The election of 2012 has been over for about 2 weeks now and it seems that some people are still angry that Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney. This is pointless and part of the arrogance that is plaguing this country. I personally did not vote for Obama or Romney in this election, I voted for the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). I voted for the SEP because the Democrats nor the Republicans do not deserve to represent the American people. If the 2012 election should be summed up it would be: Fear rules the oppressed. People only voted for either Obama or Romney do to fear, not because either candidate had a platform or talked about any reform, but because the people feared that one of the candidates would cause the downfall of the United States. The people keep believing in this " the lesser of two evils" election mentality that they forget "choosing evil from evil, is still choosing evil." The Democrats and Republicans both represent big business interests, war mongering, the destruction of the middle-class and failed economic policies.
The difference is that the Republicans openly support these ideas, while the Democrats are spineless and decide to hide behind " the party of the people", while at the same time continue the reactionary policies of the past such as: cuts that hurt the middle-class, massive military spending that drains much of this country's GDP, capitalist and big business healthcare policies that will result in more power for the insurance companies, the continuation of the Patriot Act, along with new laws that would allow the President to apprehend and kill American citizens without Habeas Corpus and Continuation of laws that allow companies to ship jobs overseas, to just name a few.
Nothing has changed from this election. The republicans still have a majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrats still have a majority in the Senate. This equates to the continuation of the past four years in which both parties will continue to wage a media war to deceive the American people that each party is to blame for this country's economic failures, while at the same time not creating any policies to help the American people. If there are any compromises, these compromises will only hurt the 99% while giving more power to the 1%.
It is time for people to wake up and start to see that capitalism cannot fix capitalism, just like the Democrats and Republicans cannot fix the people's woes. No matter if you choose to defend the Democrats or Republicans, it will not change the fact that millions of people are unemployed, poor, without healthcare, without an education, without a home, and without food. Election 2016 will be the same unless the people choose to vote for not a party, or their own self-interests, but vote pro-humanity, pro-advancement, and pro-people's democracy.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Devin's Blog #20 Guns and Paranoia
I feel that I need to comment about guns since it will be an upcoming big issue because of the Colorado movie theater shooting that happened on July 20th. The debate about gun and gun laws is a never ending circle in this country, whether it is citing the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, or blaming guns for the never ending violence that happens, these arguments are leading to a dead end. The questions is: why do people feel the need to own guns?
This question has been in my mind for a long time. I know the easy answer to this is " for protection", yet how many people need to own a gun for protection ? My experience has been that people either own a gun for hunting or just to own a gun. This "just to own a gun" attitude has become the majority, not the minority in this country. Gun laws in this country seem to resemble this attitude with laws such as "Conceal and Carry", which allows people to carry a gun (in a holster) on the street, but not allow to carry guns into stores, zoos, parks, etc...
So why make this into law? What is the point of this? To feel safe walking down the street? To defend yourself in case you meet dangerous people? Would a gun make you safe? If your answers are yes to these questions then consider how guns don't make you safe. The Conceal and Carry law allows you to carry a gun, but you have to place the gun in a holster and show that you have a weapon. This leaves you at a disadvantage because people can see that you have a gun and if someone wanted to rob you or harm you then they would want to take that advantage away or pull a gun of their own on you in which would probably be concealed. So in effect they see yours, but you don't see theirs. A gun can put fear into potential robbers, but then not all people are afraid of guns.
If people can come to this realization then why still the fixation about guns? This is a complicated question, but my opinion is that guns make people feel like they have power and a sense that with guns a "honor system" exists. People believe that weapons need to be used nobly and when someone doesn't then "they are cowards". If cowards only use weapons for bad purposes then the people who use guns for noble purposes or people who own a gun, but never harmed anyone are noble or good. There are many laws mankind has made with regards to guns, but this is the simple rational humans have with regards to weapons. The "good" people have weapons, but use them for "good " reasons, yet the "good" people are not always clearly defined.
The rational needs to be that guns are guns, they are devices that were created to kill and nothing else. Guns are weapons of mass destruction and need to be treated as such. The debate will go on to which guns are "legal" and "illegal" but it doesn't matter because under any circumstance guns can kill many people, but what is the part that scares people the most? The part that guns are easy to use and require no skill. Anyone can pick up a gun and use it, no training is necessary. The debate over guns should not be pro-gun vs anti-gun, but should be " why do ordinary citizens need guns?" and if that answer is yes then " how can we deal with the consequences?"
This question has been in my mind for a long time. I know the easy answer to this is " for protection", yet how many people need to own a gun for protection ? My experience has been that people either own a gun for hunting or just to own a gun. This "just to own a gun" attitude has become the majority, not the minority in this country. Gun laws in this country seem to resemble this attitude with laws such as "Conceal and Carry", which allows people to carry a gun (in a holster) on the street, but not allow to carry guns into stores, zoos, parks, etc...
So why make this into law? What is the point of this? To feel safe walking down the street? To defend yourself in case you meet dangerous people? Would a gun make you safe? If your answers are yes to these questions then consider how guns don't make you safe. The Conceal and Carry law allows you to carry a gun, but you have to place the gun in a holster and show that you have a weapon. This leaves you at a disadvantage because people can see that you have a gun and if someone wanted to rob you or harm you then they would want to take that advantage away or pull a gun of their own on you in which would probably be concealed. So in effect they see yours, but you don't see theirs. A gun can put fear into potential robbers, but then not all people are afraid of guns.
If people can come to this realization then why still the fixation about guns? This is a complicated question, but my opinion is that guns make people feel like they have power and a sense that with guns a "honor system" exists. People believe that weapons need to be used nobly and when someone doesn't then "they are cowards". If cowards only use weapons for bad purposes then the people who use guns for noble purposes or people who own a gun, but never harmed anyone are noble or good. There are many laws mankind has made with regards to guns, but this is the simple rational humans have with regards to weapons. The "good" people have weapons, but use them for "good " reasons, yet the "good" people are not always clearly defined.
The rational needs to be that guns are guns, they are devices that were created to kill and nothing else. Guns are weapons of mass destruction and need to be treated as such. The debate will go on to which guns are "legal" and "illegal" but it doesn't matter because under any circumstance guns can kill many people, but what is the part that scares people the most? The part that guns are easy to use and require no skill. Anyone can pick up a gun and use it, no training is necessary. The debate over guns should not be pro-gun vs anti-gun, but should be " why do ordinary citizens need guns?" and if that answer is yes then " how can we deal with the consequences?"
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Devin's Blog # 19: I am somewhat back from Hiatus
So I have not created a blog since April 5th, but I am back, and hopefully will have some more activity writing. I have been busy. I finally finished college, which drained a lot of energy from me, but with my willpower I have succeeded. Now in June for 3 weeks I am taking a course to get a TEFL Certificate ( Teaching English as a Foreign Language) This certificate allows me to teach English anywhere in the world, so I am planning on going to China because I want to continue to learn the language. So what is there to talk about in this blog? Well just some things on my mind I guess.
1st- The stupid governor's race in Wisconsin. Yes I know it was a great accomplishment getting the recall, but to me it is a horrible practice because it places the advantage with the person being recalled. I mean Scott Walker does have to put out ad's, but with a recall he doesn't automatically have to step down as being governor. To me a recall seems to be the people's way of saying they have no confidence in the state legislature, so shouldn't there be a whole new general election for the legislator and the governor? In some of these recalls for state senators it has been two democrats, or two republicans going against each other, that to me is not democracy. That is just possibly replacing one person from a part, with another person from the same part, like in countries where a political party controls the government and can just appoint it's legislators....except now the people can do it because we think that is democracy in action. I say on June 5th vote no confidence because Scott Walker is a corporate fascist bent on destroying this state for his own gain and Tom Barrett is a guy who gets punched in the face. I see lose/lose here.
2nd- This has been going on for a long time, but what the fuck is what all the negativity out there? I mean negativity has become the new cocaine. This person can't do this, or that and that the regular person is low, so lets look up to celebrities like the Kardashans. This " get rich or nothing" attitude is fucking up this country and it doesn't help that if you dislike a rich person they say " don't hate on this person because he is rich, he/she has worked hard to get there" ummmm, only some people get rich that way, others not so much. For example Sean P Diddy Comb's son just got a $ 54,000 free ride to UCLA, the funny thing about this is? His dad is worth $ 500 million !!!!. If people bitch about this it isn't going to be because Sean P Diddy is rich, it is because this is incompetent. Regular people would create genocide to get this free ride to a good college, and with some many people needing college now, it goes to a kid who's dad is worth so much? I'm sorry, it is nothing against his son, according to the article his son has a 3.75 GPA, but so do other people who have no chance of getting that free ride. I mean if I was worth $ 500 million dollars, I could run for President of this country.
3rd- I saw The Avengers and I thought it was pretty good. I had low expectations for it since I didn't like the Captain America movie and the Thor movie and Iron Man 2, but this film was done well, with good writing and chemistry between the characters and some really awesome actions scenes, plus seeing Hulk fight Thor and Iron Man fight Thor was enjoyable. I would give it an 8.5/10 and would recommend seeing it. Now I can't wait for The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises to come out.
4th- Some guy was shot and killed in Miami by a police officer because he was eating this guy's face, not to mention this guy was naked. The cop told him to stop, and he didn't comply, so the cop shot him, when he still kept eating the guy's face the cop shot him again and killed him.....zombie apocalypse anyone?
1st- The stupid governor's race in Wisconsin. Yes I know it was a great accomplishment getting the recall, but to me it is a horrible practice because it places the advantage with the person being recalled. I mean Scott Walker does have to put out ad's, but with a recall he doesn't automatically have to step down as being governor. To me a recall seems to be the people's way of saying they have no confidence in the state legislature, so shouldn't there be a whole new general election for the legislator and the governor? In some of these recalls for state senators it has been two democrats, or two republicans going against each other, that to me is not democracy. That is just possibly replacing one person from a part, with another person from the same part, like in countries where a political party controls the government and can just appoint it's legislators....except now the people can do it because we think that is democracy in action. I say on June 5th vote no confidence because Scott Walker is a corporate fascist bent on destroying this state for his own gain and Tom Barrett is a guy who gets punched in the face. I see lose/lose here.
2nd- This has been going on for a long time, but what the fuck is what all the negativity out there? I mean negativity has become the new cocaine. This person can't do this, or that and that the regular person is low, so lets look up to celebrities like the Kardashans. This " get rich or nothing" attitude is fucking up this country and it doesn't help that if you dislike a rich person they say " don't hate on this person because he is rich, he/she has worked hard to get there" ummmm, only some people get rich that way, others not so much. For example Sean P Diddy Comb's son just got a $ 54,000 free ride to UCLA, the funny thing about this is? His dad is worth $ 500 million !!!!. If people bitch about this it isn't going to be because Sean P Diddy is rich, it is because this is incompetent. Regular people would create genocide to get this free ride to a good college, and with some many people needing college now, it goes to a kid who's dad is worth so much? I'm sorry, it is nothing against his son, according to the article his son has a 3.75 GPA, but so do other people who have no chance of getting that free ride. I mean if I was worth $ 500 million dollars, I could run for President of this country.
3rd- I saw The Avengers and I thought it was pretty good. I had low expectations for it since I didn't like the Captain America movie and the Thor movie and Iron Man 2, but this film was done well, with good writing and chemistry between the characters and some really awesome actions scenes, plus seeing Hulk fight Thor and Iron Man fight Thor was enjoyable. I would give it an 8.5/10 and would recommend seeing it. Now I can't wait for The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises to come out.
4th- Some guy was shot and killed in Miami by a police officer because he was eating this guy's face, not to mention this guy was naked. The cop told him to stop, and he didn't comply, so the cop shot him, when he still kept eating the guy's face the cop shot him again and killed him.....zombie apocalypse anyone?
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Devin's Blog # 18 The U.S. Supreme Court : A Vessel for Cronyism
The U.S. Supreme Court, one of the three main bodies of government created by the U.S. Constitution to solve this nation's largest legal matters, yet has become not a court, but a body of reactionary politics . The recent news regarding the supreme court is the battle over President Obama's Health Care plan or dubbed "Obama Care" Why is the supreme court addressing this issue? Because somehow Obama Care could be unconstitutional. How can this be so? I have no idea. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that states that the government cannot provide healthcare so why is there a dilemma? That answer is easy because the supreme court judges are hand picked by the President when one judge retires to fill his/her place, but depending on the President (either Democrat of Republican) appoints not a judge, but a conservative or liberal crony.
These cronies have not done much in the past forty years, the supreme court has reinstated capital punishment in the mid 1970's when before that it was outlawed for sometime, this system surely hasn't done anything to stop murders, and in the case of someone possibly being innocent (example: Troy Davis) the supreme court lets the injustice happen, because why harm your political base for one human life? Then in 2000 they decided the U.S. Election, not the people, but nine judges elected George W. Bush to be President. That was an epic fail to say the least then in 2010 the supreme court ruled that corporations and unions could supply unlimited amounts of money to presidential campaigns. Instead of siding with the people and stopping corporations to influence elections they decided that somehow corporations and unions are people! As to say a corporation as an entity has the same right as an U.S. Citizen guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution reads "We the People" not "We the Corporations".
Whether you agree or disagree with Obama Care, personally I don't like this plan and would like it to become a single payer plan as Obama once spoke about doing, but the U.S. Supreme Court should not be dabbling in political bickering and instead should be concentrating on creating justice for this nation, they could start by getting rid of corporate power in elections and overturn capital punishment which is illegal under article 8 of the U.S. Constitution because it's "Cruel and Unusual Punishment".
On another note, the supreme court might create another horrendous plan by voting to allow strip searches for crimes that need not warrant a strip search. This is against the law as the police need a reason to conduct a strip search. This, like other decisions passed down by this circus court is taking more liberty and justice away, not preserving it.
There are two options that need to be considered, either reform the court by setting term limits for judges and allowing elections to be held to appoint the nine judges, or get rid of the system completely.
These cronies have not done much in the past forty years, the supreme court has reinstated capital punishment in the mid 1970's when before that it was outlawed for sometime, this system surely hasn't done anything to stop murders, and in the case of someone possibly being innocent (example: Troy Davis) the supreme court lets the injustice happen, because why harm your political base for one human life? Then in 2000 they decided the U.S. Election, not the people, but nine judges elected George W. Bush to be President. That was an epic fail to say the least then in 2010 the supreme court ruled that corporations and unions could supply unlimited amounts of money to presidential campaigns. Instead of siding with the people and stopping corporations to influence elections they decided that somehow corporations and unions are people! As to say a corporation as an entity has the same right as an U.S. Citizen guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution reads "We the People" not "We the Corporations".
Whether you agree or disagree with Obama Care, personally I don't like this plan and would like it to become a single payer plan as Obama once spoke about doing, but the U.S. Supreme Court should not be dabbling in political bickering and instead should be concentrating on creating justice for this nation, they could start by getting rid of corporate power in elections and overturn capital punishment which is illegal under article 8 of the U.S. Constitution because it's "Cruel and Unusual Punishment".
On another note, the supreme court might create another horrendous plan by voting to allow strip searches for crimes that need not warrant a strip search. This is against the law as the police need a reason to conduct a strip search. This, like other decisions passed down by this circus court is taking more liberty and justice away, not preserving it.
There are two options that need to be considered, either reform the court by setting term limits for judges and allowing elections to be held to appoint the nine judges, or get rid of the system completely.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Devin's Blog # 17 Jon Hamm 2012
Here is a quote from actor Jon Hamm "Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated,” he said in the April issue of Elle UK. “Being a fucking idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly. Incuriousness has become cool… It’s celebrated. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Jon is correct in every aspect of what he said, but it is because "it doesn't make sense" that keeps people and shows like this on TV popular and making millions of dollars. The less sense it makes, the more it attracts people. Why? because it's not real to anyone. Yes the Kardashian family lives in the real world, but their viewers take a trip to another world. Their viewers cannot in a million years relate to them or their lifestyle, but people are intrigued by it. It gives people a sense that their lives are not as exciting as the one Kim lives and thus need to keep up with her life.
Their viewers can even not like them because of their actions but will come back for more. This is because eventually Kim will been seen as the victim. In a commercial for her show you can see the tears and regret that Kim made when marring Kris Humpries, hell even Kris Humpries gets booed because he was married to her. Why do people care? or boo him? Does it matter he married Kim Kardashian? People wouldn't have known him if it wasn't for him marring her. People should be booing him for wasting air time on both "keeping up with the Kardashians" and watching New Jersey Nets games (the equivalent of watching keeping up with the Kardashians).
Jon has a right to be angry. He works hard to perfect his craft and he is awesome at it. Yet here are people who make an idiot out of themselves and are promoted more than a person who is a great actor. Sorry to say they are not in the same league. If you want to see how great Jon Hamm is then watch Madmen which will premiere it's 5th season on Sunday March 25th.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jon-hamm-calls-kim-kardashian-f-king-idiot-140010438.html
Jon is correct in every aspect of what he said, but it is because "it doesn't make sense" that keeps people and shows like this on TV popular and making millions of dollars. The less sense it makes, the more it attracts people. Why? because it's not real to anyone. Yes the Kardashian family lives in the real world, but their viewers take a trip to another world. Their viewers cannot in a million years relate to them or their lifestyle, but people are intrigued by it. It gives people a sense that their lives are not as exciting as the one Kim lives and thus need to keep up with her life.
Their viewers can even not like them because of their actions but will come back for more. This is because eventually Kim will been seen as the victim. In a commercial for her show you can see the tears and regret that Kim made when marring Kris Humpries, hell even Kris Humpries gets booed because he was married to her. Why do people care? or boo him? Does it matter he married Kim Kardashian? People wouldn't have known him if it wasn't for him marring her. People should be booing him for wasting air time on both "keeping up with the Kardashians" and watching New Jersey Nets games (the equivalent of watching keeping up with the Kardashians).
Jon has a right to be angry. He works hard to perfect his craft and he is awesome at it. Yet here are people who make an idiot out of themselves and are promoted more than a person who is a great actor. Sorry to say they are not in the same league. If you want to see how great Jon Hamm is then watch Madmen which will premiere it's 5th season on Sunday March 25th.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jon-hamm-calls-kim-kardashian-f-king-idiot-140010438.html
Friday, March 2, 2012
Devin's Blog # 16 The Separation of Church and Medicine
In the year 2012 the U.S. is having a political battle of epic magnitude: Whether to stay in 2012 or go back to 1950. When you think politics in the U.S. can't become even more ignorant and ridiculous a debate about contraception creeps in. President Obama sent a law to congress that under his health care plan, business and organizations that have hired staff must provide contraception to women free of charge. This created a huge backlash from Catholics that said this "infringed on our religious liberties" and should not be forced to provide contraceptives due to "their religious views" To compromise President Obama stated that under the bill religious places such as churches wouldn't have to provide contraceptives to their employees, the insurance would do so. Even this compromise didn't calm all Catholics worries.
It is of my opinion that although trying to be fair, President Obama went soft on this issue. The government issuing a law that says "employers must provide free contraceptives to their female employees" is not infringing on religious liberties. Why is this? because the health of the people of this nation is not in the hands of the church and religion and these entities do not have a say what is best for the people in terms of medicine. Their religious' rights do not enable them to take away what could help people's lives. Their religious' rights are: freedom to express religion without persecution anywhere in this nation, no matter what religion. They have the right to not agree with this law, or potential law, but have no right to ignore it or harm women's lives.
I can understand Obama's compromise to try and defuse the situation, but this still lead to thoughts of utter ignorance. Rick Santorum said if he was nominated the Republican nominee for the 2012 election he would explain why contraceptives are bad because "contraceptives cause more unwanted births and pregnancies" ...... What drugs is he taking? That is like saying "Toothpaste is bad because it doesn't clean your teeth" When it comes to medicine and women's and men's health, leave it to doctors.
This is getting to the point where religious universities are threatening to cut students healthcare because they have to provide contraceptives. What great religious and peaceful action, deny people the right to be healthy, I'm sure Jesus would've wanted it that way. In recent news crazy ass Rush Limbaugh called a Georgetown laws student by the name of Sandra Fluke a "slut" because she said that her university should provide contraceptives because "Contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," she said. "For a lot of students like me who are on public interest scholarships, that's practically an entire summer's salary." This is because "that Georgetown, a Catholic university, won't cover it for her"
The people and government must not allow this to happen. Health is and should be a universal right to the people of a nation, if not provided it is criminal. If doesn't matter if religion wants to stay in the 13th century, it doesn't mean the government has to nor the people. In addition this view about women and contraceptives does not reflect everyone's religious views, so a small group of people should not have a say about people's health and if people of religious views have a problem with abortion and unwanted births, then why wouldn't you support contraceptives? This would logically prevent such measures.
It is of my opinion that although trying to be fair, President Obama went soft on this issue. The government issuing a law that says "employers must provide free contraceptives to their female employees" is not infringing on religious liberties. Why is this? because the health of the people of this nation is not in the hands of the church and religion and these entities do not have a say what is best for the people in terms of medicine. Their religious' rights do not enable them to take away what could help people's lives. Their religious' rights are: freedom to express religion without persecution anywhere in this nation, no matter what religion. They have the right to not agree with this law, or potential law, but have no right to ignore it or harm women's lives.
I can understand Obama's compromise to try and defuse the situation, but this still lead to thoughts of utter ignorance. Rick Santorum said if he was nominated the Republican nominee for the 2012 election he would explain why contraceptives are bad because "contraceptives cause more unwanted births and pregnancies" ...... What drugs is he taking? That is like saying "Toothpaste is bad because it doesn't clean your teeth" When it comes to medicine and women's and men's health, leave it to doctors.
This is getting to the point where religious universities are threatening to cut students healthcare because they have to provide contraceptives. What great religious and peaceful action, deny people the right to be healthy, I'm sure Jesus would've wanted it that way. In recent news crazy ass Rush Limbaugh called a Georgetown laws student by the name of Sandra Fluke a "slut" because she said that her university should provide contraceptives because "Contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," she said. "For a lot of students like me who are on public interest scholarships, that's practically an entire summer's salary." This is because "that Georgetown, a Catholic university, won't cover it for her"
The people and government must not allow this to happen. Health is and should be a universal right to the people of a nation, if not provided it is criminal. If doesn't matter if religion wants to stay in the 13th century, it doesn't mean the government has to nor the people. In addition this view about women and contraceptives does not reflect everyone's religious views, so a small group of people should not have a say about people's health and if people of religious views have a problem with abortion and unwanted births, then why wouldn't you support contraceptives? This would logically prevent such measures.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Devin's Blog # 15 The Atheist Religion?
There are times when discussing religion that people will point out that Atheism is a religion. It is true that Atheism is a doctrine that states supreme beings do not exist, where as religion is the opposite doctrine. This debate continues because of the social awkwardness that people bare when choosing to call themselves atheists. There are also atheists that have criticized people who are afraid to call themselves atheists. I personally do not call myself an atheist, I prefer "non-believer" These are the reasons why:
Giving Self Titles: When people devote themselves to any belief system they automatically give themselves the title of "Christian", "Muslim", "Jew", "Buddhist" and so fort. This is the same for atheists, no matter how much they debate about their disdain for religion, they will separate themselves by giving the title of "Atheist". I find this to be ridiculous because there is no need for this self identification. As a "non-believer" (not a title I've given myself, just a term to use for clarification for my argument) I believe when you give yourself a title you cause yourself to be...
Stereotyped: If someone says to you "I'm a christian" and you respond " an atheist" there is a possibility that you will be viewed as someone with no morals and someone who will surely go to hell one day, and in doing so as an atheist you would possibility judge a christian as being a religious nut and someone who is arrogant. I believe no matter what title you could give yourself, life is life, whether it is good or bad, you will feel the same with or without a title.
Atheist quarks: Every time I see some news regarding the "war on Christmas" it pisses me off. I'm sorry but I'm not part of the group that says "you can't say Merry Christmas because I don't believe in Christ, you have to say Happy Holidays" This is stupid. If you are an atheist why would Merry Christmas offend you? It is just a greeting used for the Christmas holiday. I celebrate Christmas and I'm not a christian. You don't need to be religious to celebrate Christmas, it is just another holiday to get together with friends and family.
Fact Based: One reason that atheists give that supports their beliefs is that they believe in the facts and are not fooled by faith based beliefs. This does not need to be a core argument. People believe in facts because, well.... facts are studied and restudied. Facts are also proven, if someone is going to be arrogant to the vast some of facts then they are arrogant. You don't need to have religion to be arrogant. If you are an atheist then make a better argument than this, this statement only will harden the oppositions stance.
Politics: This is probably the biggest reason why I decided not to call myself an atheist. There is too much bickering over religion that there doesn't seem to be time to actually argue over the things that need to be done such as giving people health care, provided better schooling, making sure people have a roof over their heads, better income equality. In politics it forces you to take a side, and it is usually not the side of "getting shit done". People will instead of looking at political candidates platform, they will see if he belongs to a certain sect of Christianity. I mean look at the backlash at President Obama, people are worried that he is a Muslim, when he has stated personally that he is a Christian. People it is time to move on.
In closing, if people are afraid that by disclosing their non-religious beliefs because of being viewed as an atheist or having to call them self an atheist, then I say there is nothing to worry about because you don't have to. Each person has there own set of values, you don't need to give people an excuse to discriminate against you.
Giving Self Titles: When people devote themselves to any belief system they automatically give themselves the title of "Christian", "Muslim", "Jew", "Buddhist" and so fort. This is the same for atheists, no matter how much they debate about their disdain for religion, they will separate themselves by giving the title of "Atheist". I find this to be ridiculous because there is no need for this self identification. As a "non-believer" (not a title I've given myself, just a term to use for clarification for my argument) I believe when you give yourself a title you cause yourself to be...
Stereotyped: If someone says to you "I'm a christian" and you respond " an atheist" there is a possibility that you will be viewed as someone with no morals and someone who will surely go to hell one day, and in doing so as an atheist you would possibility judge a christian as being a religious nut and someone who is arrogant. I believe no matter what title you could give yourself, life is life, whether it is good or bad, you will feel the same with or without a title.
Atheist quarks: Every time I see some news regarding the "war on Christmas" it pisses me off. I'm sorry but I'm not part of the group that says "you can't say Merry Christmas because I don't believe in Christ, you have to say Happy Holidays" This is stupid. If you are an atheist why would Merry Christmas offend you? It is just a greeting used for the Christmas holiday. I celebrate Christmas and I'm not a christian. You don't need to be religious to celebrate Christmas, it is just another holiday to get together with friends and family.
Fact Based: One reason that atheists give that supports their beliefs is that they believe in the facts and are not fooled by faith based beliefs. This does not need to be a core argument. People believe in facts because, well.... facts are studied and restudied. Facts are also proven, if someone is going to be arrogant to the vast some of facts then they are arrogant. You don't need to have religion to be arrogant. If you are an atheist then make a better argument than this, this statement only will harden the oppositions stance.
Politics: This is probably the biggest reason why I decided not to call myself an atheist. There is too much bickering over religion that there doesn't seem to be time to actually argue over the things that need to be done such as giving people health care, provided better schooling, making sure people have a roof over their heads, better income equality. In politics it forces you to take a side, and it is usually not the side of "getting shit done". People will instead of looking at political candidates platform, they will see if he belongs to a certain sect of Christianity. I mean look at the backlash at President Obama, people are worried that he is a Muslim, when he has stated personally that he is a Christian. People it is time to move on.
In closing, if people are afraid that by disclosing their non-religious beliefs because of being viewed as an atheist or having to call them self an atheist, then I say there is nothing to worry about because you don't have to. Each person has there own set of values, you don't need to give people an excuse to discriminate against you.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Devin's Blog # 14 Sticking to the Books
This week President Obama said that he wants to pass legislation that states no person can drop out of high school before the age of 18. The republicans, posting their opposition to anything Obama said that the federal government doesn't have the right to interfere in state laws regarding the age when a person can drop out of high school. Both parties are dropping the ball, isn't is about having children stay in school?
Personally I think that kids should not be able to drop out of high school or any pre-college schooling and home schooling should be banned. The freedom card cannot be played here. I don't care how many parents and students complain, kids need to complete school and get a high school diploma. The president's idea and the republican's are misplaced and do nothing to help the state of education in this nation. Home schooling does not help, parents are not qualified to teach a children advanced levels of the various subjects that students are required to learn. Parents should be the ones to help their children after the school day is over with, adding to their children's learning. A parent cannot teach their child everything even if they are intelligent in one particular field of education.
If my point isn't clear enough why children should be made to stay in school, then just go to New York City where they paint there road signs pointing to the "Shcool". I rest my case.
Personally I think that kids should not be able to drop out of high school or any pre-college schooling and home schooling should be banned. The freedom card cannot be played here. I don't care how many parents and students complain, kids need to complete school and get a high school diploma. The president's idea and the republican's are misplaced and do nothing to help the state of education in this nation. Home schooling does not help, parents are not qualified to teach a children advanced levels of the various subjects that students are required to learn. Parents should be the ones to help their children after the school day is over with, adding to their children's learning. A parent cannot teach their child everything even if they are intelligent in one particular field of education.
If my point isn't clear enough why children should be made to stay in school, then just go to New York City where they paint there road signs pointing to the "Shcool". I rest my case.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Devin's Blog # 13 What I want to do in 2012
Well I'm back for whoever follows my blog. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a start to the new year. So even though it is about 11 days after the new year, I decided to do a what I want to do in 2012 entry. Why you ask? Well... for the hell of it I guess. Here is goes.
I want to finish college. I have only one class left and after that I get my bachelors degree in history and a minor in Chinese language. I don't plan on going to get my masters at the moment and I don't know if I ever will. One of the reasons is I've spent enough time in trying to get the bachelors degree that I am sick of school and the other is the cost which is going up and up for schools.
After I am done getting my bachelors degree I want to get a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certificate. I want to do this because I hope I can help others learn another language, see if any of my methods can work to help people learn English, and I want to go to a foreign country especially China or Taiwan. I want to go to Taiwan or China because I want to practice and learn more Chinese. I need a ton more of experience with the language.
Speaking of Chinese, I plan in 2012 on trying to put more focus on learning the language. When I had Chinese language classes at the university they all flew by pretty fast and even though I would always get A's I didn't understand everything that was said when it came to the grammar. I also feel at times uncomfortable speaking the language and have a hard time understanding what is being said.
Getting some more exercise when winter is done. This isn't because I think I am getting too fat, but I would like to get some more exercise than I normally do, which is usually not that much. The exercises I would like to do is practice more of wing chun kung fu, run outside, and go bowling a lot more.
Trying to decrease my stress level is a never ending battle and usually I don't win, but I have to keep trying if I hope to stay somewhat healthy and don't have a heart attack or something like that, I'll let the views decide what could happen if I stay too stressed out. I don't know what exactly to do to keep my stress level down, but for now I will have to wing it.
There are going to be a lot of interesting movies I will be watching in 2012, that either are coming out in 2012 or have been released on DVD in 2012, one movie I can't wait to see is The Dark Knight Rises, I know that Christopher Nolan can make this final movie in the Nolan Batman series a memorable one and complete an awesome trilogy. Not to mention all of the awesome tv shows that come back in 2012.
Enjoying life more, this is a hard one for me to do at times because I usually don't always see stuff as sun shines and rainbows, so there are times when I have to work extra hard to get a positive attitude.
Seeing my best friend getting married. My best friend Matt is getting married this November and I will be his best man. I'm happy for him and excited to see this, but where in the hell did all the years go?
I want to finish college. I have only one class left and after that I get my bachelors degree in history and a minor in Chinese language. I don't plan on going to get my masters at the moment and I don't know if I ever will. One of the reasons is I've spent enough time in trying to get the bachelors degree that I am sick of school and the other is the cost which is going up and up for schools.
After I am done getting my bachelors degree I want to get a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certificate. I want to do this because I hope I can help others learn another language, see if any of my methods can work to help people learn English, and I want to go to a foreign country especially China or Taiwan. I want to go to Taiwan or China because I want to practice and learn more Chinese. I need a ton more of experience with the language.
Speaking of Chinese, I plan in 2012 on trying to put more focus on learning the language. When I had Chinese language classes at the university they all flew by pretty fast and even though I would always get A's I didn't understand everything that was said when it came to the grammar. I also feel at times uncomfortable speaking the language and have a hard time understanding what is being said.
Getting some more exercise when winter is done. This isn't because I think I am getting too fat, but I would like to get some more exercise than I normally do, which is usually not that much. The exercises I would like to do is practice more of wing chun kung fu, run outside, and go bowling a lot more.
Trying to decrease my stress level is a never ending battle and usually I don't win, but I have to keep trying if I hope to stay somewhat healthy and don't have a heart attack or something like that, I'll let the views decide what could happen if I stay too stressed out. I don't know what exactly to do to keep my stress level down, but for now I will have to wing it.
There are going to be a lot of interesting movies I will be watching in 2012, that either are coming out in 2012 or have been released on DVD in 2012, one movie I can't wait to see is The Dark Knight Rises, I know that Christopher Nolan can make this final movie in the Nolan Batman series a memorable one and complete an awesome trilogy. Not to mention all of the awesome tv shows that come back in 2012.
Enjoying life more, this is a hard one for me to do at times because I usually don't always see stuff as sun shines and rainbows, so there are times when I have to work extra hard to get a positive attitude.
Seeing my best friend getting married. My best friend Matt is getting married this November and I will be his best man. I'm happy for him and excited to see this, but where in the hell did all the years go?
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