Recent Posts
I had a particularly strange thing happen to me recently. It makes me profoundly sad, actually. But I lost at least two friends, via Facebook, because of my liberal political leanings. To me, that is profoundly sad. I have never understood the idea of having friends who only believe everything that you believe. What fun is that? Isn't having a wide variety of friends with a wide variety of beliefs more interesting? At least one of the people who left me obviously was not paying attention and said she was surprised to see I was a liberal and then de-friended me. Again, that seemed profoundly ignorant and sad.
I think the world is full of too many people who are so staunch in their beliefs they are not even willing to listen to anyone else who has a slightly differing belief. That to me is very sad. I may disagree with you, but I appreciate that you have a different opinion and can respect your feelings. I just choose to disagree with you.
People seem to want to shout down anyone and everyone who has any kind of different value system. It is like the child who covers his ears and shuts his eyes really tight and then yells. They don't wan to even acknowledge that other people might have different feelings about things. To me, this is sad. Why should the world only believe one thing? I don't think even God wants that or why would make us all so different with so many different beliefs and ideas?
My other friend seemed to want to encourage debate. Then, one day, I said that the company he worked for might actually do better for their customers if they didn't have private planes and pay his salary as a private pilot. While I can understand that as insulting, I cannot understand not acknowledging the potential reality of that situation. He works for an insurance company and insisted that they attempted to "do right" by their policy holders.
That may be. I don't know the culture of the company he works for. However, I do know that they are generous up to the point that their executives can still fly in private planes. Plus, I doubt the executives would really spend a lot of time telling their pilot how they screwed a cancer patient out of her medical insurance.
I don't understand the desire to have everyone the same. I cannot fathom surrounding yourself with nothing but people who think like you. I cannot fathom only watching TV or listening to the radio and to people who only affirm what you believe already. You have to keep open to new ideas. You need to listen to those ideas, research them, and reach your own conclusions. That's the only want this world can work, the only way people can try to live better and understand each other. The only way that makes any sense.
I believe that people need to take better care of each other and that the government should do its share of that.
I believe that if you are wealthy, you should pay a greater share of taxes.
I believe in more gun control, rather than less.
I believe that gay men and women should be allowed to marry.
I believe that women should have the freedom of choice.
I believe, firmly, in universal healthcare.
I believe that waterboarding is torture and that the United States should not torture.
I believe that the war in Iraq is illegal and was justified through lies and deception.
I believe the Iraq war is far worse than a president getting a hummer in the Oval Office.
I believe that corporations are inherently selfish and must by monitored and regulated, heavily.
I believe that global warming is a real thing and that man is responsible for it.
I believe that man can reverse the effects of global warming by heavily regulating companies who pollute.
I believe that human beings are, at their heart, selfish and self-serving. They are not inherently good, as many believe.
I believe that without regulation, laws, and government interaction that people would only think of themselves and not help those in need. Thus, we need the government to create laws that force people to help those in need.
I believe that any "civilized" country that does not provide basic medical care to its citizens is far, far, far from "civilized."
I believe that there must be a separation between your religious beliefs and the beliefs you have for America.
I believe that there must be a separation between church and state.
I believe the Founding Fathers were not actually all Christians, as many have stated, but deists, agnostics and athiests.
I believe that the "trickle down" theory is a myth and does not work.
I believe that tax breaks for the wealthy do nothing but give the wealthy reasons and excuses to hide their money and do not do anything to help the economy.
I believe the government has to do what it can to take care of its people because the people, left to their own devices, will not take care of each other.
I believe it takes more than a pat on the back, a thumbs up, and some well-wishing to help people who need help.
In general, I hold these beliefs to be absolute and unchanging. They are my core beliefs and the things I hold as absolute and written in concrete. Therefore, this is why I proudly call myself a liberal and state, without a doubt, that this is something that can never, and will never, change.
It's funny to me when I look around at the people who classify themselves as conservatives. They seem to be a very frightened bunch of people. They also seem remarkably selfish, at least to me, but I am repeatedly told that this is not the case. However, it seems that their idea of helping people in need is to pat them on the back, smile, and give them a kind of thumbs up.
Imagine a room full of people. They each have a table and on that table is a bunch of candy. It works best to imagine these people as children. Some of the people have a lot of candy. Some have a decent amount of candy. Some have a little bit of candy and some, those very unfortunately few, have no candy at all.
Imagine Lenny the Liberal. He looks down and he sees he has a moderate pile of candy. Across from him is Carl the Conservative who has a HUGE pile of candy. The pile is excessive by any standard, and likely more candy than Carl would ever be able to eat in a lifetime of candy-eating. Lenny looks and see he has a fair amount, but probably still more than he would ever need. He looks to his right and sees one guy who has only a little bit of candy and, next to him, another guy who has none. Both of them are working hard to get more candy, but circumstances are such that neither can get a break.
So, Lenny gets an idea. "Hey," he says to Carl, "why don't we give some of our candy to these guys? Then maybe we can inspire them to get more candy and give them a bit of a cushion so they can earn more to make get more candy."
To which Carl replies. "No! This candy is MINE! MINE! MINE! It's my candy and you can't have any of it and neither can they. Get your own candy!"
Lenny nods. "Ok, sure, but these guys are having some trouble getting candy. How about we create a program to help theme get some candy until they are able to get candy of their own? You'll still have more candy than you can ever possibly need."
Carl snarls, "MINE! MINE! MINE! This is all MINE! They don't deserve it! If you just give it to them, they won't work for it! The non-candy people are all the same! You give them candy and they just take and take! MINE!"
Lenny asks the two men, "Would you benefit from some candy? Do you just want to take candy and never work for it?" They say no, but some candy, given to them, or perhaps done in a way that they can eventually pay the candy back, would at least help.
Lenny then tell this to Carl who flusters and simply screams, "MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"
Lenny starts working on his own. He distributes some of his own candy to others with less. He finds most of them are willing to pay him back. Several achieve success and do pay back. There are a few who take advantage, but most are hard working people who really do try to pay back their candy.
Carl, meanwhile, has started spreading lies. He says that all Lenny want to do is take EVERYONE'S candy and that he will not stop until ALL of the candy has been taken from EVERYONE. He also lobbies for special dispensations that will allow him to keep more and more candy. His argument is that if everyone sees how much candy he has, somehow this will inspire them to work harder to get more candy.
Lenny sees the success of his program and goes to Carl to ask for help. Now, however, Carl has managed to recruit others who have large amounts of candy. However, he has also managed, through his fear tactics, to recruit people with only an average amount of candy. All of them, however, are convinced Lenny is just going to take all of their candy and leave them with nothing.
As Lenny tries to talk to them, reasonably, conversationally, about his program. As he tries to point out the benefits to everyone about his program, he finds he has a problem. Carl's people are so filled with fear, they do not want to talk. They scream and shout down Lenny and the people on his side. They call this "patriotic" and "free speech" even though it does nothing to foster actual debate.
Ultimately, as Lenny looks on bewildered, he sees that their entire argument comes down to a single word, shouted over and over again: "MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"
It's hard to argue with a policy like that. At least, not in any way resembling intelligence. Which is sad. However, it really seems to be what we have.
I make my living with words. I spend a lot of time writing things in front of a computer screen. The world of the internet has been great for my career. It has given me an outlet and given me a voice and it has provided me with income and all kinds of truly wonderful things. There have been times when I have written things with the hopes of reaching just one person in the hopes of changing their mind or minds. I write to get my opinions across and I have very liberal opinions about things. That is just how I am built. You can call me a socialist, if you want, and I will nod, smile, and say "thank you." To me, it's not a bad word.
What I would never do, however, is suggest that there needs to be some kind of movement. I would never suggest that thousands of people gather and target a certain political party and, perhaps, be violent towards them. For crying out loud, I am anti-gun and anti-war and the thought of anyone ever taking anything I said or wrote so seriously that they would want to commit an act of violence makes me nauseous
[ Click here to read more ]
I am not one to declare the end of the world. Well, I might be, but only in a work of fiction. In fact, I am working on a work of fiction that I am publishing a chapter at a time online and the fate of the world may very well be at stake, but I am not the type to declare the end of the world without it being a work of fiction. I do not think that things are going to end in 2012. If it does, well, if I were the earth, I might be pretty ticked off and want to start over too. In fact, I kind of thing the earth is mad at us.
I don't know. The earth is always moving. There are movements of the plates of the earth all the time. Most of the time they move in such tiny movements that we don't even feel them. There are fault lines everywhere. We even have them here in Chicago. However, they are mostly small and when they do move they just make minor tremors
[ Click here to read more ]
Well, the thing that I have been trying to accomplish is, as of this writing, finally starting to happen. I am losing weight. I started to make changes in my diet right after the first of the year, or possibly just before it. I really cannot remember. Before that time I was on a kick where every morning I would down a big canned, sugary iced tea to wake up in the morning and then the afternoon drinking a big sugary soda. Sometimes I even supplemented that with a nice, super-sugary Slurpee. It was not a particularly health diet.
So, I cut that out at the first of the year, or perhaps slightly before it. I really cannot remember. I was already noticing that just doing that little thing and reducing the portions of the meals I was eating was causing the pants to get loose. Then I had a medical event that was combined with a horrific stomach flu. That really kicked things into high gear
[ Click here to read more ]
I hate thunderstorms. I mean, I really, really, really hate them. I am terrified of them and have been since as long as I can remember. Other people talk about how much they love them. I even know people who deliberately open their windows and find the whole rain and thunder thing "soothing." They love to sit places and watch the lightning. I do not understand these people.
This is what is called a phobia. I one time looked it up and it was called "astraphobia" or something like that. If it was called "Astrophobia" I might at least have a good "Jetsons" reference to make, but I am pretty sure it was "astra." A phobia is an illogical fear of something. That means you know that, more than likely, the lightning is not going to reach through the window and get you. You know that you live in Chicago and realize that it is unlikely to have tornadoes, but no matter how logically one part of your brain is talking, the other part is cowering in fear. The other part of your brain, and it is a much louder, more convincing part, is sure that the lightning is not only going to get you, but is actively looking for you
[ Click here to read more ]
I admit it. I was, momentarily, caught up in the hysteria over the latest doo-dad from Apple, the Apple iPad. When it was first introduced I was decidedly underwhelmed. I have managed to live, so far, without an iTouch and this looked like a legal-pad-sized iTouch. That's great, thought I, but why would I want a bigger one? Why wouldn't I, had I an urge to iTouch something, just want the smaller and more portable older brother of the big, lumbering thing. Then, when the reviews started coming out about the thing, I started to reconsider.
For just a moment I thought about getting an iPad instead of a laptop. I had a laptop for a while. Being a rather poor and struggling writer, I could not afford new Macbooks and Macbook Airs. I love Mac and the products Apple produces, but they are just way too cool for me, I guess. I am not wealthy enough to own them. Even the cheapest of new Macbooks is well out of my pay grade. The iPad, however, at around $400 for the cheapest one, is much closer
[ Click here to read more ]
Just a few days ago I wrote about how the high school that I attended was about to close its doors. The school is very much in debt and has hardly any student body to speak of and is struggling. There are a variety of reasons why this might have happened, but what matters is the fact a decent private school was about to close its doors. But wait…
The board of trustees voted to not close the doors just yet, but try to raise the necessary money they would need to stay open. However, the school needs something like two millions dollars to operate and is about one mil short of that particular goal. The reports in the news are also that there are only about 210 students in the entire school
[ Click here to read more ]
So far there are just rumors. Personally, I saw a kind of off-hand comment left on someone’s Facebook profile page and I have yet to hear anything from anyone in any kind of official capacity. However, it seems unsurprising that my alma mater, Luther North High School, is closing its doors very soon. There just haven’t been enough students in recent years to keep the doors open very long.
I was a graduate of the class of 1989. I knew from pretty early on that it was going to be the high school I went to. I went to a small Lutheran grade school after a disastrous couple of years in the Chicago Public School system. I have written about how I am unable to do simple math before and I sometimes want to blame the Chicago Public Schools for that. It was easy to blame them back then
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
Recent Comments
I've not commented on anything yet :(
|
Add Comments
Read More
Comments (1)