The Blog Section Of The Site, 2024

January

I do hope no one forgets that Kristi Noem is a bona fide genocidal terrorist. During the height of the pandemic, she and others like her in the South Dakota government clamored to open up the roads (closed at the time due to pandemic) to the Native American reservations there. This was at a time when neither vaccines nor sufficient treatments were readily available. Like I mentioned previously, my family consists of Holocaust survivors so this sounds very familiar. Morally and ethically? Well you know what the right thing to do here is.
At this point in time I doubt I'm the only one questioning if the human race is truly redeemable as a species. But maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the question that's more worth asking and paying attention to is if the individuals you know have among them people that are worth dealing with the rest of this stupid species for. Maybe it's better to leave the weightier question of if the entire race is worth the effort to keep going up to the gods. I'd say the kids are worth fighting for if no one else. In terms of being worth fighting for, I'd say the kids are closely followed (as a group) by the medical professionals, then the emergency personnel and first responders, and then perhaps essential workers that do their jobs. I say this after seeing what happens when essential workers do not do their jobs or are not in a given place. I'm not saying these groups of people are "more worthy of life." I am saying they are more worthy of risking your own neck for, along with risking your own neck for your loved ones and friends, than for people you don't know who have not earned your trust. Blind faith in humanity isn't a luxury I have anymore.
There are a lot of changes coming. I suspect we will see a lot of logical fallacies from people who have become too stuck in to get out of the ruts they're stuck in without being forcibly dragged out. Here's a very common one that I expect in spades, especially from people trying to be teachers, oy. It goes like so: "It's too complicated, and I don't understand it, and I don't like it. It also contradicts what I have been brought up to believe and/or what everyone else believes. Therefore, it's wrong." The challenge, I think, is in identifying people with this kind of antithetical-to-truth belief system before they are brought into positions of power where they can continue to delude themselves and harm others. And doing everything possible to ensure they stay out of positions of power until (if) they start to value the truth more than their own comfort.

February

Call me out of touch, but I'm old enough to remember when religious people of any religion tried to come to a patient understanding of people of other religions because their own religion told them to. As long as the people they were interacting with seemed to be trying to be good people there was an element of tolerance there based on being religious. Where did it go wrong?
Picture this, if you will. I envision a world where Christian people don't see everyone else as inferior, their enemies, sinful, "fallen," or any number of other pejoratives. Where they try instead of converting people, listening to where they are coming from, having respectful conversations, and putting themselves in the other people's shoes. In this world, recruits to Christianity (ironically) are more numerous, and more legitimate since people come to it out of a desire to be better people instead of fear and suffering. In this world, people know that evangelizing and "missionary work" is actually harmful and counterproductive, and that you get more flies with honey than vinegar anyway. I know this world exists because I've seen it. I've met Christians like this. Have they converted me? No. I'm not convertable, so to speak, though I respect Christianity as a valid path for some who like it. But I at least don't despise Christianity or the powers-that-be behind the religion thanks to them and their efforts. I at least can step foot in a church without terror thanks to people like them.

March

Much as Catholicism has its issues, there are some things it got right, and the Seven Deadly Sins (in excess) is one of them. Guess what exemplifies the sin in excess of Sloth? Racism. There are few things, if any, as lazy as being a full grown adult that can hack it on your own, keep yourself alive, and all that, and refusing to stand on your own two feet. Instead, relying on the efforts of people who are already dead, and your own ancestors among them. And on people who will "work" for you who are just like you - lazy. Why even live at all that way? You're replaceable that way and you can't rely on your so-called friends; their words aren't worth the spit behind them. More importantly why would anyone ever willingly associate with such a person? Any indication of racism is the same as that person saying, "I am fully capable of making it on my own, but I choose not to. Therefore, I am now a parasite on you. If I give anything in return, praise me."
Was reading through one of the guilty pleasure websites I like these days, Postfun and came across an article about the Hells Angels. Rules The Hells Angels Have To Follow As I was reading it, I started thinking to myself "This is familiar. Why is this familiar? Oh." About 15 years ago Israel's culture was very similar. Except with greater diversity and gender diversity since women as well as men got drafted at 18. There's also the fact that the country was founded out of desperation due to pogroms and the Holocaust - I do not know what the founding story of the Hells Angels is. The article is plenty vague, and I assume this is because you'd have to be a Hells Angels to know the full history. Of course, nowadays the rules of honor and integrity that used to be visibly part of israel seem to, in some part of the population (hopefully not a lot) have gone the way of Netanyahu's madness - into total bedlam - but this kind of thing, or something like it, is what the culture was built on.
This Reddit post about Women who were actually tradwives pre-Feminism is interesting. Makes me wonder if everyone in Silent Generation, Millenials, Gen Z and younger folks have a lot in common - more um, inclined to have common sense instead of boil down the complex things about women's rights and economics (and other big topics) into idiotic debates about abortion and defunct economic systems like caste systems and communism, but no one hears about it as much because we're too busy, like, not caring what everyone else is doing
Although initially this point was about just Tumblr, and Communism and why I hate both, this covers more than just those but every toxic movement. Every -ism, every armband-wearing tribe of people just waiting with bated breath to victimize a hapless outsider. They're just getting high off of other people. All of the self-imposed conformity, the "I'm so nice" signaling, the "love" for the in-group. Not only are these folks getting high off of social acceptance, it's not very damn likely that they're doing so out of the goodness of their hearts. In fact it's probably entirely motivated by selfishness. Don't join these cliques - you'll be replaceable, just like them.
Lately Communism has been proving very attractive to younger folks. However, loving Communism now as a species is like going back to an abusive relationship saying "it will be different this time!" yet it somehow never is. Older generations are really dropping the ball, particularly people who actually are from or grew up in Communist places, because it's their duty to categorically prove why people who love Communism are horribly wrong. So if you meet that description, you might wanna get on it before Democracies start looking a lot like the first steps to Communist dictatorships where you're from.
There are several ways to spit in the face of veterans of the military who have given you your freedoms. I am including them here to spread awareness of the problem. Thing the first: supporting the infamous ex-president. Canonically, he supports dictatorships, and has seriously failed to help active duty soldiers and veterans get what they needed - heck, he even got Mattis to quit. If you don't know who that is, that's the guy who trained Lloyd Austin, who is to a large extent responsible for the fact no one has gotten nuked in this Russia-Ukraine conflict. If you don't believe me, a civilian, about how "great" the former guy is and was for veterans and active duty troops, ASK THEM. Second way: discriminate against them when you are hiring. Third way: set off your own fireworks instead of leaving it for the city to put on a large show. PTSD isn't a joke, and if soldiers have risked their life for you in an area with bombs and/or gunfire and worse, it's supreme irony to be triggering their flashbacks, especially on July 4th, the day we are supposedly honoring the freedom soldiers have given us. Final way: to fail to listen to troops and what they need, and to fail to believe them. There's no reason to lie about serious shit like, for instance, the fact that the VA doesn't help soldiers like it should.
Today I learned that Texas ranchers and ranching families will actually risk their lives for the sake of their livestock, especially their cows. They will go the extra mile to give these creatures the best possible quality of life, with total dedication, even at the risk of their livelihoods - the livestock die, the ranch goes under. In all honesty if I'd known this before I would not have ragged on Texas ranching traditions the way I have in sections like the Vegan Foods and other ones. I had a good reason, one that most Texas ranchers are probably not aware of: I'm most familiar with other states' ranchers and monocrop farmers, which mostly consist of inbred motherfuckers ruining the land with negligence, treating their families, children, livestock, and total strangers like slaves, and pretending to be "country" and "hardworking," which to someone from an Israeli farming background is actually insulting. You're supposed to respect what you grow, even if it's vegetables. But I digress. Consider this my way of apologizing. I'm sorry.
You know how West Texas is considered relatively uninhabitable? Not to Israelis. They relocate there, this state starts being a net exporter of all the food. That's how it is.

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