Violent Bathroom Tendencies

As I have been in many bathrooms at work over the years I have noticed kind of a ridiculous trend. I often find that many, when, done at the urinal, slam the handle to flush rather than just pushing it normally. I also find that they kick the handle when using the sit down toilets. I understand using a foot, since bathrooms can be disgusting and others have bad bathroom habit and etiquette, which we can discuss later, but flushing with your foot and kicking the handle to flush it are two different things.

The President of the United States Using a Blackberry

I'm hearing a lot of talk about the President of the United States using a Blackberry. Some are saying that there is a concern that Blackberry servers are in Canada. I agree that U.S. data on foreign servers might be a concern, but are we saying that we trust big corporations with presidential data? With outsourcing, couldn't a US server be in a foreign hosting location? Even if it is in the U.S., I don't trust corporate American to be responsible if they think they can get away with not being responsible and it gets them gain.

Political Mud Slinging

I receive emails or see on websites almost daily negative things about both presidential candidates (John McCain and Barack Obama) being slung from supporters of the other. I rarely see links to unbiased websites or other sources to be able to research things about the candidates. I would be more impressed by a candidate that simply told the positive things about himself with facts to back it up, rather than given us negatives about the other candidate that are generally blown out of proportion.

Is there not enough good within themselves to win the election without dragging the other down and without stretching the truth or lying?

Is it Wrong to Say That It Is Wrong?

I came across the name Orson Scott Card on the This Week in Tech (TWIT) podcast and in Twitter and Pownce posts. After the second thing that was of interest to me mentioned him I figured I would briefly take a look. I searched the archives of TWIT to see if I was remembering correctly that his science fiction work had been mentioned there. I seemed to recall that they were speaking of it in a positive light.

I should state up front that I have not read any of Orson Scott Card's work nor do I know much about him as a person. I was just struck by the language that was used as he and his work were discussed.

I was right Leo LaPorte had mentioned that he liked his work. I then saw a post by Leo following up since some of his listeners were upset that he liked his words. Leo defended by saying that he enjoyed his work, but did not agree with his politics. He refered to his views as homophobic.

I can follow that to some degree because I like some of Leo's work as well and don't agree with his politics. Especially the politics of labeling people as phobic.

I searched around a little further in different forums and found more talk of homophobia. A phobia being a fear. Does feeling that a practice is wrong means that a person is afraid of that practice or the people that practice it?

Are people that believe that it is wrong to kill animals for food scared of animals or of carnivors or omnivors? Since some people want to take God out of the role of law giver then who decides what is wrong and what is just fear?

This talk of being phobic is like a child calling someone chicken. I believe that taking potatoes out of a neighbors garden is wrong. What am I chicken? I believe that homosexuality is wrong. Chicken?

Can not a person express a belief without them being called names for holding that belief? It is as rediculous as the people that would ridule those that chose to be gay by calling them names or worse. Believing that a practice is wrong does not mean that you have to hate someone.

Some will argue that it is wrong when that expression of belief impacts others freedoms. Just like disallowing abortion impacts the freedom of a mother to not be burdoned by having to care for and raise a child. Or that allowing it also impacts the freedom of the child to live.

Sometimes we have to express that a practice is harmful to our society, even when it restricts what are allowed to do. We have laws against speeding because someone believes that it is a danger to society. Different states and localities have different speed lmits. Obivously those states with more restrictive speed limits are phobic.

Expletives on TV

I'm seeing some chatter on Digg.com about a fuss being raised by expletives being used on TV. Just like the debate on violence on TV, that I commented on a few weeks ago, both sides seem to be focusing on kids not hearing this stuff. This is not just about kids. This is about broadcasters and performers that are using their medium irresponsibly. Filling the masses minds with vulgarity is unhealthy for our nation. For an example of this you can read the comments on Digg.com on this subject. The comments are generally the unintelligent onslaught of people with limited vocabularies looking for a venue to spew anger.

On the topic of kids and parents paying attention to what their kids watch. It is true that parents should be engaged with their kids. However the kids are home when parents are not. Kids have access to TV when parents are not in the room or in the house. Kids can stumble across this stuff while surfing the channels.

Besides children watching this kind of trash that is mingled with our entertainment I'm getting sick of having shows I otherwise enjoy being brought down to that level. Profanity is not necessary for me to know that a character is very angry. Profanity is not necessary to tell a funny joke. Why must the majority have to put up with such intrusions in our favorite programs from the minority that control the media?

Some are talking about free speech. We live in a free country, but with freedom comes responsibility. Being crude not responsible.

Should this be an issue for the courts or the governing agencies to get involved in I don't know. Those who don't want this stuff in our media need a bigger voice. It is not being heard over the behemoths that run the networks. Unfortunately the only course maybe to sacrifice our favorite programs and turn the tube off.

The World Is Your Ash Tray

The main issues that impelled me to write this post has to do with dropping ash and cigarette butts anywhere one happens to be when driving. There are a few other behaviors that I think many people are oblivious to because it deals with smoking that otherwise would be considered inconsiderate and with some behaviors illegal if it was not related to smoking. I will mention a few of these as well.

• Flicking cigarette butts out the car window.
• I don't know why this always stuns me when I see it, but I just can't believe that people think this is acceptable.
• At the stop light, piles of cigarette butts in the median. Littering is still illegal, right?
• Driving down the road. Fire and gas tanks don't go well together. Always feels great to see a lit cigarette bounce out the window of the person in front of me and then see it bounce under my car.
  
• Flicking ash out the window and onto the cars beside and behind.
• Blowing smoke out the window that the person in the car behind gets to enjoy.
• People having to walk through a gauntlet of smokers in order to get in and out of a building.
• Everyone gets to breath, smell, and wear the smoke as they walk out the door.
• Smoke gets trapped inside the entry way of buildings.

In this post I will not discuss that sitting somewhere smoking is really no different that sitting somewhere shooting heroine. I also will not discuss the "right" to smoke and that other's rights end where mine begin. The point I am trying to make in this post is the following.

I am not an ash tray. My vehicle is not an ash tray. The world in general is not an ash tray.

Violence in Entertainment Media

I happened across a post on Digg about a debate on whether the FCC should put policies in place to attempt to curb the violence on TV. http://digg.com/television/Debate_Should_the_FCC_Curb_TV_Violence I'm not sure whether they should or shouldn't, but I did notice something about the discussion of this topic in the debate and by people who "debate" privately.

The debate seems to focus on protecting the children. That is a great goal, but I think it becomes using the children as a way to advance an agenda. What about protecting the adults. Of course, I am an adult, so I don't need as much protection as a child, but even adults are influenced and impacted by what they see and hear.

Also, I don't want fluff in the things I watch. Unfortunately I find a show I like and there ends up being fluff. By fluff I mean gratuitous sex and violence. At least one commenter on Digg talked about not needing to see Jack Bauer in 24 torture someone or be tortured to advance the story line. I have been thinking about this a lot and am considering not watching 24 next season for that very reason. I like the show, but that stuff is too much. Not because I am squeamish, but because I don't need to spend my time watching something like that week after week.

I have noticed a similar trend with Dead Zone. This last season seemed to add a lot more profanity.