"I'm Not Magic, Lead Yourselves."
--Cory Doctorow
"As a woman I have no country. As a woman, I want no country."
---Virgina Woolfe
A few days ago I was having a debate with a friend(Ben, who used to contribute occasionally to this blog back in our LR days) about a variety of things mainly focusing on our differing political philosophies. I am a socialist and he is a democrat who......reads Ayn Rand. Anyway, eventually we got onto the Constitution and I made the point that, frankly, I don't care what the Second Amendment means, guns need to be limited and controlled otherwise we'd have havoc in the streets.
Now, I've said that before and will almost certainly say it again, however you will never hear a politician say that. Never ever ever. Because we, as a nation, hold the Constitution and The Founding Fathers in such, such high esteem that if you say one word against them you will never be elected to so much as a school board.
Why? Because we, as a people, look for idols, for leaders and the 'Founders Of Our Nation' are the best candidates around. So, just like people do with their religious texts, all we care about is what the Founding Fathers would have done and we lose our common sense.
Honestly is Thomas Jefferson appeared to me tomorrow and told me to support Sarah Palin for President I would still support Obama, because I don't care. I just don't care. I don't believe that the Founding Fathers had more wisdom than any other political philosophers. They did a big, important hard thing in founding our country but I don't believe that they are infallible. They were men.
Perhaps it's just my own arrogance but I don't believe that the Founding Fathers were that much wiser than I am or anyone else is. They were just the first and that's cool and awesome and important but just because you're the first doesn't mean your the best. The Constitution is the Beta and we're treating it like it's perfect.
The title of this post, Leave Me Alone, is a reference to Monty Python's The Life of Brian in which the populace has become convinced that the character of Brian is the messiah and they follow him around. He yells at them to leave him along and thus....THE TITLE!
I think, I believe that once we realize that the Founding Fathers were operating on 18th Century information and thought then, I think, we can begin to talk and think more logically about issues, like gun control.
Showing posts with label editorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editorials. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Fundamental Flaws: On The American Dream
Between them these two books sum up our present predicament. Capitalism leads to dole queues, the scramble for markets, and war. Collectivism leads to concentration camps, leader worship, and war. There is no way out of this unless a planned economy can somehow be combined with the freedom of the intellect, which can only happen if the concept of right and wrong is restored to politics.
---George Orwell
If you listen to anyone on the right side of the aisle you know two things 1) You should be afraid of European Socialism and 2) If you just work hard you will be rich and successful. That second point is the basic foundation of the so called "American Dream' and the basis for the Anti-Welfare Argument. Hard Work equals Success thus Failure equals Laziness. Read that sentence again. Now, does that make any sense?
I found a Howard Zinn quote that sums up my point here, if I may,
---Why should we accept that the "talent" of someone who writes jingles for an advertising agency advertising dog food and gets $100,000 a year is superior to the talent of an auto mechanic who makes $40,000 a year? Who is to say that Bill Gates works harder than the dishwasher in the restaurant he frequents, or that the CEO of a hospital who makes $400,000 a year works harder than the nurse or the orderly in that hospital who makes $30,000 a year? The president of Boston University makes $300,000 a year. Does he work harder than the man who cleans the offices of the university? Talent and hard work are qualitative factors which cannot be measured quantitatively. ---
Right now the richest person in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, is Carlos Slim. Now Mr. Slim was not born into wealth and, in his own way, worked his way up from the bottom. But, and this is key, he is an investor, meaning he makes money by giving people money. To suggest that giving people money is harder than, say, building a road, saving someone's life, or fighting in the military is a little ludicrous. Now, just to be clear, I am not saying that Mr. Slim has done anything wrong, he made his money in a perfectly legitimate way. He has also been generous with his money(he has donated four billion, yes billion, dollars to his charitable foundation however this is the core of my problem.
If a child complains that something is not fair what is the first response that pops into our heads? "Life Isn't Fair" and that's correct, but creates a problem with the so-called American Dream. The assumption that Hard Work=Success and Laziness=Failure is that the playing field is level which it just simply is not.
You may wonder why I care. So what if the American Dream is silly, so what if it makes no sense, it's just a cliche. But, it isn't. It's a way to view the world that many people have and if you view the world in that way then you will oppose welfare, because we're just subsidizing laziness. But, if we agree that the American Dream is flawed and Failure does not equal Laziness, then it is impossible to say that welfare is equivalent to subsidizing laziness.
---George Orwell
If you listen to anyone on the right side of the aisle you know two things 1) You should be afraid of European Socialism and 2) If you just work hard you will be rich and successful. That second point is the basic foundation of the so called "American Dream' and the basis for the Anti-Welfare Argument. Hard Work equals Success thus Failure equals Laziness. Read that sentence again. Now, does that make any sense?
I found a Howard Zinn quote that sums up my point here, if I may,
---Why should we accept that the "talent" of someone who writes jingles for an advertising agency advertising dog food and gets $100,000 a year is superior to the talent of an auto mechanic who makes $40,000 a year? Who is to say that Bill Gates works harder than the dishwasher in the restaurant he frequents, or that the CEO of a hospital who makes $400,000 a year works harder than the nurse or the orderly in that hospital who makes $30,000 a year? The president of Boston University makes $300,000 a year. Does he work harder than the man who cleans the offices of the university? Talent and hard work are qualitative factors which cannot be measured quantitatively. ---
Right now the richest person in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, is Carlos Slim. Now Mr. Slim was not born into wealth and, in his own way, worked his way up from the bottom. But, and this is key, he is an investor, meaning he makes money by giving people money. To suggest that giving people money is harder than, say, building a road, saving someone's life, or fighting in the military is a little ludicrous. Now, just to be clear, I am not saying that Mr. Slim has done anything wrong, he made his money in a perfectly legitimate way. He has also been generous with his money(he has donated four billion, yes billion, dollars to his charitable foundation however this is the core of my problem.
If a child complains that something is not fair what is the first response that pops into our heads? "Life Isn't Fair" and that's correct, but creates a problem with the so-called American Dream. The assumption that Hard Work=Success and Laziness=Failure is that the playing field is level which it just simply is not.
You may wonder why I care. So what if the American Dream is silly, so what if it makes no sense, it's just a cliche. But, it isn't. It's a way to view the world that many people have and if you view the world in that way then you will oppose welfare, because we're just subsidizing laziness. But, if we agree that the American Dream is flawed and Failure does not equal Laziness, then it is impossible to say that welfare is equivalent to subsidizing laziness.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Why I Want Sarah Palin To Become President
Recently I have begun to reimmerse myself in the 'Punk Underground'. I have discovered bands that are very, very outside the mainstream(Propaghandi, for example, who have songs called The Only Good Fascist Is A Very Dead Fascist and So Apparently I'm A Pc Fascist(Because I Believe In The Rights Of Humans And Non-Humans). One of the bands I've discovered is called NOFX(No-Ef-X) and they have a song called Franco Unamerican which is a perfectly straight forward Bush era protest song with some very hard hitting lyrics(I'm tired of all this embarrassment/the whole world wants us to get a better president). I realized something as I was listening to the song for the six or seventh time that changed my life: Hating Politicians can create great music. Really great music.
Now let's flash ahead a few days after I first heard the song.....I'm at the beach in a rented condo watching MSNBC. The hosts are attacking the Republicans and having a jolly old time which just confirms what I've know all along: It is far more fun to be in the opposition then to be in power. When you're in power people hate you because you're not doing 100% of what you want. When you're in opposition you have no responsibilities really.
So when you have a president who is incompetent and makes terrible decisions you get 1) Awesome Protest Music and 2) The Ability To Protest The Heck Out Of Everything. With that in mind....I ENDORSE SARAH PALIN!!
Frm. Gov. Palin will never be able to handle the stresses of the job and is so thin skinned that she will probably declare war on Britain because they bowed to the Queen instead of her. The liberals will be able to rise up in opposition and the punks will be able to get as angry as they want, it'll be wonderful.
Editors Note:
The Write of this article is using a form of humor known as sarcasm to advance his point, that Former Governor Sarah Palin is not fit for the job of president. He is also using this form of humor to attempt to get you to laugh, which makes him feel loved and wanted. Opinionated Media does not endorse or recommend the use of sarcasm to advance points and they certainly do not endorse or support Gov. Palin becoming president.
Now let's flash ahead a few days after I first heard the song.....I'm at the beach in a rented condo watching MSNBC. The hosts are attacking the Republicans and having a jolly old time which just confirms what I've know all along: It is far more fun to be in the opposition then to be in power. When you're in power people hate you because you're not doing 100% of what you want. When you're in opposition you have no responsibilities really.
So when you have a president who is incompetent and makes terrible decisions you get 1) Awesome Protest Music and 2) The Ability To Protest The Heck Out Of Everything. With that in mind....I ENDORSE SARAH PALIN!!
Frm. Gov. Palin will never be able to handle the stresses of the job and is so thin skinned that she will probably declare war on Britain because they bowed to the Queen instead of her. The liberals will be able to rise up in opposition and the punks will be able to get as angry as they want, it'll be wonderful.
Editors Note:
The Write of this article is using a form of humor known as sarcasm to advance his point, that Former Governor Sarah Palin is not fit for the job of president. He is also using this form of humor to attempt to get you to laugh, which makes him feel loved and wanted. Opinionated Media does not endorse or recommend the use of sarcasm to advance points and they certainly do not endorse or support Gov. Palin becoming president.
Second Anniversary
Hello all
I just realized that I totally missed our second anniversary, I do apologize. A lot has changed since I started this blog, first and foremost among the things that have changed is me. I am, of course, older and now write in a different sort of way, about different things. So, with that in mind, I am making some changes to this blog.
The most obvious change will be the name of the blog. I have begun to find 'The Liberal Rocker' to be both immature and, quite frankly, a little obnoxious. Thank you for putting up with me, I have no idea how you managed it. It is now going to be changed to Opinionated Media(which is also the name of my production company).
The second most obvious change is that I'm going to start writing more often about different topics. In the next few days, for example, I'm going to be writing an article titled Why I Want Sarah Palin To Become President, an article about a staging concept for the musical Evita, and possibly some music or television related pieces. So I will still be political and I will never pull a political punch but it will become less of the focus.
Also, hopefully, my writing will improve. I am going to attempt to write in a more mature, adult, intellectual way. But do not fear, I still believe in humor as a weapon so you will still see humorous asides in parentheses.
Thank you for sticking with me for all these years and thank you for, hopefully, sticking with me going forward.
Yours,
Rock4ever
All Over But The Shouting, Just A Waste Of Time
---The Replacements, Nevermind
I just realized that I totally missed our second anniversary, I do apologize. A lot has changed since I started this blog, first and foremost among the things that have changed is me. I am, of course, older and now write in a different sort of way, about different things. So, with that in mind, I am making some changes to this blog.
The most obvious change will be the name of the blog. I have begun to find 'The Liberal Rocker' to be both immature and, quite frankly, a little obnoxious. Thank you for putting up with me, I have no idea how you managed it. It is now going to be changed to Opinionated Media(which is also the name of my production company).
The second most obvious change is that I'm going to start writing more often about different topics. In the next few days, for example, I'm going to be writing an article titled Why I Want Sarah Palin To Become President, an article about a staging concept for the musical Evita, and possibly some music or television related pieces. So I will still be political and I will never pull a political punch but it will become less of the focus.
Also, hopefully, my writing will improve. I am going to attempt to write in a more mature, adult, intellectual way. But do not fear, I still believe in humor as a weapon so you will still see humorous asides in parentheses.
Thank you for sticking with me for all these years and thank you for, hopefully, sticking with me going forward.
Yours,
Rock4ever
All Over But The Shouting, Just A Waste Of Time
---The Replacements, Nevermind
Saturday, May 7, 2011
I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
--Oscar Wilde
So my last post(Wake Up Nerd Culture, You're A Sham) got some interesting comments from Kenny and Elfarmy but I think that either they totally missed the point or I did a terrible job communicating the point(possibly a bit of both). So let me clarify:
The point of the post was not that John Green is a terrible guy. I don't think he is. I think, with that quote he was trying to make "Nerds" feel better, because he's probably a nice guy. However in trying to do that, I believe, he fed into an us vs. them mentality that I think is pointless and silly.
The point of the post wasn't that being part of a group is bad. I don't believe it necessarily is. I think that if you change yourself to be part of that group and refuse to take part in anything outside the group, and identify yourself solely as being part of that group then being in that group is bad.
The point of the post was that I believe that there are a large number of people, several of whom are my friends, who have labelled themselves nerds and they then feel the need to like certain things and feel certain things and be a certain way. And that bothers me.
One might ask, oh how do you know that they are changing themselves to fit in? Because their tastes fit in perfectly with the majority of nerds, they love the same books, the same music, and the same tv shows. And no one fits in that well with any one group. People are complex and have varied tastes and interests(which incidentally is what John Green's Paper Towns is about).
I do consider the Nerd Movement to be a cult or if you'd rather a religion. And I don't want to sound angry or bitter or anything like that but it does annoy me when I see members of my generation basically lying about themselves so that they can find a group. If the group is demanding that then the group is morally reprehensible but if it's just the individual doing that because of some pyschobabble mumbo jumbo then it is the individual's fault, and they need to understand that they don't need to do that.
When I said that being uncool is the new cool what I meant to do was say that when nerds are all "We're uncool, but we're find with it, we read and write and that makes us so strange and outside the mainstream. We're freakin' underground. Heck yeah!" they're wrong because they're basically becoming mainstream. And people are jumping on the bandwagon of not jumping on the bandwagon. I think that the nerdfighteria(or whatever it is) has either caused this or fed it a lot.
As the quote at the top of the post says just be yourself. Being anyone else is just sort of pointless and you'll look back and wonder why you did that. Come out of the nerd closet, come out as an individual.
--Oscar Wilde
So my last post(Wake Up Nerd Culture, You're A Sham) got some interesting comments from Kenny and Elfarmy but I think that either they totally missed the point or I did a terrible job communicating the point(possibly a bit of both). So let me clarify:
The point of the post was not that John Green is a terrible guy. I don't think he is. I think, with that quote he was trying to make "Nerds" feel better, because he's probably a nice guy. However in trying to do that, I believe, he fed into an us vs. them mentality that I think is pointless and silly.
The point of the post wasn't that being part of a group is bad. I don't believe it necessarily is. I think that if you change yourself to be part of that group and refuse to take part in anything outside the group, and identify yourself solely as being part of that group then being in that group is bad.
The point of the post was that I believe that there are a large number of people, several of whom are my friends, who have labelled themselves nerds and they then feel the need to like certain things and feel certain things and be a certain way. And that bothers me.
One might ask, oh how do you know that they are changing themselves to fit in? Because their tastes fit in perfectly with the majority of nerds, they love the same books, the same music, and the same tv shows. And no one fits in that well with any one group. People are complex and have varied tastes and interests(which incidentally is what John Green's Paper Towns is about).
I do consider the Nerd Movement to be a cult or if you'd rather a religion. And I don't want to sound angry or bitter or anything like that but it does annoy me when I see members of my generation basically lying about themselves so that they can find a group. If the group is demanding that then the group is morally reprehensible but if it's just the individual doing that because of some pyschobabble mumbo jumbo then it is the individual's fault, and they need to understand that they don't need to do that.
When I said that being uncool is the new cool what I meant to do was say that when nerds are all "We're uncool, but we're find with it, we read and write and that makes us so strange and outside the mainstream. We're freakin' underground. Heck yeah!" they're wrong because they're basically becoming mainstream. And people are jumping on the bandwagon of not jumping on the bandwagon. I think that the nerdfighteria(or whatever it is) has either caused this or fed it a lot.
As the quote at the top of the post says just be yourself. Being anyone else is just sort of pointless and you'll look back and wonder why you did that. Come out of the nerd closet, come out as an individual.
Wake Up Nerd Culture, You're A Sham
(one quick note, this is in no way a response to Elfarmy's recent post, as I've been planning on writing this for days)
"I think when people talk about nerdiness what they're really talking about are smart people who are trying to think hard about the world. And I don't think that's an insult, I think that's a great thing."
---John Green
I have spoken very often to friends of mine(and nowhere near enough on this blog) about what I like to call "country club mentality". Country Club Mentality, as I define it, is when you decide that whatever religion or country or state or church or group you happen to be part of is the best because it's the best and only people who are part of whatever it is you are part of are great people. "God Bless The USA" "Only Christians Go To Heaven" "When people talk about nerdiness what they're really talking about are smart people who are trying to think hard about the world" Ectera Ectera
I have....problems with this mindset and, in fact, I view it as the cause of a great many of our society's problems. John Lydon(or Johnny Rotten as he used to be called) once said that "National Pride Leads To War And Hate, Nothing Else, Planet Earth All The Way"(you'll be seeing that quote again) and while I don't 100% agree with that I certainly agree with it to a point.
And now we come to the "Nerd Movement" and where I start alienating a great many of my readers. It has become cool to be uncool. People are changing who they are so as to appear that they refuse to change who they are. Not Fitting in has become the new fitting in. And I have had enough of it.
A large number of people of my generation have decided that they are nerds and, because they are nerds, they must like certain things. All these so called nerds love John Green, Youtube Based Musicians, and Joss Whedon. They all do, all of them. When every member of a group loves the same things you don't have a group of people who are outcasts you have a fraternity.
That John Green quote is one of the finest examples of CCM(Country Club Mindset) that I have ever read. All nerds like to think intelligently about the world and that's the defining characteristic of the group? Really? To me that is not only ludicrous but offensive. Jocks can be just as smart and think just as hard about the world as nerds. Geeks, Punk Rockers, Emos, they can all be smart and think about the world. And someone who has as much sway with as many people as John Green has should know better than to play into age old stereotypes. He should have known better.
In the day of yore everyone agreed that Kings and Queens had the right to rule because God gave them the right to rule. They ruled because they were supposed to rule. We use almost the exact same logic today. Nerds are the best, because they're the smartest. Why are they the smartest? Because they're nerds. Logicians call that a circular argument and is a logical fallacy. But that is the thought process that CCM is based on. We're the best because we're the freaking best. USA USA, Won't you be a nerdfighter like me?
I am a firm believer in being diverse. Just because I listen to Punk Rock doesn't mean that I can't listen to showtunes. I like punk and I like showtunes and if you have a problem with that, that's your problem. Just because I watch the occasionally reality show doesn't mean I can't enjoy Doctor Who or Parks and Recreation or The West Wing. Just because I love Inception doesn't mean I can't love Frost/Nixon or True Grit. I am a firm believer in being a cultural omnivore(a term taken from one Linda Holmes on NPRs Monkey See.) When you devote yourself entirely to one thing or one style or one genre you miss out on all this awesome stuff in different styles and genres. That's why the argument "Oh Reading is so awesome, way better than watching that stupid television" strikes me as being very uniformed. Books are a medium and television is a medium, to say that one is better than the other just because some things created in the other are garbage is silly. Have there been mind-numbingly stupid tv shows? Yes, but have you read some of the YA books being published today?
Every medium, every group, ever organization has merits and disadvantages, which is why being exclusively in one group or organization or medium is never a good idea. Openness creates diversity and diversity is where greatness comes from.
I don't see the point in being in a group in which EVERYONE thinks the same things. Walk up to almost any nerdfighter and ask them their opinion of "Once More With Feeling" and they will, almost to a man, rave about it till the cows come home. Where are the nay sayers? Where is the independent thought? It, to me, is the same as when Christians identify themselves first and foremost as Christians. They listen to Christian music, watch Kirk Cameron Movies, and read inspirational books they are closing themselves off to the world and Nerds are doing the exact same thing. And it makes me mad.
"I think when people talk about nerdiness what they're really talking about are smart people who are trying to think hard about the world. And I don't think that's an insult, I think that's a great thing."
---John Green
I have spoken very often to friends of mine(and nowhere near enough on this blog) about what I like to call "country club mentality". Country Club Mentality, as I define it, is when you decide that whatever religion or country or state or church or group you happen to be part of is the best because it's the best and only people who are part of whatever it is you are part of are great people. "God Bless The USA" "Only Christians Go To Heaven" "When people talk about nerdiness what they're really talking about are smart people who are trying to think hard about the world" Ectera Ectera
I have....problems with this mindset and, in fact, I view it as the cause of a great many of our society's problems. John Lydon(or Johnny Rotten as he used to be called) once said that "National Pride Leads To War And Hate, Nothing Else, Planet Earth All The Way"(you'll be seeing that quote again) and while I don't 100% agree with that I certainly agree with it to a point.
And now we come to the "Nerd Movement" and where I start alienating a great many of my readers. It has become cool to be uncool. People are changing who they are so as to appear that they refuse to change who they are. Not Fitting in has become the new fitting in. And I have had enough of it.
A large number of people of my generation have decided that they are nerds and, because they are nerds, they must like certain things. All these so called nerds love John Green, Youtube Based Musicians, and Joss Whedon. They all do, all of them. When every member of a group loves the same things you don't have a group of people who are outcasts you have a fraternity.
That John Green quote is one of the finest examples of CCM(Country Club Mindset) that I have ever read. All nerds like to think intelligently about the world and that's the defining characteristic of the group? Really? To me that is not only ludicrous but offensive. Jocks can be just as smart and think just as hard about the world as nerds. Geeks, Punk Rockers, Emos, they can all be smart and think about the world. And someone who has as much sway with as many people as John Green has should know better than to play into age old stereotypes. He should have known better.
In the day of yore everyone agreed that Kings and Queens had the right to rule because God gave them the right to rule. They ruled because they were supposed to rule. We use almost the exact same logic today. Nerds are the best, because they're the smartest. Why are they the smartest? Because they're nerds. Logicians call that a circular argument and is a logical fallacy. But that is the thought process that CCM is based on. We're the best because we're the freaking best. USA USA, Won't you be a nerdfighter like me?
I am a firm believer in being diverse. Just because I listen to Punk Rock doesn't mean that I can't listen to showtunes. I like punk and I like showtunes and if you have a problem with that, that's your problem. Just because I watch the occasionally reality show doesn't mean I can't enjoy Doctor Who or Parks and Recreation or The West Wing. Just because I love Inception doesn't mean I can't love Frost/Nixon or True Grit. I am a firm believer in being a cultural omnivore(a term taken from one Linda Holmes on NPRs Monkey See.) When you devote yourself entirely to one thing or one style or one genre you miss out on all this awesome stuff in different styles and genres. That's why the argument "Oh Reading is so awesome, way better than watching that stupid television" strikes me as being very uniformed. Books are a medium and television is a medium, to say that one is better than the other just because some things created in the other are garbage is silly. Have there been mind-numbingly stupid tv shows? Yes, but have you read some of the YA books being published today?
Every medium, every group, ever organization has merits and disadvantages, which is why being exclusively in one group or organization or medium is never a good idea. Openness creates diversity and diversity is where greatness comes from.
I don't see the point in being in a group in which EVERYONE thinks the same things. Walk up to almost any nerdfighter and ask them their opinion of "Once More With Feeling" and they will, almost to a man, rave about it till the cows come home. Where are the nay sayers? Where is the independent thought? It, to me, is the same as when Christians identify themselves first and foremost as Christians. They listen to Christian music, watch Kirk Cameron Movies, and read inspirational books they are closing themselves off to the world and Nerds are doing the exact same thing. And it makes me mad.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
In which I make all my nerd readers very mad
So in nerd culture there are certain people who are considered to be Geek Gods and beyond reproach. These include JK Rowling, John Green, and Joss Whedon. Mr. Whedon is a director and screenwriter who has created such tv shows as Firefly, Dollhouse, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And I have a bit of a problem with him, or at least the perception of him as being flawless and a genius.
Let me be clear, before I go on, that I do consider myself a Whedon fan. I do enjoy most of everything he's ever done. However, I find some problems with his work. I shall focus on primarily Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it being his longest running and best known work.
Buffy suffers from a key flaw: It is totally Monster of The Week. By that I mean, every episode has the main character facing up against a monster and that's what the episode is based around. I cannot recall an episode in which there is no monster. To me it gets a little monotonous. What I care about, why I watch the show, is the characters and their relationships. But often the relationships take a back seat to the giant(and often awesome) fight scenes. Which leads me into another problem I have: the fight scenes.
Now I love me a good fight scene, don't get me wrong, but here's the thing about Buffy....The title character is a vampire slayer. Crazy I know, but part of her slaying awesomeness is that she can ram a stick through a vampire's chest and kill it. So, the natural thing to do when you see a vampire and you can do that is to take out the stake right off and take that vamp down. But instead, every single time, she beats the dude up and then stakes him. This seems unnecessarily time consuming and strenuous and takes me out of the show.
One other problem I have, and this goes most to Whedon then any of the others, is some of the plot solutions are just flat out silly. For example: In the first three seasons Buffy has a vampire love interest named Angel(keep in mind that this is eight years before Twilight) and in the end of Season 3 he leaves to star in a spinoff series. Whedon(I assume him, being the showrunner) decided to bring in another vampire, the awesomely fantastic Spike. A great decision, one that made the show way better. But the way it was done was so.......I don't know, Bad. It was just bad. Spike had appeared before in the series as a villain but they wanted to make a semi-hero and thus needed a reason for him to stop randomly killing people. So, in the episode where he comes back, a secret government organization plants a chip in his brain that makes it impossible for him to hurt people. That is just simply lazy writing and, again, pulled me out of the show.
So that is my rant for the day.
Let me be clear, before I go on, that I do consider myself a Whedon fan. I do enjoy most of everything he's ever done. However, I find some problems with his work. I shall focus on primarily Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it being his longest running and best known work.
Buffy suffers from a key flaw: It is totally Monster of The Week. By that I mean, every episode has the main character facing up against a monster and that's what the episode is based around. I cannot recall an episode in which there is no monster. To me it gets a little monotonous. What I care about, why I watch the show, is the characters and their relationships. But often the relationships take a back seat to the giant(and often awesome) fight scenes. Which leads me into another problem I have: the fight scenes.
Now I love me a good fight scene, don't get me wrong, but here's the thing about Buffy....The title character is a vampire slayer. Crazy I know, but part of her slaying awesomeness is that she can ram a stick through a vampire's chest and kill it. So, the natural thing to do when you see a vampire and you can do that is to take out the stake right off and take that vamp down. But instead, every single time, she beats the dude up and then stakes him. This seems unnecessarily time consuming and strenuous and takes me out of the show.
One other problem I have, and this goes most to Whedon then any of the others, is some of the plot solutions are just flat out silly. For example: In the first three seasons Buffy has a vampire love interest named Angel(keep in mind that this is eight years before Twilight) and in the end of Season 3 he leaves to star in a spinoff series. Whedon(I assume him, being the showrunner) decided to bring in another vampire, the awesomely fantastic Spike. A great decision, one that made the show way better. But the way it was done was so.......I don't know, Bad. It was just bad. Spike had appeared before in the series as a villain but they wanted to make a semi-hero and thus needed a reason for him to stop randomly killing people. So, in the episode where he comes back, a secret government organization plants a chip in his brain that makes it impossible for him to hurt people. That is just simply lazy writing and, again, pulled me out of the show.
So that is my rant for the day.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
the last enemy to be conquered is pop culture
I would like to share with you a few words about the Fox television show Glee(I promise to be brief). Now this show is very popular among some and rather hated among others. While there are numerous problems with the show(including writing, directing and acting) this show is doing one thing that has never really been done this way before.
On the show there are various romantic relationships that we are supposed to care about. We have the two main characters and various supporting characters(who aren't really supporting but they are less main than the two main characters). Over the past season(we're in the second) things have developed which I would like to discuss briefly(Spoiler warning).
So in the first season they introduce a gay character(Kurt Hummnel played wonderfully by Golden Globe Winner Chris Colfer) and they set him up as having feelings for a straight boy. Thankfully in the second season they have shelved this subplot and introduced a second gay character(Blaine Anderson played by noted Potter fan Darren Criss) for Kurt to have feelings for. But they carefully avoid the trap of having Blaine just be a token love interest. He is a very deep and interesting character(more interesting then any of the straight character by far and away)
There is one scene that symbolizes for me what this show is doing. In their Valentine's episode, Blaine(unaware of Kurt's feelings) asks for his assistance in asking out this boy. And the scene that follow(of the asking out) is played completely, if you will pardon the expression, straight. It wasn't "Oh Look At This Character....HE"S GAY!" it was "Look at this character, look at what he's doing. Take him as a character." It is scenes like that that make me return to Glee.
In this week's episode(spoiler) Kurt and Blaine finally get together and share a kiss. This kiss is just a kiss, like a boy and a girl would share a kiss. It isn't blocked to shock, it's simply a kiss.
Also, recently, another subplot has arisen. Since the beginning of the show it has been established that Brittney(played by Heather Morris) and Santana(Played by Nata Rivera) are the school bad girls. They have slept with tons of guys, blah blah, blah. But what started off as a joke in an episode last year has turned into a serious plotline.
This season Brittney has been trying to have a steady relationship with Artie(Played by Kevin McHale) something she has never done. In the first half of the season we are expected to care about that relationship but recently it has been revealed that Santana and Britney are in a secret homosexual relationship. And just like that the writers shift our sympathies. I no longer want Britney and Artie to work, I want her and Santana to get together openly. How many shows(other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer) suddenly shift our sympathies from a heterosexual to a homosexual relationship?
All this is taking place on a very popular network show(on Fox no less).
Let's take a quick look at Modern Family(another Fox Show). This show is a sitcom about three families and one of them is two gay men and their adopted child. And the show is very popular among Republicans.
On The Good Wife(CBS) one of the members of the supporting cast is openly bisexual.
On The Office(NBC) one of the members of the supporting cast is gay.
On Doctor Who(BBC), one of the most famous children's programs in England, introduced a very flamboyant bisexual character who was so popular he got his own spinoff show, Torchwood(BBC/Starz)
What on television used to be a punchline to a joke(looking at you friends) is becoming mainstream. We have talented writers of Young Adult Fiction writing stories and books with gay main characters(Boy Meets Boy, Will Grayson/Will Grayson, ect). We have bright, funny gay actors becoming leading men(Neil Patrick Harris, Johnathan Groff, Alan Cumming, ect), we have Adam Lambert, an openly gay ex-American idol contestant, who has been invited back on American Idol numerous times after his coming out. We have Lady Gaga, a proud Bisexual and LGBT rights activist, ruling the charts with an iron fist. One of the biggest songs of a few years ago was from an singer named Katy Perry and called "I Kissed A Girl". It isn't just musical theater and folk groups anymore.
Right now, there is a movement to get homosexuality into the mainstream in pop culture. If it becomes mainstream then it's mainstream, the haters will be but a small minority. And the great civil rights battle of the generation will be won.
On the show there are various romantic relationships that we are supposed to care about. We have the two main characters and various supporting characters(who aren't really supporting but they are less main than the two main characters). Over the past season(we're in the second) things have developed which I would like to discuss briefly(Spoiler warning).
So in the first season they introduce a gay character(Kurt Hummnel played wonderfully by Golden Globe Winner Chris Colfer) and they set him up as having feelings for a straight boy. Thankfully in the second season they have shelved this subplot and introduced a second gay character(Blaine Anderson played by noted Potter fan Darren Criss) for Kurt to have feelings for. But they carefully avoid the trap of having Blaine just be a token love interest. He is a very deep and interesting character(more interesting then any of the straight character by far and away)
There is one scene that symbolizes for me what this show is doing. In their Valentine's episode, Blaine(unaware of Kurt's feelings) asks for his assistance in asking out this boy. And the scene that follow(of the asking out) is played completely, if you will pardon the expression, straight. It wasn't "Oh Look At This Character....HE"S GAY!" it was "Look at this character, look at what he's doing. Take him as a character." It is scenes like that that make me return to Glee.
In this week's episode(spoiler) Kurt and Blaine finally get together and share a kiss. This kiss is just a kiss, like a boy and a girl would share a kiss. It isn't blocked to shock, it's simply a kiss.
Also, recently, another subplot has arisen. Since the beginning of the show it has been established that Brittney(played by Heather Morris) and Santana(Played by Nata Rivera) are the school bad girls. They have slept with tons of guys, blah blah, blah. But what started off as a joke in an episode last year has turned into a serious plotline.
This season Brittney has been trying to have a steady relationship with Artie(Played by Kevin McHale) something she has never done. In the first half of the season we are expected to care about that relationship but recently it has been revealed that Santana and Britney are in a secret homosexual relationship. And just like that the writers shift our sympathies. I no longer want Britney and Artie to work, I want her and Santana to get together openly. How many shows(other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer) suddenly shift our sympathies from a heterosexual to a homosexual relationship?
All this is taking place on a very popular network show(on Fox no less).
Let's take a quick look at Modern Family(another Fox Show). This show is a sitcom about three families and one of them is two gay men and their adopted child. And the show is very popular among Republicans.
On The Good Wife(CBS) one of the members of the supporting cast is openly bisexual.
On The Office(NBC) one of the members of the supporting cast is gay.
On Doctor Who(BBC), one of the most famous children's programs in England, introduced a very flamboyant bisexual character who was so popular he got his own spinoff show, Torchwood(BBC/Starz)
What on television used to be a punchline to a joke(looking at you friends) is becoming mainstream. We have talented writers of Young Adult Fiction writing stories and books with gay main characters(Boy Meets Boy, Will Grayson/Will Grayson, ect). We have bright, funny gay actors becoming leading men(Neil Patrick Harris, Johnathan Groff, Alan Cumming, ect), we have Adam Lambert, an openly gay ex-American idol contestant, who has been invited back on American Idol numerous times after his coming out. We have Lady Gaga, a proud Bisexual and LGBT rights activist, ruling the charts with an iron fist. One of the biggest songs of a few years ago was from an singer named Katy Perry and called "I Kissed A Girl". It isn't just musical theater and folk groups anymore.
Right now, there is a movement to get homosexuality into the mainstream in pop culture. If it becomes mainstream then it's mainstream, the haters will be but a small minority. And the great civil rights battle of the generation will be won.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
In Defense of Sharks
I participated in a experiment tonight. A woman with her doctorate in psychology and three college students came to a meeting of middle school and high schoolers and talked to us about leadership skills and conflicts/conflict resolution. And they said that there are five styles/personality types when it comes to leadership/conflict resolution(boy, I do love the / tonight). They are:
The Accommodating Teddy Bear
The Compromising Fox
The Collaborating Owl
The Competing Shark
and The Avoiding Turtle.
They displayed up on a screen various characteristics of each type and I immediately identified with the Competing Shark. The screen said that they stand firm for what they believe in, like to argue and debate, and can be a little uncompromising. And that describes me pretty well. So I walk over to the section of the room where the Sharks are. And then things developed.
They divide us into two groups turtles/bears/sharks and owls/fox and told us to build a bridge out of lego. Pretty standard social experiment behavior from what I have heard. Now, maybe you have seen a problem with this. The two compromisers are paired together while the strong willed people and the(for lack of a better word) weak willed people are paired together. Maybe you have guessed that the whole point was for the Sharks to dominate the turtles and bears while the owls and foxes get along perfectly fine.
But that is actually not what happened, or at least not exactly. The owls and the foxes worked well together, dividing into teams, recognizing skills, ect ect. But they were a fairly small group. compared to my group.
My group started off with four guys basically saying that they thought we should build this bridge(because the other needed rope and we did not have rope) and we all agreed on it. Then a few of us started building while a few others looked on and the rest chatted with each other at the back. Then someone suggested that we switch with another group and we did. Then we swapped again but there were so many people that it became a little unorginized.
So then we compare bridges(both were fine, by the way) and discuss some of the outcomes. And that is when our Doctor lady reveals her true colors, as a shark hater and Owl lover. She was, in my opinion, rather snide about the sharks, subtly implying that they were dominating the process. She also outright praised the 'head' owl(who was a total freaking shark, he stuck to his guns and controlled the situation. He also did not really care about including everybody, but hey, I'm not jealous or anything).
So then I get home and look at the sheet that they passed out and was shocked to see what I found under sharks. Apparently I do not value relationships and like to force people to do what I want. I am not afraid to use aggressive behavior and I am threatening/intimidating. I feel that this is spinning sharks in a way that is unfair. Here is how I define sharks, at least as it applies to me:
I am a passionate and intense person and I am not afraid of speaking my mind. I do not want to hurt others and I certainly do not want to force anyone to my side. I honestly believe that I am right and if you only understood my position fully you would agree with me. I love debating issues(it has been scientifically proven that good conversation sets of pheromones in your brain). I know I come on strong but I hope that others see that I am simply passionate. Saying that I do not value relationships is quite frankly silly because my way of strengthening relationships and teams is through debate and conversation. I grow closer to people through talking to them and discussing ideas. I like to see both sides but if I feel that I am right then, logically speaking, I must feel that, if you idea is contrary to mine, then it is wrong. I believe that those who fear confrontation and speaking their own mind(cough turtles/bears cough) do both themselves and others a disservice. I believe that compromise is good but that at the end of the day there needs to be a decision and compromise can only be gained through a free exchange of ideas. If everyone is a compromiser then there would be no need for conflict resolution, which brings me to the experiment.
My group was set up to fail and we did not. The sharks did not dominate we were open to others' ideas and took many of them. It was a fair and open discussion. It was not our fault that many of the others had no interest in participating. I actually feel that if we had done what the owls/foxes did then our bridge what have turned out better, but it would have been less inclusive. Actually, when you look at it, the foxes were much more dominatory(is that a word?) then the sharks. They had six people working on building and a few others working on presenting it, but what were the others doing? The answer is nothing, and I know this because after we built the two bridges we had to team up to build one bridge and the owls took over. There was no compromise and there was no cooperation. It was basically "We need six people to build. Ok, now the rest of you can give advice if you want but keep it to a minimal." We sharks were much more open and we tried to give everyone a shot. So when we are basically told that we dominated the others I personally find it insulting.
I hope that I have made sense in this post(it's kind of late) and have presented a look at sharks or at least me specifically(I am very sharky, very sharky indeed) that is more favorable.
I am not afraid of my own mind or my personality and I do not take kindly to be asked to be ashamed of myself. I am an intense person and intense people change the world and make great art. So, basically, don't diss the sharks.
---
Rock4ever
A Proud Shark
The Accommodating Teddy Bear
The Compromising Fox
The Collaborating Owl
The Competing Shark
and The Avoiding Turtle.
They displayed up on a screen various characteristics of each type and I immediately identified with the Competing Shark. The screen said that they stand firm for what they believe in, like to argue and debate, and can be a little uncompromising. And that describes me pretty well. So I walk over to the section of the room where the Sharks are. And then things developed.
They divide us into two groups turtles/bears/sharks and owls/fox and told us to build a bridge out of lego. Pretty standard social experiment behavior from what I have heard. Now, maybe you have seen a problem with this. The two compromisers are paired together while the strong willed people and the(for lack of a better word) weak willed people are paired together. Maybe you have guessed that the whole point was for the Sharks to dominate the turtles and bears while the owls and foxes get along perfectly fine.
But that is actually not what happened, or at least not exactly. The owls and the foxes worked well together, dividing into teams, recognizing skills, ect ect. But they were a fairly small group. compared to my group.
My group started off with four guys basically saying that they thought we should build this bridge(because the other needed rope and we did not have rope) and we all agreed on it. Then a few of us started building while a few others looked on and the rest chatted with each other at the back. Then someone suggested that we switch with another group and we did. Then we swapped again but there were so many people that it became a little unorginized.
So then we compare bridges(both were fine, by the way) and discuss some of the outcomes. And that is when our Doctor lady reveals her true colors, as a shark hater and Owl lover. She was, in my opinion, rather snide about the sharks, subtly implying that they were dominating the process. She also outright praised the 'head' owl(who was a total freaking shark, he stuck to his guns and controlled the situation. He also did not really care about including everybody, but hey, I'm not jealous or anything).
So then I get home and look at the sheet that they passed out and was shocked to see what I found under sharks. Apparently I do not value relationships and like to force people to do what I want. I am not afraid to use aggressive behavior and I am threatening/intimidating. I feel that this is spinning sharks in a way that is unfair. Here is how I define sharks, at least as it applies to me:
I am a passionate and intense person and I am not afraid of speaking my mind. I do not want to hurt others and I certainly do not want to force anyone to my side. I honestly believe that I am right and if you only understood my position fully you would agree with me. I love debating issues(it has been scientifically proven that good conversation sets of pheromones in your brain). I know I come on strong but I hope that others see that I am simply passionate. Saying that I do not value relationships is quite frankly silly because my way of strengthening relationships and teams is through debate and conversation. I grow closer to people through talking to them and discussing ideas. I like to see both sides but if I feel that I am right then, logically speaking, I must feel that, if you idea is contrary to mine, then it is wrong. I believe that those who fear confrontation and speaking their own mind(cough turtles/bears cough) do both themselves and others a disservice. I believe that compromise is good but that at the end of the day there needs to be a decision and compromise can only be gained through a free exchange of ideas. If everyone is a compromiser then there would be no need for conflict resolution, which brings me to the experiment.
My group was set up to fail and we did not. The sharks did not dominate we were open to others' ideas and took many of them. It was a fair and open discussion. It was not our fault that many of the others had no interest in participating. I actually feel that if we had done what the owls/foxes did then our bridge what have turned out better, but it would have been less inclusive. Actually, when you look at it, the foxes were much more dominatory(is that a word?) then the sharks. They had six people working on building and a few others working on presenting it, but what were the others doing? The answer is nothing, and I know this because after we built the two bridges we had to team up to build one bridge and the owls took over. There was no compromise and there was no cooperation. It was basically "We need six people to build. Ok, now the rest of you can give advice if you want but keep it to a minimal." We sharks were much more open and we tried to give everyone a shot. So when we are basically told that we dominated the others I personally find it insulting.
I hope that I have made sense in this post(it's kind of late) and have presented a look at sharks or at least me specifically(I am very sharky, very sharky indeed) that is more favorable.
I am not afraid of my own mind or my personality and I do not take kindly to be asked to be ashamed of myself. I am an intense person and intense people change the world and make great art. So, basically, don't diss the sharks.
---
Rock4ever
A Proud Shark
My John Green Problem
So I went to a Wrock concert last night(Wizard Rock for those of you who are not hip to the extraordinarily geeky culture) and a great deal of the attendees and at least one of the performers are "Nerdfighters" which is an organization started by Young Adult author John Green.
Now I am not part of this organization because, as I like to say tong-in-cheek, I do not want to be part of a John Green cult of personality. Intended humor aside, as I have written about on this blog before, I have a bit of a problem with Mr. Green.
But, on the face of it, I should love John Green. I like his genre of writing, I like his music, and if he recommends a book chances are I will like it too. I share his politics, he is a straight guy who is very pro gay rights, I am a straight guy who is very pro gay rights. He likes to put humor in his books I like to read humor in books. He likes to have romantic themes in his books and I like to read romantic themes in books. So, basically, I should love him. I also am a fan of Nick Hornby who writes very much like John Green and Mr. Green seems like a nice enough guy. So, again, I should love him, logically speaking.
But, I do not. I don't hate him but I don't particularly like him. I find him to basically write the same character over and over and I also find him to be unnecessarily crass. To be fair, I have laughed out loud at some of his jokes("Pretty god**** well adjusted from Paper Towns for example) I have never been blown away by his stuff. I am considering trying him again, but I just don't really like him. And I am utterly and completely astound by the fact that so many people like him. I honestly don't see why he is so popular. Is it because he puts himself out there so much? Is it that his books are really accessible? Is it that he really is good and I am just crazy? I don't know but I find it really odd.
Now I am not part of this organization because, as I like to say tong-in-cheek, I do not want to be part of a John Green cult of personality. Intended humor aside, as I have written about on this blog before, I have a bit of a problem with Mr. Green.
But, on the face of it, I should love John Green. I like his genre of writing, I like his music, and if he recommends a book chances are I will like it too. I share his politics, he is a straight guy who is very pro gay rights, I am a straight guy who is very pro gay rights. He likes to put humor in his books I like to read humor in books. He likes to have romantic themes in his books and I like to read romantic themes in books. So, basically, I should love him. I also am a fan of Nick Hornby who writes very much like John Green and Mr. Green seems like a nice enough guy. So, again, I should love him, logically speaking.
But, I do not. I don't hate him but I don't particularly like him. I find him to basically write the same character over and over and I also find him to be unnecessarily crass. To be fair, I have laughed out loud at some of his jokes("Pretty god**** well adjusted from Paper Towns for example) I have never been blown away by his stuff. I am considering trying him again, but I just don't really like him. And I am utterly and completely astound by the fact that so many people like him. I honestly don't see why he is so popular. Is it because he puts himself out there so much? Is it that his books are really accessible? Is it that he really is good and I am just crazy? I don't know but I find it really odd.
Friday, January 21, 2011
On Hermione
Several months ago(just before Halloween) I went on a hike with my brother and his friends. On this hike, as I often do when with my brother and his friends, I adopted what I like to call "the cool older brother act". This act was working like a charm and the kids obviously felt comfortable talking to me. One of the kids(who, ironically, reminded me strongly of myself when I was younger) asked me who my favorite character in Harry Potter was. Now, for those of you who do not know, I am a huge huge harry potter fan. I replied that I liked various characters including Ginny and Hermione.
Now this simple statement sparked a fierce debate among the kids as to whether or not Hermione is annoying. One said that he liked her because she was a bookworm like he is and another said she was a know-it-all.
Now flash forward to the present. I am going through my re-reading(or rather re-listening) to the Harry Potter books, like I do every few months. And I am currently listening to the 1st one for the first time in a long long while. And I realized something very important about Hermione. Her know-it-allness is just cover for her social awkwardness.
I am of the belief that almost everyone has a cover for their social awkwardness. Some people stay quiet, other people(like me) use humor. Hermione uses her intelligence.
Let's look at it from her perspective: She is born into a muggle family and, to the best of our knowledge, an only child. She is sent away to a boarding school and will be one of the only people to not really know anything She doesn't want to look foolish so she memorizes all the books. She then takes every opportunity to spout off the facts she memorized.
Something else that is never really addressed is her family life. There are three main characters in Harry Potter. Harry Ron and Hermione(my brother disagrees with me about this but he is wrong!). We see Ron's family a great deal and we talk about Harry's family. What about Hermione? In the entire series she sends one owl to her parents, she rarely spends Christmas vacation with them, and rarely spends the entire summer vacation with them. How do her parents feel about her being a witch? In the final book she puts a memory charm on her parents so that they can't remember who she is. This seems, to me at least, rather extreme.
Do her parents know about the war going on? Do they know about her friends? And if so then why do they need a memory charm put on them? If they do not know, then why not? Why did Hermione not tell them? Does she have any siblings? We can assume that there are no younger siblings, but what about older? Why does she never tell us?
How do her parents feel about her running off to be with her friends ever vacation? They only get to see her at those times and she wants to run off. How does that make them feel? Why does she do this? What is the reason? You only see the Grangers in one scene(that I recall) and that is in the 2nd book. They are standing off in the distance looking awkward. Does Hermione introduce her friends to them? No.
I think that, from these facts, it can be safely concluded that Hermione and her parents do not have the greatest relationship. I will go a step further. I think that Hermione finds it hard to mesh her magic life with her muggle life. She finds it hard to be around her parents as they have nothing in common. Imagine if the main thing in your life was something that none of your relatives could possibly understand. And what if Hermione does have siblings, we've seen what happens to muggle siblings of wizards(Petunia Dursley).
Maybe her need for control and the constant displays of intelligence are attempts to show that she belongs in the magical world and not the muggle. Maybe she is trying to prove to herself that she has worth. Maybe she has very low self esteem and compensates with what other people see as arrogance.
In the 6th book she gets very angry at Harry because he is better at something then she is. Maybe her parents always expected her to be the best in the class and she is afraid that they will be disappointed in her. Maybe it is the other way round. Maybe she wants her parents approval and thus strives to be the best at everything.
Whatever the reason there is something deeper in Hermione and I think that it is connected to her parents. If I were chosen tomorrow for an elite boarding school I would still correspond regularly with my sibling and parents. Thermionic doesn't and that surprises me.
I welcome you comments and your theories.
Now this simple statement sparked a fierce debate among the kids as to whether or not Hermione is annoying. One said that he liked her because she was a bookworm like he is and another said she was a know-it-all.
Now flash forward to the present. I am going through my re-reading(or rather re-listening) to the Harry Potter books, like I do every few months. And I am currently listening to the 1st one for the first time in a long long while. And I realized something very important about Hermione. Her know-it-allness is just cover for her social awkwardness.
I am of the belief that almost everyone has a cover for their social awkwardness. Some people stay quiet, other people(like me) use humor. Hermione uses her intelligence.
Let's look at it from her perspective: She is born into a muggle family and, to the best of our knowledge, an only child. She is sent away to a boarding school and will be one of the only people to not really know anything She doesn't want to look foolish so she memorizes all the books. She then takes every opportunity to spout off the facts she memorized.
Something else that is never really addressed is her family life. There are three main characters in Harry Potter. Harry Ron and Hermione(my brother disagrees with me about this but he is wrong!). We see Ron's family a great deal and we talk about Harry's family. What about Hermione? In the entire series she sends one owl to her parents, she rarely spends Christmas vacation with them, and rarely spends the entire summer vacation with them. How do her parents feel about her being a witch? In the final book she puts a memory charm on her parents so that they can't remember who she is. This seems, to me at least, rather extreme.
Do her parents know about the war going on? Do they know about her friends? And if so then why do they need a memory charm put on them? If they do not know, then why not? Why did Hermione not tell them? Does she have any siblings? We can assume that there are no younger siblings, but what about older? Why does she never tell us?
How do her parents feel about her running off to be with her friends ever vacation? They only get to see her at those times and she wants to run off. How does that make them feel? Why does she do this? What is the reason? You only see the Grangers in one scene(that I recall) and that is in the 2nd book. They are standing off in the distance looking awkward. Does Hermione introduce her friends to them? No.
I think that, from these facts, it can be safely concluded that Hermione and her parents do not have the greatest relationship. I will go a step further. I think that Hermione finds it hard to mesh her magic life with her muggle life. She finds it hard to be around her parents as they have nothing in common. Imagine if the main thing in your life was something that none of your relatives could possibly understand. And what if Hermione does have siblings, we've seen what happens to muggle siblings of wizards(Petunia Dursley).
Maybe her need for control and the constant displays of intelligence are attempts to show that she belongs in the magical world and not the muggle. Maybe she is trying to prove to herself that she has worth. Maybe she has very low self esteem and compensates with what other people see as arrogance.
In the 6th book she gets very angry at Harry because he is better at something then she is. Maybe her parents always expected her to be the best in the class and she is afraid that they will be disappointed in her. Maybe it is the other way round. Maybe she wants her parents approval and thus strives to be the best at everything.
Whatever the reason there is something deeper in Hermione and I think that it is connected to her parents. If I were chosen tomorrow for an elite boarding school I would still correspond regularly with my sibling and parents. Thermionic doesn't and that surprises me.
I welcome you comments and your theories.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Rage, Rage, Rage, Rage
I have written before on this blog about Fred Phelps the head of the Westebrough baptist church(do I look like I care if that I spelled it wrong?) and his frequent picketing of funerals. He has done soldiers, murdered teenagers, and dead mothers so what was his first reaction to the tragic shooting in Arizona? He is going to go and picket one of the victim's funeral. But in case that doesn't get you angry enough wait till you here whose funeral it is going to be.
The Victim of Mr. Phelp's hate and intolerance is Ms. Christina Green who is nine years old. Yes, Mr Phelps is picketing the funeral of a 9 Year Old. There are literally no words, there are no words.
Mr Phelps, no, I won't even call him that Mister is a term of respect and he deserves none and has earned none, Phelps said on his website(godhatesfags) about her ""God hates Catholics, God calls your religion 'vain,' as it's empty of His truth; you worship idols!" because Ms. Green was a Catholic, you see.
I thought about how to respond to this story, I could rant, I could be bitingly sarcastic, I could swear and call Phelps names. But no, I will just describe Ms. Green's short life for you briefly.
She was born on September 11th, 2001. She had just been elected to her Elementary School Student Council and had dreams of serving in higher office. A neighbour had taken her to see their Representive this Saturday for that reason. She will never serve in higher office, she will never go on a date, she will never get married, she will never have a child, she will never have a grandchild, she will never go to high school, she will never go to college, she will never be a teenager, she will never read another book, she will never listen to another piece of music, she will never see another film, she had an entire life in front of her and it was all wiped out like that. And as if that wasn't tragedy enough some so called "Religious Leader" is going to picket her funeral.
To quote Mr. Joseph Welch, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
No God that I believe in or want to believe in is behind you Phelps. You are a father for God's Sake! And you are picketing a nine year old's funeral! "At long last have you left no sense of Decency"
My mother often says that the only hell is one that you make for yourself, and I don't know if I believe that, but Phelps is certainly supporting her case. He has made his hell and now he wants to make the world Hell for the rest of us. When you die, Phelps, you will leave behind nothing but hate and fear.
A nine year old girl.
The Victim of Mr. Phelp's hate and intolerance is Ms. Christina Green who is nine years old. Yes, Mr Phelps is picketing the funeral of a 9 Year Old. There are literally no words, there are no words.
Mr Phelps, no, I won't even call him that Mister is a term of respect and he deserves none and has earned none, Phelps said on his website(godhatesfags) about her ""God hates Catholics, God calls your religion 'vain,' as it's empty of His truth; you worship idols!" because Ms. Green was a Catholic, you see.
I thought about how to respond to this story, I could rant, I could be bitingly sarcastic, I could swear and call Phelps names. But no, I will just describe Ms. Green's short life for you briefly.
She was born on September 11th, 2001. She had just been elected to her Elementary School Student Council and had dreams of serving in higher office. A neighbour had taken her to see their Representive this Saturday for that reason. She will never serve in higher office, she will never go on a date, she will never get married, she will never have a child, she will never have a grandchild, she will never go to high school, she will never go to college, she will never be a teenager, she will never read another book, she will never listen to another piece of music, she will never see another film, she had an entire life in front of her and it was all wiped out like that. And as if that wasn't tragedy enough some so called "Religious Leader" is going to picket her funeral.
To quote Mr. Joseph Welch, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
No God that I believe in or want to believe in is behind you Phelps. You are a father for God's Sake! And you are picketing a nine year old's funeral! "At long last have you left no sense of Decency"
My mother often says that the only hell is one that you make for yourself, and I don't know if I believe that, but Phelps is certainly supporting her case. He has made his hell and now he wants to make the world Hell for the rest of us. When you die, Phelps, you will leave behind nothing but hate and fear.
A nine year old girl.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Aaron Sorkin on Sarah Palin
This is an editorial written by Aaron Sorkin for the huffington post and I hope that after reading it you will be able to see why he is my favorite writer. The asterixes were put it by me in place of some of the stronger language
"Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation."
You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go **** ourselves now.
The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on (like all the great frontier women who've come before her) her Facebook page to respond to the criticism she knew and hoped would be coming after she hunted, killed and carved up a Caribou during a segment of her truly awful reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on The-Now-Hilariously-Titled Learning Channel.
I eat meat, chicken and fish, have shoes and furniture made of leather, and PETA is not ever going to put me on the cover of their brochure and for these reasons Palin thinks it's hypocritical of me to find what she did heart-stoppingly disgusting. I don't think it is, and here's why.
Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt. But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals. I don't enjoy the fact that they're dead and I certainly don't want to volunteer to be the one to kill them and if I were picked to be the one to kill them in some kind of Lottery-from-Hell, I wouldn't do a little dance of joy while I was slicing the animal apart.
I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals. I can make the distinction between the two of us but I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing. I'm able to make the distinction with no pangs of hypocrisy even though I get happy every time one of you faux-macho ****heads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face.
So I don't think I will save my condemnation, you phony pioneer girl. (I'm in film and television, Cruella, and there was an insert close-up of your manicure while you were roughing it in God's country. I know exactly how many feet off camera your hair and make-up trailer was.)
And you didn't just do it for fun and you didn't just do it for money. That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain. You knew there'd be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully. What a uniter you'd be -- bringing the right together with the far right.
(Let me be the first to say that I abused cocaine and was arrested for it in April 2001. I want to be the first to say it so that when Palin's Army of Arrogant *********, bereft of any reasonable rebuttal, write it all over the internet tomorrow they will at best be the second.)
I eat meat, there are leather chairs in my office, Sarah Palin is deranged and The Learning Channel should be ashamed of itself.
"Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation."
You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go **** ourselves now.
The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on (like all the great frontier women who've come before her) her Facebook page to respond to the criticism she knew and hoped would be coming after she hunted, killed and carved up a Caribou during a segment of her truly awful reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on The-Now-Hilariously-Titled Learning Channel.
I eat meat, chicken and fish, have shoes and furniture made of leather, and PETA is not ever going to put me on the cover of their brochure and for these reasons Palin thinks it's hypocritical of me to find what she did heart-stoppingly disgusting. I don't think it is, and here's why.
Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt. But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals. I don't enjoy the fact that they're dead and I certainly don't want to volunteer to be the one to kill them and if I were picked to be the one to kill them in some kind of Lottery-from-Hell, I wouldn't do a little dance of joy while I was slicing the animal apart.
I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals. I can make the distinction between the two of us but I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing. I'm able to make the distinction with no pangs of hypocrisy even though I get happy every time one of you faux-macho ****heads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face.
So I don't think I will save my condemnation, you phony pioneer girl. (I'm in film and television, Cruella, and there was an insert close-up of your manicure while you were roughing it in God's country. I know exactly how many feet off camera your hair and make-up trailer was.)
And you didn't just do it for fun and you didn't just do it for money. That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain. You knew there'd be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully. What a uniter you'd be -- bringing the right together with the far right.
(Let me be the first to say that I abused cocaine and was arrested for it in April 2001. I want to be the first to say it so that when Palin's Army of Arrogant *********, bereft of any reasonable rebuttal, write it all over the internet tomorrow they will at best be the second.)
I eat meat, there are leather chairs in my office, Sarah Palin is deranged and The Learning Channel should be ashamed of itself.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Rage like you have never seen it before
Ok quick background on this quote. In recent weeks four gay teenagers have killed themselves primarily due to Homophobia. So a gay rights group tried to get everyone to wear purple to show that acceptance. So the VP of an Arkansas School district took to facebook and posted a rant about how he was only going to wear purple if every gay person died. He then went on to say in his comments section.
"I like that fags can't procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other AIDS and die."
and
"Being a fag doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then don't tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that **** to yourself."
He also said that he would disown any child of his who was gay. But none of them would because he had a good Christian lifestyle or something.
Ok, Now I am strongly resisting the urge to scream and rant, because I think that his comments speak for themselves but.....My God. This man talks about living a Christian lifestyle then he says things like that? What was it that Jesus said.....oh that's right "Love your Neighbor as yourself."
For those of you who are regular readers of the blog you will remember I wrote and posted a song a few weeks back called For Fred Phelps in which I referenced the Elvis Costello song Tramp the Dirt Down. If you go back in the LR archives and read it while mentally making it about this guy you have my feelings.
This man is not only a bigot and a fool but he is also dangerous. We have an epidemic of Gay suicides especially among teenagers. When a 13 year old hangs himself after years of bullying we've got a problem. When another teen shots himself in the head we've got a problem. When a Gay college student is forced out of the closet and jumps off a bridge we've got a problem. And Mr. Vice President of the School Board I am terribly sorry if their homosexuality puts you out but I think that it puts them out more. And honestly sir I think that you are a sad excuse for a human being and you should not be allowed to join the PTA yet alone the school board. Children are dying and you sit high and mighty passing judgment saying how you will only wear purple if all gay people kill themselves. Elvis Costello was right I want to live long enough to tramp the dirt down.
"I like that fags can't procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other AIDS and die."
and
"Being a fag doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then don't tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that **** to yourself."
He also said that he would disown any child of his who was gay. But none of them would because he had a good Christian lifestyle or something.
Ok, Now I am strongly resisting the urge to scream and rant, because I think that his comments speak for themselves but.....My God. This man talks about living a Christian lifestyle then he says things like that? What was it that Jesus said.....oh that's right "Love your Neighbor as yourself."
For those of you who are regular readers of the blog you will remember I wrote and posted a song a few weeks back called For Fred Phelps in which I referenced the Elvis Costello song Tramp the Dirt Down. If you go back in the LR archives and read it while mentally making it about this guy you have my feelings.
This man is not only a bigot and a fool but he is also dangerous. We have an epidemic of Gay suicides especially among teenagers. When a 13 year old hangs himself after years of bullying we've got a problem. When another teen shots himself in the head we've got a problem. When a Gay college student is forced out of the closet and jumps off a bridge we've got a problem. And Mr. Vice President of the School Board I am terribly sorry if their homosexuality puts you out but I think that it puts them out more. And honestly sir I think that you are a sad excuse for a human being and you should not be allowed to join the PTA yet alone the school board. Children are dying and you sit high and mighty passing judgment saying how you will only wear purple if all gay people kill themselves. Elvis Costello was right I want to live long enough to tramp the dirt down.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Oh no you dinit
I am outraged. And before I begin to tell you what's so outrageous I must thank Elfarmy for showing me what to be outraged about and it worked because now I'm outraged.
I am outraged because NPR, which I now dub Nazi Plutocrat Radio, has committed an unspeakable atrocity. They had persecuted a innocent man and stripped him of his god given 1st amendment rights simply because they didn't like his political beliefs.
I am speaking of Juan Williams(who like the great martyr Rachel Corrie was driven over by a bulldozer, the bulldozer of the liberal biased media) who simply stated his balanced logical and reasonable view and Narcissist Paranoid Radio was scared that he would challenge their secret agenda and so they fired him.
But no, we will not stand for it. Already a public backlash has started against Name-calling Poor-loving Radio. Sarah Palin has called for the cutting off of all government funding for NPR and musicians are beginning to record protest songs sticking up for Mr. Williams. Roger Ailes has been public about his support for Mr. Williams 1st Amendment rights.
How about we look at what he said.
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
How about I flip the sarcasm switch to off right now and address Juan Williams personally.
Mr. Williams you are the former host of one of my favorite NPR programs and I am sure you are an intelligent man but I feel that your comments, setting aside the prejudicial nature of it, don't make any sense.
What exactly do you mean by Muslim garb? Are you referring to the burkahs worn by the women? If not what else are you referring to? Also how does wearing religious paraphernalia mean that they identify themselves first and foremost as Muslims? If I am Jewish and I wear a a kippah does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Jew? If I am a Sikh and I wear a turban does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Sikh? If I am Christian and I wear a cross necklace does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Christian?
(I shall now address my readers again)
The reason that NPR fired him is because "News analysts may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts..." They have a perfect right to fire a analyst if they think that he is no longer credible. It is their right. It is his right to say what he wants and it is their right to not like it and fire him accordingly.
If he was working in an office where his political beliefs had nothing to do with his work it would be different but the fact that his political beliefs or lack there of are the cornerstone of his job it is appropriate for his employer to fire him for his statement.
And Sarah Palin saying that we need to cut funding to NPR because they fired a correspondent really really bothers me. She is proposing crippling an institution that has been providing the public with information for 40 years just to score some political points. She truly appears to have no morals at all.
I am outraged because NPR, which I now dub Nazi Plutocrat Radio, has committed an unspeakable atrocity. They had persecuted a innocent man and stripped him of his god given 1st amendment rights simply because they didn't like his political beliefs.
I am speaking of Juan Williams(who like the great martyr Rachel Corrie was driven over by a bulldozer, the bulldozer of the liberal biased media) who simply stated his balanced logical and reasonable view and Narcissist Paranoid Radio was scared that he would challenge their secret agenda and so they fired him.
But no, we will not stand for it. Already a public backlash has started against Name-calling Poor-loving Radio. Sarah Palin has called for the cutting off of all government funding for NPR and musicians are beginning to record protest songs sticking up for Mr. Williams. Roger Ailes has been public about his support for Mr. Williams 1st Amendment rights.
How about we look at what he said.
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
How about I flip the sarcasm switch to off right now and address Juan Williams personally.
Mr. Williams you are the former host of one of my favorite NPR programs and I am sure you are an intelligent man but I feel that your comments, setting aside the prejudicial nature of it, don't make any sense.
What exactly do you mean by Muslim garb? Are you referring to the burkahs worn by the women? If not what else are you referring to? Also how does wearing religious paraphernalia mean that they identify themselves first and foremost as Muslims? If I am Jewish and I wear a a kippah does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Jew? If I am a Sikh and I wear a turban does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Sikh? If I am Christian and I wear a cross necklace does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Christian?
(I shall now address my readers again)
The reason that NPR fired him is because "News analysts may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts..." They have a perfect right to fire a analyst if they think that he is no longer credible. It is their right. It is his right to say what he wants and it is their right to not like it and fire him accordingly.
If he was working in an office where his political beliefs had nothing to do with his work it would be different but the fact that his political beliefs or lack there of are the cornerstone of his job it is appropriate for his employer to fire him for his statement.
And Sarah Palin saying that we need to cut funding to NPR because they fired a correspondent really really bothers me. She is proposing crippling an institution that has been providing the public with information for 40 years just to score some political points. She truly appears to have no morals at all.
Monday, October 11, 2010
In which I get very angry and post some lyrics
I wrote the song after I watched a report of Westborough Baptist Church which pickets soldiers funerals because gay people live in America(don't ask me how they worked that out) and a different report on a gay teenager who killed himself and in that report someone said that he killed himself because he lived an unhealthy lifestyle and that we had encouraged people to be gay. When the interviewer pointed out that there are going to be gay teens no matter what you do thus we have to make them feel accepted the man(who was from the Family Research council I believe) said that we don't have gay kids over here and straight kids over there, and actually yeah we do. Gay people do just kinda happen the same way straight people happen, they're born. I also watched a different report in which the Republican candidate for governor of New York(an upstanding fellow who emails out racist and pornographic videos and believes that we should put welfare recipients in prison work camps) said that he didn't march in gay pride march this year but his opponent did and what example does that set for the youth? But hey he's tolerant, he believes in live and let live, but he doesn't want his kids being taught that homosexuality was valid or on par with heterosexuality. And then everyone clapped. Yeah. So here is For Fred Phelps(or as its alternate title is) In which I call fred phelps a bunch of names
For Fred Phelps
Hey freddy
you stinking freaking homophobe
how do you feel
how do you live with yourself
how does it feel to
spread you disease
your disease of hate
and monstrosity
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp The Dirt down
how do you feel
when you see that a gay
teenager has hung himself
because of your hate
how do you feel when you see a dead soldier
his parents are weeping
and you're saying he's
going to the devil
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp The Dirt Down
How does it feel
to know that you ignore Jesus
who you claim
to worship and obey
Jesus said love
your neighbor
not picket at their
children's funeral
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to tramp the dirt down
How does it feel to
live on your own
surrounded by a world
that is moving past your prejudice
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to tramp the dirt down
How do you sleep at night
when you see what
you've caused
what you feed
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp the dirt down
For Fred Phelps
Hey freddy
you stinking freaking homophobe
how do you feel
how do you live with yourself
how does it feel to
spread you disease
your disease of hate
and monstrosity
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp The Dirt down
how do you feel
when you see that a gay
teenager has hung himself
because of your hate
how do you feel when you see a dead soldier
his parents are weeping
and you're saying he's
going to the devil
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp The Dirt Down
How does it feel
to know that you ignore Jesus
who you claim
to worship and obey
Jesus said love
your neighbor
not picket at their
children's funeral
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to tramp the dirt down
How does it feel to
live on your own
surrounded by a world
that is moving past your prejudice
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to tramp the dirt down
How do you sleep at night
when you see what
you've caused
what you feed
Elvis Costello was right
I want to live long enough
to Tramp the dirt down
Friday, October 8, 2010
lyrics of the week
I wrote this song a few weeks ago and hadn't gotten around to posting it and I kind of forgot about it, until I read today that a State Representative from my home state sent out an email to other politicians in which he called gay people "Queers" and "Fruitloops". So here is
Homophobia must die
punk
no capo
You can't get married
because
if I see two people
living together
who share the same gender
it will hurt my relationships
so go on you merry way
and don't you come back till your normal
Homophobia must die
Homophobia must die
We're fighting a war
overseas
and we're turning people out
if they want to be
openly who they are
because we can't have no gays in our army
so go on your merry way
and don't you come back till your normal
Homophobia must die
homophobia must die
bridge
there are those
who equate
being gay
with being a polygamist
or a pedophile
but that is based in fear
and hate
against what you don't understand
Homophobia must die
Homophobia must die
Homophobia must die
punk
no capo
You can't get married
because
if I see two people
living together
who share the same gender
it will hurt my relationships
so go on you merry way
and don't you come back till your normal
Homophobia must die
Homophobia must die
We're fighting a war
overseas
and we're turning people out
if they want to be
openly who they are
because we can't have no gays in our army
so go on your merry way
and don't you come back till your normal
Homophobia must die
homophobia must die
bridge
there are those
who equate
being gay
with being a polygamist
or a pedophile
but that is based in fear
and hate
against what you don't understand
Homophobia must die
Homophobia must die
Friday, October 1, 2010
announcement
For several weeks I have been in talks with my contributers and I am pleased to announce that in the next few weeks I will be publishing an interview that I conducted with our resident conservative Alex. The actual interview part is over and all that is left is to fix it up, correct typos, and severely edit his remarks to make him look foolish(sorry Freudian slip). And let me tell you, this interview should spark some interesting comments.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
About 40 days away from the midterms, the Tea Party winning primaries right and left, Republicans poised to make gains, you know what it's time for?
That's right the 2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
Tea Party keeps marching forward
with their insane economic agenda
and their candidates seem to get more fringe every day
and it seems like all hope for the dems has just gone away
Hey Hey
Let's Go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
Liberalism is still around
We're ready to rise when we see the point
We are the progressive coalition
we love FDR and are real fans of Freedom of Religion
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
Republicans held the country
hostage to their filibuster
they shook their fists no, no to the military, no to health care
no to their own ideas no to making the economy a little more fair
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
rap bridge
I get that they didn't get much done
but the democratic party we shouldn't shun
if the moderation of Congress makes frown
imagine what things will be like when the Tea Party comes to town
I agree that the best way to prevent a conservative takeover
is to give the Democrats a makeover
to make 'em liberal again
maybe we'll get some movement then
but right now we gotta be happy with what we got
so vote for the Democrat even if you don't like him a whole lot
end rap bridge
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote against palin
and her divisive rhetoric
and her total lack of substance
and the far right idea she's trying to sell us
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote for the freedom
that we we guaranteed
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
and let's not tax the rich any less
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote against the talk show hosts
who yell and scream
when a Muslim wants to pray
or when a soldier who's fighting for us happens to be gay
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the democrats
That's right the 2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
Tea Party keeps marching forward
with their insane economic agenda
and their candidates seem to get more fringe every day
and it seems like all hope for the dems has just gone away
Hey Hey
Let's Go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
Liberalism is still around
We're ready to rise when we see the point
We are the progressive coalition
we love FDR and are real fans of Freedom of Religion
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
Republicans held the country
hostage to their filibuster
they shook their fists no, no to the military, no to health care
no to their own ideas no to making the economy a little more fair
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
rap bridge
I get that they didn't get much done
but the democratic party we shouldn't shun
if the moderation of Congress makes frown
imagine what things will be like when the Tea Party comes to town
I agree that the best way to prevent a conservative takeover
is to give the Democrats a makeover
to make 'em liberal again
maybe we'll get some movement then
but right now we gotta be happy with what we got
so vote for the Democrat even if you don't like him a whole lot
end rap bridge
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote against palin
and her divisive rhetoric
and her total lack of substance
and the far right idea she's trying to sell us
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote for the freedom
that we we guaranteed
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
and let's not tax the rich any less
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats
vote against the talk show hosts
who yell and scream
when a Muslim wants to pray
or when a soldier who's fighting for us happens to be gay
Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the democrats
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Let's get together and burn the flag
Pastor Terry Jones and his congregation has big plans for this Saturday. In memory of the 9/11 attacks and to protest radical Muslims they are going to do what all good Christians would do, they're going to burn the Qua-ran. Yep, toss the Muslim holy book on a good bonfire and crackle crackle it goes up in smoke, exactly as Jesus intended.
I also have big plans for 9/11, first I'm going to a soccer game, then I'm celebrating my dad's birthday, then I'm going to burn the Bible in memory of all those killed by the KKK. Because obviously, since a small group of nutcases decided to kill a ton of people that means that they're whole religion and anyone who believes it agrees with them.
I also have big plans for 9/11, first I'm going to a soccer game, then I'm celebrating my dad's birthday, then I'm going to burn the Bible in memory of all those killed by the KKK. Because obviously, since a small group of nutcases decided to kill a ton of people that means that they're whole religion and anyone who believes it agrees with them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
