Rants I've Been Saving

Spastic Genius
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots"
OK, the time has come and gone where bigotry is anything other than idiocy. I don't care if we're talking about religion, sexual orientation, race, or age. The time when bigotry is acceptable, tolerable, or worthy of being considered anything but the last haven of the mentally barren and socially bankrupt is over.With the exception of the amount of melanin in their skin, there is no fundamental difference between a man of one color and another. To believe or profess otherwise flies in the face of the science of men and the wishes of God. To be bigoted based on religious differences is the worst kind of serial horseshit (and the single most common reason for murder and war in the last two millennia). The Muslims, Moslems, Jews, and Christians all worship the same god. The sole difference is their belief in whether or not a prophet has returned, and if he did, who was he? An incredibly stupid reason to hate someone. As for the remaining religions? Almost all religions which have any real following at all agree on all of the important issues; Don't kill, don't hurt people, do until others as you'd have done to you/Karma, etc. Hating one and other because of religion is as stupid as hating someone because his wife has a different hair color than yours.Sexual orientation? What the hell business it of yours who someone sleeps with unless it's you? Lessee....yep, the bible does say, in the old testament, back when the tribes of Judah were dying out, that a man should not lay with a man as he lay with a woman (ya think maybe that's because they wanted more baby Judeans, and men with men weren't gonna provide 'em? This is about the same time that the laws against onanism (masturbation) and prostitution were brought about too... Seem like a pattern? Perhaps, a pattern that has long outlived it's usefulness)? So the religious angle is moot. In fact, the entire notion of homophobia is ridiculous. Further, gay/lesbian marriage should never even have been a point of contention. Ignoring the fact that forbidding them to marry is a violation of decency and common sense, it is a violation of the spirit of the constitution and a violation of the founding principles of this country. Two American citizens, employed, tax payers, voters, possibly veterans, are forbidden to engage in a civil contract because it would result in sexual activity that a vocal minority are avidly against. Remember when a woman had to be a virgin to marry? Pretty stupid, yes? No more so than the anti-gay marriage ban. Wake up and smell the taffeta. Age-ism is the practice of discriminating against people because they are beyond a certain age. They are seen as less viable because they "may" suffer from mental or intellectual breakdown (Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia, etc), a weakening of the body (arthritis, etc.) and a less attractive overall countenance. While it is based on truth of a sort, and it may be more profitable for businesses to present younger faces to be more attractive, age-ism leads to (or has already led to, in some places), a kind of bigotry where only those people who the company believes will be "marketable" will be hired. There are currently cases of Age-ism being perpetrated against people as young as their late 30's - not in modeling or cheerleading, but in office work, sales, marketing, etc. Anywhere the boss figures he/she can make a buck by putting a prettier face out to the world. Excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth.This is not to say that I don't, to a certain extent, agree with a certain amount of look-ism. I'm overweight, significantly. That said, I do believe that it's fair to make certain judgments about people who are overweight. Being overweight is unhealthy, it is frequently the result of either neuroses or compulsive/addictive behavior, and is NOT generally the result of a thyroid disorder. At least not nearly as often as people claim that it is. Generally speaking, fat people get to be fat people by eating too much. They stay fat by continuing to eat too much and not exercising. Unlike race and age and sexual orientation and (arguably) religion, body size is most often a matter of choice. Don't like to be treated differently because you're a 'big person'? Diet, exercise, and lose weight, otherwise, don't bitch.Bottom line, hating someone for anything other than actions directed against you, yours or society in general is pretty goddamn stupid.

Spastic Genius
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots"
Am I the only one who believes that it's WAY past time that drug companies stop making up syndromes so that they can market their worthless drugs? The latest I heard was PMDD, Pre-Menstrual Distress Disorder or some horseshit. Basically a made up disorder to allow a drug company to market a dangerous prescription drug for 20 or 30 times what it is worth. I see it on TV all the time! Of course, the really great one was ADD/ADHD. The kid eats sugar and carbohydrate crap all day, is ignored or abandoned by his parents who leave him either the TV or the Playstation for a babysitter, and then they don't understand why he's uncontrollable. Assholes. *IF* (and that's a hell of a big if) there is such a thing as ADD/ADHD, it is probably the most over-diagnosed, and over-treated disease on the planet and based, I suspect, on poor diet, and inattentive, lazy parents.WE DON'T NEED MORE DRUGS! What we need is a society with more courage. We need a race of people who don't go running to get drunk, or hide behind a pill every time that life hands them a bit more than they are used to, or each time that they get a little uncomfortable. We need a society where escaping and running away just aren't options.As long as we, as a society, refuse to deal with our lives and our problems, we will be slaves to the pharmacorps and medical conglomerates (and puppet governments and global corporate interests...). Sheep, waiting to be fleeced.


Spastic Genius
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots"

Speaking of ADD/ADHD and its underlying causes, that brings me to one of my favorite topics; parenting. Let's be clear, I'm not over fond of children. 85% of children desperately need to have their parents beaten with a stick. Here's the deal... We already have too many bloody people. We do not have resources for the people currently alive, let alone the 2-5 little Johnnies and Jennies you mean to inflict on the rest of us. Further population expansion is going to lead to greater consumerism, a total depletion of resources, and pollution beyond what your tiny little mind can comprehend.All of that aside, those really are not the factors which bother me. What bothers me is that of people who have and will cause children to be born, the greater percentage cannot afford to raise them with any kind of real parenting in place. Even among those who CAN afford to be parents during their children's formative years, most will not raise their children, but ceded this responsibility to TV, videos and video games. This will result in the fact that they do not learn any real discipline, manners or social skills, which will in turn result in the fact that they will not receive the education or socialization necessary to be functional in our world. You want to know why there are so many more child suicides, child criminals, and juvenile delinquents now than in past generations? There's no parenting going on! Simply baring or siring a child, yelling at it when it irritates you, and otherwise hoping that it ignores you is not parenting. Parenting is spending the majority of a child's formative years with them making sure that they know that they are loved, and instilling in them the lessons of right and wrong, of discipline, respect and responsibility that they will require to grow up happy and healthy in our society. It is being available to them throughout their childhood to help them learn all the lessons that they will need to learn to live.I am of the strongest belief that having a baby should require a license, and that marriage and baby licenses should require you to pay a large fee, then pass a test, a credit check and a psych exam. Those who pass the baby license requirement would be put into a raffle, with 3 names per hundred being allowed to conceive, the rest would be allowed to adopt.Can't afford or don't want to spend time all your time with a child for the first 5-7 years? Can't afford to feed, cloth, provide medical care of your own means? DON'T HAVE CHILDREN!!I want to formally go on record supporting retroactive abortion for those individuals who insist on having children they have no intention or ability to raise, effective the day before their next copulation.