Maybe. Maybe not. Either way there’s a particular scene that’s starting to bug me.

It’s the “smart” crowd. Those (mostly) young people who believe they are progressive and evolved enough that their opinions on legislation and the world make them inherently and objectively correct. That because they subscribe to a set of ethics that is upheld by a certain class with celebrity and marked by its “free-thinking” ways they are automatically justified and validated and right. They have become the intelligensia and anyone who is not with them is ignorant and just plain wrong.

These people don’t feel the need to support their life constructs. They refuse to have a conversation or discussion, because they’re right. And that’s that.

Today is the day that the California Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. Regardless of your ethical beliefs, the point here is not discrimination. The point here is democracy working as it should. The majority voted, the majority rules — as with our current president. The majority voted for him, the majority ruled. Those that voted the other way do not have the opportunity to repeal that vote and send it back to the Supreme Court for another ruling. Yet at the state level people will whine and complain and make appeals. And often times get their way.

Not today though. The CA Supreme Court has really upheld American democracy.

But what really gets me, again, are the people I know who are so convinced their ethics structure is correct that they demonize anyone with an alternate view. They have been fed media and regurgitate media. They buy into the fabricated world that everyone is agreed and has reached consensus, but don’t do research for themselves.

There was a great “Simon Says” story on NPR just after that Miss California “fiasco” entitled The Difference Between Listening and Hearing:

Donald Trump suggested this week that people who ridicule Carrie Prejean for opposing gay marriage should remember that she has the same position as President Obama. Yet many people who like and admire the president see him as friendly to same-sex marriage. Ms. Prejean has been mocked as some kind of beach-blonde California airhead, or worse, a bigot.

Scott Simon gives a terribly insightful narrative concerning how the “smart people” interact with the world. Now, to generalise, many of these individuals are strong Obama supporters–many to the point of fanboy/girl status–but they can’t allow themselves to believe he has a different view from them. They are validated by having an “intelligent” president in office (totally different topic, but I’d argue that Bush was also intelligent–as was Bill Clinton, to be fair–and that an unwillingness to associate with anything considered fashionably taboo keeps them from admitting it), and there is absolutely no way he can not support same-sex marriage. Shock. Scandal. True.

Also from Simon:

I play this little exercise this week because it may show how people — especially intelligent people — hear what they want to. They like the president, and know he’s smart. So they assume he agrees with them, even when he says otherwise. People who are sure they would never slur someone because of religion or race will belittle a 22-year-old because she’s a beauty queen and cannot possibly hold the same opinion as someone they admire.

It makes it a bit harder, but more important, to do real journalism and sometimes tell an audience, “We know what you think you know. But listen to this.”

It’s time to grow up and actually pay attention to what’s going on beyond the hype and marketing. I have not yet resigned myself to the inevitability of marketing ruling my life. Because it doesn’t and won’t. I will remain a critical thinker and strongly wish others–particularly the people I consider friends–would do the same.

Sometimes what you know you don’t really know at all. And never have. Question yourself and question the media.

This is the most frustrating project I’ve had to deal with in a long time.

• They can’t send images separate from a Word document but wonder why they get messed up in the conversion.
• They send me the wrong content and I work hours to get it up just to find out it’s wrong and I have to redo it.
• They insist on calling me instead of emailing. Come on! I don’t need a phone call, I just need the correct information. Email is SO much more efficient for me.
• They think theirs is the only project I’m working on. And they give me their content last minute. Not the one week ahead of time policy we have in place.
• They don’t know how to use a computer!!!

Makes me so mad. Anyway. Thank you blog for letting me vent.

I’m sick of opening up Facebook and seeing snide news story posts with even worse comments by the poster. Because on Facebook you really can’t trust that anyone knows the issues. And you can bet they have no interest in finding out about them.

How can someone presume to be smarter than the architects and engineers who have studied for years to understand the physics and sciences of how a massive building can stay standing, just because she is a lover of history??? There is no way that you could have any idea of the danger or risk that building meant to this campus and the hundreds of people that scurry about the grounds every day with the arts and crafts and complaining you have devoted your life to.

It is ignorant to be so presumptive. It is repugnant to attack the decision after the fact. And it makes me really mad that one could be so close-minded as to not weigh all the options or hear all of the reasoning or make an effort (other than writing letters to the local newspaper and complaining in the community) to actually help the cause but instead criticize and undermine an institution that does so much good for Christ’s kingdom.

/rant

Illinois keeps showing me why it’s a lowsy state to live in. A few things I hate about Illinois:

• Gas tax. Illinois has one of the highest gas taxes in the Midwest. If I drive 45 minutes West to St Louis, gas is 20¢ cheaper than anyplace here in Illinois. Also, during the gas price climb Chicago consistently had the highest (or was in the top three) fuel prices in the country. Yes, even higher than California.
• Energy rates. Are freaking high in Illinois. In the winter we pay SO much for gas. When we were keeping the house at 65 degrees (Fahrenheit) we would still get charged close to $400/month. Outrageous considering we were cold the entire winter.
• Corn Fields. That is all we have here. Not really Illinois’s fault that we decided to live here, but I don’t like it anyway.
• Governor Blagojevich. He’s a terrible governor. Just ask any resident. He lives in Chicago and takes his personal jet, no doubt using our tax dollars, to fly down to Springfield (the actual capitol) every day. Cha-ching!
• Barack Obama. Rhetoric, fantastical idealism and denial of reality. Not to mention his blind followers that don’t realise their support will drive our nation into the ground and bring war to our shores.

And just today I realised our auto insurance rates increased. I called up Nationwide to find out what was up (because we haven’t had any accidents or anything) and the CSR told me that our state rates had gone up. To the tune of $10 more a month. Which sucks. Not only do we have to pay some of the highest gas prices in the nation, we now have to pay more in car insurance.

I am ready to leave Illinois. This state is not cool enough to act like it’s California. I’m ready to go someplace that has a culture and ruling body that warrants it’s irratic pricing behaviours.

Screw Illinois. I’m leaving in a year.

Also, 90% of my problems are due to user error. Other users. As in the people that aren’t smart enough to find the “Order Transcripts” link on the EDU site. Off the top of my head I can give you two paths that require two clicks or less that will get you to the Transcripts ordering page.

1. Click the Quicklinks dropdown on the homepage and find the “Transcripts (Ordering)” option.
2. Click Alumni. Find the Request a Transcript Link on the bottom of the page.

But people want a button because they’re sending alums to gettranscriptsnow or something ridiculous like that. A button?! There is a link on the front page already! Under Quicklinks! Which are there to get you to places quickly!

Makes me mad. Now we have to do a URL forward to the transcripts page which is still better than a button. It’s just annoying that you can’t tell people to following the links from the front page. And that they’re too lazy to go find the link for themselves. Especially when we’ve made it as logical and obvious as possible.

Alumni need transcripts therefore there is a link under the Alumni page. Transcripts are commonly requested, therefore it’s under Quicklinks. The Records office handles transcripts, so there is a link on the Records page. THINK ABOUT IT!

/rant

I just saw this on TV and it drove me crazy. I view myself as fairly adept at marketing… I know what’s good and I know what isn’t when it comes to building report and projecting an image.

I guess Applebees, that horrible casual dining restaurant, is running this campaign where you send them videos you took of yourself having fun at one of their restaurants. The voiceover at the end of the advert says something like “for all of you who have sent us videos, thank you. Keep them coming. Submit your videos to DOUBLE-YOU DOUBLE-YOU DOUBLE-YOU DOT APPLEBEES DOT COM BACK SLASH REAL VIDEOS.”

That URL would look like this: www.applebees.com\realvideos – do you see a problem? There’s a reason why the common lingo when it comes to URLs is “dot com slash” shortened from “dot com forward slash”. There is a difference! Forward slash = / – the correct slash to use in a URL. A back slash is the other direction = \ – correct in filepaths and other more “geeky” stuff. Reference [wikipedia]

STUPID.

/rant

My friend Ashley, who is a really cool Christian girl, had a run-in with a new “Christian MySpace Alternative”–called Faith-Space–website’s administrator.

She posted this as a note on Facebook:

During Agape, I was asked to pass out business cards for this site called faith-space. I thought I would check out the site and join to see what it was about. I filled in the “about me” section and what not. To jazz up the profile, I posted the Family Force 5 music video for “Luv Addict”. 

A mere 8 hours later, I noticed I had received two comments from the administrator. [kind of like the Tom from myspace] He told me to read my messages immediately. I checked the inbox and he said that my music video was very inappropriate and the site did not promote secular material. He demanded that it be removed from my profile at once. I of course defended the gentlemen of Family Force 5, explaining their unique ministry. He again insisted that, if they were true “men of God” they would have never made such a vulgar music video. He then asked me to give my testimonial as to why I am a Christian. So, I wrote out a pretty detailed testimonial starting from the age of 4 ending it at where I am now. I also explained my own ministry. However, he criticized some of my past behaviors and choices [including my nose piercing & lip piercing and poor taste in selection of music].Then, he directed me to three separate sites that contained sermons for a person headed in the direction of hell. I was quite offended at this point. I told him that I would take the music video down because he was so avid about it. However, I concluded it by saying, “Although I am removing the video from my site, I hope someday their ministry will be appreciated. They go out and serve the Lord in places that most Christians are afraid to even go. These are the places Christians need to be; however, when someone attempts to do so, they are ostracized by other Christians. They are good men and I will continue to support them and their ministry.” I thought the subject matter would end there, but he responded by saying again, that he did not see any ministry in the video and it did not promote Jesus Christ. Also, he would be praying for me and that my eyes would be open that I am not living my life as Jesus would like. My final email to him read, “Clearly I am not ideal faith-space material. My hope is that you can have a positive impact on someone on this site. Prayers are always welcome and thank you for that, but don’t worry….I WILL be seeing you in Heaven. –Ashley Johnston” Then I shut down my site, only after 16 hours.

Seriously, I have so many people in my life that are struggling with their own relationship with Jesus, and it is people like this who turn them off. I couldn’t help but cry/pray for this man. If only he knew how this could have changed/impacted someone else’s life in a negative way. I am still going through all the details and still trying to wrap my mind around these events. 

Anyway, I thought I would share this simply because it seemed at Agape that I support faith-space. However, now that I experienced this, I want to make it clear that I do not endorse the site.

Seriously?! Come on guys. This is absolutely ridiculous. This is why I hate Christians sometimes, even though I am one. Why are Christians so unloving and anti- all things Christ-like? I realise this is a sweeping generalization. But really. I guess I am lucky that I know so many quality human beings who also love God but aren’t afraid to be real people. 

This is stupid.

So what’s with this hipster “We Love Obama” fad? I mean since Obama hasn’t actually said anything intelligent, there’s no way they can be supporting him based on his “platform”. Most of them love their stimulus checks and are going to spend the money someplace, so it can’t be because of the Democratic party’s stance on taking money from the middle class to give a free ride to those who don’t contribute to society. I don’t get it.

When I talk to the members of this young American “we want change (even if it screws us over because we’re ignorant)” crowd I don’t get any kind of good reasoned purpose to their support. It’s either “My parents are staunch Republicans and George Bush has ruined our country” or “We need to pull out of the war” or “He just understands our generation” or “CHANGE!”. Absolutely ridiculous.

I’d say most of us are middle class to upper middle class. I know I am like, just on the bottom fringe of this status. I don’t make much, but I make enough to have a good life. I’m also fairly Libertarian in that I think you should take responsibility for yourself. I don’t want all of my hard earned money going to taxes to support those that don’t contribute. Change for the sake of change isn’t good. Usually that screws things up the worst.

And I don’t see these Obama supporters giving their money freely to programs to help children get healthcare or fund the welfare system or unemployment services. That’s what the Democratic party plans to do. This universal healthcare and all. It’s a crock. Every person in the middle class will get more money stolen from them to fund the drug habits and groceries and immobile lifestyles of those who choose not to contribute to society. Leave welfare-style systems to churches–it makes more sense. Don’t steal money from those of us that work for it.

What about pulling out of Iraq? Okay. Sure. I’ll bite.

The Democratic contenders are operating under the flawed notion that the US has the same superpower status and reputation it once did, just after WWII.

Well, we don’t. Our reputation is a lot lower than it once was. If we pull all of our troops out of Iraq in a month we will not only be letting violence spread in the middle East, but guaranteeing more attacks on our own soil.

Bush starting the war was definitely a bad idea, but us not sticking around and fixing his mistake is a worse one. But of course we are so blinded by our hipster wannabe cool and “different just like everyone else” attitudes that we can’t *think* beyond that smiling talking head on TV.

My high school history teacher posted this on his blog:

New from Hillary Clinton

“That’s not a market. That’s a monopoly,” she said, saying she’d use anti-trust law and the World Trade Organization to take on OPEC. source

I am sure after they stop laughing they will of course take her seriously. OPEC is not an organization that is going to care about what the WTO says, and they really will not care about an anti-trust action in the U.S. Just imagine if such an action were brought, and they simply chose to stop sending oil to the U.S. for a short period of time…maybe 2 to 3 months…that would really have a pleasant effect on our economy…wouldn’t it?
…and how about a little update on Barack Obama’s position on Iran…

Making clear that he planned to talk to Iran without preconditions, Mr. Obama emphasized further that “changes in behavior” by Iran could possibly be rewarded with membership in the World Trade Organization, other economic benefits and security guarantees. “We are willing to talk about certain assurances in the context of them showing some good faith,” he said in the interview at his campaign headquarters here. “I think it is important for us to send a signal that we are not hellbent on regime change, just for the sake of regime change, but expect changes in behavior. And there are both carrots and there are sticks available to them for those changes in behavior.” source

Hmmmmm….I wonder if he realizes that THEY might have preconditions that they might want met before they are willing to meet with our people…again, Barack Obama just does not seem to have either the experience or the wisdom to lead this nation.

…and just to point out one obvious thing from this article….the U.S. WAS attempting to negotiate with the Iranians…so tell me again how the White House is against such negotiation.

I really can’t believe the naïveté  of both democratic candidates. I mean, idealism is great for garnering votes, but someday the American people will wake up and notice that their lifesavings is going into their cars and that their wartime ration cards just aren’t quite getting them enough food.

And that is exactly what their platforms are based on: Idealism. What about basing at least a few things on reality? Just wake up.

That’s my overdue political rant. At least think about the issues at hand and both sides of the coin. It’s ridiculous to go out for a party to defy your parents or to look cool or because the guy (or girl) wears a nice suit and is younger than the other candidates.

And this will probably be my only political post  until elections. It’s just stupid to be a sheep and go with the crowd. If you support Obama, or Clinton, or McCain–or even Nader–have a reason for it. No. Strike that. Have a well reasoned purpose for it. Don’t fall for the hype.