Friday, April 29, 2011
Is There Hope for Liberty in Our Lifetime?
Presented by Jacob Huebert at the Mises Circle in Chicago: "Strategies for Changing Minds Toward Liberty"
Big Announcement Coming Tonight!
Is this my last post? What is the future of SE? Will anyone besides Nikk Jakson post more than once in a blue moon? What direction will SE take? Will tears of joy be cried by my enemies? How big (or small) will tonight's announcement be? Will there even be an announcement? Is this the end of Skeptical Eye?
"Mr. Nikk, turn your blog into a Little Bunny Story blog! Your public demands it!"
That was one opinion as I tested this post out on the streets. Leave yours if you DON'T want a Little Bunny Blog.
"Mr. Nikk, turn your blog into a Little Bunny Story blog! Your public demands it!"
That was one opinion as I tested this post out on the streets. Leave yours if you DON'T want a Little Bunny Blog.
You are not a Prince and I am not your Subject
In celebration of the Royal Wedding.
I've never been prouder of "civilisation"
From Fallujah, to the BP Oil Disaster, to the various imperial wars of the Anglo-American establishment, to the unending poverty and sickness of the world - I hereby formally announce my separation from statism and the machine of industry.- Charlie Veitch
You can judge a man by the company he keeps:
There will be at least one royal presence at Friday's wedding that is likely to raise eyebrows. Among the 46 foreign royals seated in the south lantern, just behind the British monarchy, will be Bahrain's crown prince, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, an invitation that could prove awkward in light of his government's brutal treatment of mainly Shia pro-democracy protesters.-Royal wedding invitation to crown prince of Bahrain draws criticism
Question of the Night: What Was The Best or Worst Knock On Your Door?
One evening, many years ago, when my grandmother was still on this earth, we sat in the living room just talking. The front door was open and we could see the street outside through the screen. That brought up the story of strangers knocking on the door. Grandma (we called her Nana) launched into one of her periodic reminiscences, and told of a dark night when she was alone in the house, and a knock began on the front door. She looked through the peep hole and saw a sailor standing on the porch, wearing what looked like an antique uniform, but when she went to open the door, he had vanished. She quickly stepped outside and ran to the sidewalk and looked both ways, but there was no sign of him. Where had he gone? To this day, that mysterious knock on the door has gone unsolved.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Charlie Veitch Has Been Arrested
Veitch was in contact with police before the arrest, reassuring them that his plans were completely peaceful and merely centered around voicing his free speech, which evidently no longer exists as a human right in the United Kingdom.-Charlie Veitch Arrested In Pre-Crime Raid Prior to Royal Wedding
Alex Jones: Obama Birth Certificate A Fake!
Some kind of sick ploy? Photoshop experts say "obviously fake", a forgery!
Digital Artifacts Prove Obama Birth Certificate Altered
Is Birther Circus A White House Political Ploy?
As we originally noted and has been mentioned by a number of electronic image experts, one of the most glaring details demonstrating Obama’s purported birth certificate is a fraud is the presence of digital artifacts.
Whether or not the birth certificate is a forgery is ultimately beside the point, because whatever the truth, Americans will eagerly jump headlong into another left-right punch-and-judy sideshow that will be enflamed by talking heads from both sides of the phony political paradigm while their attention is taken away from issues of national and global significance.
Our investigation of the purported Obama birth certificate released by Hawaiian authorities today reveals the document is a shoddily contrived hoax.-New Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery
Debt Storm!
The debt mountain that brought down some of the world's biggest banks and dragged the international financial system to the brink of disaster has simply shifted to governments. Now it's threatening countries around the globe -- and, if left unchecked, could rip the very fabric of Europe's economic system and wreck economic recoveries in the U.S., China and Latin America.
US vs. China: Winner Takes It All?
Then again, China, unlike the U.S., isn't spending its treasure on a bloated military budget and foreign wars.
Birthers Not Satisfied
Obama the economy destroying, war-mongering mass murdering liar, finally put to rest the real issue threatening us all, his birth certificate! Or did he...
Here, the lid is blown off the "fake" birth certificate Obama produced:
But perhaps the funniest "egg on our faces" birther moment comes with Joesph Farah (publisher) and Jerome Corsi (author) on the not-yet-released Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President
. This book has 150,000 advance orders, and while Farah acknowledges that the title of the book is "unfortunate" now that Obama's "long form" birth certificate is available for all to see, he says that he's "not apologizing for nothing".
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Oh, and come on Barry Barack Hussein Sotero Obama, you love this "diversion", you disingenuous prevaricator. What better way to make your critics look like a bunch of dishonest fools than to release your birth certificate (what the hell took you so long, by the way? It's not like this issue just surfaced last week) now, and distract the ignorant masses with irrelevancies. You're eating this up and taking it as a gift delivered to you on a silver platter. Now you can "answer" the loons and look open and transparent, without answering any of the real and important questions on the disastrous policies of your administration.
Here, the lid is blown off the "fake" birth certificate Obama produced:
Oh do c'mon.... oh Donald, this case is not closed.
You can't possibly by serious.-You've GOT To Be Kidding Me (Birth Certificate)
But perhaps the funniest "egg on our faces" birther moment comes with Joesph Farah (publisher) and Jerome Corsi (author) on the not-yet-released Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President
. This book has 150,000 advance orders, and while Farah acknowledges that the title of the book is "unfortunate" now that Obama's "long form" birth certificate is available for all to see, he says that he's "not apologizing for nothing". In fact, Farah said, Obama’s citizenship, not his birth, is actually the principal theme of World Net Daily’s upcoming book by Jerome Corsi titled, “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President.” Corsi first garnered headlines in 2004 as one of the architects of the so-called “Swift Boat” attacks on John Kerry’s war record.-Publisher of upcoming 'birther' book makes no apologies
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Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Oh, and come on Barry Barack Hussein Sotero Obama, you love this "diversion", you disingenuous prevaricator. What better way to make your critics look like a bunch of dishonest fools than to release your birth certificate (what the hell took you so long, by the way? It's not like this issue just surfaced last week) now, and distract the ignorant masses with irrelevancies. You're eating this up and taking it as a gift delivered to you on a silver platter. Now you can "answer" the loons and look open and transparent, without answering any of the real and important questions on the disastrous policies of your administration.
The State: “Executive Committee of the Ruling Class” or “Countervailing Power”?
In an article in Tikkun last year, Rabbi Michael Lerner argued that “[f]rom the standpoint of the large corporate interests, nothing could be better than to de-fund government or dramatically downsize it, because then it can’t constrain their economic power.” (“After the Health Care Legislation,” April 5, 2010).
And now Corey Robin, writing in The Nation, challenges the claim — which he dismissively calls a “right-wing idea” — that “the market equals freedom and government is the threat to freedom” (“Reclaiming the Politics of Freedom,” April 6). What’s more, he equates a belief in free markets to a prescription to “let the men of money decide.” In response, Robinson proposes a liberal counter-framing: “change the argument from the abstractions of the free market to the very real power of the businessman.” For example: “Without a strong government hand in the economy, men and women are at the mercy of their employer….”
These writers have things exactly backward. All power that is wielded by corporate interests and employers is exercised with the help of government.
Lerner and Robin take a decidedly naive liberal view of the historic role of government in the corporate economy. Their real enemy is not so much the Right as the genuine Left. Historically, Marx’s view of the state as “executive committee of the ruling class” is much closer to the truth than the liberal view of it as a “countervailing power.”
As New Left historian Gabriel Kolko argued in The Triumph of Conservatism, the main political force behind the Progressive Era regulatory agenda was big business. The corporate economy, even before Progressive regulatory legislation, was virtually a creature of the state. The economic model of large national manufacturers serving a continent-sized market was the direct result of land grants and other direct subsidies to the railroad system, that hammered the country together into a single national market. The pooling and exchange of patents — government-enforced monopolies — was a powerful tool for the leading firms in an industry to cartelize their market. And the industrial tariff was called — with good reason — “the Mother of Cartels.”
Even against this post-Civil War background, the big manufacturers were still unable to maintain stable oligopolies. Purely private attempts at creating trusts, at the turn of the century, were failures. Overleveraged and unstable, big trusts like the Standard Oil cartel immediately began losing market share to smaller, more efficient and less indebted companies. Hence, according to Kolko, big business turned to the state to create stable regulatory cartels. Although the Clayton Act is conventionally referred to as antitrust legislation, according to Kolko it was its unfair competition provisions — which outlawed destabilizing price wars — that first made possible stable oligopoly markets. FTC regulations that put it into execution, by prohibiting below-cost pricing as an unfair trade practice, acted as a structural support for administered pricing based on cost-plus markups.
FDR may have attacked an “economic aristocracy” in his political speeches, as Robin says. But when it came to concrete economic policy, economic barons like GE’s Gerard Swope and the Business Advisory Council were firmly in control. The National Industrial Recovery Act, far from being a left-wing social democratic constraint on corporate power, would have created a corporatist economy on the fascist model. The NIRA authorized boards controlled by the big players in each industry to restrict output and establish prices at whatever level was necessary to guarantee a “reasonable profit.” So the big industrial corporations would have operated with the cost-maximizing incentives of a public utility or Pentagon contractor, on the same cost-plus accounting model that gave us the infamous $600 toilet seat.
Today so-called “intellectual property” plays the same protectionist role for global corporations that the tariff did for the old national industrial giants. Like the tariff, IP is a restriction on who is allowed to sell some good in a market, which enables the “owner” to mark up prices to far above free market levels. The dominant corporate players in the global economy are in industries that rely heavily on IP monopolies for their business model: entertainment, software, biotech, pharma and electronics.
It’s big business interests, contrary to what Robin says, that see the market as a source of constraint. He’s entirely correct that “conservatives fear above all else… any challenge to that power, any inversion of the obligations of deference and command, any extension of freedom that would curtail their own.” But the market — the genuine, freed market, without subsidies, without anti-competitive protections, without rents on state-enforced artificial scarcities — is exactly the challenge to corporate power that big business interests fear.
As former ADM chief Dwayne Andreas put it: “The competitor is our friend. The customer is our enemy.” And as he also helpfully explained, “There isn’t a free market in anything, anywhere in the world.”
By Kevin Carson at Center for a Stateless Society under Creative Commons
And now Corey Robin, writing in The Nation, challenges the claim — which he dismissively calls a “right-wing idea” — that “the market equals freedom and government is the threat to freedom” (“Reclaiming the Politics of Freedom,” April 6). What’s more, he equates a belief in free markets to a prescription to “let the men of money decide.” In response, Robinson proposes a liberal counter-framing: “change the argument from the abstractions of the free market to the very real power of the businessman.” For example: “Without a strong government hand in the economy, men and women are at the mercy of their employer….”
These writers have things exactly backward. All power that is wielded by corporate interests and employers is exercised with the help of government.
Lerner and Robin take a decidedly naive liberal view of the historic role of government in the corporate economy. Their real enemy is not so much the Right as the genuine Left. Historically, Marx’s view of the state as “executive committee of the ruling class” is much closer to the truth than the liberal view of it as a “countervailing power.”
As New Left historian Gabriel Kolko argued in The Triumph of Conservatism, the main political force behind the Progressive Era regulatory agenda was big business. The corporate economy, even before Progressive regulatory legislation, was virtually a creature of the state. The economic model of large national manufacturers serving a continent-sized market was the direct result of land grants and other direct subsidies to the railroad system, that hammered the country together into a single national market. The pooling and exchange of patents — government-enforced monopolies — was a powerful tool for the leading firms in an industry to cartelize their market. And the industrial tariff was called — with good reason — “the Mother of Cartels.”
Even against this post-Civil War background, the big manufacturers were still unable to maintain stable oligopolies. Purely private attempts at creating trusts, at the turn of the century, were failures. Overleveraged and unstable, big trusts like the Standard Oil cartel immediately began losing market share to smaller, more efficient and less indebted companies. Hence, according to Kolko, big business turned to the state to create stable regulatory cartels. Although the Clayton Act is conventionally referred to as antitrust legislation, according to Kolko it was its unfair competition provisions — which outlawed destabilizing price wars — that first made possible stable oligopoly markets. FTC regulations that put it into execution, by prohibiting below-cost pricing as an unfair trade practice, acted as a structural support for administered pricing based on cost-plus markups.
FDR may have attacked an “economic aristocracy” in his political speeches, as Robin says. But when it came to concrete economic policy, economic barons like GE’s Gerard Swope and the Business Advisory Council were firmly in control. The National Industrial Recovery Act, far from being a left-wing social democratic constraint on corporate power, would have created a corporatist economy on the fascist model. The NIRA authorized boards controlled by the big players in each industry to restrict output and establish prices at whatever level was necessary to guarantee a “reasonable profit.” So the big industrial corporations would have operated with the cost-maximizing incentives of a public utility or Pentagon contractor, on the same cost-plus accounting model that gave us the infamous $600 toilet seat.
Today so-called “intellectual property” plays the same protectionist role for global corporations that the tariff did for the old national industrial giants. Like the tariff, IP is a restriction on who is allowed to sell some good in a market, which enables the “owner” to mark up prices to far above free market levels. The dominant corporate players in the global economy are in industries that rely heavily on IP monopolies for their business model: entertainment, software, biotech, pharma and electronics.
It’s big business interests, contrary to what Robin says, that see the market as a source of constraint. He’s entirely correct that “conservatives fear above all else… any challenge to that power, any inversion of the obligations of deference and command, any extension of freedom that would curtail their own.” But the market — the genuine, freed market, without subsidies, without anti-competitive protections, without rents on state-enforced artificial scarcities — is exactly the challenge to corporate power that big business interests fear.
As former ADM chief Dwayne Andreas put it: “The competitor is our friend. The customer is our enemy.” And as he also helpfully explained, “There isn’t a free market in anything, anywhere in the world.”
By Kevin Carson at Center for a Stateless Society under Creative Commons
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Iran Alleges New Cyber Attack
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Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
State of the Statists
Notice how the Neo-Cons have updated their language to sound more Libertarian, while perpetuating fallacious statist justifications for government. Paul Ryan says "Individual Liberty requires limited-government". Yet the Federal Government under direction of both Democrats and Republicans has systematically eroded individual liberty since its inception. America began with the smallest, most limited government in the history of nation-states, and it has become the largest, most powerful and corrupt empire in the world. Individual liberty requires self government, and totally undermines the state's power monopoly.
Off to the Bank, Walmart and the Gas Station (yes, at this hour)
My roommate (who takes up the one-car driveway with his old truck when he's home) is gone to a friend's house for the night and won't be back until tomorrow, so I have the house to myself. That also means I have the driveway to myself. The reason this is important is because there isn't much street parking (well, there is, but it's all gone by 7 or 8PM) and that means I usually have to rush home to get a spot, and then after that, I can't go out again, because when I got home, my parking place would be taken. But tonight, it's different, I've got the driveway! So, I'm heading out in a moment to go to the ATM to get some cash (I have my reasons) and to stop by the 24 hour Walmart to pick up some milk and a few other items, then, since I'm down to about a quarter tank of gas, I'll stop by the local ARCO and fill up.
That's my excitement for the night, the life of a wage slave under statism (also known as capitalism).
That's my excitement for the night, the life of a wage slave under statism (also known as capitalism).
Federal Reserve Notes Explained
Our Federal Reserve Notes are counterfeit. You see, the reason that it was illegal to counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes is because before when they were legitimate money, it was a note, I.O.U. silver or gold. And so a legitimate Federal Reserve Note could be redeemed for silver and gold, but a counterfeit note couldn't be. But today there's no difference between the Federal Reserve Notes that the Fed counterfeits or the ones that a criminal would counterfeit because neither one of them are backed by gold, because a "note" has to be a promise to pay, and Federal Reserve Notes don't pay anything.-Peter Schiff
US dollars were backed by gold and known as gold certificates from 1882-1933. Dollars backed by silver lasted longer, known as silver certificates, and were in circulation from 1878 to 1964.
However, both have been usurped by the Federal Reserve Note. A completely fiat, non-free market currency. A currency in which, “This Note is Legal Tender for All Debts, Public and Private” needs to be inscribed and backed up by the full force of the government’s guns in order to make it a currency used in regular life.-The Federal Reserve Note is Dead, Long Live the Dollar
US dollars were backed by gold and known as gold certificates from 1882-1933. Dollars backed by silver lasted longer, known as silver certificates, and were in circulation from 1878 to 1964.
However, both have been usurped by the Federal Reserve Note. A completely fiat, non-free market currency. A currency in which, “This Note is Legal Tender for All Debts, Public and Private” needs to be inscribed and backed up by the full force of the government’s guns in order to make it a currency used in regular life.-The Federal Reserve Note is Dead, Long Live the Dollar
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Groupon Killer?
Maybe Groupon should have taken that Google offer...
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158 Innocent Men Held At Gitmo - U.S. Media Indifferent?
Wikileaks documents show that 158 innocent men were held at Gitmo. Does the American media care? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Music Monday: Early 1970
Early 1970 was the B-side to Ringo Starr's 1971 hit single It Don't Come Easy, chronicling the end of the Beatles (they broke-up in 1970 with the official announcement of Paul McCartney and the release of McCartney's solo album McCartney
). At that time, Ringo was the only one of the Fab Four still truly eager for the band to stay together and make music as a group. Being the least talented of the four, that would seem understandable, but was also perhaps just Ringo's easy going personality at work. And for a short while in the early 1970's, Ringo seemed the darkest of dark horses to achieve success as a solo act , with hit singles and a critical and popular success with his album Ringo
.
1970 would see Paul, John and George release solo albums, showcasing their individual talents (particularly those of Lennon and Harrison) in a way a group effort might not have been able to accomplish.
Every Night from McCartney (1970)
Mother from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Wah Wah from All Things Must Pass (1970)
Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the ACTUAL LINK POST here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.
PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!
). At that time, Ringo was the only one of the Fab Four still truly eager for the band to stay together and make music as a group. Being the least talented of the four, that would seem understandable, but was also perhaps just Ringo's easy going personality at work. And for a short while in the early 1970's, Ringo seemed the darkest of dark horses to achieve success as a solo act , with hit singles and a critical and popular success with his album Ringo.1970 would see Paul, John and George release solo albums, showcasing their individual talents (particularly those of Lennon and Harrison) in a way a group effort might not have been able to accomplish.
PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!
Lew Rockwell on Peter Schiff Radio
Chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and publisher of LewRockwell.com, on a new poll showing 70 percent of Tea Party supporters oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and why the EU's set to collapse
The mainstream media are "simply mouthpieces for the state. The mainstream American media is about as independent from the U.S. Government as Pravda and Izvestia were in the old days of the Soviet Union."
Peter Schiff interviews Lew Rockwell on where we’re headed economically and politically.
The mainstream media are "simply mouthpieces for the state. The mainstream American media is about as independent from the U.S. Government as Pravda and Izvestia were in the old days of the Soviet Union."
Peter Schiff interviews Lew Rockwell on where we’re headed economically and politically.
$300 Silver? $5000 Gold?
Q: What do CNBC, George Soros, Warren Buffet and every other mainstream investment commentator on the price of gold have in common for the last ten years?
A: They are all wrong.
$5,000 Gold And $300 Silver Are Credible Numbers
A: They are all wrong.
We Don't Need No (Public) Education: Sheldon Richman on the Separation of School and State
"Schools, by their very structure, are preparing kids for some sort of authoritarian lifestyle"-Sheldon Richman
Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families
The Freeman
Strange how "liberals" are so supportive of public schools, when they are supposed to be against authoritarian structures, isn't it? Well, maybe it's not so strange, considering they love big, centralized government telling a nation of over 300 million people how to live their lives.
Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families
Strange how "liberals" are so supportive of public schools, when they are supposed to be against authoritarian structures, isn't it? Well, maybe it's not so strange, considering they love big, centralized government telling a nation of over 300 million people how to live their lives.
Blog of the Moment: Pure and Simple
The way I see it, life is too short to waste on hollow trivia. Never have I wanted my children to equate success in life with mere academic achievement – though they’ve all tested off the charts. But I do want them to gain true wisdom and understanding of life issues that matter most.
I would far rather see them grow up to be a heroic character like, say, Forrest Gump, than any academic snob. In the world’s eyes, Forrest would be considered an idiot, and yet he is courage and honesty personified.-The Sky Is…
Love the fact that she mentions the great John Taylor Gatto in that post.
Pure and Simple
I would far rather see them grow up to be a heroic character like, say, Forrest Gump, than any academic snob. In the world’s eyes, Forrest would be considered an idiot, and yet he is courage and honesty personified.-The Sky Is…
Love the fact that she mentions the great John Taylor Gatto in that post.
Prepare For Collapse
The global economy is in depression and countries around the world are bankrupt, only being kept afloat by printing more money and issuing more debt, deferring repayment to some future date. Throw in wars, natural catastrophes, food shortages, and peak oil, you are met with a cluster fuck of epic proportions that humanity has never faced before.-Prepare Yourself for Collapse – The Self-Destruction of Western Society
The author goes on to say that the coming collapse is "imminent" and warns that we all have to take steps to protect ourselves and our families. Is a collapse just around the corner? If you believe it is, or that it's likely, what steps are you taking to get ready for it?
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Random Easter Ramblings
And so Easter passes again this year, later than the previous years due to the lunar cycle. Another year with people celebrating Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras with extreme debauchery (no ma’am you’re not a whore because you’ll flash your boobs for some plastic beads) to Lent, which everyone ignores these days, to Good Friday, which happened to be trumped by Earth Day in some circles, to Easter Sunday. On this day, many not-so-serious Christians came to church when normally they’d stay home and do whatever they do no Sundays. Not that I have a problem with that personally, it’s just a little insulting to the Big Guy if you’re suppose to be Christian, but spend little to no time in prayer and worship. His words through the Apostle John, not mine.
The problem the modern Church in the West faces is not one of extreme evangelism, but of extreme apathy. While I am not one to declare my religious beliefs frequently, I don’t deny them when asked. Evangelism is not my strong suit because human interaction is not a strong suit for me. That’s why I’m a blogger not a talker. I do have my own doubts about what I’ve read in the Bible, but at the same time I have witnessed things for myself that I cannot explain. If told non-believers, they’d probably disbelieve me or claim I was insane or chalk it up to mass hysteria. It’s OK with me, I’ve generally stopped caring about what others thought about me for a long time now, which is why I can face all the anonymous assholes on the Internet and ignore them.
After much study, meditation, and the application of my gifts and talents, I have come to a striking conclusion that is probably out of the mainstream of Christianity in the West these days. I believe that when Jesus was born through when he died, he was a mortal man. Like us, he had all the aspects of being a man, despite originally being the Son of God. In essence, he gave up his divine nature. I’ve heard it said that he was both God and man in the same being, but I don’t believe that anymore. Many non-believers will state that he was some kind of demigod, being 50% man and God. I believe the latest hotshot atheist celebrity to do so was Ricky Gervais. I haven’t heard of any Bible thumpers who say that personally, but I don’t doubt their existence. There are a lot of losers who claim the mantle of Christianity out there.
My belief that Jesus was a man during his time on Earth stems from the fact that I think he was trying to serve as an example of what man should have been and what man could still be. This is largely influenced by what C.S. Lewis wrote about in his Space Trilogy books. Anyway, that’s how I see it. Whether that makes me right, wrong, unique, or common, I don’t know.
I guess most people don’t think about these things all too often. Frequently I am disgusted with churches across America more than pleased with them. The people who attend churches these days are largely women because the church has become about obtaining some emotional high, not some moral lesson. I’ve been in worship services where people are touched by the Holy Spirit and I often feel out of place. I question if it was the Spirit or just an emotional response to the intense worship and prayer. I am sure there may have been a few cases like that.
And just about every Church in the English speaking West uses the NIV (that’s New International Version) translation, which has so many contradictions in translations at so many critical passages, it’s not even funny. Yet that is the most common version I see people reading from. The NIV, while not the garbage version that called “The Message”, is still one of the worst versions you could use. But the translation used isn’t even a major problem. It’s the lack of reading of any version.
Most Christians don’t read the Bible, save at Bible studies and at church services. And even then, the readings are parsed and dissected done, having little context. Usually the passages are from the New Testament as well, which waters down the magnitude of the sacrifice that Jesus made. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had arguments with people who have taken verses out of context to serve some moral argument against things they don’t like. It’s frankly disgusting.
Why am I railing against Christians like this? Because we deserve it. We deserve every foolish and irrational criticism that comes our way because of our own spiritual ineptitude in Western civilization. Because, rather than proclaiming our beliefs and trying to remain obedient to God, we instead choose to take the safe route where no one’s feelings are hurt and where we are liked by others. We want to remain comfortable where as we should be fine with suffering in some way for God. And let’s be honest, there is no physical threat to the lives and property of Christians in America right now. Try telling the Christians of Nigeria, who have lost loved ones due to Muslim violence, that they need to keep their faith in the closet. When something is worth dying for, you tend to defend it after all.
As for the non-believers, I hold no grudges against you for your lack of faith. For whatever reason you do not believe, it does not matter to me. But understand that regardless of whether we are wrong or right in our faith, you should realize that our convictions has brought down tyrants and stood up against the vilest of men. Before this spineless generation of Christians arose, we drew the line in the sand against corruption and immorality, creating a better world. This is largely a historical fact that cannot be denied. Even today in many third world hellholes, it is Christians who stand for the weak and the oppressed and these few will largely pass by without any historical record or any level of fame.
I’m not saying that non-believers can’t do these things; they most certainly can. But when you are Christian, you believe, or rather, you know that this life isn’t the only one you have. And so death becomes less scary a prospect and without that fear overpowering your actions, you are free to do bolder things.
But these are not the Christians who I regularly encounter. Instead I am beset by fools and morons who claim to be Christian but only in name. And I wonder how long I can hold in my disgust when I am around them. I wonder if my purpose in life is call people out on their bullshit.
Not a bad life, if you ask me…
It's A Bowl...It's A Tank...It's Super Toilet!
Kohler has spent five years creating Numi, a toilet with almost every feature possible.
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The Sunday Post: Happy Bunny Day
Well, it's Sunday once again, and not just any Sunday...oh, hell, yes it is! As you can see, we've got the old stove and oven fired up and ready to go. On the stove top are canned yams and lima beans, and in the oven is a 10lb ham. I was going to go for the spiral cut ham this year, but we're on a budget, so I bought a regular bone-in half-ham. I'm pretty hungry as I write this, but the ham has got a couple of hours to go. For dessert, we kept it simple and bought a frozen apple pie. It will go in the oven after the ham comes out.
I once took a long Greyhound bus trip during the Easter season, and people near me started talking about how sometimes Easter is in March, and sometimes in April. They didn't know why. Well, here's why:
Wondering why Easter’s so late this year? Don’t blame the bunny. It actually has to do with the moon, the spring equinox, and a decision made by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. to make the holiday a “movable feast.” Even after that decision, it is believed the date varied for a while among churches.
Confusing matters a bit more, Easter can fall on 35 possible dates between March 22 and April 25, and those dates repeat every 5.7 million years.
...
Put simply, the holiday is always the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.-Science, history, unshakable faith behind Easter’s moving date
Okay, satisfied?
We've never made as big a deal (not since the day of lots of chocolate candy and Easter baskets) out of Easter in our family as we do Thanksgiving and Christmas. In comparison to those two, Easter seems like the unholiday (it falls on a day that most people have off anyway, though I suppose some do still manage a three day weekend by taking or getting Good Friday off), without much hoopla to it (Halloween is much more exciting, though it too is one of those "unofficial" holidays that you don't get paid for and that the state doesn't recognize - good, keep your filthy government hands off my Halloween, you statist bastards!).
Our company is closed for Easter, but our department is the only one open on Sunday anyway. Those who work Sundays get the day off, but without pay. It's my day off anyway, so I don't care.
I called this edition of the Sunday Post "Happy Bunny Day" because that phrase stuck in my mind years ago when a girl in a cooking class I was taking kept repeating it the week before Easter. Reminds me also of the infamous "bunny picture" incident.
Okay, so this dude (looked kinda like Bret "Ginx" Alan with longer hair) was at this mental ward at a local hospital, and as Easter approached, he started drawing pictures. One was of a sinister looking Easter Bunny. He was very proud of it. He kept it by his bed and showed it to everyone. Well, his sister was a friend of mine, and she told me she feared her brother was sure to be locked up longer if they looked at that crazy bunny picture he'd drawn. She hatched a plot to replace it with a nicer picture, one of a cute and cuddly Easter Bunny. She then commissioned me to draw it.
"You do realize I can't draw worth a damn, don't you?" I told her.
"Neither can my brother. You draw one, and use the same idiot crayons to color it like he did, and I'll replace his with yours."
"Why can't you draw it," I asked.
"I can't draw worth a damn," she replied.
I went home that night and got out one of my animal drawing books (I have a large collection of animal drawing books, and none of my pictures based on them have turned out remotely looking like a real animal; thank God the Easter bunny is not a real animal). I got to work with my pencils and crayons, and in a few hours had what I thought was a damn good looking Easter bunny. My friend had said her brother's version was dark and scary and colored red and black, and would I please make mine soft and light with pastel colors and bright Easter happiness. As I looked over my finished product, I was quite satisfied that I'd succeeded. I'd had that photo of my friend's brother's bunny picture she'd secretly snapped at the hospital to guide me in capturing the patient's insane style, and I believed I had pulled it off.
"I still don't get it," I told her. "What exactly is this going to accomplish?"
"They're having an art exhibit of all the crazies work, and I want them to see my brother in a good light. He can't stay in that horrible place!" She started to cry, and I put my arm around her.
"Let's go get something to eat," I suggested. "It will make you feel better."
The next week, after she made the switch, and somehow got my bunny picture displayed during the art show instead of her brother's, I heard all about the incident that resulted.
"He took one look at your drawing and went ape shit. He started yelling and screaming, saying, 'That's a pansy's drawing! A faggot drew it! I'm not gay! I'm not gay! Who's the goddamn faggot that drew that?'
"He got angrier and angrier, until finally they restrained him and took him away. All because he acted so crazy when he saw your faggot picture."
"Faggot picture? It was exactly what you asked for!"
"Well, you know what I mean", she said. "Anyway, he won't be getting out for a while, now."
"Let's go get some dinner," I said cheerfully. "It will help take your mind off things."
She looked at me sort of funny, then said, "No, sorry, I don't date homosexuals."
"What! I'm not gay. You know that, come on, what the hell are you talking about?"
She looked at me sadly. "You're very nice, but I can't be with a man who likes to draw cute bunnies that look so gay, that's all."
"You asked me to draw it!"
"Yeah, but you could've been a man and said no."
I heard from her again a couple months later.
"Hey, my brother is starting to come around to that bunny picture you drew at Easter. Maybe it's all the drugs they've got him on. Anyway, he wanted to know who drew it. He likes cats and wants you to draw him a cute cat picture for his wall at his room in the hospital. What do you think, can you make it really cute and cuddly, and all colorful, like your last drawing? He said he'd draw one himself, but not being gay and all, he doesn't think he can capture it the way you can."
I vowed to stick to drawing dangerous, mean looking bunnies from that day on...and mean, vicious old cats, too!
The Sunday Jesus: Was Jesus Raised From the Dead?
Was Jesus Bodily Raised from the Dead? William Lane Craig vs. James Crossley
New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman explains problems with the resurrection accounts from a historical perspective.
New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman explains problems with the resurrection accounts from a historical perspective.
Bad Real Estate Market Gets Positive Spin By Statist, Pro-Obama Mainstream Media
In this distant Chicago suburb, a builder has finally found a way to persuade people to buy a new house: he throws in a car.-Builders of new homes see no signs of recovery
Mainstream Media Puts Good Spin on Bad Real Estate Market
More and more, I am finding stories produced by the mainstream media where the headline doesn’t jibe with the actual story that follows. A USA Today (newspaper) story from the “Money” section yesterday is a great example of what I am talking about. The headline read “Rising home sales point to a recovery.” On the very next line, just under the headline, the sub-headline read “ Prices expected to keep falling 5% to 7% this year.” So we have a recovery but prices are falling? What kind of a recovery is that?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Mood Suffering with Economy
Finally, some good news! All of this undermines the legitimacy of the state, which is the first step to throwing off our chains.
A poll finds people in the U.S. are feeling down about their country and government
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A poll finds people in the U.S. are feeling down about their country and government
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Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
POLICE STATE - Facebook Hijacked By FBI Cyber Squad!
Actually, it's the FBI and other "law" enforcement that are the real criminals. Facebook apparently doesn't care that a criminal gang known as "the state" is using phony profiles to engage in criminal activity. Disgusting and reprehensible. Time for a Facebook boycott?
Drug Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann on the Future of Legalization
"We are making remarkable momentum with respect to changing the marijuana laws," says Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.
Saturday Morning Cartoons: Happy Easter Weekend
Welcome to our new Saturday feature, Saturday Morning Cartoons! Each week we'll present an animation, and sometimes it will an example of an actual Saturday Morning Cartoon. Other times, it will just be a cartoon of some sort. Hopefully articles about the cartoons and their history, as well as the history of the Saturday Morning phenomenon itself, will be presented along with the videos of cartoons.
Today's debut finds us with Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the "Peanuts" gang as they await the arrival of Easter, and most importantly, of the Easter Beagle (originally aired on the CBS television network as the 12th Peanuts special on April 9, 1974)...
Today's debut finds us with Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the "Peanuts" gang as they await the arrival of Easter, and most importantly, of the Easter Beagle (originally aired on the CBS television network as the 12th Peanuts special on April 9, 1974)...
Tipping Point?
With gas prices now standing at about $3.90 a gallon, energy costs have now passed 6 percent of spending—a level that Johnson says is a "tipping point" for consumers.
...
This year food prices have climbed 6.5 percent since the beginning of early January, according to Consumer Growth Partners.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Dear Mr. Skeptical (episode 15)
Dear Mr. Skeptical
Is it my imagination, or is Skeptical Eye on the decline?
signed,
Concerned
Dear Con,
Well, yes, we are, and to tell you the truth, I've never had a better time than when I'm with old Nikk and the gang out on the slopes. How did you find out? You must have seen us on your vacation or something, but I assure you, it was really us, you weren't imagining it!
Dear Skeptical
Why do they call it Good Friday?
signed,
I'm Just Asking
Dear Just Ass King,
You've heard of "Thank God It's Friday"? Well, pretty soon that became, thank GOOD it's Friday, which eventually, over time, was shortened to "Good Friday". And the reason we're thankful is because it's the end of the work week and we can stop pretending we actually like our jobs and can just relax for a couple days before we have to return to our slave master's domain with a phony smile on our face.
Dear Mr. Skeptical
I want to be an artist when I grow up. What do you suggest I do to prepare?
signed,
Loves to Paint
Dear Loves,
Get some paint, for starters, then a few brushes and an easel. You might want a couple of high quality pencils as well. Practice every day and then, when you're good enough, try and make a living selling your stuff. When you see the meager returns on your time and effort, you'll soon be disabused of the notion that you "want to be an artist" and look for a more practical livelihood.
The Dangers of Oral Sex
pp
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Space Troops!
Sounds like a failed 1970s sitcom title...Space Troops, tonight on ABC!
“By the end of the current year, Russia is expected to finish the establishment of air and space defense troops. According to General Lieutenant Oleg Ostapenko, the commander of space troops of the Russian Federation, the concept for establishing air and space defense troops has been approved.-Pravda: Russia Establishes Space Troops Command
Birther Movement Picking Up Steam?
Recent polls show more Republican voters questioning the validity of President Obama’s “certificate of live birth”.
pp
pp
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Where's the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President
3 Reasons to Legalize Pop Now!
Number one, think of the tax revenue! People love drinking pop, even with all that corn syrup crap in it, and the sales, if legal, would fund a lot of stuff for the government.
Number two, oh come on, it's gonna happen anyway! How many people do you know who already drink pop? Come on, you probably do yourself.
Number three, we have the right to drink whatever liquid junk we want, not matter what it does to our bodies, including making us fat as hippos and giving us diabetes.
Number two, oh come on, it's gonna happen anyway! How many people do you know who already drink pop? Come on, you probably do yourself.
Number three, we have the right to drink whatever liquid junk we want, not matter what it does to our bodies, including making us fat as hippos and giving us diabetes.
Bees!
KEEP OUT! That's how I wanted to begin this post, but I've changed my mind. Have you ever been holding the correct amount of change in your hand, just waiting to satisfy your Pepsi craving, and then were told, "Get outta here! Ain't gonna be no Pepsi for you today, not no how not no way! Pepsi? Hahahahahahahaha!"
No? Well, that's how it went down at work the other day, though I'll admit, I changed a few things for dramatic effect. What really happened? Wouldn't you like to know! Oh wait, this is a blog, I'm supposed to tell you. All right...
So there I was at my desk, just minding my own beeswax, when I see an email from the building manager. It read in the subject line "Stay out of the kitchen".
Well, okay, I realize most of us who work in this building are disgusting pigs, but really, telling us to stay out of the kitchen (break room)! It's an outrage! I read further. "There are bees in the kitchen, pest control is on the way. We have been asked to stay away from the area for the rest of the day. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Sorry for the inconvenience! What about my goddamn soda? My cold Pepsi with High Fructose Death Syrup that's waiting invitingly for me in the soda machine, that I can't get to unless I don't stay away from the "area"? Hmmm?
Turns out the bees were discovered by a hero in our very department, a young woman (does that make her a heroine?) who innocently went in to make some hot cocoa (hot cocoa sounds so innocent, doesn't it?) and found bees flying around. She took action on her own, grabbing some window cleaner and spraying it at the stinging winged fiends, but to no effect. That's when the building manager was informed of the dire situation.
Then Anthony Joe walked in. He hadn't seen the bee email. "Bees!" he shouted. "What! Where did they come from? I'm staying out of there! I don't like bees! Ever since I was a kid and some bees attacked and stung me and I had to go to the hospital, I've been very afraid of bees!"
"What happened?" I asked. "Why did the bees attack you? Were they those killer bees?"
"No," Anthony Joe replied. "I was just standing there throwing rocks at their bee hive."
Then I asked Anthony Joe if he was allergic to bees.
"I hope not! I don't think so! But some people are so allergic they can go to the hospital and die too!"
The I launched into my own bee stories, which weren't much in the interesting or entertaining department, but that's never stopped me before.
All of these incidents happened during my childhood. One day, around the pool in our backyard, I was shooting a water pistol (squirt guns, we called them) at my sister and her friend, making their relaxing little pool party as miserable as I could, when suddenly, I stepped on a bee! I was stung! Oh, god the pain! I dropped my gun and fell to my knees, quite sure it was a conspiracy on the part of my sister and her diabolical companion. I could hear them laughing in delighted glee through the intense agony my poor foot was experiencing.
Another time we were running barefoot through some grass near a local beach, heading for the water and the sand, when I again stepped on a bee! It was becoming a bad habit, as that second incident happened during the same week as the pool episode, and wouldn't you know it, both my sister and her friend were there, again. My conspiracy theory doesn't look so crazy now, does it, doubter?
The third time I was stung, it was at my friend's house. We were in the backyard playing with those little green plastic army men, when I felt something crawling up the inside of my shirt. I panicked and was soon on the ground, screaming for help, as I looked and saw a bee head poke its way out and stop right on my throat. My friend ran to get his mother.
She came out Mrs. Cleaver style in an apron. She took one look at me and said, "Oh, it's just a bee, stay calm." Just a bee! Did the insane woman have any idea what the hell she was talking about! She leaned over to "help" me and the bee attacked. I was stung again!
Now, luckily, I wasn't allergic to bee stings, but are you? Apparently it's possible to have no idea you're super allergic to bees. There was a sad incident in California the other day.
Friends said Hendricks' hobby was beekeeping and he did not know he was allergic. They said Hendricks would go to areas that had an infestation and attempt to relocate bees without killing them.-Youth Pastor Dies From Bee Sting
This is what happens when you attempt to adopt the philosophy of "liberal" environmentalist do-gooders and try and help some menacing pest instead of stomping them out of existence. They attack and kill you! The young man died in the hospital eight days after being stung. He was a "youth pastor" at his church, so I guess God just needed him in heaven for some reason and decided to take him away from his wife and two month old daughter, which does, however, bring up some disturbing questions about God's commitment to family values.
"He had a heart for bees," Forness said. “He thought bees were under threat, and he found it soothing to be around them.”
Yes, there's nothing more soothing than heading to the light and embracing Jesus and your eternal reward.
"We Paid Our Dues, Where's Our Change?"
Oh, yeah, and Obama "feels your pain at the pump"...sure he does.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Question of the Night: Should I Watch Netflix or Blog?
Frankly, I get kinda tired of blogging. It has very few rewards. Yeah, I get to write and have a handful of people read my words, but I was writing long before I was blogging, and that was actually much more satisfying to me. I'm not sure why, but it was. I wrote short stories (and had a few published in small magazines), children's books and whole novels. My focus was on fiction, so maybe that's part of it. I'd rather create my own worlds than write about mundane reality (even though I'll admit that right now we are living in interesting times).
So tonight, I have a choice. I can watch episodes of my favorites (shows like The Rockford Files, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Twilight Zone) on Netflix, or, I can spend my few remaining evening hours before bed posting things that no one seems to give a damn about anyway.
I think I know which one I'll choose. What do you think?
So tonight, I have a choice. I can watch episodes of my favorites (shows like The Rockford Files, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Twilight Zone) on Netflix, or, I can spend my few remaining evening hours before bed posting things that no one seems to give a damn about anyway.
I think I know which one I'll choose. What do you think?
Nashville's Sedan and Independent Limo Services Fight City Effort To Run Them Off the Road
On April 20, 2011, the Institute for Justice teamed up with three Nashville entrepreneurs and filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee to vindicate the right of Nashville's limo and sedan operators to earn an honest living free from excessive government regulation.
video via The Radical Libertarian
This sort of thing is a common example of the anti-free market state capitalist system, which enriches some private interests at the expense of other, less powerful private interests. Such regulations have little or nothing to do with "public safety", and the gullibility of many that government is there to protect us with regulations on everything, is part of the whole myth of good government that the state and its lapdogs in the mainstream media attempt to brainwash us into believing. It is also part of the larger support of the system of capitalist wage slavery, which doesn't want ordinary people to have income producing opportunities outside the established, phony, "free market" statist system.
video via The Radical Libertarian
This sort of thing is a common example of the anti-free market state capitalist system, which enriches some private interests at the expense of other, less powerful private interests. Such regulations have little or nothing to do with "public safety", and the gullibility of many that government is there to protect us with regulations on everything, is part of the whole myth of good government that the state and its lapdogs in the mainstream media attempt to brainwash us into believing. It is also part of the larger support of the system of capitalist wage slavery, which doesn't want ordinary people to have income producing opportunities outside the established, phony, "free market" statist system.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Canada (almost) Legalizes Marijuana
Pot lovers are dreaming of July 10, the day Canada’s dope laws go up in smoke.
An Ontario judge has struck down key aspects of Canada’s marijuana laws, triggering a 90-day countdown when growing, possessing or smoking pot will become legal.-Ruling opens the door to legalize marijuana in Canada
An Ontario judge has struck down key aspects of Canada’s marijuana laws, triggering a 90-day countdown when growing, possessing or smoking pot will become legal.-Ruling opens the door to legalize marijuana in Canada
Bubble!
U.S. stocks soaring to new heights, commodities booming and higher-yielding currencies smashing through long-held records: Are these signs of an economy roaring back to life, or of bubbles created by cheap central bank money?-Soaring Global Asset Prices Have Some Ringing Bubble Alarms
And here at Skeptical Eye, what happens when you folks don't comment? It makes those comments that are left very valuable and prized, causing a sudden rush to join the bonanza, with SE posts getting dozens of comments, leading to a...comment bubble! Well, it could happen.
And here at Skeptical Eye, what happens when you folks don't comment? It makes those comments that are left very valuable and prized, causing a sudden rush to join the bonanza, with SE posts getting dozens of comments, leading to a...comment bubble! Well, it could happen.
If you’re not preparing for mega-inflation already, you need to start doing so NOW
Stick a fork in Bernanke's Monopoly money, it's done...
It’s Official: China Will Be Dumping US Dollars
In case you missed it, earlier this week China announced that its foreign currency reserves are excessive and that they need to return to “reasonable” levels.
In politician speak, this is a clear, “we are sick of the US Dollar and will be taking steps to lower our holdings.” Remember, the US Dollar is China’s largest single holding. And China has already begun dumping Treasuries (US Debt).
...
In simple terms, China is done playing nice and is now actively moving out of US Dollar denominated assets. This is the beginning of the US Dollar’s end as world reserve currency.
Christianity and the Creation of Human Suffering
Since I have this video and a post by Francois Tremblay, I thought I would combine them to ask a question...uh, no, no questions!
Is it wrong (not ethical, immoral) to bring children into the world? Francois has written on this before, but in the post I link to below, he relates the issue to Christianity and Christians. If there's a reasonable chance you'll cause eternal suffering, shouldn't you refrain from procreation? At least atheists believe it all ends at death.
Antinatalism as a challenge against Christianity.
Is it wrong (not ethical, immoral) to bring children into the world? Francois has written on this before, but in the post I link to below, he relates the issue to Christianity and Christians. If there's a reasonable chance you'll cause eternal suffering, shouldn't you refrain from procreation? At least atheists believe it all ends at death.
Antinatalism is therefore nothing more than the extension of basic principles of ethics and justice to the realm of the creation of human lives. There is nothing innately difficult or complicated about it; all that’s really needed to understand to become an antinatalist is that creating harm for others is wrong, and that creating human lives necessarily entails the creation of harm for others, especially, and most importantly, for the life that is created.
It seems to me, therefore, that antinatalism entails a strong condemnation of Christianity, more than any other ideology. If one is a Christian, believes in the existence of Hell, and that one cannot be guaranteed of not going to Hell (for even if one believes in Jesus today and believes that this is all one needs to do to go to Heaven, one can never be guaranteed that he will steadfast in that belief for the rest of his life), then it seems that the probability of any given new human life going to Hell is more than trivial.
And now, for the kicker: since Hell is an eternal, that is to say infinite, punishment, and any proportion of an infinite term must necessarily be infinite as well, we must conclude that the Christian breeder who creates a new life is guilty of bringing about infinite suffering into the world!
Why is no one noting this? It is a titanic ethical issue. Combined with the fact that Catholicism and other Christian sects have taken radically pro-reproduction stances throughout history and still today, we have on our hands an evil that is so incalculably vast that it cannot even be imagined. Either every single Christian breeder doesn’t really believe in Hell, or every single one of them has more guilt in bringing about suffering than all serial killers, dictators and rapists put together, for no finite amount can be compared to any infinite!
Wordless Wednesday: Two Duds
Welcome to our new Wednesday feature, which, in future editions, will actually be wordless! Each week this post will have no written text, except for whatever you add in the comments. Also, I'm taking this opportunity to present the preliminary debut (the real debut is coming, and the characters will look much different; rounder heads and bodies, better sticks for arms and legs) of our new comic, Two Duds, featuring Nick and Brett, a couple of losers on their way to total obscurity (even though that's where they started and where they remain).
So, for the premiere of Wordless Wednesday and Two Duds, we present a Wordless Two Duds. Please supply some dialogue for each panel in the comments. Thank you.
So, for the premiere of Wordless Wednesday and Two Duds, we present a Wordless Two Duds. Please supply some dialogue for each panel in the comments. Thank you.
Now I Believe It!
"Everyone's God and if we don't wake up to that there's going to be no weather because our polar caps are melting because we're doing bad things to the atmosphere… The automobiles and fossil fuels are destroying the atmosphere and we won't have air to breathe.”-Charles Manson
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
No More Questions
I'm announcing the official end of the (almost) daily Question of the Day series. If questions get no answers, there's no point in asking them. Well, maybe there is, but probably not on a blog. Better to just make statements and tell the world (what little of it is reading) to go to hell if they happen to disagree.
The thing is, with many of the questions I've posted, I really did want to know what others thought, and in some cases, I didn't have an answer of my own. I suppose if I ever have another question for you guys, I'll post a SPECIAL QUESTION (the all caps works for that, I think).
For now, I plan to continue with the Question of the Night series, since I don't really care, in the depths of the darkness of those midnight queries, if I get any answers; I'm not expecting to hear back from the shadows, and I'm not sure I want to...
The thing is, with many of the questions I've posted, I really did want to know what others thought, and in some cases, I didn't have an answer of my own. I suppose if I ever have another question for you guys, I'll post a SPECIAL QUESTION (the all caps works for that, I think).
For now, I plan to continue with the Question of the Night series, since I don't really care, in the depths of the darkness of those midnight queries, if I get any answers; I'm not expecting to hear back from the shadows, and I'm not sure I want to...
The Acceptance of Mediocrity
The self-esteem movement has hurt my generation more than it has helped it. I don’t know who the asshole was who started it, but he’s on my short list of people I’d like to time-travel-shin-kick. Because of it, individuals now overestimate their abilities and intelligence more so than ever before.
Contrary to popular belief, not all people are equal. Sure, you can argue that we are all equal in the sense that we’re all going to die, but that’s about it. Beyond that, there is little much else that. We are all snowflakes, after all.
More to the point, by what metric does our society tend to measure equality? Usually it is a financial one based on ability, but even ability is not a good indicator. I have about seven years worth of software development experience, but that doesn’t make me the same in ability as another software developer with the same amount of experience. There are specific fields of interest within that realm, different tools that can be used, and frankly different lines of thinking as to how to solve a problem. That’s what an interview is for. A resume tends to be too general.
And yet we are infected with this progressive notion of fairness and equality that has blossomed into a giant tumor on our society complete with hair and teeth. People regard things they have not earned as some kind of human right that must be forced out of others all for the sake of some farcical notion of equality.
Why am I saying all this? Because I enjoy being iconoclastic. I love tearing down the silly notions that rule our society because often times they are built on lies and misconceptions. For example, when I was teaching the youth during Sunday school a few weeks back, one kid stated that some idea wasn’t fair. I retorted that God isn’t fair. I wonder if she stated as much to her parents. I doubt her parents would have disagreed. Undoing 30 hours of government skooling is difficult but thoroughly enjoyable.
We all like to think there is some grand purpose to our lives, but I think that our lives are a blessing and that we really shouldn’t ask for much more. As terrible as things may turn out for us, at least we had a chance to exist. Think about all the prophets, kings, and other significant people in the Old Testament Bible. There were maybe a hundred or so. But there were literally millions of people throughout the course of the nation of Israel who never did anything significant enough to be mentioned. Heck, some kings only got a footnote-sized mention in the chronicles. In other words, despite being proclaimed as a holy people, set aside for God, the vast majority of the Israelites lived a mediocre life.
Such is the fate most of us. There are very few who will have a significant effect on the course of mankind. You think my blogging will make a difference in anyone’s life? I don’t, I just do this to provide some kind of rant outlet for myself.
And this is where the self-esteem movement has done more harm than good. People don’t realize that they are going to live a life of mediocrity for their entire life but instead focus on making it big somehow. Perhaps this is the attitude that created the various bubbles we’ve see in the past two decades. People thinking they are better than their own estimation. I doubt anyone really learned their lesson.
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