Tea “Party”

I think it’s a little unfair that the Tea Party gets to categorize themselves as a third party when all of their candidates are running as members of the Republican Party.  If they want to call themselves a party, the need to see if they can stand on their own and win on their own.  I don’t think they can, and I think they know it.  I wonder why the media has not called attantion to their differences from the GOP while mentioning that they are still running AS the GOP.

Discuss…

How do we convince people who do not derive power from it or lose out as a result of it that the White Male Privilege does exist and that it would be almost universally beneficial to eliminate it?

What Zuckerberg Did

I saw an article this week on Facebook Depression – basically the idea that people who don’t have many friends on Facebook or whose friends don’t interact much with them can become depressed and suicidal. I suppose if you’re socially awkward or withdrawn normally, your Facebook life would reflect your normal life. Everything we do is a reflection of us anyway. The article makes a valid point, but omits one glaring and serious fact – our experience is what we make it.

Facebook may be depressing for some, but for others, it is amazing. For others it is a way to connect with friends all over the world that they might not have been able to afford to call or wouldn’t have felt comfortable writing. Facebook has made it possible for people to look up relatives they knew existed but had no idea how to contact. It has made that initial reach out to someone you wish you still knew just a little bit less scary and therefore; infinitely more possible.  It has renewed relationships and friendships that people thought we lost and provides hope that we may get so see someone again, someday… if they’re on Facebook.

Sure, we may get annoyed when we see a lot of negative statuses, but Facebook forces us to accept that some people are complainers.  If we cannot accept it, Facebook gives us the option to walk away, unseen, unnoticed, until we choose otherwise.  It gives us an opportunity to support each other that we didn’t have in the past, not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know.  We’ve learned that we can empathize with people we haven’t seen in years and simply because we were once on the same team or went to the same school.  Those people, even if they exist in your life only when you want them to, by extension, enrich or diminish that part of your life only if you let them.

I can’t ignore that a lot of my friends are struggling, but I know for sure that Facebook is not the cause of their struggle.  Their struggles are with their health, their relationships, their jobs or lack of them, and the frustrations of every day.   Facebook allows us all to garner the support we need to wage daily war against the harshness and cruelty of life, even if it’s just in the knowledge that someone else is going through that too, and there is someone out there who does, indeed, know where we are coming from.  Their status proves it.

Does Facebook cause depression?  Maybe for some people it does, but it also weakens it.  Facebook virtually fills the holes where depression would entrench itself until people we are connected with in the real world can take over.  Our experience with Facebook is about how we choose to use it.  Zuckerberg gave us a power we didn’t have – to positively or negatively affect people’s lives without being in the same room.  How we use it is up to us.

Indirect Censorship

The Parent’s Television Council has decided to “scold” various TV shows for their representation of teenage sexuality.  Most of the shows they chastised were geared towards adults, shows that young teens shouldn’t be watching anyway.  Of course, whether or not a child should be watching a particular show should depend on the maturity of the child and the decision of their parents, not a Parent’s council.

Indirect censorship groups are gaining way too much power.  Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club are censoring the release of Jon Stewart’s new book, Earth, for unknown reasons.  Blockbuster and other video stores decide what they want to release to the public, and it’s usually based on the owner’s morals rather than actual inappropriate content.  The rating system for movies in the US has absolutely no rhyme, reason, or rubric.

American’s are allowing their information, their books, their TV shows, and their movies to be censored with no knowledge of why or how.  They put bling faith and trust in an agency without knowing the true purpose of the censorship.  I’m so tired of being told what to watch, what to read, what to think…  Even though I choose not to listen to these agencies, I find it more and more difficult to gain access to the information they don’t want me to have, even if it’s just a little sex on Glee.

American Intelligence

I am currently involved in a discussion with a neighbor of mine which I find particularly disturbing.  In her words, she’d like to see the entire Middle East made into a sandbox.  Let’s just ignore the fact that most of the Middle East IS a sandbox and move on to the more important point.  She can’t tell me why.  Seriously.  She can only say that we should bomb the entire Middle East, but she cannot come up with a reason why we should work towards eliminating an entire race of people.  Does that not sound a little bit like young members of the SS who “knew” the Jews should be eliminated, but could not give reasons for their beliefs?

When questioned, she refuses to discuss it, saying that she’s entitled to her own opinion.  While this is true, when did Americans stop basing their opinions on actual information?  When did they completely abandon reason for the rantings of some lunatic on Fox News?  More importantly, why are those of us who are actually doing research, educating ourselves, and forming opinions based on reality being so incredibly politically correct and entertaining the complete idiocy of these people?  I don’t know why I believed that when President Bush left office somehow these Backwoods Republicans would magically grow a brain.  I’m embarrassed at my own idealism.

The Tragedy of Michael Jackson

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson.  My father played the Jackson 5, I saw the Thriller video on MTV, I attened the “We ARE the World” event, I danced to his songs with my friends.  There is no doubt that he was the most famous person of our lifetimes.  He was an amazing musician, and incredibly talented singer, and a gifted dancer.  His music will always be a part of my life.

Still, his life was a bit of a tragedy.  The amount of pressure we put on celebrities to constantly be in the limelight, to give up a part of themselves to be in the public eye, to become icons (demi-gods) and give up something inately human and fallible in themselves is one of the worst parts of our culture.  We have no idea who Michael Jackson really was.  We know the stories, we’ve seen the tabloids, and we’ve heard countless accusations, but we ignored the fact that he was just a man.  My hear goes out to the family of Michael Jackson.  Oney they truly knew the man.

National Novel Writing Month

I wrote my first novel in 9th grade.  I did it mostly during my creative writing class and my teacher said that few people my age had takled such a thing.  I later found that there were reasons for that.  Writing a novel is was not as easy as I thought it would be.  I’d probably be embarrassed to read it now.  I was highly influenced by S.E. Hinton and several other authors that I can’t remember now because I didn’t have enough life experience to have many original ideas.

Now I’m thinking about doing it again and I keep making up excuses.  It won’t be good enough.  Someone has already thought of that idea.  I don’t have enough time to invest in writing what I really want.  But I need a break from politics and an outlet to keep my mind off of work.  It’s National Novel Writing Month, and I get to go to a Writer’s Conference next weekend for work.  This might not be a bad time to give it another shot and see if I can come up with my own style.

The Thing About Vampires

A friend recommended that I read Twilight by Stephanie Myers about a month ago and I enjoyed it even though it’s geared more toward adolescent readers.  As I was reading New Moon, the second in the series, my husband was flipping through the Tivo.  He saw True Blood on HBO and said, “What is it with you and vampires?”  It’s easy.  Men want to be them.  Women want to be with them.  Though the original movie vampires were old, ugly creatures with bad teeth, the modern vampire is sexy, flawless, and graceful. 

Besides the lure of the mysterious, the modern vampire has had hundreds of years to learn how to romance and please a woman (or man, although men are pretty easy).  Plus, a vampire has to learn to control himself.  He has been waiting a long time to find a woman he is compatible with, and he doesn’t want to ruin it by killing her by accident.  Watching a man exercise that kind of control is incredibly alluring, since human men are not particularly adept. 

The idea of immortality is not for everyone, but for the scholar there is nothing more appealing.  There is always more to learn – new ways to grow.  No one has a better chance of figuring out the meaning life than someone who has crossed the line between life and death.  There has to be something gained from watching someone die, especially if you must kill them in order to survive yourself.  It may not be pleasant, but it is still knowledge.

Obama Choses Biden

I think Mr. Biden is an excellent choice for Vice President.  I liked him a lot when he was runing for President, and I feel that they various ways in which the media tried to discount and discredit him shows a lack of integrity and respect in a field that has been overvalued for too long.  In addition, it’s obvious that the media is going to pull out everything negative that Biden’s ever said about Obama (but they will conveniently overlook that in the Republican nominee), but fortunately Joe’s addition to the ticket makes up for anything that Barack could lack.  I still have little hope for this election season, mostly because the media lacks objectivity.  I think they’ll publically crucify both of the Democratic Candidates at every opportunity.

Festing

Once a year my family takes a three day break from reality and attends Pennsylvania’s tiny little version of Woodstock.  From August 15th to the 17th we will be camping out at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, listening to music and ignoring the rest of the world.  The mood this year is less joyous, more subdued.  People are shorter with each There was also more room to lay down our tent – meaning less poeple could afford to come out this year.  Still, I look forward to a musical break, much like Sarchasm’s stint at Lollapalloza.  By the way, we’re not immune to the crisis in Georgia or Bush’s obviously political appearance at the Olympics, but no one wants to talk about it.  I’ll return to reality soon.  As always, here’s a taste of what we’ll be listening to:

Janis Ian

Hoots and Hellmouth

Steve Earle