RWHN, THIS IS YOUR LIFE.

[Pæs]

We need more threads about this guy, so I'm going to give a few snapshots of his history here. I had a quick look back through his posts because, like all of us, I can't get enough of reading about him... and I couldn't help but wonder whether he was always like this and some communal bias protected him from judgement.

So here we have it! My forum viewing settings give the guy 1100 odd pages of posts, so I'll pick up a post from every hundred pages or so to chronicle his time here!

RWHN, THIS IS YOUR LIFE!

although it does have th ebest acting out of hte whole newer trilogy...

That's through the process of elimination.  Jar-Jar doesn't utter a bloody word.  So automatically that's an improvement.  However pretty-boy Anakin talks more so that's a detriment to the movie.  Man, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Darth Vader was once a whiny Backstreet Boy!

The answer, I believe, is that they work hand in hand.  What you are talking about, or at least how I'm interpreting it, is environment vs. individual.  It is clear there are environmental factors that can exist and exert influence just as there are individual influences within.  I'll use the example I am familiar with which is substance abuse.  There are two schools of thought to address substance abuse.  Environmental Strategies and Strength based strategies.  I think it's clear which one adresses which factors.  An environmental strategy for substance abuse would be to target retailers who don't check ID's or to try to impact parents through forums, parenting classes, etc.  A strength based looks at factors inside.  The "Whys" if you will.  A void within. 

Aha! but right there you see a link to the environment.  Perhaps the void is caused by bad parents or bad family experience.  Right there you have the environment and individual inextricably woven into one situation.

So, the short answer is that, well, it depends.  But you can't lose sight of one over the other because then nothing changes, ever.

Enlightenment can be a tough road.
Having an open mind does not mean an open highway bereft of tribulation and conflict.  Indeed, so it would seem, it can increase both of those.

The knowledge and understanding of how limitations can choke.  But yet, when others do not share or recognize this, one's societal world, one's social circles, can quickly become very limited.  Or at the very least, strained.

This has become apparent to me as a parent.  Watching my little girl, eager and wide-eyed with the world.  A thirst to experience all that she can experience.  No shame in sillyness.  No inhibitions for idiosyncracies.  Yet, when amidst others of her age, who have already begun to develop their blinders, it can be painful to watch.  Because I remember what it was like, to be just a little different then all of the other straight and narrows.  I remember the giggles.  I remember the pointing.  Being comfortable with myself, yet lonely as others decide that they are not.

And so I see it beginning with my little one, before she has even entered the public school system.  To be sure, kids still like her, and play with her.  To be sure, she still enjoys that which is deemed normal and traditional for a kid her age, and of her gender.  And to be sure, I can see in her playmates the happy anarchy of childhood innocence is still there, and viable.  But I can also see where they are being introduced and indoctrinated to the typical paths that so many others unquestioningly navigate.  The hard and fast rules of what boys do and what girls do.  The mantras of how to properly experience the universe we are in. 

And so the tricky part comes.  How to maintain integration without fostering isolation.  How to cherish and champion individuality, and at the same time, teach companionship and comradery.  To impart that though others may not jive with parts of the personality that their friendship is still valuable and vital. 

It's an odd thing.  We are invariably social creatures.  It is undeniable that at some level we all want to belong to something.  To be a part of a collective of characters.  At the same time, there are parts of our identity that will cause clashes, and sometimes, with those we most want to be friends with, or partners with, or lovers with.  As an adult this is easy to understand and rationalize, and so too with time will it become obvious to my little one and others like her who are growing up now. 

In the meantime, I make it my duty to keep that which may dull to not lessen her shine.

The following is a rant I posted on a Political Form.  I share it with you

For sinking to a level of vile filth.  Last night, at the convention the following 9/11 "tribute" was shown. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw1vEzqld0I

This was no "tribute" to those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.  This was the organizers of the RNC using those innocent lives as a shameful political prop to win votes.  It was a fear mongering, propaganda video, complete with imagery of one of the explosions from one of the planes impacting the trade towers.  Complete with the graphic imagery of watching one of the towers collapse.  It was a horrid thing to watch last night, and the complete rage that filled me, watching how the suffering and death of innocents was being used as a political pawn, I can't begin to explain to you how angry this makes me.  It's bad enough that Gov. Palin and other Republicans have decided to mock my profession, now they are going to use the dead to win their election.  It is shameful.

Anyone who filmed, edited, spliced, signed off on this video is a stain of an American.  To think, to actually think that using these horrific memories, the dead of 9/11, as a political ploy, to think that is acceptable is hard for me to imagine.  This was no "tribute", this was taking a wound, reopening it, pouring salt into it, and then holding a knife to the necks of Americans and saying, "Vote for us or this will happen again!" 

And it is people from this side who dare, who have the unmitigated gall to question Barack Obama or anybody else's Patriotism.  Is it "patriotic" to use the deaths of the 9/11 victims as a means to win votes?  Is it "patriotic" to use the fear conjured by the 9/11 attacks to scare the American people into voting for you?  Is it "patriotic" to spit on the survivors and loved ones of 9/11 victims by using their grief for their gain?  If this is the "patriotism" you want, count me the fuck out.  This is vile, awful, and has NO place in America.  The people responsible for this video are refuse-stained holes.  I don't want to be a part of their America. 

This, of course, is not going to get ANY play in the media.  You all think this is a liberal media.  No, it isn a corporate media, and they are ALL cowards.  This should be an issue.  The heartlessness and callousness on the part of some in the Republican party will use the deaths of the 9/11 victims for their gain should be an issue.  If we really want to live in a "land of the free" we need to act like it.  This kind of reprehensive BS needs to be decried and we need to stand up and DEMAND that this crap cease.  Debate issues, debate policy, hell, go ahead and sling mud at each other.  But I will be damned if I am going to sit and watch people in our country use the innocent dead and the living victims of the horrific attacks on 9/11 as a means to their political ends. 

If you don't have the same gut reaction that I and many others have had to this piece of slime belched forth on the RNC stage, I don't know what to say.  You obviously have a different set of values that I can't begin to relate to.  If you can't see how these poor excuses for humanity have denigrated the lives that were lost in those planes, and in those towers, and in the Pentagon, then I don't know how to convince you otherwise.  You clearly have a different set of lenses that allow you to accept this kind of sick propaganda.  And that's fine, I have no quarrel with you.  But this is just completely sick.  I'm not a religious person, I don't believe in heaven and hell, BUT, if I did, I would expect that there is a very special place made just for those who allowed this travesty to unfold on National Television.

To me it boils down to the idea that those armed with themselves have the best shot at surviving in this world.  I of course don't mean, literally, surviving.  In fact, I think those armed with themselves would tend to be more apt to have a sense of humor still intact as well. 

And the bits about reality grids speak to that idea.  Nonsense as Salvation, the Sermon on Ethics and Love, Starbucks Pebbles.

It's about raising awareness of your awareness (or lack thereof).  And yes, absurdity and the holistic nonsense are one of those tools.  They are the crowbars that pry open the box you are in, to let a little sunshine in to illuminate those corners of your cell you may have been missing or ignoring. 

It then becomes all too obvious.  How can one seriously think they have any control over where they are going when they don't know that they are letting someone else drive the bus?

I hate to get elitist here, but if people don't understand what the data says, what's the point in showing them?

I am all for transparancy and freedom of information, but if all we're going to get from it is political "he said, she said" grandstanding, I think that detracts from science in the long run.

I have to agree with this.  Data is a double-edged sword, especially when you have lots of data on any particular subject area.  I think it's important for actual scientists and researchers to have access to all available data, because they know what to do with the data.  They know how to put data together.  They understand how one data set relates to another data set.  Joe Schmoe sitting on his couch watching American Idol simply does not have the mental faculties to process that data and gleem a proper meaning from it.

I'd say about 70% of my job involves data.  I have to constantly assess what data I'm going to share in any particular situation based upon the audience.  While I want to educate parents on the dangers of substance abuse, throwing a glut of data from SAMHSA does me no good.  It is too much for them.  It is my job, as the professional social scientist, to package the data in a way that is digestible by the general public.  And the data around substance abuse is by miles, easier to comprehend than global warming data.  Fuck, when I see that stuff I start scratching my head.  And I fancy myself a pretty intelligent guy (not to get too DK on everybody). 

And LMNO's right.  When the public gets their mitts on this stuff, politics gets involved, and when (more) politics gets involved in scientific research, the process becomes tainted.

I agree with your statement. Isn't there more we could do, legislatively, to combat abuse and addiction at the base level? Because I have a feeling that the current caffeine+/alcohol+21/everything_else--  isn't optimal.

I think there needs to be more of a shift away (but not completely mind you) from law enforcement and towards prevention.  Prevention is getting the short straw and there are some programs out there, like the federal grant I'm working on, that do some great work.  But it's drops in the bucket.  You really can legislate behavior, but you can legislate policies that make it easier for parents and kids to get the support they need to either prevent their kids from getting hooked, or to help them once they are.  If we had a better network of prevention and care in this country, we'd make better inroads.  Until that happens, our successes are limited to the margins. 

Who are we?  We're the people waiting for you to go first.  We talk a good game but never throw down.  We praise your good ideas and exhalt your plans.  We'll be right there behind you!  Well, actually, right after we wash our hair.  Then we're right there with you!  Oh, well, no, we have to renew our gym membership, I mean, it's gonna be a new year, we're going to hit the stair climbers for sure this year!  Then, we'll be ripped and ready to fight the good fight along side you...oh wait, we just remembered we need to clean up the hard drive.  That shouldn't take too long, and then, holy fuck are we ready to rumble!!!  Well, we probably should get a new bottle of asprin first.  We might get a headache while trying to fight The Man.  Go on ahead, we'll be there eventually, really, trust us, who are we?

But I don't agree with your assessment as to the harm posed by marijuana.  Certainly alcohol and tobacco are very damaging to youth.  But they are legal now and my personal view on that IS one of pragmatism.  They are legal and that's that.  So my work focuses on how to deal with that reality and do the best I can help prevent youth substance abuse even though the legal status of the product creates many challenges and barriers to that work. 

But marijuana IS illegal now.  And so I draw the pragmatic, and yes, arbitrary line that it should remain illegal.  As I said before in this thread, when it comes to alcohol and tobacco, the toothpaste is out of the tube.  I am of the opinion that it is best for our communities to keep the marijuana toothpaste in the tube.  Because the mess we have is big enough as it is.  We don't need to create an even bigger mess.

I believe that RWHN once implied that he has an MPH, back when he was telling me that my public-health-expert friend was "misinformed" about drugs and public health.

I'm not asking where it's from because it doesn't matter, and any notion that the information could lead to your personal identity information is nonsensical. But, because you have so often strongly based many of your arguments on your status as an expert, and have asked us to accept them based on your credibility as an expert, I would appreciate a direct answer to the question about your education and credentials, RWHN.

What degree do you hold?

I don't hold my degree, it's on a wall. 

I got it from Klown University. 

Maybe you'll not answer her seriously, but I'm interested. Considering I have taken a great deal of what you've said on word due to your stated education and experience. And from a fellow graduate degree holder to another. Because my credentials have always been clear, and I would post my CV here if I wasn't sure an employer turning up things I've said here in a google search of my name would make me unemployable. And if you won't answer me seriously, I'll stop taking you seriously, despite your history here. That's all there is to it. Because I've taken into account you are on the defensive against multiple people, but keeping that in mind there are still some weird things going on in your argument. All I want is a confirmation of a graduate degree in [whatever it was you got it in] from [region of North America]. I'll go first: I have a MS in Entomology from a university in the Southeastern United States. With my initials and a bit of searching you should be able to find out my legal name, my professional blog, and everything else about me (it's not like many first names start with 'z'). You can confirm mine, and I'm not asking the same of you, just that you state it for the record.

Check your PMs.

Unfortunately, BabylonHoruv is my fault.  He followed me here from Political Crossfire.

Eh, I CAN be a bit of a pill at times.  There is definitely a strong stubborn streak that runs in my family.  Must be the French-Canadian blood.

I'm not hear to provide riveting reading.   


I'm here to make you dance.


Which I've done for 120-something pages now.


That's MY Discordia. 

Denial that there is a new you and an old you. This has nothing to do with your views on public health but rather your personality and how you interact with us. To say that youre the same guy that you were when i joined isnt true. It seems to of that that is also the general consensus.

Oh, sure, absolutely my interaction has changed, when it became clear that I was being reviled solely because of my position on drug policy.  It spilled into anything else I posted about.  TGRR illustrates that perfectly with his summation of my threads in the PD subforum, or you with my puns.  So yeah, I figured if I'm going to be reviled no matter what, I might as well go all in.

So I ask you again, why are you still here?

My reasons are my own.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

IDK, but I after putting that together I feel like I've been listening to the same record for long enough that the needle has worn it to shit and all that's left is screeching and whining.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It certainly shows an interesting progression. A shift, if you will.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Unfortunately, BabylonHoruv is my fault.  He followed me here from Political Crossfire.

Cooties. 

[AFK]

It should be pointed out that there is tons of shit from the glory days that has been lost to the ether through board prunings.  Not to mention my activity on EB&G, POEE, and the short lived BIP boards that I administered.  Oh and of course BIP.com.  I've put a lot of time and effort into things back when we used to be more focused on Discordiansm.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It should be pointed out that there is tons of shit from the glory days that has been lost to the ether through board prunings.  Not to mention my activity on EB&G, POEE, and the short lived BIP boards that I administered.  Oh and of course BIP.com.  I've put a lot of time and effort into things back when we used to be more focused on my Discordiansm.

Fixed

[Salty]

And yet, you shit on everyone now.

So nobody gives a fuck.

But if it cools the red hot fire that burns in your asshole to wear your Official REALLY REAL Discordian Merit Badge, nobody is stopping you.

[Pæs]

It should be pointed out that there is tons of shit from the glory days that has been lost to the ether through board prunings.  Not to mention my activity on EB&G, POEE, and the short lived BIP boards that I administered.  Oh and of course BIP.com.  I've put a lot of time and effort into things back when we used to be more focused on Discordiansm.

I tried to pick the stuff with the most content, even as I approached the present, but the point wasn't to prove that you've never contributed anything. You're going to be judged for what you do now, I was just curious how we got here.

IDK man, do what thou wilt... (but I think there's an addendum we threw in after that).

[Doktor Howl]

I've put a lot of time and effort into things back when we used to be more focused on Discordiansm.

Irony meter broken.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I've put a lot of time and effort into things back when we used to be more focused on Discordiansm.

Irony meter broken.