, and a duck got it on, and the end result was the platypus. Lust and curiosity, rather than intelligence, were involved there.
Hello !.
You re, I guess , probably curious to know how one can collect a huge starting capital .
There is no initial capital needed You may commense earning with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.
AimTrust is what you thought of all the time
The company incorporates an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.
Its head office is in Panama with structures around the world.
Do you want to become a happy investor?
That`s your chance That`s what you wish in the long run!
I feel good, I began to get income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. It`s all about how to choose a proper companion who uses your savings in a right way - that`s it!.
I make 2G daily, and my first deposit was 1 grand only!
It`s easy to join , just click this link http://zukasejub.builtfree.org/ucydan.html
and go! Let`s take this option together to become rich
Anok...
May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
God Bless.
*wave :))
Ok, I can't reply to the whole thing. Well, I suppose I could but it would mostly consist of little smiley's nodding their text-based heads in agreement.
(Is there such a thing as a 'nodding in agreement' text-based smiley? Things that make you go "hmm".).
But you know, I can't just agree with everything without looking like an ass-kisser so I'll roll the dice and decide which topic deserves a little devil's advocacy.
(rolls dice)
Ok, we have a winner! "On Vegans"
You wrote, "... I guarantee you ... not only would you consume meat, but your co-survivors might start looking tasty, too."
This would almost certainly be the case for vegetarians, whose primary motivation for abstention from meant is health.
In contrast, vegans are motivated more by compassion for living things than they are by health concerns. In other words, vegans are morally compelled to abstain from what they consider to be murder.
With all that said, and in my (often no so) humble opinion, I think a vegan would choose starvation over murder.
Oh, and a hearty 'Season's Greeting' to you and yours! :)))
Check the posts above... you've been spammed three or four times, once in Russian, too.
Some replies:
"On Anarcho-Capitalism:
One question, If you have a capitalist economy with no government, laws, economic regulations or central planning, who prints and distributes the currency?"
Well, banks might, as they did up until the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. It's impossible to have capitalism without government and laws, btw. Capitalism is imposed by force, it's impossible to accumulate sufficient capital on one's own without the assistance of government and laws and courts to extract it from others against their will.
-----------------
"On Independents:
Here's a thought, if you got your apathetic asses off the proverbial fence you could potentially release the two party strangle-hold of incompetence on this country by forming a viable third party."
There's no such thing as a "viable third party" possible, due to ballot-access laws which make it virtually impossible to form one. We'd have to have a revolution first, or the existing government would have to go bankrupt or collapse in some meaningful way, before a third party could come into existence.
--------------------------
On "Free Range" Capitalism:
1. Foreign sweatshops are used because the cost of labor and the cost of shipping are less than the cost of manufacturing the goods here in the US.
2. Companies complain about paying *any* wages... not just living wages. If they could use slave labor here and get away with it, they'd do so. Companies always seek to minimize labor cost, to pay the least amount in wages and benefits possible. Companies are in business to make money for the owners, not for the workers. Workers are there to be paid the least amount of wages possible for the most amount of work produced.
--------------------------------
No company exists to operate in a "fair and ethical way". That's just a lot of public relations BS, more advertising to get you to buy *their* products or services. All companies operate (by law) to maximize the return to their owners - that's their *only* duty. They may be constrained by certain laws in how they do this, but more often the laws are honored more in the breach than in the observance, so companies will do whatever they can get away with. "Fair market wages" are more BS.
----------------------------------
"Explain the platypus"
Even God has a sense of humor.
----------------------------------
Jesus was not a Communist, he was an Anarchist - there was no hierarchy in the early church, all held their belongings in common, decisions were made by consensus, all were equal (the "no Jew, no Greek" bit)...
If he were a Communist, the establishment would have had no trouble with him, he would have been easily coopted and assimilated, no nasty business like that bit with the Romans would have been necessary.
--------------------------------
Post a Comment