Theological Thursday: A Cynical Look at the History of Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving. 

That day that we here, in the USofA give thanks (i.e. praise) unto God that the red skins saved the red necks from their own hubris and ignorance, thus allowing the red necks to survive those first critical years here on this land mass. 

In later years, the red necks - never really having overcome their hubris and ignorance - would repay the kindness and coutesy shown by the red skins by driving them from their homes, raping their women, and committing genocide by proxy of plague and undercutting their food chain.

Well! Thank you, God!

Bloody Hell, makes you wonder how history would have turned out if the locals had just let those invaders die of privation, starvation, and exposure, right?

Actually, some day the human race will grow out of the infantile selfish stage and then we'll really get on with things. I like to believe in reincarnation, because I'd kinda like to see that grown-up phase.

Rape threats after showing video of being harassed Walking While Female - The IRONY Burns!

Woman receives rape threats after recording 10 hours of harassment in New York.

Can we do that? There's "Driving While Black," right?  Can we have a new one? "Walking While Female?"

Abortion (Y/N?) is not a valid question, you asshole

Let's get one thing out of the way: NO ONE is "pro-abortion." That's a fantasy bogeyman invented by - and clung to - by foolish people who want to feel righteous about their own stupid and unreasonable position by trying to villainize their opponents - and thus seize the moral high ground - rather than have meaningful conversations. If you feel a need to decry me as "pro-abortion" then chances are you're a hopeless tit who won't bother to keep reading, despite the fact you are the audience who most needs to be shaken from comlacy into a serious conversation.

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“Abortion (Y/N)?” is the wrong damn question.

Abortion is a crap solution to a shit problem. What are we going to do about the problem?

What shit problem? Unwanted pregnancy. What are we going to do about unwanted pregnancy?

What unwanted pregnancy? Loaded question, but let’s choose the really dirty ones:

• Incest - daddy on daughter, uncle on niece, brother on sister, cousin on cousin

• Rape - this one is self-explanatory, but see also “incest” above and think about how many women you know who were sexually molested by relatives (you would be surprised at how many you already know).

• Medical danger to mother - I laud the courage of the woman who chose to give birth and die rather than terminate the pregnancy, receive a life-saving transplant, and live to mother other children. How does her husband feel? How does her child feel?? Did she have other children? What if she did? “I really want to love my kid brother, but he killed mom.”

So, kiss my butt.

What are you going to do about this problem?

Seriously I need a self-righteous anti-abortion man to tell me what his wife, and mother of his children, replies to this:

“Honey, I'm really sorry you were raped. I cannot hope to understand what a violation of your body and soul it was. But you know we believe abortion is wrong, so I will support you every step of the way through the pregnancy that will remind you every day that you were raped and violated and your attacker [if captured and prosecuted] only has to go to jail and will never provide any financial support while we incur the medical bills for his child and any lost income from you're having to take time off work. We'll think of a good lie to tell the children about why we give the baby up for adoption. I promise never to even wonder for a moment as you waddle around depressed and feeling violated how you could possibly ever have been so stupid to let yourself get raped and ruin my life with this bastard's vile child. I know this child will be of your flesh, but not mine. I will understand therefore if you choose to keep the child and I will raise it as mine because I am supporting you as the unplanned human incubator to this unwanted and unwelcome parasite invasion into your body.”

Well? What did she say?

Life is not black and white, it's shades of gray. Very rarely is "Y/N?" a valid question, let alone a valid answer.

 

It's a GUN, Not a Condom 1 - it can't "protect" you from anything

I always want to laugh when people say "I want a gun for protection," or "to protect my family."

It's not a condom, people. It's not a shield. It's not armor plating. It's only function is to propel small objects at extremely high speeds with the intention of causing the death of something on the other end.

If someone swings a baseball bat at you, maybe you can use the gun to block the bat, at which point it qualifies as "protection."

I saw a superbowl commercial that was banned and so only online. The buildup was a guy driving home to his house, with the voiceover talking about "guarding his family," and "keeping them safe," all while he was not in the house.

So the buildup is to something like ADT home monitoring, which alarms if someone breaks a window, and sends police or paramedics to the panic button. "Protection," right?

The punchline was the advert was for an assault rifle. Yeah, that will "protect" when dudebro is at work, or if mom slips and bangs her head and Little Billy tries to press the "summon help" button on the assuault rifle. So many reasons that one was banned from television, including just being stupid. (As an aside, I love how the military vet who wrote the piece also tears the commercial to shit for being a cheap way to get attention for a shitty gun. Ha!)

A gun meant to kill people. It won't "protect" you; it will just give you the chance to counter-offensive and maybe take the other guy out first. Congrats, you're now up for murder investigation - yeah, George Zimmerman isn't in jail, but you bet your ass his life is over.

I'm not anti-gun; I'm anti-stupid. I just want anyone who wants to own a gun to be realistic and honest about what the thing is, what it means to own one, and why they really want it.  

So, next time you hear someone talking about a gun as "protection," just remind them "It's a gun, not a condom."

So you're gay: I still don't care

If someone says to you "I'm gay (or lesbian)," or "I'm bi-sexual," is it rude to say "I don't care"?

My initial impulse was "No," but context is everything.

When I say "I don't care," I mean it in a neutral voice. I just don't care. 

If you're a woman and trying to hit on me, I'm very flattered, but you're barking up the wrong tree, and we only have a problem if you push it. However, in that case - same as if you were some man who might think he's God's gift to women - the problem isn't your sexuality, it's your aggressiveness. (Unless you're also Angelina Jolie hitting on me - everybody gets a pass if it's Angelina Jolie.)

However, there is a contextual element to be considered: for many people who are gay or bi-sexual, the realization and public admission is very threatening, and the act of saying something can make the person both emotionally and physically vulnerable. (It's a sad commentary on human nature that it makes them physically vulnerable, but that's a different rant.)

So, maybe I should say: "Thank you for sharing that with me, I'm sure it has added some real challenge to your life that straight people don't suffer (and no one should have too), and I empathize with that, but otherwise I just don't care."

I don't care. The only impact it has on my life is because a bunch of twisted-up titwits use it as an excuse to discriminate against others, and a bunch of fuckwits use that discrimination as a launch platform for all manner of power-grabbing political shenanigans. Click on the "class warfare" and "gay marriage" labels below to see how much these shenanigans piss me off.

So, I guess the morale of this tale is that rudeness is context sensitive. Even the kindest-sounding sentence can be the height of rudeness when delivered with a scornful tone, or at totally the wrong time. So, as always, think before you speak, and only be rude by deliberate intention, and not by careless accident.

Anti-Troll: Avoid Pointless Fights With Friends

Sometimes the best way to disapprove of something, especially in social media, is simply to ignore it.

Doing so - in social media - avoids promotion, because touch it and the algorithms then promote it.

Ignoring it can also avoid pointless arguments, that help no one, and can merely damage your relationship with the other person. On social media, there is a good chance you have a lot of people you care about whom you will never meet in person, so pick your fights with a bit of care and wisdom, just as you would in real life.

Theological Thursday: Creationists spit in God's eye and tell themselves they done good

Creationists spit in God's eye and shout "That's not what you did, God! I will tell you what you did, because it says what you did right here!"

Jack Butler eloquently explains that Evolution is not a Religion.

Similarly, the straw-man counterpart to Evolution, Creationism, is not about Religion, nor even God, at all.

Let me say that again, with emphasis: 

Creationism is not about God, at all.

Creationism is a lie invented by men (not even women, but men, and sadly this has been proven, so don't even start with me). It is about dogmatic thinking. It is about proper behavior and proper thought. It is about control. Control is power, power is privilege.

Imagine if a Muslim or Hinduist came to you and said "Everything you think you know about living creatures is wrong, and I have pamphlets, books, and videos to show you, and nevermind that it's completely full of holes and defies the one model on the subject that actually does explain shit."

Yeah, you'd tell those religious nutjobs to fuck off.

Wake up, Creationists,  you're being played for suckers by people who are out to jerk around your emotions, yank your insecurities, and twist your hearts, until you surrender everything to them, because they've got you so muddled and confused you not only stop thinking straight, you stop thinking at all, and simply become mindless slaves to the dogmatic authority.