If Only

If only I had more time, I would write a novel.

If only I had more time, I would update this blog.

BUT, I don't.

I hope to.

I promise to do a blog post on my b-day this month.

Unhappy birthday.

Memes For Sale

In honor of my new phone, here is a collection of memes I've been saving on my 3GS. 

Blame the Dads

This report out of the Sandy Hook massacre back in December 2012 is wrong on so many levels. Here's why:

1. The fact that Adam Lanza had readily accessible ammunition and firearms at his disposal. That said, we'll save the gun control debate to another post, one where I'm interested in engaging in a long winded comments "discussion" about it and still not convincing the other side of the errors in promoting gun ownership.

2. The fact that the kids in this situation knew what was happening. By this I mean that adolescent minds have been pre-conditioned to expect something like Sandy Hook to happen.

The Sandy Hook shooting wasn't the first shooting on a school campus, far from it; however, the sheer ferociousness of this killing caught our collective psyche off guard. We have to shrug our shoulders when we look at this portrait of a young boy who slowly descended into madness because to acknowledge the truth that we as a society ignored him...I don't think we could live with the guilt.

Is the only answer for kids today to take a gun and shoot up the school? Moreover, is this "answer" something which teens and children are supposed to prepare for as they progress into adulthood? Doesn't this type of thing happen in shopping malls as well?

IMHO, to hear that Lanza shot at a cramped bathroom of 18 students who were trying to squeeze in and lock the door tells me that the victims' innate conditioning kicked in. I hypothesize that this conditioning isn't as primal as we'd like to believe it is; instead, I'm feeling that modern day society has created   culture in which young kids are saturated with shock and "winner-take-all" imagery, that Adam Lanza's massacre was both predetermined and a precursor to what can happen again. My ultimate hope is that parents and adults (both father AND mothers!), can create an environment where we recognize early signs of insanity and immediately intervene.

3. The fact that people (e.g., comments, article slants, media coverage, etc.) are emphasizing their blame on the mother, and overlooking the father's influence has in this situation. Maybe it's easier to blame someone who can't defend themselves (she was murdered by her own son - let that sink in for a second). BUT, the father is the surviving lineage to Adam Lanza, however he's not really the focus of current events. Society seems to be more keen on reliving and retelling the events from that tragic day. But I ask, where is the father in all of this? Also, why is the mother taking a trip when the boy hasn't come out his room for three months? Is she just giving up her house to this dude? Why hasn't anyone called the cops???

It saddens me to think that there exist adult parents who are so interested in the immediate pleasure of their lives, that they fail to act upon warning signs from their own flesh and blood? Dads, take note on this one: DO SOMETHING about your kid, or you're going to be the one who take the blame.

My Duty to Purchase Health Care

As a die-hard liberal Democrat, I too think the Federal Health Care Exchange was poorly executed.

I would consider myself literate (look, I'm even posting a blog entry here on blogger, but should it be tumblr?), and even I had trouble clicking through the myriad of clunky pages to make sure I completed every text box so I could progress, ONLY to get to a page telling me I wasn't qualified for any financial assistance.

Great.

If I was a monolingual family, a high school drop out, or a senior whose eyes were bad (all individuals which this "ObamaCare" was supposed to target and level the playing field for), I would have a tough time signing up for health care, heath care I'm now required to have by law.

In my humble opinion (IMHO), the Democrats should have stayed committed to a single payer system and not caved into special interests; specifically, insurance and pharmaceutical blood sucking corporations.

!!!BONUS TEXT!!!

Harris is correct in warning people of scams around the new website and ACA law. With so much confusion around what's required of people now, there will most definitely be people who will be looking to a make a quick buck.

FINALLY, here's the current context.

Punk, Quotation Marks, and the Dilemma of Making a Point

First there's this (Minor Threat shirts at Urban Outfitters).

Then there's this (Punk at New York fashion week).

And finally this (the Descendents play the America's Cup).

Then I felt compelled to post this status update on Facebook: The Descendants are playing the America's Cup, Minor Threat shirts are being sold at Urban Outfitters, and "Pink is Punk" is a theme at NY Fashion Week. WTF?! When did Punk die?

Seriously, I'm not a "punk," I don't live in the gutter, I have a full time job, I'm a dad with two kids, I worry about bills, and I don't drink myself stupid every night. That said, punk isn't only what I just described. It means different things to different people. I'm only trying to make a point that I'm not a stereotypical "punk." 

So saying, I do subscribe to a "punk ethos" (e.g., DIY, anti-corporate, f.everything, dowhatchulike, etc.) and grew up listening the music, skateboarding, and acting like a "punk." Does this make me an authority on what qualifies as "punk?" Moreover, does this authorize me to comment on my interpretation of what the "punk scene" is and should be? Obviously not, but the music and people who create and listen to it matter to me, so I can't help but feel a connection to "punk," even to this day. 

THUS, when I read about the above mentioned "synergies" between the bands, music, and culture I value with the bloodsucking corporate suck (nod to Ed Templeton) which is the America's Cup, Urban Outfitters, etc., I can't help but get bummed on it. 

That's it. I'm bummed on it, but I'll get over it. I'll keep listening to the bands, keep watching their old concerts on youtube, and keep trying to get my kids to learn these songs.

In essence, trying to think of creative and relevant ways to rant about this topic on my unknown blog is an exercise in futility because it's stupid to talk about "punk" as a thing. Moreover, any points I can make have been said a million times before, so seriously, what's the point? In my humble opinion, only self-important critics feel the need to make a real statement about the relationship between punk, corporate dollars, and the watering down of what punk rock means, or what it should mean, or what it shouldn't mean...See? It's ridiculous to even try to make a valid point about all this. 

Maybe I'm more of a nihilist who's too self-aware about my insignificance in this world. Maybe I'm a neo-post-modernist. Or maybe not. Who knows? Who cares? Whatever.

Nerd Alert

My job pays me to be a brainiac. I'm the person staff look to when they attempt to "synthesize" ideas into a coherent document. People nod in agreement when I speak and stare at me with an intensity that's almost searching for a sort of revelation about the topic at hand. How did it get to be like this?

Before I landed my current job, I was enthralled with the idea of actual "work." The work I'm talking about is the kind where you get your hands dirty, literally. I felt, and still feel, that unless you're breaking a real sweat, you're not really "working." Instead, you're just pushing things around, talking a lot, and generally being disposable and easily replaceable. 

Maybe it's my sociology background talking, but the whole idea of capitalism, and to a a greater extent, the idea of America, was based on the work ethic of the highly religious Protestants. Their notion that you had to work to make a living as a successful adult male must have really took its toll on me. I sometimes feel that I'm not really working when comparing my occupation to something more laborious like a ditch digger, construction, etc. 

I like to work hard, but not work a lot. Maybe it's because my job comes easy for me. Maybe I long to feel the backbreaking aspect of my "work." 

What a thing to be complaining about, right?

The War on Women

First there's this. 

And then this.

And finally this.

And there's more stuff in India, Brazil, etc., etc., etc.

What is it about our culture that creates such a hostility towards women? Have men been exalted to this new level of social interaction and consciousness where it's ok to chuckle off sexism and innuendo because, well, "that's just how it is?"

Violence and violent images seem to dominate social media memes. There are a lot of "Get back in the kitchen" and "My girlfriend can't look at other guys" jokes and puns. Some of them are innocent enough and clever, but they can easily take a dark turn into violence against women. 

Images of grabbing, punching, and even choking are common. The more violent ones oftentimes elicit a few offended replies from women, but I'm afraid they fall on deaf ears. It's a lot funnier to LMBAOOOOOOOOO!!!! than to analyze the societal impacts of subjecting our minds to these consistent images of degrading women.

I don't know.