Meme meme meme meeeeeme....
May. 8th, 2004 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomGot from The Reverend Dr. Sherwood Forrester, and even he doesn't remember where it came from, it's been around for awhile (but somehow I missed it):
My own opinions, subject to consideration and revision. Your mileage may vary. And if I say "his", please read it to mean "his or her".
Abortion: The potential for life exists in every human cell, including discarded fingernails. A baby ain't a baby until it's born. And it's the mother's option, all the way, especially if her life is in danger or if the fetus is the result of a rape. All babies should be wanted, as their care takes over the lives of the parents pretty much completely. If I'm the father, I have responsibility towards the wishes of the mother. Other than that, it ain't my business, ain't my body, and I will fight either side of the family, or anybody else, tooth and nail to make sure the mother's wishes are carried out. And, religious whackjobs: If every life is so precious, how come millions of sperm are allowed to perish even when one is created?
Premarital sex: Up to the individuals. Nobody's business or problem, although in case of pregnancy or disease it is the responsibility of both.
Downloading music: Obviously, near and dear to my heart. I'd be a lot more stridently against doing it if I hadn't, as a for-instance, purchased Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell on CD, cassette, and 8-track. Or if I didn't know how much it actually costs to produce a CD, and how much the artists tend to actually get. If you want to support an artist, buy music from that artist or his designated retailers. The RIAA is not trying to get money for artists; it's trying to get money for the RIAA. (A tangential point, regarding movies and software: Some of these things are truly overpriced, no doubt. But if you're using your $2,000 computer to bootleg a $15 CD or DVD, you've either got problems with priorities or you're trying to make money bootlegging someone else's work, which does piss me off to no end. Bootlegging for your own use is one thing; selling unauthorized bootlegs of other people's stuff for anything besides material costs and duplication time -- a pittance -- is theft, and God help you 'cause I won't.)
Prostitution: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of it.
Porn: Of course porn is exploitative. That's kinda the idea. And everyone's got their own flavor. That said, photographs of children are Right Out. The kids are too young to protect themselves or understand all of the implications, and using them in such a way is evil. On a similar front, though, writings and created images should be left alone. No one is used against their will or better judgment in those cases, and regulating them is close to thought policing. Kiddie porn does nothing for me... but if it's only a story, it's not my business.
Death Penalty: Generally against it, but probably applicable in some extreme cases. Contrary to what is often spewed, I feel the Death Penalty is obviously punitive and vengeful, which doesn't mean that if some yahoo shoots up a school that we should treat him as the victim. It's almost impossible to come up with a blanket rule.
Suicide: Under most circumstances, suicide does not solve any problems -- it merely shifts responsibility for them onto your survivors. That said, if someone has a debilitating disease or injury, one of those Quality Of Life situations, it should be legal for a doctor to help him end his life, easing his pain, and straightening his affairs so his family doesn't have a terrible legal or financial mess to clean up.
Alcohol: I don't drink recreationally. I cook with wine, and I do not mind my friends indulging. Like any other drug, it probably needs more regulation. I could do without a lot of the beer ads.
The legal drinking age: If you can marry, vote, own property, and kill and die for your country at age 18, you can damn well take a drink.
Drunk driving: I would not be in favor of a breathalyzer-based auto ignition system (too easy to hack). Friends Don't Let Friends Etc. Anyone who kills through drunk driving is automatically barred from ever having a driver's license again.
Smoking: The only drug I want outlawed, because it's the only drug that, when used as directed, affects people nearby. Also, it just freakin' smells terrible.
Marijuana: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of it. Marijuana has killed more people than... um... nothing.
Other drugs: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of 'em. Even the lethal ones. If someone's determined to kill themselves through drug use, we should do as much to prepare them and their family for it, certainly including offering them all the standard alternatives. But if people can drink and smoke, let 'em do drugs. We'll get rid of a lot of the influence of the cartels, too. Though this may sound ludicrous, we could even have something akin to the return of opium dens, where users could go and use safely, with medical help, detox opportunities, and full, accurate information available. Hey. We have bars, saloons, and taverns.
Gay marriage: Marriage should be a civil joining of adult persons, period. If you want to get into polygamy, fine, but have a really detailed pre-nup. The purpose, as far as the government is concerned, is the consolidation and disposition of finances and property; to City Hall, marriage has nothing to do with love or procreation, and only really invokes it for such circumstances as adoption, in which again the sexual preferences of the prospective adults should have nothing to do with how stable their home is. If you're determined to bring religion into the argument, I think it's hilarious that the Religious Right talks about the "sanctity" of a ceremony that can be performed in a drive-thru by an Elvis impersonator. The divorce rate is still stupidly high, and passages can be found in the Bible endorsing polygamy and incest in various configurations, not to mention subjugating wives and slaughtering gays.
Illegal immigrants: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Almost everyone in this country was either born elsewhere or has family going back no more than a few generations that came here from elsewhere. The Great American Melting Pot. And, frankly, most of the low-wage, menial jobs in this country go to those poor shmucks -- as Jimmy Tingle said, "These people do a triathalon in the dark... to pick lettuce."
Cloning: The original usage of the word doesn't apply to people -- I'm not going to cut off a finger and install it onto someone's arm to grow a new hand. And the nightmare scenarios everyone imagines are equally far-fetched. Most of them are inspired by the intrusion of religion into the debate -- "every life is sacred" and all that. Stem-cell research, tissue and organ regrowth, and many other possibilities for medical advancement are held hostage by the superstitious and foolish. And, even though it's pure fantasy at this point, if people did have the option to grow themselves a new body and transplant their brain, or mind, into it, do you think Pat Robertson wouldn't be on the list?
Racism: People are people. The genetic differences between any of the races -- or, for that matter, humans and spiny anteaters -- are so negligible that the fatheads should be embarrassed that they even try to mention them. And, in particular, any guy who claims that one race is better than another is immediately disqualified from having any harem fantasy involving Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Miranda Otto, and Kelly Hu, which I think would disqualify everybody. (For the other persuasion, I don't think I'm too far off in grouping Antonio Bandares, Denzel Washington, Chou Yun Fat, Hugh Jackman, and The Rock.)
Religion: The most horrific sociological abberation in history. I can understand the need to believe in a purpose in life, a reason for The Way Things Are. I cannot understand the whole "my god's better than your god" thing, especially when it is used (as it has been nearly constantly for thousands of years) as a pretext for war, murder, genocide, misogyny, pillage, plunder, and superiority complexes nearly equalling self-deification. I don't need to genuflect to a Big Invisible Superhero In The Sky, and the laws of the land ensure that I don't have to... so far. If you worship, great. Keep it out of my face, my bedroom, my laws, and your behavior towards me. I'll return the courtesy. Try to impose your god on me or mine, and I'll rip your fuckin' throat out... legally, non-violently, and oh so politely.
The war in Iraq: Lie upon lie upon lie. Great framing of the question: Why, yes indeed, Saddam Hussein is A Bad Man. Which does not excuse invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses, bribing nations to help us and punishing them when they don't, bombing thousands of innocent people, and torturing prisoners. The entire Administration is a pack of evil, lying scumbags who only want money and power for themselves and their cronies. Nothing BushCo has done is in American interests, or in the American spirit. They should all be impeached, then handed over to the Hague for war crimes. And an independent study of the major news media should be conducted to find their culpability. The current situation should be handed over to the UN as quickly as feasible, and the US should pay the tab, preferably by nationalizing Halliburton and Kellogg Brown and making them cough up the dough.
Well. That was fun.
My Views On Stuff
My own opinions, subject to consideration and revision. Your mileage may vary. And if I say "his", please read it to mean "his or her".
Abortion: The potential for life exists in every human cell, including discarded fingernails. A baby ain't a baby until it's born. And it's the mother's option, all the way, especially if her life is in danger or if the fetus is the result of a rape. All babies should be wanted, as their care takes over the lives of the parents pretty much completely. If I'm the father, I have responsibility towards the wishes of the mother. Other than that, it ain't my business, ain't my body, and I will fight either side of the family, or anybody else, tooth and nail to make sure the mother's wishes are carried out. And, religious whackjobs: If every life is so precious, how come millions of sperm are allowed to perish even when one is created?
Premarital sex: Up to the individuals. Nobody's business or problem, although in case of pregnancy or disease it is the responsibility of both.
Downloading music: Obviously, near and dear to my heart. I'd be a lot more stridently against doing it if I hadn't, as a for-instance, purchased Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell on CD, cassette, and 8-track. Or if I didn't know how much it actually costs to produce a CD, and how much the artists tend to actually get. If you want to support an artist, buy music from that artist or his designated retailers. The RIAA is not trying to get money for artists; it's trying to get money for the RIAA. (A tangential point, regarding movies and software: Some of these things are truly overpriced, no doubt. But if you're using your $2,000 computer to bootleg a $15 CD or DVD, you've either got problems with priorities or you're trying to make money bootlegging someone else's work, which does piss me off to no end. Bootlegging for your own use is one thing; selling unauthorized bootlegs of other people's stuff for anything besides material costs and duplication time -- a pittance -- is theft, and God help you 'cause I won't.)
Prostitution: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of it.
Porn: Of course porn is exploitative. That's kinda the idea. And everyone's got their own flavor. That said, photographs of children are Right Out. The kids are too young to protect themselves or understand all of the implications, and using them in such a way is evil. On a similar front, though, writings and created images should be left alone. No one is used against their will or better judgment in those cases, and regulating them is close to thought policing. Kiddie porn does nothing for me... but if it's only a story, it's not my business.
Death Penalty: Generally against it, but probably applicable in some extreme cases. Contrary to what is often spewed, I feel the Death Penalty is obviously punitive and vengeful, which doesn't mean that if some yahoo shoots up a school that we should treat him as the victim. It's almost impossible to come up with a blanket rule.
Suicide: Under most circumstances, suicide does not solve any problems -- it merely shifts responsibility for them onto your survivors. That said, if someone has a debilitating disease or injury, one of those Quality Of Life situations, it should be legal for a doctor to help him end his life, easing his pain, and straightening his affairs so his family doesn't have a terrible legal or financial mess to clean up.
Alcohol: I don't drink recreationally. I cook with wine, and I do not mind my friends indulging. Like any other drug, it probably needs more regulation. I could do without a lot of the beer ads.
The legal drinking age: If you can marry, vote, own property, and kill and die for your country at age 18, you can damn well take a drink.
Drunk driving: I would not be in favor of a breathalyzer-based auto ignition system (too easy to hack). Friends Don't Let Friends Etc. Anyone who kills through drunk driving is automatically barred from ever having a driver's license again.
Smoking: The only drug I want outlawed, because it's the only drug that, when used as directed, affects people nearby. Also, it just freakin' smells terrible.
Marijuana: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of it. Marijuana has killed more people than... um... nothing.
Other drugs: Decriminalize and regulate the hell out of 'em. Even the lethal ones. If someone's determined to kill themselves through drug use, we should do as much to prepare them and their family for it, certainly including offering them all the standard alternatives. But if people can drink and smoke, let 'em do drugs. We'll get rid of a lot of the influence of the cartels, too. Though this may sound ludicrous, we could even have something akin to the return of opium dens, where users could go and use safely, with medical help, detox opportunities, and full, accurate information available. Hey. We have bars, saloons, and taverns.
Gay marriage: Marriage should be a civil joining of adult persons, period. If you want to get into polygamy, fine, but have a really detailed pre-nup. The purpose, as far as the government is concerned, is the consolidation and disposition of finances and property; to City Hall, marriage has nothing to do with love or procreation, and only really invokes it for such circumstances as adoption, in which again the sexual preferences of the prospective adults should have nothing to do with how stable their home is. If you're determined to bring religion into the argument, I think it's hilarious that the Religious Right talks about the "sanctity" of a ceremony that can be performed in a drive-thru by an Elvis impersonator. The divorce rate is still stupidly high, and passages can be found in the Bible endorsing polygamy and incest in various configurations, not to mention subjugating wives and slaughtering gays.
Illegal immigrants: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Almost everyone in this country was either born elsewhere or has family going back no more than a few generations that came here from elsewhere. The Great American Melting Pot. And, frankly, most of the low-wage, menial jobs in this country go to those poor shmucks -- as Jimmy Tingle said, "These people do a triathalon in the dark... to pick lettuce."
Cloning: The original usage of the word doesn't apply to people -- I'm not going to cut off a finger and install it onto someone's arm to grow a new hand. And the nightmare scenarios everyone imagines are equally far-fetched. Most of them are inspired by the intrusion of religion into the debate -- "every life is sacred" and all that. Stem-cell research, tissue and organ regrowth, and many other possibilities for medical advancement are held hostage by the superstitious and foolish. And, even though it's pure fantasy at this point, if people did have the option to grow themselves a new body and transplant their brain, or mind, into it, do you think Pat Robertson wouldn't be on the list?
Racism: People are people. The genetic differences between any of the races -- or, for that matter, humans and spiny anteaters -- are so negligible that the fatheads should be embarrassed that they even try to mention them. And, in particular, any guy who claims that one race is better than another is immediately disqualified from having any harem fantasy involving Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Miranda Otto, and Kelly Hu, which I think would disqualify everybody. (For the other persuasion, I don't think I'm too far off in grouping Antonio Bandares, Denzel Washington, Chou Yun Fat, Hugh Jackman, and The Rock.)
Religion: The most horrific sociological abberation in history. I can understand the need to believe in a purpose in life, a reason for The Way Things Are. I cannot understand the whole "my god's better than your god" thing, especially when it is used (as it has been nearly constantly for thousands of years) as a pretext for war, murder, genocide, misogyny, pillage, plunder, and superiority complexes nearly equalling self-deification. I don't need to genuflect to a Big Invisible Superhero In The Sky, and the laws of the land ensure that I don't have to... so far. If you worship, great. Keep it out of my face, my bedroom, my laws, and your behavior towards me. I'll return the courtesy. Try to impose your god on me or mine, and I'll rip your fuckin' throat out... legally, non-violently, and oh so politely.
The war in Iraq: Lie upon lie upon lie. Great framing of the question: Why, yes indeed, Saddam Hussein is A Bad Man. Which does not excuse invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses, bribing nations to help us and punishing them when they don't, bombing thousands of innocent people, and torturing prisoners. The entire Administration is a pack of evil, lying scumbags who only want money and power for themselves and their cronies. Nothing BushCo has done is in American interests, or in the American spirit. They should all be impeached, then handed over to the Hague for war crimes. And an independent study of the major news media should be conducted to find their culpability. The current situation should be handed over to the UN as quickly as feasible, and the US should pay the tab, preferably by nationalizing Halliburton and Kellogg Brown and making them cough up the dough.
Well. That was fun.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 10:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 01:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 12:34 pm (UTC)-Marianna
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 01:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-14 09:09 am (UTC)I agree with the cecond hand smoke problem, and this from a girl who grew up in eastern NC!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 09:20 pm (UTC)Agreed On All Points, With One Exception...
Date: 2004-05-09 01:16 pm (UTC)Thankyew, thankyewverramuch! :)
Re: Agreed On All Points, With One Exception...
Date: 2004-05-09 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-09 02:16 pm (UTC)And who'd want to limit their harem to all of 4 or 5 individuals anyhow?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-10 01:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-12 01:05 pm (UTC)::laughs:: The egos, man -- think of it! The horror!
Re: A Tacky Observation
Date: 2004-05-14 12:30 pm (UTC)A Tacky Observation
Date: 2004-05-13 06:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-12 01:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-13 06:21 am (UTC)