Recently the atheosphere has been a buzz with this news item: Gay Bashing and Leviticus Tattoo . It is a sad state of affairs when a person gets beaten for a perfectly healthy sexual orientation (or gender, race, ethnicity etc.) and I hate to say it, but I can't help but smirk at the irony of that tattooed lunk head. He is typical of certain bigoted, gay hating Christians. They like to cherry pick their bible (technically most if not all religious types cherry pick) . Yes the OT Leviticus verses prohibit homosexuality. But do you know what else it prohibits? Tattoos . Yes this moron has committed a sin, in the eyes of his god, on par with being gay. And while in the mind of certain anti gay bigots homosexuality is a choice, a tattoo is relatively permanent. It can only be removed by methods that require more voluntary mutilation, which according to the OT is a no-no.
There is a reason that body mods, save for involuntary male infant mutilation, are forbidden. Pagan cultures at the time and in that area of the world were very heavily into ritual body modification to honor or become more like the gods they worshiped. In order to distinguish themselves from the Pagans at the time and to eschew any heathen practices, the Hebrews of the OT made a point to include body mods in their list of "abominations". But apparently the ancient Hebrews had no qualms about ritually mutilating 8 day old infants as stated various times in the bible and codified into law in Leviticus 12:3 . An adult getting a tattoo or piecing bad, causing pain and nigh irreparable damage to a boy's best friend when they are not old enough to feed them self, let alone consent to a barbaric medical procedure, that's perfectly fine.
I myself am a practitioner of voluntary body modification. I have several tattoos and a couple piercings. I like the "ritual" of getting a tat, the pain releases endorphins and adrenaline which can be a hell of a rush, and I like the idea of having a personal symbol or work of art permanently etched into my skin. What I do NOT like is the fact that as a child of (relatively secular Jews) I was mutilated on my genitals, without my consent, scarred for life and stuck with nerve damage on an area of my body that has, since middle school, been my best friend. My penis was given severe nerve damage, something like 50,000 fine touch nerve cells destroyed, and I had no say in the matter whatsoever! Why?!?!
We all cringe at the thought of female circumcision, why is it we are ok with male circumcision? I am not one to scream reverse sexism, mainly because males have had the upper hand for thousands of years of human culture. But this is a classic case of sexism. Why is there not the same outrage for the mutilation of a male child as there is for a female? Several reasons are given and not one is any justification for this brutal practice. I won't even touch the religio-cultural reasons, because they are silly, there are a great many religious traditions and laws we have eschewed in the name of progress, the practice of legal slavery is one. How about this one: males are sexual beasts, and if left unchecked they will focus on that area of their bodies. This was used by Maimonedes as a justification for circumcision. Now granted I will admit, I am a horny motherfucker, most of the time. But I have learned self fucking control! I do not pressure women into sex, I do not rape, I do not play pocket pool in public (in private yes there are times when i can get into a total wank fest, but that is between me, interweb pron and the ever stiffening gym sock). OK but I am circumcised one may say, yes true, but desire stems from my brain not from the sensitivity in my dick. The worst of the worst reason is "it looks nice", "it's aesthetically pleasing", or "I want my son to look like his father" (and these are the NUMBER ONE reasons given for having a non Jewish child circumcised). It's aesthetically pleasing, or it looks good? Really? So was, according to the Chinese, foot binding, I don't see an across the board acceptance of that. And because he should look like his father? Yeah the facial and other structural characteristics aren't enough, we have to chop off the head of his penis. And finally the out and out lie reasons: it cuts down on AIDS transmission and prevents penile cancer. Oy Vey. First off are there any reliable stats on these claims? And prey tell how does it cut down on AIDS transmission? Is that like the belief that raping a young virgin will cure a man of HIV?
The only good thing about my circumcision is that it makes a great excuse for my voluntary body mods. Whenever my mother laments a new tattoo, I remind her that well at least it was MY decision. Unlike the decision that was made for me when I was 8 days old.
Oh and a Post Script: I have been mulling over a tattoo of Lev. 19:28, just to be a smart ass. But then again much like how holy water, or religious texts and symbols burn my skin, it may burn me until I die or remove it.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
NONONONONONONONONONO!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just heard a terrible rumor that Hollywood, that stagnant bowl of freebase residue and spray tan runoff is remaking one of my most beloved Science Fiction movies: "Logan's Run". It is set to star Ryan Gosling, who I only have so far liked in the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" and maybe "Fracture", altough his role in that could have been portrayed by any Hollywood pretty boy, like Channing Tatum.
Why do they do this? Why do they just keep taking old crap and making it pretty with vapid actors, and hot new directors, who maybe had one good film, but were most notable for something like music videos? Seriously I really thought the dumbed down PG-13 version of slasher movies I loved was bad enough, but for chrissakes!!!!!! This is a classic. Michael York was and will always be Logan 5. I can only imagine who they would get to play Jessica, a role, like York's in the movie, that was so perfectly played by Jenni Augutter. Probably Megan Fox, ugh an empty, vapid expressionless face and no talent.
And you know what is the worst? I reference this movie at least once a week. When the remake comes out, what the hell am I going to do, especially if it sucks. It's like Bowie and Mercury's "Under Pressure" all over again. Ever since Vanilla Ice sampled that song, I was forever shamed into playing it at low volume.
Dammit Hollywood, I hate you oh so very much.......and yet I can't live without you, you worn out old twat.
Why do they do this? Why do they just keep taking old crap and making it pretty with vapid actors, and hot new directors, who maybe had one good film, but were most notable for something like music videos? Seriously I really thought the dumbed down PG-13 version of slasher movies I loved was bad enough, but for chrissakes!!!!!! This is a classic. Michael York was and will always be Logan 5. I can only imagine who they would get to play Jessica, a role, like York's in the movie, that was so perfectly played by Jenni Augutter. Probably Megan Fox, ugh an empty, vapid expressionless face and no talent.
And you know what is the worst? I reference this movie at least once a week. When the remake comes out, what the hell am I going to do, especially if it sucks. It's like Bowie and Mercury's "Under Pressure" all over again. Ever since Vanilla Ice sampled that song, I was forever shamed into playing it at low volume.
Dammit Hollywood, I hate you oh so very much.......and yet I can't live without you, you worn out old twat.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Never drink unfiltered water in Costa Rica
I am currently recovering from a nice case of intestinal parasites from drinking unfiltered Costa Rican water. How could I have been so monumentally stupid you may ask. Well the thing is we have a refrigerator that dispenses cold water, and since the ice maker in the very same refrigerator was not functioning properly, and our bottled water dispenser does not have a cold water feature, I decided to go ahead and use the dispenser not knowing it was unfiltered. After taking a sip I noticed some floating "things" in the water. Which is odd because there is never any kind of debris in the ice when I use it. Anyway, parasites, pain, fever, and other very nasty stuff occurred. So it may be a bit before I post again. I have medication and am recovering.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Bill O'Reilly's tides and how sometimes it's ok to say i don't know.
Well ol' Papa Bear has done it again, said something so immensely contrite and stupid. And of course when called on the carpet for it he said he knew that the gravitational pull of the moon causes the phenomena of the changing tides. And I have no reason not to believe that. In fact I think Bill O'Reilly is a smart guy, he has to be to manipulate the masses with such obvious falsehoods espoused on the O'Reilly Factor. What Bill eventually asked was "Where did the moon come from?" this is a little more complicated question, but about five minutes on Wikipedia could have resolved this for him. Eventually every time someone with knowledge answers him, he will ask "Well then you explained A is caused by B then where did B come from?" So eventually in our hypothetical back and forth with Billy Boy we come to the singularity of compressed matter, space, and time, the thing that would eventually rapidly expand and begin the formation of the universe, and he of course comes to the question "What started the Big Bang?". The penultimate question in the theists god of the gaps argument.
The fact is as far as I know, science doesn't have a perfect answer for that. And guess what? That is ok. One of the things I had to come to terms with when I became an atheist was the humility to accept "I Don't Know" as an answer. Because when one says I don't know, they can then begin to maybe get a little curious, maybe actually find evidence that supports a hypothesis of what was there "before". And when one says "God dun it", well one is just making a baseless assertion and is perhaps cutting off any further inquiry into an unexplainable phenomenon, and perhaps in a more philosophical sense cutting off the one "purpose" that I can see for the whole of human existence. The purpose to divine the secrets of the world and the universe around us. To be the mind of the universe, to allow the universe to understand itself (props to Carl Sagan for inspiring that idea in me).
The fact is as far as I know, science doesn't have a perfect answer for that. And guess what? That is ok. One of the things I had to come to terms with when I became an atheist was the humility to accept "I Don't Know" as an answer. Because when one says I don't know, they can then begin to maybe get a little curious, maybe actually find evidence that supports a hypothesis of what was there "before". And when one says "God dun it", well one is just making a baseless assertion and is perhaps cutting off any further inquiry into an unexplainable phenomenon, and perhaps in a more philosophical sense cutting off the one "purpose" that I can see for the whole of human existence. The purpose to divine the secrets of the world and the universe around us. To be the mind of the universe, to allow the universe to understand itself (props to Carl Sagan for inspiring that idea in me).
Tura Satana dead at 72
The universe of cult films has lost an icon. I am gonna go watch "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!".
My thoughts on the situation in Egypt
As a self labeled progressive, I fully support the people's uprising in Egypt. Men like Mubarak are anathema to everything I believe. Through the use of intimidation, imprisonment, torture, manipulation and suppression of opposition Mubarak has held for 30 years his seat of power in Egypt. It is high time he was ousted, and even better, because the revolution is so widely televised, it is happening in such a humiliating way, where every day he just looks worse and worse in front of the world as a whole.
But with every revolution since the French one 200 years ago, we have to be wary. We should throw our support behind those who are calling for freedom, but beneath them there likely is lurking an insidious threat more dangerous to freedom and liberal representative democracy, the head choppers. It was probably during the French Revolution that those who craved power for their own nefarious agenda learned a very valuable lesson, if one's views are not taken seriously in a new government established after a revolution, then start cutting of heads. If one starts committing a campaign of atrocities, the people will become intimidated and one's power will increase. Another great example of this is the Russian Revolution. After over throwing the czar the Menshiviks shared power with the Provisional Government and a leader in the Socialist Revolutionary Party Alexander Kerensky eventually ascended to the position of Prime Minister. While in power he promoted freedom of speech and had many political prisoners released. And while there were still wrinkles to be ironed out, it looked at if the revolution was headed in the right direction. But there was a little bald bespectacled man who was living in exile in Switzerland, and backed by Germany, who feared he might turn his own revolutionary sights on them, began a campaign of terror in Russia, and eventually through a campaign of violence and manipulation managed to wrest control of Russia and enact his own personal vision of the prefect people's state. That man was Vladimir Lenin.
My point is we have to be wary, and I hope that when and if the US government puts any kind of real support behind these revolutionaries, they do it with full knowledge of what may be lurking beneath. And please understand I am in no way implying the Muslim Brotherhood is that shadow, they are very much in the forefront of things, they have done nothing to hide themselves. Also they are not considered a radical terrorist group, and even al Qaeda considers them to be "sell outs". In my limited knowledge I don't see them as the threat. However there could be a threat we do not know about. Not because this is a Muslim country, but because it has happened time and again. Do I have any answers? No. The only thing I can say is support those who wish to wrest power from the tyrannical, and establish a free, representative democracy, but be careful. And to those who are laying their lives on the line to win their freedom, I say keep your eyes on the prize, but watch your backs.
But with every revolution since the French one 200 years ago, we have to be wary. We should throw our support behind those who are calling for freedom, but beneath them there likely is lurking an insidious threat more dangerous to freedom and liberal representative democracy, the head choppers. It was probably during the French Revolution that those who craved power for their own nefarious agenda learned a very valuable lesson, if one's views are not taken seriously in a new government established after a revolution, then start cutting of heads. If one starts committing a campaign of atrocities, the people will become intimidated and one's power will increase. Another great example of this is the Russian Revolution. After over throwing the czar the Menshiviks shared power with the Provisional Government and a leader in the Socialist Revolutionary Party Alexander Kerensky eventually ascended to the position of Prime Minister. While in power he promoted freedom of speech and had many political prisoners released. And while there were still wrinkles to be ironed out, it looked at if the revolution was headed in the right direction. But there was a little bald bespectacled man who was living in exile in Switzerland, and backed by Germany, who feared he might turn his own revolutionary sights on them, began a campaign of terror in Russia, and eventually through a campaign of violence and manipulation managed to wrest control of Russia and enact his own personal vision of the prefect people's state. That man was Vladimir Lenin.
My point is we have to be wary, and I hope that when and if the US government puts any kind of real support behind these revolutionaries, they do it with full knowledge of what may be lurking beneath. And please understand I am in no way implying the Muslim Brotherhood is that shadow, they are very much in the forefront of things, they have done nothing to hide themselves. Also they are not considered a radical terrorist group, and even al Qaeda considers them to be "sell outs". In my limited knowledge I don't see them as the threat. However there could be a threat we do not know about. Not because this is a Muslim country, but because it has happened time and again. Do I have any answers? No. The only thing I can say is support those who wish to wrest power from the tyrannical, and establish a free, representative democracy, but be careful. And to those who are laying their lives on the line to win their freedom, I say keep your eyes on the prize, but watch your backs.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Go Read Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
The Roomate
Is it me or does it sometimes seem that Hollywood is a black hole vortex where good original ideas are sucked in and compressed into a singularity, while terrible ones manage to somehow escape, perhaps propelled by the rancid sushi farts and excessive cocaine use of Hollywood pitchmen and money grubbing movie executives?
Case in point: The Roomate. I could rant about the recent state of horror movies, but i have been smoking chocolope since i got off of work and I am just too damn lazy to go into it right now. But really the remake, reboot, or just plain fucking rip off and then dilute into PG-13 wussitude to grab the teen/tween buck is just enough to make one's asshole suck up so far into their body that they burp farts. I saw this movie when it was called Single White Female, and it was awesome.
Maybe it is because I had a massive crush on Bridget Fonda, or because I first rubbed one out to Jennifer Jason Leigh when she was all nekkid in Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Interesting Fact #1 i get a half mast every time i hear a couple bars of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Babe), or the fact that Stephen Tobolowsky plays such a creepy guy so very well, but I loved S.W.F.. And the fact that they went and ripped it off for the teeny bopper crowd annoys me to no end.
You want some advice, if you plan on seeing this blasphemy, save yourself the 13 bucks and rent Single White Female.
Case in point: The Roomate. I could rant about the recent state of horror movies, but i have been smoking chocolope since i got off of work and I am just too damn lazy to go into it right now. But really the remake, reboot, or just plain fucking rip off and then dilute into PG-13 wussitude to grab the teen/tween buck is just enough to make one's asshole suck up so far into their body that they burp farts. I saw this movie when it was called Single White Female, and it was awesome.
Maybe it is because I had a massive crush on Bridget Fonda, or because I first rubbed one out to Jennifer Jason Leigh when she was all nekkid in Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Interesting Fact #1 i get a half mast every time i hear a couple bars of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Babe), or the fact that Stephen Tobolowsky plays such a creepy guy so very well, but I loved S.W.F.. And the fact that they went and ripped it off for the teeny bopper crowd annoys me to no end.
You want some advice, if you plan on seeing this blasphemy, save yourself the 13 bucks and rent Single White Female.
Hi everybody!
Yeah that's a real original title.
Anyhow, welcome to my blog. On it I will voice my opinions on various topics like movies, tv, atheism, skepticism, certain aspects of pop culture that really piss me off/entertain me....basically any stupid thing that pops into my head. Kinda like every other blog on the interwebs.
I am technologically stupid, I do not know much about computers, cell phones, or any other gadgets. There will be no discussion of that type of thing here. Unless of course i bitch about how bad I managed to fuck mine up.
Welcome, I hope you find what I say at least entertaining, if not insightful.
Anyhow, welcome to my blog. On it I will voice my opinions on various topics like movies, tv, atheism, skepticism, certain aspects of pop culture that really piss me off/entertain me....basically any stupid thing that pops into my head. Kinda like every other blog on the interwebs.
I am technologically stupid, I do not know much about computers, cell phones, or any other gadgets. There will be no discussion of that type of thing here. Unless of course i bitch about how bad I managed to fuck mine up.
Welcome, I hope you find what I say at least entertaining, if not insightful.
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