Ever notice how issues regarding certain groups have become the new circus? A way of entertainment by "throwing the Christians at the lions."
We treat issues as if there are no people really behind them. Whether it be those on social security, illegal immigrants, abortionees, gays, minorities, other countries, politicians, torturers, or torturees.
Does anyone really care about both the woman and the child in abortion issues? Of course not. They are both a source of entertainment for those who need a cause. Does any feel bad for both the tortured and the torturee? Of course not. They likewise are a show for the general public to watch.
"When you see a man beating a dog and you feel as bad for the man as you do for the dog that's when you know you've got it."
I heard this quote at a lecture one time (it was attributed to the Dalai Lama, but I haven't found anything to confirm that) and it's stuck with me since.
How often would we, as humans, be willing to help both sides? To see both sides of the very human issues and try to help anyone who is hurt by the situation, not just one person.
Instead there seems to be two reactions to such issues:
1. One becomes entirely obsessed with defending the rights of one of the above people seeing no problems with the potential results of their quick decisions. The person is made into a circus in that they are not treated as a person, but a cause. The person that "liberal" people will want to have as friends merely because they wish to appear "liberal" but do not actually care about the person. "When everybody loves me I will never be lonely." should very well be the theme of the person from then on. They are purely entertainment for the mass of liberal thought. Not someone who might actually need someone to care.
2. One decides that the person is not really a person and that whatever the issue that is brought up regarding this person must lead the person to be "evil." Evil is a tricky word. It effectively dehumanizes those who are given the label disregarding circumstances from society that one might've brought upon the person to be labelled as such, ie - ignoring mental illness, ostracization, abuse and other home situations, etc. This person is treated as a circus in that they are not human. They never will be. Forget all of the background and possible horrors of their lives. They are damned and thus fuel for argument. A circus of what was never allowed enough of a chance.
So be a part of the circus or try to change it. It's not likely to change throughout all of humanity. We've thrown the Christians at the lions, set up our "freak shows", burned down cities, destroyed lives, etc. all for entertainment in the past. Today we simply ruin lives by choosing not to recognize them as such.
And, yes, I know I'm a hypocrite. I've done my fair share of extreme side choosing and creating a circus out of people.
Apr 28, 2009
Apr 18, 2009
Absolutely disgusting
Ever have one of those days, weeks, or even months when all food seems to be absolutely and ridiculously disgusting?
Blegh.
That's been this week for me. Everything sounds gross.
Blegh.
That's been this week for me. Everything sounds gross.
Apr 13, 2009
Apr 7, 2009
"I am not young enough to know everything."
-Oscar Wilde
The other day I was thinking about a class last year and the ways in which I thought that I could've fixed the class and suddenly the though came to me "Of course I could've. I was in High School. I had the answers for everything."
Anyway, now that I've mocked myself twice, I just wanted to say how amazing Oscar Wilde is.
"Reading an Oscar Wilde play is sort of like life being perfect." - Tosh Berman
If you have not ever seen or read anything by Oscar Wilde I demand that you stop reading right now and go down to the library and check out the text to the play "The Importance of Being Ernest" or "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Don't check out the video - Hollywood's corrupted Wilde plays.
"I can resist everything - except temptation."
"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."
"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
You probably are wondering where this rambling came from. Well, I started another Oscar Wilde work today and was, of course, not disappointed. And I found a pleasant surprise the other day - a little book called "De Profundis" a love letter from Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas when he was in prison and doing hard labor for "gross indecency" (at least he didn't get the hemlock like Socrates).
Goodness. How does one properly express the literary genius that is Oscar Wilde? I am in awe.
Go read.
The other day I was thinking about a class last year and the ways in which I thought that I could've fixed the class and suddenly the though came to me "Of course I could've. I was in High School. I had the answers for everything."
Anyway, now that I've mocked myself twice, I just wanted to say how amazing Oscar Wilde is.
"Reading an Oscar Wilde play is sort of like life being perfect." - Tosh Berman
If you have not ever seen or read anything by Oscar Wilde I demand that you stop reading right now and go down to the library and check out the text to the play "The Importance of Being Ernest" or "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Don't check out the video - Hollywood's corrupted Wilde plays.
"I can resist everything - except temptation."
"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame."
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."
"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
You probably are wondering where this rambling came from. Well, I started another Oscar Wilde work today and was, of course, not disappointed. And I found a pleasant surprise the other day - a little book called "De Profundis" a love letter from Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas when he was in prison and doing hard labor for "gross indecency" (at least he didn't get the hemlock like Socrates).
Goodness. How does one properly express the literary genius that is Oscar Wilde? I am in awe.
Go read.
Mar 26, 2009
Take THAT communism!
I learned a secret tonight.
An ultra-important, historically significant secret.
Want to know?
I learned what the cosine button on your calculator actually does. No, I don't mean that I learned that I could press the button and it would give me the answer. I learned how to get the answer (approx.) without a calculator.
It's called a Taylor series:
cos(x) = 1 - x^2/2! + x^4/4! - x^6/6! + x^8/8! - . . . to infinity.
You have to use radians instead of degrees. That took me a while.
It's not possible to calculate any of the degree exactly according to this series, however, because it both uses pi (which has no apparent end or pattern) and the equation is infinite.
If you already knew this equation, don't tell me. I consider finally learning it to be a success against the calculator that was ruling my ruler life and would like to pretend I actually learned something tonight that isn't covered in classes often enough. (It wasn't in my trig. class. As it seems to always be the book simply said to press the button.)
Granted, I did read somewhere that the calculator uses a more effective method, but still!
Huzzah! I have won!
While I'm on this tangent (hahaha) I should probably include my recent love for Pascal's work.. the triangle, the wager, etc. Pascal rocks my socks.
An ultra-important, historically significant secret.
Want to know?
I learned what the cosine button on your calculator actually does. No, I don't mean that I learned that I could press the button and it would give me the answer. I learned how to get the answer (approx.) without a calculator.
It's called a Taylor series:
cos(x) = 1 - x^2/2! + x^4/4! - x^6/6! + x^8/8! - . . . to infinity.
You have to use radians instead of degrees. That took me a while.
It's not possible to calculate any of the degree exactly according to this series, however, because it both uses pi (which has no apparent end or pattern) and the equation is infinite.
If you already knew this equation, don't tell me. I consider finally learning it to be a success against the calculator that was ruling my ruler life and would like to pretend I actually learned something tonight that isn't covered in classes often enough. (It wasn't in my trig. class. As it seems to always be the book simply said to press the button.)
Granted, I did read somewhere that the calculator uses a more effective method, but still!
Huzzah! I have won!
While I'm on this tangent (hahaha) I should probably include my recent love for Pascal's work.. the triangle, the wager, etc. Pascal rocks my socks.
Mar 14, 2009
Do you believe in rock & roll?
I have yet to understand people who don't listen to music.
Really.
How can one not fall madly in love with the lyrics of a truly clever song?
And then listen to the song over and over again.
"I have a friend who is a born again. Found his saviour's grace.
And I was born before my father.
And my children before me.
And we are born. And born again. Like the waves of the sea."
"I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles.
Such are promises."
"There we all were in one place - the generation lost in space - but no time left to start again."
I tend to find lines in songs that I'd never thought about before and then realize just how incredible they are (or at least they are to me....)
Granted - I generally HATE love songs. They're nearly all the same song with slightly differing chords and words.
When people tell me they don't listen to music it's almost as painful as when people tell me they don't read.
And people who don't read or listen to music? Agh! What's the point of life?!
Really.
How can one not fall madly in love with the lyrics of a truly clever song?
And then listen to the song over and over again.
"I have a friend who is a born again. Found his saviour's grace.
And I was born before my father.
And my children before me.
And we are born. And born again. Like the waves of the sea."
"I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles.
Such are promises."
"There we all were in one place - the generation lost in space - but no time left to start again."
I tend to find lines in songs that I'd never thought about before and then realize just how incredible they are (or at least they are to me....)
Granted - I generally HATE love songs. They're nearly all the same song with slightly differing chords and words.
When people tell me they don't listen to music it's almost as painful as when people tell me they don't read.
And people who don't read or listen to music? Agh! What's the point of life?!
Mar 5, 2009
I just don't want to
Why is it that all I want to do in the morning is sleep and all I want to do at night is procrastinate doing actual work?Seems silly.
<- So does this.
But silly in a comprehensible way. Which, I suppose is likewise, incomprehensible. But then neither of those two. All at once.
Anywho, I just thought I'd randomly post this cover for "Waiting for Godot" here because it pretty much rocks my socks. As well as because I really want to see "Waiting for Godot" sometime. (Dang you conservative Utah. 'Twill never come here.)
Anyone want to watch the video with me? :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
