Why does every generation believe that humanity is in its worst state ever? It seems to me that everyone thinks that The Golden Age was whatever period of time covered your youth. Movies were better (unless you were a black actor), music was better (unless you were a gay singer), politics were better (unless you were a woman running for office), schools were better (unless you had dyslexia), and kids had more respect (and knew they deserved that beating). And today's world is in the toilet which is proof that Jesus is coming and the end is near. Whatever.
Are things really worse? If you really think things are worse, then they are, and there is never a lack of evidence to prove your point. You see aids, terrorism, pollution, and watch Fox News and you have no doubt that civilization is decaying.
But I prefer to look at life through a different lens, and case by case, most things seem a lot better today when compared with conditions just a generation ago, let alone a millenium ago.
Here are a few examples that come to mind. They range from trivial to awesome. And I'm not even going to discuss comparisons from 1000 years ago when we worried about our villages getting plundered, our children getting kidnapped, and rats bringing the plague.
Would the people who complain that there's no leg room on the airplane rather pull their hand cart to Utah? Would you still live in Phoenix if there was no air conditioning? How wonderful is it that instead of an outhouse and the Sears catalog, we have indoor plumbing and really soft toilet paper?(my favorite reason I wasn't born a hundred years earlier) What about cell phones, ATM's, velcro, online banking, online trading and those really funny stock trading baby commercials?
But it's your choice. You can look at UPC symbols and GPS as an example of Big Brother looking over your shoulder or you can look look at them as just a faster way to get out of the store and never getting lost. You can complain about the cost of health care or you can thank God for the miracles of penicillin, epidurals, and flouride.
Cars are safer, water is safer, paint is safer, cribs are safer, food is safer, and you can eat in a restaurant without the stink of cigarettes. Hmmmm.....I wonder if our incompetent, intrusive government and their regulations had anything to with that?
YOU LIVE IN PARADISE!!!!!
Do you really yearn for the "good old days"? Do you really want to worry about polio? Do you really want to have to get up to change the channel? Do you you want to know that when your child moves 200 miles away, you'll likely never see them again? Do you want your daughter to have 10% of the opportunities that she had 100 years ago? Do you really think that humanity is so corrupt that there is no saving it?
The world...this paradise we live in...keeps getting better. You can give the credit to God, or you can give the credit to man, but every year, the world is better than it was the year before. I usually believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if you disagree with me...you are WRONG.
With so many blessings out there, why is it so hard to feel blessed?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The End is Near!
Doomsdayers have shouted this prediction for thousands of years and the only end has been their own. The recent "irrefutable evidence" has come from this years series of earthquakes. I've always assumed that the mountains and canyons and volcanos and sink holes and tsunamis and hurricanes that are all over the globe were evidence that we live on an evolving, living planet. Not so! I just read an article about the latest quake in Turkey but that's not where the real information was. The good stuff was below the article in the comments section. That is the best part of getting your news online. You get to see read people's opinions of the news. And since all comments are anonymous you get see the crazy stuff that these people really think about.
There were nearly 2000 comments on this article so naturally I didn't read them all, but I did browse a couple hundred and here is a breakdown of earthquake theories.
60% say the reason is biblical. Jesus is returning and the earthquakes are no surprise because it's all predicted in scripture. (Matthew 24:7 and Revelations 16:18-20). Biblical predictions have been around for 2000 years so this is nothing new. I have to be careful here because some of these beliefs are sincere but what stood out and bothered me about these posts was the apparent delight at the prospect of the end of the world. Sinners (humans who don't believe what you believe) were finally going to get what was coming to them. Seriously! These people have the same joyful confidence of the suicide bomber before he squeezes the trigger. Just no doubt in their minds about what comes next and joy in the knowledge that people were going to be hurt.
10% say government conspiracy. Included in this number are the handful who say it's Obama's fault. Apparently the United States has developed an earthquake machine and we are in the process of testing it around poor countries. Other more sensible conspiracy theorists say don't be silly. There is no earthquake machine. The US is conducting undersea nuclear tests. Both sides have lots of compelling evidence which I won't go into here.
10% say it's all about the 2012 Mayan prophecies. For more information...see the movie.
10% have actually made the case that earthquakes are caused by global warming. You see, because both poles are melting, the weight of the earth is getting redistributed and geologic shifts are occurring. The quakes are going to continue until the earth finds balances its new weight. One woman (who had quotes from Fox News) combines this theory with the conspiracy theories and says Al Gore is running the earthquake machine to fool us into believing him so he can take over the world.
5% believe mother earth is a living breathing organism and human kind is a parasite or bacteria on its surface. Because of our bad habits, she is finally taking action to get rid of us.
3% say oil drilling and coal mining are too blame. It's obvious that if you remove the interior of any object then the exterior is going to start collapsing. Also, the oil acts as a natural lubricant on the plates and now its missing so there is more friction that causes earth quakes. Ok, I have to confess that I almost started to believe this one. It made sense to me and the people explaining it were using really big, scientificky words that impressed me.
Only 2% of the people believed that there is nothing new or unusual going on. Here is a quote I lifted that summarizes my own views. "All you fatalists and conspiracy idiots are just that, idiots. Earthquakes have been happening around the world for thousands of years and every time idiots perceive it as a harbinger of Armageddon. Today's day and age with easily accessible information through the internet and growing number of people in areas that are able to report it so quickly, it may seem like there is an unusual amount of catastrophic natural disasters, but the fact is is that you are more readily informed of these events than the past. They've always been occurring, all over the world so get a grip and move on".
At first it frightened me that 98% of the population believe something dark and unusual is going on. But then with relief, I realized that it is just 98% of anonymous public forum commentors dying for attention. Tell me that's right. There aren't really only 2 out of 100 people that think this is all perfectly normal, right? Right?
If you want to see a cool website that will show you every earthquake in the world go to:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
There were nearly 2000 comments on this article so naturally I didn't read them all, but I did browse a couple hundred and here is a breakdown of earthquake theories.
60% say the reason is biblical. Jesus is returning and the earthquakes are no surprise because it's all predicted in scripture. (Matthew 24:7 and Revelations 16:18-20). Biblical predictions have been around for 2000 years so this is nothing new. I have to be careful here because some of these beliefs are sincere but what stood out and bothered me about these posts was the apparent delight at the prospect of the end of the world. Sinners (humans who don't believe what you believe) were finally going to get what was coming to them. Seriously! These people have the same joyful confidence of the suicide bomber before he squeezes the trigger. Just no doubt in their minds about what comes next and joy in the knowledge that people were going to be hurt.
10% say government conspiracy. Included in this number are the handful who say it's Obama's fault. Apparently the United States has developed an earthquake machine and we are in the process of testing it around poor countries. Other more sensible conspiracy theorists say don't be silly. There is no earthquake machine. The US is conducting undersea nuclear tests. Both sides have lots of compelling evidence which I won't go into here.
10% say it's all about the 2012 Mayan prophecies. For more information...see the movie.
10% have actually made the case that earthquakes are caused by global warming. You see, because both poles are melting, the weight of the earth is getting redistributed and geologic shifts are occurring. The quakes are going to continue until the earth finds balances its new weight. One woman (who had quotes from Fox News) combines this theory with the conspiracy theories and says Al Gore is running the earthquake machine to fool us into believing him so he can take over the world.
5% believe mother earth is a living breathing organism and human kind is a parasite or bacteria on its surface. Because of our bad habits, she is finally taking action to get rid of us.
3% say oil drilling and coal mining are too blame. It's obvious that if you remove the interior of any object then the exterior is going to start collapsing. Also, the oil acts as a natural lubricant on the plates and now its missing so there is more friction that causes earth quakes. Ok, I have to confess that I almost started to believe this one. It made sense to me and the people explaining it were using really big, scientificky words that impressed me.
Only 2% of the people believed that there is nothing new or unusual going on. Here is a quote I lifted that summarizes my own views. "All you fatalists and conspiracy idiots are just that, idiots. Earthquakes have been happening around the world for thousands of years and every time idiots perceive it as a harbinger of Armageddon. Today's day and age with easily accessible information through the internet and growing number of people in areas that are able to report it so quickly, it may seem like there is an unusual amount of catastrophic natural disasters, but the fact is is that you are more readily informed of these events than the past. They've always been occurring, all over the world so get a grip and move on".
At first it frightened me that 98% of the population believe something dark and unusual is going on. But then with relief, I realized that it is just 98% of anonymous public forum commentors dying for attention. Tell me that's right. There aren't really only 2 out of 100 people that think this is all perfectly normal, right? Right?
If you want to see a cool website that will show you every earthquake in the world go to:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Testosterone
I needed a change.
I interact with women all day. My boss is a woman, most of my co-workers are women, my best friends locally are women, I ski with women, and I date women. I drive a mini-van. I own a bichon frise. I'm polite, empathetic, politically correct, and refrain from loud belching. I recycle, keep a clean house, and watch American Idol.
A couple of weeks ago, I looked in the mirror and wondered if I should be moisturizing when I realized that an immediate trip to Utah was necessary to keep me from adding "Dancing With the Stars" to my list of must see TV.
I didn't head to Utah because I thought it was a particularly virile state. I went to visit my friends, who despite being active in their church and local government and appearing to be responsible family men, will still giggle when they fart.
It was just what I needed.
We talked of zoning laws, death penalties, proper sidewalk construction, neutering sex offenders, basketball, dogs, 401Ks, and guns. We worried and bragged about our kids, and towed a Ford out of the mud. We went to a sports bar and watched Olympics and basketball. We insulted each other and nobody cried. We even went to Cabelas, the mansion of manliness, and shopped for sleeping bags, water filters, camp stoves, and guns. I held rifles, pistols and shot guns and was having a nice time until Todd told them I was a Democrat and they asked me to leave.
And we shot guns...
I believe in sensible gun control laws and I believe that some people have crossed the line of sanity on the subject, but I have to admit that it feels good to watch clay targets explode when you shoot them. BOOM! It feels...well it feels...manly! BOOM! with every shot, I could picture myself protecting my family from the zombie hordes trying to get into my house. BOOM! Everytime I pulled the trigger I felt a little dose of testosterone enter my body. It feels good...
I think I can hold off Dancing With the Stars for another season.
Thanks Todd and Troy!
I interact with women all day. My boss is a woman, most of my co-workers are women, my best friends locally are women, I ski with women, and I date women. I drive a mini-van. I own a bichon frise. I'm polite, empathetic, politically correct, and refrain from loud belching. I recycle, keep a clean house, and watch American Idol.
A couple of weeks ago, I looked in the mirror and wondered if I should be moisturizing when I realized that an immediate trip to Utah was necessary to keep me from adding "Dancing With the Stars" to my list of must see TV.
I didn't head to Utah because I thought it was a particularly virile state. I went to visit my friends, who despite being active in their church and local government and appearing to be responsible family men, will still giggle when they fart.
It was just what I needed.
We talked of zoning laws, death penalties, proper sidewalk construction, neutering sex offenders, basketball, dogs, 401Ks, and guns. We worried and bragged about our kids, and towed a Ford out of the mud. We went to a sports bar and watched Olympics and basketball. We insulted each other and nobody cried. We even went to Cabelas, the mansion of manliness, and shopped for sleeping bags, water filters, camp stoves, and guns. I held rifles, pistols and shot guns and was having a nice time until Todd told them I was a Democrat and they asked me to leave.
And we shot guns...
I believe in sensible gun control laws and I believe that some people have crossed the line of sanity on the subject, but I have to admit that it feels good to watch clay targets explode when you shoot them. BOOM! It feels...well it feels...manly! BOOM! with every shot, I could picture myself protecting my family from the zombie hordes trying to get into my house. BOOM! Everytime I pulled the trigger I felt a little dose of testosterone enter my body. It feels good...
I think I can hold off Dancing With the Stars for another season.
Thanks Todd and Troy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
