Deth's Journal
"There Is Nothing To Understand."
Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Colorblind and Laissez Racism
There's a saying amoung my family that if you look for snakes, you will inevitably find at the least evidence of snakes. You could look for snakes on mars, and you'd find evidence of them, if you looked hard enough - because in the end we interpret everything we see, hear, read or do through a sort of "filter". this filter automatically bumps up credibility for whatever you already believe to be true.
Racism is one of those issues that is an inevitable part of the human condition. Humans are trained, from pre-birth, to discriminate between "self" and "not self", and "us" and "not us". To deny this is to deny nature. There can be reasonable laws concerning the matter, of course - non-discrimination in hiring, for example. But you cannot change how people think, or how they feel within themselves. There will always be some distrust - on all sides - of those different from ourselves.
There's a saying amoung my family that if you look for snakes, you will inevitably find at the least evidence of snakes. You could look for snakes on mars, and you'd find evidence of them, if you looked hard enough - because in the end we interpret everything we see, hear, read or do through a sort of "filter". this filter automatically bumps up credibility for whatever you already believe to be true.
Racism is one of those issues that is an inevitable part of the human condition. Humans are trained, from pre-birth, to discriminate between "self" and "not self", and "us" and "not us". To deny this is to deny nature. There can be reasonable laws concerning the matter, of course - non-discrimination in hiring, for example. But you cannot change how people think, or how they feel within themselves. There will always be some distrust - on all sides - of those different from ourselves.
I am incredibly sick, probably with food poisoning.
I thrwe up earlier, and heather cleaned up the ramen that got strewn throughout the red shag carpet. I felt really shitty about that, but what can one do? I was sick as hell, and that first heave took me by suprise.
I mightp ass out again soon. I'm not feeling good, at all.
I thrwe up earlier, and heather cleaned up the ramen that got strewn throughout the red shag carpet. I felt really shitty about that, but what can one do? I was sick as hell, and that first heave took me by suprise.
I mightp ass out again soon. I'm not feeling good, at all.
In yet another bid to avoid dealing with people on the phone, mother insisted i call the insurance company to add heather to my policy.
This was, all told, quite the operation. Since mother was "tired", for some value of "tired", she didn't have the foresight necessary to tell me that i didnt' need a pen - just my wallet - and thus a huge argument ensued over why there were no pens up stairs. It was one of those "of coruse we have pens (thier just not *here*)" type things, which happens a fair bit when you don't have alot of pens. I myself strive to keep some up here, but i seem to have misplaced them. That always happens when i don't keep the caps on them.
At any rate, i called and got the policy changed over. Adding her cost 89$ - quite the bargain! - and all went reasonably well. The phone attendant was nice enough and quick on her job.
me and heather got into something of a disagreement over my handling of the initial matter. Any time i'm dealing with mother and her little whims, i look first to make sure of three things:
1. That whatever it is, it's something i absolutely MUST do, and that it cannot be done by anyone else
2. That i cannot - no matter how inept, gullible, or stupid i may be - fuck it up. This means a clear beginning, middle, and end, with things i must do at each step of the way.
3. That i am not going to be blamed should, despite all efforts, something go horribly wrong.
Heather suffers in this case from both a lack of understanding my motivations, and a lack of understanding deth-mother speak, which is conducted almost entirely in shrieks, obscenties, and threats. This is something that i feel causes her great distress, but it's just a part of the fabric of how i live, really.
Oh well. All's well that ends well.
This was, all told, quite the operation. Since mother was "tired", for some value of "tired", she didn't have the foresight necessary to tell me that i didnt' need a pen - just my wallet - and thus a huge argument ensued over why there were no pens up stairs. It was one of those "of coruse we have pens (thier just not *here*)" type things, which happens a fair bit when you don't have alot of pens. I myself strive to keep some up here, but i seem to have misplaced them. That always happens when i don't keep the caps on them.
At any rate, i called and got the policy changed over. Adding her cost 89$ - quite the bargain! - and all went reasonably well. The phone attendant was nice enough and quick on her job.
me and heather got into something of a disagreement over my handling of the initial matter. Any time i'm dealing with mother and her little whims, i look first to make sure of three things:
1. That whatever it is, it's something i absolutely MUST do, and that it cannot be done by anyone else
2. That i cannot - no matter how inept, gullible, or stupid i may be - fuck it up. This means a clear beginning, middle, and end, with things i must do at each step of the way.
3. That i am not going to be blamed should, despite all efforts, something go horribly wrong.
Heather suffers in this case from both a lack of understanding my motivations, and a lack of understanding deth-mother speak, which is conducted almost entirely in shrieks, obscenties, and threats. This is something that i feel causes her great distress, but it's just a part of the fabric of how i live, really.
Oh well. All's well that ends well.
Feministe » Just Goes To Show, You Can’t Win For Losing
I, for one, feel that smoking should be made illegal, or at least taxed to the point of being a caviar-like luxury. However, the steps which booze-pushers will go to justify thier ..nonsensical...belief that people should be free to smoke wherever they wish has hit a new, convoluted sort of point: saying that, by making women smoke out of doors, they might be attacked by sexual predators - or, conversely, may stay home with thier abusive husbands!
Here's a quote:
One really has to wonder exactly when the purveyors of booze and cigarettes will find thier limit, or if thier limit can be found. Or if thier sort of like some sort of perverse hole: ever deeper. It's only when people realize that thier being manipulated by these ..individuals..that they will be able to free themselves from the vices they promote so heartily.
I, for one, feel that smoking should be made illegal, or at least taxed to the point of being a caviar-like luxury. However, the steps which booze-pushers will go to justify thier ..nonsensical...belief that people should be free to smoke wherever they wish has hit a new, convoluted sort of point: saying that, by making women smoke out of doors, they might be attacked by sexual predators - or, conversely, may stay home with thier abusive husbands!
Here's a quote:
n a letter
to the Anchorage Daily News, Frank Dahl, chairman of the political
action committee of the Anchorage Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant &
Retailers Association, made the bizarre connection: “At a time when we
are legitimately concerned with assaults against women, ask yourself,
is it better to allow the continuation of smokers in a controlled bar
atmosphere, or for women to go outside to smoke a cigarette to be the
target of the sexual predators and violence we hear so much about?”What’s more, an Op-Ed
in the Anchorage Daily News notes that opponents of the ban say many
female smokers would be so deterred by such a restriction that “instead
of hanging out in the smoky safety of a bar, some women … may even stay
home, where they may have an abusive husband or boyfriend who is more
likely to beat them up.” Women aren’t safe at home or on the street,
the argument goes, but they’re plenty safe in a bar. Let’s hear it for
Alaskan women’s last safe haven: the smoky, booze-filled pub!
One really has to wonder exactly when the purveyors of booze and cigarettes will find thier limit, or if thier limit can be found. Or if thier sort of like some sort of perverse hole: ever deeper. It's only when people realize that thier being manipulated by these ..individuals..that they will be able to free themselves from the vices they promote so heartily.
The Questionable Authority : We have met the enemy...
There are those who say the military's policy towards homosexuals is incorrect. I say, they are correct. There's no reason by logic or emotion that a gay man or woman could not serve thier country as well as a straight person.
however, the following quote upset me greatly:
There is a very good, very simple reason which affairs - of any sort - while deployed are considered off limits. That reason is standards. You cannot allow disipline to fall by the wayside in any army. When you do, you introduce all manner of problems to the rank and file and the chain of command.
A career in today's military means that you are a volunteer, and that you are signing on to be one of the strongest, most disiplined forces on the planet. Our regular army can thrash the shit out of other countries elite units; our lowliest grunts have more education then some nation's entire command staff. Good health, good order, and good disipline are key stones of that quality.
On one final note, i would like to contend the following:
This is simply untrue. By Wikipedia's estimate, america has the second largest "active" army (at 1,415,289 troops). We have the finest gear on earth, and an economy and industry that can produce any weapon, system, or device we need pretty much on demand. We spend *4%* of our GDP on our military capability. It comes to 441.6 *Billion* dollars.
It's a massive military machine, and one which cannot be stopped by any known measure or method.
There are those who say the military's policy towards homosexuals is incorrect. I say, they are correct. There's no reason by logic or emotion that a gay man or woman could not serve thier country as well as a straight person.
however, the following quote upset me greatly:
"Personally, I'm not a big fan of adultery, and there are circumstances
where the activity is so inappropriate that action is warrented, but
most of the things I've heard about don't come close to that threshold.
I've heard of cases where good commanders were fired for sleeping with
someone, and in at least one case the only real problem was that the
two involved parties were deployed - the two weren't married, and they
weren't in the same chain of command. It takes little, unfortunately,
to destroy a good army career."
There is a very good, very simple reason which affairs - of any sort - while deployed are considered off limits. That reason is standards. You cannot allow disipline to fall by the wayside in any army. When you do, you introduce all manner of problems to the rank and file and the chain of command.
A career in today's military means that you are a volunteer, and that you are signing on to be one of the strongest, most disiplined forces on the planet. Our regular army can thrash the shit out of other countries elite units; our lowliest grunts have more education then some nation's entire command staff. Good health, good order, and good disipline are key stones of that quality.
On one final note, i would like to contend the following:
"Right now, we've got a very small army that's being asked to do a very large amount of work"
This is simply untrue. By Wikipedia's estimate, america has the second largest "active" army (at 1,415,289 troops). We have the finest gear on earth, and an economy and industry that can produce any weapon, system, or device we need pretty much on demand. We spend *4%* of our GDP on our military capability. It comes to 441.6 *Billion* dollars.
It's a massive military machine, and one which cannot be stopped by any known measure or method.