The other day at work, a guy said something about the weather… Another guy responded with the phrase: “Global warming”… A third guy said: “Bullshit! ...Shifts in the climate are a natural occurrence that’s been going on for eons.”
I stayed out of it, but apparently I’m still thinking about it. When you’re of moderate wit, as I am, you tend to spend some of your time thinking about things that you might have interjected into conversations had you been someone of quicker wit.
In this case, I might have said something along the lines of this…
Yes! It is an empirical fact of science that shifts in the global climate have been occurring naturally for eons. It is also a fact that most people who have died of lung cancer have had a genetic predisposition to developing cancer. Hence the insurance company’s questions about your family history of diseases like cancer. But is this fact of genetic predisposition “proof” that the human body is impervious to cigarette smoke? Probably not.
In fact, smoking cigarettes is probably a trigger and definitely an extreme accelerant for one’s predisposition to developing lung cancer. To believe otherwise would be a thorough and absolute dedication to a level of closed minded denial which could only be equaled by the absurd suggestion that the facts about natural climate change can somehow act as proof that the balance of the Earth’s ecosystem is impervious to industrial pollution, mass deforestation and a myriad of other human activities which do in fact have a radical impact on various critical areas of the global ecosystem, driving a very real domino effect that is headed toward unstoppability.
Or perhaps the Earth is flat.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
What’s the differencism?
If you’re of the mindset that it is “anti-American” or simply un-American for someone to find imperfections in capitalism; I’d ask you if you have ever asked yourself why you feel that way. And if capitalism is indeed so absolutely synonymous with Americanism; are we so arrogant as to believe that our system is one of total flawlessness which can never be improved upon? Is it an act of patriotic treason to have a look at what elements of capitalism may be shooting us in the foot as a society? Is it national sin to blend in some solutions which may happen to be more socialistic than capitalistic? And if so, why? Why not ignore the labels just long enough to build a hybrid model of a new and better system?
The other day my wife told me that she saw a bumper sticker which read: Liberalism – Socialism – Communism – What’s the difference? Now, a statement/question like that is what it is. And these cases of imbeciles trying to pass off the debilitating degree of their ignorance as clever wit is not an exclusive trait of the right wing. I have little doubt that there is some small minded lefty out there sporting a sticker that reads: Conservatism – Fascism – Nazism – What’s the difference? Both the liberal jab and the conservative jab are simply two sides of the same coin of glorified ignorance.
All of these isms – snapshot generalized labels for caricatures of ideologies... So few of us can be accurately defined by any of these isms, yet we treat them as potential absolute definitions of our society. It’s this whole “gateway drug” mentality that keeps far too many people in senseless fear of a fantasized imminent arrival at the extreme end of the purest form of whichever ideology opposes one’s basic ideals.
To put it plainly, it’s just stupid to oppose a ban on elective late term abortions if your argument is wholly based on your fear that it’s going to open the flood gates and lead to the overturning of Roe v Wade. Come on. The slope is simply not that slippery. If Republicans wanted to overturn Roe v Wade they would have done it a few years ago when they had total control of the federal government. Since the issue it self is of more value to them than the end result, Row v Wade will be alive and well for as long as Republicans count on getting votes from the religious right. And honestly – in my opinion, barring some extreme circumstances, if you wait until your third trimester to decide to have an abortion, the law should at least mandate that your womb be extracted with the fetus. Because you are clearly so irresponsible – that for you to ever spawn a new member of our species would actually set back the course of evolution.
I will also point out that it is completely fucking retarded to oppose a ban on assault rifles based on your asinine fear that it would be the first step toward overturning the second amendment. When Charlton Hesston died no one pounced on his corpse to pry that riffle from his “cold dead hand”. This is because the gun control people are actually not at all interested in taking sports rifles from sportsmen. They really aren’t. It’s just a paranoid fantasy in your narrow mind. So shut the fuck up. Or at least pull that rifle out of your cold tight ass – just long enough to stop missing the point.
In case you’re not clear on what the point is – the point is the real “F” word. Fear. Fear is the root of all evil. Because fear is the most common, consistent and reliable motivator for most of the evil deeds done throughout history and to this day. The most persistent obstacle to reason, logic, progress and solutions has always been nothing but a blind and base reaction to various irrational fears.
If you can face your fear and rather than blindly reacting to it, see it for the illogical non-reality that it is, then you should be able to see far enough beyond the isms to become a part of the solution.
The only constructive ism is realism.
The other day my wife told me that she saw a bumper sticker which read: Liberalism – Socialism – Communism – What’s the difference? Now, a statement/question like that is what it is. And these cases of imbeciles trying to pass off the debilitating degree of their ignorance as clever wit is not an exclusive trait of the right wing. I have little doubt that there is some small minded lefty out there sporting a sticker that reads: Conservatism – Fascism – Nazism – What’s the difference? Both the liberal jab and the conservative jab are simply two sides of the same coin of glorified ignorance.
All of these isms – snapshot generalized labels for caricatures of ideologies... So few of us can be accurately defined by any of these isms, yet we treat them as potential absolute definitions of our society. It’s this whole “gateway drug” mentality that keeps far too many people in senseless fear of a fantasized imminent arrival at the extreme end of the purest form of whichever ideology opposes one’s basic ideals.
To put it plainly, it’s just stupid to oppose a ban on elective late term abortions if your argument is wholly based on your fear that it’s going to open the flood gates and lead to the overturning of Roe v Wade. Come on. The slope is simply not that slippery. If Republicans wanted to overturn Roe v Wade they would have done it a few years ago when they had total control of the federal government. Since the issue it self is of more value to them than the end result, Row v Wade will be alive and well for as long as Republicans count on getting votes from the religious right. And honestly – in my opinion, barring some extreme circumstances, if you wait until your third trimester to decide to have an abortion, the law should at least mandate that your womb be extracted with the fetus. Because you are clearly so irresponsible – that for you to ever spawn a new member of our species would actually set back the course of evolution.
I will also point out that it is completely fucking retarded to oppose a ban on assault rifles based on your asinine fear that it would be the first step toward overturning the second amendment. When Charlton Hesston died no one pounced on his corpse to pry that riffle from his “cold dead hand”. This is because the gun control people are actually not at all interested in taking sports rifles from sportsmen. They really aren’t. It’s just a paranoid fantasy in your narrow mind. So shut the fuck up. Or at least pull that rifle out of your cold tight ass – just long enough to stop missing the point.
In case you’re not clear on what the point is – the point is the real “F” word. Fear. Fear is the root of all evil. Because fear is the most common, consistent and reliable motivator for most of the evil deeds done throughout history and to this day. The most persistent obstacle to reason, logic, progress and solutions has always been nothing but a blind and base reaction to various irrational fears.
If you can face your fear and rather than blindly reacting to it, see it for the illogical non-reality that it is, then you should be able to see far enough beyond the isms to become a part of the solution.
The only constructive ism is realism.
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