It's been a few weeks since I announced that my new book "Sister America Goes To Prison: A Memoir" will be available for purchase on Amazon on February 16th of next year. There have been some family matters that have taken my attention away from promoting the book over the past several weeks, including the recent Thanksgiving celebration, but I'm looking forward to the radio interviews and other speaking engagements scheduled over the next few months and I hope to connect with others who share my concern over the parts of our system that simply aren't working.
Since I made the initial announcement, I have had several people contact me privately and share their own experiences with the U.S. penal system. As I know many of my friends were shocked to learn that I had spent time in prison, many of the people who have contacted me that I have known since childhood and reconnected with recently have left me equally surprised that they have been to jail or prison as well. It's not something many people know, but they choose to share it with me. That lets me know that there is a need for more information to be shared about issues related to incarceration, and that there is a shortage of people willing to talk about it publicly because there is so much shame associated with having been incarcerated.
This is one of the reasons I wanted to write this book - not only to give others who have been down the same road as I someone to relate to with regard to the many hidden struggles we "ex-convicts/ex-cons" face, but also to help those who will hopefully never see the inside of a jail or prison understand that there is a veritable mix of non-violent, societal contributors (albeit imperfect and not without errors in judgment) locked up at this moment, their incarceration which neither benefits or protects society in any way whatsoever. Clearly their crimes must be dealt with, but there exists a more intelligent and socially responsible way to do so, and it is through providing details of what one has seen that others may become aware of just how much money and how many lives are wasted and why we truly must do something to change what is quickly becoming a "prison nation".
There have been cynical people who have made comments that because there is money involved in the selling of a book that I am just "trying to get rich". What is laughable about that theory is that it is not unusual for authors to net about five cents an hour after all expenses are paid and the publishers get their cut. What's left isn't much. Sometimes it's not even enough to cover the expenses associated with writing a book (paper, software, computer, etc.)
I would love to write for a living, but thus far, I have had to supplement my meager writing income with things ranging from pizza delivery to app development and programming. If an opportunity comes up to participate in a think tank for pay, I take it. If someone needs a caretaker or babysitter, I do that. I also provide freelance grantwriting services and occasionally land a non-profit management consulting contract. I survive, and surviving allows me to continue doing what I enjoy the most.
Few authors ever make it to the national best seller's list, and many never even sell enough books to make writing a book any more lucrative than a minimum-wage-paying job. Why, then, do people write books? Are we all just playing the odds, hoping we will be one of the lucky few who manage to rise to the top?
For me, it's not about fame or fortune. I'm far too realistic for that to be a motivating factor. The reason behind all of my writing - be it blogging, books, or even social status updates, is to share my thoughts so I may connect with others, and to inspire others to embrace critical thinking and the logical conclusions to which it leads with regard to the many problems we face in our world.
There are those who believe our society to be so cynical that most people can not be motivated to action regarding this issue. These people often ask me whether or not I really think writing this book will make a difference, or whether any of the blogs and social status updates I post are worth the time and effort they require. My answer has always been that, yes, I do. However, over the past year that yes has become more of an "ABSOLUTELY!".
Last year, I began speaking on both internet radio talk shows and local A.M. & F.M. frequency radio talk shows about atheism. I also began blogging more about some of the issues that have come up for me personally as an atheist, and more recently, I have been sharing my views with my social networking groups.
Often, there will be severe opposition to anything I post promoting atheism, especially if it disputes what a religious person has come to believe. People don't respond well to having their world view challenged, and atheism definitely challenges the world view of many superstitious people.
Sometimes things get ugly, with those who do not like what I have to say using profanity and calling me names, and I've had more than a few death threats over the past year from radio listeners in the East Tennessee area in response to speaking about atheism and the nature of religion on local radio programs.
Often, when people are engaging me in a debate on the topic and I am able to invalidate what they are claiming and/or show that the case for skepticism stands up perfectly under scrutiny, they get frustrated with me. "Know-it-all" is a common term used to describe those who refuse to cow down to pseudo-intellectual bullies. (Those who respond to logic with emotional, irrational outbursts of frustration stemming from not being able to get us to blindly swallow their arguments without evidence, or even in the presence of evidence to the contrary.)
This is when many of my well-meaning friends will say "Angie, give it a rest. It's a waste of time." Even though many of them agree with me regarding the subject under discussion, they themselves do not understand why I continue to spar intellectually with people who don't seem to have the emotional maturity to engage in a true debate, much less grasp what is being discussed. And here is where I reveal something that many of you may not realize:
Over the past year, there have been no less than 137 people who live mostly in the southeastern United States who have privately contacted me after reading some of these exchanges to discuss their true feelings regarding religion and to confess that they do not believe there is any supernatural deity in control of this world. They know that I will not "out" them, and they know that I understand their dilemmas and what it's like to be a non-superstitious person in a world that promotes and rewards superstition and often punishes critical thinking.
These people have, for the first time in their lives, reached out to someone to speak the truth about what they believe. Many of them have known all of their lives that they do not believe, and have struggled between the logic that tells them something doesn't make sense and the fear which has been instilled in their minds. They are constantly at war inside, and many develop severe anxiety issues and other psychological maladies that might otherwise not have manifested. When they see that I am willing to boldly dispute unfounded claims presented as indisputable truths, they often tell me that they feel they have found "sanctuary" (a place for refuge and protection) from the religious zealots who seem to come at them from all angles. Truly, I understand where they are coming from, as there are religious forces in this world that threaten to strangle out any and all voices but their own.
I don't know that anything I have ever written has ever changed anyone's mind about anything. I do know that things I have written have given people the courage to fully embrace what they already believed and knew deep within themselves all along, but were bullied into stifling and pretending otherwise. That is reason enough for me to endure the bullying, the profanity, the name-calling, the death threats, the ostracizing, and everything else that goes along with speaking out against the status quo, even if the status quo has become "speaking out" against things that aren't really to blame for the problems we won't take responsibility for ourselves. I spar with those people as well.
Interestingly enough, I have connected with some pastors and clergy members who openly admit that they do not believe in heaven or hell, or even in a god in the supernatural sense. It is truly inspiring to see that people who have invested their lives in ministering to their communities through religion are able to embrace the truth as they see it and remind people that figurative meanings are just as powerful (if not more so) than any literal meanings found in scripture. Here are some articles for those who are interested:
The Morning Bulletin: Priest Doesn't Believe In God
Newsweek: Non-Believing Clergy
BBC News: Dutch Rethink Christianity For A Doubtful World
This is a world in which we are often pressured by the cast of characters in a societal play to speak and behave in ways which none of us truly believes is authentic. It's as though a spell has been cast on humanity, and the only way to break the spell is to provide access to those who are willing and able to defy it.
You may be surprised to learn that someone as outspoken as I often am on the subject is not critical of those who choose to say "in the closet". On the contrary, I am all too aware of what is at stake for many people. Careers are ruined, marriages ended, families torn apart, and social circles fragmented over things such as this. For some, the cost is acceptable, for others, it is not.
I do not have children I must worry about getting bullied by religious classmates at school. I do not have to worry about losing my job since I am self-employed (although undoubtedly I get few clients who are religious and know that I am a non-theist). I do not have to worry about my constituents refusing to vote for me because of a lack of superstitious beliefs. There are people who have too much to lose by refusing to play along. I have little to lose, and I feel that it is important that those of us who can do so speak out not only for ourselves, but on behalf of those who do not find this world safe enough to allow the openness that we all should be able to enjoy.
There are many believers who do not consider themselves to be "religious". There are religious people who are not zealots. Even these people often feel oppressed by those who take religion to an extreme, and I have had many of these people message me privately after reading my exchanges with some of those who engage in zealotry and tell me that, while they are believers, they are appalled at the behavior of some of their fellow-Christians and think I'm not getting treated fairly and that they enjoy reading what I have to say. That tells me that even among religious people there is a need for someone to stand up to the extremists.
I often mention "Christians" when discussing religious extremists, because there are many Christians in this country who behave as American Christian versions of Al Qaeda. They may not have plans to kill anyone, and many of the extremist Muslims do not either, but these militant Christians do declare that everyone else is wrong for not allowing them the privelege of being the only voice when it comes to seasonal holiday celebrations, often getting very angry at those who choose to remain secular in their greetings and refusing to acknowledge that their religion hijacked older holidays, not the other way around.
And then there is this very disturbing information, which made me shudder when I digested it:
I truly have a desire to share information and give as many people as possible the chance to be free of the shackles that the world puts on us through fear, intimidation, and lies. It matters not to me that they may believe their own lies. They are still potentially very dangerous, and they need to be confronted. If that means that some of my friends become annoyed at reading my relentless counter-arguments to those who continue to insist that their faith-based declarations are true and must be accepted or else one will suffer life in the eternal lake of fire, then so be it.
It isn't the people I'm sparring with who are the intended beneficiaries of the debate. It is the people sitting quietly in front of their computers, tablets, or smartphones who dare not reveal themselves who are taking it all in and trying to gather the courage to shake off the heavy chains of delusion that weigh so many down in this one life that we know for a fact we have to live.
A.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
"It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on Thanksgiving...
Charles M. Schultz's birthday was yesterday (November 26th) so I thought this blog post would be particularly timely.
My housemate's grandson came to spend the night on Thanksgiving Eve, and he wanted to watch what I call my "Charlie Brown Holiday Trilogy", which consists of the Charlie Brown Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials on DVD. (Sadly, the spinning "Special" logo from the C.B.S. network that used to appear right before specials in the 1970's was not included on the DVD's. I miss that part.)
So, we proceeded to watch the specials, the first one being "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" As I watched this video for perhaps the hundredth time in my life, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before...
The whole show is about faith in its varied manifestations and how it affects our lives. Hidden within the dialog, I found many nuggets of wisdom.
First, we see Charlie Brown in one of many failed attempts to kick the ball as Lucy holds it for him. No matter how many times she fools him, he's always willing to be a sucker one more time, because Lucy knows just how to manipulate him. It never fails. Lucy succeeds in fooling him because she knows that he wants to believe her, and his inability to kick the ball successfully has left him unfulfilled.
In the next scene, Charlie Brown asks Linus who he is writing to, and Linus explains that he is writing to "The Great Pumpkin", and proceeds to describe an entity that brings a bag of toys to all of the children on Halloween night. Even Charlie Brown, one who has been fooled multiple times by the same person over the same football kicking scenario, finds the idea of a toy-bag-toting pumpkin to be ridiculous. It is then that Linus points out just how ridiculous it is that Charlie Brown believes in the man with the red hat and the white beard that says "Ho, Ho, Ho".
Charlie Brown then comments to the viewer: "We are obviously separated by denominational differences."
As he finishes his letter to "The Great Pumpkin", he ends it with "P.S. If you really are a fake, don't tell me. I don't wanna know."
And so it is with religion.
I'm never quite sure where Linus gets his idea about "The Great Pumpkin", but he's definitely loyal to it, even though it means that he misses out on "Tricks or Treats", as Lucy puts it. Snoopy even laughs at the idea, but that doesn't stop Linus.
In the end, "The Great Pumpkin" never shows up. Linus and Sally never get their toys, and they miss out on "Tricks or Treats" while they are waiting for the pumpkin that flies through the air and delivers toys to all of the children.
Linus had faith in "The Great Pumpkin", while Sally had faith in Linus. In the end, Sally gets angry at Linus for cheating her out of "tricks or treats", and learns a tough lesson: just because you like a guy doesn't mean he's trustworthy or that he knows what he's talking about.
Sadly, there are many people who forego huge chunks of their lives in the hopes of receiving something spectacular from an invisible being (or even a real human). I am one of those people, having placed my trust in someone who helped steer me in a direction that ultimately cost me several years of my life. The men who crashed planes into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 gave up their lives in the hopes of obtaining 71 virgins when they died because they believe in a god that rewards them for doing such things.
The Westboro Baptist Church members believe that they will be rewarded in heaven for protesting at the funerals of soldiers and chanting that "God hates America, and God hates the soldiers who fight to save this evil country."
It's astonishing that adults believe in things that are not only more far-fetched than a flying pumpkin with a bag of toys, but that the things they believe in are so nefarious... a god that rewards people for committing mass murder because the people being murdered believe in a different god? That's something the innocent mind of a child would never come up with.
A god that hates American soldiers because they are paid to defend and/or follow orders of the commander in chief of a country that allows people the free will to choose their own religions (or none at all)? Why would a god hate a country that allows free will when said god supposedly gave us free will himself? I'll never know, because I don't even entertain such nonsense.
There may be a god, there may be a great pumpkin, but until I have more to go on than someone else's imagination and/or writings claiming such things, you won't find me waiting in the field of life for an invisible entity to bring me what I want. You'll find me living my life like this is all there is, and if I end up with nothing but a bag of rocks like Charlie Brown, at least I can say I gave myself a fair chance.
A.
My housemate's grandson came to spend the night on Thanksgiving Eve, and he wanted to watch what I call my "Charlie Brown Holiday Trilogy", which consists of the Charlie Brown Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials on DVD. (Sadly, the spinning "Special" logo from the C.B.S. network that used to appear right before specials in the 1970's was not included on the DVD's. I miss that part.)
So, we proceeded to watch the specials, the first one being "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" As I watched this video for perhaps the hundredth time in my life, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before...
The whole show is about faith in its varied manifestations and how it affects our lives. Hidden within the dialog, I found many nuggets of wisdom.
First, we see Charlie Brown in one of many failed attempts to kick the ball as Lucy holds it for him. No matter how many times she fools him, he's always willing to be a sucker one more time, because Lucy knows just how to manipulate him. It never fails. Lucy succeeds in fooling him because she knows that he wants to believe her, and his inability to kick the ball successfully has left him unfulfilled.
In the next scene, Charlie Brown asks Linus who he is writing to, and Linus explains that he is writing to "The Great Pumpkin", and proceeds to describe an entity that brings a bag of toys to all of the children on Halloween night. Even Charlie Brown, one who has been fooled multiple times by the same person over the same football kicking scenario, finds the idea of a toy-bag-toting pumpkin to be ridiculous. It is then that Linus points out just how ridiculous it is that Charlie Brown believes in the man with the red hat and the white beard that says "Ho, Ho, Ho".
Charlie Brown then comments to the viewer: "We are obviously separated by denominational differences."
As he finishes his letter to "The Great Pumpkin", he ends it with "P.S. If you really are a fake, don't tell me. I don't wanna know."
And so it is with religion.
I'm never quite sure where Linus gets his idea about "The Great Pumpkin", but he's definitely loyal to it, even though it means that he misses out on "Tricks or Treats", as Lucy puts it. Snoopy even laughs at the idea, but that doesn't stop Linus.
In the end, "The Great Pumpkin" never shows up. Linus and Sally never get their toys, and they miss out on "Tricks or Treats" while they are waiting for the pumpkin that flies through the air and delivers toys to all of the children.
Linus had faith in "The Great Pumpkin", while Sally had faith in Linus. In the end, Sally gets angry at Linus for cheating her out of "tricks or treats", and learns a tough lesson: just because you like a guy doesn't mean he's trustworthy or that he knows what he's talking about.
Sadly, there are many people who forego huge chunks of their lives in the hopes of receiving something spectacular from an invisible being (or even a real human). I am one of those people, having placed my trust in someone who helped steer me in a direction that ultimately cost me several years of my life. The men who crashed planes into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 gave up their lives in the hopes of obtaining 71 virgins when they died because they believe in a god that rewards them for doing such things.
The Westboro Baptist Church members believe that they will be rewarded in heaven for protesting at the funerals of soldiers and chanting that "God hates America, and God hates the soldiers who fight to save this evil country."
It's astonishing that adults believe in things that are not only more far-fetched than a flying pumpkin with a bag of toys, but that the things they believe in are so nefarious... a god that rewards people for committing mass murder because the people being murdered believe in a different god? That's something the innocent mind of a child would never come up with.
A god that hates American soldiers because they are paid to defend and/or follow orders of the commander in chief of a country that allows people the free will to choose their own religions (or none at all)? Why would a god hate a country that allows free will when said god supposedly gave us free will himself? I'll never know, because I don't even entertain such nonsense.
There may be a god, there may be a great pumpkin, but until I have more to go on than someone else's imagination and/or writings claiming such things, you won't find me waiting in the field of life for an invisible entity to bring me what I want. You'll find me living my life like this is all there is, and if I end up with nothing but a bag of rocks like Charlie Brown, at least I can say I gave myself a fair chance.
A.
Friday, November 11, 2011
The Forgotten Ones...
On a day when we thank our veterans for their service and willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, there is one group that is often forgotten.
America's intelligence personnel are often working overseas in deep cover, unable to even communicate with loved ones or use their own names. They must live in a foreign land under foreign identities and are not even able to keep photos in their wallets or personal effects.
If and when they make it back home after their missions are completed, they are often met with a population who believes that spies only exist in 007 films, and I'm quite certain that they view some of the attitudes and behaviors of their fellow citizens as quite selfish and trite considering what they have given up for us to be able to continue living as we do.
Please, don't ever forget the men and women who work in the intelligence fields of our government. They are truly unsung heroes.
A.
America's intelligence personnel are often working overseas in deep cover, unable to even communicate with loved ones or use their own names. They must live in a foreign land under foreign identities and are not even able to keep photos in their wallets or personal effects.
If and when they make it back home after their missions are completed, they are often met with a population who believes that spies only exist in 007 films, and I'm quite certain that they view some of the attitudes and behaviors of their fellow citizens as quite selfish and trite considering what they have given up for us to be able to continue living as we do.
Please, don't ever forget the men and women who work in the intelligence fields of our government. They are truly unsung heroes.
A.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Can You Spot The Hidden "Arrogant Know-It-All" In This Test?
Please select the arrogant know-it-all from the following two choices:
1) the atheist who doubts, due to a lack of evidence, that there is any divine entity in charge of the universe, much less that any human would have the ability to discern which of 100's alleged entities is "the one true god/faith/religion" and who refuses to blindly swallow what religionists (including those who wrote various religious texts) are selling
This person respects the reliable, repeatable, testable, verifiable system of evaluating information most often referred to as science and does not expect anyone to accept their word for anything and is always willing to back up their claims with factual information. Likewise, they do not accept claims made by others that fly in the face of logic without reliable, repeatable, testable, verifiable information. This person also questions the likelihood that, with 19 major religions all competing for our "faith", any one of them will just happen to be the correct one, and wonders why anyone would assume that they just happened to be born in an area where the one true religion is practiced and that nobody else born in another area with a different dominant belief system could possibly be the "right" one.
2) the religionist who claims a divinely superior intellectual authority and deems themselves qualified to determine - and expects others to agree without question - that there not only IS a divine entity controlling the universe, but that only they and those who agree with them are qualified to determine which one is the "real" one, judging all others to be wrong and/or part of "the deception", with the only "proof" offered that their system is the "real" one being the written materials of - you guessed it - the system they are trying to prove (like trying to prove whether a virus is present on a specimen slide by quoting someone who said there was rather than examining the specimen, or trying to evaluate a person's mental status using their own assessment instead of a diagnostic manual such as the DSM)
This person rejects all rules of logic and critical thinking, and evaluates whether or not something is true based on a system of beliefs that are only respected by them and others who agree with them (they often claim this method is far superior to science). However, they are the first to take a child with an injury or serious illness to a hospital, (unless they're totally bug-nutty) because they secretly know that science has a better chance of saving the child than prayer, although when it's all over, they will "thank the lord" and give nary a mention to the hardworking medical team who gave up time with their family so they could be on call to help others. If they do, it's only to claim that "god was working through the medical team". (Why does any god need to work through a medical team? Why can't god work through something that isn't so expensive, like a tennis racket, or a magic wand?)
Which one of the above two options is the arrogant know-it-all?
Folks. If it annoys you that someone won't accept what you're telling them without question, and doesn't accept your claims as facts or your alleged "proof" as valid when it is only valid according to your own rules and not those of a standard benchmark, it's likely your ego causing you to be annoyed more than anything else. Don't blame it on the person who is refusing to swallow the shovel-load you're trying to cram down their throats, and don't accuse them of "attacking your faith" because they aren't accepting it as true.
The more I experience this kind of behavior, the more I am motivated to establish a safe haven for others who are likely feeling bewildered here in the "bible belt".
Never have I lived anywhere in the U.S. where this behavior is so prevalent, and yet I am fortunate to have some dear family members and friends who are religious, but who are not so arrogant as to assert that they can "prove" they are right. If it's about faith, it's about faith. If you're constantly trying to "prove it" to me, it's likely because you yourself have serious doubts, and are trying to prove it to yourself as much as anyone else.
I can't prove there is OR is not a divine entity or creator. I neither accept nor deny that there is or is not such a being. When pressed to accept it, however, I am persistent in offering questions as to why I should do so, and also in asserting that the "proof" offered up is not proof at all, but someone's interpretation of an unfounded claim as proof. It's like trying to pay your bills with fake money. It's counterfeit proof. Counterfeit money is not legal tender, and counterfeit proof is not a reason to accept anything.
Over the four plus decades that I've roamed the earth, I have been presented with literally hundreds of belief systems. Some are based on divine entities, others are based on nature, supernatural ideas, mysterious powers, and one was even a cult centered around the number 11:11 (referring not just to the time, but to the symbol itself as having some sort of magical power to open up various vortexes at strategic locations all over the planet). Yeah, I know.
The 11:11 cult really appealed to me, because I am fascinated by numbers, and the appearance of the perfect symmetry and balance of the symbol 11:11 appeals to my O.C.D. tendencies. I wasn't able to afford the trip to Egypt, in which the cult members were granted special access to the pyramids so they could do their special dances and open up the invisible vortex. However, at the time I truly believed there must be something very significant happening there.
I've studied and even immersed myself in many belief systems, and contrary to popular opinion, this created no confusion in me whatsoever. Instead, I became aware that all belief systems are very similar in that they all stem from emotional reactions to various aspects of life and our desire to have it all make sense so we can feel in control.
However, the truth is that sometimes life is just chaotic and out of control, and only when you are strong enough to accept that are you able to manage the chaos and enjoy the ride.
What I can tell you is that today not one faith-based system of belief makes sense to me beyond the understanding that it is all an illusion created by our own minds, and that they all make the same amount of sense equally, because they are all based on rules established by themselves and by nothing outside of themselves.
What prompted this blog post was that earlier today, (which is now yesterday), while lamenting the distraction of severe pain I was experiencing in my neck, someone implied that I should "rest my mouth" and "think" and the pain would go away, as though having the gall to question the opinions of others is some kind of character flaw worthy of punishment via physical torture.
Apparently, only those who agree with this person are allowed to have opinions and/or express them, and those who do not agree with them aren't "thinking". Funny, I thought questioning things and evaluating information based on factual criteria and critical thinking processes was what thinking was all about. Guess those fools who hired me to work in their think tanks over the years were duped by my clever tricks, since I'm apparently confused about what "thinking" is really all about and never really knew how to do it after all.
(Sigh.)
It takes courage to refuse to submit to self-appointed authority. Thankfully, I live in a country that makes it legal to refuse to do so, although it clearly is still not socially acceptable to many of the people who enjoy the same freedoms I do and would gladly reserve those freedoms only for themselves and withhold them from others if they could.
America doesn't need to be blessed by a divine entity. America and its people need to start paying attention to the elephant in the living room and stop the madness of self-deception that has caused every travesty known to humanity not brought on by natural disasters.
A.
1) the atheist who doubts, due to a lack of evidence, that there is any divine entity in charge of the universe, much less that any human would have the ability to discern which of 100's alleged entities is "the one true god/faith/religion" and who refuses to blindly swallow what religionists (including those who wrote various religious texts) are selling
This person respects the reliable, repeatable, testable, verifiable system of evaluating information most often referred to as science and does not expect anyone to accept their word for anything and is always willing to back up their claims with factual information. Likewise, they do not accept claims made by others that fly in the face of logic without reliable, repeatable, testable, verifiable information. This person also questions the likelihood that, with 19 major religions all competing for our "faith", any one of them will just happen to be the correct one, and wonders why anyone would assume that they just happened to be born in an area where the one true religion is practiced and that nobody else born in another area with a different dominant belief system could possibly be the "right" one.
2) the religionist who claims a divinely superior intellectual authority and deems themselves qualified to determine - and expects others to agree without question - that there not only IS a divine entity controlling the universe, but that only they and those who agree with them are qualified to determine which one is the "real" one, judging all others to be wrong and/or part of "the deception", with the only "proof" offered that their system is the "real" one being the written materials of - you guessed it - the system they are trying to prove (like trying to prove whether a virus is present on a specimen slide by quoting someone who said there was rather than examining the specimen, or trying to evaluate a person's mental status using their own assessment instead of a diagnostic manual such as the DSM)
This person rejects all rules of logic and critical thinking, and evaluates whether or not something is true based on a system of beliefs that are only respected by them and others who agree with them (they often claim this method is far superior to science). However, they are the first to take a child with an injury or serious illness to a hospital, (unless they're totally bug-nutty) because they secretly know that science has a better chance of saving the child than prayer, although when it's all over, they will "thank the lord" and give nary a mention to the hardworking medical team who gave up time with their family so they could be on call to help others. If they do, it's only to claim that "god was working through the medical team". (Why does any god need to work through a medical team? Why can't god work through something that isn't so expensive, like a tennis racket, or a magic wand?)
Which one of the above two options is the arrogant know-it-all?
Folks. If it annoys you that someone won't accept what you're telling them without question, and doesn't accept your claims as facts or your alleged "proof" as valid when it is only valid according to your own rules and not those of a standard benchmark, it's likely your ego causing you to be annoyed more than anything else. Don't blame it on the person who is refusing to swallow the shovel-load you're trying to cram down their throats, and don't accuse them of "attacking your faith" because they aren't accepting it as true.
The more I experience this kind of behavior, the more I am motivated to establish a safe haven for others who are likely feeling bewildered here in the "bible belt".
Never have I lived anywhere in the U.S. where this behavior is so prevalent, and yet I am fortunate to have some dear family members and friends who are religious, but who are not so arrogant as to assert that they can "prove" they are right. If it's about faith, it's about faith. If you're constantly trying to "prove it" to me, it's likely because you yourself have serious doubts, and are trying to prove it to yourself as much as anyone else.
I can't prove there is OR is not a divine entity or creator. I neither accept nor deny that there is or is not such a being. When pressed to accept it, however, I am persistent in offering questions as to why I should do so, and also in asserting that the "proof" offered up is not proof at all, but someone's interpretation of an unfounded claim as proof. It's like trying to pay your bills with fake money. It's counterfeit proof. Counterfeit money is not legal tender, and counterfeit proof is not a reason to accept anything.
Over the four plus decades that I've roamed the earth, I have been presented with literally hundreds of belief systems. Some are based on divine entities, others are based on nature, supernatural ideas, mysterious powers, and one was even a cult centered around the number 11:11 (referring not just to the time, but to the symbol itself as having some sort of magical power to open up various vortexes at strategic locations all over the planet). Yeah, I know.
The 11:11 cult really appealed to me, because I am fascinated by numbers, and the appearance of the perfect symmetry and balance of the symbol 11:11 appeals to my O.C.D. tendencies. I wasn't able to afford the trip to Egypt, in which the cult members were granted special access to the pyramids so they could do their special dances and open up the invisible vortex. However, at the time I truly believed there must be something very significant happening there.
I've studied and even immersed myself in many belief systems, and contrary to popular opinion, this created no confusion in me whatsoever. Instead, I became aware that all belief systems are very similar in that they all stem from emotional reactions to various aspects of life and our desire to have it all make sense so we can feel in control.
However, the truth is that sometimes life is just chaotic and out of control, and only when you are strong enough to accept that are you able to manage the chaos and enjoy the ride.
What I can tell you is that today not one faith-based system of belief makes sense to me beyond the understanding that it is all an illusion created by our own minds, and that they all make the same amount of sense equally, because they are all based on rules established by themselves and by nothing outside of themselves.
What prompted this blog post was that earlier today, (which is now yesterday), while lamenting the distraction of severe pain I was experiencing in my neck, someone implied that I should "rest my mouth" and "think" and the pain would go away, as though having the gall to question the opinions of others is some kind of character flaw worthy of punishment via physical torture.
Apparently, only those who agree with this person are allowed to have opinions and/or express them, and those who do not agree with them aren't "thinking". Funny, I thought questioning things and evaluating information based on factual criteria and critical thinking processes was what thinking was all about. Guess those fools who hired me to work in their think tanks over the years were duped by my clever tricks, since I'm apparently confused about what "thinking" is really all about and never really knew how to do it after all.
(Sigh.)
It takes courage to refuse to submit to self-appointed authority. Thankfully, I live in a country that makes it legal to refuse to do so, although it clearly is still not socially acceptable to many of the people who enjoy the same freedoms I do and would gladly reserve those freedoms only for themselves and withhold them from others if they could.
America doesn't need to be blessed by a divine entity. America and its people need to start paying attention to the elephant in the living room and stop the madness of self-deception that has caused every travesty known to humanity not brought on by natural disasters.
A.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
What I Did On Summer Vacation
School has been back in session for a while now, but now that it's officially fall I thought I'd pay tribute to the old "What I Did On Summer Vacation" essays our teachers had us write when we were kids.
My summer wasn't all that much fun, but it was spent wisely.
I discovered earlier this year that the house I had been living in was what I could only call "diseased". It was a nice home, but had some serious foundation problems caused by water damage that took a while to become evident. Once I was advised that there was moisture in the structure causing mold and mildew, I realized why I had been feeling especially ill since moving in. Luckily, I was able to get out of the contract to buy the house since the owners had not been honest about some very material things regarding the home, but it took most of the year to find another suitable place.
It's not as easy as you might think to find a place when you have a pet, especially a dog like Booger. Because Booger is part pit-bull, and there are issues in some communities that actually have ordinances and/or policies against certain breeds of dogs, it became challenging to find the ideal property. The homes I viewed without those restrictions often didn't have a fenced back yard (an important requirement for any dog owner) and it's astonishing how many homes there are for lease or purchase that simply aren't move-in ready.
I wasn't prepared to spend the summer painting or replacing flooring, so that added to the list of requirements. You might think that a buyer's market would mean there would be an abundance of homes to meet anyone's needs, but depending on your requirements, sometimes it just isn't the case. A lot of what I saw looked like homes that had once been very nice, but that the previous owners hadn't been able to afford to maintain very well and they had become badly in need of major repairs.
Fortunately, I found the closest thing to perfect in a home and was able to move over the summer. That's pretty much what the whole summer was about - handling details, packing, moving, unpacking and all of the endless details that come with "moving house", as I learned there are some who refer to the task.
There's something unnerving about packing up everything you own and moving to different surroundings, regardless of how close or far away the new location. It's almost as though you are doing surgery on your life and you're forced to juggle your regular responsibilities with a huge, gaping incision exposing all of your internal works as you do so. The task is made all that more difficult when you happen to have obsessive-compulsive disorder and struggle with the need to feel in control of an out-of-control world. I won't go into details, but let's just say it takes about five times as long to "move house" when you have O.C.D. as it does for the average person.
Somehow, (and with the help of some really nice friend-folk), I managed to get moved in a reasonable amount of time. What's amazing is that, for the first time, I've also managed to get almost everything unpacked and put away in a reasonable amount of time, not so easy to do for those of us who are spoonies and run out of energy before we run out of things that must get done.
In the past when I've moved, I've never completely gotten unpacked even several years down the road, because it seems there's just enough time to get things "barely livable" before it's time to go to work, sleep, eat, run errands, and everything else that must get done each day before I'm out of energy and/or time and there's nothing left for unpacking boxes.
This time around, I've learned that it's ok if I only unpack one box a day. I gave myself permission to start unpacking and stop at one box, rather than feel as though it must all get done in one long marathon session. That's not easy for me, but mastering that one skill has really paid off. The moving part wasn't easy, but the unpacking has actually happened in a way that almost made it seem effortless... gradually over the past couple of months, things have taken shape one unpacked box at a time, and now I'm able to enjoy where I live as a home rather than a storage warehouse of unpacked boxes.
I've talked to several other people who tell me they never quite get unpacked. Boxes sit for years, their contents forgotten, until they are finally opened and things discovered they wish they had been able to use all that time, if only they had known where they were.
I'm not talking about hoarders, here. I'm talking about regular, everyday people who, once they have unpacked just what they need in order to live, are simply unable to find the time, energy, or motivation to finish unpacking.
I know a guy in Las Vegas who has literally lived among unpacked boxes of everything he owns but his clothes for about ten years now. He eats at restaurants so he doesn't need his dishes. He's got his bed set up. The only thing he has unpacked are his clothes and his toiletries. Everything else (dishes, wall hangings, personal items, books, memorabilia, decorative items) remains boxed up just as it was the day he moved in. He doesn't seem happy with it, he just hasn't found the motivation to get unpacked and make a home for himself.
We have discussed this predicament many times, and he doesn't seem to know why he lives this way, especially when he doesn't really enjoy it. Perhaps he's just overwhelmed with the seeming enormity of such a daunting task. Unpacking boxes, figuring out where to put everything, cleaning what needs it and creating a functional home can be intimidating for anyone. I think the desire to do so requires a certain amount of satisfaction in where one is physically/geographically, which he seems to have, but it also requires a certain amount of engagement with one's surroundings, which I think may be what he lacks. Engagement vs. detachment can be just as important when it comes to one's environment as it is with people. If you don't find a way to make your home or work space an integral part of you, you're left with a feeling of displacement. Or, perhaps, feeling displaced is what makes it difficult to engage with an environment of any kind.
He and I used to work together in think tanks, and there was a lot of travel involved. It can be difficult to adjust to one predominant "home" location after years of being sent all over the country and/or globe to sit in a room with a bunch of other brainiacs and try to solve problems, hypothetical or real. Each project would often have non-disclosure agreements and restrictions on what could be discussed outside of the project room. When the project ends, you move on to the next, compartmentalizing sometimes disturbing data in order to focus on the next task.
Perhaps there is something symbolic about un-boxing everything for the first time and living among your belongings as part of who you are instead of keeping them boxed up, out of reach and useless as anything but large blocks of dead weight. I'd say I've come a long way in doing the same thing with other things in my life that have previously weighed me down, and it's nice to discover that what I previously thought was dead weight is actually a part of who I am, and that even though others may view some of those parts of me as "junk" or "undesirable", they are my own, and I no longer feel the need to keep them boxed up.
There was a time when I kept many things compartmentalized by necessity, either for work or personal reasons. We all have some of those things. However, I've recently become comfortable with taking them out of the large moving boxes filled with packing peanuts and putting them in my mental shoe boxes full of memories I keep under my mental bed or in a mental closet for my own viewing only. They have lids, but the lids are easily removable. Instead of weighing me down, they simply remind me that I have lived a very full life, with many secrets that others would never believe unless they discovered them in a hidden shoe box themselves and read them, one by one.
They may be hidden, but they are no longer "packed". I've managed to find a place for all of them to live, not confined in useless boxes, but well integrated as a part of who I am.
A.
My summer wasn't all that much fun, but it was spent wisely.
I discovered earlier this year that the house I had been living in was what I could only call "diseased". It was a nice home, but had some serious foundation problems caused by water damage that took a while to become evident. Once I was advised that there was moisture in the structure causing mold and mildew, I realized why I had been feeling especially ill since moving in. Luckily, I was able to get out of the contract to buy the house since the owners had not been honest about some very material things regarding the home, but it took most of the year to find another suitable place.
It's not as easy as you might think to find a place when you have a pet, especially a dog like Booger. Because Booger is part pit-bull, and there are issues in some communities that actually have ordinances and/or policies against certain breeds of dogs, it became challenging to find the ideal property. The homes I viewed without those restrictions often didn't have a fenced back yard (an important requirement for any dog owner) and it's astonishing how many homes there are for lease or purchase that simply aren't move-in ready.
I wasn't prepared to spend the summer painting or replacing flooring, so that added to the list of requirements. You might think that a buyer's market would mean there would be an abundance of homes to meet anyone's needs, but depending on your requirements, sometimes it just isn't the case. A lot of what I saw looked like homes that had once been very nice, but that the previous owners hadn't been able to afford to maintain very well and they had become badly in need of major repairs.
Fortunately, I found the closest thing to perfect in a home and was able to move over the summer. That's pretty much what the whole summer was about - handling details, packing, moving, unpacking and all of the endless details that come with "moving house", as I learned there are some who refer to the task.
There's something unnerving about packing up everything you own and moving to different surroundings, regardless of how close or far away the new location. It's almost as though you are doing surgery on your life and you're forced to juggle your regular responsibilities with a huge, gaping incision exposing all of your internal works as you do so. The task is made all that more difficult when you happen to have obsessive-compulsive disorder and struggle with the need to feel in control of an out-of-control world. I won't go into details, but let's just say it takes about five times as long to "move house" when you have O.C.D. as it does for the average person.
Somehow, (and with the help of some really nice friend-folk), I managed to get moved in a reasonable amount of time. What's amazing is that, for the first time, I've also managed to get almost everything unpacked and put away in a reasonable amount of time, not so easy to do for those of us who are spoonies and run out of energy before we run out of things that must get done.
In the past when I've moved, I've never completely gotten unpacked even several years down the road, because it seems there's just enough time to get things "barely livable" before it's time to go to work, sleep, eat, run errands, and everything else that must get done each day before I'm out of energy and/or time and there's nothing left for unpacking boxes.
This time around, I've learned that it's ok if I only unpack one box a day. I gave myself permission to start unpacking and stop at one box, rather than feel as though it must all get done in one long marathon session. That's not easy for me, but mastering that one skill has really paid off. The moving part wasn't easy, but the unpacking has actually happened in a way that almost made it seem effortless... gradually over the past couple of months, things have taken shape one unpacked box at a time, and now I'm able to enjoy where I live as a home rather than a storage warehouse of unpacked boxes.
I've talked to several other people who tell me they never quite get unpacked. Boxes sit for years, their contents forgotten, until they are finally opened and things discovered they wish they had been able to use all that time, if only they had known where they were.
I'm not talking about hoarders, here. I'm talking about regular, everyday people who, once they have unpacked just what they need in order to live, are simply unable to find the time, energy, or motivation to finish unpacking.
I know a guy in Las Vegas who has literally lived among unpacked boxes of everything he owns but his clothes for about ten years now. He eats at restaurants so he doesn't need his dishes. He's got his bed set up. The only thing he has unpacked are his clothes and his toiletries. Everything else (dishes, wall hangings, personal items, books, memorabilia, decorative items) remains boxed up just as it was the day he moved in. He doesn't seem happy with it, he just hasn't found the motivation to get unpacked and make a home for himself.
We have discussed this predicament many times, and he doesn't seem to know why he lives this way, especially when he doesn't really enjoy it. Perhaps he's just overwhelmed with the seeming enormity of such a daunting task. Unpacking boxes, figuring out where to put everything, cleaning what needs it and creating a functional home can be intimidating for anyone. I think the desire to do so requires a certain amount of satisfaction in where one is physically/geographically, which he seems to have, but it also requires a certain amount of engagement with one's surroundings, which I think may be what he lacks. Engagement vs. detachment can be just as important when it comes to one's environment as it is with people. If you don't find a way to make your home or work space an integral part of you, you're left with a feeling of displacement. Or, perhaps, feeling displaced is what makes it difficult to engage with an environment of any kind.
He and I used to work together in think tanks, and there was a lot of travel involved. It can be difficult to adjust to one predominant "home" location after years of being sent all over the country and/or globe to sit in a room with a bunch of other brainiacs and try to solve problems, hypothetical or real. Each project would often have non-disclosure agreements and restrictions on what could be discussed outside of the project room. When the project ends, you move on to the next, compartmentalizing sometimes disturbing data in order to focus on the next task.
Perhaps there is something symbolic about un-boxing everything for the first time and living among your belongings as part of who you are instead of keeping them boxed up, out of reach and useless as anything but large blocks of dead weight. I'd say I've come a long way in doing the same thing with other things in my life that have previously weighed me down, and it's nice to discover that what I previously thought was dead weight is actually a part of who I am, and that even though others may view some of those parts of me as "junk" or "undesirable", they are my own, and I no longer feel the need to keep them boxed up.
There was a time when I kept many things compartmentalized by necessity, either for work or personal reasons. We all have some of those things. However, I've recently become comfortable with taking them out of the large moving boxes filled with packing peanuts and putting them in my mental shoe boxes full of memories I keep under my mental bed or in a mental closet for my own viewing only. They have lids, but the lids are easily removable. Instead of weighing me down, they simply remind me that I have lived a very full life, with many secrets that others would never believe unless they discovered them in a hidden shoe box themselves and read them, one by one.
They may be hidden, but they are no longer "packed". I've managed to find a place for all of them to live, not confined in useless boxes, but well integrated as a part of who I am.
A.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Thinking Is Hard... But It Just Might Save The World
In the past few weeks, I've noticed more internet hoaxes and scams floating around than ever. Most of these come to me from people who forward them to my e-mail box and/or send them to me via social networking sites. Unfortunately, anyone who forwards these things to other people is just as guilty of perpetuating these scams as those who initiate them. All it takes is a little bit of critical thinking and/or a quick search on Snopes to debunk them before you pollute the internet with more of this garbage.
Hoax: The first example is a chain e-mail suggesting that we should all forward said e-mail to everyone we can think of to "send a message to our politicians that we will not tolerate this". The suggestion goes on to include that everyone should "fax a copy of the e-mail to their local representatives" along with a letter demanding answers about why this is allowed. The "this" that is being referred to is the claim that illegal aliens are collecting social security benefits because it is legal to do so, and that we must stop allowing "anchor babies" (babies illegal aliens allegedly come to the United States to give birth to so that they can remain with the child until it turns 21) and we should all "demand that they change the laws to stop this".
Truth: Under current laws, illegal aliens are NOT awarded social security benefits OF ANY KIND, and the citizenship of any baby born in the United States does not confer ANY citizenship to ANY other family member, nor does it allow the parents of said infant to stay in this country for any length of time. In fact, many children of immigrants born in the U.S. are separated from their parents and put into social services custody since they are citizens, while the illegal immigrant parents are jailed awaiting deportation. That seems rather cruel to me, especially when we're talking about a breastfeeding infant. (It happens more often than you think.) In what fantasy world are the creators of these hoax e-mails living where children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants allow their parents to live in the United States legally until they turn 21?
The Harm: What may seem like a harmless hoax causes much harm in several ways. First, while it only takes a few seconds to forward an e-mail, the time spent forwarding and reading this garbage would be much better spent writing an actual letter to our politicians about REAL issues that actually exist. That brings me to point number two, which is that every letter, fax, or e-mail that gets sent to a politician's office about this garbage must be dealt with in some way, and it takes a lot of taxpayer money for your local senator to have staff respond to the invalidity of them or do so themselves. Wouldn't you rather your local representatives deal with real problems instead of imaginary ones made up by some internet hoaxster?
Example number two is the infinitely changing "virus" hoax e-mail, in which there are claims that there is a virus circulating that will "wipe your hard drive clean and destroy your computer" if you click on a link in a certain e-mail. While there are viruses that are sent regularly via e-mail, the exaggerated e-mail warnings set people up to fall for fake "free virus checkers" that they see pop up on various web sites which, instead of checking your computer for a virus, actually install a virus on your computer. Rule of thumb: get virus software from a reliable source (an electronics store, for example) and do not ever, EVER trust ANY "virus checker" software you see on the internet.
I would take it a step further and before clicking on any link in any e-mail from someone you know, contact them and ask them what the link is for and if they have used it themselves. Request that any links be explained before including them in e-mails so that you will be better able to determine if you wish to click on them. Many of us are charged for bandwidth on our internet access and if the link goes to a video or other streaming media, it's going to cost actual money to click on it. If it goes elsewhere, it's a matter of common courtesy to explain where. Basic e-mail etiquette dictates this.
Also, ask anyone who forwards spam and/or chain e-mails to either a) not send them to you or b) at least make sure they put your address in the "bcc" section instead of the "cc" section. "CC" stands for "carbon copy", meaning you are sending an electronic version of a "carbon copy" of that e-mail to someone and EVERYONE who receives the e-mail will have all of the e-mail addresses of everyone else to whom you have sent the e-mail, while "bcc" means "blind carbon copy", meaning that nobody else can see to whom the e-mail has been sent but the sender. I've seen forwarded e-mails with hundreds of e-mail addresses showing in the "cc" section, and this is exactly why those who complain about getting so much spam e-mail are getting it - everyone who gets the e-mails their friends are forwarding are also getting their e-mail addresses, and they are forwarding those e-mail addresses to other spammers every time they forward the e-mail, even if they don't realize it.
The most recent example of an internet hoax I experienced was just a few hours ago. Someone sent me an "invitation" to an "event" on Facebook claiming that the first 25,000 recipients to click "attend" would receive a "free Facebook hoodie".
First of all, Facebook would likely make such an offer or announcement on their own corporate web site or via e-mail, since they have the e-mail address of EVERY SINGLE MEMBER. Hello!? You are an absolute fool if you give any of your personal information to these people.
First of all, once you send them your name, address, and e-mail address, they now have the information they need to devise further scams and appeal to your foolishness so they can scam you with something bigger. The web site link you are instructed to click on takes you to a web site that is NOT in the U.S. and that is also NOT a Facebook web site. It has all kinds of "comments" from people claiming "I got mine the other day!" or "I tried to get three but they limited me to two." Of course, these are obviously comments from the scammers themselves, designed to trick the easily fooled people into thinking they really will get a free hoodie if they hand over their e-mail addresses and physical addresses, along with their names. You are wasting your time, and you are rewarding a scammer for scamming you by inviting them to send you all kinds of scam e-mails and/or develop a mailing list which they can sell to others, and they will NEVER send you a hoodie, guaranteed.
It is astonishing to me that people who can carry on semi-intelligent arguments about political issues will fall for such nonsense, but some people see "free" and their brains immediately shut down.
I highly recommend that anyone with a Facebook account should "friend" Facebook's corporate account, so that you will be able to receive updates about the changes you may be seeing in their internet and smartphone app interfaces, as well as warnings about various scams as mentioned above. The link for the Facebook web site is http://www.facebook.com/facebook - do it now!
A family member forwarded to me a spam e-mail that had clearly been sent to hundreds of others before with an embedded HTML section of a credit score checking web site. The subject says "Your credit score may have changed. View it for free from the three major reporting agencies!" You click on it, and it appears to take you to a web site which allows you to sign up for a free trial in a credit score monitoring service that will allow you to see your credit report and correct any inaccuracies as well. The problem? If you click on the link, it will not take you to a valid web site, but a scam web site that LOOKS like a valid web site. When you enter your birthday, social security number, etc. the scammers now have ALL of your personal information, so instead of protecting your credit score, you have made access to your credit information completely available and vulnerable to the people you don't want to have it.
DO NOT EVER CLICK ON A LINK IN AN E-MAIL TO GO TO ANY BANKING OR FINANCIAL-RELATED WEB SITE! TYPE THE SIMPLE WEB ADDRESS OF THE SITE IN YOUR BROWSER AND GO THERE DIRECTLY!!! It is the only way to ensure that you aren't being targeted for a "phishing" scam, which is what the scam above is called.
The above examples are just a small sampling of the obvious hoaxes I receive on a regular basis. I realize they may not be obvious to some of the less savvy internet users, but they will be if you learn to use some common sense and understand that, with the many wonderful things that come with the internet, there are always scammers hard at work spending more time and effort trying to scam you than it would take to just go get a real job.
My intent wasn't to turn this into a "how to protect yourself from internet scams" blog, but rather to point out what a lack of critical thinking will do to you. In fact, pretty much everything we don't like about the world we live in right now is due to a lack of critical thinking on our part, and it's time we stop blaming our politicians and start blaming ourselves for putting them there, and for failing to do what is necessary to make ourselves very clear what we will and will not vote for the next time around, and what we need to see in order for the public servant in question to have a chance at getting re-elected. Of course, you'll first have to educate yourself on what the issues are, not on what you think you heard someone else say they are. Listen the next time you watch the news - really listen. Go to the web sites of the politicians you are both for AND against, get a good understanding of what each is REALLY saying so you don't become another source of false information. We have enough of those already. And if you have to lie about what a politician you don't like said in order to make the one you do like look good, I'd question my choice in candidates.
Yeah, I know Fox News and C.N.N. aren't perfect news sources, but they're a hell of a lot better than a spam e-mail that could easily have been written by a confused 8-year old. I'm convinced that's where a lot of people get their political opinions - from false statements made in spam e-mails forwarded to them by their friends.
Everyone knows that I'm concerned about the many displays of bigotry, hate, and violence by some of the religious people in our world, including the highly educated terrorists who made the decision to crash planes into buildings due to religious superstitions they held. (Interesting that these were educated people, and the only thing that could convince them to do something so stupid was religious superstition.) I won't repeat those arguments here, but I would like to discuss the fact that, if you have made the decision to "believe" in a religious figure and/or engage in religious activity, there are certain responsibilities you have to understand the need for separation of church and state.
First, the constant postings I keep seeing about why people should not drink Dr. Pepper because they "left the words 'under god' out of the pledge on their packaging which had the 'Pledge of Allegiance' on it" are a clear display of ignorance. The original pledge of allegiance NEVER HAD THE WORDS 'UNDER GOD' IN IT TO START WITH! If you're going to be angry about that and post that people should boycott the product, then please, at least have the decency to acknowledge that you are miffed that the ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE is being used because you want everything possible to be about religion, even though the original author of the pledge, who was a Baptist minister, had the self-discipline to refrain from making a patriotic pledge into a religious prayer, in honor of the U.S. Constitution. If only people had that kind of respect for our constitution today...
If a Baptist minister can refrain from putting religion into a government document, surely the average citizen can.
Yes, there truly are religious leaders who have the wisdom to recognize that there is a time and a place for everything, and patriotic, government-sanctioned activities need not mention anything about anybody's religious figurehead.
The other thing I keep seeing over and over is the bitching about how they "need to put prayer back in schools". Of course, everyone knows how I feel about turning a publicly-funded (tax-supported) school into a religious sanctuary, since it is a violation of the United States Constitution's "Separation of Church and State". It's what also protects your children from having to listen to a Qur'an passage each morning before classes begin.
It's not that prayer is forbidden - any child is free to pray as they see fit. It's simply that the school isn't going to organize it. If you think your child wants or needs to pray at school, then instruct him or her on how to do so and take steps to ensure that it can be done in as unobtrusive a way as possible. That is responsible parenting and promotes a healthy attitude in your child that the world needn't revolve around them in order for them to faithfully practice their religion.
However, the bigger issue for me here is that the people who do the griping about there not being prayer in school seem to suffer from the delusion that having kids say a quick prayer before classes begin is going to somehow change the world or the way kids behave in school. It won't. The only thing that will do that is making sure that you teach your children right from wrong, and I'm not sure that having them recite prayers is the way to do that. Just some food for thought.
I'm also amazed at the number of e-mails I receive with "prosperity angels" that will supposedly make me wealthy if I forward the angelic spam on to all of my contacts. I'm curious why anyone would think that something like this would be sanctioned by their religion, and the fact that anyone is superstitious enough to even waste time on the POSSIBILITY that "it might work" is the same reason why we have so many problems in our world today, and it's also the same reason why these same people end up with computer viruses, financial security issues, and a host of other problems in their daily lives.
Got suckered by a two-timing love interest? Lack of critical thinking. I GUARANTEE you the signs were there, you just didn't want to see them.
Didn't get your homework/housework/take-home from work-work done? It's because you were too busy sending out spam e-mails, giving all of your personal information to scammers for future use, sending an "event" invitation to fifty of your Facebook friends, or trying to reboot your computer after you clicked on an e-mail attachment claiming to contain some of the most amazing free porn ever.
Critical thinking isn't always easy, but if you can learn to think your way out of the traps set for you by those who are counting on you to be gullible and fall for their scams, it's a start in the right direction. Who knows, as you get better and better at asking yourself whether something is legit or not, you just may learn to see the many hidden scams that most take for granted as true without even thinking about it, much to the detriment of society as a whole.
A.
Hoax: The first example is a chain e-mail suggesting that we should all forward said e-mail to everyone we can think of to "send a message to our politicians that we will not tolerate this". The suggestion goes on to include that everyone should "fax a copy of the e-mail to their local representatives" along with a letter demanding answers about why this is allowed. The "this" that is being referred to is the claim that illegal aliens are collecting social security benefits because it is legal to do so, and that we must stop allowing "anchor babies" (babies illegal aliens allegedly come to the United States to give birth to so that they can remain with the child until it turns 21) and we should all "demand that they change the laws to stop this".
Truth: Under current laws, illegal aliens are NOT awarded social security benefits OF ANY KIND, and the citizenship of any baby born in the United States does not confer ANY citizenship to ANY other family member, nor does it allow the parents of said infant to stay in this country for any length of time. In fact, many children of immigrants born in the U.S. are separated from their parents and put into social services custody since they are citizens, while the illegal immigrant parents are jailed awaiting deportation. That seems rather cruel to me, especially when we're talking about a breastfeeding infant. (It happens more often than you think.) In what fantasy world are the creators of these hoax e-mails living where children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants allow their parents to live in the United States legally until they turn 21?
The Harm: What may seem like a harmless hoax causes much harm in several ways. First, while it only takes a few seconds to forward an e-mail, the time spent forwarding and reading this garbage would be much better spent writing an actual letter to our politicians about REAL issues that actually exist. That brings me to point number two, which is that every letter, fax, or e-mail that gets sent to a politician's office about this garbage must be dealt with in some way, and it takes a lot of taxpayer money for your local senator to have staff respond to the invalidity of them or do so themselves. Wouldn't you rather your local representatives deal with real problems instead of imaginary ones made up by some internet hoaxster?
Example number two is the infinitely changing "virus" hoax e-mail, in which there are claims that there is a virus circulating that will "wipe your hard drive clean and destroy your computer" if you click on a link in a certain e-mail. While there are viruses that are sent regularly via e-mail, the exaggerated e-mail warnings set people up to fall for fake "free virus checkers" that they see pop up on various web sites which, instead of checking your computer for a virus, actually install a virus on your computer. Rule of thumb: get virus software from a reliable source (an electronics store, for example) and do not ever, EVER trust ANY "virus checker" software you see on the internet.
I would take it a step further and before clicking on any link in any e-mail from someone you know, contact them and ask them what the link is for and if they have used it themselves. Request that any links be explained before including them in e-mails so that you will be better able to determine if you wish to click on them. Many of us are charged for bandwidth on our internet access and if the link goes to a video or other streaming media, it's going to cost actual money to click on it. If it goes elsewhere, it's a matter of common courtesy to explain where. Basic e-mail etiquette dictates this.
Also, ask anyone who forwards spam and/or chain e-mails to either a) not send them to you or b) at least make sure they put your address in the "bcc" section instead of the "cc" section. "CC" stands for "carbon copy", meaning you are sending an electronic version of a "carbon copy" of that e-mail to someone and EVERYONE who receives the e-mail will have all of the e-mail addresses of everyone else to whom you have sent the e-mail, while "bcc" means "blind carbon copy", meaning that nobody else can see to whom the e-mail has been sent but the sender. I've seen forwarded e-mails with hundreds of e-mail addresses showing in the "cc" section, and this is exactly why those who complain about getting so much spam e-mail are getting it - everyone who gets the e-mails their friends are forwarding are also getting their e-mail addresses, and they are forwarding those e-mail addresses to other spammers every time they forward the e-mail, even if they don't realize it.
The most recent example of an internet hoax I experienced was just a few hours ago. Someone sent me an "invitation" to an "event" on Facebook claiming that the first 25,000 recipients to click "attend" would receive a "free Facebook hoodie".
First of all, Facebook would likely make such an offer or announcement on their own corporate web site or via e-mail, since they have the e-mail address of EVERY SINGLE MEMBER. Hello!? You are an absolute fool if you give any of your personal information to these people.
First of all, once you send them your name, address, and e-mail address, they now have the information they need to devise further scams and appeal to your foolishness so they can scam you with something bigger. The web site link you are instructed to click on takes you to a web site that is NOT in the U.S. and that is also NOT a Facebook web site. It has all kinds of "comments" from people claiming "I got mine the other day!" or "I tried to get three but they limited me to two." Of course, these are obviously comments from the scammers themselves, designed to trick the easily fooled people into thinking they really will get a free hoodie if they hand over their e-mail addresses and physical addresses, along with their names. You are wasting your time, and you are rewarding a scammer for scamming you by inviting them to send you all kinds of scam e-mails and/or develop a mailing list which they can sell to others, and they will NEVER send you a hoodie, guaranteed.
It is astonishing to me that people who can carry on semi-intelligent arguments about political issues will fall for such nonsense, but some people see "free" and their brains immediately shut down.
I highly recommend that anyone with a Facebook account should "friend" Facebook's corporate account, so that you will be able to receive updates about the changes you may be seeing in their internet and smartphone app interfaces, as well as warnings about various scams as mentioned above. The link for the Facebook web site is http://www.facebook.com/facebook - do it now!
A family member forwarded to me a spam e-mail that had clearly been sent to hundreds of others before with an embedded HTML section of a credit score checking web site. The subject says "Your credit score may have changed. View it for free from the three major reporting agencies!" You click on it, and it appears to take you to a web site which allows you to sign up for a free trial in a credit score monitoring service that will allow you to see your credit report and correct any inaccuracies as well. The problem? If you click on the link, it will not take you to a valid web site, but a scam web site that LOOKS like a valid web site. When you enter your birthday, social security number, etc. the scammers now have ALL of your personal information, so instead of protecting your credit score, you have made access to your credit information completely available and vulnerable to the people you don't want to have it.
DO NOT EVER CLICK ON A LINK IN AN E-MAIL TO GO TO ANY BANKING OR FINANCIAL-RELATED WEB SITE! TYPE THE SIMPLE WEB ADDRESS OF THE SITE IN YOUR BROWSER AND GO THERE DIRECTLY!!! It is the only way to ensure that you aren't being targeted for a "phishing" scam, which is what the scam above is called.
The above examples are just a small sampling of the obvious hoaxes I receive on a regular basis. I realize they may not be obvious to some of the less savvy internet users, but they will be if you learn to use some common sense and understand that, with the many wonderful things that come with the internet, there are always scammers hard at work spending more time and effort trying to scam you than it would take to just go get a real job.
My intent wasn't to turn this into a "how to protect yourself from internet scams" blog, but rather to point out what a lack of critical thinking will do to you. In fact, pretty much everything we don't like about the world we live in right now is due to a lack of critical thinking on our part, and it's time we stop blaming our politicians and start blaming ourselves for putting them there, and for failing to do what is necessary to make ourselves very clear what we will and will not vote for the next time around, and what we need to see in order for the public servant in question to have a chance at getting re-elected. Of course, you'll first have to educate yourself on what the issues are, not on what you think you heard someone else say they are. Listen the next time you watch the news - really listen. Go to the web sites of the politicians you are both for AND against, get a good understanding of what each is REALLY saying so you don't become another source of false information. We have enough of those already. And if you have to lie about what a politician you don't like said in order to make the one you do like look good, I'd question my choice in candidates.
Yeah, I know Fox News and C.N.N. aren't perfect news sources, but they're a hell of a lot better than a spam e-mail that could easily have been written by a confused 8-year old. I'm convinced that's where a lot of people get their political opinions - from false statements made in spam e-mails forwarded to them by their friends.
Everyone knows that I'm concerned about the many displays of bigotry, hate, and violence by some of the religious people in our world, including the highly educated terrorists who made the decision to crash planes into buildings due to religious superstitions they held. (Interesting that these were educated people, and the only thing that could convince them to do something so stupid was religious superstition.) I won't repeat those arguments here, but I would like to discuss the fact that, if you have made the decision to "believe" in a religious figure and/or engage in religious activity, there are certain responsibilities you have to understand the need for separation of church and state.
First, the constant postings I keep seeing about why people should not drink Dr. Pepper because they "left the words 'under god' out of the pledge on their packaging which had the 'Pledge of Allegiance' on it" are a clear display of ignorance. The original pledge of allegiance NEVER HAD THE WORDS 'UNDER GOD' IN IT TO START WITH! If you're going to be angry about that and post that people should boycott the product, then please, at least have the decency to acknowledge that you are miffed that the ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE is being used because you want everything possible to be about religion, even though the original author of the pledge, who was a Baptist minister, had the self-discipline to refrain from making a patriotic pledge into a religious prayer, in honor of the U.S. Constitution. If only people had that kind of respect for our constitution today...
If a Baptist minister can refrain from putting religion into a government document, surely the average citizen can.
Yes, there truly are religious leaders who have the wisdom to recognize that there is a time and a place for everything, and patriotic, government-sanctioned activities need not mention anything about anybody's religious figurehead.
The other thing I keep seeing over and over is the bitching about how they "need to put prayer back in schools". Of course, everyone knows how I feel about turning a publicly-funded (tax-supported) school into a religious sanctuary, since it is a violation of the United States Constitution's "Separation of Church and State". It's what also protects your children from having to listen to a Qur'an passage each morning before classes begin.
It's not that prayer is forbidden - any child is free to pray as they see fit. It's simply that the school isn't going to organize it. If you think your child wants or needs to pray at school, then instruct him or her on how to do so and take steps to ensure that it can be done in as unobtrusive a way as possible. That is responsible parenting and promotes a healthy attitude in your child that the world needn't revolve around them in order for them to faithfully practice their religion.
However, the bigger issue for me here is that the people who do the griping about there not being prayer in school seem to suffer from the delusion that having kids say a quick prayer before classes begin is going to somehow change the world or the way kids behave in school. It won't. The only thing that will do that is making sure that you teach your children right from wrong, and I'm not sure that having them recite prayers is the way to do that. Just some food for thought.
I'm also amazed at the number of e-mails I receive with "prosperity angels" that will supposedly make me wealthy if I forward the angelic spam on to all of my contacts. I'm curious why anyone would think that something like this would be sanctioned by their religion, and the fact that anyone is superstitious enough to even waste time on the POSSIBILITY that "it might work" is the same reason why we have so many problems in our world today, and it's also the same reason why these same people end up with computer viruses, financial security issues, and a host of other problems in their daily lives.
Got suckered by a two-timing love interest? Lack of critical thinking. I GUARANTEE you the signs were there, you just didn't want to see them.
Didn't get your homework/housework/take-home from work-work done? It's because you were too busy sending out spam e-mails, giving all of your personal information to scammers for future use, sending an "event" invitation to fifty of your Facebook friends, or trying to reboot your computer after you clicked on an e-mail attachment claiming to contain some of the most amazing free porn ever.
Critical thinking isn't always easy, but if you can learn to think your way out of the traps set for you by those who are counting on you to be gullible and fall for their scams, it's a start in the right direction. Who knows, as you get better and better at asking yourself whether something is legit or not, you just may learn to see the many hidden scams that most take for granted as true without even thinking about it, much to the detriment of society as a whole.
A.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Joy Shines Brighter In A Dull Room
The following is an adaptation of last year's blog post, in which I recount the most memorable (and sweetest) birthday experience I have ever had.
Today marks yet another 365 days that the earth has rotated on its axis since I have been alive. I am 42 years old.
When my birthday rolls around, I usually think back to past birthdays.
I have had a very full life, rich in experiences. Some of them have been horrific, others have been wonderful, and still others have been just downright bizarre with some clearly a mixture of all three.
My favorite birthday memory of all time happens to be one of such combinations of horrific, wonderful, and bizarre.
Horrific: because I was in a county jail with my life on hold, waiting for the feds distorted idea of justice to play out in the case they had brought against me before I was sent to prison.
And now, let me explain the wonderful and bizarre aspects of this cherished memory...
September 13, 2005, my cell-mate was a bankruptcy attorney who was serving a short federal sentence for bankruptcy fraud. Her sentence was less than six months, so she didn't get sent to a prison, but was to serve out her sentence in a federally contracted detention center, in this case, a county jail.
She had three young children, (including a set of twins) and one of them was a "special needs" child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other issues. Since she was a single mother, she was allowed to break up her sentence over two summers so that her sister could keep her kids while she was locked up and then she could be there to take care of them when school was back in session.
She and I became very close as we got to know one another. Like many who feel the walls of despair closing in on them while confined in a drab environment, she tortured herself with despairing thoughts, including that she was a bad mother (very few who have that fear are ever actually bad mothers) and I did my best to keep her focused on the positive things she had going for her.
She was a beautiful woman, very attractive, kind-hearted, intelligent... she was within a year of my age, and it was hard to imagine how she could end up in this situation. Of course, many people have said the same thing about me. I assure you, it can happen to anyone.
One thing I knew was that she would be fine once she got out. She took over the jail within a few weeks, teaching everyone from accused murderers to crack addicts new card games and making it clear to them that she wasn't going to be bullied. She always had the upper hand, and I was sure she would somehow maintain it throughout the rest of her life.
The week before my birthday, she, knowing that I didn't have a steady source of funding with which to purchase items like shampoo and lotion from the commissary, had me make a list of items I wanted for my birthday. I was thrilled!
She was going to be going home in a couple of weeks, so she was planning a farewell party and also ordered about 35 Hostess cupcakes, one for every inmate in our pod. (This never happens. Ever. Nobody does this. Except Shannon.)
So, on my birthday, we were all released from our cells for breakfast. I went about my usual routine of taking my shower afterwards and returned to one of about ten four-person tables where several of us normally played cards in the day-room until it was time to be locked back down. When I got to my usual spot at the table, I got the surprise of my life:
There was a Hostess cupcake waiting there for me, but there was also a birthday card Shannon had purchased from the commissary signed by everyone, and a "candle" she had somehow managed to fashion out of paper. (Keep in mind, inmates have no access to scissors.)
Before I even had a chance to react, the pod of about 35 women who had just been going about their business were suddenly all turned in my direction and the room swelled with the sound of everyone singing "Happy Birthday". That's when I realized that I was experiencing my first-ever surprise birthday party. In jail.
Growing up, I had enjoyed throwing my father a surprise birthday party just a couple of years before he got sick and died. Many surprise parties had been thrown in my family, and I was always enamored with the idea of sneaking around in order to bombard someone with expressions of love and happiness.
My brother and I always had nice birthdays growing up. My parents went out of their way to make it special with what little resources they had, and they always succeeded. I cherish those memories, but, as birthday surprises go, nothing, not even winning the lottery on my birthday, could ever compare to what Shannon, a friend I had known for only a brief time, did for me.
Until you've been in jail or prison, you'll never realize the capacity of even the most violent criminal, drug addict, or bank robber to experience and express love for other humans. We had quite a variety of people in our "pod" at the jail, and every one of them was singing happy birthday to a nerd with glasses who had never even had a speeding ticket.
So there you have it, horrific, wonderful, and bizarre all rolled into one bittersweet, delicious experience with a paper candle on top. I challenge you to beat that combination in a true story. I just don't think it can be done.
A.
Today marks yet another 365 days that the earth has rotated on its axis since I have been alive. I am 42 years old.
When my birthday rolls around, I usually think back to past birthdays.
I have had a very full life, rich in experiences. Some of them have been horrific, others have been wonderful, and still others have been just downright bizarre with some clearly a mixture of all three.
My favorite birthday memory of all time happens to be one of such combinations of horrific, wonderful, and bizarre.
Horrific: because I was in a county jail with my life on hold, waiting for the feds distorted idea of justice to play out in the case they had brought against me before I was sent to prison.
And now, let me explain the wonderful and bizarre aspects of this cherished memory...
September 13, 2005, my cell-mate was a bankruptcy attorney who was serving a short federal sentence for bankruptcy fraud. Her sentence was less than six months, so she didn't get sent to a prison, but was to serve out her sentence in a federally contracted detention center, in this case, a county jail.
She had three young children, (including a set of twins) and one of them was a "special needs" child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other issues. Since she was a single mother, she was allowed to break up her sentence over two summers so that her sister could keep her kids while she was locked up and then she could be there to take care of them when school was back in session.
She and I became very close as we got to know one another. Like many who feel the walls of despair closing in on them while confined in a drab environment, she tortured herself with despairing thoughts, including that she was a bad mother (very few who have that fear are ever actually bad mothers) and I did my best to keep her focused on the positive things she had going for her.
She was a beautiful woman, very attractive, kind-hearted, intelligent... she was within a year of my age, and it was hard to imagine how she could end up in this situation. Of course, many people have said the same thing about me. I assure you, it can happen to anyone.
One thing I knew was that she would be fine once she got out. She took over the jail within a few weeks, teaching everyone from accused murderers to crack addicts new card games and making it clear to them that she wasn't going to be bullied. She always had the upper hand, and I was sure she would somehow maintain it throughout the rest of her life.
The week before my birthday, she, knowing that I didn't have a steady source of funding with which to purchase items like shampoo and lotion from the commissary, had me make a list of items I wanted for my birthday. I was thrilled!
She was going to be going home in a couple of weeks, so she was planning a farewell party and also ordered about 35 Hostess cupcakes, one for every inmate in our pod. (This never happens. Ever. Nobody does this. Except Shannon.)
So, on my birthday, we were all released from our cells for breakfast. I went about my usual routine of taking my shower afterwards and returned to one of about ten four-person tables where several of us normally played cards in the day-room until it was time to be locked back down. When I got to my usual spot at the table, I got the surprise of my life:
There was a Hostess cupcake waiting there for me, but there was also a birthday card Shannon had purchased from the commissary signed by everyone, and a "candle" she had somehow managed to fashion out of paper. (Keep in mind, inmates have no access to scissors.)
Before I even had a chance to react, the pod of about 35 women who had just been going about their business were suddenly all turned in my direction and the room swelled with the sound of everyone singing "Happy Birthday". That's when I realized that I was experiencing my first-ever surprise birthday party. In jail.
Growing up, I had enjoyed throwing my father a surprise birthday party just a couple of years before he got sick and died. Many surprise parties had been thrown in my family, and I was always enamored with the idea of sneaking around in order to bombard someone with expressions of love and happiness.
My brother and I always had nice birthdays growing up. My parents went out of their way to make it special with what little resources they had, and they always succeeded. I cherish those memories, but, as birthday surprises go, nothing, not even winning the lottery on my birthday, could ever compare to what Shannon, a friend I had known for only a brief time, did for me.
Until you've been in jail or prison, you'll never realize the capacity of even the most violent criminal, drug addict, or bank robber to experience and express love for other humans. We had quite a variety of people in our "pod" at the jail, and every one of them was singing happy birthday to a nerd with glasses who had never even had a speeding ticket.
So there you have it, horrific, wonderful, and bizarre all rolled into one bittersweet, delicious experience with a paper candle on top. I challenge you to beat that combination in a true story. I just don't think it can be done.
A.
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