Friday, 26 November 2010

When I'm 64

I am now old. I hope you wished me a Happy Birthday, if not do it now! It's not too late. I'm currently on 102 birthday wall posts, that's how bloody loved I am, or that's how many of my friends can read... I do apologise if my recent blogs haven't always been fully updated. I've been very busy at work and so I haven't had time to dedicate to typing something great because of how tired I've been. Get over it though you dick, I don't do anything for a shit like you.


So yes! Yesterday was my birthday, I had an enjoyable day, despite the terrible day at work. I got a lot of great gifts, and today was pay day so it was all gravy. Thanks to a few special people my evening was wonderful and the evening before had also been quite fantastic! I will be telling you about my evening and then my woes of getting older, as if you care! 


So yes, I saw the musings and hilarity of Greg Davies on Wednesday evening. 

Friday, 19 November 2010

Losing My Religion

Hello you moral people. I bet you love preaching your ethics. "I don't eat meat" "I practice safe sex" "I give money to the RSPB" Blah, blah, blah! Well most people seem to believe that you need to subscribe to a religion to be moral. The amount of times I've heard "Atheists are immoral!" It's such a stupid argument. I am (kind of) an atheist. I am more moral than most fundamental religious people. The thing with ethics and morality is that it's all cultural. A few classic examples...


A homosexual man can get a civil partnership here, but in the 'great' nation of Qatar, homosexuality is illegal because the country rules by religion and the Qur'an condemns homosexuality. 


I can kill myself in Switzerland but in the United Kingdom ending my own life is considered wrong and is therefore illegal here.   


I can eat meat, as much as I want here without too many people judging me, but Buddhists would look at me in disgust. Well, not really but they certainly wouldn't approve.


The point being morality is what we call subjective. Do you remember what that word means? It means it is not universally true. X-Factor is utter shit. That is objective meaning it's a fact ;) Just like 2+2 = 4. However, morality is, in a way, a matter of opinion. I will concede that there is the odd moral law that everyone abides by... as far as I'm aware, murder has always been considered immoral. Obviously circumstances surrounding taking someone's life have changed between culture and era. I.e. if I murdered the man who raped someone I was close to, some cultures would say that was acceptable. 


But this subjectivity holds true for the most part. Which is precisely why I am so against religion! Religious doctrine is written at a time when certain things are moral and certain things are considered wrong. However, give it ten years or so and things change. People naturally change their ideas and beliefs. So how the hell can we adhere to such strict ethics? 


Now don't get me wrong, certain religions aren't immoral or wrong per say and if it makes you happy to believe in a higher power that created all life, then that's fine. But don't suggest to me that your so much more moral than I. I don't need a book to tell me how to live my life pal. Anyway, don't think your so smart, we're sheep...what we consider moral is what we've been told. If I should steal, my mother will tell me it is wrong. It is wrong in this society and this life. Who knows, somewhere down the line it may be moral? It's an extreme example, but how can we know?


That's the whole point. Morality is constantly changing and shifting. It's as diverse as the nation we live in. I think living my life the best I can is good enough for any possible divine being. I want to support gay rights and say that the war in Iraq wasn't necessarily a bad idea (despite it being a bloody mess) and I want to argue that women should have the right to an abortion. If that makes me a bad person in your eyes, then so be it. Many religions are wrong in my eyes but it doesn't make them wrong. That's the thin line of morality. We have to be understanding. Some more examples...


Why are Jehova's Witnesses against blood transfusions? They believe their blood is clean and not dirty. This belief leads to many dying because they can't have the transfusion but in their eyes, the person is saved by having good blood. Yet they've let somebody die! Surely this is immoral? 


Or the Westboro Baptist Church who believe 'fags' should burn in hell. Should they? I don't think so. That's there interpretation of the Bible and a very horrible one too! After all, homosexuality is just how some people are, we should love them just the same. Also, if they're taking the Bible so literally they should be against literally a million things but they're not because most people like to cherry pick to suit themselves. They like to consider themselves moral by acting how they want. Doesn't really work does it? 


We can judge people all we want and we can try and argue that our corner of morality is correct but at the end of it all, people act the way they were raised. People's morality is mostly defined by background and social upbringing. If I was raised in the forties and you had sex before getting married, I'd be disgusted. If you did it and I was raised in the nineties (which I was) I wouldn't care...people do it all the time.


Next time you think about questioning someone's ethics, just try understanding why they have them and only question them if you have good reason to. Unless it's something ridiculous which is one of the objective moral codes, i.e. don't murder or rape or steal then perhaps you should just let them get on with their own damn lives.


Now go away. 

Friday, 12 November 2010

Where is my Mind?

Apathy can be an awful thing. I like to debate ideas, argue, discuss and muse as much as the next person, We need to care about certain issues! If we didn't care people would just become ravaging murderers and rapists, guaranteed. Can you imagine? "A 16 year old girl was raped by a horrible scumbag, ...we go over to the courts now, where John Bompkin is there to hear the verdict, John?" "Hello Sue, yes it was the oddest occurence, the judge heard all the evidence, the jury believed the man was guilty and the judge shrugged and said "Shit happens." It would be awful! This isn't satire, or my sick attempt at humour, I'm making a point. We need to care because otherwise awful things would continue to happen. 


However, over the past...hmm, day? Just kidding, maybe a couple of months, I've stopped caring about the little and medium things. I've adopted a new philosophy, if it doesn't directly affect me then I will happily shrug my shoulders and say 'shit happens'. Scratch that, that sounds awful! What I mean is, the stuff that's really not worth getting angry about. I used to get really angry about creationists and those who didn't believe in evolution. Shocker, me being angry didn't change anything. It just got me stressed and made me look crazy, ranting away. I also really hate Jedward. God damn them. I still am amazed their allowed to be on television, even if it is to be horribly mocked (See the Buzzcocks episode with them). However, shouting abuse about them loudly in a pub won't stop bloody morons around this planet practically crying for glee when they appear in a television advert. What did make me laugh though was Jack Dee said 'It's good to see Jedward haven't sold out yet...' Literally a week later they were in that obnoxious DS advert. Bloody hell. 


The reason I think we need to sometimes be apathetic and just not care. We need to stop getting so worked up, sure care to the extent that you don't look hearltess but stop worrying! Stress can be bad for you, note my earlier blog 'Under Pressure'. Something's happened recently that has got people very stressed. I am of course talking about the removal of the cap on student fees. The government need money so they want people to pay more for Uni so they don't have to pay out as much themselves. After Clegg's biggest promise to cut student fees, having the exact opposite happen has made people very angry and so they decided to riot about it! 


Firstly, are you at all surprised? I bet some of you voted Cameron too..uh, duh...he likes the rich? He won't give you free education. Also, Clegg is a hypocrite, big deal! The riot two days ago was not the way forward. I suppose it's a bit like the extremist Muslims affair. We can't lump all students in the same bag but fucking hell, that is not the way to make your voice heard. Destroying government property isn't going to make them listen to you. It doesn't make you look intimidating, you just look like a dumb shit bag who is clearly too retarded to go to Uni anyway. Especially as, if you used your brain you'd have worked out it was property that they'll use tax payers money to pay for. Less money for University tuitions, well done you. 


It's about setting the right impression. To get their respect don't act how the big bad politicians view you. Act like a cultured, intelligent youth who just wants the Scrooges to see you can't afford the fees. I know this is bloody hard for you to appear intelligent. Once more, to quote the words of Orson Welles (not that you would know who he is) "They teach anything in universities today. You can major in mud pies." It's ridiculous. 


I know you probably think I couldn't give a shit about student fees because what I plan to do doesn't see me at Uni for sometime. Wrong. I think it's stupid they're doing it but I'm not getting irate. Why? Because I'm not going? No, because I couldn't afford Uni anyway, and they're going to do what they want regardless. I did my bit, I voted Lib Dem, it didn't work out, o well. I didn't even vote Clegg for that reason, I liked their policy on scrapping our nuclear defence programme. I'm not remotely surprised they've not cut student fees. 


Want to get angry about stuff? Fine, go ahead, tire yourself out. Don't go around getting wound up about stuff you can't fix. Remember what I said about being positive? Boo hoo, you might have to pay some more fees. At least you've got arms and legs and a brain and food and a house and parents who love you. Well, I have, don't know about you. At work I hear so much bullshit complaining about things and I naturally do it too, but if I catch myself I try not too. It's not worth it, take it on the chin and man up pussy. 


O, next time you vote, ask "Where is my Mind?" ;) and use reason to work out that the politicians are probably lying. The Pixies knew it (it's their song in the title.) So keep your head and don't look so shocked when they lie. O, and certainly don't get so angry when things happen that you can do nothing about. Care by all means, state your opinion, but do not get so angry and stressed! Cool it, you're only hurting yourself, nobody really cares why you're so upset. I certainly don't.


Now go away. 

Friday, 5 November 2010

Armagideon Time

I might as well call this blog "Bloody America" or "Land of the Retarded" rather than 2010, Here We Go... With this blog, it will be the third of blogs that are so against America. Last week's criticised their stupid ways of life that we seem to love and worse of all take on too, and 'America Fu*k Yeah!' spoke of five things I'd change, some more serious than others! However, this week has to be another one against this country across the pond! The only reason though is the timing, as they've just held the mid-term elections and they've pissed me off yet again by giving so much vocal support to the Tea Party which I'll be complaining about today! If you don't know who they are, you soon will ;) Remember when I loved America so much? I used to talk about it all the time...man, what a crap country. I could use my Rooney joke again but it wasn't funny, i.e. suddenly changing my mind! In fairness, I still want to visit it and see a lot of it and I do miss the people and my time there greatly and it does do some things really well. However, today will be one other thing they do wrong, kind of a major one too! 


So yes, those not remotely interested in politics might as well go away now! For those who are interested but uninformed, America had an election for the Senate and the House of Representatives which together form the Congress. Basically, when a law or act is proposed it's proposed by the Senate. The Senate is made up of 100 people, 2 Senators from each state. After the law is looked over etc, it goes up to the House of Representatives, which is made up of seats that, as far as I understand it are 'won' when you win a State when running for President. Each state is worth a number of seats, and even though Bush won less states in 2004, he won more seats and therefore won the election. That's basically how it works...I think :D 


The law or act or whatever goes to the House of Representatives, they look it over and then it goes back and fourth! When it finally goes through to the President decides to veto it or pass it. HOWEVER, if he vetoes it and then the House of Representatives over rules that by a 3/4 majority, the law or act will go through. Still following? By that reckoning, if the President doesn't have his party in the majority in the House of Representatives, it will be quite hard for them to stop a law or act or vice versa, have it passed. The mid term elections were to decide the majority of the House of Representatives and elect any new Senators.


After that long winded, but necessary explanation, this is wherein the problem lies. Obama's president, I really hope those reading are aware of that much. He's a Democrat. The Tea Party are extreme Republicans, uh oh! The Senate wasn't a problem as there aren't many people stepping down. However, Obama feared losing his support in the House of Representatives. America's biggest problem right now is that they are under the moronic impression that Obama hasn't done much, and what he has done isn't very good. If you share this dumbass view, please visit this website...


http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/?ref=nf

Recently, because of Obama's 'failings', this has led to a surge of support for the right wing, most of which is because of stupidity and the wrong idea of how things should be done. Obama's biggest change was to the health care plan. In America, they don't like people having health! No, that's just me being a dick about it. The Americans have, since Regan, believed this horrible idea that people should be independent and get things themselves. Health care is a privilege, if you can afford it, you deserve it. I'm sure if you told it this way to any middle class American they'd choke on their roast beef and spit out their champagne. They believe they're in the right to have this independent thought, it's all tied in with their bullshit 'dream', if you work hard enough you will achieve anything.


Well, wake up America. This is a lovely idea, in the same way Santa is. Not everyone can do this because of the rich and poor divide. The middle class white man in America can do very well for himself, the people who live in the inner city and are essentially stuck in a rut are the ethnic minorities. Now...this isn't to suggest America's purposely racist, it's just how it is. When Andrew Neil, who recently did a programme on the Tea Party, suggested this, the man actually wept...it was pathetic. Let me just explain it in a wider context. It's like poverty in Africa. However hard they work, or what they do, they'll always be in abject poverty no matter how much money we pour in. The money needs to be spent properly...and this ties in nicely with the way things are done here.


The American's don't like the NHS (which is our health care system, which Obama basically wants to adopt) because they don't want to pay for their 'lazy' neighbour. Well here's wherein the issue lies. Your fellow man, Mr. American, can't afford health care. Although I agree the government in America shouldn't be involved in certain aspects of life, purely because the country is too diverse, health and education are two key areas we should all give money too if we can. I would much rather live in a country where money is used effectively and the rich pay for the poor than to see people suffer just because they couldn't get a basic job, which was probably down to poor education ;) 


Now, this is all idealistic but at least we sort of have it here. Yes I know there are bums out there who scam the system and those who laze about but they are, despite what the Daily Mail claims, in the minority. I would much rather get angry at the rich. Why do you need so much money? If I ran the country, which I would but to quote Orson Welles, 'Only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics, and I'm dumb enough to want to be in there.' But if I ever lose some brain cells, here's what I'd do. I'd scrap private health and education. It's a psychological thing. People think they pay more to get a better service. While this may be true, if there was only one which everyone contributed to then it would, theoretically, get better. 


One of the big reasons the rich don't like to pay tax is because they don't use the government services, what if they had to? People don't need the kind of money they have....I'm not suggesting fully fleged communism but I certainly think more money should go to teachers and school funds and obviously people's health. If you live in a country, and you are a legal citizen, you have just as much right to free health and education as anybody. Perhaps people think this is too fair, that some don't deserve it. Well I say they do, be they Black, Asian, homosexual, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, South African ;).


To sum up, America needs to learn a thing or two about basic morals. If we don't begin to look after our fellow man regarding their basic rights, health and education, it will indeed be Armagideon Time. It's a song by The Clash again. It won't actually be that bad but I guarantee America, if you continue to support these right wing nuts who...just a year ago you mocked and scorned, you will be fucked. Get some decency and sort it out yeah? Despite my agreement that America is too vast, don't think that means you should rule yourselves, because we're not ever going to be at that stage. Mankind is too greedy, arrogant, selfish...Hell, I wouldn't trust me to rule myself. I'd just masturbate all day, including when I was in the dole line getting my money for literally being a wanker. Hope that was enough food for thought,


Now go away.