Thursday, January 6, 2011

It's 1984


Today, the Constitution was read aloud on the House floor. I'm incredibly torn about it. On the one hand, I think requiring our Representatives to hear/say the Constitution once a year will be a good thing. It seems to me, the longer these dolts stay in office, the less they remember about why they are REALLY there. I thought it was a splendid idea that many news affiliates covered it all or in part so that regular Americans got to hear it as well. (Apparently, not everyone owns their own copy. ) My problem was that they chose to read an edited version that didn't include those nasty bits about Blacks not being a person and the like. Now, it's really not because I'm racist that it bothers me. No, really. I think that when you start sanitizing things to make the bad parts go away, you are preventing people from knowing history... and we all know how I feel about that. Besides that, doesn't anyone remember that they put that bit in there for the BENEFIT of slaves? If every slave had counted as a whole person at that time, the southern states would have had a much larger representation in the House and therefore been in control of what laws were passed. It was to protect Black people in general that it was put in there at all. Stupid people who don't know their history should not dictate what is "bad" about it.

Which brings me to my second, albeit related, rant. I was watching another story on the news after the reading and they were reporting about the new "sanitized" version of Huck Finn that will be replacing the original in schools. They have removed the words "nigger" and "injun" so teachers wouldn't be afraid to read it outloud. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???? The entire story is about the racism of the times and how Huck starts out just like everyone else then befriends a black person and learns it's all bullshit. How in the hell do you teach about racism by removing racism like it never fucking happened?

Sure, sure I'm the fucking conspiracy theorist. But, goddammit, today I'm feeling especially paranoid that 1984 has really happened. Remember. For the love of ________ (insert whatever blasphemous expletive you like) remember. Learn everything you can about past cultures, civilizations, peoples and places that you possibly can.... before it's all gone and all you have left is what "they" tell you to think.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Stupid Conservatives


So, I'm sitting here watching some newsish type program, and it seems some "conservative" group is boycotting CPAC because they include the gay republican caucus. Now, I get it that there are some extreme religious zealots in the party, just as there are extreme atheist zealots on the other side, but let's try to pull our heads out of our asses. Forgive me for being thick and all, but isn't the Republican party the one that is supposed to be for freedom from governmental tyranny? Aren't they the party that freed slaves (who at the time were legally NOT PEOPLE)? The Democrat party is the party that believes people are not capable of governing themselves, so they must elect wise people to do it for them. The Republicans believe that freedom from the government is paramount, even if it sometimes allows for the weak to get hurt. Republicans stood for every person having the ability to reach their fullest potential, even the potential to fail.... RIGHT? So can someone please explain to me where in the fuck they lost their way so unabashedly that they sound precisely like the Democrats did arguing their points about the necessity of segregation? Whether or not I believe that being gay is "OK" with a god is totally irrelevant. That's between you and your god (or lack thereof). It's the Democrats that have always been steadfast in the belief that people cannot govern themselves and have to be told how they ought to live their life to create a Utopian society. Anyone calling themselves a Conservative ought to think you have a right to live your life, even if they think you make bad choices. As a right wingish sort of person, I think you have every right to fuck whatever type of consenting adult you choose to, but you DON'T have the right to teach my kid about it. That's my job... and I think you will fuck it up.

In conclusion: up is down and down is up. Republics have become Democrats and Democrats have become Socialists. I no longer recognize my country. No one sees the relevance in teaching history or civics to our children anymore. Ever heard the saying "history repeats itself"? Of course you have. Now if you only knew some, you would know that change is coming...what will it look like?