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Aug. 12th, 2005 07:34 pmI keep on meaning to write a great post, but get stalled.
I took the technical assessment today. I think I flunked. But hey, I got to have lunch with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
quietann and her husband, and see their rats. I found out they do not so much run as leap.
I had something deep and insightful about culture taking cues from people in power. Okay, this is not deep and meaningful but it will do. It was inspired by Bernard Goldberg appearing on the Daily Show, and how while songs with lyrics like 'bitches ain't shit but hos and tricks' angers me, people pushing for 'abstinence-only' sex ed in public schools (what, confirmation classes cannot do that?) and pharmacists deciding 'no birth control/anti-depressants/pain meds for you!' scares me.
I mean, gangsta rappers may consider me a ho, but these guys consider me, by actions not words, a dumb ho. At least I can shut off the radio. 'Intelligent design' and The Flintstones create misconceptions, but you can change the channel to Mythbusters, but not your kid's homework.
(That Austrian Catholic bishop who said that Darwinism wasn't 'scientific' and doesn't square with Catholicism--made me want to twitch. Anyway.)
I highly doubt we are more vulgar than before, when you consider vaudville and the yellow press and draft riots and penny dreadfuls. Still, I don't like the general tone. I cannot say that slurs against opponents and people who look and act different from you are new, but it is something I wish was not practiced. I don't like that more people are leaning hard on opinion, and damn if the 'reality-based community' points out facts get in their way. As we know from Iraq and so many others, that seems to be the Bush administration view. That is not faith, even if people claim it is. That is faith without reason, which is really fanaticism. What is fanaticism but worship of your views, instead of the sacred that threatens to transcend them?
I will concede, it is not 'just words.' I'm a writer, or at least have the habit--if I didn't think people were affected by words, I would be sending mail bombs (which will never happen, my dear FBI-based readers). I think that the answer to words you don't like is more words, and more thought to what actions those words are asking for. This connects to something I read earlier.
So, Focus on the Family trotting all the ex-gays and Anne Heche's mom to Boston I find them creepy. They deal (You can find out more at this blog) in just words--and yet, people feel isolated, suicidal, and hated by family and God. Ex-gays and the political orgs who fund them say sexuality can be 'changed' out of one mouth, but admit all that can be changed is that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (they'll never say that, nor admit some of their 'ex-gays' might love men and women) stop having sex out of the other. Here's another example of faith without reason, and something worse. It's lying.
I learned early that you can't lie to God, that God knows your thoughts and feelings. I know that freaks people out, but for me, it was freeing. Hey, one person I don't have to lie to, ever.
The orgs who push ex-gays are telling people they can lie to God. Hey, you just had a distant dad, you didn't really have a crush on that kid in 10th grade. If you just pray real hard, you can be straight and never be lonely, scared, or confused. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, heterosexuality has as much chance of doing that as me getting a burning bush. Oh and ignore all those guys 'falling,' OK? Don't make a connection of your brokenness to the guilt and shame we're pouring down on you?
Back to the earlier subject. I wonder sometimes if the effective response to pop culture that sucks is not calling for banning of sociopathic video games, v-chips, or clean versions of songs, but making your own culture. Have family sing-a-longs, encourage your kids to write stories and draw, make games [paper or code], look into making home movies [the non-sex sort]. If you're worried about your kids assuming violence is the way to solve problems, assuming that they are not learning it from the home, brainstorm with them other ways to deal with troubles. I realize, of course, it will suck. It's a combination of two ideas: 1) families making their own entertainment, and 2) DIY when you felt the larger culture had no interest for you. Then again, if teaching kids to think critically about entertainment and ask questions is too much work for left and right crusaders, what will they do with making their own entertainment?
I took the technical assessment today. I think I flunked. But hey, I got to have lunch with
quietann and her husband, and see their rats. I found out they do not so much run as leap. I had something deep and insightful about culture taking cues from people in power. Okay, this is not deep and meaningful but it will do. It was inspired by Bernard Goldberg appearing on the Daily Show, and how while songs with lyrics like 'bitches ain't shit but hos and tricks' angers me, people pushing for 'abstinence-only' sex ed in public schools (what, confirmation classes cannot do that?) and pharmacists deciding 'no birth control/anti-depressants/pain meds for you!' scares me.
I mean, gangsta rappers may consider me a ho, but these guys consider me, by actions not words, a dumb ho. At least I can shut off the radio. 'Intelligent design' and The Flintstones create misconceptions, but you can change the channel to Mythbusters, but not your kid's homework.
(That Austrian Catholic bishop who said that Darwinism wasn't 'scientific' and doesn't square with Catholicism--made me want to twitch. Anyway.)
I highly doubt we are more vulgar than before, when you consider vaudville and the yellow press and draft riots and penny dreadfuls. Still, I don't like the general tone. I cannot say that slurs against opponents and people who look and act different from you are new, but it is something I wish was not practiced. I don't like that more people are leaning hard on opinion, and damn if the 'reality-based community' points out facts get in their way. As we know from Iraq and so many others, that seems to be the Bush administration view. That is not faith, even if people claim it is. That is faith without reason, which is really fanaticism. What is fanaticism but worship of your views, instead of the sacred that threatens to transcend them?
I will concede, it is not 'just words.' I'm a writer, or at least have the habit--if I didn't think people were affected by words, I would be sending mail bombs (which will never happen, my dear FBI-based readers). I think that the answer to words you don't like is more words, and more thought to what actions those words are asking for. This connects to something I read earlier.
So, Focus on the Family trotting all the ex-gays and Anne Heche's mom to Boston I find them creepy. They deal (You can find out more at this blog) in just words--and yet, people feel isolated, suicidal, and hated by family and God. Ex-gays and the political orgs who fund them say sexuality can be 'changed' out of one mouth, but admit all that can be changed is that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (they'll never say that, nor admit some of their 'ex-gays' might love men and women) stop having sex out of the other. Here's another example of faith without reason, and something worse. It's lying.
I learned early that you can't lie to God, that God knows your thoughts and feelings. I know that freaks people out, but for me, it was freeing. Hey, one person I don't have to lie to, ever.
The orgs who push ex-gays are telling people they can lie to God. Hey, you just had a distant dad, you didn't really have a crush on that kid in 10th grade. If you just pray real hard, you can be straight and never be lonely, scared, or confused. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, heterosexuality has as much chance of doing that as me getting a burning bush. Oh and ignore all those guys 'falling,' OK? Don't make a connection of your brokenness to the guilt and shame we're pouring down on you?
Back to the earlier subject. I wonder sometimes if the effective response to pop culture that sucks is not calling for banning of sociopathic video games, v-chips, or clean versions of songs, but making your own culture. Have family sing-a-longs, encourage your kids to write stories and draw, make games [paper or code], look into making home movies [the non-sex sort]. If you're worried about your kids assuming violence is the way to solve problems, assuming that they are not learning it from the home, brainstorm with them other ways to deal with troubles. I realize, of course, it will suck. It's a combination of two ideas: 1) families making their own entertainment, and 2) DIY when you felt the larger culture had no interest for you. Then again, if teaching kids to think critically about entertainment and ask questions is too much work for left and right crusaders, what will they do with making their own entertainment?
