The Mosque near Ground Zero

Okay. I’ll admit. It sounds bad when you hear someone say that there are plans to build a Mosque at Ground Zero. It sounds awful, actually.

But wait. That’s really not what they’re doing at all.

They want to build a Mosque SEVERAL blocks away from Ground Zero. They want to build it at a location that was previously occupied by a mattress warehouse or something. So, let me ask you this, before I continue. Did you care about whatever used to occupy the building several blocks away from Ground Zero? Probably not. Did it affect your life at all? I doubt it. Will building a Mosque there affect your life at all? I really doubt it, except that now it’s become such a big deal we’ll no doubt be arguing about it for years to come.

Let’s get a few things straight.

1.) If you’re all SO worried about AMERICA… let’s remember that AMERICA was founded on idea of freedom of RELIGION (among other things).

2.) MUSLIMS didn’t attack us. A select few radical terrorists did. Seriously. Let’s look at all the awful crimes perpetrated by Christians. That doesn’t mean all Christians are bad, does it?

3.) Would you be this upset if they wanted to build a Catholic Church several blocks away from Ground Zero? I doubt it. You’d probably be thrilled. So why then, I ask you… do you want to deny people who follow the Islamic Faith the right to have a place to pray?

4.) I’ll bet you ten million dollars. Yeah, TEN million, that plenty of the people who were killed in the September 11th attacks (people who were in the buildings, people who WORKED in the World Trade Centers), were MUSLIM.

What do you have to say to that? Are you saying they deserved to die because some extremists who happen to share the same religion decided to attack us? To attack THEM?

And, if you ARE saying that, then you’re no one I want to be associated with. Ever. Period.

Get over yourselves. Seriously.

And just as a side note here: Where I was in Africa for two weeks, was about 95% Muslim. And none of them attacked us. None of them were mean awful terrorists. In FACT, they were the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

SO how about let’s stop generalizing and lose the prejudices and fucking ignorance.

That is all.

Peace. Love. Respect. For Everyone.

About Ranting

You know, when I started this blog, I intended it to be just a place for me to post my poetry and photography. Upon further thought, I decided it would be a good place to post my other writings, too. Among these: essays, rants, and fiction.

Now, if you read my page ”On Essays, Rants, and Fiction” you will find that I say I will post rants occasionally, most likely when something has peeved me.

Never, and I do mean never, did I think I would have as many rants posted as I do.

Things just seem to peeve me, I guess.

Take today, for example. I have to design a website around a controversy. Not sure what a controversy is? Let me give you some examples..

-Abortion   (ranted about it)

-Gay Marriage

-Happy Holidays, being politically correct (Ranted about it)

-Teenage Sex Education

The list goes on and on.

Needless to say (which, ironically, is something I say particularly often) I was reading through the different sides of these controversies, trying to pick one to design my website around.

Each and EVERY one of these pissed me off to no end.

Gay marriage? the argument was that if gay people get married that hinders the child rearing process…. I beg your pardon, but I’m fairly certain that if a person is gay, they are going to “be” with someone who cannot physically produce a child with them ANYWAY… so that argument is null and void and I think people just need to get over themselves.

Teenage Sex Education? They say that if we teach kids about sex, they’re 15% more likely (I think that was the number) to become pregnant before the age 18. Really? I don’t believe it. Maybe it’s true. What I was reading said that 1 in every 10 teenage girls will get pregnant.

Also, I read that birth control is just as bad as abortion. No, no, no. First of all if you USE birth control wisely and carefully, abortion shouldn’t even be an issue. AND if you’re not mature enough to raise a child, you’re not mature enough to have sex. End of story. So either man up and take responsibility for your action or shut up and stop complaining.

Thank you for your time.

I promise I’ll write soon about something other than things that piss me off.

What gets my goat

Okay, so I know I write about ignorance fairly often. I also know that I usually say how much it pisses me off. Get ready, because I’m about to go on a rant.

“Happy Holidays”… seems pleasant enough, no?

I guess not. Today, I heard a group of women complaining about “Happy Holidays”… the “politically correct” way to wish someone a “Merry Christmas”. No, that is not true. Happy Holidays is the politically correct way to wish EVERYONE… Happy Holidays. Go figure.

It pisses me off to hear people bitching about Happy Holidays for Merry Christmas. If it means that much to you, say Merry Christmas. If everyone else you’re bitching to believes that Merry Christmas is the way to go, then by all means, say merry effing christmas.

But PLEASE don’t get that verbal diahrea. Today, someone said “Well, it was their decision to come here, get used to it.”

Woah, woah, woah. First of all, I thought AMERICA (not that I’m feeling particularly “American” lately) was founded on the idea of FREEDOM… and last time I checked, that include freedom of RELIGION. Am I wrong? No, I’m not… so don’t try to tell me that I am.

ALSO, WE… as in ALL Americans… are not FROM here. We CAME here… forced OUR religion on the native people… and now that we’re trying to make everyone feel included in the “Holiday Spirit”… we’re going to have ignorant people bitching about it?

Shut the hell up people.

Happy effing Holidays.

Musical Thievery

I hate the song “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock….. the reasons include, but are not limited to:

The very beginning sounds a HELL of a lot like “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon… which, incidentally, is a song that I love. Because I love “Werewolves of London,” and “All Summer Long”  sounds like the beginning of that song, I get my hopes up, only to have them shattered.

Not only does the song steal the intro melody of THAT song, they steal whole pieces of “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynard Skynard. Come on, Kid Rock, have you really lost all ability to think for yourself? Is it not possible to come up with something original? It’s one thing to do a cover of a song, but to steal parts of other songs and then call it your own… that is just musical theivery. Like when Vanilla Ice did “Ice, Ice Baby” and stole the beginning of Queen’s “Under Pressure”.

And then, to top it all off, every time the song comes on the radio, someone turns it up.. like “Oh my GOD! I LOVE this song..” And inside, I die a little.

Kid Rock, for you, I have lost all respect. Not that I really had much in the first place.

Complacent Inspiration

I feel like I’ve recently achieved a certain level of complacency. That is not to say I have finally accepted everything to be as it is, but I have become much less bitter towards the world and everything going on in it. I have found acceptance in things that once would have driven me crazy.
In finding this contentment however, I have begun noticing new things to be bothered by. The purpose of this piece is to vent my frustrations, which have been ironically brought about by this newfound sense of acceptance.

First of all, I am so tired of listening to people bitch. I realize of course that is precisely what I am doing now, but bear in mind I would most likely not be doing this if it weren’t for those out there who do it constantly. Honestly I feel like some people view every day as a personal bitchfest. I know a few people with whom I cannot have a single conversation that doesn’t involve bitching about something. And usually, it’s something incredibly irrelevant to the conversation. Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs to vent every now and again, (and I’m all for that, believe me) but does it really need to be an every day event? Isn’t it possible to get through one day without complaining?
Secondly, and this goes along with my first point, I am sick of people who turn everything into a pity-party for themselves. See if you know what I’m talking about here. Example: Normal Person: “Ouch, I just whacked my elbow!” Pity-party person: “You think that’s bad? Last week I stubbed my toe and it STILL hurts! Honestly, I think it must be broken. Oh, and then this morning I woke up and my arm was killing me, it still is actually, I’m surprised I’m able to do anything with it. I’m going to the doctor’s about my foot next week, because I’m sure it won’t be better by then anyway.”
Okay, see what I mean? I know WAY too many people like that. And don’t get me wrong, I’m fairly fond of most of them, but honestly, can we just shut up about you for five minutes? Yes, you’re so much worse off than the rest of us, you poor poor soul. Seriously.
Okay, so that was a weak example, but I suppose it’s the best I could do under the circumstances. I don’t want to give an example too specific lest I strike a nerve with one of those people I do feel a fondness for.
I suppose it does say something about my newfound complacency that I can really only find two things that are irritating me. On any other given day I could easily list ten. I just hope this feeling sticks around because I’m finding it somewhat easier to write. I haven’t felt this ease for many years.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is a great piece by any means, I’m not even saying it’s good. But it does FEEL good to just be able to think about something and then write it. I expect this is a jumping off point. It is a charge in my batteries and I hope it lasts for a while, not like those cheap generic batteries that die after a few uses.

Ignorance is a deadly disease

Let’s be realistic for a moment, shall we?

We are a world full of ignorant idiots. I heard yesterday that ignorance simply means not yet taught. True. To an extent anyway. The problem with ignorance is that it is so common it goes unnoticed in our everyday lives. You’ve heard of the phrase “Hiding in plain sight”. I cannot even begin to list the number of ignorant things I hear spewed out of the mouths of friends, co-workers, family, and especially in the media every day. Yes, we are all guilty of this idiocy. Admittedly, there are some who are guiltier than others. I too am guilty; I will not deny it, though if I did, it would only serve to further prove my point.
But to be perfectly honest, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of listening to ignorance day in and day out. I’m tired of nobody being called out on just how ignorant they truly are. I’m tired of just keeping my mouth shut when I hear what has been fondly referred to as verbal diarrhea.
How many times have you had a conversation with someone who is completely arrogant about something they know nothing about? How often have you listened to an opinion with virtually no basis in reality?
Ignorance is the cause for racism. It is the cause for sexism. It is the cause for war. It is literally the cause of everything bad in the world.
I’m sick of it, and you should be to.
There IS a simple cure to this disease. Get educated. Don’t make judgments based on assumptions with no basis in reality. Go out there and learn about people before you decide they aren’t good enough for you. The list is endless.
I highly doubt that ignorance will ever go away, but together we can greatly reduce the amount of it in the world.

Give truth a chance.