Violent America

The shooting in Arizona on Saturday is a tragic event that killed six people and injured 14 people. It is however, neither the first time nor will it be the last incidence of this kind. Some people believe we have a gun problem, which might be partially true. I believe we primarily have a violence problem which plus the easy availability of guns and the general unpleasantness of day-to-day American life make an unpleasant combination.

 I am never sure why average people needs more than one gun, or automatic or semi-automatic weapons, hand grenades, rocket launchers or other military grade weaponry. I am sure we all know people who have guns and think they are necessary to defend themselves and their families. I am never sure who they are defending against. Most of us do not have the training to defend against commandos, a group of robbers or even one person with a gun. If their house was surrounded by crazed killers, I am sure that they probably could not keep them out until the police arrived. It’s probably smarter to call the police if such a situation arises.  Most of us do not have lives like Scarface or routinely act out the last scene of Heat in our lives. If someone wants to “jack” your car, let them have it. If you think there are robbers in the house, call the police and hide until the police get there or leave the house. If you are in a public place and there is a robbery, having a gun will not help the situation. What are you going to do, draw down on the criminal and shoot them? Does it actually matter if a store is robbed? Do you need to be a hero?

In our films and on television, there is a lot of violence. There are a lot of people with guns using them regularly. Shoot outs, robbers, arrests, all of them very graphic and very violent. We all see so much violence on TV; we don’t even realize how it is affecting us. Violence is just as American as mom and apple pie. It’s not just gun violence, we see wrestling, fist fights, martial arts, boxing, rape, knife fights, sword fights and lots of other violent actions and images all the time.

We beat our wives and children. Some people lament days when you could spank/beat your children or your wife for that matter. We torture prisoners, against US and international law. Police use Tasers on people, instead of talking to them. We get road rage on the highways and injure and kill people. People go to bars and get into fights.  Some people like the brutality of dog fights and cock fights. Students bully each other, until they commit suicide. We watch violent movies and play violent video games. We find glory in violent war. We went to war in Iraq because of lies. We hold people in secret prisons and torture them. When our children have a rough time at school and they decide the only way to solve their problems is shoot their teachers and classmates. If your spouse has left you, you shoot them and then shoot yourself. If someone is going to commit suicide, the police shoot them instead of trying to talk them down. If you hate your job, you go to work and shoot your colleagues. If you hate the government, you blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.  We have had four presidents assassinated. We enslaved Africans and beat, raped and tortured them. We are the only country which has used a nuclear weapon on a population.  We have the largest prison population in the world. We love the death penalty, even if we sometime convict and execute the wrong person. I could continue the list but it is too long to write down. Violence is all around us but for some reason we only get upset when there is a gun and a lot of people get killed.  We need to be more upset about all violence in our society.

The level of violence in the United States is so high and so integral to American culture that I think most people don’t even notice it so much anymore. If violence is the answer, what is the question? I do not ask this question as a rhetorical device. It is something every person needs to think about. Why do I like to watch or think about violence so much? What is the attraction I feel toward violence? Can I actually use a gun to fight off an attack? Do I really believe that I can kill someone? How would you feel after you injured someone? How would you feel after you killed someone? Perhaps you would feel like the five soldiers who try to kill themselves every day? Or maybe you would feel like the thousands of soldiers who have Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from continuously being in extremely scary, violent, dangerous and deadly situations?

We need to think about how violence is affecting us. We need to think about how our society is making us miserable with all the uncertainty and insecurity; how all the divisive rhetoric makes us angry, scared and could lead to violent acts. We need to think about how we need to change our country so violence is not what we want, need, expect or fear.  Try turning off the TV or the gaming device, stop watching violent movies. Try removing violent words from your speech. Try interacting with people without angry thoughts or actions. Try talking, instead of yelling. This will be hard but be it will be worth it; you might be happier.  There is no magic cure to our violence problem. Decreasing the level of violence in America will only happen, one person at a time.  Start now and make the change.

Ciao for now,

Fobbsie

Why Can’t We Be Free?

Happy New Year!

My relationship to religion has always been tenuous at my most interested and now it is just a nuisance to me. Religion and the gods it propagandizes are all pointless shams. Religions exploit people by telling them fantastical stories and giving them a lot of rules, mostly having to do with sex or fun; both of which you are not supposed to have. In addition to being buzz kills, the gods are usually angry, violent and very intolerant of their flawed creations. I guess it must be a drag always having to continually look at and deal with a project (humanity) that has gone horribly awry. Oh yes women are always bad and need to be carefully watched over and ordered around by men. Women are temptresses that lead men to evil, like having sex. They have menstrual periods and that makes them unclean. And they are too emotional.  Religions have rules, rules and more rules most of which are just crazy. When things go well, people thank the gods for their mercy and good fortune. When thing go bad, people say it was the gods will or that the gods move in mysterious ways. It’s all very schizophrenic. That all being said, why do people persist in believing in gods?

The answer is I don’t know why. At best the gods are whimsical and passive aggressive. At worst they are cruel and mean spirited. Either way, there is nothing admirable or good about them. And mankind would be better off without wasting their time on worshiping gods that clearly, according to their literature, have their own agenda and are not here to help you.

Let’s image there were no gods. What would be different about your life? I think it would be vastly different but that is the problem. People would have to solve their own problems and no man from the sky will come down to save you when things really got bad. (He’s not really coming anyway). You might have to believe in science or evolution. You might have to actively work to make the world a better place. You might have a drink and get laid without feeling guilty. Everything might look different and everyone might act differently.

More importantly, we might not waste resources on stupid places like Ark Encounter built of course in Kentucky. This place is a sham and scam of the highest magnitude. They plan to build a giant version of Noah’s Ark; this will be the center piece of the theme park. They will also show you that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, since the earth according to many purposely ignorant Christians is only 6000 years old. This theme park will also show you evolution is not possible, everything that the gods created is complete, lol. I always thought this idea was stupid because what kind of lame ass god creates creature that can’t evolve, especially when you promote yourself as omnipotent. Additionally, the for-profit company, Answers in Genesis, has a  non-profit taking donations for it get the $24 million to build the Ark. They currently have $800,000. The reason for this is according to their website under FAQ, “Due to the size of the Ark Encounter project, a for-profit LLC structure was selected to be able to help raise the approximately $150 million necessary to build it ($125 million of that total will come through investments). We also desired to avoid financing the project through debt. In addition, this large amount of funding would not have been probable solely through donations. The for-profit LLC structure allows for the primary funding to come from private equity investment, while at the same time ensuring that the control of the content, design, and operations of the Ark Encounter will be led by Crosswater Canyon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Answers in Genesis.” So in other word they can’t get a loan so they thought they would swindle Christians. The swindle is you can donate $100 for an Ark peg, $1000 for an Ark plank or $5000 for an Ark beam. You get no stake in profits; you have not made an investment. Any money you give is just that a gift; a gift that will benefit the profits of the company Answers in Genesis. There are some benefits, and I use the term benefits lightly. Your Sponsorship is tax-deductable; you get a Certificate with your name and serial number; you can print/save electronic certificate online, you can look up the location of your peg/plank/beam on their website & kiosks, and your name on a recognition wall inside the  ark. Wow! Could you actually get less? They could at least give you a mug or a tote bag.

Answers in Genesis’ other venture, The Creation Museum, is a pseudo-science establishment also in Kentucky that teaches things like “Biblical history is the key to understanding dinosaurs”. Since when are there dinosaurs in the Bible? Why do Christians want the bible to be the definitive source of all knowledge? What’s next Moses chatting with the Jewish community on the internet as he uses Google maps to plan his route out of Egypt? If people worshiping their gods did not want to make everything about the gods and make their religious text the primary source of information, they would be a lot easier to live with. This leads me back to my first thought, why can’t we be free of all this nonsense? Children and adults need to learn facts and not some bible or other religious text based gobbledygook.

Make your New Year happier, free your mind of faith based knowledge and let science and facts in and the world will be a better place!

Ciao for Now,

Fobbsie