Society of Decline pt. 2: Controversy

It would seem that nearly everything at some point in time in our current society creates a controversy. From saying "Merry Christmas" to not calling a person of a particular race the title that they currently want to be called, it's impossible to not step on the eggshells.

I recently read about a marketing campaign by the "Got Milk?" people. They wanted to include scented ads in bus stations. The ads would ask the "Got Milk" question but the smell of Oreos, Chocolate Chip Cookies, or other sweets would be released. Sounds pretty cool to me. Certainly smells better than bus fumes... However, some critics said that the ads were offensive to the poor and homeless who couldn't afford to buy the treats. I guess Burger King needs to find a new way to cook their burgers, since you can clearly smell them a block away...

Members of the First Christian Church wanted to cook a Thanksgiving meal for the homeless in the area. They had lots of volunteers, and everyone seemed to want to chip in and make home cooked meals for the homeless. One homeless man said; "The importance of having a home-cooked meal [is that] you feel people put love in what they do." Sounds great right? Wrong. According to Fairfax County health department regulations, that's not safe

Taken from ABCnews.com

Hundreds of pages of regulation say that to serve food to the public, you need a food manager certificate, a ware-washing machine (with internal baffles), drain-boards, ventilation hood systems, a sink with at least three compartments, as well as a hand-washing sink, can openers with removable parts, and so on for hundreds of pages … and you must get a commercial kitchen license.

Apparently an "advocate for the homeless" decided that the Church wasn't up to code. Never mind the fact that many of those homeless people would otherwise be digging through dumpsters for a meal. Doesn't it seem ridiculous that a church has to have a $40,000 kitchen to serve food to the poor?

And look at the "Merry Christmas" issue. Some people hate religion SO much that they've decided that the word Christmas is offensive and should never be displayed in government buildings because of the word Christ. I assure you, it's not as uncommon as it may sound. Last year, a government office had to take down their Christmas tree after someone complained. This year a group of Rabbi's threatened to sue an Airport if a Menorah wasn't included in the displays. The airport took down over 50 Christmas trees as a result. A Christmas tree is not a Christian symbol, it's a pagan one! Christmas a part of American tradition. This is evident by the outright commercialism of the holiday and the fact that a large number of non-Christians observe the day. I don't think it would have hurt the airport to put up a menorah, but at the same time, I'd understand that the Christmas trees are decorations for the season and not just a religious holiday. After all, I hardly ever see Kwanzaa stuff anywhere... Choose your battles.

Society of Decline pt. 1

Wow, I feel so bad for not blogging on my xanga! I've been really busy lately, but I miss putting my ideas out for me to see and read later... I'm making no promises about how often I'll update this thing, but I will try harder! (Is it too early for New Year's Resolutions? Anyway, onto the topic...

1) Parents and the lack of parenting...

Obviously, something's going wrong with the way people "parent" this days. At work it's not uncommon for me to see a mom with 5 kids looking for a movie to rent while her kids run around the store and create a mess. I've seen shelves fall, kids run into glass windows, heard of a kid getting his head stuck under a desk... And of course, the parents act as if they are blind to the whole ordeal. And don't you DARE say something to those kids, or the parents will try to eat you alive!

My mom works at Kaiser and she tells me all the time about the way parents allow their children to act in the pediatrics office. It's awful. Our society has had a paradigm shift. The role of parent and child have reversed. There was a huge argument over the need for those gigantic SUV type strollers on a message board, and it was crazy! The thread initially started out as ways to improve the problem of stroller parking at Disneyland, and almost immediately, parents began throwing venom like mad! When I suggested Disney should only allow use of their own strollers in order to cut down on the problem of stroller parking, I was flamed big time! Someone said something to the affect of "studies have shown that children respond better to their own strollers rather than a rental..."

WTF? It's a stroller! When I was a kid, I walked. But when I did use a stroller, I used a rental. I have fond memories of being pushed around in a Sea World Dolphin stroller. I don't recall throwing any tantrums either..

With all this focus on children, you'd think there would be an improvement in the way young people conduct themselves. That's not the case. Nearly everything is up from sex, to drugs, to the overall lack of respect for other people.

If it's this bad now, I can't imagine what the NEXT generation is going to be like...

OMG, Lance Bass is Gay!

So what? Why is this making headlines everywhere? Is this news to you? I've known this since middle school. "This Just In! Summer is Scientifically Proven Hotter Than Winter!"

I do not understand the homosexual community. All over the place they are saying how glad they are that he came out. How good it is for other young gay men to see him and not be afraid to come out of the closet too.

Basically what they're saying is that if you keep your private life private, you're ashamed of who you are. If you don't have a rainbow sticker on your bumper, you hate yourself. That's stupid. I don't have a black panther symbol on my car, but that certainly doesn't mean I hate myself or my culture. I don't have a mickey mouse antenna ball on my car, but that doesn't mean I am any less of a Disney fan. I just don't think it's necessary to proclaim everything about myself to the general public. Who cares?

At the same time, the gay community continues to keep acceptance from progressing because of the constant need to put the word GAY in headlines, just like the Oprah issue. I don't approve of Homosexuality, but what you do in your own time is your own business. As long as it doesn't affect me, I could care less. However, it's inescapable! I turned on the news and guess what came on. It was all over AOL.com and every other news program. It's ridiculous. Homosexuality is now, once again, jammed into my face regardless of whether or not I want to view or think about it.

If you're gay, than hey, do what works for you. Don't however, make a huge event out of it. Everyone isn't interested in what you do behind closed doors. And don't get mad when people speak out against it after you keep putting it out there.

I saw this on my Myspace Bulletin...

Obituary: Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense.
Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing
when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that
life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial
policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies
(adults, not kids, are in charge).

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was
awarded a huge financial settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on; if not, join the majority and do nothing.

Shockingly true isn't it?

                                                              Peace....

Wow... Someone actually posted a Myspace Bulletin that's actually worth reading!

If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.