evangelize
Want someone famous to become a Christian? It’s really easy, just build a time machine and go back to a time when no one thought the person was worth engaging. It will be an easier sell.
gramblings on “aid in dying”
“Aid in dying” is often dressed up in compassionate cloths when it’s really just a way for the state and private insurers to save on end-of-life care (which comprises a large chunk of healthcare spending). The state would never leave people the power to conveniently and painlessly end their own life. It’s in the state’s power to pull you into (capital punishment) or push you away (suicide attempt hospitalizations) from death. They would never give this power up. Imagine, after being denied badly-needed pain treatment, you could just walk into a place and be put to sleep like a dying house cat. You could never do this because as an able-bodied citizen you still have the potential and obligation to be a net gain for society. However, once you are enough of a net drain on society “aid in dying” options open up. Unsurprisingly I buy arguments from disability rights organizations like Not Dead Yet. It’s human nature not to give people power over their own death. Even if you enact a law that pretends to it doesn’t magically change human nature. It’s like enacting a law banning sex and expecting everyone to remain chaste. Liberals have a lot of good ideas but don’t have a firm grasp on human nature, specifically the depravity of man.
The Daily Mail reports that in 2012, 14 people with “severe psychiatric problems” were killed by lethal injection, a figure that rose to 42 in 2013.
This is wonderful news. Terminal mental health problems are gaining parity with terminal physical problems. I know if assisted suicide were an option I would seriously consider it. It’s sad but 10 to 15 percent of people with bipolar disorder off themselves so assisted suicide gets to be a very thorny issue for us. Because mental suffering makes us want death but because the desire comes about via a fucked up brain we aren’t allowed to do it (verses desire coming via a fucked up body). There are really no good answers for this.
ESC
Long long ago in web time there used to be a happy medium between the advertisers on a web page and the readers. It was called the escape key. You could press it and the animations would stop (this is before Flash came along) making reading tolerable. Fast forward to today and we have an arms race between advertisers and ad blocking software.
I use ad blocking software and feel guilty about it as ads are the way many sites are paid for. But without it I have a hard time reading the content. If there were a way to press ESC and stop all animations on a page I’d be much more inclined to put up with ads.
I remember in the 1800’s and before parents would try to not get too attached to their children because infant mortality was so high. I think we have a similar situation today but what takes people from their kids is divorce.
gravity
Below are three statements:
There’s coffee in the foyer.
The wedding reception is at Shady Oaks country club.
FIRE!
These are three statements one could make in a crowded church after a wedding. The important thing to note is the more there is at stake the more certain you need to be of the veracity of your statement. If you tell someone there’s coffee in the foyer and they go out there and it has run out there isn’t much harm done. If you tell someone the wrong location for the reception this could ruin their time so you better have a high degree of certainty about the place before telling them. Lastly screaming FIRE! in a building when there isn’t one could cause a stampeded that tramples people to death (it happened in the U.P. and other places).
I feel this way about pastors threatening people with hell. It’s like yelling fire in a building. You better have good evidence to back up your claim. If you don’t, don’t bother bringing it up. You’re just fucking with people’s psyches.
Distill
My mind always distills complex realities into simple ones. When I was in college and a new grad everything was about looks. As I got older everything was about money and status. In my heart I know things aren’t really that simple but it’s kind of the salient bit of everything just gets stuck in my mind and percolates.
like
I spent my high school career obsessing over the girl I liked in high school. She didn’t like me back. I think I was the most hurt when I tried to make myself believe she liked me. So goes with God. When you are a Christian you are forced to believe God loves you. This is abelist. People with depression are going to look for this “love” and not find it and it’s going to make them more depressed. They would be better off not believing it in the first place.
romantic love
Good article on relationships:
You can fall in love with a wide variety of people throughout the course of your life. You can fall in love with people who are good for you and people who are bad for you. You can fall in love in healthy ways and unhealthy ways. You can fall in love when you’re young and when you’re old. Love is not unique. Love is not special. Love is not scarce.
But your self-respect is. So is your dignity. So is your ability to trust. There can potentially be many loves throughout your life, but once you lose your self-respect, your dignity or your ability to trust, they are very hard to get back.
if you have a visible disability it’s your responsibility to make others comfortable with it
With a visible disability your every interaction with the world is an incursion. Your disability makes others in the room uncomfortable and it is incumbent upon you to put them at ease. My little brother actually brought this to my attention when he hurt his hand a couple of years ago. The hand looked awkward while it was healing (he called it an alien baby hand though I couldn’t tell anything was wrong). Now my little brother has good social skills so has no problem scoping out the room and finding a fitting way to put the people in the room at ease with this hand. Unfortunately as an aspie I do not have this skill. When I was a child people were more direct about my disability (very thick glasses) so I could clear the air and then they were fine with it. As an adult people are more obtuse, without the directness I’m lost—and I lose.