Posted in Issues

Ok….ok….STOP

This is a response blog to The Maker’s gay rights blog.

I did not hear about this blog of his until the morning after, when a friend (who happens to be gay) printed out several copies and handed one to me. “Read this,” he tells me.

Of course, I’m always happy when people go to my website of their own free will, so I gave it a look over. And, admittedly, my first reaction was chagrin and anger. He misquoted and misinterpreted me! The Maker and I have recently had an e-debate over email about this very subject, and all the points in his blog were ones that we’d already fought about. Then I got confused, because the week before, in Trig, he told me that he had revised his opinion because obviously, it’s not someone’s choice to be homosexual, so why should we restrict any rights?

Then I read his blog again. It says he doesn’t “necessarily” agree with the things he was about to write. I’ll admit that this was a badly phrased pre-reading statement, but he means well, guys. In Ford Prefect’s blog about Tolerance, there was a comment from someone asking for The Maker’s arguments AGAINST gay rights, even if he didn’t believe him. True to his word, The Maker posted just these.

HOWEVER, he does not believe the things he wrote. As he said, in speech and debate, we have to be constantly reminded of the “other side”. Those arguments are the “other side” of gay rights arguments. So please, cut the guy a break. It’s perfectly fine to argue against his points, but please, no personal attacks. Especially when he doesn’t believe in those things.

Something else was brought up in the comments section by Adventure Captain Pants, how it would be beneficial for the neutrality of the site if we could get a non-bigoted religious argument against gay rights, because that’s erally the only argument you can use against them. All others, as demonstrated in The Maker’s blog, fall through. So, if anyone is interested in writing a blog from the religious perspective, KEEPING IN MIND that you have to remain non-dogmatic and non-offensive, please let me know. I’m ashamed to admit that neither I nor most of my admins are very religious and cannot offer this other side. If you don’t already have an adminship and wish to write a guest blog, email me at brianna [at] brisownworld [dot] com with your blog. Please check for spelling and grammar, because I’m not going to correct it for you.

So, once again, leave The Maker alone. Argue about his blog, but not about him.

Posted in Issues

Homosexual Rights

Since it was requested, I will lay out my argument against homosexual rights, and I hope it does not leech interest in the much more intriguing Tolerance is Bad blog. Keep in mind that I don’t necessarily believe or support what is listed below.

I will say this again: I do NOT believe or support everything below: I apologize if I offend anyone, and I do know all the fallacies in this reasoning. This is my argument against Gay Rights, since Mr. Prefect asked, and, again, I do NOT believe everything posted below. I know that many of them are partially unsound: hey, everything mostly is, and especially for arguments advocating intolerance.

Also, I would like to mention that I was originally pro-gay, and would scream at everone against gay rights, but then I had a conversation with our esteemed webmistress concerning a philosopher we both knew. She brought up that he was not such a good person to believe, amoung other things, and that I shouldn’t follow his opinions. Many other people, including Mr. Aardvarki, who I had know had also attested to his alledged incompetance, and that originally sowed doubt into my opinions. I got better, eventually.

Again, I would like to reiterate that I do NOT believe most of the things down here (except the pollution clause, as pollution messes up so many things, and many chemicals simulate hormones and chemicals that are known to cause homosexuality, as Mr. N will attest. The homosexuality and AIDS clause is a real, if unpopular, theory, as many scientists refuse to admit the possibility that AIDS is not caused by a virus.). I deeply apologize if I offend anyone,

First point, and I have supported this all my life until Mr. N told me it was totally wrong: Genetics has nothing to do with it. The epiginome and prenatal chemical conditions have a little bit to do with it *, but mainly it’s the environmental effects. Tabula Rasa and all that: one’s sexual orientation is determined by choice and what they experience:

Thesis: Homosexuality is bad, and we should not encourage people to be homosexual, or condone homosexuality.

1: Homosexuality is bad because it is not how it’s supposed to work
a) It’s not natural
b) It’s not productive
c) It detrimentally affects both the homosexual individual and society.

a: Species did not get where they are by being gay.
This doesn’t mean homosexuality is not found in nature, it just means that it is not how it’s supposed to work. All species have a 1-2% anomalous population who are chemically messed up,(2) so homosexuality is accounted for, but, again, species did not get where they are by being gay.

b: From a genetic standpoint, the primary point of a species is to reproduce.
Some anomalies, such as sterile people and homosexual people, do exist, but, in a genetic standpoint, they can live normally and then die naturally, not passing on their genes and thus not affecting anyone else. But, now the homosexual population is increasing, so something must be wrong.

c) Being gay hurts everyone.
1: From personal expirience, most gay and lesbian people I have known are perverted and profane, rude, and basically just bad people. I have counted three people who are good enough to accept and be accepted, and every other gay guy I met is a jerkoff.

2: Another edition of Discover Magazine discusses a certain doctor’s theory on AIDS. I have been looking for this article with little success, and I don’t remember his name, but I think it’s German, but I would encourage all interested partys to look into it. Basically, since we have spent so much time trying to find exactly what causes AIDS, AIDS might not be caused by a virus. Back in the 70’s, gay men used a certain type of drug called Poppers to facilitate intercourse. These drugs actually lowered their immune system, and this evolved into AIDS. Coupled with the fact that, back then, a gay person might have had over one hundred companions in his lifetime, AIDS could have spread among the homosexual population and then spread through blood contamination to all sorts of people. This is why the first AIDS victims were homosexual, and while only 10% of the entire population is homosexual, 25% of the AIDS population is gay. There is a disproportionately large amount of homosexuals who have aids.

3: Homosexuality is a mental disorder:
It has been conclusively determined that homosexuals have a reciprocated hypothalamus,
something not normal affecting their brain. Although we do not look down on people with mental disorders, having a mental disorder is not something most of us would aspire to. (Note: this was originally upheld by the American Psychologists Assosiation.)

2: Someone could be born gay, someone could have seen jacked up muscular men so much that they turned lesbian, or someone could be bisexual because they are really desperate. Homosexuality is attributed to choice, social influences, environmental conditions, and a little bit to prenatal chemical conditions. The last one accounts from the 1-2% of homosexual humans, but the actual figure for homosexuality is more around 10%. This can be because:
a) more people are choosing to be gay
b) more people are turning gay because of social or environmental influences.

a) This could be the result of a degenerate culture, which now not only causes gun violence and prostitution, but now homosexuality

b) this could be the result of pollution and chemicals (Heard about Nalgene? Chinese toys? Chinese milk?) that contaminate the earth now more abundantly, contributing to prenatal chemical conditions. So not only does pollution cause cancer and Global Climate Change, it also causes homosexuality.

3. Even if people were born gay, they can change.
a) DNA changes in real time
b) We suppress genetic impulses all the time
c) The Empirical method.

a) please bear with me, I’m SO tired of explaining to all the ignorant plebeians about genetics. First, genes change in real time: people have studied twins, and their genes are identical at birth but start getting different as they get older and are subjected to various social, psychological, and biochemical influences.

b) We suppress the detrimental genetic impules sexual urges and tenancy to violence all the time, and the government takes pains to treat people who were born violent or addicted to drugs, so why should we condone homosexuality, just because “we were born that way”. I would like to site Mr. Bennett who has only one leg and continually assures everyone that it doesn’t matter.

c) We are not our genes. We are subjected to countless social, biochemical, and stuff whatsit thingamabobs that really determine our being. So what about genetics and all that junk? Be who you want to be, that’s the American idea.

Now consider the analogy of paraplegics:

Paraplegics can be paraplegic because they were born so, they suffered an accident or act of violence and became so, or (I know this is unlikely) they chose to become so.

And one would admit that, while paraplegics are not necessarily bad people, we do not want to many paraplegics rolling around.

So, even if gay people were not necessarily bad, and every population has it’s exceptional people, we do not want too many people to suffer from mental disorders, so we should not encourage people to be gay by condoning them, or offering too much incentive to be gay.

So, we should not encourage people to become homosexual.

Yet again, I reiterate that I do not necessarily believe all these arguments, and I, personally, believe that gay people should have thier rights. I apologize if I offend anyone.

Besides, isn’t the first step to being accepted accepting other people? Tolerate dissenting viewpoints!

I would include the counter-arguments, but I’ll leave that to our devoted viewers and our esteemed webmistress. I do realize that, basically, most of this is irrelevant to why gay people shound’t have rights.

*a 2006 Discover magazine edition revealed that mothers giving birth to male babies still had a bit of testosterone in their womb, which makes subsequent male babies more likely to be gay. The key word is more likely, while prenatal chemical condition effects sexual orientation, it is not conclusive.

Posted in Issues

The Importance of being Ernest

Here’s a little question that you can use in everyday life: Should Honesty and forthrightness still be used if they may be somewhat detrimental?

True, one can tell the truth without being honest, and one can be honest without having to point things out, but I wonder about earnestness, being sincere and forthcoming (Which is why I used the Oscar Wilde play for the title)

One, it’s nice and, well, earnest to be honest all the time.

But people mostly don’t want to know and don’t really care anyways.

And additionally, people don’t NEED to know every insolent item in existence

But being forthcoming shows one’s willingness to be honest and such.

But ignorance is bliss and people don’t need to know all the inconvenient truths laying around.

Furthermore, many times the truth hurts and sometimes one might want to tell a soothing lie.

But I would like to know what the internet population believes. This little topic applies to everyday life as well as things like politics. Should people be honest and sometimes mean all the time? Should politicians always tell the truth? Hmmmnm,

Posted in Issues

Tolerance

I have a very confusing conjectural moral question I was hoping the internet population could help me out with. Regarding Tolerance.

Now, It is not nice to prosecute people with a differing opinion than yours, and there are many pleas for tolerance from writers and critics old and new, attesting the desirably of tolerance. But…

If we accept tolerance, we are basically saying that every system of beliefs is equally valid and that we need to accept diversity.

That is saying that there is a possibility of our system of beliefs being wrong and their system of beliefs being right.

And to admit that possibility, we concede that we have doubts about our own system’s validity, which basically defies our system of beliefs.

So the only way to be true to our system of beliefs is to not accept any possibility that it is wrong, which sparks intolerance.

But to carry out that intolerance, we must squash the dissidents. But that leads to the first point, as persecution is not nice. And the thing goes round and round again.

So what do all you intelligent and opinionated people think? I hope you can alleviate my confusion. Or, if not, then you can join me.

Posted in Issues, Politics

Drugs…

Legalize or no?

Personally, I think we should legalize all drugs, the war on drugs is doing basically nothing and all it really resorts to is people on the street making money when legitimate businesses could be making that money and they could be taxed, getting more money for the government to pay for programs, and taking that money off the street. Making items illegal doesn’t stop them from being bought, it just forces the law enforcement to work harder. Look at alcohol (when banned, people who wanted it still got it illegally), guns (in D.C. they still have the highest crime rates, even with guns banned. This will just put arm dealers in control of guns), and abortions (they still happen when not legal, its just that people will self-perform them, making it ultimately more dangerous for the mother). Now, I hate drugs, I’ve made a 15 minute movie on how bad meth is, and 3 short commercials on smoking, but these videos won’t stop enough people to make a difference on the industry.

I’d like to hear your thoughts!

Posted in Issues

Background Info: Important or just a freakin’ waste of time?

I’m wondering something and I wonder what everyone else thinks.

Is it really important to know background information? Aren’t solid facts enough without reasoning, subtlety, and explanations? True, it’s nice to know, but is it really necessary? Do you really need to know every detail about combustion engines and the history of oil manufacture to drive a car? Obviously you do not, but there are less extreme cases. Consider Math. You can get by perfectly knowing that logarithm (log) can be used to determine y in 9^y=x with y =log5(x). You don’t need to know what log is, just how to use it to find y in the equation. Beyond finding it on your calculator, this is all you need, in your current situation, to know about logarithms, right?

So why are people so concerned with background info? Is it not enough to know that the Protestants fought the Catholics in the 30 years war without going into differences in dogma, which sprung from protestant reformation leaders, each with their own history that coalesced into their motives? Who cares? Who really needs to know about Zwingli or the Ursuline order of nuns or who attended Martin Luther’s trial? Correct me if I’m wrong, but NOBODY DOES!! NOBODY CARES!! True, some historians or socioligists might care, but 1) they aren’t us, who aspire to achieve something less boring, and 2) the past is past and doesn’t matter to us. Or maybe it really does matter.

Which brings another point. WHY do we have to study history at all? True, it tells us why things are the way they are, and sometimes we want to know that (but it’s more often with social interactions involving someone of the opposite sex) but we can get along perfectly without it. Do we need to know about particle physics and thermodynamics to build a hot air balloon? What’s wrong with knowing that hot air rises and leaving it at that?

Honestly, one could say ignorance is bliss as information builds shades of gray which are annoying. But it’s always nice to know things in case they come in handy. But that is for future necessity, not current need. And then one can say information breeds insight. But mostly it just causes confusion and hesitation, as one weighs the possibilities. So what do you think? I would love to know if I’m insightful or just totally conkers.

Posted in Issues, Politics

Three down, forty-seven to go…

Tell me: what do these three names have in common: “Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut.”
That’s right, folks: these are the names of the states in which gay marriage is now legal! The Connecticut Supreme Court today, in a 4-3 vote, decided that a ban on gay marriage constituted “cognizable harm” and infringed on a “fundamental right” of same-sex couples, and was, overall, unconstitutional. If you’d like to read a bit more about the ruling, copy this URL and paste it into your URL box: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4996BE20081011

Posted in Issues

Conforming

Since none of you OBVIOUSLY cared not about stem-cell research, this submission is upon the basic dichotomy of conforming to society or dancing to your own tune. I know bullying isn’t as much a problem as it was a long time ago, both in last decade and elementary school (young kids seem more discriminatory), but still.

They’re always there. Everywhere you go, you see buff, pumped up, steroid munching jocks and anorexic, implanted models. They are The Fad. The Style. The thing to be. Everyone around you subscribes to this belief: everything they do is Right. The world constantly attempts to squash out any difference with a military neatness. They mold you like clay to adopt their merchandise, their virtues, their thoughts. One is pressured to conform, encouraged by every medium to adhere to brand-name conformity and adopt uniform, national blandness.

But what of those who refuse? The dissidents of Pop culture. They wander, receiving quizzical looks, suffering the jests and jeers of outraged authority, who themselves discarded their uniqueness to adapt to society. Is the reward of personal contentment, to know that you AREN’T the product of Hollywood and Madison Avenue, enough to shield you from the constant insults, the unrelenting hurricane of prejudice against difference? Is it better to be oneself even if that self is not socially accepted? Do the masses mock and malign you for your dissidence, taking refuge in the fact that you arn’t suffering like they are, stripped of their thoughts, their values, the very essence that makes them an individual? Do you sit alone, wearing your personally tailored suit or outfit that went out of style last century, or do you sit with ‘friends’, wearing glittering lip gloss and Aztec Blue eyeshadow or munching on steroids, laughing and discussing a funny movie you all saw?

Posted in Issues

Stem Cell Recearch

The picketers, they line the aisles
with their signs, their chants, their winded rants.
They scream, “Infidels” and “Infanticide”
None of them where the smile
They all wear the face
of grim protest
against an issue they detest.
They stock up references,
Potential situations
The enmity swells.
The people rally around their beliefs
their code.
their way the world should work
“It’s not right!” they cry.

Meanwhile, the policeman
and father of one
is at the hospital with his only son
Who is into baseball. He’s getting pretty good too.
The doctor waits with a calm face
and tells the dad that his son is going blind.
The policeman asks what can be done
The doctor replies, “I’m afraid hope there is none”
the father refuses to believe
He looks it up, and visits
the Clinic at the edge of the city
Where the human body is kept under ice.
He waits with another woman, whose niece has been paralyzed, and finally gets to see the doctor.
“The technology is here,” the doctor sympathizes,
“But we need money to get it approved by the FDA, and that is not likely as we are primarily
government funded.”
The policeman goes back to his son, who is squinting at baseball cards. He looks into his eyes, already blurry with cataracts.
“It’s not right,” he cries.

Posted in Issues

I couldn’t get into it (This blog is about gays) (read it)

I’m not going to post a music blog today.

No, no I won’t. Because I’ve got something on my mind. So you all know I’m in newspaper class. One of my articles (big suprise) is about the gay marraige disputes in California, Florida, and another place that escapes me at the moment. Unfortunately, we’re putting it under “news”, meaning that I can’t express my opinion on the dumb people I interviewed.

But then I think… I have a website!! I can dig into the dumb people as much as I want! I won’t mention names, just know… these are exact quotes from actual interviews that I conducted. Keep that in mind.

BRI: What is your opinion on the people polling for the rights for gays to marry?
DUMB KID 1: It’s WRONG. They don’t deserve rights.
B: Why not?
DK1: They’re not real people (laughing)
B: So gay people are not real people.
DK1: No
B: Why not
DK1: Because they’re less than human.
B: What makes them less that human
DK1:They’re gay
B: What defines a human, then?
DK1: Um, that you’re attracted to the opposite sex
B: That’s the only thing that makes you human?
DK1: In my opinion

Ok, dumb kid 1, in your opinion, what makes something a human is that is attracted to the opposite sex. Notice he did not specify physical attributes. Using his logic, the two dogs in the park that you don’t want to look at are human. You know, the ones who are being ignored by their owners until they start making a… scene. They are humans. And the proud duck parents trotting around with their ducklings, they are humans too.

BRI: What’s wrong about gay marraige?
Dumb Kid 2: Uh, a guy liking a guy is…. way beyond belief.
B: Why?
DK2: I can’t wrap my mind around it… I dunno. It’s just my opinion
B: There has to be a reason for your opinion.
DK2: I really don’t know
B: Is there a basis for this opinion of yours?
DK2: Actually, no, it’s just a choice I made
B: Choice? You don’t have to be gay to be pro gay marraige.
DK2: Yeah, but, I’m not FOR gay marraige
B: Why not?
DK2: I hate gays
B: Why.
DK2: Because they’re gay

So this interview with Dumb Kid Two just went into a circle. I was getting very frustrated. I thanked him and walked away, then lamented to Bart about it. He just laughed.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not making fun of people who are against gay marraige. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I am making fun of the people who are against gay marraige for reasons they don’t even understand, and the people who have silly arguments. I mean, come on. The what is a human argument should be enough to tell you that some people just don’t get it.

The reason I don’t take these people seriously is that they
A. Have no basis for their opinions, or
B. They can’t back up their arguments

Now, I want to address one more thing. Dumb Kid One told me that marraige should be between a man and a woman, because it’s in the bible. Because it is his belief, and because I know other people who agree, I’m not going to make fun of this. I wouldn’t have, anyways, because hey, if that’s what you believe, I respect that.

But here’s my problem; people forcing others to believe. In our Constitution, we are awarded the “freedom of religion”. The religious people against gay marraige recognize the right for others to worship in their own way, or not worship at all. And yet they still expect everyone to abide by the rules of THEIR religion. Does this make any sense? No, no it does not.

So, citizens of the United States, here is my proposal. Give us unrestricted religious freedom, or take it away altogether. Stop withholding my rights as granted to me in the Constitution, or force me to convert! There is no middle ground, America!