God: Unknowable Variable; People: Knowable Asshats

I always hear this from the Christians "Don't judge Christianity on the interpretation of people" which is stupid, because they turn right around and call Islam evil because of al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Hamas. That generally hypocrisy is too obvious to point out. But what I say is that, okay so we can't know if a god exists, what he wants, how he judges, etc. We can't know about God, but we can know about the people who follow. My contention with religion is not that it is unprovable and nobody should follow, it's the acts that are carried out (and sanctioned by military powers) in the name of it. Did the Crusades prove or disprove God? No, it proved that religious fanatics are assholes. Take any organization. Would you judge it solely on its leader and that's it? What if you judged countries solely on their leaders? Would that make any sense?

I don't care what it says in the sacred texts or what the leaders profess or what they say God put into our morality. It's about what people do either because of or justify because of it. Hell, if people killed because of a Care Bear book, I would hate that, even though it says positive things. Qu'ran, Bible, Torah, whatever your brand of crazy religion is, it's not what it says, it's what people do because of it.

Tribe Mentality

People like to group themselves together, by virtually anything. Race, nationality, spoken language, ideology, or even the weakest form, biological ties. I can't stand this tribe mentality where people don't have to be accountable for anything, it's only a matter of which tribe you belong to. "Doesn't matter if he did anything wrong, he's my brother (tribe member)" it's stupid, irresponsible and only promotes divisive hatred and abhorrence. I keep saying this, people are stupid. On a whole. Individuals can be smart, but society as a whole, is irresponsible, stupid, emotional, and any other negative aspect I can tact on to this. It's only by the grace of smarter individuals who separate themselves from the common rabble who push us forward.

Liberal Commie Rant

I hear all this talk from the right (and some from the left too) about big government and how we should reign in big government spending. If any of those sitting congressman voted for earmarks or "junk" amendments in bills, they should shut the fuck up, no matter how much it cost. They attribute this to Obama, like before him, the government was very meager and small, and that each state was its own colony or something. It's really pathetic, considering the expansion of the government by Bush, in the name of "defending freedoms".  I always wonder what Gore would have done if he was president instead. Would we have invaded Afghanistan? It's probable. Would we have invaded Iraq? Hell no. Haha, expanding the government..... who blew up the budget for TWO conflicts? It seems that the people who are screaming "STOP BIG GOVERNMENT" think that the world would be something like the world of Equilibrium. The government can be the regulators, the refs to make sure the corporations aren't cutting corners for bigger profits. Fucking hell, that's why we have checks and balances and freedom of speech.

Also, I want to ask these people who say Obama is taking away their freedoms (not like Bush who took away your Fourth Amendment rights, or what the conservatives are now saying we should abolish the 14th Amendment), which freedoms is he taking away? It's not a trick gotcha question, I am genuinely curious which rights and freedoms he's taking away. If anything, he's giving MORE freedoms. Although, on healthcare, he basically let the insurance companies get between you and your doctor. OMG, I said it! Really, people get denied coverage for the dumbest shit and you say Obama would decide who gets healthcare or not? If you are angry with Obama on that he *might* have done, you had better be pissed as hell that the insurance companies are *actually* doing it. And on government spending, what is he supposed to do? If he had a sack on him and really cared about spending, he would cut the defense budget in half, at least. I never understood the concept "fight them over there so they don't come over here". What, like a presence in those countries won't drive them to OTHER countries and even here. How do you tell a Taliban from a normal citizen? You have to work at the root problem, which is recruitment, not an entire people.

Back to spending, this stupid free market "the markets will regulate themselves" is BULLSHIT. Imagine a football game without refs. You would have linebackers taking off the quarterback's head and it's the same in the financial market. Straight socialism doesn't work, straight capitalism doesn't work, so you have to find a balance between the two. And also, capitalism and socialism aren't mutually exclusive. You can have a government with deep social programs and still have the private sector, coinciding. It's the fringe people who have a vested interest in keeping the people ignorant, angry, and fearful of complex ideas they can't understand, that is keeping this country polarized. Oh, and by the way, I am glad Prop 8 was overturned because the people are WRONG. Popular opinion doesn't always mean it's right. A straight majority rules system would be disastrous and dangerous for everyone.

"Get a Life"

Anyone who utters this seriously is, at least close-minded, and at best, dangerous depending on how they act upon saying that. We all think that there is one way to live and that's the only way, and if it's a way we like, we assume everyone who doesn't live that way, WANTS to live that way. This is best seen from the invasion of Iraq, the excuse we are "giving" them democracy, because we can't imagine a way to live without it. People live their lives on very different basis. Some people live their lives on the basis of religion and adhering to those beliefs. Some live to make the most money, even that can be separated to those who do it to support their families (i.e. lower class) or just for the pure love of being rich and blowing money. Some live based on what they can best do for humanity, while others want to live selfishly and just do things that are fun to them (i.e. partiers). Some live to learn as much as they can or some just live, with varying degrees of all of these lifestyles. The next time you hear "get a life", just think of all the lives that ignorant moron can't conceive of.

Distractions

"Life is pain" is not only an emo cliche, it actually makes sense. Much of our lives consist of taking some sort of risk with as close as a gain equivalent to the risk. Like going to work or school. I'm positive that the majority of people would want to skip those parts and just reap the benefits, but obviously this is impossible, or more often times, the closest thing to that is illegal. So we bear these responsibilities for the gains we get - work = money and school = opportunities for work. Also, let me state  I'm not in this camp of my profession defining me. Maybe if I had more opportunities, I would be much prouder of a profession to ascribe that label to me, but as it stands, I do not.

We do what we have to to live. Most people who have blue collar or jobs that are menial or not specialized don't often enjoy their work. So to ease their stressful mind off of not living the life they want, they must have distractions. Things that generally make them forget or that override that foreboding feeling. I found now, even as I am temporarily living the life where I choose my activities, day to day (not on any government welfare program, just chose not to partake in our "great" capitalist system and instead, saved my money for this time) and although I still am conscious of the responsibilities coming soon, it's generally off my mind as it is far off, yet I find myself still getting distressed at things, little things. Things I can't necessarily explain, but they had a bad mood, just a dreadful feeling. As long as I continue to remember that I have this awful emotion, not remembering the particular thing that invoked it, just the feeling, it will perpetuate. Distractions do help.

If you are brought down, find a way to temporarily bring you out of the routine in which caused the bad mood. Distract.