Messages

There is a time for holding one's tongue and a time to expose the truth. If it's akin to revealing the truth about Santa, you do more damage perpetuating the lie. But in terms of beliefs that can't be proved, beliefs that form identity and morals...it's often best to leave the individual to their delusion.

At times, though, denying reality through maintaining particular beliefs is harmful to everyone, and it becomes necessary to speak the Truth. Knowing when and how is the kicker. In confronting the more painful Truths of my own life, I've come to understand that sometimes we aren't ready to face the Truth. Sometimes it doesn't fit into the rest of our reality tunnel, and we'll dismiss it out of hand, because to alter one piece is to alter them all, and we are not always internally stable enough to handle such a change.

Many of those who've "lost" their religion find themselves drifting for a while. Religion holds a powerful place in our sense of who we are and what our lives mean. It is frequently the final authority on matters of behavior and boundaries. Taking that away can remove the various supports and structures that keep us steady through the storms and upheavals of life. Most people are absolutely miserable with a pack of Happy Lies, but they've never known anything else, and those Lies are so tied up with who they are and who their family and friends are, that it takes a tremendous amount of courage to be willing to see the Truth.

The idea that religion gives life meaning gets the hairy eyeball from me. More often than not, it's not the religion itself that endows meaning, but the community and sense of belonging. It's the feeling of doing something by believing. It's the faith incorporated into the religion, the belief by-products. If believing in Jesus is enough to entitle me to everlasting life, then it's easy enough to believe, and feel good about that belief, so that life somehow gains more meaning.

For me, that means rarely, if ever, attempting to discuss religion with the intention of changing the other person's mind. I'll happily discuss beliefs and religious concepts. I'll share my own personal beliefs if the other party is interested. But I'll leave them to their Happy Lies, as far as their religion. I don't have one, and have no interest in gaining one. But I hang around here, because this particular joke religion has something to offer me at the moment. A different perspective, and a few kernels of Truth scattered about.

I'm completely agreed with you on this, RWHN. It's dispicable.

But I just wanted to comment that when I first read this part: 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!" I read that last bit as "Vote for us AND this will happen again!"

I like it.

Makes me think of differences in perspective and the significance of keyholes and all sorts of other tangents.

Good work.

eta: nevermind. stupid question

"Dear Penthouse: ..."

I'm not a fan of cynicism, but the line between what happens to other unfortunate people and what can happen to you is very thin. Every once in a while you get moments that bring this to light, but I try to keep it in the back of my mind just in case.

Yes, I CAN get into a car accident.
No, I am NOT immune to disease or poverty.
Yes, I CAN get arrested for no good reason. 
Yes, there IS a chance that my loved ones will turn Republican.

But, you know, I bet most of those people will be released eventually and not charged with anything substantial. So there is that.

AFAIK, most of them have already been released, but it's the fact that they were arrested in the first place that makes me feel sick.

My initial reaction to the news was "so much for the land of the free...let's see if this is still the home of the brave." I sure hope so.

[It still surprises me that people think that they are safe from arrest as long as they're not commiting a crime. I don't think that's been true for a while.]

They arrested Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar? 

It still surprises me that people think that they are safe from arrest as long as they're not commiting a crime. I don't think that's been true for a while.

Ever, really.

I understand that there were windows being smashed, but 300 people is a lot of arrests. 

Perhaps not, but I think it's one of those things that you just don't imagine happening to you or anyone you know. It's like...I don't want to believe this is happening in my country, but when it's right there in front of my eyes, I have to believe. And it disturbs me on a very deep level.

on protests happening outside of Republican convention.
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9/2

You still find this suprising?

Unfortunately, yes.

Someday I'll laugh, but for now, I just feel sick.

on protests happening outside of Republican convention.
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9/2

I think it does matter who is going to win:  the new stats on what Bushfuck did to our bottom line point to that right off.  More Americans are in a shittier position after he took office than before.  In fact, the world is in a shittier position...so yes, it definitely fucking matters.

Apparently you forgot about the mass layoffs and unemployment in late 2000.  Things were already shit when Bush took office.  Bush was a dismal failure at fixing things for any length of time, and may have smashed it beyond repair, but Clinton, and the fucktards in congress, are the ones that broke the economy in the first place.  What makes the current crop more qualified than the last one?

Take a look at the deficit, Buddy.

Take a look at the loss of life and limb of a whole generation of vets.

Take a look at corporate scandal after corporate scandal that got shoved by the wayside, while people go hungry, lose their houses and lose their lives to credit and housing crunches.

Oh, did I MENTION the fact that we fucked up "going green," even?  Buy-bye, Kyoto Agreement!

Blame Clinton all you fucking want to, but Bushie and his cronies didn't fix it.  They plunged it even further into the shitter and then took a dump on it, wiping their collective asses with the Constitution while they were at it.

I notice you completely failing to defend the idea that democrats would do a better job.

The difference at this point is negligible.

If EVERYONE decided that it's too difficult to deal with the consequences of giving a shit and doing something about it...and decided fuckitall, I'm done...what would happen?
   

Isn't that pretty much what's going on now?

Do you REALLY think that?

I don't think EVERYONE has decided "fuckitall, I'm done", but I do think an awful lot of people have.

If EVERYONE decided that it's too difficult to deal with the consequences of giving a shit and doing something about it...and decided fuckitall, I'm done...what would happen?
   

Isn't that pretty much what's going on now?

I think about the downfall of civilization a lot.  I know that every generation thinks it's witnessing the death of society, but that doesn't stop me from thinking that the End is Nigh.  All I have to do is watch a 16 year old driving her brand new Hummer.

Seriously, it's just around the corner.

All I have to do is watch the average shithead snowbird blissfully driving along, unaware that I will hunt, kill, and EAT them the moment it all goes to shit, either through no oil, or by Russia getting all stupid and fucking with Poland.

I will eat them because THEY did this shit, THEY created this situation, when there was still TIME to do something SMART.

THEY didn't create this situation any more than you did. It's OUR responsibility, it's OUR problem. WE are the ones we've been waiting for. WE are the only ones that can do anything SMART.

But chances are, we'll sit and watch it burn, because we keep thinking that someone else is going to save us. We keep thinking it's THEIR fault, and THEY need to fix it. But THEY won't, because there is no THEY. There is only US, and the sooner we recognize that, the better off WE will be.

Wait, what does food allergies have to do with asking for your sauce on the side?

I think the issue at hand is asking the restaurant, and particularly the chefs/cooks, to do something other than what is very specifically laid out by the menu.

you think incorrectly.

the issue is asking for the fucking sauce on the side. don't ask for the fucking sauce on the fucking side.

frankly, I could give a shit what you do with your salad or your burger. but when you order the fucking tournedos of beef that I get shipped up from our dedicated dry-aging room at Kinneally Meats in Boston, or the fresh lobster ravioli, or the goddamned 2" thick center cut lamb chops, DO NOT ORDER THE SAUCE ON THE FUCKING SIDE.

Not even EXTRA sauce on the side?

I rarely order anything special, partly because I don't want to be a pain in the ass, and partly because I think they'll just screw it up. If there's an ingredient I don't like, I don't order the dish. Or I just take it out after I've been served. Half the time, it just doesn't occur to me that you can order things specially. 

Also, I dated a guy who was going to culinary school at the time...and the stories he'd tell...chefs aren't always just tempermental. I never realized what a high pressure job it was til then. But damn. I should've gotten his recipe for artichoke chicken before we split.

They never have a "none of the above" option on the ballot. Cuz that's my vote.

Because the lesser of two evils is still evil, and I don't want any more fucking evils.


-waiting for the whole damn system to implode.

Wow.  We sure have a lot of cool people here.

Rog, I understand the premise of voting. And I realize that I may be waiting a long fucking time for the system to implode. Or explode. But I'm sure as hell not in it to be cool.

It's not cool that the system is rigged. It's not cool that the people I would like to see in office, don't want to be there, or aren't fucking photogenic enough to get the monkey's votes. It's sure as hell not cool that a lot of people are more worried about what gender or race the candidate is, than what that canididate stands for.

I just don't see another option yet. Voting for the available candidates seems to just get more and more of the same. Not voting doesn't get me anywhere...it just allows me to say "I didn't vote for them". It's my way of not supporting the system. Maybe it doesn't do jack. But maybe this year, I'll go in and write "none of the above" on the ballot. Probably won't do much, but hey, I voted, right?

They never have a "none of the above" option on the ballot. Cuz that's my vote.

Because the lesser of two evils is still evil, and I don't want any more fucking evils.


-waiting for the whole damn system to implode.