Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Political Correctness & War

I'm fairly certain that if I had, regularly, people coming here to read this blog, the following post would lead to numerous negative comments. But I'm pretty sure there aren't many who will read this, so here goes. (Oh yeah, and frankly, while I appreciate comments of ANY kind, you aren't capable of "hurting my feelbads" anyways...*grin*)
Let me preface this by saying I will never be accused of being politically correct. I am not a bigot. I am not a racist, in any way shape or form. I feel sympathy for poor people living in (insert country here). I think everyone has a right to healthcare, a home, family, friends, a support network, food, clothing, etc. I also feel it is each person's responsibility to provide these things for themselves...Are there people who can't? Definitely, but there aren't nearly as many people who NEED assistance as there are people who OBTAIN assistance.
I believe each person's circumstances were created by that person. Granted, there are things that seem inevitable/unchangeable (losing a job due to downsizing, having an unexpected illness or accident, etc) BUT, it is the choices a person makes regarding these things that determines "where they go from here"
Example: Tom* is driving home from the Zoo with his wife & three kids. A drunk driver crosses the line and totals his car, killing his wife & two of his children, as well as paralyzing him from the waist down. This is an enormous tragedy. Truly it is, and I'm not in anyway insinuating that it isn't. But Tom's choices regarding how he is going to deal with this situation are what will determine where his life will go.
He can choose to wallow in grief, turn to alcohol/drugs, withdraw within himself, close out every person who tried to comfort/assist him, and in turn wreck(sp?) havoc on his surviving child by denying him/her the comfort, love & support they need. He can choose to feel his horror is the only thing in the universe matters. These choices will probably lead to a downward spiral, loss of home, job, family & love. Now we have a man without a job, without a home, without anywhere but the government to turn to for assistance. BUT HE PUT HIMSELF THERE.
He could alternately choose to grieve (c'mon, everyone can allow that...), comfort his other child, and be there for that child, accept comfort & support from friends and family, maybe even attend some counselling. He could go on to be a very strong advocate for an anti-drunk driving group (Isn't that how MADD was created..?)
So you see, it's all in the choices. Everyone is where & who they are due to choices THEY made...so I really don't feel much pity for most people....
Where was I going with this..? I know I had a point... Oh yeah, I was illustrating my lack of political correctness. Yanno, sometimes a joke is just a joke, not a jab at any particular person, race, etc., and a compliment is just a compliment, not sexual harassment. Speaking of which, why is it that if I tell a joke to my co-worker, and another co-worker overhears it and is offended, that is considered harassment..? It was a private conversation. I am a female, and I think the whole sexual harassment thing has gotten WAY outta hand....
I want to talk about war. (Uh oh, *taboo subject warning*) When did we forget how to wage war..? Our ancestors knew how to do it. You blew up/shot/killed/enslaved your enemies, took their s*it, and made it your s*it, and moved on to the next conquest. But not in today's world, oh no...in today's world, you blow up your enemy, then you allow them to continue to dictate to you. Oh yeah, and let's not forget to give them ungodly sums of money so they can rebuild their country, after we blew it up, while people in our country go without. There are many who really DO need help that can't get it due to the red tape created by all the regulations in place to keep the non-needy fron taking advantage of the system. Regulations, I'd like to add, that AREN'T WORKING.
Uhhhhhh....am I the only person who sees a problem with this scenario..? HELLO..? WTF? What happened to "blow their sh*t up & take it. Now it's your (our) sh*t"?
We went into the Middle East over non-existent weapons of mass destruction, supposedly. (I'm sure the fact that a Middle Eastern oil bigwig screwed over Daddy Bush in a multi-million dollar deal had NOTHING to do with it...) So now we're there, we blew them up, but this is where it gets fuzzy...why didn't we take those countries, and make them territories of the United States..? Part of the United States, governed by the United States, OWNED by the United States? Isn't that what you are SUPPOSED to do to a defeated enemy? I'm not suggesting slavery or anything extreme like that. Actually it seems to me that as American citizens, they would enjoy many more freedoms. No visa to come to US schools, no naturalization process to go through. But if we, as a country are going to be offended by the way they treat women and children, as well as whatever else it is that they do so wrongly, wouldn't it just make sense to take over..? Why are they still dictating what we pay for oil, and as a result, gasoline?
I'm really confused, and I just don't get why we have to pay almost $4 per gallon to purchase gasoline from a country that
a) is supposedly our enemy (WTF, paying our enemies for goods..?)
b) supposedly we have defeated.
I'm not usually very politically motivated or outspoken (does this even qualify as political..?) But the state of our world in the 21st century is just ridiculous! And I felt a need to get it off my chest.


*Tom is a made up person, Any resemblence to any person real or fictional is purely coincidental...I don't even know a Tom, unless you count my Grandpa, but he's been dead for about 27 years, so I don't think he counts...

1 comment:

Tanya said...

It does get a wee bit discouraging when people don't comment, yes. Thanks for reading!

As for your post, I don't agree with everything you said here, but the beauty of blogging is it's YOUR blog. Quite the equalizer, no?

Keep enjoying those precious moments with your son. They grow before you're ready for them to do so.