Sacred Cattle

Well... It's been quite a while since I've gotten to sit down and rant about something. But that's alright; I've had something simmering for a week or two now.

That topic, you might ask? It's one that always brings peace, love, and happiness to the world. Also genocide, witch hunts, ritual sacrifices, numerous holy. Ya know, happy-fun-time stuff. Can you guess it yet? That's right, folks: religion! This is going to be great, I can already tell.

Now, let's get to specifics here. I don't have anything against religion overall (except for those Scientologists, but they had it coming anyway). No, my beef with religion is how -- as from what I've personally observed -- they all seem to be about salvation or redemption.

"But Kyle," you're already whining because I offended you in some way, "I don't follow <insert belief here> because I want to be saved/redeemed/forgiven/whateverthedevilyoumightwanttocallit, I just do it because I want to be a good person." Hold up there, chief. Look at that last part. "Because I want to be a good person." Do you really need to follow a faith to be a good person? I mean, sure the faith-base might encourage being a better person, but for what reason? Is it just to be a better person? Just so you're a slightly smaller asshole - and even then, only on the weekends? Seriously, you can be a good person without believing in any specific faith. Just like you can be a bad person while being the biggest Jesus-freak around. I mean, look at me. I'm Catholic, but I'm a really, reeeeeaaaaally shitty person. See the correlation? Religion ≠ Good person. 

Got off on a tangent there. Back to the subject. 

The other week (don't ask me which, that wine they have is strong) I was sitting in mass, paying attention or something like that, when the deacon (not the priest... or maybe it was?) began the homily. Normally, it's a 50/50 if the homily will be interesting, so I usually give i a few minutes before I zone out. Anyway, the homily began, and almost immediately, the topic of salvation came up. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you're familiar with the basics of Christianity, so I'll spare you the details, but the topic of salvation came up. Salvation seems to be the ultimate end game for Christians; the thing they strive most for in the world. They will do just about anything if they think it'll net them some bonus points with the Big Guy. Seriously. I've seen people flip out over some crumbs on the floor of a social hall. Not something that makes me to proud to be of the same genus, honestly.

So the homily began, salvation brought up, yadda yyadda. Continuing on, the deacon said something along the lines of "salvation is key to our faith. Without salvation, what would be the point."

And Jesus said "Forget everything else I ever said and just ask nicely."
And thus all were saved.

Wait, what? You mean that whole point of Christianity is to just go to Heaven? Not be a good person? Well... I guess whatever that Jesus dude said is pretty null at this point. Despite, you know, him being the whole reason the religion exists. 

Don't get any of this wrong (though I know somebody will anyway), I don't have anything wrong with a person being religion. A lot of great people have had beliefs about something. However, you shouldn't fear the Judging Bearded Man because you just want to live forever. Be a good person for the damned sake of being a good person. There is no reason why you have to exist in fear. Death is a natural occurrence. That is how life moves forward. Think of it this way: every time someone dies, we move forward just a little more toward being a better species. Or maybe that's every time someone is born... Well, every time someone dies, we the gene pool becomes a little clearer. Or something. I'm just going to try and stop with these metaphors.

So yea. Jesus/Buddah/Zoroaster/Whoever was a great person. Sure, he/she might have said something about living eternally. Sure, that might sound like a pretty sweet deal. Should that be your sole motivation for following any one specific belief though? No. Not to mention that pretty much every religion thinks it's the one true religion (especially Catholicism, conceited bastards), so pretty much everyone is screwed in some way. 

Got that? Don't blindly follow because you want to live forever. What would that even be like? Never progressing forward and experiencing change?

Maybe that's why Republicans like it so much...

Obama's Shut Down (As Voted by Republicans)

So we all know about the government shut down, right? The whole thing with the government cutting its funding to anything nonessential. Yea?

Well it's a load of horse shit.

"Buy Kyle, you can't curse until five paragraphs in," you will whine, unhappy about this change. You know who else doesn't like change? Conservatives. More on them in a second. But this image sums everything up nicely:

This makes me giggle.
Source: dixican.files

Anyway, where was I? Not a clue. Let this be a note to not Facebook while ranting about politics.

...Dammit, I did it again. Okay, let's try this one more time.

So, this shut down. It's been causing a load of pain-in-the-ass-itude. Government workers haven't been getting paid, yet are still told to go to work, assuming they're going to work at all. On top of all that, we have asshats running around and saying that furloughed workers (keep in mind, these workers didn't willingly leave and they were' laid off) shouldn't get back pay. Not including the whole hypocrisy in that last link, it's pretty bad for the people who work for the government. Now that I think about it, that's a really weird statement; "people who work for the government." Sounds rather contradictory to the whole principle of the government being for the people. But that has no relevance, right? I mean, the Government is what keeps us together and strong. Big Brother protects me. Big Brother loves me...

But in the wrong ways...

Sure, this hurts the people a lot. But how much does it hurt the politicians? They're the ones fighting for us in the capitol and making sure we have a fair and balanced government, right? No, not really. Really, they can just sit in their ez-chairs and lean back all day. What do they care? They're still getting paid more than what most people do for sitting on their asses and complaining. I know; I've made a whole $2 the past couple months.

But the funniest - no, that's too bland of a word - the most hysterical part of this whole idiotic circle jerk is how the Republicans are blaming Obama (and all other Democrats while they're at it). Their rationale behind it? Just watch this video. Stephen Colbert explains it all nicely.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

If that's the clip I think it is, then you'll notice the half-dozen or so representatives blaming it on Obama and his game. If you watched the full clip (and you really should) then you'll also see Mr. Colbert play an all-too-accurate board game. It's hard to explain, so just watch the video.

"But, Kyle," you'll start complaining as you always do, "it is Obama's fault!" Just... How? I get that you might not support the whole health care reform/Obamacare thing -- that's your own opinion -- but c'mon! Can you see the way the Republicans are acting? They're pouting like fucking children! The reform got passed years ago. Three years ago, to be precise. Isn't it a little late to offer a "compromise".

"But, Kyle," you again whine from your Republican face hole, "compromise is good. Otherwise, one group gets too much power and some other stuff like that." And you have a point. However, when it's a little (i.e. three years) too late to come up with a compromise, the point of doing so is rather moot. Not only that, but the Republican version of compromise involves defunding the one law while changing absolutely nothing. Do you know why the government shut down? I mean, do you really know why?

Not really, no.

It's because Republicans out-right refused to talk about a budget until Obamacare was defunded. No if, ands, or buts. Their way or the highway. And then they go on to complain about the president's administration not wanting to negotiate under those terms. The fucking balls on these guys; I'm not sure if I should respect them for being this adamant about their beliefs, or call them asinine fucktwats. Probably the latter. Almost assuredly the latter.

But about this budget thing. Yea, it only has to do with hitting the debt ceiling and what not. Now, I'm not going to go all economist (because this is the one time I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not), so I'm not sure if that'd be a good or bad thing. Of course, it was a bad thing if my parents missed the bills, so it's pretty safe to assume that doing it on a far larger scale can be pretty bad too. Of course, that's not what Republicans say, but what the hell do I know? I'm just a public (*cough cough* government funded *cough cough*) schooled teenager who has no sense of self-thought and just follows the  liberal masses. Man, I hate being one of the sheeple.

The most ludicrous point in all of this (and it's pretty hard to beat the stupidity so far) is that the Republicans are blaming Obama for this. The Republicans. The ones who won't negotiate. Until they get their way.

Did I mention all that stuff already? Just wanted to get it through.

In the end, it's not about "dirty liberals won't do this" or "conservative scum did that", it's about not being an idiot and doing what would actually be beneficial. But who am I kidding? Let's see how high we can get this clock to go!

Mean is Good

This will probably be more of a mini-rant, but it's just something I have to throw out the eye before I have to hut my head against the wall thinking  about it. What is it,  you ask? Well,  if you read the title of the post, you'd know. Of course, now you're going back to read it. I'll wait.

Done? Good. Now,  if you didn't get it,  let me explain: there is nothing wrong with being mean. Nothing. Really, the language is too subjective to decide what is and what isn't mean,  but I know someone will argue with me about how I should respect everyone no matter what while disregarding  my own thoughts and opinions.

Honestly, I'm so tired of this that I don't think I could even bring myself to try  and explain. The scary thing is,  I now sympathize with conservatives some (and we all know how I feel about those people). There is no longer the end chance to express a dissenting opinion without  being labeled as something intolerant. Isn't it intolerant to label someone as intolerant? Kinda weird when you think about  it.

Going off of that, how can someone else's opinion be quantified as lore important than mine? It can't really, and personal bias with always make opinion more important to me.

"But Kyle," you begin angrily protesting,  "you can't just be mean. The at hurts people's feelings." On the surface,  try at seems like a good argument, but thinking about it,  it's really not. Couldn't the argument then be made that it hurts my feelings to not be mean? Of course,  most people won't find that acceptable, but at this point I don't really care.

This leads me to one conclusion: to stop caring what everybody - and I do mean everybody - thinks. It'll be tough (what with the biological need to conform and all that) but I can't see any other choice. Of course,  that doesn't mean I'm going to be a giant douche to everyone,  but I doubt anyone bothered to read this last sentence.