KONY 2012, and why I don’t support it

There has been a video that has been put online, and went viral the minute it went out into the world.  This was a video showing the actions of a unbelievably terrible person by the name of Joseph Kony in Uganda.  The video about it has gotten over 40M views, and it has sparked a huge amount of outcries for justice and for us to go after this man.  While activism is great, and this guy is a complete piece of shit, there are a lot of things that this whole initiative brings up that a LOT of people are totally ignoring.

1. Since when are people activists?
I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but seriously – what the fuck?!  Where was this level of concern over issues like this that happen every day other places?  You think Uganda is the only part of the world where dictators are kidnapping and brainwashing child soldiers?  Do you really believe that genocide is limited to one place?

I’m going to sound like a broken record because I have talked about this before, to anyone who has read my work since the beginning.  This kind of sudden and faux activism happens every time some controversial movie comes out, or some singer or whatever endorses something.  Remember that form that was going around, getting millions of signatures all over America, trying to stop the law in an African country that would allow them to execute people just for being homosexual?  That was a beyond disgusting law, but people who were getting all up in arms about it didn’t stop to realize – what is a signature of a bunch of Americans going to do to change the minds of people?  Nothing, that’s what.  It wasn’t going to change anything.  And the reason why is obvious – because there is HUGE culture gap that nobody in America pays attention to.  Oh, and that brings me to my second point -

2. Say we get rid of Kony, what next?
For real, I want you to ask yourself this.  Never mind that according to people in Uganda, this video has done more harm than good, because international pressure could bring him out of the shadows and into kidnapping more children to muscle up his defenses.  But what the group who is behind this video, Invisible Children, has basically done is say that we need to have violent intervention.  Here’s a picture of their people, posing with the SPLA.

So, these guys want peace, right?

These aren’t some random people.  These are the founders of Invisible Children, posing with the SPLA, who, along with the Ugandan military, has been ravaging the people for years.

Which brings us back to the point above – say we actually get rid of this guy, who hasn’t been in Uganda for 2 years, says Michael Wilkerson, a man who has lived and reported from Ugana.  Well then, there would be an interesting situation.  He has an army of what has been estimated by Wilkerson to be in the hundreds child and not-so-much soldiers.  All of them are under his command.  If the mission is to step in to save the brainwashed children, do you think that if we kill him, they are just going to go back?  Do you think that’s how it works?  Kill the source of the brainwashing and it goes away?

Sorry, but psychology doesn’t help you there.  They are already brainwashed, and are going to go out and brainwash other children.  This is how it works.  One leader recruits, and they recruit others.  The damage is long since done.  So do we kill all of them?  Kill all these children that everybody wants us to save?  That’s what it would come down to, in the long run.

3. White People aren’t heroes
Broken record moment – it’s pure egotism on the part of Americans to think that we can change the rest of the world’s behaviors and ways of being.  The people who made this video seem to believe that if the white man goes into that country and kills this rebel leader, then everything will suddenly turn out okay.

NO!  Wrong!  One dictator will fall, and the Ugandan military, which has been ransacking the country, will step in.  This is the same level of stupidity that came from people during the invasion of Iraq.  Like Americans can just spread freedom-dust everywhere we go, and the rest of the world will get along.  That’s not how it works.  That’s never been how it works.  The social climate of a foreign country can’t just be fixed with the wave of the American wand.

4. Invisible Children CANNOT be trusted!
I remember hearing about them some time ago, when I was a lot younger, and I didn’t think much of them at the time.  They seemed to be just another group who profited from the suffering of other people to see T-Shirts, wristbands, and videos.  But the IC’s problems go a LOT farther than just exploitation.

Like for instance – how only 31% of their funds go to direct aid of the people.  They have plenty of money going to the military, which is oppressing the Ugandan people.  This group won’t let their finances be audited, so we can’t really know how much money they have that isn’t going to help these people they claim to be so in support of.

Plus, their video has been shown by people like the US Foreign Affairs, and other scholarly sources to be misleading, naive, and even dangerous.  IC has said that they have 30,000 soldiers, and if you saw my thing above, you’d realize what that would be a problem.  Hundreds or thousands, the problem is the same – it would be a force of child soldiers, who you just can’t un-brainwash.  That’s now how psychology works.

But the people have come out in HUGE numbers, supporting this faux-activism, not bothering to check the facks.  That’s a really serious mistake, for a people who actually say that they care.  But they didn’t care when it was happening yesterday, or the day before.  But they care now.  Bleeding hypocrites.

Conclusion:
Kony is a piece of shit.  No question about it.  This guy is a monster.  But you can’t just let a film that has been shown to be emotionally manipulative, misleading, and making the people who made it a shitload of money guide your feelings.  There has to be a lot of genuine attack, from people in Uganda and abroad, showing that this video is doing more harm than good, and that nothing good can come of it.

If you want to help people, that’s great.  But do your research, and don’t let a bunch of Fox News-class sensationalists get you riled up.  Take it the smart way, and you can do real good, which is what the people in this video are NOT doing.

Until next time, a quote,

“This brings me full circle to my frustration with people becoming so “passionate” over something they know nothing about while constantly turning a blind eye to the issues informed activists try to bring to light every damn day.”  -Laci Green, Why I Don’t Support “KONY 2012″

Peace out,

Maverick

What Does God Need with Money?

There is a question that has recently come into my mind when it comes to religion.  This question was given form after I saw a clip on Pat Robertson’s little show, The 700 Club.  Now, I’ve talked to death what a piece of shit Pat Robertson is.  He’s a sexist and a racist.  He blames gays and lesbians for 9/11, along with liberals and feminists (I’ll set aside my problems with modern feminism to back them up here).  This guy is scum, he is dirt.  He is a worthless piece of human garbage.  But take a look at this little tidbit from his show.

A woman writes in, claiming that she is having financial problems.  Her letter goes as follows -

Our family is struggling financially.  We cannot pay our mortgage and now it’s getting to the point where our tithe to the church is taking away from paying our bills.  I pray but I don’t get an answer.  Why? – Melissa

That’s a depressing letter, to be sure.  But it is Robertson’s response to this that just makes me sick.

Well, I think the answer’s in the bible.  You know, the Bible says a man shall not rob god.  If you really want his blessing, be faithful with your tithe, and then you’ve got God as your financial partner.  And you have every reason to ask him for his blessing….I don’t think you’re managing your money properly.

Wow.  Just, wow.  What a piece of shit.  Seriously, how does Robertson sleep at night?  Since he has no soul or no conscience, probably pretty well.  This man is a sociopath.  But it brings the question into focus – what exactly does God need with money?

Now, the more logical and decent preachers I have met actually admit up-front that it is to keep their place of worship going, and the people who work there paid.  Some of the churches I have seen, I get that.  But here’s the kicker – how do they need it to keep it going?  These places pay no taxes!  These ”holy houses” pay absolutely no taxes, but they always need a little more.

At least some are honest and say that doing this pays their bills.  I doubt any of these “holy” men could do any other work.  But really, it goes beyond that.  What really makes this so pathetic is that if you look at the size of the religious institutions in this country, and indeed all over the world, the fact that these people are saying we need to give more is the epitomy of corruption.

Take a look at Pat Robertson.  This guy is wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.  He is the wealthiest Evangelical Christian in the world right now.  He also donates money to nothing.  He keeps almost all of it for himself.  He also utilizes slave labor in a diamond mine in Africa.  This man has no reason to say that the church needs more money.

Or how about we look at the great icon of religious corruption – The Vatican.  The Catholic church has a lot of crimes that they will never answer for.  Over 5,000 Priests walk around untouched by the law because of protection they get from the Vatican after they have raped little boys and girls.  The Vatican has also been implicated in a recent laundering of over 23,000,000 euros.

And when a victim cries out and decides to take the Vatican to court, or when groups like SNAP decide to bring The Vatican itself to the ICC and make them pay for their crimes, they will jump up and tell everybody how they are being irrational, and how they shouldn’t be mad at the church.  These people have some kind of kinky Stockholm Syndrome that they are forcing upon the victims of their crimes, and never, does anybody possibly say anything.

The fact is that the Vatican and the Catholic church has committed crimes against humanity, and not only are they allowed to do what they want, but they get out of their tax burdens, and never once do they have to actually say they are sorry.  It’s just, another pathetic gimmick that religion has.

What’s more – the government defends these corrupt institutions!  They will stand up and talk about how the church is good, and how America is a Christian nation.  So let’s take a look – they have government on their side, over a billion loyal followers on their side, and a corrupt aristocracy that protects them from any damages.  So what does God need with money?

How about we look at the literal idea for a minute.  This is God.  He is supposedly all-powerful and all-knowing.  What good would it possibly do for him to get money?  Some will make the argument that if you give money to his temple, he will endorse you, because you’re helping the temple.  But I just pointed out that the temple doesn’t need any help!  The Temple is doing just fine.  Let’s never-mind that the temple he is talking about is a Jewish temple, because his son was  a Jew.  Or maybe it was a mosque, because the God of the Bible and the God of the Qu’ran are the same person.  Who knows.

But on any logical scale, there is no reason that God should need to be given money.  Money shouldn’t get his blessing more than anything else.  But if you look in context of the bible, it starts to make sense.  God is an angry, vindictive, psychotic killer who will destroy anything he doesn’t like, and kill anybody he doesn’t like.  This guy isn’t somebody that I would trust with anything.  He is a monster.

The fact is that people like Pat Robertson are just scum.  The church is a harmful entity that has given NOTHING to society, and we as a people need to stand up and fight back against this oppressive institution.  It’s time for the money to stop flowing.  Only when the money stops will religion finally die.  There are signs that the money is slowing down, hence the demands if tithes from people.  But the fact is, the money needs to stop, because if there actually is a God, I’m sure he doesn’t care.

Until next time, a quote,

“The abused are not the only victims of Catholicism.  Humanity is.”  -Laci Green, Sue the Catholic Church 

Peace out,

Maverick

The fact is that

The Jesus Story is Bulls#!$!

Well, with Christmas just a day away, and since I probably won’t be doing a holiday post as I have done for all of the others in the last few months, I thought that I would say my piece about the story about this season.  The fact is that this seasons has been hijacked, twice.  The first time, it was from innocent people, and probably involved a lot of bloodshed (as Christianity is so famous for how they will resort to killing as a first solution), the second time involved robber-barons who realized what every business tycoon in this country has – that you can cash in on ANYTHING in this country.  But we aren’t going to attack that second group.  Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow, or maybe next year.  Today, we’re attacking that first group, the Christians.  They are such a pleasing target.

The Christian narrativei s that Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Well you know what, let’s take a long and hard look at the story of Jesus Christ, shall we?

This story is absolutely wrought with contradictions.  The first contradiction is that according to a prophecy, Jesus was supposed to be from Bethlehem.  Problem – Jesus was from Nazareth.  Well, the writers of the Bible were very smart con-artists, so they found a quick way to get around this – lying out their ass!  See, the first Gospel decided not to deal with problem (or maybe the Vatican just didn’t get to it) by not talking about the birth story of Jesus at all.  The Gospel of Mark never mentions the whole virgin birth thing, the whole shebang.  The fact is that the Gospels of Mark and John don’t say that Mary was a virgin, and in his writings, neither did the apostle Paul.  Odd little inconsistency.  Not that that’s anything new to the Bible.

Next up, the date.  There is NO way that Jesus was born on the 25th of December.  Palestinian winters were not very fun, especially for traveling at night.  But really, that’s kind of a trifling detail.

Also, the idea of virgin-birth, as Laci Green pointed out, is bullshit.  Straight-up bullshit.  Not only is the concept unoriginal, but it is plagiarized from other stories.  I’ll get to how that is interesting later.  And speaking of Mary’s virgin status, here’s a nifty fact for you – a lot of Catholics hold that Mary was a virgin her whole life.  Guess what, Catholics – you’re wrong!  The Bible talks about how Jesus had a brother, a direct brother, named James.  So, Catholics are idiots.  Moving on.

Looking at the Jesus birth story again, the two gospels that talk about – Luke and Matthew, have conflicting stories about how Jesus overcame that whole “born in Bethlehem” problem.  In the Gospel of Luke, the story goes that Caeser Augustus called for a really huge census to be taken.  Everybody had to return to their “home city.”  Never mind that this would have been a massive undertaking and is not written about anywhere but in the Bible.  Interesting.

Next up, we have Matthew, who tells  the more talked-about version of the Jesus birth story.  In his version, King Herod hears that a child will be born who will be a great king, the greatest king.  So, being a power-hungry dictator, he sends his armies to go and kill all the male born of the kingdom.  Again, this would have been a huge undertaking that would have been talked about by somebody, but also again, nowhere outside of the Bible do we hear about the massive slaughter of children.  Interest.

So, we have two conflicting birth stories, and no birth story at all from two gospels.  And when you think about it – what about all the other Gospels that were floating around?  For real, there are others.  The Vatican deliberately didn’t have them added into the final product.  What?  Really?!  You just artificially took them out?  Did they not fit the narrative that you wanted?  That seems the most likely, since religion has always been an institution where the powerful lord over those without power, but let’s not get too hung up on that.  We have more ground to cover.

Speaking of virgin-birth, here’s a nifty thought for you – biology calls bullshit on this, but not in the way you might think.  In other animals, parthenogenesis is possible.  That’s asexual reproduction.  Is it possible with humans?  Well, there are signs that maybe.  It may just be possible.  Of course, the chances of this happening are so astronomically small that it is laughable in the scientific arena.  But, if it were actually possible, there is one conclusion that scientists have come to – with a species like humans, which have XY chromosomes, parthenogenesis could only produce XX offspring.  That’s right, kids, if Jesus was born of a virgin, he wasn’t a he at all.  He, was a she.  If this story is true, then Jesus was a girl.

But enough of the pseud0-scientific bullshit.  The fact is that the entire story of Jesus is NOT even original.  For real, it isn’t.  There were a ton of stories floating around the Mediterranean during the thousand or so years when this story was said to have taken place that sound eerily similar to the Jesus story.  The Greek god Adonis, his story was a lot like Jesus.  The Persian God Mithra, his story was a lot like Jesus.  But the pièce de résistance of historical plagiarism – Horus, the son of Osiris.  The story of Jesus and the story of Horus are, if you put them back-t0-back, identical.  The names are different, the places are different, but in almost every way, these two stories are the same story.

The fact is that most of the Bible is ripped off from other religions that floated around during the time period.  Christians weren’t even clever enough to come up with their own stories.  They had to rip off other ones.  But the fact is that the Jesus story is bullshit, from birth to death, and just ripped off of something else.  It has been historically proven to be false, and it has been biblically proven to be false.  Not to mention, I can culturally prove that it was false.  You see the picture that I have at the top of this post?  That image of Jesus is false.  If Jesus was a real person (and that’s a stretch), then the fact is that he was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless, anti-war, anti-capitalism, Middle Eastern Jew.  These are facts.  But don’t tell the Christians that.  They like their racially-insensitive white Jesus too much for that.

Embrace reason, this season.  Celebrate Christmas for the reasons I do – because it is fun, and it is a nice time of year.

Until next time, a quote,

“So, what the atheist billboard said is true.  And it’s not the kind of true where you close your eyes, and feel it in your heart, and ignore all evidence to the contrary.  No!  It’s that other kind of true.  That kind of true that is actually verifiable, that stands up to scrutiny and questioning.  You know, the kind of truth that most Americans are uncomfortable with.”  -TJ Kincaid, Atheist Grinches

Peace out,

Maverick

Twilight Fans are a lot like Ron Paulites

So, I have gotten to view two groups of people, and I must say, this observation period has been interesting.  The first group of people are the Ron Paulites.  They are members of the Cult of Ron Paul (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYaujnR_8NE&feature=colike).  These are people who believe that Ron Paul is the glorious savior of America, and how he is some kind of glorious messiah character, and how he is going to make everything all better.  The next group are the Twilight series fans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8gpHK5orJQ&feature=colike).  These are people who believe that the Twilight books are all wonderful and beautiful, and how they are so poignant and deep.  They also love the films too.

I have observed and almost eerie creepy devotion that these people have to these two characters.  For real, check out the videos above, specifically the Comments section.  The supporters come out of the woodwork, giving thumbs-down and massive amounts of lambasting to both the vloggers who talked about both of these groups.  The guy attacking Ron Paul, my favorite vlogger, TJ Kincaid, pointed out that absolute truth – that while Ron Paul has a couple of good ideas, he has some incredibly bad ones, and whenever you call him to task on it, his supporters will attack you without remorse.

Laci Green attacked Twilight in her video, pointing out that Edward was an abusive asshole, and Bella was a complete doormat.  The abusive relationship between the two of them is something that a Mormon moron endorsed, without thinking that the media that young girls take in affects them.  Any media that anybody takes in affects them.  Of course, since Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon, maybe that is what she wants.  The Mormon faith is scum anyway.

It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy how quickly the apologetics came out and defended this.  And what I find interesting is that the tactics that both sides used were almost the same!  Both sides accused both vloggers of taking things out of context.  They accused them of not being fair to their respective heroes.  They accused them of not giving them a chance.  It is almost eerie how similar the arguments were, at their core.

See, with both groups, the people who are so massively in support of them seem to wear blinders.  They see only what they want to see, and to hell with everything else.  The Paulites will see Ron Paul talking about liberty and freedom, while ignoring that his economic ideas (like bringing back the Gold Standard) would bring our nation to ruin, and he basically wants to strip women of their reproductive rights.  And the Twilight fans will totally ignore the fact that Edward was clearly and abuser and say that he loved her.  Yes, because love always made abuse, acceptable, right?

This is so humorous, because it shows you that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  These two groups both have a fanbase that is so loyal that any statements that they don’t agree with, they just put out of their minds.  It is funny, and tragic at the same time, because it is kind of making the point that people are weak.  That isn’t something that we should be talking about.  Not really.

Oh well, in the end, that is how it goes.  Funny, no?

Until next time, a quote,

“…And is essentially ‘it’s a life!  Can’t you all people see it’s a life?!’  Yeah, the same argument that’s been made by literally every pro-lifer since pro-lifers began, but now, because Ron Paul said it, ‘That’s very persuasive!  Yeah, I see what he’s getting at!’”  -TJ Kincaid, CULT of Ron Paul

Peace out,

Maverick

The Twilight Generation

I was originally planning on doing my top ten anti-heroes list today, but I just decided that I would talk about something that has really been getting under my skin lately.  It isn’t a mystery that I HATE Twilight.  There is no book or film series that I despise more.  This series glorifies everything that I think is wrong with relationships, and especially what I think is wrong with religion.  It is openly and pathetically blunt about it’s message – that men control women, and women should just do what man says.  Don’t believe me?  Well too bad, it is all over the text.  It is in both the books and the films.  It is in the books much more, and describes it more vividly.  I figure I’ll throw in some dialogue here and there, just for fun.

It just makes no sense to me where the love of this series come from.  I have a cousin, whose opinion I value more than most anybody else, who likes this series.  I don’t get it!  First, let’s examine the main character – Bella Swan.  Bella is a quiet, submissive, irrational, and overall spineless character.  This is what the Mormon faith wants all their women to be.  The books talks about her being smart, but you never, ever, see any evidence of this.  In fact, her impulsiveness kinds of rules her.  She moves in with her dad, and immediately takes over all the household chores.

He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing.  He lumbered into the living room to watch TV while I worked.  We were both more comfortable that way.  I made a salad while the steaks cooked, and set the table.

Yeah, very subtle.  Bella also said to people that doing all of this was “her place.”  I’m not shitting you, that’s how the book puts it.  But let’s go onto the piece de resistance of this diatripe – the love between Bella and Edward.

There has always been a love of the darkness of vampires.  Anne Rice captured this very well in her books.  The darkness of the creature does have an allure.  However, Stephanie Meyer capitalized on this and created Edward Cullen.  The worst boyfriend in the history of bad and sparkly boyfriends.  Of course, Bella does whatever Edward tells her to do.

Drink,” he ordered.  I sipped at my soda obediently

Hey ladies, how many of you love guys ordering you to do things?  You think this is an isolated incident?  Oh no, no-no, it is but one of many instances where he has the need to control Bella.  And Bella really isn’t much better.  There is page after page after page of dialogue about how much she needs Edward, how much Edward is her world, how much everything in her life revolves around him.  It borders on a little bit scary how dependent she is on this guy!  She sells out her social life for him, her family for him, everything in her life for this guy.  This is like every single abusive relationship that is ever seen.  Seriously, ladies, know a friend who has a boyfriend that you know is bad news, but won’t listen to you when you want to talk about it?  Well, meet Bella Swan.

And Edward really rewards this dedication.  He has total control over her life.  He frequently gets verbally abusive with her.  There is even a section in the book when, after they have sex for the first time, she wakes up covered in bruises, and the first thing that she does is ask Edward what she did wrong.  What the fuck?!  No, ladies, you don’t do that.  You pack up your shit and say, “fuck you, asshole, I deserve better than this!”  But of course, it goes on and on.  Another scene, in both the book and the movie, talks about how Edward is infinitely stronger and faster than Bella.  He says, flat-out, that she wouldn’t be able to stop him if he were to attack her.  I love that.  It openly admits that he is an abusive asshole, but all the teen and tween girls fawn and gush.  It’s pathetic.

As socially corrosive as Twilight is on women, it isn’t much better on men.  It tells guys that they need to be as controlling as possible.  Edward controls almost every single aspect of Bella’s life.  He doesn’t let her drive, he tells her what she can and cannot do when they are in bed (yeah, because that always works so well, doesn’t it?), he pretty much openly stalks her, along with watching her sleep.  One could argue that he makes her be isolated from her friends and family.  I don’t argue that.  I actually take the position that it is the lack of a spine from Bella that does that.  She chooses to abandon her family and friends.  It actually makes more sense.  In an abusive relationship, the abused often will choose to isolate themselves, because they blame themselves.

I am too plain and boring for Edward, I don’t deserve him.”

Another really problematic thing is that Edward is threatening Bella all the TIME!  He dresses it up as his “vampiric nature,” but the fact is that Edward is verbally and physically abusive to Bella.  It is never shown, but heavily implied, that this abuse happens rather frequently.  She is regularly sporting cuts and bruises from his beatings that are never shown, but the evidence is all there.  She will regularly keep her head down and say nothing to him.  Her subservience to Edward is beyond pathetic.  But worst of all, he is in a constant battle not to kill her, and here’s the kicker – he blames her!  He blames the fact that she smells good on why he wants to kill her.  This is just plain creepy!  Oh, and here’s another example of him being an abusive boyfriend – he uses his presence to intimidate and drive off all of her other male suitors.

 I fell down the stairs and into a window”

You know what happens in an abusive relationship when the abuser really does something bad?  There is this brief honeymoon period when he tries to make it up, promising how he’ll never do it again.  We see this in Twilight too.  Also like in real life, the periods get shorter and shorter, as eventually, the abuser realizes that their power is complete, and anything they do will be tolerated.  Edward buys Bella pretty things when he hurts her, or plays piano (stupidest scene in the film).

And what about Jacob?  I hear that a lot.  Well, guess what – Jacob sexually assaults Bella!  And here’s another kicker – she blames herself!  What the hell is wrong with this spineless chick?!

He still had my chin, his fingers holding too tight, till it hurt.  “N-” I started to object, but it was too late.  His lips crushed mine, stopping my protest.  He kissed me angrily, roughly…making escape impossible.  I shoved against his chest, but he didn’t even seem to notice.  I grabbed at his fact, trying to push him away, failing again.  He seemed to notice this time and it aggravated him.  His lips forced mine open, I could feel his hot breath.

Wow, ain’t he a sweetheart?  What makes it worse is that Bella never once stands up to him.  She accepts this sexual violence.  She says that it is how Jacob expresses himself sexually.  The fact is that this book is socially corrosive.  And here is what is pissing me off – young girls, vulernable young girls are taking their cues from this horseshit!  They are looking at this relationship and are thinking that this is what they are supposed to aspire too.  It is socially corrosive bullshit and it fucking pisses me off!  We’re supposed to teach our girls to be strong, independent, tough.  Instead, this Mormon cunt is teaching them that they are supposed to be weak, childish, pathetic.

What your culture produces, and what you take in, affects who you are.  Is this the kind of generation that we want our girls to be?  Parents, step up, and please, stop the abusive culture.  This is what the Mormon culture teaches, I’m sorry to say.  Take a look at a big Mormon family, and this is what you find.  This book series is my ultimate example of why I hate the Mormon faith, and everybody who believes it is so bad.  It was started on abuse.  Poetic that a mediocre author continues it.

Until next time, a quote,

“One of the main ways we learn about how a relationship looks is from the media we consume.  From books and TV and movies, processing those messages, 24 hours, seven days a week, whether or not we realize it.  Stephanie Meyer, shame on her, has written a story promoting a certain kind of harmful relationship.”  -Laci Green, DANGEROUS ROLE MODELS: TWILIGHT

Peace out,

Maverick

A Message to the Vatican – We are WATCHING You!

Finally, something that I have been waiting for for a very long time is happening – the child sex abuse crimes of the Catholic church are being brought to light.  Those who have survived, and those who are concerned are now saying that it is not enough to just prosecute to priests responsible for these instances, it is time that the abuse of children done by these corrupt and abusive officials is stopped!  In a release that they put on their website, they had this to say -

We’re taking this historic step today for one very simple reason: to protect innocent children and vulnerable adults. Across the globe, we believe hundreds of boys and girls are being sexually violated right now by Catholic priests, nuns, bishops, and seminarians. That widespread violence is being systematically concealed, as it has been for decades, by top officials of a callous, secretive, rigid, and powerful global hierarchy.

They are damn right!  For years, as it is being found out, the Catholic church has been hiding the abuse that the priests who do it have done, and paying off the victims of these crimes.  A insignificant percentage of the priests who commit them are actually charged with child abuse.  The rest are simply moved from place to place, while the Vatican has the names of the victims and the church officials who perpetrated the crime on record.  They keep all then ames, all the dates, all the events cataloged in the Vatican, never to see the light of day.

But now you have groups like SNAP.  Their name stands for Survivor’s Network for those Abused by Priests.  They have come out against what the Catholic church is doing, and their efforts are now finally making headway.  They have come before the International Criminal Court and asked that the Vatican, and Pope Ratzinger be charged with Crimes Against Humanity.  What an appropriate term – crimes against humanity.  The Catholic church has been guilty for over 2,000 years for crimes against the human race.

But of course, like with all the complaints that are lodged against them, they react by blaming those who bring them to the table. Here is a lovely document that they wrote, and I will do as I have done in the past, and give some quotes, and we will deal with these one at a time.

Catholics understand the anger that many have about the way things were handled in some dioceses. When anger becomes a pattern, however, it can consume. Indeed, it can blur one’s vision, leading to irrational and wholly indefensible accusations. This is precisely what has happened to SNAP, and to its allies. Logic, reason and evidence no longer matter: what matters is payback. Make no mistake about it; SNAP has decided to wage war on the Catholic Church.

Yeah, we are demanding that the church be made accountable for the actions of these rapists who lie within their overpriced corridors.  We are demanding that they stop buggering little boys and girls.  It is war, Catholics, and you are going to lose.  For too long have you been able to hide behind a wall of bureaucracy and bullshit.  Plus, you demand more evidence, even though you openly have a system that believes in a book that is full of contradictions and outright impossibilities.

It is not certain whether the media, which generally give a sympathetic hearing to SNAP, care how orchestrated these events are. But Catholics should care. After all, what is at stake is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, rallying Americans against the Catholic Church.

That’s right, kids, it’s not about stopping these priests from sticking their hands on your genitals, it is about making the Catholic church look bad.  I have a question to the person who wrote this – do you have a soul, sir?  Clearly, it’s a man.  The Catholic church has always been a very sexist organization.  But this is just sad.  Instead of being rational, and deciding to take a step in the progressive direction, you decide that you will instead take the position that it isn’t about all these victims, it is about you!  This is a strange argument to make.  It is almost like some kind of Stockholm Syndrome, where the priesthood and the Vatican are asking thea abused to defend them.  Fucking bigots.

Anderson has had a checkered life in more ways than one. A hippie who dropped out of college, he sold shoes after finally graduating from the University of Minnesota. He didn’t have an easy time at William Mitchell College of Law, but the diminutive 5’4″ activist was emboldened when, in his last year in school, he won a highly questionable case: he successfully defended a homeless black man who urinated in a church, charging that the white and wealthy churchgoers were racist. Then he went on to bigger things, such as defending accused murderers and gay activists fighting bathhouse raids.

Classy!  Not only do you make yourselves out to be the victims, but you go after those who are charging you, trying to make them out to be villains.  They also admit to being homophobes in the same damn paragraph, you dumb son of a bitch!  The author of this document clearly has no conscience, or if they do, it is checked out and on layaway.  I love how they can admit to being bigots and make an ad hominem attack in the same sentence!  What’s better is that they went after all kinds of people.  But get this – none of them attended!  These Catholics are attacking without remorse and not one of these assholes even had the integrity to attend themselves.  All of this is second-hand knowledge of what happened at the conferance.

More hyperventilation surfaced when it was observed that settlements with the Church are still taking place, and confidentiality clauses are still being used. This raises the question: why would those who purport to be interested in justice have a problem with alleged victims who settle out of court? Thus do they give their real hand away.

Yeah, their hand is that they care that the Vatican has been, for years, hiding shit like this under the rug.  Gee, caring about all the victims and the fact that all the facets of Vatican authority work for their interests, not the interests of everybody else.  And the church bells ring, ka-ching, ka-ching!

Here’s some facts for you, something that the Vatican hates.  According to the 20,000 pages of evidence that SNAP is turning over to ICC, over 5,000 priests and deacons who were abusing children walk around unscathed, not charged, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid to keep these kids quiet.   And the Pope is not even close to innocent.  He and his cabal of crooked used-car salesmen (metaphorically speaking) have been in on this little gambit to keep things quiet for years!

It is about damn time that the church finally is forced to pay the pied piper for it’s crimes against the human race.  From all the muder and genocide that the Vatican has condoned throughout history, to the more modern crimes, like their ceasless campaign to keep condoms out of Africa, even though they massive cut down on the number of those who get infect with AIDS.  Or their campaign against birth control, which keeps families locked in poverty because they can’t just progress even a little bit.  Or then there is endless campaign against gay marriage.  Or we could go after their belief that all sex should only be for the purpose of procreation.  Or how about their war against sex outside of marriage?  Or maybe we can go after those involved in the crime of Irish Sisters of Mercy, where over 13,ooo children were reported to be victims of abuse.  Or how about all the money they launder, like the recent steal of 23,000,000 euros.

These charges of crimes against humanity are a wonderful thing, and I think that all people, not just those without faith like me, but those who have it, should be behind this.  It is time for the Catholic church to be seen for what it is – an overpaid monarchy that is taking money from all over the world, and gives society NOTHING back!

Nothing good, anyway.  And my message to you, Vatican, is that we are WATCHING you!  Now that the public eye is turning on you, we are going to be watching you very close, and I predict that maybe, just maybe, we will finally bring you to your knees.  You have been above the law for far too long!

Until next time, a quote,

“Protect the church, one of the most powerful and abusive institutions in the history of humanity!”  -Laci Green, Sue the Catholic Church 

Peace out,

Maverick

People Who Get Their Values From Television Are IDIOTS!

So, in a video made by a YouTuber that I happen to like, Laci Green, she talked about how she doesn’t own a television because apparently she believes that all television influences people’s values.  I happen to disagree.  I do believe that there are people who can rise above what they see on shows, movies, and the internet.  I take contention with Laci’s opinion because it isn’t just television.  Yes, media does affect how you view things.  But that is any and all media.  It isn’t just television.  It’s every single outlet of the media that affects how people perceive the world.  So if television is so evil, why is the internet any better?  Laci seems to have a double-standard.  Of course, there are people who do get their values from television and the media, and that is what I am going to be talking about now.

I got into a bit of debate last night about philosophy and the moral values and moral direction of America.  At first, it was very fun.  The woman I was debating with was very articulate and very fun to debate with.  However, things took an odd turn.  She is a very Christian woman.  Since I am a devout atheist, I knew her and I wouldn’t see eye-to-eye, but that’s why it’s called discussion.  We each present our viewpoints, and discuss how we feel and why we feel that way.

See, in my last blog about Macus Bachmann and his bigoted stance on homosexuality, I contended that God is slowly starting to disappear from American politics.  And I contended that this is a good thing.  She, however, disagreed.  We got to talking.  She believes that people have no “moral backbone” because people don’t want to be judgmental, and that people are led by their emotions which is counter-productive to a working society.  A very bold claim, to be sure.  I replied that this sounded a little too cynical to me.  Like people following their emotion is always a bad thing.

She replied that she is very cynical, and had a very good reason why.  I was very interested.  Care to know what it is?  Well, here it is -

Let me give you an example – shortly after Newt Gingrich (whom makes me practically vomit) announced his presidential run, the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” (which I like) touched on his sordid personal life involving mistresses and divorces; Mika B. said “I don’t want to be judgemental…” Judgemental!  That man, who arrogantly claimed to be a converted Catholic on Hannity months ago, should be called on the carpet for his past shameful behavior which he never maturely owns up to!  It is NOT judgmental to expect of people decent and fair behavior; As I stated before, moral relativism is destroying our nation – “if it feels good it must be ok”; “follow your heart” (thank you Oprah – would you say that to a needy woman getting involved with an abuser?) If I had given into my feelings and justified it, my life I can guarantee would now be a total mess.

Sorry that that’s a little long.  I wanted to give a bit of it, but I decided to put this comment on in it’s entirety.  This woman was given her entire view on the future of this country from a comment somebody made on Morning Joe.  My first thought was – unreal.  The sad fact is that this woman is not a random occurence.  She’s not a phantom in the broad scheme of the world.

I’ll be the first to admit that television does affect your views on things.  But when you make such a monumental judgment as “America is doomed,” and all from seeing somebody say that they don’t want to be judgmental on a TV show, then you are not only taking on WAY too narrow a viewpoint, but you are also ignoring the fact that this is only one person.  One person doesn’t want to be judgmental.  It negates rationality.  And when people take their morals from television, that is what happens.  You don’t think about things in the broad sense, you don’t regard information for what it is, you simply choose to ignore everything else.

And this happens all the time.  Teen girls watch shows like The Hills and Jersey Shore, and they are getting their values system from this programming.  They are taking the lessons that girls should be plastic barbie dolls who only want meat-head guys.  I have met a lot of girls and women who idolize these harpies.  And that’s what they are.  I don’t care if it was the hottest girl on Earth, if one of those plastic mannequins came up to me and offered to have sex, I would brush them off like a bad itch.  And this viewpoint on society is everywhere.  Girls watch Twilight and they want to lose their backbones and be in love with creepy stalker-types like Edward.  Even in the books he was a total stalker. Not to mention the whole series is a parent-friendly no-sex-before-marriage propaganda schtick, which is bullshit.

But the worst part is that people tend to believe in other places that this kind of mentality is common.  I don’t think most people are like the douchebags and bitches on The Jersey Shore.  I don’t think most people are not judgmental.  The way I see it, everybody is judgmental.  We just don’t go on about it with people so we don’t hurt their feelings.  We are able to rise above our petty impulses.

And don’t even get my started on her contention that people who follow their hearts are in the wrong.  Everybody does everything because it makes them feel good.  That’s just how it goes.

Here’s the bottom line – your morals and values should come from what can give the greatest amount of good for a community.  Sam Harris said that morals are what benefits a community vs. what does not.  And what’s more, the woman on Morning Joe wasn’t making a moral decision.  She was making an ethical one.  But this woman who commented has her entire pardigm of thought about America’s future completely changed on this alone.  That’s just weak and pathetic.  Maybe she’s the one who needs to grow a backbone.

Until next time, a quote,

“No, she’s going to die because Foreman’s an idiot and you’re a coward!”  -Gregory House, House M.D.

Peace out,

Maverick

“Reality” TV is for Stupid People

I have done a couple of blogs about how stupid modern culture is, but it occurs to me lately that I missed a topic.  I talked about teen girl culture in modern America, and how that is just dumb, like the culturally corrosive bullshit, the Twilight series.  So sad that that series has completely destroyed the respectable usage of that word for all time.  In any case, I got on the teen girl case, and then I addressed the grown-up pop culture world and our obsession with celebrities.  I made the marriage of Will and Kate an example of.  But there is one avenue of area that I want to ruthlessly attack next – “reality” (so called) television.

A rather cool YouTuber named Laci Green made a video about this.  I disagree with her main premise that all television is a bad thing, but I did kind of dig what she had to say about reality television.  This kind of entertainment has become a critical part of modern culture.  Because it is so much a part of our culture it is a little bit hard not to notice.  But, all parts of reality television have, without a single exception, been nothing more than trivial bullshit.  Absolute dreck that is so horrible, and distorts actual reality in such a profound way.

We have stupidity like American Idol, Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance, The Apprentice, Big Brother, which are in one field.  I hear a lot of people say that these shows are just good clean fun.  Bullshit!  Bull-fucking-shit!  These shows depict ruthless competition, canonize back-stabbing, have rude people who just yell and bitch at one-another, and have no real effect on the world.  These people produce nothing of any real merit.  Sally watches American Idol at the beginning for the worst reason that show exists – Simon Cowell.  That guy is, let’s face it, an asshole.  He is an absolute asshole who tells people cold-heartedly how much they suck at singing.  It’s fun to listen to on the surface, but when you think about it, it’s not really all that funny.

Those shows alone are just depicting people who aren’t like other people.  Let’s face it, very few of us who live our daily lives are like the people in these shows.  We make fun of the horrible nature of the people in them, but underneath it all, I think we kind of pity them.  I know I do.  These shows are basically Ayn Rand style capitalism, where you do whatever it takes to get ahead, back-stab, plot, manipulate, and become so foul a person that nobody would want to be around you in real life.  But that is only the beginning of what is really wrong with reality television.

The competition shows are one thing, but they are just the surface problem for a much worse part of reality that is depicted – the shows which are supposedly about “real people.”  Shows like – The Jersey Shore, Pretty Wild, The Hills, Real Housewives of…wherever, Bridezilla, whatever that stupid-ass show is with the Kardashians.  These shows are in a class of their own when depicting genuinely foul people.  What makes these shows so interesting is that I doubt very many people watch them for enjoyment.  They don’t succeed in spite of the people who hate them, but because of the people who hate them.

And then there is the creme de la creme of them all – Jackass.  This show depicts a bunch of idiots (professional idiots) deliberately doing stupid shit that normal people shouldn’t do under ANY circumstances.  I watched a few minutes of the first and second movies they made out of it, and I felt the collective IQ of the human race drop ten points.

And there is nothing to like about any of them.  I mean, you have bitches, absolute bitches, cliche women who do nothing but whine and bitch about how hard their pampered-ass lives are.  Yeah, they are models in California, or housewives to rich guys, or whatever, and they have it so damn hard.  I watch this drivel and I think to myself, I want to kill these people.  I want them to get hit by a bus!  People like Snooki, who looks like the regurgitated fetal-god from Silent Hill 3.  She is on The Jersey Shore being a total cunt to every single person she comes across.  What’s more, these guys in these shows are meat-heads who want nothing more than to get in girls’ pants.  There isn’t a single admirable quality about any of the people in any of these shows which damage the modern image of the average American so badly.  I sometimes wonder why people don’t get that the world hates us for a reason.

I remember tuning in to a couple of episodes of a show called Pretty Wild, which depicted three sisters who were living in LA, and all they did was bitch and moan about how hard their lives were, while the only thing, the only work these moronic stuck-up harpies had to do was model.  Then I got to see Sally watching a shows called Bridezilla, which is probably the worst thing that I have ever seen.  It’s like that show on MTV, Sweet 16, except for women getting married.  Not a single person in any of these vapid pieces of garabage is worthy of respect or kindness of any kind.

But what makes all of this so bad, is that it horribly distorts the world view that people should have.  How can a modern empowered woman not hate these shows on the deepest level?  The women in them are nothing more than worthless gold-diggers who think that the ideal thing for a woman is to be an idiot who models clothes in her bikini-bod.  And it is all socially-priviledged white people.  If there is a minority, or a gay or lesbian person, they are portrayed as the stereotypical version of that kind of culture.  It is vile and sick.

And for the shows that are about competition, it portrays a world where people are only supposed to work together and help one-another when it benefits them.  Never about charity, never about doing something good, never for anything other than individual success.  This socially corrosive bullshit fucking pisses me off!  And people need to stop watching this shit!

And if you are so stupid that you actually enjoy this drivel, let me say that I pity you.  I pity the fact that you were raised in a world where you are so dumb, and probably either a part of that culture, or destined to have a very ugly wake-up call.  This is all so dumb.

Until next time, a quote,

“Oh, boo-hoo, my life sucks so much because my friend wore the same dress to a party are me!  Are you fucking kidding me?!”  -Laci Green, “REALITY” TV BULL$#!^

Peace out,

Maverick