To Create or not...

I try to consider myself a unique person.
If I suck at a lot of other areas in my life, well I need at least one to reassure me that I'm not completely worthless right.
As I grew through my teenage years, I became quite unhappy about needing to shave my face every day.  I mean, I was a kid that disliked the shower and brushing my teeth, how was I to manage a blade next to my neck on a regular basis...
My creative side kicked in and saved me.  I began shaving in unusual ways, strange patterns, the weirder the better and that made it sorta bearable you know.
If I had a girlfriend at the time that would braid my hair or my goatee, I could stamp that flashing neon sign on my forehead for a day or three, "Unique Bishop Here" you know.
When it comes to the dark nooks in my mind, I believe there's some stuff in there that's truly "one of a kind" huh.
If I'm going to write or tell a story, I don't want someone to ever think oh, that's been done before.  Or oh, he took that right from Harry Potter.
Or the worst stamp a critic can dish out, "Predictable", yeah that one frightens me greatly.

So occasionally, when I'm in "mid flow" and the ideas are arriving fast and loose, I pause and wonder "where the crap did that come from".
And sometimes the answer is scarier than the critics.
Because I honestly don't know where they come from, they're so weird, so foreign, so alien, so "insert adjective here" right.
Sometimes I try to poke 'em back into their rusty cages...

If you've been following my blog for a bit, you probs know that I'm a big fan of Nik Vincent and her blog, her words.
Recently I received my very first comment and can you guess?  Yeps, it came from the one, the only and there was some merry dancing around my computer screen for five minutes or so.

Nik Vincent types -  Brilliant and hilarious! Everything can be a fiction when you're writing fiction, including the sex. Smiles. Fictional characters have fictional sex. The writer isn't a sex freak... the characters just might be, of course...

Now, I can't imagine a bigger compliment (okay, if Mr Dan Abnett created a Ghost named Bishop who happened to be a writer, you know...)
But I can imagine what Nik was trying to say.
And much like all her other interesting words, well it made me pause and have those things again, thoughts...

As in, if you create something, is what you create a reflection of some part of your self or are the two completely isolated?
I don't know much about history but I sorta recall a guy named Albert Einstein creating something.
What he created was eventually used to build an atomic bomb and do we hold that against him because I don't think we do.
If there was one person who suggested we harness that power and use it to obliterate, well they probs kept his name a secret huh.
If Stephen King creates stories that scare us, is he a scary person on the inside or did someone scare him as a child?

To me, I think I've outgrown the whole horror genre.  It must take something special to scare me eh.
I've also noticed over the years that things don't amuse me they way they once did, comedy has lost it's flair, it's spice.
One of my favorite comedy artists, Chris Farley was actually rather unfunny on his inside, or so I've heard.
Are humans really the opposite of what they create?

My older sons work as lifeguards during the summer.  They spend so much time in the sun that when their friends ask if they want to go to the beach, they pass.
I worked at a pizza place for a while and it took me a "long" time before I could smell that and not associate it with work.

Do we slowly grow to despise what we do, what we create on a regular basis?
Did Einstein have other creations that he hid because hey, look what they did with that last one you know.

I've been married to the same wonderful woman for more than a decade and she's the only partner I've had in my bed for what seems like "almost" forever eh.
When I'm bored or in a fantasizing mood, I'll twist some words into sexual pretzels and what's produced is usually something I bury deep in my hard drive because I'm convinved, that I must be "wrong", something in me is broken, normal people cannot conjure this stuff up.

But it pains me because I am the type to constantly challenge myself with what I can (and can't write).
I want to share it and I want people to read it, I don't mind if they don't like it, that doesn't feel too important to me for some reason (lots of people don't like me on a regular basis, I must be used to that...)
I guess I'm afraid of discovering that I really am broken or cursed.  Like right now, I can claim I "might" be "something" and that's okay because there's no confirmation huh.
Throw in a doctor's note or fifteen thousand people cringing and all the sudden, there's no more doubt, the Bishop is insane right.

If I create something, am I responsible for how it's used..?
If I invent the gun, I could claim I wanted people to be able to protect themselves.  If some don't and use it for bad, that feels okay because my original intent was good.
If I write something meant to stimulate a person's sexual feelings, can I really chalk that up to "good intentions"..?

And then the kicker in the nutser, are writers special people because they truly have unique thoughts that not many can have?
Or are they normal people who have somehow found the courage to share what others would not.

If you don't know me or haven't read much of my stuff, you need to know that I am a huge Ohio State Football fan and that our team is the best in the whole land.
Also, we have a band that goes by the name "TBDBITL" (Google that!)
It stands for "The Best Damn Band in the Land" and we pride ourselves at being perfect.
This past weekend, the Ohio State Marching Band flew to London of all places to perform at an NFL football game.  I thought it was an awesome trip for all those kids but also a huge honor, to have been chosen from every other band in the country.
In case you're wondering what makes them so super special, here's a link to the video, Go Buckeyes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz5ZaOPCclI

(How's that for brain food?)

The Time and Place...

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/fifty-shades-of-grey-response.html

Oh yay, big fat capital letter Y yays all around..!
Self publishing has it's place and I don't think it's a bad one.
It's just different to what we're used to and I think being able to adapt, especially as a writer, well it's fairly important.
I used to laugh at my old man when he told me that vinyl records produce better sound than my silly cassette tapes.
I responded with, well yeah but can your media switch songs in an instant by hitting the "flip sides" button?  Can it fast forward for you to the next song if you'd like to skip one?
(To which my dad would argue that yes, he could switch songs by merely raising his needle and adjusting it and if I had to push a button, who was really winning this argument anyway..?)
Years later when CDs came out, I had the same argument and I think my dad finally gave up on his records.
Nowadays, there are no cassette tapes or CDs or vinyl (unless you're a collector and you like physical media)...
Nowadays it's all digital and at the click of a mouse or a swipe on the device.

Meaning, if books go the same way, there will be no paper sheets bound together by glue and thread, there will be no giant "publishing houses" with their rules and profit percentages.
Their businesses are dying like the dinosaurs as more and more people adapt to the technologies available.

I would like to offer one piece of advice Nik and I'm reminding myself that when I offer advice, it should be as a compliment, like I care enough to share right.
I also remind myself that it shouldn't hurt me, if the advice is not taken (or even listened to).  You're a famous writer and I am a little unheard of guy.
But again, I care so...

Throw the book up on a separate web site.  Don't bury your blog with ninety thousand words of fiction, give it it's own space know what I mean.
If you're not all about the money (yays again), it doesn't need ad space, it doesn't need a view counter, it's a free book, that's all...
Dump it all as one big kerploop (I'm all for page breaks and chapter breaks, you know...)
But what's the point of having to upload "some" twice a week..?
Why not give the people the whole thing in the beginning?

It allows people to read as much or as little at their own pace, it doesn't require them to "check back" or, if they miss a week or two, they don't have to go diggin' through the posts to find where they were...
It's easier on you having to do one (or two) days of work instead of "lots" and it allows you to "move on" and work on other, fresher things, instead of dragging this anchor behind you.
I'm not insulting you or implying that Kat is a dead weight, I'm sure it's awesome and I'll be one of the first to read it (and offer feedback).
But to stretch out "the launch", I don't see much point in it honestly.

Mabes if you were to get people all interested and withhold the last two chapters unless they drop ten pounds (dollars), okay then I see your point (also, please don't do this).
But you want Kat to stand alone, here's the link right.  You don't want to have to tell people someday, that they have to search through a blog site filled with other stuff and that they have to gather all the separate pieces and assemble them like a kid with an Easter basket looking for eggs in the forest.

Also, and mabes here's the noob in me showin'...
I've tried something similar and found that I didn't really like the layout of the blog site, add-a-chapter-here style.
What happens is that the first chapter ends up getting posted first, then it becomes the last page on the site followed by all the rest of the chapters.  When a new person comes along mid story, they have to go all the way to the back and start there, then work their way backwards to where everybody else is currently.
It becomes quite a pain as both a reader and a writer (in my opinion and hey, if you know how to fix this, please send me a message..!)

Again, here's my applause (clapping sound from the west), I support you and look forward to reading, Kat and everything else.
I'll include a link to one of my other blogs that I started a year or so ago, it's very much a short story I wrote and I self published, and "left it there" you know, do share some thoughts if you have them.

http://movieofallmovies.blogspot.com/

Also NOTE!  There are little red words at the bottom of each page, one says "Next" and that's how you have to proceed through the story.  I tried for a while to make the word bigger, more stand outty but couldn't figure it out so, some people are like hey, that's a pretty short story you got there Bishop, one whole page..?
And I have to say oh, hey now, there's actually six or seven pages if you can find the Next button...
Happy Mondays people!

To Write the Right...

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/fifty-shades-of-grey-and-self.html

I thought there might come a time when nothing that Nik could write would surprise me anymore.  I thought surely, there would be a day when all of her topics bored me, praps I just ran out of thoughts, mabes she and I are too different as people, to share the same thought patterns, I don't know because we've never met each other.
But lately, every time I check to see if she's written something new, I'm surprised by the way it compels me, the way it reaches into the darkest corners of my mind and shakes violently.
A topic about sex and writing?  Throw in some Ohio State football and my top three are covered huh.

But I always seem to want to throw out some background first, perchaps as a writer, I struggle with "the setting" as in, I know it's important, it should be a part of my story, but how to fit it in there right, how to make it flow and crap.
In the end I usually just go with my old friend, the colon.  As in, here's my background and stop dancing around the fire with it old man, just sit down already..!

I've been a fan of Dan Abnett's writing since the first Ghosts came out, I've tried to read almost "everything" since (but I'm only one human come on...)
When my son was young (like four), I used to read him the First and Only before bed.  It became a ritual for us to snuggle in his 'ittle bed writing down the names on our list of characters and talking about who was our favorite.
A while later, when he was reading better on his own, I gave him Brothers of the Snake and when he really picked up steam, here's the Eisenhorn trilogy (needless to say my son was reading seventh grade vocabulary in first grade...)
But I took it a step further because I started to notice that he didn't "like" to read at some point.  Tv and video games became his new favorites and books were just too, oh boring daddy, there's no pictures, no colors right.
So I'd read the same chapter that I expected of him, then I'd quiz him on the material to see if he actually read it.
But then I thought, you know, if we're talking about it already, why not take another step in the greater good direction eh.  Why not "study" it..?
My son learned what an ellipse was from Dan Abnett (see the first chapter of Eisenhorn).  He learned how to trick people and manipulate, how to negotiate, how to function in so many ways that if I try to list them all, this post would never end.
He learned simply, how to be the best human he could be, because we took those stories and studied them, we (I), really looked for things that could help shape his mind, his toolbox so to speak.

So after Eisenhorn came Ravenor, then Beta, then the Horus Heresy (just the first four).  Now, with my son twelve years old, I've finally come full circle and assigned him the Ghosts novels.  Back when he was teensy, we only read the first book so this was a chance to rekindle the old memories and complete the series.
After this, I've told him there won't be any more assignments from me, that he will be "free" to choose to read whatever he wants for the rest of his life.
But I still tell him often, when he complains that he wants to watch tv instead, that his school might teach him math and history but his Dan Abnett teaches him life.
And I'm not lettin' him shirk that duty eh.

So his most recent chapter, is number six from Necropolis, I know, it's a classic huh.
And one of the "lessons" that I concocted from that passage (notice how I refer to it like it's a holy book), was that deep down, tucked way inside each of us, is a warrior, a soldier and that all it takes, is someone to come along and try to hurt us or our loved ones and presto, the fighter in us takes over.
Men, women, children, elderly, special people, the lesson is the same.  Never for one second think that someone cannot be a fighter.  It's primal, it's instinctive, it will never leave our beings.
It's almost math, one human, insert threat, equals one fighter ready to kill or be killed.
In case you're completely lost, I'll describe for a minute the context:  Normal citizens living their lives, suddenly bombarded by bad guys, explosions, invasion and poof, normal citizens take up rocks and axe-rakes and fight for their homeland.

My lesson was to illustrate that "anyone" can be powerful, anyone can fight and in this day and age, just about everybody has the strength to pull a trigger.
But it was two fold like always, the first way to inspire and convince a twelve year old that he is powerful, that he can become a warrior someday or even tomorrow if the situation called for it.
And the second way, in defense, in a "don't ever underestimate anyone no matter what" fashion.
I like to study both sides of every coin and just mabes, my son will remember these lessons "someday".
Now, was that enough background for ya..?

All my dancing and fire waving was really for this one set up, ready for it, brace yourselves, it's a good one.
Never for one second think that someone cannot be a writer.

Think about it.  This is one of our more ingrained abilities no?
Cavemen used to write on their walls, our kids are taught in every school how to read and...  write.
Unless you come from a third world nation with snot for education, well reading and writing are all basic skills eh.
It should be a given, all people can write whether it's a grocery list informing us we need more toilet paper or a Harry Potter book, they're just little things made up of words right, and in our language, well there's only what, twenty six different letters..?

Are some people natural born grocery list makers while others are expert word wranglers?  Sure.
Can we take a grocery list and put it in the hands of some exceptional people and make something that someone would actually want to read, not to mention "lots" of someones..?  Possibs.

I'm a popular guy at my local library and I rent an armful of books with every visit.  I've read some really horrible books in my day and I'm the kinda guy that doesn't give up after the first third (or even the second).
I plow through that steamy pile of compost the whole time hoping it will "get better".  When it doesn't, I usually chalk it up to experience as in, now I know what I shouldn't do huh.

I've read my share of sex books.  When I was just a wee sprout, I'd sneak looks at my dad's Playboy collection and after staring at the pictures and doing what young guys do, well I'd spend some time reading the sexy stories, just for kicks you know.

Some seemed really stupid, like the author "tried" too hard.  Others were subtle and tasteful and I'd find myself glancing back at the pictures for a minute.
Many years later (okay, decades), and Playboy has announced it will no longer have pictures in it's magazines as get this, the internet has enough of that already.
Like explaining that we can't make a homemade pizza for dinner tonight because we live right next door to a Pizza Hut and really, how can that compare...

Our world has become one flooded with pornography.  To the point where people are recognizing that there's no more profit in it anywhere because it's "been done".
I'm about six months short of forty interesting years on this planet and I have to admit, that I don't think there is anything new on the sex front that I could ever encounter, I've seen it all I'm afraid.
I mean there's only three working parts, my son's skateboard seems more complicated...
If we wanted, we could construct a "scale" to rank everything about sex into a one through ten style list with one being the most "soft core" and ten being the craziest stuff imaginable.
And if someone liked sex, the act, the viewing, the reading about, would they willingly choose a two on the scale when a nine is just as accessible..?

Hey that fire's lookin' a little small there, I better get up and do my dance again eh...
A while back, my wife had to switch birth controls.  We were done on the kid having and I have no insurance to modify my parts so hers were the cheaper.
When they switched her, we were told to refrain from the poundy pound because there was a small chance that we could become that dreaded word to anyone over thirty five with kids already, pregnant.
And while I know there are a whole mess of other things we "could" do, well for me, if I can't "finish" in the fashion that I'd like to, well...
I'll just pass thanks and see you in the endzone.

For two whole weeks, we became nuns in a church (or wherever they live when they're not doing their stuff).
No touching, no kissing because after the first couple of days, well the drive starts to accelerate you know.
Give us some full, busy days and we're fine but tell us we can't do something and all the sudden it's the one thing we want the most (I wonder where our kids get that from...)

Having a sexual frustration build up with only limited release and I start to go a little crazy.
I turned to the one place where I could find some shelter in the storm, my mind (you were goin' with "the internet" weren't you, I heard you..!)

No for me, one through ten didn't quite "do it".  I needed an eleven and I didn't have time for lengthy books or movies.
I went right to the source of my apprehension and said well, what are you gonna do about it?

I found myself writing, spilling little black words on my white screen.
And oh the places my mind went, just thinking about it now makes me need to "pause"...

There, all better..!
My point was, is, oh where did that thing go...
Yes, okay, "the point" is that what "works" for me, doesn't necessarily work for you or for anyone else.
It's customized and I think since I wrote it, I've shared it with exactly one person (and it wasn't my wife, it was a "mostly" stranger...)

Why didn't I share it with others?
Because oh my gosh will people think I'm a sicko.  My eleven might be my own ranking, given my level of exposure in my lifetime.
What if to someone else, I'd created a seventeen or a twenty two..?
What if instead of saying hey, this is awesome, what if someone told me that my sex tastes were simply insane, barbaric, crude, lacking of anything resembling "taste".  Would I handle that because I'm not sure I could.
Hate on my fiction, little thumb down my rants and ravings but criticize my sex interests and ouch, that one hurts more than usual for some reason.

As a self proclaimed writer with nothing published, I can take a lot of negativity when it comes to abandoning my dream of being famous and respected for my typings.
But call me a sex freak and I fall down and cry like a toddler with a scratch on the knee.  Also, don't insult my Buckeyes..!

I don't care how good a person can describe the contents of a fictional room.  I don't care how marvelous a mental image is painted.
I don't even think I care about the perspective or the mood or the cover on the front, the fonts, the little italic quotes at the beginning of chapters.
Really, honestly, there's not much I "need" when it comes to what I read except the story, it has to be something I'm interested in.
If I want to know what it's like to be stuck on a raft in the middle of an ocean with a hungry tiger for a shipmate, I'm gonna read that book right.  The story takes precedence because I'm interested, if the way the author wrote it sucked, I'm okay with that because all I really care about is how that poor human is going to be eaten in the end (and if he doesn't get eaten, how does he possibly manage that..?)
If I want to know about a group of soldiers fighting for their Emperor or dudes with lightsabers a swingin', I'm going to read it even if I dislike the author because his books all contain page after page of solid text, no indents, no breaks, no dialogue...
I'm going to plow through it and come out the other side right.

If a story is good enough, if I'm tempted in the right way, I will seek it out and send it through my eyes, no matter the "team" that helped publish it or not.
If I got an early glimpse of something great, I can tell myself to wait for the movie or the revision and I'm okay with that.
I always think of George Lucas and what he did with Star Wars way back in the day.
I mean here's a guy with nothing but an idea, a story and look what he did with it.  He even had to start in the middle of his story because there wasn't enough money or technology to start at the beginning.
But his story carried it.
He didn't give up, he worked and reworked and all the people he showed in the beginning, gave feedback and advice.
He improved his product, he took the criticism in the right way and it won't surprise me if his story is repeated and reconstructed for every generation after, never slowing down, never losing it's fans.

I come from a generation where our television has lied to us since the beginning.  Our government has lied to us repeatedly.

Our leaders lie, our teachers lie, our parents, our friends.  I pretty much don't trust anyone and I don't think anyone around me does either.
That seems to be the norm in my world eh.

So for me, to submit something to a publishing house, well I don't think it will ever happen.  Not because I can't handle the criticisms, just because I don't expect others to do anything for me without taking a huge chunk of the profits.
And if I'm the guy dreaming up stuff, if I'm the one they can't do it without, well I don't want a small percentage of my sales.  I want every last cent and I'll do without the fancy cover, the publicity.
I'll self publish and if I get any attention or someone likes what I've done, I'll go back and try to polish that puppy even to the point of rewriting the whole thing.
It's not like I'm going to forget how to write right.

If someday I create an empire like the Star Wars or the Sabbat Crusade, I'll look back and sincerely thank everybody that helped me along the way (I'll probs send them a fat check too).
But at this stage in my game, to go looking for someone else to help me with my writing, yeah, I don't see it happening.
Mabes I'll never be a successful writer and possibs I'll have to deliver newspapers until I die but I'm okay with that.
I have a space on the big bad interweb and that's all I feel like I need.  If I suck, no one will read my thoughts and I'll disappear into obscurity.
If I'm great, people will find me eventually, they'll read what I've left and like it, mabes they'll ask for more.

I consider JRR Tolkien and what he did, often, as well.
Here's a guy that wrote some books that never really "took off" the way they would if he wrote them today (or possibs not).
He died long before the Lord of the Rings movies (what were there six of 'em..?)
He never knew how people cherished his work but that didn't cause him to give up or quit after his first book.

We are all soldiers and we will always be.
We are all writers and we will always be.
If you want to be a writer in today's world, accept that you're not doing it for the fame and glory and money.
Don't quit, don't give up and believe that someday, someone somewhere will share what you've written and like it.
It doesn't matter who reproduces your words or how much money you were paid.
It matters how many readers you touched, how many will remember your stories and demand movies based on your words.

If anybody wants to read my sex story, I'll share (it doesn't even have a title).  I won't post it on my blog site because I'm scared (don't tell anyone).
Send me a message at SaneWords@hotmail.com and I'll fill your inbox.

Write because you have something inside of you and it needs to get out.  Share because there really are people that want to read what you've typed.

I don't think I'll go to them of the big players only to be rejected.  It seems more fitting to let them come to me eventually.
Because if I'm a good writer or even if I suck and I just have a decent story, a creative idea, well they'll come to me if I'm that good, no rejections.
In football, you have to prove you're a great player to be on the field, you can't say you'll be great when you get out there.
Great topic Nik!

Time to Vote Again...

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/dreaming-spires-and-democratic-process.html

I'm a big fan of Nik Vincent's writing and recently on her blog, she wrote about an election at Oxford University.
Now usually I have some contemplations after reading stuff she's written but with this one, I don't know, mabes it's just too far out there for me.
I never attended a college, something I look back on as one of the bigger mistakes of my life but at the time, I can remember having a girlfriend and she was a redhead right...
I'm also not all that familiar with Oxford as I'm an American and not very "in touch" with stuff that occurs across the salty pond eh.

So I told myself nope, there's nothin' I could follow that up with you know.
Then I kicked it around the dark corners of my noodle for a bit and "tried" right.
I thought, mabes I could get into the horrific cost of college educations and how they don't seem to help someone actually acquire a job anymore.  Or about how if you do get a decent degree, that you would have to take that knowledge to a foreign country if you didn't want to be an English major holding down a dishwashing career right.
Or praps I could illustrate the difference between a private institution's methods versus a public's.  Possibs I could throw some poo on the whole racism topic again I mean, that's a big bullseye right.

But in the end I thought you know, what I really want to "attack" is the way we "vote" and the why behind the whole thing because it occurs to me, that our current system, for any style "voting", well it's tainted, all the way to it's clunky center.

But first, some background, ah, dwell in it, rotate around in it, it's warm and bubbly...
My country has a long and detailed history about the voting process.  Women have fought for the right, the privilege.  African Americans have fought for the same.
We thought we perfected the system at some point and the "big deal" slowly faded mabes.
Our soldiers are taught that they fight for our right to vote and that anybody that doesn't cast their feelings, is insulting the men and women who put their lives on the line for us and our privileges.
But I have a younger brother who is a Marine, he served in Iraq and I don't vote and never have.
Why do I carelessly take my privilege, the one that not many other people have and the one that seems like it must be fought for, why do I crinkle that thing up and throw it in the rubbish bin at every opportunity..?

Because to me, the system is broken.
To me, just like Nik described, the whole mess feels unfair to some degree.  But not when it comes to "who" gets to vote because of their skin color or the college they attended.
To me, it feels broken because there is no criteria to exclude some people from voting.  If you're an American citizen, you get to vote, plain and simple.
It doesn't matter if you've been a citizen for one year or twenty.  It doesn't matter if you speak the same language, if you live nearby or if you don't know a thing about the whole process.
To us, it seems like you get to pick "A" or "B" and honestly, how hard is that..?
Could my two year old neighbor's child make that choice?  Could my dog sniff one bowl of food first?

Indeed it seems that anyone with eyelashes can blink once for this or twice for that right.
Is that all it takes and really, should our system be that "empty", that it's no more complicated than a coin flip?

Where I live, when it gets close to election times, our media is flooded with "campaign" propaganda.  They're all over our tele, they're on the radio stations, they fill our mailbox with trash and they even call on our phones to repeat their previously recorded messages.
It gets so awful that we scream for them to stop, that we don't care and we just want the stupid thing to be over so they can end their ridiculous bombardment to our sanity.
But while I'm screaming and begging, my mind wanders into other places.  Like the cost of such a media onslaught.  Like dollar signs floating away...

I wonder for a moment, how much money these people spend trying to convince the general uncaring public to vote for them.  Is it a million?  A billion?  I know it must be "lots" right.
And what if, crazy thought time, what if they stopped?  What if there was a better way to spend all that money..?
Could it be put towards homeless shelters?  Better teachers and educations for our kids at the pre-college levels?  Better roads and bridges which offers, jobs?
Better "anything" than another ignored tele commercial?
Now I know the media channels need their advertising money, that right there is a whole 'nother topic worthy of a seventy page blog write up.
And I know the printing people need work making flyers, the mail people need work delivering all that junk mail, even the phone people need autodialers to spam a recorded message (wait, do they..?)

But come on, I'm supposed to "support" a guy (or girl) that regularly spends a butt load of money just trying to "win" his job?
Like I'm poor and have no job but if I had a wagon full of money, I could "buy" my position and I'd get more money than I spent, back..?

What if there was a stipulation to being able to vote and what if it didn't concern your outside appearance or the space between your legs.
What if, brace yourself, what if it depended on how intelligent and knowledgeable about the candidates you were..?
What if there was an unbiased fashion, that we could all learn about the candidates in a way that didn't cost money?  Like no money.
Instead of bazillions, the price tag was zero.  Big fat none.
Because I write and I want people to read my thoughts eh.  I publish my thoughts to a blog site and it's free to me.  Why can't it be free to them as well?
Shouldn't they be restricted anyway, to just words on a screen?  No more commercialism with fancy video editing and paid actors.  No more robo calls, no more junk mail that I need to recycle.
Just a politician's own words, on their own blog site, free of charge, that I can read and study.

But, let's take it a step further.  Instead of being lied to, about a politician by that politician's own voice, what if there were someone else, someone we could trust, that would type up a little review or evaluation on said blog site.
What if they could compile a person's previous experience, what if the "tally" of how they voted was presented.  Then we could all see quite clearly, what this person voted for in their previous roles.
What if there was even a tracker that reported how many times that politician was absent on their votes?
Or a statement about this person's spending habits, about how they used tax dollars to fly their families out to Vegas, what if we posted their own tax records, their coworkers thoughts and feelings...

What if we made these people transparent so that "everything" about them was public knowledge?  How far would their dollars take them then..?

Because if there were a candidate, who didn't spend a single dollar on his campaign fund, if they presented themselves in blog site form free of advertisers...
Mabes I'd vote for them huh.

We desperately need a new way to become informed about who we're voting for.  There should be a class or a video explaining the whole voting process and if you don't pass the test at the end, you don't get to throw your garbage vote in the box.
There should be no more money spent "campaigning".  Every candidate should be on the same level playing surface regardless of pocket book size.
But I really don't care who wins, I don't care about who runs.  I don't care about you and if you vote or stay at home and sit on your couch complaining.
I care about the people in our military because when they tell them they're fighting for our rights, well mabes someone should tell them to stop fighting because our rights don't grant us much in this broken system.

A Little Old Man...

All right, it has occurred to me that I really don't know what I'm doing...
I can write some stuff, yeps, sometimes I think it's total trash and other times, well...
But when it comes to publishing, getting noticed, having "readers", yeah, I'm lost, I'm an old man in a world full of young kids.

I'm going to try to go back and edit some of my previous posts because many were direct responses to a post I'd read on a different blog site.
In case you were wondering, I'm a big fan of Nik Vincent and her musings from across the pond, here's her page...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/

So if you started reading my stuff before hers, well you may have been confused and that's okay, it's my fault.
From now on, I'll try to put a link at the top of my post when other pages are "required" reading know what I mean.

Also, if anyone out there would like to "team up" and help me produce this thing in any reasonable way, well I'd like a partner, I desperately need an editor, someone to offer some feedback, anything really.
I can keep typin' but if nobody can find or see what I'm crankin', well it sorta makes me feel like I'm not doin' "enough" right.

If you would like to contact me directly, my address is "SaneWords@hotmail.com" and I'd love to hear from you.
Also, thanks for reading huh!

A Sports Fan..?

I don't watch much sports anymore.
When my sons were younger, I tried to watch them play but now that they're older, well...
Growin' up, I can remember watching professional football on the couch next to my dad but somethin' must've happened over the years.
Oh, I remember, the professional football league began struggling under constant scrutiny.  There were controversies left and right, players using drugs, players beating on their women, coaches encouraging their players to make bad decisions.
Then there was the money aspect, as in, the whole league is only ever all about taking fist fulls of dollars from the general public.  They're a business and when the games are all over, the participants go home with big bank account numbers regardless of who wins.

So my heart left the professional scene but the one sport I'm still passionate about, is college football.
And while this sport has it's share of controversy also, it seems more "toned down" perhaps.  The players are all college kids, none are paid (at least none can admit to being paid) and the passion that they show, for something they're not getting paid for, remains long after the games.
I lived in a place called Columbus Ohio in my younger years, before the wife and kids.  I fell in love with it, I became an Ohio State Buckeye and my blood turned Scarlet.
I think I've watched every game since, I've screamed and cried, I've hung flags and posters on my walls, my wardrobe is full of logos.  I enjoy the excitement, I dread the injuries and I teach my kids the tactics.
Not so much the, this guy goes "here" but the why they do things the way they do, the "how" mabes.

My family and I watched as our team struggled through adversity to win the national championship last year.  We watched as they've struggled so far this season with a rather large quarterback conundrum.
My explanation to why we would start a quarterback who is clearly not as good as his counterpart is...
The smart coaches experiment with what they have.  They play the card game "War" with cards that aren't their best to determine if those cards can be made better somehow, praps with some experience and repetitions.
And it's only when they "need" to, that the biggest, best cards are played.  And in this way, I can illustrate to my kids, a facet of life that doesn't get noticed much.
The "improving" of skills that are mediocre, the working on our weaknesses instead of playing to our strengths.

Some have said that I am primitive, to encourage my kids to be fans of such a violent game but I believe there are lessons in life that are found in the strangest of places if we look a little.
Yesterday was a great example.
Our team has a rivalry that is quite famous in our parts of the world.  The Ohio State Buckeyes hate the Michigan Wolverines so much that they refuse to acknowledge their name.  We refer to them as "that team up north" because to call them by their name is to offer a spec of respect and that's something that just isn't done, hasn't been done since long before I knew how to type.
But I'll use their name, I'll offer some respect because I see that these are barely grown men, playing and sacrificing their bodies for a belief that is slightly larger than a paycheck.

Yesterday, Michigan faced a slightly less important rival, Michigan State and if you're confused already, I'll call them Team Blue versus Team Green.
Now it's important to understand that even though Team Blue used to be one of the best in the whole country, for a very, very long time, well they've had a bad decade or two you know.
This past year Team Blue brought in a very high profile, high dollar head coach to help "turn things around" and they've been a "whole new team" raising hopes and dreams of their fan bases for a couple of months now.

In front of a packed stadium, the home crowd's excitement grew enormous as Team Blue had a two point lead with ten precious seconds left.
Ten whole seconds separated them from another season of hopelessness to a day of much needed vengeance fulfilled.
The football rested on the grass, the eyes of "many" eagerly awaiting the celebration, holding their breaths.
Finally the ball was snapped, it flew through the air and arrived "low".  Team Blue's punter bent low to retrieve, he bobbled it, the ball in slow motion, hanging in the air, waiting for resolution, waiting for it's destiny.
In one of the craziest plays ever, the punter scooped the ball, turned away from the onrushing wall of Green, and "attempted" to kick the ball out of bounds.
Only, the ball never quite made it.  Somehow, it plopped right into the hands of a rushing Green and with the clock counting down in slow motion, the Green ran like they were on fire, across the line, touchdown Green.
Game won, Green.  Agony, defeat, vengeance not fulfilled for Blue.  Sad faces, unbelieving faces, twitterverse gone insane.
New high priced head coach close to tears at the following presser, no excuses, no explanations just a rare fluke, a mistake that happened in less than a second.
A decision that ruined the days of many fans everywhere.

And while this is a team that my team despises, my team "hates", well I can't help but feel a little sympathy for them, much like the Green fans huh.
To lose in such a way, it was reported that the game's trophy was actually delivered to the Blue's locker room only to be "removed" after the outcome was more "final" later.
I can't imagine how those kids feel.  I can't imagine a coach that has to stand before them and try to make things "okay" again.
But what I really can't imagine is the criticism that was poured on this poor punter.  It's been reported that he has received "lots" of death threats.
A twenty two year old kid who traveled all the way from Melbourne Australia to play football at Michigan, a punter who earlier in the game set a record for a monstrous kick (eighty yards)...
Is being heavily criticized by his own fan base.  His own people, the ones who just moments earlier, were about to cheer the loudest they have in decades.
Nobody seems to be hating on the long snapper, the guy whose job it is, to get the ball to the punter so he can do his thing.  Had his delivery been more perfect, mabes the outcome would've been different.

But alas, as humans, we must really like to hate.
We must look for opportunities to vent our hate onto others at every available instance.
When most of us couldn't kick the same ball twenty yards...

Or do three push ups.
Or even play in a violent contact sport.

In fact, if some of these people's lives were televised, on display for all to see, how many death threats would they receive..?
Would they crumble at the first "why don't you kill yourself" written?
What if the Blue's punter could criticize your life for a moment?  Would he look down on you for not being able to quit smoking?
Not being able to quit drinking or find a job or spend thirty actual minutes with your kids without cell phones and "devices" in hands?
Would he tell you that you should be beaten to death in a cold alley for cheating on your significant other?

In fact, how many of us have made an error when we had time, when we really thought about it and weighed the decision.
This kid had nowhere near a full second to make his decision.  When he did make it, his intentions were to do his best, to support his team and to sacrifice his body, his health for what?
Not money.  Not lust.  Not laziness or addiction or anger or envy...

I see these "rare" occasions that truly test people.
A few fans (even other team's fans) have stepped up, proven themselves and said hey, it's okay, we support you, we understand and don't let 'em get you down.
Bazillions of others have vomited their negativity, recording their failures for all to see and I have to wonder what it is exactly, they're trying to "prove".
I have to wonder, how they can call themselves a "fan" in the first place.

The Enemy I Know...

I don't have a problem with drugs or alcohol.
I have a problem with self worth and that causes me to look for an escape from myself in any fashion.
I think I've always been a failure...
When I was younger, my parents struggled with each other, they couldn't figure out how to "make it work" and eventually, they discovered themselves in a messy break up.
Back then, the label "child of a broken home" was popular and I wonder if today, there are any children from "together" homes you know.
I found myself embracing that label because it was easier to belong to that, than fight to hold my life together.  I couldn't save my parents marriage, I couldn't explain what was happening to my little sister and brother.
I slowly slid backwards into a dark place because I felt there was nowhere else I could go.

My first real relationship with a woman failed.  I neglected her as my father did my mother.
My first job was monotonous and boring so I quit.
I crashed my first car and injured my girlfriend at the time, the memory still a stain on my internal sense of value.
I tried really hard not to procreate because I knew I would not be a good parent but apparently, I failed there too.  Not so much in the parenting because I try my hardest every day, but in the producing a life I was to be a role model for, yep, I fail.
I live in a part of the United States where we have outgrown our economy.  The lawmakers that came before me, fed their greed with bad decisions and now all our jobs are "gone".
If you are not familiar with Grand Rapids Michigan, I can tell you that we used to have two booming industries.  The auto production in Detroit and the furniture makers all over western Michigan.
In the past couple of decades, the furniture makers have all been replaced by plastic composite materials made by robots, in foreign countries.  The auto industry grew lazy and our own people began buying foreign cars.

I try to look for work everyday, I get an occasional interview where I seem to be well liked, I'm qualified for the job and I have loads of experience.
But I'm almost forty years old and they tell me they have hundreds of applicants and probs dozens that are just as good as me.  It's a roll of the dice as to who gets that prized job and I'm just not lucky I spose.
Or, if you had a choice between hiring a forty year old guy or a young, straight from college kid with most of his teeth, who would you hire..?

In the past few years, we have had an increasing problem with shootings all over our country.
People walk into schools loaded with guns, they hold hostages and murder as many as they can before shooting themselves in the mouth.  They walk into crowded movie theaters and "open fire" on women and children.
They seem to only want to hurt others and the attention they get from this is clearly what they're not getting in healthier ways.

Our president and politicians are pressing for better "gun control" as if that will keep weapons out of the hands of us "damaged humans".
But they don't seem to realize that we are just as dangerous without guns.
In other parts of the world, people are being killed by the thousands and no one cares about them just as our parents didn't seem to care about us.
Can we really keep blaming an inanimate object for our problems?
Are we so resistant to taking the blame with our own hands, that we have to accuse something without a mind of it's own..?

I don't think I want to hurt anybody.  My role has always been the one to slowly fade away unnoticed.
But I can fully understand why others want to hurt, why they want to be noticed even if it's for all the wrong reasons.
It's too bad we can't make a law to enforce more caring.

Into the Volcano..!

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/if-youre-looking-for-feminist-rant-this_9.html

Wowzers, that one had some steam on it eh..!
I didn't watch any of the Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week but I might have to check it out, I am something of a reality show fan huh.

I think it's not really a matter of women being equals or better than men.  I think I've stated my position (that of women being the stronger of the species) but my position is pretty small and obscure and well no one really hears my voice you know.
What I think it is though, is a belief.  At the very center, the chewy nugget, well it's the belief and it seems fairly simple once you can find it, scrape away all the nasty and see it.

You can't convince people of something they don't want to believe in.  I can't, you can't, God herself can't.
The world's not round, men didn't leave footprints on the moon and the holocaust never happened.
Just like black people are lazy and violent, jews want all the money and power, arabs need their preteen sex slaves, crikey even the Catholics need their little boys in confessionals right.
It's a pretty sick world out there and I don't think I can change it.  I might keep trying but I don't believe I can change anyone's mind.

People will want to think and believe and share what they want, I'm no different.
While we're at it, we probs shouldn't try to take that away from the humans now eh.
I'll vote for free speech even if I believe that most of the world is full of stupid spouting idiots.

Because the belief that happens to be important to me, is this...
"Boy is that person a complete dumbass."

See how that works?
Nobody's twitter rant made me change my mind about women or their strengths or who "should have" won a tv show.
Nobody convinced me that my position was wrong or incorrect on any level.
In fact, what they convinced me of, is that they're insecure and scared and ignorant.  They live in a little protective bubble where if they don't like something, they think that a little bit of mouth garbage will be enough retaliation to teach all those others out there, not to do it again.

Oh, you didn't like the end of a tv series on the BBC?
Not only are you stupid enough to watch a tv series on the BBC (no offense), but you're not smart enough to change the channel or click on something else to do with your free time?
You couldn't read a book, someone's blog, or write your own blog illustrating your beliefs?
And..!  When it was all said and "done", you couldn't resist wasting more of your own precious time and had to go to your twitter to waste even more time..?
You probs even checked back to see how many people agreed with you didn't you...

The only thing I believe, is that people will announce to the whole universe on a regular basis, just how unbelievably stupid they are.
Like they do it all the time, non stop.  Here I am they say, look at me and look how significant my words are..!
Look how smart I am..!
When really, those of us with a mote of actual intelligence recognize immediately, what a complete turd you are.

You couldn't even be a competitor on a competition like this.  There's nothing about you that could even come close to what those people can handle.
And you want to bash the winner from the comfort of your own parent's basement?

I have long believed that this world and everything in it, is one big test.  There are many that fail and only a small percentage that succeed.
Nowadays, we have the technology to remember who's a failure and who isn't.
All we have to do is look up their words and we can know what kind of person they really are.

I don't believe there are women out there that would willingly procreate with some of these trash people (if I call them "trash men" you associate them with the guys who haul trash so I'll loosely refer to them as trash people and you smarties out there will understand...)
Now if we could just find another disease that preys on the stupids or hey, I'm all for bulldozing the poopies into a volcano if we can find a tractor big enough.

The Technology Monster...

When I was young, the first Star Wars movie was unleashed and the imaginations of children everywhere grew immensely.

At recess, we floated around on imaginary cars complete with sound effects.  Our birthday and Christmas wish lists always included a lightsaber.

Back then it seemed, all we had to do was wait while masterminds hard at work in their basements would bring our dreams to life.

Getting older as I am, I marvel at the power of the internet.  Think about it, a collection of all the knowledge that we, as humans, have collected, all accessible through a teensy weensy phone line not thicker than a braid of our own hair.

I don't wonder what the future will bring because there is enough right now, to wonder about.  I don't contemplate an artificial intelligence because I know that as humans, if we did create one and set it free, it will be the end of our race as we know it.

What I do sorta wonder about, is when exactly our own technology became our enemy, when it started to scare us like the monster in our closets.

There was a debate once upon a time, about tracker chips being implanted in humans.  The benefits seemed to be enormous.

No more kidnapped children, no more wondering about where escaped prisoners were hiding, no more losing the elderly when they became confused and "wandered off".

But something came along and halted that discussion and I wonder why.

People claimed it was an invasion of privacy, they shouted stuff about their freedom being "restricted".  Employers could see if their workers were at the bar during lunch breaks, spouses could see where their loved ones were spending the night.

Liars and bad people could be exposed for what they were and suddenly, no one wanted tracker chips.

I have a teenage son and his girlfriend's mother tracks her iphone.  She's not very happy about it but what can she do?

Be honest about where she goes?

If we were all forced to have tracker chips installed, would we cut them out with knives or would we, deep breath, try to be better people?

Would our own technology cause us to grow up a bit and be honest with each other?

A current question we're starting to ask ourselves is, should our law enforcement officers be required to wear body cameras that record their every action.

And if you're one of those that believes they should, consider this...

We're asking the people we trust to carry guns, to protect us, to catch bad guys (sometimes risking their lives).  The people that we choose to protect our society, the Star Wars "good guys"...

We're asking them to be recorded but not our proven criminals?

I think maybe our fear in technology is misplaced and perhaps it's time to confront the fear in ourselves.

The Next Day..!

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/digesting-news.html

Wow, weird topic Nik..!
I should first explain something though...
For the past oh, three articles now, I've read what you've written, kicked it around my noodle for a while and spilled my responses.  But the one that writes second, often has an easier job because I don't have to "fish" for thoughts, they're already provided to me (by you).
By responding to what you write, I feel like I'm only a minor contributor and all the glory (and the guts) are truly meant to be in your direction here.  I don't want to step on anyone's toes, especially not one of my writing heroes you know.

I guess I want, what I do on my end, to be viewed as a compliment to what Nik Vincent does (http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/), because that's how I feel when I "follow along" after her.
I'm not out to bash Nik, I'm not trying to "out do" her or better her in some way because she's the source, she started it and I couldn't write what I've been and what I want to continue to, without her.
If someday she wanted to follow an article I've originated, I would be honored and I could somehow try to view myself as something of an "equal" but even then, I know I'm still a little guy in a big bad world.
I merely want to participate in the conversation, even if I'm mostly uninvited because I think thinking thoughts is healthy, sharing them is courageous and allowing others to respond and criticize, is powerful.
I also want to point out that at no time, should my words imply that I am a stalker, creepy weirdo type because I purposely try constantly to be, as totally honest as humanly possible and I test that with what the world will tolerate by reading stuff I've written.
Then I up and change my mind again, mabes I am the weird type...

It's weird that your article concerned the newspaper.  I am a thirty nine year old father of three sons and I have been very underemployed for the past five years or so (my area of the USA has been hit very hard by recession thanks to all our lawmakers allowing foreign countries to do our labor for us...)
So recently, I applied for a paper route, something that's usually reserved for teenage kids, an after school job you know.
I found it a bit humiliating but I've had a lot of practice being humble recently and today, October sixth, was my very first day on the job.

Here I am, riding shotgun in my boss' vehicle because, get this, I have to be "trained" on my route.  Like the faith in humanity's competence level has really shrunk that far, that instead of handing a guy two hundred and seventy papers with a list of addresses, you have to be "trained".
So I roll the silly little paper up, drop it in a little plastic bag and "do the deed" right.
Except, there's warning signs "everywhere".  The once powerful paper has been reduced to a three day a week affair.  Not that there aren't actual papers printed seven days a week, merely that the delivery service only operates for three, Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays.
Where there once was insert after insert, coupons on top of coupons, now there's a little political page about a currently running politician and a page about donating canned goods to our mail carriers for a "good cause".
Now I'm all for good causes and I'll look through the pantry and see if there's something even I can offer but before you go thinking I must live in a teensy eensy 'ittle town in the nowheres, I can tell you that I currently live in a place called Grand Rapids, Michigan and we "had" a population of over one million before the loss of jobs caused us to shrink like a raisin on the steaming sidewalk.  Our paper is the Grand Rapids Press and you can look it up if you want, it's digital.
Meaning, I can't believe people can still justify the death of a single tree to produce this thing, much less produce it on a mass scale...

Now I understand that for some of our older citizens, a computer is much scarier to use than a simple piece of paper.  But will these older citizens be around for much longer and isn't the newspaper going the way of the Blockbusters and the DVD rental shops..?
Shouldn't I more accurately compare 'em to a payphone booth (remember those..?)

But I don't think the Nik meant to argue the importance of the newspaper, it's here right now and mabes it's the content she was all kinds of excited about.
And I can completely understand her reasons, the newspapers provide a more accurate view of events, they reach a group of people that can't (or won't) have access to the big bad interweb...
And their main objective is still, to inform.
But wow, when I had a free copy at the end of my work day, I pulled that puppy from it's plastic sheath and opened it for a minute or two.
What I saw horrified me.  Story upon story of tragedy, missing kids, drowned boaters whose bodies can't be recovered or found.  Murders, rapes, the general worst of humanity, complete with mugshots and scenes with yellow police tape.
I struggled to find any story within that I could interpret as "positive" and I remembered why I stopped reading the paper oh so long ago.

I don't know what types of things interest people anymore.  I'm sorta "middle" aged and I sometimes have problems knowing what interests me you know.
Much less those older or younger than me.
I even wonder at the mindset of people who enjoy reading about deaths and crimes and sad tragedies, I think the South Park even did a spoof about "murder porn" and how the boys wanted to force their parents from watching it simply because they feared it would leave them "demented".
But pause for a second.  I'm not for censorship, I'm not about to tell people what they should or shouldn't read (I'm something of a writer, crikey!)
When I was younger, parents said violent video games made kids angrier, easier to provoke to violence but I've never committed a violent crime, I didn't become demented or desensitized to blood and gore.
So praps the mind grows immune the more it's submersed, I can't tell, I'm not a shrink...

But I do understand that at one time, people lived such isolated lives, that all they cared about was the weather tomorrow and who we were currently at war with.
There was one tv news channel, there was one source of local news, your newspaper, and that was good enough because people didn't care about much else (I assume...)
As our ability to travel increased, as our minds hungered for more and more stimuli, people began watching other tv channels, they began reading from other sources.
They learned that there was a great big world out there and all you had to do was have an interest, and it became, wait for it...
Entertaining.

Reading about other places, other people, other ways of life.  It offered an escape from their boring lives, it gave them different perspectives and possibly, it made them feel a slight bit more grateful, about their simple lives (I mean at least they're not those people in the papers right...)
The line between "inform" and "entertain" grew wider, it became a lighter shade of grey and people lost the ability to distinguish completely.

I mean we realize that the weather's never very "accurate" (Michigan weather is probs a lot like England's eh, it rains, it shines, sometimes both at the same time).
We understand that those coupons aren't really saving us any money, advertisers have become the biggest tricksters huh.
And the stories about disasters on the other side of the globe, well we know we're not getting the whole story, we know it's just the tip of the iceberg we're seeing.
That's why it gets such a small amount of space, because if it was what people wanted, it'd be much bigger, with bold lettering, almost like a headline.
But, wait, oh, I can sorta feel it, where's it, yeps...
It is a headline, that's all it's meant to be.

Because if we're interested in something, if we have a passion, we look for it, we, seek it, out.  We hunt it down like a master tracker because we want to learn about it, we want to know.
If I have an interest in Guatemala, I look 'em up on my computer and bam, I have all kinds of people writing whole books about it.
If I have an interest in Vegans and their nutritional issues, I type it in the Google and blamo again, there's all I could want right.

The responsibility has faded, from the media, to provide us with info, to ourselves.  Because we got too big, too diverse, too interested in a huge scale of topics.
To ask one company or organization to cater to all of our needs, even those in a particular region, it's sorta silly eh.
The responsibility has become our own, if we want to know, we seek it out instead of expecting it to come to us.
If an organization wanted to try to cover the interests of a large group of people, it would have to publish a dictionary sized newspaper and can you imagine the loss of tree life there..?
Oh, wait again, do you guys remember dictionaries?  They were the books you had to look up words in, you know, argh...

The sad state of the world is, much like the Catholic church, they don't care about you.  They don't care about me or our interests or "what's important".
They're not out to save the world or even a couple of starving babies in Africa.
They want one thing (just like your mother warned you).  Your money.
They want you to buy their product, support their advertisers and if you could, please stop dying because then they'd have to print the newspaper only once a week.

If you wanted a method to distinguish the ones that care from those that don't, look for the ads.  If there aren't any, well it probs means that someone is really just trying to share their thoughts, their words, for a good cause.
If there are ads, their cause is money.

I want to thank Nik once again, I sincerely hope you don't stop typin' anytime soon missy, I almost hope your topics get even crazier because I'd like to see how far we could go with 'em.
Please take no offense at any of my words, ever.  While they may agitate at times, I have nothing but respect for people that share their thoughts.

Tomorrow..!

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/krysztof-charamsa-gay-monseigneur-and.html

Hey I've been really likin' what you're throwin' out there Nik..!
I too have been too far away from my keyboard for a while now so I think you've given me some courage (and some much needed topics) and the drive to want to share so again, thanks huh.

I think in today's day and age, organized religion is a complete mess.  Where I live, in the USA, religion has become a business and it's not really doing "well", much like our auto industry...
So to me at least, it seems like a money scheme, a lot like our government's lottery system.  They sell hope, pure and simple.
You buy a lottery ticket, you have a small amount of hope that you might "win" (even if you have to give about forty percent back in the form of taxes.  Seems fair eh..?)
You go to church, you put money in their coffers and presto, you get to feel a little bit of hope, mabes that you will die and go to some magical heaven, mabes that you and yours will be "blessed" (whatever that entails...)

I should mention that I am neither a gambler nor an organized religion supporter but that indeed, is a topic for another day (just some background right).
My son went to school with a child from a Muslim family.  He became rather close to his classmate, they went through five or six years together, becoming almost best friends.
His mom soon became friends with my son's mother (my wife) and one day, we were invited to an Eid celebration.  I reacted rather negatively at first because I'm halfway familiar with some of the Islamic teachings.
And there's no denying the middle east news that is constantly casting a shadow over the Islamic religion.
So I said no and no way jose you know, I'm the man of the house and I make the rules here and wait a minute, one of the bigger problems I have with the Islamic religion is the way they treat their females.  In case you're not familiar, the Muslims treat women as "slightly" better than you would your house dog or praps your goat out in the backyard.
The women at their celebrations aren't allowed to "party" with the men, they're forbidden to read their own holy book and are basically considered "greatly" inferior to men.

So my wife's response after my pause, was to say that "they" (my son's classmate's family), don't believe in some of the Islamic teachings.  As in, they're "Americanized" Muslims.
Or, that they attend their church (or whatever it's called), they contribute with their pocket books, but when it comes time to actually observe the rituals, they pick and choose.
The women in their household still wear the head covering when they're out and about but their daughters get to attend school (something "true" Islamics don't allow).

So I sorta snort laughed through my nose and said what-what..?  They label themselves Muslim, they attend the ceremonies but they don't really believe some of the stuff that would qualify them as Muslim..?
In the end I submitted and "allowed" my son and his mother to attend with the warning of "hey don't let 'em try to convert you guys eh".  And they went, and hung out and returned home without any holy books or vestments so I was satisfied.

My lengthy way around the point is this, if you're going to label yourself "something", should there be an asterisk at the end to symbolize that you've created your own amendments?
And really, with the way we humans are constantly changing our minds and contradicting ourselves (I'm a champion contradictator)...
Can we really believe that any two people anywhere believe the same thing at the same time for any real length of time?
Or, is my hamburger the same as your lasagna simply because both contain some amount of ground beef?

A simple Google search informs me that there are "many" sects or types of Muslim.
Shouldn't they mabes, sort it all out so that the first one gets to be Muslim number one, the second becomes Muslim number two and so on..?
Or are they all so insistent that their version is "the right", that all the fighting is really just so the winner can claim that they were the best all along and now can hoist the flag Muslim Number One for the rest of eternity..?
Here in the USA, we have some "divisions" of Christianity.  Some call themselves Methodist or Presbyterian or, for the non-creatives, Christian "Reformed".
Why can't the Muslims re-label themselves so we know who's who and what they believe in..?
Is it because there's simply so many different aspects that we'd all have to take a college course called Understanding the Thirty Seven Different Interpretations of Islam before we could pretend to know anything?
Is it because the beliefs are ever changing as people learn and grow and move about the globe, that even if you were a Muslim type Seventeen yesterday, today you're no longer?

Or is it just that we pile so much freakin' importance on ritual and "tradition"..?
Just because it was done like this a thousand years ago, we have to do it the same or we won't be as cool as they were.
And yeps, that seems to be "it" now doesn't it...

We hold our history, our "tradition" up on the highest pedestal because if we didn't, where would the significance be?
If we have a holiday called Christmas that is to be celebrated with a prickly tree and lights, is it "wrong" for someone else to celebrate the same holiday with a palm tree..?
If we are to have a Nativity scene complete with little baby Jesus in his manger, is it okay to have two Josephs instead of a Joseph and a Mary?
If the core belief of a holiday is giving and caring about our fellow men (and women), is it against the rules to have the wrong tree, the wrong figurine.  The wrong lover..?

It seems to me that all the importance is placed in the least important spot possible.
The history of the Catholic church is what matters, not the "day to day" stuff.  Remember that this is a group that slaughtered bazillions of people in the name of their god (I think it was called the Crusades, it even got a special name huh...)
If I am an important member of the Catholic church and I want to announce that I am gay and that it's okay with god, should I understand that the church doesn't care one bit about me and my lover?  That the only thing they hold precious is the stuff that happened centuries ago?

I think it's completely backwards to hold such traditions above living, breathing, loving people who are here with us right now.
I think that modern organized religions of today view people as worms sneaking out the bottom of the colander while they keep trying to duct tape the holes shut.
I might have some really good ideas about how we can finally shed these ignorant beliefs, how we can make all the holy wars end and how we can finally hold people accountable for their sins.
But you might have to check back in a thousand years or so, because until then, well my words don't count for much huh.

Today!

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/10/if-youre-looking-for-feminist-rant-this.html


Excellent thoughts as always Nik, condolences on your father, he is closer to you now than you could ever believe.

I think the "power" is not solely in "men", I'm a male and I don't feel powerful at all.  I look at all those above me and wonder if it's just "normal" that most people are the "weak" and a very, very few get to be "the powerful".
Where I live (in the USA), most of our jobs are long gone and there are plenty of cheap labor alternatives (for example, women can get jobs much easier than men it seems, waitressing jobs, nursing homes).  Women are for the most part, attractive on the outside whereas men are not, so I'd have to give the advantage, at least in an interview setting, to the women.
If I were the boss and I'm "hiring", I'm going to pick an equally qualified female over a male every time you know (I'm probs a sexist pig huh...)

I liked what you said about survival of the fittest.
In my family, I teach that "the fittest" is not always the strongest, not always the most powerful.  But that it is definitely the "fittest" that succeeds, that prospers and reproduces.
My tactic is to be the smartest, usually intelligence beats strength, it usually beats power too although it gets a little tougher there.

As a female, as a group as a whole, if women could up their general intelligence level a smidge, I can envision some serious changes huh.
What if, and I know this is a difficult one, what if all the females in the world, collectively decided not to procreate with crappy men.  If a man has "outdated" views, don't produce his offspring.
If a man has an "agenda" that is not what women want, it becomes a simple math problem.  The woman is needed for children and she usually can't be forced into reproduction.  If we're talking about equal "everything", should men be given the right to bear children..?
My kids learn about revolutions in school.  They learn about Gandhi and others who have been weak and still changed the world.
Some with things as simple as words.

So if we took it a step further, we could say that not only could a woman not reproduce with crappy men, but they could also not raise a child in an environment that would produce a crappy son.
I know it's a scary thought but what if, and hear me out, what if all the women of the world, refused to produce another child unless it was on "their" terms.
What if, even scarier thought, women were so determined to change the world, that if a child did "appear" and was about to be raised in an environment less than perfect, that child was drowned in the bathtub by it's mother.

My kids' school teaches that some revolutions require sacrifices.  That sometimes you have to die for an idea if you believe that strongly in it.
What if all women refused to procreate unless it was by their design?
Would men round up women and force them to breed?  Would their babies be taken from them and a world full of slavery exist?
Would the men who were as you claimed "decent", stand up for the enslavement of a whole gender and would they too be "removed" from the equation..?

The way I see it, and yes it's not a pretty perspective, the women have the one power that men don't.  They reproduce.
If you take away that power, humanity grinds to a dismal halt eh.
Women may have the guns to their heads but if we pull the trigger, we all die in the end no?

Is this the type of sacrifice it would take?
Is this the scale and scope of ultimatums?
Are women too caring and emotional to drown their own babies if the situation is less than ideal?
From what I've seen in my short life, they are.
If intelligence beats power, emotion surely trumps intelligence huh.

I have always been a supporter of equal rights.  Equal everything for women, equal for children, equal for animals, equal for Afghani sex slaves, equal for African babies with bloated bellies and flies in their eyes.
But I have also long ago given up on trying to make the world perfect because if somehow, I could do it, if I could push that button and make it all magically "perfect"...
I strongly believe that my god will recognize the show being "over" and we'll all be scrapped and restarted to produce a more "entertaining" world (less than perfect).
Because Nik, our emotions and free will are what make us interesting humans.  We fight against unfairness, we are passionate about raising our kids better than their parents and we have goals, dreams, ideals.
To take away all that, to live in a world where people are treated equally, "all" people, my goshes would that be boring.
No more struggles, no more fighting, no more martyrs, no more humans...
Just a world where one group of people present their eldest female to another, to negotiate peace, to find common grounds, to solve problems.
While all the soldiers stay at home and change diapers because there aren't any more jobs left.

I know what you meant with your blog, I really do.  I salute you strongly from across the pond and I believe we should fight the good fight.
But take away the fight entirely, well...

Tell that husband of yours that you guys are awesome, you are our word wrangling heroes and if he could crank out another Guant's Ghosts or Beta book soon, well you know...


P.S.
Women seem to be cursed with the power they can't recognize and too emotional to take a life for what they believe in.
Our soldiers have always killed for what they believed in.  Perchaps that's what makes a man a male, his ability to kill for what he believes in (no matter how messed up that belief is).
A woman killing her own child is such an obscene, horrible concept, that only a very few percentage of mothers actually do it and the ones that do become famous because of their sheer evil.
Can we imagine for a second that if a country had any baby killers, that those murderers were the only representatives as soldiers, that a country could "muster", how would our wars look then..?

We were taught that the english killed the Native American Indians, some Indians fought back and killed white people, but it was always male soldiers killing other males.
Our stories of women in wars are of the healers, the caring for even enemy soldiers, the hiding the small children to preserve their way of life and we've been taught this for a long, long time (as I understand it...)
Would our history books have to change, to see women as the warriors..?

Don't misunderstand me as I change my perspective, again...
I think women are the more powerful of the species.  They are the ones who, with a yank, can tighten the noose around the whole race and theoretically end "everything" in the next hundred years.
But their power is in their compassion, it's in their mothering of babies with no fathers, it's in their struggles to make ends meet (because somehow, they always do...)
Will the rest of the world ever really recognize women and put them on a level battlefield..?
I doubt it, no, not completely, just like there won't be an end to racism, religion ism, age ism, sexual preference ism, credit status, martial junk and eyes with flies and those with none you know...
Should we still talk about it, type about and try to teach others about it?
Yep, I think we should Nik, thank you from all of us, for doin' what you do.