The one video clip I watched pissed me off so much, there were so many things wrong with it. It's a great example of the demonizing of pedophiles. He's not a frickkin demon, he' just a nasty old man. Probably a nasty old man who needs watching, but just a nasty old man.
I'm going to start with the thing that pissed me off the most, that no one else seems to be questioning.
"His victims have a life sentence."
Part of what is happening with the demonizing of pedophiles is the weakening of its victims. Yes, being molested can be devastating. Yes, it can be a traumatic experience. It can also screw up one's self image. It can also be put behind one.
There are many people who were abused as children, sexually or not, who have overcome the damage done. They have grown, healed, and moved on with their lives. Now, the media would ask them to go back to being damaged, to satisfy their creation of monsters.
Why should a survivor of sexual abuse come forward, if they are going to be treated as "damaged goods" for the rest of their lives?
In the current climate of fear, it would seem best to shut up about it.
An autonomous adult, competent and forward looking, does not need people coming up to her and saying, "Oh, you poor thing!"
I am not a poor thing. The crimes committed against me are not my identity. The person who committed those crimes is not a demon. He's just a sicko. I would not like to meet him on the street, but I won't run screaming if I do.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The molecule dance
Oxygen atoms dance in the atmosphere. They don't really like to dance alone, so you will usually find two dancing together, arm in arm. (O2)
Picture a charming couple, two oxygen atoms, making a molecule. They swirl with the other couples in the atmosphere, and the sun calls the tune. Hotter, faster, up! Up! Cooler, slower, down, down.
They dance happily along, and spot a crowd of other molecules close together. Something interesting is happening! They take a closer look. Suddenly, swoosh! They are swept with the crowd into the dark cabaret of a pair of lungs. They catch a hemoglobin shuttle in the blood stream, and are carried off into the hugest party ever.
Our oxygen atoms get separated at some point, as they investigate the goings on. One helps out in the liver, where gangs of carbohydrate and protein molecules are distributing sun energy into the body. The other joins up for a while with a group of molecules to form an antibody, and fight off a virus gang of party crashers, intent on making trouble.
They dance with many other atoms, and see many things. The slow chess games of calcium atoms in the bones, and the swift, shocking dance of the nervous system. Eventually our two oxygen atoms meet up again. What a wonderful time they have been having. A handsome carbon atom tells them that, if they think this is fun, they ought to try out a plant party. There's a whole different set of adventures there!
So the three of them link arms (CO2) and catch the nearest vein to the lungs. Whoosh! They are back in the atmosphere, off to new adventures.
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Picture a charming couple, two oxygen atoms, making a molecule. They swirl with the other couples in the atmosphere, and the sun calls the tune. Hotter, faster, up! Up! Cooler, slower, down, down.
They dance happily along, and spot a crowd of other molecules close together. Something interesting is happening! They take a closer look. Suddenly, swoosh! They are swept with the crowd into the dark cabaret of a pair of lungs. They catch a hemoglobin shuttle in the blood stream, and are carried off into the hugest party ever.
Our oxygen atoms get separated at some point, as they investigate the goings on. One helps out in the liver, where gangs of carbohydrate and protein molecules are distributing sun energy into the body. The other joins up for a while with a group of molecules to form an antibody, and fight off a virus gang of party crashers, intent on making trouble.
They dance with many other atoms, and see many things. The slow chess games of calcium atoms in the bones, and the swift, shocking dance of the nervous system. Eventually our two oxygen atoms meet up again. What a wonderful time they have been having. A handsome carbon atom tells them that, if they think this is fun, they ought to try out a plant party. There's a whole different set of adventures there!
So the three of them link arms (CO2) and catch the nearest vein to the lungs. Whoosh! They are back in the atmosphere, off to new adventures.
-------------------
Amazing Ancient Feats
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Really. I am impressed by "Amazing Feats of the Ancients", but I am not amazed.
People write and talk about things like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, the Mayan Calendar, as if there is something mysterious about their construction. "How did they do this? Where did they get their information?"
There's nothing amazing about any of it. It's impressive, but not amazing.
First, feats of construction:
The only people who are amazed live in industrialized parts of the world. They have forgotten just how much can be done with plain brute force. They also underestimate how strong people used to be.
The people who built the Pyramids, and who raised the stones at Stonehenge, did physical labor all their lives. They not only had the muscle and bone, they had the physical knowledge of how to use it efficiently. You can meet people like that today. Here in New Mexico, you can go to the Pueblos, and meet people who have done traditional farming or herding all their lives. They are like living rocks. They can snatch a fleeing 200 pound sheep with one hand and stop it short. They can pick up 50 pound bales of hay and toss them around like nothing. And they can do this ALL DAY.
Get a bunch of well built people like this together, and you don't need mysterious forces to raise great hunks of stone. Add one person with some ideas on how to focus the energy of a group of people and you get Chichen Itza.
Astronomical Feats:
Some people are amazed by the accuracy of ancient calendars and astronomical information. These calendars are all produced by agrarian cultures who depended for their lives on accurate predictions of the seasons. They were motivated to have accurate calendars.
What does it take to have an accurate calendar? Careful observation and recording. That's all. These people had unpolluted skies, undimmed by artificial lights. It does not take a telescope to observe such skies.
Why should one be amazed, then that these people had accurate calendars?
I think these attitudes are based in the idea that "primitive" cultures are stupid.
Just because they did not have the advantage of hundreds, or thousands of years of previous research and design, does not mean they were stupid.
As I said, I am impressed, but not amazed.
.
.
Really. I am impressed by "Amazing Feats of the Ancients", but I am not amazed.
People write and talk about things like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, the Mayan Calendar, as if there is something mysterious about their construction. "How did they do this? Where did they get their information?"
There's nothing amazing about any of it. It's impressive, but not amazing.
First, feats of construction:
The only people who are amazed live in industrialized parts of the world. They have forgotten just how much can be done with plain brute force. They also underestimate how strong people used to be.
The people who built the Pyramids, and who raised the stones at Stonehenge, did physical labor all their lives. They not only had the muscle and bone, they had the physical knowledge of how to use it efficiently. You can meet people like that today. Here in New Mexico, you can go to the Pueblos, and meet people who have done traditional farming or herding all their lives. They are like living rocks. They can snatch a fleeing 200 pound sheep with one hand and stop it short. They can pick up 50 pound bales of hay and toss them around like nothing. And they can do this ALL DAY.
Get a bunch of well built people like this together, and you don't need mysterious forces to raise great hunks of stone. Add one person with some ideas on how to focus the energy of a group of people and you get Chichen Itza.
Astronomical Feats:
Some people are amazed by the accuracy of ancient calendars and astronomical information. These calendars are all produced by agrarian cultures who depended for their lives on accurate predictions of the seasons. They were motivated to have accurate calendars.
What does it take to have an accurate calendar? Careful observation and recording. That's all. These people had unpolluted skies, undimmed by artificial lights. It does not take a telescope to observe such skies.
Why should one be amazed, then that these people had accurate calendars?
I think these attitudes are based in the idea that "primitive" cultures are stupid.
Just because they did not have the advantage of hundreds, or thousands of years of previous research and design, does not mean they were stupid.
As I said, I am impressed, but not amazed.
.
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
I am sometimes asked, "Do you believe in Evolution, or in Creation?"
"Evolution" is usually meant, in the question, to mean that the universe just happened, and is how it is now purely by chance.
"Creation" is usually meant to mean that God made everything, and nothing happens by chance.
That's why people see a conflict. There are many people who see no conflict. God made everything, and the process of evolution is just how he made it. This view makes the answer to the question, "Yes!"
I see things yet another way.
I see a higher power, but not outside the universe. It's not so much that the power created the world, but that it IS the world. The changes over time described as evolution are its movements. It's making things up as it goes along. There is no ordained Master Plan. Galaxies spin, planets revolve, mountains rise and sink. It's a dance of joy. We can tune into it, and dance along, or we can resist, and spend our whole lives trying not to fall down.
This view makes the answer to the question, "No." There is no outside power, and it's not all chance, either.
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"Evolution" is usually meant, in the question, to mean that the universe just happened, and is how it is now purely by chance.
"Creation" is usually meant to mean that God made everything, and nothing happens by chance.
That's why people see a conflict. There are many people who see no conflict. God made everything, and the process of evolution is just how he made it. This view makes the answer to the question, "Yes!"
I see things yet another way.
I see a higher power, but not outside the universe. It's not so much that the power created the world, but that it IS the world. The changes over time described as evolution are its movements. It's making things up as it goes along. There is no ordained Master Plan. Galaxies spin, planets revolve, mountains rise and sink. It's a dance of joy. We can tune into it, and dance along, or we can resist, and spend our whole lives trying not to fall down.
This view makes the answer to the question, "No." There is no outside power, and it's not all chance, either.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bumper Stickers
I don't really understand the appeal of expressing one's opinion on the back of one's car.
I kind of understand putting something witty on your bumper. It's sharing a joke.
But the political and religious ones just seem rude. It's as if the owner of the car thinks they can change someone's mind with a random remark. "Abortion stops a beating heart".
Why, yes, so it does. And you are telling me this, why?
I don't think anyone should put anything on a bumper that they would not wear on their shirt everywhere they go.
..
I kind of understand putting something witty on your bumper. It's sharing a joke.
But the political and religious ones just seem rude. It's as if the owner of the car thinks they can change someone's mind with a random remark. "Abortion stops a beating heart".
Why, yes, so it does. And you are telling me this, why?
I don't think anyone should put anything on a bumper that they would not wear on their shirt everywhere they go.
..
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Gay Marriage
There are two kinds of people who oppose making changes in the law to allow same-sex marriages.
There are the people who just don't see what all the fuss is about, since there are other legal ways of being partners.
And, there the the people who see it as homosexuals trying to legitimize their evil ways.
Today, I am going to slap around the second group.
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People who think that gay marriage is about making gay sex "okay" hold a couple of world views I find disgusting.
First of all, they think marriage is about sex. (I suspect this is behind the high divorce rate.) A marriage license is not a sex license. The courts really don't care who is fucking who. A marriage license is a court document recognizing the merger of two individuals into a household, with shared responsibilities and liabilities.
Also, they think homosexual relationships are about the sex. They aren't about the sex any more than straight relationships. Sure, there are some people who just get the hots for each other, and that's all they want from each other. These people don't want to get married. People who share a deeper relationship than sexual are the ones who want to get married.
It "erodes the sanctity of Matrimony". We are not talking about a religious ceremony here. We are talking about a court document. You can still have your church wedding, and the sacrament of Matrimony, and it is still different and separate from secular marriage. If non-standard marraiges erode the sanctity of Matrimony, worry about all those Buddhists, Muslims, Athiests, Agnostics, Unitarians, Pagans and other people who are getting married outside your perceived blessings of God.
Again, I think the cure is to just get to know people.
People I have met who are against "gay marriage" don't know any gay couples.
Anyone whose mind is not calcified by dogma can see when two people are a "couple" and not just sex partners.
..
There are the people who just don't see what all the fuss is about, since there are other legal ways of being partners.
And, there the the people who see it as homosexuals trying to legitimize their evil ways.
Today, I am going to slap around the second group.
-
People who think that gay marriage is about making gay sex "okay" hold a couple of world views I find disgusting.
First of all, they think marriage is about sex. (I suspect this is behind the high divorce rate.) A marriage license is not a sex license. The courts really don't care who is fucking who. A marriage license is a court document recognizing the merger of two individuals into a household, with shared responsibilities and liabilities.
Also, they think homosexual relationships are about the sex. They aren't about the sex any more than straight relationships. Sure, there are some people who just get the hots for each other, and that's all they want from each other. These people don't want to get married. People who share a deeper relationship than sexual are the ones who want to get married.
It "erodes the sanctity of Matrimony". We are not talking about a religious ceremony here. We are talking about a court document. You can still have your church wedding, and the sacrament of Matrimony, and it is still different and separate from secular marriage. If non-standard marraiges erode the sanctity of Matrimony, worry about all those Buddhists, Muslims, Athiests, Agnostics, Unitarians, Pagans and other people who are getting married outside your perceived blessings of God.
Again, I think the cure is to just get to know people.
People I have met who are against "gay marriage" don't know any gay couples.
Anyone whose mind is not calcified by dogma can see when two people are a "couple" and not just sex partners.
..
Pride Day is coming up
And once again, I am going to have a booth at the fairgrounds, selling my artwork.
I encourage everyone to go to these events. Call me idealistic, but I truly believe the best cure for prejudices is for people to get to know each other.
I have been trying to explain transgender to someone I know. He insists that a t-girl is just "a man pretending to be a woman". I think, if he met my transgendered friend Julia, that he would see that she is indeed a "she", no matter what's under the skirt.
I can try to explain eight ways till Tuesday, how Julia is not pretending to be something she is not, but being what she really is. Bob won't get it. But Julia herself is a simple explanation. Spend a few hours with Julia, and it makes sense. She doesn't even have to talk about transgender.
..
I encourage everyone to go to these events. Call me idealistic, but I truly believe the best cure for prejudices is for people to get to know each other.
I have been trying to explain transgender to someone I know. He insists that a t-girl is just "a man pretending to be a woman". I think, if he met my transgendered friend Julia, that he would see that she is indeed a "she", no matter what's under the skirt.
I can try to explain eight ways till Tuesday, how Julia is not pretending to be something she is not, but being what she really is. Bob won't get it. But Julia herself is a simple explanation. Spend a few hours with Julia, and it makes sense. She doesn't even have to talk about transgender.
..
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