Post the Tenth: Let's talk religion.

Okay, this is one of those topics I said I'd never cover, but here it is. Confronted by a survey by one of my teachers, I was asked my beliefs in God. Do I? Don't I? How much, or how little? Here's the extended version of my answer.

Personally, I believe in God. I believe there's some sort of intelligent force behind the creation of the universe for the following (technically incorrectly labeled but still amusing) reason:

Oversimplified... but the point remains.

Yeah... no. I don't buy that the universe randomly, perfectly exploded into being. The chances of that happening- or at the very least happening in such a way as to produce us- are (pardon the pun) completely astronomical.
But here begins the heresy: I also recognize that the Bible is flawed. Things get lost in translation from the original text (because- and let's face it- ancient Hebrew to modern English is impossible to pull off without violating the intended meanings and implications of every word and phrase). Politics happened, leading to re-translations. Ideals changed with the centuries, which led to re-re-translations. And that's not even getting into the other such problems plaguing the self-contradicting mess we have today. The point to all of this is: you're not reading God's Word. You're reading the literary equivalent of God's Word as filtered by a game of Broken Telephone.
But of course, that's not the end of our religious woes. No, that hardly scratches the surface. People have taken the words written thousands of years ago and mistranslated and mistranslated again as justification to be serious dicks, completely ignoring the core values written in the very same book. Whether it's offhandedly remarking about how gays are disgusting and that God doesn't love them while claiming to practice a religion that teaches tolerance and peace, telling people with a smile that they're going to burn in the eternal fires of Damnation because they're Presbyterian instead of Catholic, or having their child sing a song in front of the entire congregation about how Ain't No Homos Gonna Make It To Heaven... they have all completely missed the point. Christianity preaches tolerance and peace, so beating a man to death simply because he has a boyfriend is in direct violation to your supposed faith. Furthermore, the first of the Ten Commandments- set forth by God when we made it clear we wanted to govern ourselves- is "Thou Shalt Not Kill", which translates into modern English as "don't freaking kill people, dickweed". Next, saying that God doesn't love homosexuals is equally retarded, because God is often referred to as a being of unending love and peace, whose grace is enough for all of mankind. Not, "all mankind, except for you guys over there". If He was offended by their existence, they wouldn't exist. Kinda comes with the whole "all-powerful creator of the universe" thing.

I like this guy's style. He knew what he was talking about.

Ask me about the theory of evolution. I will tell you that it is not an affront to Christianity, does not undermine God in anyway, and, in fact, God used evolution as part of His master plan to help his subjects "go forth and multiply". They can't very well go forth and multiply if they can't adapt and change to survive their environment, now can they?
Yet, people seem up in arms about EVOLUTION, EVOLUTION, claiming that believing in it and believing in God are mutually exclusive, when the two can go hand in hand perfectly without conflicting at all. Big Bang and intelligent design? THOSE are mutually exclusive (unless, of course, we claim that God Himself kicked off the Big Bang, which is an idea I'm willing to accept as valid).
I'm not atheist, but at the same time I don't know that I really align to any of the major branches of the Christian faith. Organized religion, in my mind, isn't a wholly bad thing, but it's not entirely a good thing, either. Like-minded people gather together to talk about and hear about and learn about the God they believe in, which is great. But it presents two problems: First, the opinions of the preacher can become the truths of the congregation. And if the opinion of the preacher is that "God Hates Fags" (looking at you, Westboro Baptist), then the congregation could start to believe that God hates homosexuals, and take hateful action against them.
That's bad.
Second, they're not traveling outside their comfort zone. Debate can be a healthy exercise that nurtures understanding, but as of right now we have denominations pointing fingers at each other screaming "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" when they practice basically the same beliefs.
And that's stupid.
I'm a truth seeker, always have been, and the truth is that we don't know the truth. We'll never learn the truth until we've clocked out. Now, what I believe that there is someone up there, surrounded by millions of smaller someones. I believe in God... just not the same God everybody else seems to.
I believe that the Bible is a perfectly reasonable set of guidelines, that lost its own way somewhere down the path. If you look hard enough, you see what it was trying to say, as long as you don't take everything there as perfectly literal. Because things do get lost in translation, let's face facts: every version of the Bible, after the first, is an adulterated copy.
I believe that God is a loving and caring being who has a sense of humor. You're probably not going to Hell if you crack a joke in church, doubly so if it has something to do with Him. And since He loves all people, big, small, male, female, gay, straight, it's pretty pathetic to pass judgment on somebody for violating God's law, when He so generously sent his son to make sure we weren't all eternally screwed even after we'd flipped him the middle finger multiple times.
I believe that maybe the worst things that happen to us in our lives- the stupid, inane, unbelievable crap that causes us to lose belief- happens for a reason. A tragedy can bring together two people who wouldn't otherwise have looked at each other before it happened. A Midwestern family moved out into the middle of nowhere Southwest by an abusive husband can leave him and then find someone new, unexpected, who makes them happier than they've ever been. The death of a family member can be the catalyst for conversation and the healing of decades-old scars. Without these terrible events, things never could have gotten better. Despite appearances, I think He is looking out for us. The movie Evan Almighty (much as I dislike it) stated it wonderfully in a scene between Morgan Freeman (playing God) and whoever the heck was playing the main character's wife: God tells her, essentially, that people keep asking for miracles and assistance, but it's easier for them to overcome future trials if He lends them the strength to overcome, instead of simply overcoming it for them. People don't grow when everything is done for them. They have to face challenges. And when they do, they make their own miracles.
Of course, I could be ostracized by saying any of this in public. Even though I'm actually saying "God exists", the moment "but..."leaves my lips is the moment I've gone from saved to damned in the eye of everyone in earshot.

Methinks my kind doth protest too much. Then again, you probably gathered that.

In conclusion, I'm going to Hell no matter what I do, so I'm going to stick to my heresies and see where that takes me.

Post the Ninth: My thoughts on 9/11

This post is going to make any Tea Party readers I have call me a fascist communist socialist terrorist Liberal, any Texan readers I have chase me with deer hunting rifles, and any New Yorkers stare at me with hatred and loathing.
As I explained on that account, though, this wasn't written to make friends. None of my rants were.
They were written to make people think. To poke fun at how messed up society is, while simultaneously slapping the heck out of the reader and ask why they were perpetuating the things that make society messed up.
I'm losing readers from this post. I don't care. It needs to be repeated over and over until someone hears the message.
On with the rant.

So. It's September 11th, the 9-year anniversary of when some maniacs crashed a couple of planes into two of America's tallest towers. Buildings that had once been symbols of capitalistic spirit and free enterprise were reduced to rubble, hundreds of lives were lost. We responded with war.
A war I have never supported, will not support, and can't bring myself to support any time in the future.
Our country can't seem to keep its noses clean; we've never known that elusive thing called 'peacetime'. Korea. Vietnam. WW1. WW2. Desert Storm. Even more that are eluding me at this present moment in time.
I remember an activity in high school, where the teacher was trying to gauge where we stood on certain issues. He had one end of the classroom assigned as 'yes' and the other, 'no'. When we were asked about if we thought we should be in Iraq,  I was the only one standing on the 'no' end.
I couldn't believe it. Out of a class of, what, 30 students? I was the only one who thought the whole affair was ridiculous? Our excuse for going into Iraq had nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden. Why weren't we chasing the man who ordered the towers crushed? He was the one who started the so-called War on Terror, why weren't we making him a higher priority? On top of that, why couldn't we seem to stay out of trouble, or keep our noses out of foreign wars?
Regardless of that, I still netted a few very dirty looks from my peers. After all, anybody who didn't support the war on terror must support the terrorists, themselves, right? I think the teacher was the only one who actually got what I was saying.
I'm not a patriot. I lost that when we started into this ridiculous thing.
I remember getting chided by my middle-school teachers for refusing to do the Pledge of Allegiance- That was my way of protesting this thing, this conflict, we didn't belong in. A silent, peaceful protest. No picket signs or yelling, no running rampant through the streets with an AK-47 in one hand and a Molotov cocktail in the other, just simple hardheaded refusal. They finally compromised with me and said that I didn't have to recite or anything, I simply had to stand with the rest of the class while it was going on. I didn't believe from the start of it that we'd found WMD's in Iraq. I couldn't explain it. It felt fake. It felt wrong. And I was prepared to make myself a social outcast for as long as the war was going to last.
We're still there, what the hell.
I want to see the troops home. We've killed enough, we've been killed enough. At this point we're only making a nuisance of ourselves. I may not support this war, but I won't blame our soldiers for fighting in it. I'm standing for my beliefs. They're standing for theirs. Our beliefs may not be the same, but the hell if I'm not going to respect them for putting their lives on the line. They are far braver men and women than I. I know one of them personally. He's a good guy.
I want to see peace. Or some semblance thereof. This whole affair has made me feel as if we've been strung along the entire time. There was so much misinformation from the Bush administration flying around ("WMDs" included) that it's almost as if he wanted to find a reason to start a war. I cannot, will not, support that kind of blood-lusting behavior. Not from a fellow member of the human race, and especially not from the leader of an entire nation.
I remember when people's idea of dealing with the problem was simply to "Nuke them Iraqi's!", to get rid of the lot of 'em. My brother had a friend of Middle-Eastern descent at this time, and was appalled and offended by this mentality. I was too, honestly. I'd met the friend. I doubt he'd be capable of much more than swatting a fly.
I don't believe that where someone is from dictates how they think. I think that their experiences make them who they are. A boy who has lived in New York all of his life isn't going to grow up to become either a mugger or a stockbroker, one or the other. If his family is poor, he may consider becoming a stockbroker to help them recover, or if he was abused, he might become a mugger to take out his frustrations... but those two aren't his only options. Likewise, somebody who grew up in Iraq or Afghanistan isn't necessarily going to grow up to become a terrorist, and it's horribly wrong of us to assume they will. It's a one-dimensional, racist mentality, and it pisses me off.
Nine years ago, we were a swarming beehive of loathing and fury. How DARE they do this to us? And you know what, I was one of them. But I got very tired of it very quickly, took one look around the hive, and saw that no good could come of this.
It promoted racism.
It promoted mass slaughter.
It was not for the good of this country.
It was not for the good of the people.
It never has been.
Hate begets hate, evil begets evil, destruction begets destruction. It has never changed and it never will. There is nothing to be gained by the slaughter of millions. We've royally screwed everything up, and we can't stop sticking our noses where they don't belong. We have never known peace for more than two years at a time, and THAT is why I cannot, WILL not, support this war.
September 11th is a touchy subject for me. I feel sorry for the families who lost members to the terrorist attack, to the war, to the complete and utter SNAFU that has been our country since September of 2001. I feel sorry for the soldiers who have to go out there knowing that one misstep, one moment where they aren't on guard, and they could lose their lives to a bomb or a sniper or whatever else. But dammit, enough is enough. And I'm tired of it. I've been of the opinion, for a few years now, that what's past is past and that we need to let it go. By making it a big thing every year, we're only reopening the wounds of those families, who have lost fathers and sons and mothers and daughters. Yes, we need to remember. But we also need to make it a quiet ceremony, a silent memorial for the lost. It's only then that they can recover, that they can move on and move forward, to better and brighter days.
I think we could all use a few of those.

Post the Seventh: Consoro Talks Videogames

Had to write this one out as a school paper, and liked it well enough to post it here. Lacks my usual punch, but eh.

There is a good deal of debate as to whether certain games are harmful to society. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, God of War, and others have been put into the spotlight, considered to be outstandingly violent, or to contain inappropriate material, that influences younger minds and makes them want to lash out at themselves and others.
This, I feel, is a bunch of bull.
I don't believe violent games make gamers violent- I believe that violent games can actually prevent someone from becoming violent- After all, if they've had a crappy day at work, what better way to unwind than to pop in something like Call of Duty or Street Fighter, where they can vent their frustrations in a safe, controlled environment, and romp around, beating and shooting things, without fear of actually hurting someone. And besides, even if a game is overly violent, is it not the responsibility of the person buying the game to use their best judgment- and the ESRB rating system- to determine whether they should actually bring that home in the first place? I believe the blame for any violent behavior should fall on the person playing the games, not the games themselves.
As for the question of material, it should be up to the buyer to determine what 'inappropriate content' means to them. If they can't stand even mild or comedic violence, they might want to look into something a little different- Say, something along the lines of Brain Age or Mario Tennis.
I regret to say that although I do find ESRB's rating system to be spot on and well-constructed, it's entirely ineffectual. This is because, quite simply, nobody pays attention to it. The black and white boxes have become just another vague blob we've come to tune out, in favor of the much more interesting box art. This has led to a couple disgruntled retail workers coming home to rant angrily online about the mother that came in that day, furious with them because a week ago, she bought her 6-year-old son GTA 4, which had inappropriate content... which they had warned her about, and found, much to their chagrin, that this was one of those people who JUST WOULDN'T LISTEN.
A research group performed a study a while back where they sat two sets of gamers in two rooms and had them play a first-person shooter. When the players of group one defeated their enemies, little red pixel blood stained the ground, and when the players of group two defeated their enemies, the bodies appeared to teleport elsewhere in colorful blue flashes, leaving no trace. Aside from how the enemies in the game died, there were no other differences.
Both groups, it seems, enjoyed themselves about the same amount as the other, meaning, gore has little bearing on the experience... meaning, in turn, that although seeing the blood of a digital Nazi we just gunned down might be satisfying, that's not why we play those kinds of games... meaning, in turn, that although some people, like lawyer Jack Thompson, may campaign hard against such displays of violence in the videogame industry, the majority of us gamers are too focused on the task at hand- surviving long enough to see the end of the level- to care how our enemies go down, in a splatter, or in a flash.
So if you tone down the violence far enough on a videogame, when does it stop being a threat to society? If you remove all the blood and guts from Resident Evil or Doom, will they still be as corrupting to young minds?
If you put Ozzy Osbourne in a polo shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, is he still as threatening a figure?
While there will always be sick minds who play games solely for gore content, the majority of us gamers find something else that draws us- A memorable, well written, twist-filled storyline is the meat behind most RPGs. Innovative gimmicks allow us to try something new- Like swinging a Wii remote to hit a home run, or maybe dragging a stylus across a touch screen to piece together that last important clue to the mystery.
I'm more worried about TV than videogames. After all, TV is just as influential- Though, while commercials shove propaganda, politics, and advertising in our faces, we don't have to deal with that in videogames. If we don't like what we find, we simply shut off our consoles and go do or play something else.

And that's my two cents.

Post the Second: On Celebrities and Obsessions

NOTE: The original was longer and better, but my old journal killed'd it when I tried to post it. So, here's the summarized version.

I had a dream not too long ago.
In it, I was standing beside an indoor pool while it was being filled up. Bill Clinton walks in, I pick up a hose, and thoroughly soak him. After I put it back down, he asks me why I did it, to which I reply that it was probably the media’s fault that so many people hate him… that they painted a bad image of him, when in reality he wasn’t that bad of a person, and it was that bad image that made odd people like me want to pick up water hoses and spray down ex-presidents. Sure, he did something stupid. Don’t we all?
Here’s a fun fact for you: I hate the media. In particular, the part of it that fills our minds with useless gossip about celebrities. How much of this is going to be remembered 5, even 10 years from now? Oh, dear! Brad and Angelina split up!
…Huh, that’s funny, relationships break up all the time, and most of them don’t even get a whisper of media coverage. So what makes Brad and Angelina so different? Why do we care if X star is pregnant, or Y star is a hopeless crack addict? The answer is simple. We only care because they’re on TV. Let’s face it- If these people weren’t on the boob tube, we wouldn’t give a bottled rat fart about them. And why should we? They’re just like us, really. They have ups, they have downs. They have addictions like we do- Chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol, horribly-acted B-grade horror flicks. They need to eat, sleep, drink, get sexed up every once in a while, just like we do. And yet, we follow them around with cameras, tap their phones, and steal used Kleenex from their trash cans. What in Hell is wrong with us?!
Here’s a thought: Take a moment to imagine your mother, pregnant with you. Now take a moment to imagine her pregnant with you, and with people hiding in the bushes with cameras ready. The very next day on the news, she sees her picture on the news, with her belly circled in red ink.
Do you see the same things wrong with this picture that I do?
So I ask again. Why do we care? Let me rephrase that, actually: Why should we care? Why are we hiring people to stalk them, do creepy, obsessive things, and post their secret lives all over the news, the web, and the newspapers? Don’t they deserve secrecy, at least? For having to put themselves forth as much as they do on a daily basis, don’t they deserve some sort of solace?
Aren’t they, after everything is said and done, only human?