My Last Rant

[Couture]

I've been really busy lately and I haven't had time to check the boards. I'm sure there's a post or two from Amicus I've missed responding to, but I've been busy registering voters, canvassing neighborhoods, and doing what I could to save the great things I love about this country.

We all know the outcome and I'm feeling depressed right now. I've got a lot of aggression and if I don't get some of it out, I'm going to go ape shit on someone.

To prevent that, I'm going off here in writing.

To the neocons. You've had a net loss of jobs. You've blown the budget surplus. You've fucked up the war on terror. You failed to find WMD's. You failed to find Bin Laden. Less people have insurance. The price of gas is up. What in the hell is up with you people?

To the fundamentalist christians. There is no god. If heaven is so great then why don't you just go ahead and fucking kill yourself and get it over with. Stop trying to take the rest of us with you.

To the Muslims. Allah ack ba. Kill yourself too. Hurry before someone else gets one of your 72 virgins. Morons.

To the Log Cabin Republicans. Do you really think the Republicans are ever going to support you? This is the same bunch of racist, chauvanists, good ol' boys, they've always been.

To all other gay people. The gay marriage thing pretty much cost the dems the election this time. I know. I've been on the streets and this was one of the single biggest motivators for people to vote Republican. Because of you, more people will die. I'm not blaming you. On the contrary, I'm only pointing it out because you have a responsibility now. Don't let it drop. Get out there and demand your fucking right to be treated like all other human beings. Some of you are putting your life on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet you can't even let anyone know *who* you are. You put out fires. You keep our steets safe. It isn't right. Get this done.

To the liberals. Same goes for you. Bush won. Not only did he win, but the Republicans picked up seats in the house, senate, and state races. Worse, they picked them up running against extremely conservative democrats. So stop your whining and accept that we just aren't going to win this by business as usual. The money you give to moveon goes to put ads on TV stations, whose profits go to rich executives who in turn use it to buy influence in Washington. The rich own the democrats and republicans and neither will never volunteer to give up the gravy train. Until we attack this at its source and threaten corporate profits, this is never going to change.

I'm feeling better already. Anyone else need to work out a little aggression? Feel free to jump in.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by Couture
To the fundamentalist christians. There is no god. If heaven is so great then why don't you just go ahead and fucking kill yourself and get it over with. Stop trying to take the rest of us with you. .

Fuck off.

 

[Liar]

Re: Re: My Last Rant

Fuck off.

Read thread title. Apply logic and reason. Come back.

Hint: It's a rant.

#L

 

[shereads]

To all other gay people...<snip>...Some of you are putting your life on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet you can't even let anyone know *who* you are. You put out fires. You keep our steets safe. It isn't right. Get this done.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Originally posted by Liar
Read thread title. Apply logic and reason. Come back.

Hint: It's a rant.

#L

I'm aware of what a rant is... however:

Anyone else need to work out a little aggression? Feel free to jump in.

I followed the directions. If we are to say, however, that I can directly insult people independant of logic and reason, and be perfectly safe because... ooop... it was a "rant", then I don't believe I'm an advocate for the manner in which we're choosing to employ "rants".

 

[cantdog]

Sorry, Joe.

I'm sure she'll fuck off any time now!

I guess maybe she does blame the "moral moms" for Iraq and Nigeria and Haiti.

Good.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

I'm aware of what a rant is... however:



I followed the directions. If we are to say, however, that I can directly insult people independant of logic and reason, and be perfectly safe because... ooop... it was a "rant", then I don't believe I'm an advocate for the manner in which we're choosing to employ "rants". [/B]

Neither you nor I are suffering the effects of this election the way gay men and women are suffering from it, Joe. Cut some slack to somebody who's been targeted by this Christian president for the first Constitutionally mandated discrimination against a minority.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Originally posted by shereads
Neither you nor I are suffering the effects of this election the way gay men and women are suffering from it, Joe. Cut some slack to somebody who's been targeted by this Christian president for the first Constitutionally mandated discrimination against a minority.

I would say that the goodly and reasonable religious people are suffering a tremendous backlash. Being Christian is being confused, nowadays, with being all about shooting an Iraqi for a barrell of oil each day. Most of my family supported Kerry, most of my family consider themselves deeply Catholic.

Lumping Christians into a convenient punching bag of a category just because this election turned out the way some might not have liked is an awfully stupid fucking thing to do. I get tired of having to defend us as a people to the aggressively ignorant; but not doing so breeds an attitude of acceptance that is yet more unhealthy for the reconscilliation of the matter.

Homosexuals aren't, by any means, the only people that are facing a daily struggle out there for simply being what they are.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

I would say that the goodly and reasonable religious people are suffering a tremendous backlash.

Suffering? It's suffering to wield power virtually unopposed in all three branches of government?

News flash: As a white male heterosexual, you were born with a degree of immunity to discrimination that the rest of the world has to work for. A "tremendous backlash" is what happened to black churches in Missisippi during the civil rights movement, not the verbal expression of fear and anger and frustration that you're seeing here.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Originally posted by shereads
Suffering? It's suffering to wield power virtually unopposed in all three branches of government?

I don't control any of that stuff.

News flash: As a white male heterosexual, you were born with a degree of immunity to discrimination that the rest of the world has to work for. A "tremendous backlash" is what happened to black churches in Missisippi during the civil rights movement, not the verbal expression of fear and anger and frustration that you're seeing here.

Now we're talking about highly relative things. We can intend "tremendous backlash" to mean anti-civil rights violence, in such a case as that... change the term to "large backlash" if it makes you feel better. The vernacular is entirely independant of my point.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Now we're talking about highly relative things. We can intend "tremendous backlash" to mean anti-civil rights violence, in such a case as that... change the term to "large backlash" if it makes you feel better. The vernacular is entirely independant of my point.

]It's crystal clear that you've never been the victim of real bigotry or you'd know how offensive it is to compare this alleged "backlash" against the religious right with what they did yesterday to gay men and women and plan to do again on the federal level. There is no we. You have no point. I couldn't feel much worse. Goodbye.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Originally posted by shereads
]It's crystal clear that you've never been the victim of real bigotry or you'd know how offensive it is to compare this alleged "backlash" against the religious right with what they did yesterday to gay men and women and plan to do again on the federal level.

You'd be wrong. But you seem to be more interested in shouting opinion than reasoning through the point. I never said they were equal, only that I thought that some religious people since Bush has been in power have been catching a lot of shit for nothing. You don't like the word "suffering", go with "enduring" or "being privvy to". Again, the vernacular hasn't anything to do with my point. You want to make this a matter of degree, that's fine, I have no problems with that, but to say that they're not comparable is to deny the very definition of comparison.

There is no we. You have no point. I couldn't feel much worse. Goodbye.

I rather do have a point, you just don't seem to like that very much.

 

[shereads]

People are in pain and you're obsessed with minutea. You're going to love the boardroom, Joe.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by shereads
People are in pain and you're obsessed with minutea. You're going to love the boardroom, Joe.

People are in pain and we don't seem to like to talk about some of them. And I'm concerned about minutea, because that's exactly what one must concern themselves with to change anything.

I love any place that allows me to exercise my sense of right and wrong and make a difference where I can.

 

[bg23]

Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

I followed the directions. If we are to say, however, that I can directly insult people independant of logic and reason, and be perfectly safe because... ooop... it was a "rant", then I don't believe I'm an advocate for the manner in which we're choosing to employ "rants".

If I could just point out that rants are, by nature, illogical, and unreasonable? Rants are generally neither taken seriously nor do they possess much credibility. They are, by nature, merely expressions of rage, and are often thus incoherent or semi-delusional. That is why they are "rants" and not "arguments".

Just sayin'.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

Originally posted by bad_girl23
If I could just point out that rants are, by nature, illogical, and unreasonable? Rants are generally neither taken seriously nor do they possess much credibility. They are, by nature, merely expressions of rage, and are often thus incoherent or semi-delusional. That is why they are "rants" and not "arguments".

Just sayin'.

I thought rants were angry and violent language used to conduct a point. I may be mistaken on my definition.

 

[shereads]

And I'm concerned about minutea, because that's exactly what one must concern themselves with to change anything.

Who are you to tell people whose life experience includes some real struggles for change, and some failures and even a success or two, what one "must" do to affect change? Global warming is an example of something people like you enabled with study upon study, each of which confirmed the need for additional studies, until it was generally agreed last year that it's 30 years too late to do anything about it. You know so much and understand so little.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by shereads
Who are you to tell people whose life experience includes some real struggles for change, and some failures and even a success or two, what one "must" do to affect change? Global warming is an example of something people like you enabled with study upon study, each of which confirmed the need for additional studies, until it was generally agreed last year that it's 30 years too late to do anything about it. You know so much and understand so little.

It was, more likely, people like me that were tasked with showing, study after study, that global warming was a real danger... and, on the other hand, it was the other people who blanketedly ignore such things like proof and analysis that refused to listen to reason because they thought they had it all figured out.

You think you know a lot more about people than you do.

 

[shereads]

It was, more likely, people like me that were tasked with showing, study after study, that global warming was a real danger... and, on the other hand, it was the other people who blanketedly ignore such things like proof and analysis that refused to listen to reason because they thought they had it all figured out.

You think you know a lot more about people than you do.

I think I know this about you: You believe that your brief experience of the grown-up world is sufficient to make your pronouncements credible. I've met you in a dozen incarnations. In most cases, you grew up. In at least one, you wasted what might have been brilliance on head-games that did nothing but alienate people. Like tonight.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by shereads
I think I know this about you: You believe that your brief experience of the grown-up world is sufficient to make your pronouncements credible. I've met you in a dozen incarnations. In most cases, you grew up. In at least one, you wasted what might have been brilliance on head-games that did nothing but alienate people. Like tonight.

I think the brief experience of the grown-up world I've had, coupled with the experience related to me by those that have been through much more of it, makes many of my pronouncements (which are generally very moderate and cautious, rationally) relavant. Credible? I don't suppose I can speak intelligently on the credibility of experience at all beyond saying that "it exists".

You've never met me. It would be foolish to think that you have. By that notion (were we opening that up as a viable reason to categorize), I've met you every semester of my teaching career--to say nothing of the classes I had to take as an undergrad... in most cases, the result was failure. Not for intelligence's sake, not for passion's sake, but because of narrow mindedness.

 

[shereads]

Failure to what? Fully appreciate you?



That's rich.

Goodnight, little boy.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Originally posted by shereads
Failure to what?

Failing the class. Logic 103 - Basic Logic and Critical Thinking Skills.

Goodnight, little boy.

Goodnight. If the best you've got is to try and make yourself superior on the basis of age, that's pretty sad.

 

[shereads]

Couture, sorry to have hijacked your heartfelt thread. I originally came by to thank you for being involved in the election. You were missed around here, but it was for a good cause and I'm grateful.

The human race has survived plague and pestilence. Most of us will survive Bush/Cheney. In the meantime, here's something to look forward to:

Midterm Backlash! Remember Newt and the Contract with America? Neither does anyone else. That's the beauty of our system. Every two years, there's the opportunity to make some poor schmuck in Congress pay for our displeasure with the president. And you can bet there will be plenty of that once the dust settles.

Goodnight, Couture. Thank you.

 

[bg23]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Last Rant

I thought rants were angry and violent language used to conduct a point. I may be mistaken on my definition.

Well of course they're made to conduct a point. Is not everything said to conduct a point? There is, however, a difference between an argument and a rant. An argument expects to have a certain amount of objectivity, or if not that, then reason. A rant is almost purely emotional. When emotions become logical and reasonable, then you may of course object, but until then, a rant is a rant is a rant. By ranting and forsaking logic and using violent language and whatnot you are, of course, forfeiting your right to be regarded seriously, but you are also at the same time, claiming the right to express your emotions in the most subjective of ways.

 

[Couture]

Couture, sorry to have hijacked your heartfelt thread. I originally came by to thank you for being involved in the election. You were missed around here, but it was for a good cause and I'm grateful.

The human race has survived plague and pestilence. Most of us will survive Bush/Cheney. In the meantime, here's something to look forward to:

Midterm Backlash! Remember Newt and the Contract with America? Neither does anyone else. That's the beauty of our system. Every two years, there's the opportunity to make some poor schmuck in Congress pay for our displeasure with the president. And you can bet there will be plenty of that once the dust settles.

Goodnight, Couture. Thank you.

Not at all. Go for it SR! You too Joe. Rant on baby!

And Joe, I'm not trying to make people stop worshipping God. I think religion is cool for some people. If you want me to live by rules of logic...that's okay. Just dont' expect me to believe that I'm going to some magical hell place because a priest didn't perform his mystical last rights or the crops didn't grow because I didn't sacrifice enough lambs.