Posted by
Brantley on Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:53:55 AM
I don't know if this was directed at me, but there was a comment closely following one of mine that struck me as maybe an attack at me. I could however be wrong. But either way, I wanted to reply. There are some sentiments that are way too prevelent in our society today.
Do What Works
In on of my careers I taught a rehabilitation class to inmates. I used to tell them that to stay out of the system they have to learn to do what works.
-An excellent point! I heartedly agree. I hope you did then tell them that what they had been doing, thus far, wasn’t that? As a recovering _____, you probably are aware of the truism in Alcoholics Anonymous as to what insanity is? Trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results each time.
I left the utopian ignorance of extreme liberalism because I began to realize that nothing of modern liberalism promoted goodness or growth or humanity in general.
-Left one extreme for another? What’s wrong with the middle?
I was pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-christian, pro-extreme environmentalism, and on & on ad nauseam. Until I began to see that modern liberalism only promotes death & destruction.
-Not true. Modern liberalism doesn’t promote anything. It doesn’t exist. People promote things. Not all things are promoted by all people. Not all people agree on what should be promoted. To lump an entire section of population by a single trait, is simply stereotyping.
Abortion kills. Trillions [literally] on social welfare has killed the black family. The feminist-q....r agenda is destroying the american family. The anti-progress, anti-oil, anti-america agenda of extreme environmentalism and the global warming lie is starving folks in places like Hatii & other 3rd world. [don't tell me it isn't about that, I subscribed to the agenda] And on & on & on!!!
-So you’re saying that trillions of abortions have destroyed the black family? I’m not exactly clear what that means. Also, as a prior far-left liberal you should then be aware that feminism and queerism (well… you kinda lumped them together, so it made sense) aren’t together, and thus can’t have a combined agenda. But couldn’t it be said that it was the destruction of the family resulted in homosexuality? I mean, I’m sure you’re of the mind that queers, as you so fondly refer to them as, aren’t born, but rather choose to be gay. If they hadn’t come from a broken family, then they wouldn’t be gay, right? Anti-progress and anti-oil agenda; what? Wouldn’t it be progressive to seek alternative fuels? Is there really any doubt that at some point, in one way or another, oil will dry up? And lastly, how does environmentalism have any effect on Haiti?
And then we have the self-obsessed, childish, ignorant know nothings talk about OTHERS being closed-minded.
I will tell them exactly what I used to tell the inmates. YOU NEED TO GROW UP.
-I’m assuming these are directed at me, as here over the last little bit I have been the loudest (at least most long-winded) opponent to this article’s line of logic. But, how do you know that I need to grow up? I’m 28, maybe you did click on my bio and read that? But Einstein was younger then this when he created his theories of relativity, so age must not be the only part of the equation. Maybe it’s because I’m from Alabama, and we all know how backwards we are down here. But I’ll have you know that in my short lifetime I’ve lived in Tennessee (not helping my case), South Carolina, North Carolina, Colorado, Mississippi, Republic of Korea and for a short period of time Iraq. So surely that adds some to my being a grown up. But then it must be that I know nothing. Except, thus far I’ve had a few critical replies from comments on this site, and none have actually tried to dispute anything I’ve said. I had one grammatical mistake mentioned, though it wasn’t actually a mistake, but rather a point of view. I’ve had a really hard to understand retort about something like I need to check my facts, but didn’t show where I had made a mistake and had in fact not brought anything new to light. I can only assume no news is good news, I must have been correct.
But I want to ask some questions and a challenge or two. Why is oil better then solar? Why is it bad to try to help the earth that we live on? Why is it that we don’t mind killing in the name of salvation, but aren’t willing to not kill for the same?
Oil will dry up. Face it. Maybe not in my life time. Maybe we humans will kill ourselves off with nuclear war first, but sooner or later, it will end. What will we do then? What will we do while it’s drying up? Do you realize that gas is not the part of that barrel of oil that will bite you in the butt? Think about all the plastics you touch daily. Remember the commercial from something like American Plastics, that showed someone walking through their house or in their car and all the plastic drying up? But then don’t forget that most of the pesticides we use and herbicides and pharmaceuticals we touch are actually created from the byproducts of oil. And you’re surely saying Natural Gas is the answer! But you do realize that Natural Gas is a byproduct of the oil industry, right? And actually let’s talk about gas that we’re all worried about. Our entire way of life is centered on gas. It’s not the gas you put in your car to drive to your job, it’s the gas in the car that brings you your pizza tonight. It’s the gas in the truck that delivered the ingredients to the pizza place. It’s the gas in the tractor that harvested the grains and tomatoes. It’s the gas in the little four-wheeler that the farmer uses to get around the farm where the beef and pigs are raised that made that pepperoni and ham. So are you still so short-sighted to assume that oil is the way to go? Now, off-shore drilling is a hot buzz word here lately. Want to discuss that? What would it hurt to drill, we need the oil, right? Well, we actually have oil, the only reason that the price has gone so hi, say most economists, isn’t the supply, but the demand. Speculation, not the amount of oil available, seems to be the reason oil has skyrocketed. Now that it seems the bubble is slowing or bursting, will we still need more oil? But what about the ocean we drill it out of? So what right? You were awake the day they taught you that the majority of the oxygen in the atmosphere that we depend on comes from the algae and small creatures of the ocean, right? But, some historians are starting to suggest that the majority of carbon dioxide came from dying creatures in the ocean. So yeah, good thinking, kill off those plants, for a little drop of oil and a whole lot of money! So I’m anti-progressive because I would prefer that oil not be king any more. So what? But wait, with the exception of the original car creators, biofuel has been a new thing. I may be mistaken on the actual plant, but I know that when Diesel created his engine, he envisioned it to run on peanut oil. That was very progressive for his day. Well, mainly because there wasn’t oil. How about we use the sun? That’s definitely a new concept! Well, other then the fact that mother nature or god or whatever has been using sunlight to fuel this planet for somewhere between six thousand and six billion years. Wind… well, I won’t mention windmills because they only provided early civilization the means to eat. I’m getting catty now.
Where do you live? Your name says California. That’s in America, on the North American continent if my schooling was worth it. But… that continent is on the planet Earth, yes? We live on Earth! You live in a house, you don’t wait until the house is falling down before you do some work on it, right? Maybe you like your house so you spend a little time and money keeping it looking good. Maybe you’re just simply image-conscious and keep it looking better then your neighbor. Why shouldn’t we do that to our home planet? Even if global warming is a lie, even if there is no such thing as the greenhouse effect and that nothing man has ever done has caused anything detrimental, why is it bad practice to just simply try to do a little more to help the planet? That is greedy. That is very greedy. You have the means to potentially help something that you rely on for life, but aren’t willing to because as you see it, there is no need.
I was on my way to school, was 17 and in my junior year of high school. I couldn’t figure out why the traffic was so nonexistent, but I didn’t complain since I was habitually late that year. Apparently, as I learned after I got to school, that less then two blocks from my high school an extreme rightwing Christian believer tried to blow up an abortion clinic. It struck me as very confusing how someone who is Christian could, no would, try to kill someone or destroy something based on belief. It was celebrated here. A strike against the leftist murderers that would be willing to destroy life! Destroy life? Isn’t that what bombs do? When I was in training to deactivate bombs I learned first hand that bombs are meant to kill and maim. It worked. People were dead or wounded because someone wanted to save life. Am I the only one that sees the flaw in this logic? I’m not a fan of abortion, but then I also don’t feel I have the right to tell another human being what they can do with their body. If you feel so strongly that a woman who is having a baby doesn’t have the right or ability to decide if her child should live, I suspect then when a few months ago a family allowed their daughter to die because they left her life in God’s hands you took offense. You’re telling me one parent doesn’t have the right to decide about the prospects of her child, yet another does, with the outcome the same in those two cases? Again, faulty logic. But rather then killing to save lives, why is it looked down upon, especially from the right, when someone tries to peacefully (i.e. not killing) save lives? People bash politicians who call for talks with countries not to be mentioned, rather then just running in and killing them all. I guess the axiom is true, kill them all and let god sort them out. That is again, faulty logic.
I once told my dad I was prejudiced. I hated prejudiced people, and thus if I hated someone I didn’t know, I must be prejudiced. I had a classmate in high school who once said she hated close minded people. It struck me as odd that someone who claimed to be open minded would be so close minded…