tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72731066801153905772024-03-05T12:44:30.363-06:00Another idiot with a blog: Liberal Atheist RantingsAny resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Apply only to affected area. For recreational use only.If condition persists, consult your physician. No user-serviceable parts inside. Subject to change without notice. Slippery when wet.David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-32592171347151673702015-07-08T02:15:00.002-05:002015-07-08T02:15:39.256-05:00Dear blogger, good bye. Also, Fuck you.I started this blog many years ago at blogger when it was an independent site. It got bought by google, which complicated shit. But that was ok, because it worked. Like many serious bloggers, I used Windows Live Writer for writing my blog posts. Things came and went, and my blog started to collect some dust.<br />
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I got inspired for the first time in months to write a blog post tonight. I spent a lot of time writing it, and I was pretty proud of the result. Then I went to go post it. And blogger flipped me the finger.<br />
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So I spent equally as much time trying to figure out why I could no longer post to my blog. Turns out that the mighty Google, in their infinite wisdom, shut off all authentication mechanisms except OAuth, which basically broke fucking everything. And they really don't fucking care.<br />
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So after investing a good deal of the night trying to figure out how to continue to post to Blogger from WLW, I finally decided to replace the faulty mechanism in the process.<br />
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I've moved my entire blog, including my missing new post, to WordPress. The new URL is https://drcowboyblog.wordpress.com/ (which is great because I haven't been a Taoist for a long time)<br />
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I apologize if anything is missing, and I'm still playing with the layout because I don't like it yet. But on the plus side it works with WLW just great. Please follow me there, both of you my dear readers.<br />
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Thanks for all the memories Blogger, and fuck you for destroying my blog.<br />
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I really ought to just buy my own fucking domain already.David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-36754739663177745822014-10-22T01:08:00.001-05:002014-10-22T01:09:56.734-05:00Fist Of Jesus!This is quite possibly the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKV2Z3eYTY" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKV2Z3eYTY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKV2Z3eYTY</a><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GuKV2Z3eYTY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-62093135377148879962014-10-22T00:57:00.001-05:002014-10-22T00:57:59.406-05:00God’s Not Dead II: Electric Boogaloo<p>So according to <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/">The Friendly Atheist</a>, God’s not dead is getting a sequel. That’s right, a motherfucking sequel. </p> <p><a title="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/</a></p> <p>I find this hilarious. Apparently people are hungry for atheist stereotype poor logic defense of irrational beliefs. Go at it then. At the end of the post, Hemant issued a challenge to commenters: </p> <blockquote> <p>So let’s have a contest! In the comment section, leave your idea for what the plot of <em>God’s Not Dead 2</em> will look like. I’ll pick a winner at random in a few days and you’ll receive a free shirt from <a href="http://www.hypatialtd.com/">Hypatia, Ltd.</a>, a new company started by an ex-Muslim. 10% of all sales from now through the end of the year will <a href="http://www.hypatialtd.com/blogs/news/15554833-10-of-sales-through-the-end-of-the-year-will-go-to-the-malala-fund">go to the Malala Fund</a>.</p></blockquote> <p>Challenge accepted. </p> <p>I posted the following proposal for the plot of God’s Not Dead II: </p> <p><a title="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/#comment-1647683150" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/#comment-1647683150">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/20/gods-not-dead-2-will-be-out-next-year-says-studio-head/#comment-1647683150</a></p> <blockquote> <p>God's Not Dead II: Electric Boogaloo. <p>A hell hound defiles Kevin Sorbo's grave, and he returns to unholy life. Filled with atheist rage, he assumes commands over all of the world's governments and passes a law that all citizens must be tattooed with the number 666 to show property citizenship. All Christians mysteriously disappear before the holocaust begins. Except for our hero, the recent college graduate, who must don the mantle of warrior once again and battle his way through hordes of satanic zombies to get to the source of evil, the anti-christ Kevin Sorbo and pave the way for the second coming of Jesus. To be continued...</p></blockquote> <p>Seriously, is that not the most fucking awesome Christian movie plot ever??? Apocalypse? Zombies? Massacres? Giant presses filled with people squishing the blood out of them? Explosions? Total Michael Bay shit! Go vote for me right the fuck now. I need more T-shirts and shit.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-70019014849882329712014-10-17T22:55:00.001-05:002014-10-17T22:55:06.966-05:00This? Again?<p>So this happened: </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WNl_1gQqrWI" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>(I’m having a little trouble with the link in my blogging software, so I’ll post it here just in case it goes horribly wrong).<br><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl_1gQqrWI" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl_1gQqrWI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl_1gQqrWI</a><br><br>First of all, I like Russell Brand. I do. I don’t exactly think he’s any kind of bastion of intellectual thought, but his heart is in the right place. But here, like with Ben Affleck, he’s adopted this mainline liberal idea that Muslims are this big giant group of peace loving hippies and there’s just a couple of bad apples who run around blowing up buildings trying to make Islam look bad. </p> <p>So I find my self in the uncomfortable position of actually agreeing with Fox News. Yes, they got something right. There are scores of human rights abuses in Islamic countries ruled by Sharia Law. However, Fox is right but for the wrong reasons, and they get the point wrong as usual. </p> <p>You see, Fox has an agenda. They target a Christian conservative audience and play on their fears to increase viewership. To a conservative Christians, Muslims are fuckin’ scary. We sort of ran out of bad guys with the fall of the (godless communist) Soviet Union in the early 90s, and 9/11 gave us a new one: <em>Muslims!</em></p> <p>In this case, the facts fit Fox’s narrative beautifully, as long as you don’t back up and look at the bigger picture. The Quran does endorse subjugation of women. It does call for killing infidels and apostates. Fox says that you can be killed for “sins” but it’s actually a bit more specific than that. Only certain sins will merit the death penalty, and leaving Islam is right up there. I can only assume they dodge that one because *gasp!* it makes atheists look persecuted. Fox hates atheists too, so they can’t go there. But back up a little, take the 40,000 foot view, and you can say that Islam commands death for the commission of (certain) sins. See how easy it was to twist that little fact to fit a narrative?</p> <p>So lets take Brand’s claims into account here. There’s 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, and the vast majority of them aren’t running around blowing up buildings. Yes, true. But Fox was actually talking about human rights abuses, and these occur at an alarming rate in many Muslim theocracies. The problem, of course, is more complex than anything that can be summed up in a simple sentence and plastered on a picture of Morgan Freeman for circulation around the internet. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCHR055m0aedXU-99tIpgmBwiO0-EKW5QMgZ1GlYGv042XUif7Z3XxhWSKkh-yPZT6XgmtSZeiUXcx2LuYwalav3I8EnNyp2DWUnzRkeOMmwCaglaHoHZolFV5abY2lFzQ22BNl8lo278/s1600-h/55410280%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="55410280" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="55410280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz7bBUJ_B6XKKlKYIwYcEyZlOEudZLZgYGMp3GrvzXydB_ZllPsoFYZurHQzinpwwfz0CXMBuaQZx46b978eaAOzHgFIHJzthXN8o6oCnTljF3qgeRnERDtOH2aVMkMkbID4PbL0g9lk8/?imgmax=800" width="244" height="184"></a></p> <p>What Fox is missing is the fact that any criticism that can be leveled against Islam can also (and should be) leveled against Christianity. Christianity had Theocracies with human rights abuses a while ago too. We call them the dark ages now. Islam is currently in it’s own dark age. </p> <p>You see, the problem isn’t Islam, it’s Theocracies. It’s following bronze age religions in the information age. But you have to love the irony of Fox News decrying a Theocracy, considering how much time they’ve spent suggesting that we become one.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-9902680910285279522014-10-07T02:44:00.001-05:002014-10-07T02:44:25.129-05:00Liberal Pseudo-Intellectual Arrogant Shitheads<p>In case you’ve been living under a rock, you may have missed the little spat between Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Reza Aslan, and Ben Affleck.</p> <p>That’s right. Ben. Fucking. Affleck. Because his opinion is somehow important.</p> <p>So let’s recap to bring you up to speed.</p> <p>First this happened: </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:915f504a-6636-4c1d-9fce-49ea5ecbeece" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JDFrNQAjDYA?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JDFrNQAjDYA?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>Then this happened: </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b4afa674-7c91-42a6-916c-f81d35187b3a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PzusSqcotDw?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PzusSqcotDw?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>Then this happened: </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b713a369-529f-4bfe-b7e1-e8beb5534f4c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object width="448" height="252"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vln9D81eO60?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vln9D81eO60?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div></div> <p>Just in case you didn’t take the time to watch those (or they’ve been taken down since I posted this) I’ll recap: </p> <blockquote> <p>Bill Maher: You liberals who defend Islam suck. Islam is bad. Rih rih bad. They kill you n shit. Liberals who don’t speak out against the violence of Islam suck.<br><br>Reza Aslan: Oh no you didn’t! Bill Maher is wrong because he’s dumb. I’m smart. Listen to me. Islam fucking rulez, beeches! BTW I’m smart and he’s dumb!<br><br>(Spoiler alert: that’s called the ad hominem attack and is a way for pseudo-intellectual assholes to assert their superiority without actually making good factually based arguments. I kinda hate that shit)<br><br>Bill Maher: Huh? Islam kills you n shit for not being Islamic. Or leaving Islam. Or drawing Muhammad. Or basically doing fucking anything that isn’t sucking Allah’s imaginary motherfucking dick.<br><br>Ben Affleck: Whatever. Islam is awesome. <br><br>Bill Maher: WTF? Here’s some facts. They’ll fucking kill your ass!<br><br>Ben Affleck: Whatever you motherfucking racist!<br><br>Bill Maher: Racist? Islam isn’t a race, it’s a motherfucking religion, bitches! WTF are you talking about?<br><br>Ben Affleck: I’m right because I’M MOTHERFUCKING BEN AFFLECK BITCHES!<br><br>Bill Maher: But… but… facts?<br><br>Ben Affleck: FUCK YOUR FACTS BITCH! I’M MOTHERFUCKING BEN FUCKING AFFLECK AND I SAY ISLAM IS FUCKING GREAT N SHIT! MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! COME SUCK IT BITCH!!!!<br><br>Sam Harris: Ok, I’ll concede this one point to you…<br><br>Ben Affleck: FUCK YOU BITCH! WHO’S YOU DADDY?!? ME!!! I’M YOU MOTHERFUCKING DADDY! CUZ I DID UR MOM! LIKE THIS!! OOOOOH YEAH!!! SMACK THAT ASS BABY!!! WOOOOO!!!!!<br></p></blockquote> <p>Okay, full disclosure: I’m drinking while I write this, so my synopsis of the exchange might be slightly off, but I think I got the general gist of it. Basically I’m the Mr. Cranky of the liberal atheist blogosphere. Except people actually read Mr. Cranky. </p> <p>So as you might have surmised, I have a slight problem with this. I’ll give you the right answer in advance: Bill Maher was right.</p> <p>It goes like this. When you say “black people be like” you’re a fucking racist. There’s no African-American manual where you can glean what they think from. They’re people. If you generalize them, you’re a bigot. End of story.</p> <p>When you say “White people be like” you’re the same fucking thing. To get to the point slightly faster, you can put any race or gender in there and you get the same thing. Bigot. </p> <p><em>But religion is different.</em> When you criticize Christians, they have a manual. They’re more than happy to wave it in your face and quote from it. They get pissed off if you know more about it than they do and point out the bad parts. But some of them actually read the bad parts, and dutifully try to apply them. We call those assholes extremists. Islam is the same. You’ll find plenty of “moderate” Muslims who don’t go killing atheists or Christians or former Muslims or beheading cartoonists or filmmakers who have the audacity to tell the stories of abuse from the Muslim world, but they’re not exactly speaking up either. <strong>And the bad shit is in their holy book too, same as the extremists.</strong> So you <em>can</em> paint Muslims and Christians (and most other religions) with the same brush, because they actually have a source they’re getting this shit from. And we can go right to the source and criticize it, and we should, because there’s a lot of bad shit in there.</p> <p>You see, the difference is that religion is an idea, not a set of physical attributes. And as an idea, like any human idea, it is open to criticism. And it should be. Religion is a terrible idea. </p> <p>I’ve never identified myself as a liberal, even though most people consider me to be so. Most of my political leanings are to the left, because I believe that people are more important than things. That’s right, you don’t have to have a holy book to think morally like that. But these pseudo intellectual shitheads like Affleck and Aslan piss me right the fuck off. They’re liberal because they think it’s cool. They don’t give a fuck about facts, they take whatever they think they’re supposed to think and run with it. </p> <p>Fuck that shit. Islam deserves criticism. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-24700494121315132142014-02-03T14:20:00.001-06:002014-02-03T14:20:44.655-06:00Michael Patrick Leahy in plain English<p>You may have heard about the recent flap over the Coca Cola commercial that so enraged the right wing ideologues. Of particular interest was a blog post by Michael Patrick Leahy (at Breitbart.com, so you know this will be entertaining) who is upset that America the Beautiful might be sung in a language other than English. However, since he only speaks ideologue, I found that ironic. I’ve decided to help out and translate his blog post into plain English so that we can all benefit from his wisdom. </p> <p><a title="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/02/Why-Coca-Cola-America-The-Beautiful-Ad-Was-Offensive?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/02/Why-Coca-Cola-America-The-Beautiful-Ad-Was-Offensive?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/02/Why-Coca-Cola-America-The-Beautiful-Ad-Was-Offensive?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter</a></p> <p><em>“Executives at Coca Cola thought it was a good idea to run a 60 second Super Bowl ad featuring children singing "America the Beautiful" – a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity – in several foreign languages. The ad also prominently features a gay couple.”</em></p> <blockquote> <p>Executives are bad when they make decisions I don’t like. When they pay me to push their point of view though, they’re awesome. America the Beautiful mentions God therefore the entire song is about God, not America. I’ve never actually listened to the words. There were two men in a shot together for a half second therefore they must be gay because I’m a bigot and hate gay people.</p></blockquote> <p><em>Conservatives instantly lit up social media with objections, with many vowing to boycott the soda company's products.</em></p> <blockquote> <p>Haters gonna hate. That’s us. We’re the haters. We must object to this message of tolerance and acceptance. There’s no money in that shit.</p></blockquote> <p><em>“If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing 'American the Beautiful' in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come — doggone we are on the road to perdition," said former GOP Rep. Allen West.</em> </p> <blockquote> <p>I know a black man, therefore I’m not racist. I wonder if his ancestors loved America enough to learn the language within five years when they got here…</p></blockquote> <p><em>The lyrics of the song, written in 1893 by Wellesley College Professor Katherine Lee Bates, ask God to grant America “brotherhood / From sea to shining sea.”<br>As far as the executives at Coca Cola are concerned, however, the United States of America is no longer a nation ruled by the Constitution and American traditions in which English is the language of government. It is not a nation governed in the Anglo-American tradition of liberty. It is instead a nation governed by some all inclusive multi-cultural synthesis of the various forms of government in the world, as expressed by the multiple languages used in the Super Bowl ad to sing a uniquely American hymn that celebrates our heritage.</em></p> <blockquote> <p>America is for white people. I really only know white people. I get scared when I see people with dark skin. It’s ok if they’re cleaning floors and stuff, but mostly I only want to see white people because people who aren’t like me scare me. Also, something or other about the Constitution. Actually I’ve never read the thing and I don’t have the first clue why the Constitution has anything to do with this, but you’ll think I’m smart if I act like I know what the Constitution says. Actually I’m just an uninformed bigot but you morons will buy anything I say.</p></blockquote> <p><em>“We don't get to pick and chose whether America should be diverse or not,” says one of the women featured in the ad on a behind-the-scenes video posted by Coca Cola, “It is diverse.....We need to celebrate all the different diversities.”</em></p> <blockquote> <p>If I close my eyes and cover my ears and shout “LA LA LA” I can actually make myself believe that America is populated entirely by English speaking white people. Diversity is bad. Everybody should be like me.</p></blockquote> <p><em>The old “America the Beautiful” is beautiful because of the blessings God had heaped on it and because its government offers “liberty in law,” while aspiring for togetherness. Coca Cola's America is beautiful because of the differences in its people. When the company used such an iconic song, one often sung in churches on the 4th of July that represents the old “E Pluribus Unum” view of how American society is integrated, to push multiculturalism down our throats, it's no wonder conservatives were outraged.</em></p> <blockquote> <p>I don’t actually understand patriotism, just religion. I spew hate and intolerance and call it patriotism. You people believe me. Actually America was built on diversity and acceptance and that’s true patriotism, but what’s really going on here is I’m bitching about the free market at work. I preach the free market all the time but don’t actually understand that either. I’m going to complain when it doesn’t work the way I want it to and try to twist something more enlightened than I am into some kind of threat. We neo-conservatives thrive on fear, so we spend a lot of time trying to make you afraid. We’ve actually figured out how to make money off of it. Thanks, morons!</p></blockquote> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-26866194564364286542013-10-08T00:47:00.001-05:002013-10-08T00:47:10.497-05:00It’s my birthday, and we wants it precious….<p>Yeah. I’m older today. Meh.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-83165434829610522972013-09-12T00:41:00.001-05:002013-09-12T00:41:49.731-05:009/11/2013<p>It’s become a little bit of a tradition, I suppose, for me to evaluate where we are every September 11th. I thought about this earlier today and realized, I don’t have anything very profound to say this year, the 12th anniversary of the worst attack the United States has suffered in my lifetime. Not that anything I ever say is all that profound. </p> <p>However…</p> <p>The day before, President Barack Hussein Obama addressed the nation on the current Syrian crisis. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about this. </p> <p>The Syrian crisis is complex (as any international conflict is) and I’ve only taken a cursory look into what’s happening. The only thing the government and the media have really focused on is the fact that the Syrian government appears to have used sarin gas in a suburban area killing something on the order of 1400 Syrian citizens. I don’t know all that much about sarin gas either, but it’s apparently quite nasty. Foaming at the mouth, bleeding from places you should never bleed from, altogether a quite horrible death. </p> <p>The United Nations has outlawed the use of chemical weapons and for very good reason. Some have made the argument that dead is dead and we don’t get that worked up when thousands are hacked to death with machetes. We should, in fairness, but chemical weapons are especially nasty. </p> <p>But strangely the U.N. seems reluctant to enforce this law when it comes to Syria. The reasons for this, too, are complex. Syria is a Russian ally, and Russia is boycotting any action to be taken as a result. It seems odd to me that Russia is single handedly powerful enough to prevent the U.N. from enforcing international law, but I don’t pretend to understand all of the complexities here. </p> <p>Long story short, since this isn’t really a post about Syria, is that John Kerry seems to have accidently stumbled across a possible diplomatic solution, and Russia and Syria so far seem to be on board. I hope that pans out, but I find it slightly amusing that John Kerry, former Vietnam war protester, who in 2013 seems to be all for bombing the fuck out of Syria, accidentally found a possible peaceful solution. Again, this isn’t really about Syria, so I’ll leave it at that.</p> <p>The reason I bring up Syria, and more importantly president Obama’s speech, is because as I was watching it, I was uncomfortably reminded of President Bush and his administration’s arguments for the invasion of Iraq. We all know how that turned out.</p> <p>As I said, the Syrian conflict is complex. The Syrian government seems to be tyrannical and despotic, but from what little I’ve learned about the rebels, we really don’t want those assholes to replace this guy. I read a story just yesterday about how one of their leaders shut a boy in the face in front of his mother for supposedly blaspheming Mohammed. By the way, if any Syrian rebel leaders happen to be reading this FUCK MOHAMMED AND FUCK YOU YOU SICK FUCKERS. TAKE YOUR FUCKASS BLASPHEMY SENSITIVITIES AND STICK THEM SO FAR UP YOUR ASS IT COMES BACK OUT YOUR SHITTY EARS.</p> <p>Sorry. That kind of shit pisses me off.</p> <p>The point was, I hope history isn’t repeating itself. I hope we’ve learned something from the past 12 years. I feel for the Syrian people, but at some point we have stop going to war.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-47894394332705507222013-08-21T00:55:00.001-05:002013-08-21T00:55:30.329-05:00There’s a shit storm a-brewin…<p>The atheist/skeptic community is busy tearing itself apart again. </p> <p>I walked away from the organized atheist/skeptic community a while ago over the Atheism+ thing. The reasons I did so were complex, as usual. It’s not that I disagreed with the ideals of Atheism+. I agree with them 100%. I think perhaps it was poorly named, but that’s another story. I think I may have already blogged about that too. What turned me off was the vitriol which came so easily from both sides of the argument. Those opposed to Atheism+ demonized those who supported it. Those who supported it seemed to become instantly intolerant of any dissenting opinion. I’m not talking about the hate mail that Jenny McCreight received, that was despicable and she has my sympathy for what she’s endured. But I saw exchanges where one person was mocked, ridiculed, called disgusting names, and ultimately banned by a popular Atheist speaker that I normally respect simply for asking a (reasonable) question. Had somebody told me about that incident second hand, I would not have probably believed it, but I read the exchange myself. Like any good skeptic. </p> <p>Rather than take sides, I walked away. </p> <p>That entire incident came on the heels of a scandal where another popular atheist blogger was propositioned in an elevator at a conference. A huge shit storm ensued as soon as Richard Dawkins chimed in. I’ve already made my stance on that incident clear in a previous post, but that reason for bringing it up again is thus: The court of public opinion tried, convicted and sentenced Dawkins within a day because he dissented. Do you see a pattern emerging yet? Let me give you one more example. </p> <p>A few days ago, PZ Meyers posted a bombshell. So far I haven’t posted any links to back up anything I’m saying (I don’t have to, it’s a fucking blog, so chill the fuck out) but I’ll go ahead and look this one up. </p> <p><a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/08/what-do-you-do-when-someone-pulls-the-pin-and-hands-you-a-grenade/">http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/08/what-do-you-do-when-someone-pulls-the-pin-and-hands-you-a-grenade/</a></p> <p>In case you didn’t bother to read it, PZ was made aware of an accusation of rape against Dr. Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine.</p> <p>I’m going to have to choose my words carefully here, because the court of public opinion in the atheist community is fast and vicious. </p> <p>First, let me say this: Rape is serious. Rape is never not-serious. *Every *Single *Accusation *Of *Rape *Should *Be *Taken *Seriously. Every one. I feel very strongly about that. Something like 1 in 3 women get raped, if I recall correctly. I know several victims personally, and some of their stories are the worst kind of horrific rapes you can possibly imagine. Stories that make you lose hope in humanity. </p> <p>But….</p> <p>False accusations <em>do</em> happen. There is a difference between taking an accusation of rape seriously and just believing it blindly. Belief without evidence is called faith. That’s what the religious do. We’re skeptics. We need evidence. </p> <p>The result of PZ’s little hand grenade is that the atheist community seems to largely have already convicted Dr. Shermer. To be honest, I’ve avoided this so far. Dr. Shermer is one of my favorite writers and speakers. I have an immense amount of respect for Dr. Shermer. On the other hand, I’m fully aware than whenever you set someone on a pedestal and make a hero out of them, they invariably disappoint you because they are, after all, merely humans <em>just like you</em>. </p> <p>So let’s get this out of the way first. Did he do it? I don’t know. I truly don’t. To be honest, there’s only two people who do. One of them is Michael Shermer and the other one is anonymous. That’s because <em>we don’t know all the facts here.</em> In the American Judicial System (I can’t believe I’m about to defend that collection of clowns after what I’ve just been through, but…) you are (supposed to be) innocent until proven guilty. This is a good thing. </p> <p>However…</p> <p>In the court of public opinion, the atheist community at large, and the most especially the Internet, You’re guilty. Period. One accusation and you’re done. </p> <p>I just got done reading a post by a guy who managed to piss of Shermer via e-mail and proudly posted all the exchanges while mocking him. A slew of comments talked about what a scumbag Shermer is. </p> <p>Really?</p> <p>I think this is wrong. I want desperately for this accusation to be false. But it might not be. But I can’t go condemning Dr. Shermer until it is shown to at least likely be true. I don’t think that has been done yet. </p> <p>This is what skepticism is all about, folks. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That’s how we work. Let’s all calm down on the judgmentalness until the facts are in. Keep in mind that Dr. Shermer’s reputation has all ready taken a serious hit whether the accusation is true or not.</p> <p>We’re better than this, people. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-5444060092461113352013-04-27T16:48:00.001-05:002013-04-27T16:48:25.457-05:00Night<p>A dark room. I sit in it alone.</p> <p>A knock at the door. I get up to answer. It’s not my door.</p> <p>I pick my book back up. A beep from my phone. </p> <p>Sale at Sears.</p> <p>I put the book down. </p> <p>I can ease the pain for one night. But tomorrow will just be that much worse.</p> <p>I could die all at once, but instead I die just a little and go to sleep.</p> <p>After all, I have tomorrow to get through.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-21475465099830080592013-04-05T00:15:00.001-05:002013-04-05T00:15:42.213-05:00Goodbye, Mr. Ebert<p>Roger Ebert died today. I haven’t talked about him much, but in recent years he’s become a real inspiration for me. I knew he was sick, but I didn’t expect that we would lose him so soon. </p> <p>I forget the exact article I read that keyed me into the fact that Roger Ebert was so much more than just a movie critic, but I began reading <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/">his blog</a>. My favorite posts was the ones where he was not writing about movies, but pondering on our polarized political climate, gun violence, and other issues. I think one of his most powerful posts was one of his last, this one: <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/03/a_shooting_in_harsh_park.html">http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/03/a_shooting_in_harsh_park.html</a></p> <p>He doesn’t posture, he doesn’t preach, he simply relates <em>yet another senseless killing by gun related violence. </em>The power of the post comes from the fact that it’s short, for the most part simply relates an incident most of us probably didn’t hear about, and most importantly the final paragraph. You can sense his frustration with humanity, almost defeat in his tone. There’s a world weariness that comes through. He sees this incident through a lens that most of us don’t. This is a story that should have made national news. It should have dominated headlines across the country for weeks. But it didn’t. It was lost in an onslaught of other, equally tragic, gun related murders that happen <em>each and every day</em>. We, as a society, as a people, as humans, should all be working together to find a solution, but we don’t. The only discussion that every happens is political posturing. One side shouts “guns don’t kill people, people kill people!” and the other side shouts “gun control now!” All any of us seem interested in is winning an argument, but in the meantime we continue to kill countless numbers of ourselves every single day. </p> <p>Gun violence is a complex issue without a single simple solution, but we as a society seem incapable of having a serious honest discussion about it and implementing any kind of solutions at all. It kills one’s faith in humanity. </p> <p>Gun control is almost certainly part of the solution. What the second amendment actually says aside, I don’t think it’s necessary to ban all weapons, but there is no reason that average citizens in a civilized society need assault weapons designed for combat. An AR-15 has one purpose and one purpose alone, to kill lots of people quickly. It is only being used properly when being used to kill lots of people quickly. Whatever else my be true of the Sandy Hook killer or the Colorado movie killer, they were using their weapons <em>exactly as they were meant to be used.</em> There is no justification for weapons of this sort to be made available to the general public. </p> <p>But there are so many other factors that factor in to the issue. Poverty, poor education, and economic inequality are all factors that are rectifiable, but we can’t have honest discussions about these issues either. </p> <p>In short, I share his frustration when watching Americans posture and shout and sling old tired memes around rather than trying to find a way to make life better for anybody. I identified with the man. More than I even knew. Michael Shermer reposted this article written by Ebert then I had never read before: </p> <p><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/">http://www.salon.com/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/</a></p> <p>I didn’t know he was an atheist. It honestly never occurred to me to wonder. He didn’t blog about religion much. He was simply Roger Ebert, human being, supporter of the philosophy of <em>Kindness</em>. I respected and identified with him without even knowing that he was religion-free just like me. </p> <p>That’s how it ought to be for all of us. </p> <p>I will miss Roger Ebert. I will miss his thought-provoking insights, his desire to see humanity rise above itself, his powerful intellect. And yes, dear sister, those times when we were kids and would all sit down and watch Siskel and Ebert review the new movies together.</p> <p>Good-bye, Mr. Ebert. The world was made better for having had you in it.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-36906972945969423582013-02-06T00:27:00.001-06:002013-02-06T00:27:33.829-06:00Masks<p>We all wear masks. Each of us. You’re not quite the same person you are when you’re hanging with your old college friends that you are when you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with your parents. We play roles.</p> <p>Some of us are better at it than others. Some of us go further than others.</p> <p>There’s a raging internal torment going on inside me. There might be one going on inside of you too. I don’t know. Why don’t I know? Because you hide it.</p> <blockquote> <p>Just.</p> <p>Like.</p> <p>Me. </p></blockquote> <p>My masks are well defined. I’ve even given some of them names. I’ve taken this to an art form. As I arrive at work in the morning while my internal monologue is screaming at me about how pointless everything is, how empty and rancid my life has become, a friend texts me to ask how I’m doing. I look down at the screen and imagine replying </p> <blockquote> <p>“I’m desolate. Hollow. Empty. Hopeless. I want nothing more than to die right the fuck now. How are you?” </p></blockquote> <p>I look over at Antonio and say “I think you had better take this.”</p> <p>He says </p> <blockquote> <p>“I’m wonderful, darling. How is my favorite beautiful princess this morning?” </p></blockquote> <p>Send. </p> <p>Cheesy. Over the top. Flirting so obvious that it can’t possibly be taken seriously. That is Antonio. He comes in handy for certain people. The reply comes back “You’re in a good mood this morning!” No, I’m not. But I want you to believe I am, and I succeed. </p> <p>I studied acting when I was younger. I was good at it. I think I was good at it for a reason. In method acting, you create a character in your mind. A living, breathing, thinking person that lives in your mind. This character is part your invention, and part you. You put it on like a costume, and you become the role. You don’t just say the lines in a convincing manner, you literally become the character you’re portraying. Their thoughts become your thoughts. Like an add-on module to yourself.</p> <p>I have several of these characters. They don’t have lines in a play to read. They’re characters that I’ve created over the years to get me through day by day. People who can pretend to be normal for me so that nobody sees the empty pathetic shell behind the curtain, only the great and powerful Oz.</p> <p>Heath Ledger died from this, by the way. He was so disturbed by the character of the Joker he had created that he overdosed while trying to cope with it. </p> <p>Sometimes the masks come instinctively. I don’t even notice myself putting them on. I can’t help it sometimes. It’s like I can’t interact with any other humans without finding a role to play. Like my entire life is one long bizarre stage play with a multitude of roles all played by me. </p> <p>But there’s one problem: sometimes, when nobody else is around and I have no role to play, when it’s just me, I wonder if there’s a real me under there, if any of these characters I play are in any way comprised of my real personality. If I <strong>have</strong> a real personality… </p> <p>The answer: I don’t know.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-19513282362204241962013-02-01T21:27:00.001-06:002013-02-01T21:27:18.646-06:00I think your plan backfired…<p>Ok, I wasn’t necessarily going to write another blog post <em>today</em>, but I went to go look at my stats since I haven’t really been caring for the blog for a while, and I noticed something weird, the page hits were really high. </p> <p>Even stranger, a lot of the hits seemed to come from here: <a title="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/11/how-bout-we-stop-this-trend-in-its-tracks/" href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/11/how-bout-we-stop-this-trend-in-its-tracks/">http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/11/how-bout-we-stop-this-trend-in-its-tracks/</a></p> <p>Um… That’s PZ Myers’s blog…. WTF is <em>he</em> doing linking to me? To, of all things, this blog post: <a title="http://taocowboy.blogspot.com/2007/11/reflections-on-devconnections-part-i_10.html" href="http://taocowboy.blogspot.com/2007/11/reflections-on-devconnections-part-i_10.html">http://taocowboy.blogspot.com/2007/11/reflections-on-devconnections-part-i_10.html</a></p> <p>Well, as it turns out, the blog post was about booth babes at tech trade shows and a policy at the most recent Skepticon that discouraged booth babes. So I checked it out. I kind of stopped reading PZ a while ago, There’s a very negative vibe over at his blog and he seems to attract a very hateful crowd. I don’t give people a pass for being asshats just because they’re atheists. If you want to have a rational discussion with me, I’m game. But f your response to dissenting opinions is to be an asshat, I have better things to do with my time. That’s why I don’t spend any time reading PZ anymore. He and his readers seem to thrive on the very vitriol we insist to theists that we don’t spew. I want no part of that, so I choose not to participate. Don’t get me wrong, PZ is brilliant and I enjoy reading his explanations of science, but the vitriol gets old. It’s the same reason I decided not to participate in Atheism+ but rather dropped out of the atheist community. I have another blog post on that topic in the works, but the short version is <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/">Jenny McCreight</a> came to Kansas City and changed my mind about Atheism+, but there’s still a lot of vitriol in that community, so while I agree with the virtues they espouse, I choose not to participate. </p> <p>So back to the blog post: PZ didn’t link to me (ah damn). But one of the commenters did. Round about <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/01/11/how-bout-we-stop-this-trend-in-its-tracks/comment-page-1/#comment-534109">comment #140</a> a commenter with the unlikely handle of nightshadequeen posted a link to my post from five years ago about my trip to DevConnections and my experience with booth babes. The link read “*sigh*” and then she posted a large excerpt from the post without comment (without my permission, I might add. That content is technically copyrighted, but never mind that). </p> <p>The interesting thing about this is that as far as I can tell nobody responded to her (I assume it’s a “her”), but quite a few people followed the link. That much I <em>can</em> tell from my blog stats.</p> <p>My first thought is “how long did you scour Google looking for <em>that</em>? Couldn’t come up with something original on your own to say?”</p> <p>My second thought is that she completely and totally entirely missed the point. Had she been inside a barn with a shotgun she would have missed the inside and blown her own foot off. I’m not condoning booth babes. Had she actually bothered to read the post instead of just copy/pasting it into a comment to get a little attention from the Pharyngula crowd, she might have gotten the point. She strikes me as somebody looking for a misogynist to fight. I suggest she contact my ex wife if she wants to pick a fight with somebody setting the women’s movement back by decades. Or centuries. Millennia, more accurately.</p> <p>The point to the post was to chronicle my experience and my thoughts at the convention. I didn’t hire the booth babes, and they’re not why I went. It was an experience. I expounded on the fact that these vendors that do that sort of thing do so purposefully, and it works. It’s a normal biological reaction for a male to be attracted to an attractive woman of the variety that you normally only see on TV and to go butt-ass stupid around them, and they played me beautifully like a violin. It doesn’t help that I was married to a psycho bitch at the time and that I’m a geek who doesn’t normally attract attractive women. Honestly I wasn’t offering any opinion for or against booth babes, but I would be just as happy at a convention without them. The vendors, however, would not. It was also <em><u>FIVE FUCKING YEARS AGO</u></em>. My views have changed so dramatically since that post it’s not even funny. I didn’t even consider myself an atheist at the time. </p> <p>So the total net result here is that my stats shot way up and I think I picked up a few new readers. Not, methinks, what nightshadequeen was aiming for. I find this kind of funny. It’s nice to have a few new visitors but the regulars at Pharyngula aren't necessarily the kind of readership I was looking for. I’m not entirely sure I want to get noticed by those people. I like the open comment policy I’ve had so far and would had to have to get my own “ban hammer” as they like to go on about over there.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-78275380678708716802013-02-01T20:24:00.001-06:002013-02-01T20:24:28.937-06:00O Hai! I haz a blog!<p>I’ve been mysteriously absent from my blog lately. Well, not so mysterious. Many of you know I fight depression. That’s pretty much the explanation in a nutshell. I’ve fought it for years. I was on medicine for it earlier that ironically made my mental state more unstable than I was without it. The rest of 2012 got kind of fucked up for me. I had my heart broken in a way I don’t think it ever has been, not even that girl from high school compares. I went in to kind of a downward spiral. I’m still at the bottom of that. I’d like to say I’m clawing my way back up, but I’m not. Not yet. I’ve driven nearly all of my real life friends away leaving me alone with my cats. Yep, I’m the crazy cat lady now. </p> <p>I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Twitter, and I’ve found a few like minded people there. It’s strange getting support and encouragement from people I’ve never actually met when my real life friends all ran away. Welcome to the 21st century. Maybe this is better. When I was in high school there was no internet. We didn’t have cell phones. There was no mechanism for people having similar experiences to connect. Today there is. While I’m concerned that we seem to be spending less time actually connecting in person these days, I’m not so sure this is all bad. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. </p> <p>I’m still having dreams about my ex girlfriend. It’s like I’m tapped in to some strange alternate reality where we never broke up and we’re happy together. Deliriously happy. I hate those dreams, because I wake up from them. They make real life seem like a nightmare. I wish I could stop having them. I have a few theories about why I’m still hung up on her, and why I fucked it up in the first place, but I’ll save those for another blog post. I intend to start writing here again some more. I apparently completely missed January. </p> <p>Hello February. Fuck you, people who blew me off then expect me to write “Happy Birthday” on your Facebook page. You can suck it. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-19455596409098944692012-12-25T19:27:00.001-06:002012-12-25T19:27:55.573-06:00What I wanted to say…<blockquote> <h2>What I wanted to say: </h2> <p>You suddenly decided (on no less than Christmas Eve) that you can no longer keep my son’s dog, and that unless I immediately take him you’re going to put him in a (non-no kill) shelter. I not only offered to drive out to your house to get him but did, where you refused to answer the door. I gave you the option of leaving him at my parent’s house, but you ignored all of that and informed me that you were leaving him in a house that neither of us have any legal right to enter anymore due to your refusal to pay the mortgage and the house being repossessed, forcing me into a situation whereupon I must commit criminal trespass in order to prevent my son’s dog from starving to death even though I warned you beforehand not to do that. My only resolution possible was to call the local police and report the situation to them, whereupon they allowed me to retrieve my son’s dog. <em>On Christmas Eve.</em></p> <p>Explain to me again how I’m the one being unreasonable here.</p> <h2>What I actually said: </h2> <p>[…]</p></blockquote> <p> </p> <p>You can’t argue with batshit crazy.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-43023999381640991462012-12-16T12:45:00.001-06:002012-12-16T12:45:58.028-06:00Gun Control<p>I’ve been very disappointed in Americans and in particular my friends recently. In response to the recent tragedy everybody is spouting the same old tired clichés. </p> <ul> <li>“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”</li> <li>“Cars kill people too, but we don’t ban cars”</li> <li>“This violence is because we took God out of schools”</li></ul> <p>The stupid, it burns. </p> <p>Guns kill people. Period. Yes, a human has to pull the trigger and point it, but the gun is what kills them. This argument is bullshit.</p> <p>Yes, cars kill people too, but there is a significant difference here: cars are a tool designed to transport people from one place to another. They are not designed to kill people, and only do so when used incorrectly. Guns are a tool designed with one purpose and one purpose only in mind: to kill people. That is what they were made to do. The killer in Connecticut killed 26 people using a tool EXACTLY AS IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED. </p> <p>I can give you a valid reason I need a car: to get somewhere. I can give you valid reason I need hammer: to build something. I cannot give you a single valid reason for needing to own an assault rifle. It is not legal, nor do I have any need of murdering large numbers of people. That is what assault rifles are for, killing large numbers of people. It has no other use. </p> <p>And taking God out of schools is also bullshit. Nobody took God out of schools. Nobody is preventing children from praying to whatever God they believe in, they’ve only removed people’s ability to force children to pray to a particular God. That’s all. If your children were forced to pray to Allah in the morning at school and study the accomplishments of Mohammed, the outcry would be enormous. Yet these people see no hypocrisy in forcing Muslim children to pray to the Christian god. </p> <p>Furthermore, implying that your god allowed children to be murdered out of spite due to the enforcement of the freedom of religion clause in the constitution should be offensive to all Christians. This is making the claim that your god is an asshole. I’m astounded that no Christians are offended by this implication. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-54970205085726384282012-12-14T23:15:00.001-06:002012-12-14T23:15:08.911-06:00On The Murder of 26 Teachers and Children in Connecticut<p>My son, who attends an elementary school, is a little freaked out by the fact that someone would go to an elementary school and gun down little children.</p> <p>I’m freaked out too.</p> <p>I don’t understand this. This is quite possibly the single most horrific thing I can imagine a single person doing. His only connection to the school was that his mother was a teacher there. I come from a family of teachers. My mother is a teacher. I’m an empathetic person, but I still cannot fathom someone who could do this. My empathies go to the children who at ages 5 to 10 had to fear for their lives, and many lost them. </p> <p>What happened today is a wound on our collective psyche, more deadly and more horrific than Columbine. And already the pundits are turning today’s events political. I’m disgusted by this.</p> <p>Today is not the day to cry out for gun control, although I have strong feelings on that issue. Today is not the day to talk about God in schools, although I have strong feelings about that as well. Today is not the day to make your political argument on the backs of 20 murdered children. Keep it to yourself today. We can talk about these issues another day, but today, go to your children and hug them. Appreciate that you have them, and that they’re ok. I just did. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-29575031650042884202012-10-07T01:29:00.001-05:002012-10-07T01:33:27.529-05:00I’m a what???<p>I find that sometimes people assume that because I unabashedly and vocally support gay marriage and homosexual equality, that I must be gay. I find this incredibly amusing. That is similar to saying that if I support racial equality, I must be black. Or if I support gender equality, I must be a woman. Or if I support animal rights, I must be a dog. </p> <p>I am a white heterosexual middle class [human] male. I am privileged in every conceivable way with the exception of my lack of religion. I have nothing tangible to gain by supporting equal rights. I do so because <em>it is right</em>. I reasoned myself into this viewpoint, because I can find no logical reason that any human because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other method by which we arbitrarily segregate ourselves should be denied any rights that are given to others, including myself.</p> <p>I support equal rights with no expectation of a reward in an afterlife, but ironically those who <em>do</em> believe in an afterlife tend to be those who do not support equal rights. By accident of birth I receive that which should be given to every human regardless of the genetics of their own birth. </p> <p>If you do not support equality in any of the forms in which it has had to be fought for, why?</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-34154856377340991792012-09-27T23:31:00.001-05:002012-09-27T23:31:54.462-05:00Dear World,<p>You win. I’m too tired to fight you anymore.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-19195340758262160732012-09-26T23:39:00.001-05:002012-09-26T23:41:03.532-05:00Humans is dumb<p>To be honest, I don’t blog here for you, I blog here for me. I enjoy getting a little attention just like everyone else, but if I never got another page hit, I’d still keep blogging. It’s like therapy. I put the innermost thoughts and feelings out here for the world to read, knowing that nobody (or at least mostly nobody) I know reads this shit. </p> <p>That said, every so often I’m a little curious if anybody is reading it, and if so, how they got here. One of the nice things about a blogger account is the fact that they give you those stats for free. </p> <p>But then, of course, I’m inevitably disappointed, as life is wont to do. How do most people find my blog? One of three ways.</p> <ol> <li>That stupid metaphysical post from a couple of years ago. I fucking hate that post. I’m tempted daily to delete the fucker. That one seems to get the most hits.</li> <li>You may have noticed that many of my pictures from older posts are missing. That is, unfortunately, permanent, and the reasons are complex. Well, not that complex, but I’m not going into it today anyway. Even so, I seem to get a lot of hits on my Religion series of posts, where I made a series of demotivational posters titled “Religion: I’m not afraid of gods, I’m afraid of their followers” and put several images of religious abuse including the twin towers. One of them gets a lot of hits. Which one? the stack of naked men from Guantanamo. Seriously? You sick fuckers.</li> <li>I get a lot of hits for some combination of the words “Lindsey Lohan nude”. Because a while ago I put up a joke post titled that which had basically no content. Yep, I get the guys looking for nude pictures of Lindsey Lohan. You sick fuckers.</li></ol> <p>I was hoping to get a mild following of people with similar issues, possibly people who want to engage in dialogue. As you can see, I have almost no comments whatsoever. It’s not the kind of thing to drive me off from writing this blog, like I said, I don’t do this for you people, but I was hoping for a little reassurance that the rest of the human race isn’t made up of a bunch of sick fuckers. Still waiting.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-43739504036928426642012-09-26T23:17:00.001-05:002012-09-26T23:17:46.351-05:00Why can’t you…<p>To those who say “Enough already, just get over it!”</p> <p>Fuck you.</p> <p>To those who say “Just move on already!”</p> <p>Fuck you.</p> <p>To those who say “Geez, why can’t you just deal?”</p> <p>Fuck you.</p> <p>To those who say “I don’t have any problem getting up in the morning. I don’t have any problem moving on. What’s your problem?”</p> <p>Fuck you.</p> <p>It’s that fucking easy. Some of us have a little more shit to deal with than you do. For some of us, just getting the fuck out of bed is a challenge. Some of us have to find a reason to live EVERY FUCKING DAY. </p> <p>Instead of judging everyone else as inferior to yourself, stop being a fucking dick. </p> <p>You want to know why? Fuck you, that’s why.</p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-5553026687643534202012-09-18T23:55:00.002-05:002012-09-19T00:13:30.452-05:00Meh…<p>The blasé I’ve been feeling lately seems to be total. A handful of events have happened over the past few days (a couple of them just today) that would have normally (normally being within the last year or so) have made me ecstatic and bubbly or emotionally devastated me. But they didn’t. It really is like just sort of watching a movie that I’m not emotionally invested in. It’s actually kind of cool, I’m just kind of taking everything as it happens. A mere decade ago this was something I was striving for. I believe the Taoism concept that embodies this is Wu Wei, but I could have those concepts mixed up these days. It’s basically the idea that lies at the heard of Taoism which translates into western philosophy as “go with the flow”. I’m kind of doing that over the past few days without even trying, it’s just happening.</p> <p>I would best describe this as emotionally numb. The irony of this condition is that with the severe anxiety and depression I’ve been feeling over the past month and half or so, I was actually about to ask the doctor if there was medication that he could prescribe that did exactly this: made me feel nothing. Not nothing, that’s not quite accurate. Just numb my emotions. Make me more or less stoic. Numb the pain. </p> <p>And all I had to do it was drop my depression medication. How’s that for irony?</p> <p>I described this condition to a close friend, one who I can usually confide in, and she seemed to think this was a bad thing. I disagree. After the emotional roller coaster I’ve been on for months now, a quiet leisurely raft ride down a calm river is an incredible relief. I don’t think being emotionally numb is a bad thing for a while. I’m sure this isn’t permanent, but it’s a nice change for now. I feel so much calmer. </p> <p>What prompted this post, though, is the fact that I sat down to do my evening twitter and/or blog rant, and I couldn’t work up enough irritation to rant about anything. Quite honestly, at the moment I just don’t fucking care. Politics, religion, the ex wife, none of it is really provoking an emotional response from me that I can translate into a good rant. It’s a little weird, but I’m going to roll with it. So, no rants tonight. Sorry guys. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-57709319565293349492012-09-17T23:43:00.001-05:002012-09-17T23:43:47.730-05:00It’s gonna hurt like a sonofabitch when…<p>So I finally did it today. </p> <p>Anybody that’s been following me on my blog or on twitter knows that I’ve been struggling with a recent break up. What’s been hardest about the breakup is the abruptness and the finality of it. Not even a post break up “hey let’s get together for coffee and talk about this” sort of thing, just a “go the fuck away” e-mail and then pretty much nothing. </p> <p>Well, not completely nothing, that’s not fair, but a fair amount of surfacy shit. Frankly that kind of crap pisses me off. If we’re going to try to be friends afterwards, be my friend. Don’t give me small talk. I hate that shit. If you want to talk surfacy bullshit, find someone else to talk to.</p> <p>But that’s neither here nor there. </p> <p>I’ve been trying for weeks, nay, nearly two months now, to try to get a little time to talk about things. She seems dead set against that. Having dropped the meds that seemed to have been giving me extreme anxiety and obsessive tendencies, I’ve returned to a slightly more normal frame of mind. It’s a good thing, but there’s been a few side effects I wasn’t happy with. Like the good memories starting to fade. I wanted to keep those, but… well, what the fuck. I think trying to keep them was making things harder for me to handle. </p> <p>I had a bizarre dream about her last week as the meds were starting to fade. It was very strange. I don’t often remember my dreams, so when I do, you know it was somehow kind of jarring. In this dream, we were actually having the post-break up talk. We were in a house, for some reason, I think this was a house we were going to move in to. Don’t ask me, I had no plans or intentions to move in with her, but there it is. In the dream, she told me she had been pregnant, and she had an abortion. Within the context of the dream, this hurt. In fairness, I had mixed feelings, but the strongest one was that she had kept this from me. It’s the sort of thing I would have wanted to know, know what I mean? She was a little harsh about telling me this too, like there was some kind of simmering anger just under the surface. It wasn’t apologetic or caring at all. I’ve kind of come to see her this way somewhat. Side effect of the last couple of months, I suppose. </p> <p>So as little as a few weeks ago, I would have woken from this dream and immediately felt despair. That was me from a few weeks ago under the meds and obsessing and anxious. When I woke up, I was a little sad, but mostly annoyed that I had had another dream about her. I kind of want that shit to stop already. I’m ready to move on now. Would my subconscious please fucking cooperate now thank you very much?</p> <p>So I’ve written a couple of notes to her, but I never sent them. I waited, then deleted it later. I wrote several of these. Each successive one a little less crazy than the last. Finally I lost all desire to do this at all. Until today. In my therapy session today I told the therapist about the dream. Basically what he said was that everything in a dream is some kind of metaphor for what’s going on with us. His best guess was that the pregnancy and abortion was the relationship. It started suddenly, and just as suddenly she ended it. Yeah, I can see that.</p> <p>At the same time, I’ve been starting to see how me-on-the-meds must have seemed to her. In a way I can’t really blame her for freaking out and cutting me out of her life. I was probably a little…. ahem… intense. That’s not me so much on a normal basis, so at the same time I kind of feel like I didn’t really get a fair shake, but who the fuck said life was fair, eh? I had my shot, I blew it, it’s over. Too bad, so sad, get the fuck out. </p> <p>So I wrote one last note today, basically saying that I get how I must have made her feel, and apologized for it. Sent it, and now, well, I think I’m done. That’s as close to closure as I’m going to get. I doubt she even read it, but that wasn’t really the point. I had my say finally, and she’s free to respond if she wants to. I always make time for people who are important to me. The opposite isn’t always true though. </p> <p>What’s most surprising about the last week or so is how my attitude has basically turned to “Meh”. It’s over, I know it’s over, and it doesn’t really bug me all that much anymore. I’m finally starting to move on with my life, do a few hobbies, actually get work done at work. Somewhat. The open office bullshit at work is fucking killing me. I need a little privacy to get anything done, but that’s a whole nother rant. </p> <p>The “Meh” attitude is cropping up in other places too. Without going into too many details for various reasons, someone else did something that just a few weeks ago would have hurt me severely. This last week, it bothered me for a little bit then I pretty much said “meh, fuck it” and moved on. Another potential relationship was shut down I was ok with it. Well, not ok, I just feel sort of numb to it all now. Sort of like watching this shit happen to someone else in a movie. </p> <p>I’m still suffering depression, but it’s <strong>just</strong> depression now. More of a general malaise. The meds I was on increase dopamine, which might be good for me a little later down the road, but I need heal now, so I’m going to stay off of them a little longer. </p> <p>So, I suppose that was my good-bye letter. I’m ok with this relationship ending as much as I can be, and I wish her well. I hope she finds that right guy she’s hoping for, but I think she’s got her own issues to deal with first. I would have been happy standing by her side as she did so, but she didn’t want me there. What’cha gonna do?</p> <p>But women, one parting piece of advice. If you’re going to break up with a guy, for whatever reason, fucking talk to him. Don’t break up over e-mail then refuse to talk in any form with him other than text. That’s fucking bullshit, and it’s chickenshit. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-w11FcR43GNNxZs3vWOcVCTJjIDng8wPsPYba7zzLi3NINldAjjWmL0Sc8zqazQvXe-8JUeDG_3ztmeTI6Vjg6jKb8WthunLujEu-8ehQhkKi7zeFuhkJ5_QBH33R8SK-1RHU8q-6Wc/s1600-h/206311_524212187608239_1714909630_n%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="206311_524212187608239_1714909630_n" border="0" alt="206311_524212187608239_1714909630_n" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjQQxC3zxc92Gdi3hMAsiY6D03vc4ucE_WEfe2KUwCruHK85rDs1YItHdjwEl0KVPAOO0sBNdgadOShGYyAfus_Mqn6x1VgGgwsTxF94f27DknaCkaBFaD0Xx_rWKt27Tck-jFVHNbW10/?imgmax=800" width="404" height="443"></a></p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-67575743087209993482012-09-17T00:51:00.001-05:002012-09-17T00:51:59.610-05:00You do not have the right to not be offended.<p>Facebook is always an interesting place, where an eclectic assortment of ideas tent to bubble around the surface. I just saw a picture go by of a woman holding a sign (it’s a popular meme) which read something to the effect of</p> <blockquote> <p>I’m an American, but I would never make a video that mocks your faith. I am offended by that. Yadda yadda, don’t remember the exact words.</p></blockquote> <p>So my initial gut reaction is</p> <blockquote> <p>Yeah, let them know how kind and understanding and tolerant Americans are.</p></blockquote> <p>Then I think</p> <blockquote> <p>The fuck we are…</p></blockquote> <p>Then I think</p> <blockquote> <p>The fuck! I don’t agree with that sentiment at all.</p></blockquote> <p>Call me an asshole. I am. But I haven’t been following the events that have occurred in the middle east recently too closely, but as I understand it, it goes a little something like this. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on any of this.</p> <ol> <li>Some yahoo makes a video that mocks Islam.</li> <li>Muslims across the middle east are mortally offended by it.</li> <li>Said “peaceful” Muslims riot in response to their offense at the video.</li> <li>People die.</li> <li>Video maker is now a bad guy, Americans everywhere condemn him</li></ol> <p>I have a slight problem with this. To illustrate my point, let’s take this same scenario but turn it on it’s side a little bit. Let’s say it went a little like this: </p> <ol> <li>Some religious yahoo makes a video mocking Atheists, or makes false claims about them. Say, something like this: <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:3868b7db-b48c-4907-a767-5cd7c509c86a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="dc1822da-10c1-4173-b720-f529c3338e5e" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqcNraF3vP8" target="_new"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsHGSLQu4yp_N74-z2bwFdEwyRoNaemBH2Qy7MZOyQ5E8iOVssnq7uiBjgjt8adeVMnAPwiPpUy085DhOclx30-P6vz5tjL5fBZXQPiOG_tY-kMK0wFxEqMrt_jwM-k4zyUgnJYUb_v9Q/?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('dc1822da-10c1-4173-b720-f529c3338e5e'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/TqcNraF3vP8?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/TqcNraF3vP8?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div></li> <li>Atheists across the country are mortally offended by it.</li> <li>Atheist riots occur across the country in response to the offensive video.</li> <li>People die.</li> <li>Who is/are the bad guy(s) now?</li></ol> <p>Bill O’Reilly would shit himself with pleasure if that happened. His “War on Christianity” would hit non-stop status. </p> <p>The point is this: <u>You do NOT have the right to not be offended.</u></p> <p>I don’t care who you are or where you live or what bronze age myths you believe or choose not to believe. You do not have the right to kill because you’re offended by something. A few years ago I condemned a nutjob pastor from Florida for threatening to burn a stack of Korans which set off a set of riots in the middle east which put American lives at risk. I was wrong. I take that back. While I still think he’s a dipshit and should not have done it, the blame for this was put squarely on the wrong shoulders. It should have gone on the shoulders of the people actually doing the killing, not the fuckwad who pissed them off enough to do it. </p> <p>I don’t know what the content of this video is, and I don’t care. It could show Muhammed being prison raped for all I care, that’s not the point. The point is that no video gives anybody the right to kill. And <strong>only</strong> religion seems to get a pass on this. Only religion could inspire someone to be offended enough to kill. Only the assault of someone’s precious religious beliefs make us sympathize with murderers. I don’t give a fuck what was in that video, those people who killed others are murderers, period. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273106680115390577.post-82094080368102458372012-09-13T19:45:00.001-05:002012-09-13T19:45:15.247-05:00Alone in a roomful of people<p>The last week or so has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride for me. I’ve been introspective lately, and that’s usually not a good thing for me. It has a way of deepening whatever depression or anxiety I might be feeling at the time, but it also tends to produce some interesting insights into the human condition. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRaOJG1nRbG0mkXrVAQScbY4S8bf1aMM8vxhHkVyTUvG4veyWoY2vxz7NLNcm-3BHshlpw26Qsi9RZ5tn454bcoje4dwJOpdgQmh7Arbe3-WXYQkmpFUbHVofrfkgr5oJClwdwRIUzDtc/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XsiYQ2sEbzR_bcncrAz6KeH3Ereqph7n0heRiQ1ocPc-yw74_leoYQ17I-C4lOkAmHVGMb5fWHO5KtV-1I7azcihOlHWQGos5JrxzzYA6-j5QL1L_3iKmwAwvyYRykRwoMsaJVFPgZI/?imgmax=800" width="400" height="156"></a></p> <p>Sometimes I’ll send these insights out into the the twitterverse. Sometimes these tent to resonate with people. When it does, it has a way of making me smile. Yeah, I don’t get it either. Maybe it’s just nice to know that I’m not the only human on this little rock who feels this way. Misery loves company I guess, but it makes me feel a little better to know that I’m not alone. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLdEEhn5Ok59ZbvDo3cWX9TXLTeXfEOdR2ZiA9zQUzl0BNpiD3bshwY2-7PZwLCjuquIKighs1h5bbXoS_VuyxmcO_ZOjsE7CLYAndtuGPfxaqT2R1g6_fIDUn5mx1hnu0nteCNJbPdo/s1600-h/image%25255B16%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0UB6f4zDZnzXN-GX-YkmHAFSAKr_a6bVCnulMdShcNAQOUXff_UI2S-JdKA46iOKhtnb6i410vMPnXxNT0jYJuvqWg0LRklG5JwXS3y0AVdffV2ZMSRoTR-oHK86Je5KheRBM1QGNBU/?imgmax=800" width="406" height="174"></a></p> <p>It does confuse me how there can be so many people on the planet and so many of us have absolutely nobody to keep up company. I can sit in a coffee shop for hours and speak to nobody except the guy who takes my order. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lm0npUsmrTSMLLYvnWk7FwDh7qJAXTmwasQGjQpaG-jgbBiJK0vKrrWxIz4wR_1EISpdL6loLiXfce_b2SFx9I9C0mtS6pE_AYl59the-gAV7Lv4dphGUYOfT60ljYi0oT_AuGqUJ0c/s1600-h/image%25255B17%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKk8AUZnWy2bxRCfUUzwDUcaZwwzKYF_gIF0IwaLU602OXk_E77jY1aiPuEMsIqMGZ_mDQ6q5LkKRhbl3g-4xnLepIZsB1eOksDgDFkO6uJUQnxdp6P6YpX_lMRr4zYfgrLnW1vTBNB0/?imgmax=800" width="406" height="98"></a></p> <p>Before recorded history, when we were tribal bands roaming the plains, we stayed together for safety. Our need to communicate with other humans was served by the very fact that our small tribes were always together. Now we put ourselves in little boxes and never talk to each other. This is better somehow. Personally, I kind of miss the plains.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAiR9nld8pFcImLEZ23B6RsPyKTU5BvcAAhJ5-xExqb3qv75Qj7uk_xxjYU0y-jHVmsEjOWlfvv1DIUz31mr6S-Mxm21qsWQqokCsPSIi9YgkMpTc863uEjGc7HS0EFU2IQSfFu-Io8Y/s1600-h/image%25255B18%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZMAQdHH6qWljUNWwaYRBk-SGS3pwCQScdvWNT_L_d-lYnHw-tFki7DvexzDyUtbjbcuk29CvqmTH7KVPM9Ki555JrM6RnxdQQ5dLD6LJGpiOXQjaXOvtbyvUw6r8JyVK-FuCTiUm8ME/?imgmax=800" width="409" height="129"></a></p> <p>I desperately want something to happen. Anything. I would make something happen, but I don’t know how or what. Sometimes I can’t stand sitting in my little box any longer, so I get out and go somewhere. Today it was a coffee shop. I sit here reading and writing for hours, hoping someone, anyone, will want to connect with me in some small way, but that’s not how we work anymore. I’m an introvert, and this condemns me to solitude. </p> <p>Maybe tomorrow will be different. </p> David Greyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252984252296113144noreply@blogger.com0