Evil as a Pasttime

The Supreme Court just handed down a new ruling regardin' the constitutionality of "buffer zones"  around the entrances of clinics that offer abortion services.  You can read about it here (I'll wait...):

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/26/325806464/states-cant-mandate-buffer-zones-around-abortion-clinics-high-court-say

You good?  

Okay.  

Now- my Pretentious Take:

It seems to me that, regardless of what your feelings/beliefs on this subject should happen to be, it would be obvious to everyone that Violence and Hate in the name of God are just dead up wrong.  Some folks just appear to be lookin' for a target for their Anger, and feel that it will always be justified, so long as they hide behind the Robes.

I can't help but wonder why people don't look for a better outlet, try and steer their excess emotions and energies into somethin' genuinely positive and compassionate.  There are a great deal of things out there that fit this description, (many that benefit unfortunate children), that don't involve fire bombs, explosives, guns, ugly speech and intimidation.  Actually, none of the things that come to mind for me include any of those things.  Not one.

To believe you can emulate Christ through acts of violence is counter intuitive and absurd.  Attemptin' to bend Today's World into a cheap imitation of Heaven on Earth is futile.  In fact, just effort wasted.  I'd really appreciate it if someone could point out somethin' to the contrary...

We seem to have lost our way and we can't even see it.  Wars of Ideals rage unendin', while those in need are more often than not ignored or looked upon as part of the "problem".  

Hate as a Hobby has become the norm for so many in our country.  Perhaps the time has come for us all to start lendin' legitimate, heartfelt assistance to our Fellow Humans.  

Or, maybe it's time for a buncha these Hateful Sonsabitches to take up needlepoint...

Fish~

Dream to Nightmare

The followin' is my response to a day that consisted of a Deluge of Commentary, Partisan Spin, and Dead Up Bullshit and Ugliness surroundin' the efforts to take advantage of the anniversary of a particularly eloquent and influential speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Dr. Martin Luther King, fifty years ago.  I failed to scratch up a suitable image to pair with it until recently.  Unplanned, but...

  

Ya know, we all know Pieces of Shit of all colors, shapes, and sizes.  This is a statement that few would deny, at least at the beginnin' of a conversation.  Hell, some of 'em may be family or friends, somethin' worthy of self-deprecatin' remarks to be met with laughter.  And yet, when we choose to piss and moan about Percieved Injustices, the Conversation all too often devolves into some kinda Proclamation regardin' Race.  

Whether this is due to Culture, or Upbringin', or somethin' else, I ain't smart enough to say.  I would really like to believe that most of us are above a thing such as this.  But, alas, more often than not, things seem to travel the Short Circuit that leads back around to Color. 

Sure, we like to claim that it's "not just that", that we're experiencin' a legitimate reaction to unfairness and abuses rife through programs of Public Assistance, Affirmative Action, even maybe just a percieved sense of ingratitude, of entitlement.  Or, maybe it's mumblin' kids with their caps on backwards, their boxers showin', or roofers that work too damn hard and make the rest of us look lazy that we find annoyin' and embarrassin'.  The Race Thing?  That just happens to be an incidental (though legitimate) device that assists us in our attempts at self-expression and validation of a particular interpretation of the Current State of Things.  Just another simple concept makin' its home in our Sociologic Tool Belt.

The Civil Rights Movement was not some knee-jerk reaction to Make-Believe Slights or Exaggerated Tales of Injustice.  The Civil Rights Movement arose in response to Real Events-  ugly, brutal events, perpetrated by the Base, the Ignorant, the Intolerant.  Events that didn't just simply serve to perpetuate the callous marginalizin' of a particular demographic in respect to Opportunities and Fairness, but crossed into the Dark Theater.  The Civil Rights Movement was a response to the Untenable and the Unacceptable- includin' Terrorism and Murder.  Atrocities Committed in the Name of Racial Purity.  Cowardly Acts, ofttimes takin' refuge behind the Flowin' Robes of Christianity.  The Civil Rights Movement was a valid reaction by people that had been subjected, or were witness to the subjegation of others, to Hate and Intolerance.  Swollen, fevered Hate.  A Cultivated Cancer.

I don't know if the laws enacted by our Government decades ago were exactly what was needed.  If the original intent was to hopefully offer up somethin' a little more fair and honest to a people for whom bullyin' and intimidation were a part of everyday life, it has probably helped to a degree.  If it was intended to help bring that same group into the political process that is promised to all citizens of this great country, some progress was made.  If the intent was to foster Tolerance, Understandin', Acceptance, then it has proved to be a Catastrophic Failure.  

Perhaps the assumption was that if all Men (and Women) were viewed as equal in the Eyes of the Law, then all reasonable people would accept it as Fact and move forward accordingly.  Sadly, this assumption does not take into consideration that the Concepts of Contempt and Hate have no basis in Objectivity, Rational Thought, or Reason.  These are Vulgar, Primal Concepts.  These are Instincts.  Cold.  Selfish.  Calculatin'.

And, as much as most of us would like to believe that such Vile Concepts are all but extinct, they are quite alive and thrivin' in our America.

Damnit.

Fish

What a Rush...

Okay. I admit- I don't ever really recall sittin' and spendin' any more than a few seconds listenin' to Rush Limbaugh at any given time. Felt I'd heard enough clips and quotes via other avenues over the past couple decades to know that Me and Rush are basically without overlap- politically, idealogically, morally, ethically, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... Nope, none.

So, I get in the company van earlier today. The radio is switched to AM (red flag, right there) and Rush is on. So, I assume out of some morbid personal curiosity, I leave it there.

And I listen...

Durin' the course of next three to four minutes that I subject myself to this "show"(?), I hear nothin' but a non-stop, ugly, name-callin', insult-slingin', mockin', derogatory, pessimistic, venom-spewin', piss-and-moan, hate-monger bitch-fest, the likes of which I don't think I have ever had the misfortune of hearin' before. No "meaningful dialogue.". No "discussion". Just mind-blowin', jaw-droppin' rhetoric! I am freakin' out! Yeah! Me...!

(Breathe...)

Damn.
If this stuff is indicative of the kind of thing that apparently shitloads of my Fellow Countrymen are choosin' to include in their regular diet of Sorry-Ass "Entertainment", then a good lot of things instantly become clearer for me to see and a little bit easier to fathom-

The Level of Hate and Intolerance I see around me every day is a Big Mystery no more. The Veil has been lifted.

The Blisterin' Contempt with which we so easily hold Our Down-Trodden and Less-Fortunate is no longer surprisin'. (Expected...?)

(Drink...)

The Deaf Ear and the Blind Eye that so often decide to ignore Fact and Reason, optin' instead to posit that Compassion is a Curse- a Burden yoked only by the Weak- these are now recognizd as Enviable Skills, as in "if I had been a bigger, more closed-minded prick, I might woulda had a better chance..."

The Capacity to be led by the Nose by our Opressors/Manipulators/Abusers- those loungin' across eider down pillows while bein' fed golden grapes by hosts of both Virgins and Harlots- as we relish in every minute of our Stupidity? This is the New Corporate Fascism. The True Face of Capitalism Run Amok and a Populace Turned Commodity. Rendered blind. Lazy. Blissfuly Ignorant. Mean-Spirited Mobs- all Pitchforks and Torches. Tens of thousands sharin' a Single Brain, and a shitty one at that.

Bigotry, Intolerance, even Racism? All dressed up in thousand dollar suits and white and purple robes, espousin' their Proclamations of Infallability and Unwaverin' Blockhead Conviction. Annointin' the Hoarde with their Faux Concern, dumped from heart-shaped boxes made of Death Warrants and Eviction Notices, pasted together with Blood and Bile. Uncompromisin'. Haughty. Swollen Fat with Pride. Drunk on the Sweat of Others.

These Abandonments of Collective Empathy are no longer recognized as Flaws of Character, Errors in Judgment, but are absurdly held up as Examples of the New Virtues, Badges of the Iron-Fisted. The Absolutely Righteous. These Cancers now displace Compassion, Understandin', Empathy- things which were once Treasured and Admired Values, but are now considered only Pathetic, Fragile. Crushable. So Crushable.

At Best? Instrumental in the Design and Implementation of an Untenable Situation.
At worst? Simple Doom.

Unbelievable?

Sadly, no.

Not so much now. No...

I think I might be sick...