I’ve mentioned this a couple times before but I wanted to put it out there again. How do you deal with all the lies, insanity and evil in the world? I think I genuinely enjoy this blogging thing but am often taken aback by how much horrible shit passes through my browser. Throughout my life, I’ve often wished that I could be an average, everyday cog — going through life with only a passing interest in the goings-on in government and society. I actually succeeded for a time but the last year or so has seen the suppressive band-aid get ripped off in a pretty spectacular way. I now find myself with a rather raw, exposed membrane that absorbs and processes way too much terrible stuff.
Anyway, just wanted to kvetch. If you have any good advice, please let me know.
Leave a Reply
Snack Food
New Underwear Bomber Will Probably Lead To More Airport Security Measures
Politico parodies itself (via): The Senate, once the chamber of deliberation and reason, is getting its own extreme makeover. Moderates such as Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and Democrat Ben Nelson are bolting an institution that barely resembles the one they entered as idealistic deal makers. Ben Nelson? Idealistic dealmaker? These are words that should not be in the ... (1 comments)Despicable Quote of the Day - Icky Gay Sexytime Is A Threat To National Security
“Given the propensity for members of the homosexual community to engage in frequent and anonymous sexual encounters, the risk to national security of having a homosexual in a high-ranking position with access to secret information is obvious.” Bryan Fischer, Nutbag (0 comments)Newsweek Hearts America. Seriously. They Really F*cking Mean It.
I guess a cover featuring Uncle Sam hungrily masturbating to a painting of Jesus wearing an American flag was deemed to be insufficiently patriotic.
[Embiggen]
(1 comments)Paul Ryan Suddenly Realizes That Ayn Rand Was A Rabid Atheist
Republicans Cave Again: Student Loans Edition
Mississippi: A Shining Example Of Limited Government
Ah, the land of Mississippi – that shining bastion of God-fearing, limited-government conservatism. Well, unless you want to father illegitimate babies — then the government will throw you in jail. (5 comments)Over in the UK, Labour is now up big over the ruling Tories. Part of that is almost certainly a stalled, ailing economy, but what’s sort of interesting because a big part of their drop is due to implementing a cap on charitable deductions, which is essentially what Obama wanted to do here to cut ... (0 comments)Death Penalty Loses Another One
Connecticut ends the practice. I have to say, this is one of those social movements that is regularly winning big victories, but almost nobody seems to be paying attention. Which is fine by me–under the wire is probably the best way for this thing to go for now. (0 comments)Look, Mitt, I know you want to get women back on your side, but the notion that women have lost 92.3% of jobs in the recession may be technically correct in some manipulated and spun context, but it’s not correct, and it’s not even a good bullshit statistic. You might have been able to get ... (0 comments)What Do You Want Schwarzenegger To Write About In His Memoirs?
The Santorum Has Officially Been Mopped Up In The 2012 Race
I think this gets it right. Additionally, though, while I find Rick Santorum’s beliefs to be pretty risible, and his inability to accept that his ideas had some less-than-ideal results during the ’00s is a personal failing, but at the very least he seemed to possess some sense of personal honor and integrity. Not as good as ... (0 comments)I hadn’t used Instagram because I’m not so much a pictures sort of guy, but an article in the SF Chronicle article makes an interesting point that they were a much bigger threat to Zuckerburg’s empire than the other commonly named competitors. (0 comments)Fun Friday: Robocop Is Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience
THE GRAPEVINE
Snark. Epic amounts of snark.
And the realization that, as bad as something that happened this week might be, it's probably not half as bad as what would have happened 100 years ago in the same circumstances. That 100 years ago things were better than they were 500 years ago.
150 yrs ago my country bred black humans on plantations and sold them off as slaves. Now one of their descendants is the president. History is heading in the right direction, has been for centuries and it's picked up steam fast in the last 80 yrs or so and there isn't much that can stop it.
That's why I don't sweat things much.
i agree that perspective and a good dose of dismissive sarcasm can certainly help. i've spent time in some of the poorest pockets of the world (including a 6-month stint in a small village in southern india). i can at least cognitively recognize that there are whole swathes of the world where the evil and insanity are even worse, but i have a hard time migrating that cognitive reality into my heart. for some reason, i have a hard-wired connection between my intellect and my emotions and cannot, for the life of me, seem to sever the connection. stuff just hits me too hard. when the doctor was murdered by the anti-choice extremist this weekend, i was devastated and even more devastated to find that the MSM wasn't covering it with the import it deserved. i really need to develop some better coping mechanisms that work, because what i'm doing now isn't working.
We will differ on some important areas, and I do not mean this as an attack. I was once asked how I could cope with being unemployed for a year, losing a home in 1998, having to rent in a bad part of town for five years, having diabetes, watching my son beat cancer, and watching a sister first fall to drugs, and then beat them, it is because of my absolute faith in God. And in my faith that we will overcome these bad times by living our lives as best as we can, so that others can see us as an example of how to live, and why. America is a work in progress, and we are moving ahead slowly.
We nolonger lynch people or tar and feather them because we disagree with them. Nor do we usually resort to assassinating them. However when the crazies do strike they are guarantied coverage, and the other crazed ones come out in support. If you are seeing things get threw here, you should see the bar fights on AOL. Being an old Netscaper, I still use AOL to sign in, and I can guarantee. I know why AOL membership has dropped. Sometimes it like I dropped in at the old “Dew Drop Bar.” Never ever give up. Get back up, dust yourself off, spit in their eye, and go back to what you are doing. Changing the world takes time, and you sometime lose more than you gain, but you gain mush more than you lose.
Well sir when u find some kind of a coping strategy please let me know too . I don’t know how to just see the injustice , the poverty , the disease , the hunger , the unemployment and the wrong attitudes of people and act like everything’s ok . But you know what , it’s bad , very bad because if u’ll always get affected by these things, you are sure gonna go crazy especially in a country like pakistan. In pakistan , you are supposed to say God is great and solution to all your problems , from bad governments to a bladder stone , sex is a bad thing period , only whores talk about sex , abortion is worse than any other sin , homosexuals are sick and some kind of evil species from mars blah blah blah , women are only slightly superior to donkeys , poor people are not included in . . . well . . . people and the list goes on . There is no place for a liberal like me in this sick society. All my life I have tried to be like the other people but unfortunately I have common sense and a conscience . I just cant be affected by all that . I am very very sad today . Something happened yesterday that again I shouldn’t be affected by but I am .
. I have finished medical school and currently studying for step 1 usmle . I finished school in december 2008 . The university I got my degree from is in another city but I am still in touch with some of my teachers , batchmates and juniors. So while I was talking to someone from there she told me that a girl who was also getting her MBBS(bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery) degree and was in 4th yr , died this morning . She told me that the girl lived in the hostel(dorm) and had schizophrenia . For the past few days , her condition had gotten worse . One of her aunts also lived in the same city . So one night she brought a moulvi(muslim priest) to her hostel room because according her that girl had no mental disorder , she was possessd by a demon . I don’t know how the hostel employees even allowed her aunt and that moulvi to spend the night in her room but then a little bribe goes a long way and of course the moulvi could do no wrong as he was the man of god. For some reason there were not a lot of girls in the hostel that night . They both started performing some kind of an exorcism ritual on her and did that all night .
The girls that were there heard her screams all night and when they came to ask what was wrong, her aunt said she is ok , she is just having one of her fits and everybody went back to their room . Nobody knows exactly what they did to her in that room but by the time it was morning , she died . I do know that some really terrible terrible things go on in these “exorcisms” . Young girls with simply some medical disorder are instead brought to these moulvis and they beat them up trying to drive the “demon” out of them . A lot of times these girls are left alone with these people in their rooms so the moulvi can perform the exorcism and these moulvis rape them . Nobody knows what they did to her but she screamed all night but nobody came to her help . And now the university officials are trying to sweep the whole incident under the rug like nothing happened because it will look bad on their record . Police here is of course corrupt and dysfunctional and will easily be bribed and soon it’ll be like nothing happened . While I on the other hand cant sleep thinking about the whole thing and writing this long long comment trying to figure out how to cope
wow vaneeza, that's a truly terrifying story. there have a been a few instances similar to that here in the U.S. but I've never heard such a chilling account. thanks very much for sharing.
so many times when i hear a story like that, I tell myself that i need to get a better perspective on things. after all, lots of bad stuff happened in the past in this country and around the world, and lots of bad stuff continues to happen around the world. somehow, though, this call to "perspective" never satisfies. there is just something that cries out in me whenever i hear of something so horrifying as the story you just told us, or the brutal torture and rape of detainees in U.S. custody, or the cold-blooded murder of an abortion doctor. this "crying out" is only exacerbated when my cries of outrage don't seem to be echoed in the everyday schlubs around me who are content to just go through their daily life without paying attention to any of the evil being done in the world.
hopefully this site is proving to be a good coping mechanism to me and other like-minded travelers. as schu mentioned below, it's probably a good thing that we have communities like this where we can all come and shout about stuff and sometimes make light of it. at least in this tiny little corner of the universe, we can reassure ourselves that some of the evil in the world is not going unchallenged.
again, i can't thank you enough for sharing your thoughts and your stories. they're very valuable and much appreciated. shukriya!
arai wah , you said shukriya . That is so cool. wow :) actually thank YOU for creating this website and yes this website is serving as a coping mechanism . I dont have even one person in my surroundings who believes in the same things that i do. So it feels really good to express myself here
And all we can bitch about is our smaller problems here. Mainly we have passed threw this phase almost 200 years ago, although it does raise its head every once in a while in the name of religious interventions. Women’s rights, and who has the power over them is the main theme of the birth control and abortion rights issue. Remember that is it a power struggle using religion as its weapon.
you're right. it's probably a good thing that we have communities like this where we can all come and shout about stuff and sometimes make light of it. at least in this tiny little corner of the universe, we can reassure ourselves that some of the evil in the world is not going unchallenged.