Failblog

Wow, July. That was a while ago. I've frequently thought of things I would like to talk about but I always end up ranting to whoever is around and then lose the fire to type it all out. Plus I figure anyone who cares what I think enough to read this, I probably have talked to about it anyway. This is mostly self-defeating because I honestly would like to be a solid blogger, like my friend Cynthia.

So with that redundant explanation, let's move on.

Usually, to get me to write, you have to make me angry. Not mad, being mad burns out quickly. Honesy-to-God righteous indignation, that's a gift that keeps on giving.

So first, let me introduce a new word for everyone.

Conflate, verb. The noun is "conflation." It is when you mistakenly equate two things that are separate. That is, you think things are the same when they are not. This is done on a nigh daily basis, usually benignly and frequently without any consequence other than the individual being (sometimes understandably) confused.

Other times, it could very well lead to bloodshed.

A few weeks ago, my brother asked me what I thought of the whole "Mosque at Ground Zero" controversy. Due mostly to being buried under work and getting future plans worked out, I had honestly no idea what he was talking about, and therefore didn't feel I could make an educated response.

My first response, and one of the points that I don't feel is REALLY under contention is that they are legally allowed to build a worship center anywhere they want, without federal intervention.

So the issue becomes not "can they" but "should they?" I said I thought it was a community issue, they should talk it out in a civil manner that would be educational to all parties and if the community was simply too offended, then maybe it shouldn't be built. My brother said something that seems to be a common feeling in this country. He said "It offends me as an American."

This bothered me a bit but again, I didn't know all the facts, so I didn't think I should respond. There also seemed to be a feeling that the President was siding with the Muslims and endorsing the worship center, which isn't his place.

Well, now I've done some checking and feel I can speak to the issue better.

First, I remind the class that freedom of religion means everyone's religion, not just the ones we like. In the end, our opinions don't really matter because if they want to build it, they will, and that is their constitutional right. End of story.

Secondly, this worship center isn't AT Ground Zero, it is not being built on the rubble of the Trade Centers. It's a few blocks away and there are already other Mosques, at least one, that is actually closer. I think saying "Mosque at Ground Zero" is purposefully inflammatory and misleading, and like so much of this contrary, dependent on the ignorance of the populace. So the idea that this is a conscious slap in America's collective face is already refuted. I do not believe the Muslims behind building this center--most of whom have shown themselves to be moderate--are trying to hurt anyone. I admit, they should have been prepared for this to become a firestorm, and maybe they did, but I don't think they chose the location for that reason.

Thirdly, *I* am NOT offended as an American. To be honest, I'm much more offended by the visceral, usually ignorant, sometimes downright hateful, but mostly just knee-jerk reaction of the Americans I've heard. This sort of issue should be handled with sensitivity, civility and respect. Instead, we get "Not In My Backyard" on a national level. Guess what? It's THEIR backyard, too. I have always been proud of America's inclusiveness, that our national identity is made up of a variety of flavors. However, this means America will only work if we choose to let it. And sometimes people don't seem to want to do that.

So why are people offended? This is where our friend "conflation" comes in. People seem to have mixed up "Muslim" with "terrorist." While it *should* go without saying, I'm going to anyway: they are NOT the same. There are over a billion Muslims in the world. Maybe a few thousand are "violent extremists." That means the vast majority are peaceful, probably similar to us in more ways than they are different.

The Muslims who are pushing for this center are, as far as I know, peaceable, moderate people, who just want to worship their way.

This is why wars on ideas never work and have so many unfortunate consequences. It is also the problem of terrorism. The rules are different, we can fight conventionally. We aren't fighting the Muslims or the Afghanis or the Iraqis. We are fighting terrorists and criminals.

Someone once said that humans are the instruments of ideologies. While this is true, I argue that ideologies are also the tools of people. After all, there are people who claim to subscribe to the same ideologies I do, yet act in a way that I find morally reprehensible. I'm sure many Muslims feel the same.

It bothers me that people don't recognize bombing abortion clinics, and events like that, as domestic terrorism. It seems the height of hypocrisy. But, they retort, those people are evil and doing evil things. We are getting rid of armful elements.
What do you think the terrorists think THEY'RE doing? And you can't say, "but they're wrong and we're right" because that means not only are you a hypocrite, you're also incredibly arrogant.

I'm sure many of these terrible acts are committed by people claiming they are doing God's will. But in the end, they are just fallible humans, choosing to enforce their personal beliefs on others. At that point, it doesn't even MATTER if they were right or not. A God that asks you to cowardly bomb undefended individuals, however you disagree with them, is not a God worthy of worship. There are better ways to make your case, to further your cause.
My point is that the truly broken inside would have found a way to be violent anyway. The fact that they use their religion as a smokescreen does not make it that religion's fault. There's good and bad in all of us, and there are good and bad elements to every group. We are all imperfect humans.

So I wanted to say: Dear America, this shouldn't offend you. Get over your small minded, ignorant hangups and learn to respect the views of others. The Worship Center is *not* a victory for the terrorists, your close-minded self-aggrandizing response is. Put simply, you're making us look bad.

And that would have been that.

Until yesterday.

The whole thing with the Mosque was mildly irritating but at least I could more or less understand where people were coming from. 9/11 is still a raw nerve, still a deep scar in our national soul. I feel some leniency should be given to the high running emotions that go with it.

That does not, nor does anything else, justify burning Q'urans to "memorialize it." I honestly can't even wrap my head around this. The level of "not okay" is in the stratosphere. I don't like it when people burn American flags. I remember becoming incensed when some kids at my university were using the Bible as a kick ball.
For one thing, NO book, not even Twilight, should be so mistreated. Books should be respected, if only for being books. For another thing, it is extremely disrespectful. You can respect other views even if you don't share them, even if you're opposed to them. When we start deciding who does and does not get to have what views is when we reach a new dystopic low.

So, of course, when I found out this was being done by a "church" I was furious. This is exactly what I was talking about. Now, if I tell someone I'm a Christian, I have to disclaim it and say "but I'm not THAT kind of Christian." It's stomach-turning that I should have to do that.

As General Patreaus has already said, this could have serious consequences for our soldiers. It could effectively set us back by years. We are already failing to win the hearts of the Afghan people so of course they don't want to help us. Now we run the risk of turning millions of otherwise peaceful people into radicals. I mean, what would YOU do if someone was going to burn YOUR holy book? There's no excuse for this.

Now, under freedom of religion, I concede that this could be protected. However, under freedom if speech, it's not. Hate speech is not protected by the Constitution, and that's exactly what this is.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, the Florida pastor who is spearheading this has already shown himself to be less than reputable when he was sent away from one church for dipping into it's funds for his own personal use. I don't find that really relevant to this issue though, it's horrid enough on it's own.

It makes me plenty angry, but do I wish ill on them? No. I don't want them to be bombed, vandalized or hurt in any way. I just want them to recognize that the God they claim to follow is one of love and that only he who is perfect should cast the first stone.

I think people, not just Americans, but all people, should just get over themselves.

And I truly hope things don't get worse.

I Believe

So, as you may know, right now there is a project going on called 1Book1Twitter. Think of it as a giant reading circle on the internet. I desperately wanted to be part of this, but unfortunately, was simply too busy with school. Part of my desire came from the fact they were reading "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman (who at this point, is pretty much my favorite writer ever). Even though I could not participate, I followed along loosely. Today, Mr. Gaiman posted a shirt that I would really love to get, which comes from a speech made in the book. I read the speech and was floored by how close to my own philosophy it followed. I swear, sometimes I think the man is a prophet.

Here is the speech:

“I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren’t true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they’re true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen – I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkledy lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone’s ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we’ll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of the Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind’s destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it’s aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there’s a cat in a box somewhere who’s alive and dead at the same time (although if they don’t ever open the box to feed it it’ll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn’t even know that I’m alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of casual chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn’t done it properly. I believe that anyone claims to know what’s going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman’s right to choose, a baby’s right to live, that while all human life is sacred there’s nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you’re alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.”

After having read this (and after picking my brain matter off the wall), I started writing my own sort of 'belief' poem (instead of taking notes in class). Here is what I came up with:

-I believe if dining halls didn't want us to steal bananas, they shouldn't charge 9.78 for their crappy cafeteria food. I believe teachers are grossly underpaid and that they bitch about it too much. I believe in cold pizza on couches and stale fries in backpacks. I believe in the Story. I believe it does not matter that there's no evidence oft he Jews being in Egypt, and that the Sphinx was not built by slaves; the story of the Exodus is still TRUE, regardless of if it actually happened. I believe you are not BETTER if you are stronger, smarter or more ambitious. I believe people will appropriate any document to justify their position.I believe it's silly to wear plastic galoshes and short skirts at the same time, since EVERYONE knows the purpose of rain boots is to make jumping in puddles easier.
Or maybe it's better so you don't soak your pants, since few things are more unpleasant. I believe there's only one true path, and we can never be certain we're on it and anyone who says they are, live like a diver walking along the sea floor, in one of those diving suits the bad guys wear in Scooby Doo. I believe Joseph Smith was either crazy or a conman and that this does not make Mormons or their faith illegitimate. I believe you can tell what groups are considered the "enemy" by who our comic book heroes are fighting. I believe professionalism should not require you to give up who you are, but it does and maybe it needs to. I believe in divine healing and I believe those douche bags who spend millions of donation dollars on private planes don't have it. I believe the Devil has better things to do than bothering infecting your kids through Magic the Gathering, rock and roll, Dungeons and Dragons and Harry Potter. I believe no on has ever been convinced or "woken up" by someone blowing up a building. I believe the best socializers are South Park and the Daily Show and college kids should be required to watch it. I believe sky scrapers and condoms are as much a part of nature as beaver dams and glaciers. I believe money and time spent in the service of others is never wasted. I believe it is completely possible to think a war is stupid, wasteful and corrupt and still admire and encourage those who fight it. I believe those who advocate direct democracy, total socialism, or otherwise gripe about our government should travel internationally so they begin to comprehend just how BIG the United States is. I also believe it wouldn't make much difference to them. I believe philosophy isn't dead, it has just changed addresses. Now we call it Science Fiction. I believe anything you say can and will be used against you in a Goggle Search. I believe in spanking, biting and handcuffing...someone you love very much. I believe that anyone who considers killing innocent people as an appropriate way of dealing with anyone is not intelligent, misunderstood or functional, only selfish and suicidal. I believe the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are mind-blowingly amazing living documents that changed the world amongst great odds. I believe that in no way diminishes the tragedy of tolerated slavery, which led to a century of pain and a Civil War we should never have needed to fight and generations of racism we've yet to overcome. Nor does it absolve the founding Fathers from the responsibility of dehumanizing and subjugating other people. I believe there should be a dictionary called "Obscure Words for Pretentious People to Feel Haughty for Knowing" which will be self-defeating since everyone is pretentious on some level and once everyone knows them, they're not obscure anymore, are they? I believe hoods, cloaks, high Edwardian collars and double-breasted longcoats should come back into fashion, but I don't want them to because I'm secretly afraid others will look better in them and I won't even have the benefit of being strange and unique. I believe every person on the bus has a secret story...the difference is some read like Neil Gamian and some read like Stephanie Meyer. I believe in free will and I believe in destiny and I don't claim to understand how either work, let alone how they work together. I believe in tipping food service workers even when you don't think they deserve it or as much as you're giving because at some karmic point, we have all been them. I believe some people dance in the rain, and some people cry in the rain and both are tragically beautiful and beautifully tragic. I believe in obvious things and subtle things and I believe I don't know anything about anything but talk like I do out of fear and habit and because, well, you were just so WRONG. I believe anyone who thinks free love is more "natural" than monogamy should give up contraceptives, Wendy's and soap and see how often they get laid then. I believe we grow when we suffer and I believe that anyone inflicting suffering upon others is evil. I believe a benefit of the "real men don't cry" stereotype is how special their lovers feel the first time he breaks down in front of them. I believe it doesn't matter where you were born, how poor you were, what your religion says, what color your flesh is or how good your parents were...you are responsible for your own actions, always. I believe there's a purpose and reason to everything and I believe everything was just arbitrary, indifferent cause and effect and I believe that IT DOES NOT MATTER. I believe everyone should live their life as if they were being held accountable, as if they had free choice because living the other way is nasty, brutish and short. I believe everyone should should stop calling the philosophers dumb until they've changed the world the same way. I believe that imagination is the last thing to endure after faith, hope and love, as it is born out of the second two and makes the first one possible. I believe if I could help just one person, make their lives better, my life will be more complete.

~~

There will undoubtedly be more at some point. That is what I have for now.

The parts of us

Alright, it is after midnight, I am typing from my BB and I don't have a really clear idea of what I'm trying to say, so please bear with me.

I've had a few different conversations with people that have caused me to reflect on previous experiences.

Countless things interest us. We watch tv shows, play games, read books, surf the web...we read articles about random stuff that catches our eyes and frequently wonder "How does that work?"

But these things don't make us who we are. Not all of them. But I thing we personalize more than we would initially assume.

For example, we all self-label to some extent. I think of myself as many things, some with more justification than others. The positive side is that because I recognize I am not alone and others share this aspect of myself, I can find them and explore more. The negative is that when I find my definition does not match the rest of the worlds or at least the mainstream, I feel offended. It is basically a logical equation.

I am X.
Their X is different.
I am not X?

I'm sure many people of faith have felt the same when loud people who claim to represent their beliefs make them look stupid(*coughfoxnewscough*).

There is of course, a level of eliticism here, of which I am quite guilty. Any person who claims to be a real goth is required by custom to sneer at Hot Topic, and they aren't really wrong to do so, but they ARE choosing to define a broad genre by what will make THEM feel the most justified, the most "hardcore". They are the "real" everyone else is a poser.

Of course, the very worst outcome would be that an individual ceases all critical thinking and literally just follows the crowd, that is, their group. Following the party-line is the most obvious "adult" example. This is why I claim to be neither Liberal nor Conservative. That's not to say that everyone who does self-identify gives up their free will, just that it is more common than I am really comfortable with.

As usual, South Park said it best.
"If you want to be nonconformist, you have to dress just like us and listen to all the same music we do."

So that's self-labeling. There are other personalizations we do however.

Because the genres/stereotypes are so broad as to be almost meaningless, we frequently strive towards exceptionality. This is especially true when we are in a clique of people who all fit the broader category. I will use an example I gave during a discussion with Ardent Sluggard.

Take the notion of Nerd-dom. To at least a decent portion of the population, the Nerd is misunderstood, sometimes maligned or marginalized, etc. It can be tiring to constantly justify your interests, always answering the occasionally venemous question of "Why do you like THAT?"

On the other hand, it offers a level of satisfaction for those who prefer to stay on the fringe. Now imagine being surrounded by other Nerds. You are no longer special, you no longer standout. Where before, you may have considered your unique Nerdness as a part of your identity in relations, it now has all the significance as the fact you walk upright (usually). So now one searches for some aspect of nerdiness that sets him/her apart. Frequently, these activities will then be moved to a more special place of the individual's mind and heart because it now defines them. This can mean the person will view these more personally and sensitively.

The last chosen component of identity is belief. We all know the stories from history. So much bloodshed over ideas, so many battles and cultures laid waste. This doesn't mean having beliefs is a bad thing. The issue lies with people. Our beliefs are a central part of who we are. We base our decisions, our lifestyles on them, they guide our thoughts. And no matter what they say, everyone believes something.

This is why arguing beliefs can be so difficult. You are not attacking (or just questioning) an idea, you are attacking THEM, what makes them them. It is almost totally impossible to separate the person from their beliefs.

This goes for all the aspects I have discussed. People don't like having their identity threatened and it will make them defensive.

Now if we REALLY wanted to get sticky, we coukd talk about whether beliefs should be held accountable for the actions carried out because of them.

Take Marx and Rand. I agree with portions of their views (polar opposites that they are) and they have some good ideas. But taken to an end conclusion, they can andf have been easily utilized to justify terrible actions. Is that Marx or Rand's fault? Surely such was not their intention (one would hope), so are they to blame?

That's another day's issue, I think.

Till then.