Snippet: “Game Change”

Sarah Palin came out against the HBO movie “Game Change” before it was even available for viewing. This is typical of folks like her, because people like that form an opinion before they even know what they’re dealing with.

Well, I saw the movie, and I read the opinions of a few aides actually depicted in the film. They seem to be of the opinion that it’s “very accurate,” according to Steve Schmidt, and Nicolle Wallace opined that its “true enough to make me squirm.” My impression, then, is that Sarah Palin doesn’t have psychic powers enabling her to know something is false without having seen it. In fact, not only do I doubt that Sarah Palin can read minds, I question if she can even read.

I Hate Good News

I consider myself a bit of a news junkie. I inject myself with several pages of it daily (though sometimes I freebase it).

I get all my news from online. When I’m travelling and I can’t get on a computer, I freak out a little. I feel anxious, because I know that the news cycle is so quick that even missing one day means that there are things I’ll never know about. I was on my honeymoon when Michael Jackson died, and I never really got closure (he just still seems alive to me). For some irrational reason, that scares me, even though I know it’s probably not that big of a deal.

I’m used to news being largely “negative.” It’s not really negative, it’s news, and a story is only news if something changes. No one writes a story about how the Eastern Seaboard or Gulf Coast of the US are free of hurricanes at the moment. There are no articles about how someone didn’t get murdered (unless a plot was foiled). It’s just not news if things are going as planned… that’s sort of the nature of news.

It always irritates me when people think we need more positive news stories. The positive news stories are almost always the ones I skip, because most positive news stories are feel-good bullshit. There is the occasional interesting piece, but even when it’s a cat who can sense someone has cancer, or a 5 year old who called in a house fire and saved his family, the good ones worth reading still have a little dark side to them (someone got cancer and the house fire happened).

What would people like to have done? It’s not as though they can trust news editors to put in “positive” stories. Editors all know: if it bleeds, it leads. No self-respecting news agency will freely insert fluff pieces into their otherwise important news of the day. News is for information, not making people feel better.

No, if you want the news to make you feel better, you would basically need a government mandate. China has lots of feel-good stories in their news. Sure, you might not hear about the lung-clogging smog or violent suppression of protesters in the Chinese news, but you’ll come away from reading or watching it believing things are going great… even if it’s a lie.

I don’t think that’s what Americans really want, not even the ones who are upset about how “depressing” the news is. I’m fairly confident that Americans like the freedom of the press, not news agencies whose primary goal is to make us all smiling, naïve fools. Yet, that’s what you get if the media focuses on “positive” stories, not real news.

Sometimes, I have to wonder… does the average American (or anyone from anywhere) really know what they want, let alone what they need? Sometimes I get the feeling people just want everything to cater to their happiness, and I don’t want to believe that’s true. I don’t want to believe that people are that self-centered, that sheltered, or that eager to be willfully ignorant. I don’t want to think those things… but I do, because it’s probably true, and it’s better to consider the truth than to embrace comfortable deceptions.

If you aren’t outraged at least five times before lunch, you aren’t reading enough proper news.

Monday Rule: Children and Teeth

No one should be allowed to have more children than they have teeth.

Snippet: Word Choice

I think people who get bent out of shape about word choice are retarded. No, I apologize… it’s offensive to associate those who are mentally challenged with people who have fully functioning brains but who refuse to use them. There is a clear difference there, and I’m sorry for associating the two so flippantly.

Saying you hate Rush Limbaugh because he called a woman a “whore” is like saying you disagree with the KJV of the Bible because it uses the word “whore” 65 times (yes, I looked it up, and that is an accurate count). I disagree with the Bible (and Rush Limbaugh, for that matter), but if your reason for thinking it’s wrong is because of the word choice… well… you’re probably a stupid cunt.

Two Dudes: And A Bear

Saturday Reflection #72

The problem with going to the theater is that when the show starts to suck, you can't change the channel.

Snippet: The Flood

Let’s suppose for a second that God really told Noah to build a boat and then he flooded the world. I’ll even concede that the animals wouldn’t all kill each other, because everyone knows that animals act differently in a crisis.

Did it ever occur to anyone that God killed a bunch of innocent babies and young children? And what the hell did the animals ever do to deserve being killed as well? And of all things… why try to kill everyone with a flood when anyone with a boat (or sailors and fishermen already on one when the flooding started) would still survive? God is supposedly all powerful… couldn’t He shoot everyone but Noah and his family with lightning, or spread a plague that Noah et al. are immune to, or even just stop their hearts from beating?

On “Being Offended”

This is a big one for me, and I imagine every atheist. Even the most polite, civil, accommodating non-believer will be accused of being offensive from time to time. It’s just part of not being religious. It’s not that irreligiosity is offensive, it’s that religion teaches people to be offended by the unreligious, because religion is so serious.

This isn’t to say that there are no offensive atheists… you’re reading words written by one right now… but many atheists are basically kind people, almost to a fault. There’s really no other way to say it: most atheists are pussies.

It’s one of the things I like about atheists as a whole, because most atheists aren’t out to force their views on others. It’s not so great when you want them to fight for something, but you take the good with the bad. It’s sort of a running theme I’ve noticed in all people: a person’s weaknesses are reflections of their strengths. It’s like how I stand up for myself, but I’m also an enormous douchebag.

But anyway… the irony is, while atheists are often accused of being offensive when they clearly are not, many atheists (especially the liberal ones) think nothing of labeling others as offensive when they disagree with them.

I don’t get offended. I thought I was offended once in 2003, but it turned out I was just bloated from eating a particularly large burrito. I just can’t feel offended for some reason. It’s not that I’m a robot; I have feelings. I even feel things quite similar to offense: anger, annoyance, irritation, outrage… though they are surprisingly fleeting emotions for me. What I primarily feel when I see someone say or read something I disagree with is compelled, even provoked.

Sure, I get mad, but I primarily have an urge to say something, sometimes even to do something. In fact, I think this compulsion is shared by people who are offended. The difference is, I tend to get angry about an idea, while people who are offended just didn’t want someone to have said something. Telling people they “shouldn’t say something” is dumb if they still think it.

I don’t expect to change the world (which isn’t to say people shouldn’t try). I don’t like telling people what to do, and I certainly won’t tell someone they can’t say something. Those are things offended people do, and I find it annoying. Everyone is free to say stupid (or mean) things, and I would always prefer someone honestly say what they mean. It’s perfectly fine, maybe even a good thing, to criticize someone who says something horrible, but there’s a way to go about doing it (and it’s not even a delicate operation).

When I feel compelled to react to something someone says or does, I don’t tell people what I think they should do or say, nor do I look for an apology. I prefer to tell people I disagree with what they are, which consequently comes out sounding like an insult (because usually, it is).

But let’s be honest here… I’m dumb, borderline insane, lazy, sheltered, privileged, and undeserving of any respect from anyone. Coming from me, what does anyone care if I say something negative about them? If I’m wrong, it should be no harm done. It’s when an insult is true that it cuts deep. It’s okay to say something that is insulting, especially if it’s true. It can remind people of a fact they may have forgotten, like how retarded they are. It’s basically a service to others to help put them in their place (so few people really seem to know themselves).

Insults often come from a place of love. It may appear otherwise, but I assure you: if I say something that appears to be an insult, it’s because I think you’re capable of more. The people I’m nice to and play along with are, in my mind, beyond help. I have too much pity for some people to criticize them. In a very real sense, being polite is how I treat someone when I’m patronizing someone. If I’ve never criticized you, I don’t think much of you.

One thing I’ll never do is wish someone hadn’t said something. Why on Earth would I ever do something so dumb? I’m stupid, but I’m not that stupid.

From what I can tell, people who are “offended” don’t want to fix anything, they want to brush it under the rug. I, on the other hand, want everyone to say all the dumb things that are on their minds. It’s safer to have everyone saying things publicly. The alternative is for anyone who has a seemingly dangerous idea to feel like they must hide it. We’re better off knowing what we’re working with than encouraging the more demented among us to fester quietly.

I believe a danger hidden is twice as dangerous, so even if an idea is a problem, it’s better for it to be out in the open. We need to encourage people to say what they believe, not telling people we disagree with to keep it to themselves. You should criticize their ideas, not the fact that they tried to engage in the discussion. Is that so hard to understand?

However, people are free to be offended. It’s not for me to say they can’t, even though they’re petty, ignorant piss-ants. You’re free to be a petty, ignorant piss-ant… just as I’m free to point out what a petty, ignorant piss-ant you are. Last I checked, this is still America, and where would we be without petty, ignorant piss-ants?

Oh right, happier…

But here’s a thought… you’re also free to not get offended about someone revealing what they have believed all along. I’m just as angry as the next person whenever… well… any conservative opens their mouth. The difference is that I’m not futilely trying to shame someone who has no shame. Instead, I’m generally attacking the ego of a self-absorbed piece of shit.

I find it’s quite effective, because my goal isn’t to make them feel bad (I can’t), I just want them to know what I think of them. That’s really all I can do in most cases, and I’m more than happy to do it. One thing I won’t say, though, is that what someone said is “offensive,” because I don’t want to sound like a bitch (a true fan of my blog would point out, “Too late, Bret”).

Don’t get offended, get angry. Don’t tell people what they said is offensive, tell them they’re wrong and possibly an enormous idiot. Telling someone, “I found what you said offensive,” says nothing about them, it only says something about you, and it says, “I can’t handle knowing I live in a world where people believe different things.”

Snippet: Names

I think people take it too personally when someone doesn’t remember their name. I’m always happy to remind someone, and I am also perfectly comfortable going by some ambiguous informal address like “buddy” or “dude.” I know for a fact that someone can not only find me interesting or important without remembering my name, I know they can downright love me without having any clue what my name actually is. How do I know? Because my dog doesn’t know my name.

You Ever... #5

You ever tell yourself you’ll do something at 6:00, then you lose track of time and see it’s 6:07, so you think, “I’ll just wait until 7,” instead of doing it right then?