Friday, October 22, 2010

Blogroll Update

Clicking on DemocracyLover accidentally, I discovered that site no longer exists. In fact, it seems as if DL no longer blogs or no longer blogs under that name. Seems I'll have to review my list and delete or update any other changes.

I wonder what became of him? I know other lib visitors still blog, even if they no longer wish to blog here. One guy, Les, my favorite lib, has gone so far as to "defriend" me on Facebook, though I wonder if he still lurks. But his blog wasn't on the roll anyway.

It's really too bad that I've lost so many visitors from the left. I'm told it's because I'm too stubborn to listen to reason, or some such whine. Apparently, if one does not concede to a lefty, one is stubborn or lacking in sense or intelligence. OR, they will go with the tiresome "we'll have to agree to disagree", which I can do at the end of the day, but makes no sense in a debate. If one wishes to present an opinion, it only makes sense that one be prepared to defend it against those who might find that opinion to be crap.

But I remain open to challenges to MY opinions and am willing to see it to whatever conclusion results. I just didn't figure on the most common conclusion being the lefty running away like a crybaby saying I'm a meanie.

Here's an example of how this has worked out from the other direction. There is one issue that comes to mind over which I have not been able to defend or explain. That would be the supposed restrictions Paul speaks of regarding women speaking in church. It also covers the notion of whether or not women are meant to be or should be ministers. I haven't gotten to a personal conclusion on the topic but feel that it is generally not a woman's role in the church. When the subject comes up, I choose to shelve the issue as I am not settled on the issue. Were I forced to wage such a battle, I would have to concede my position for the time being until such time as I could jump in again with new arguments. (This is not an invitation to open such a discussion at this time.)

But on other arguments, such as abortion or sexual morality, all true facts and arguments support MY positions to a point of frustration for my opponents and rather than show grace under fire, as one particular opponent constantly demands of me, they flee showing their own stubbornness in refusing to concede anything no matter how weak their arguments are shown to be.

So I wonder if this is what compelled DL to bail on the blogging thing. I hope it wasn't something actually serious, such as illness or death. For even the most insufferable trolls I wish for no such end, but only mature and civil discussion. All are welcome here, at least so far.

Friday, October 01, 2010

What's Really Important

In my last post, where I dealt with an apology from IL Senate candidate Steve Raushenberger for referring to homosexual marriage as "abnormal", little Parklife pooh-poohed my comments as a 2.4 on the "unfortunate-postings-richter" scale due to current coverage of the Tyler Clementi suicide. Oh, yeah. And the post was "homophobic" too, of course. Idiocy. I can just imagine his outrage had I posted the Ellen Degeneres call for a stop to bullying, which I was hoping to do. AOL or Yahoo had the vid and now neither does and I don't feel like searching for it. It's not necessary.

I was not surprised that Degeneres would weep over the death of this kid, or the other two or three she mentioned who also took their lives after being harrassed in one way or another. It is indeed sad, unfortunate, horrible, tragic and any number of other somber and negative adjectives one could think to apply to such an event. Of the few things in this life that can really get me going emotionally, the death of a kid is tops.

But, though I won't go so far as to say that Degeneres' concerns are motivated solely to promote the agenda homosexuals pretend doesn't exist, I have to object to the implication that there is something more devastating, more tragic, that a bullied homosexual kid would take his own life than any other bullied kid. I mean, why focus only on homosexual kids and not all kids who are bullied? But she calls this sad event a wake-up call to a phenomena that is epidemic. I don't believe it is.

This isn't the first time I've touched on this topic. It's come up in discussions of the infiltration into schools by homosexual activist groups posing as folks concerned about bullying, but only dealing with bullied homosexuals, while they really seek to further the agenda that homosexuals pretend doesn't exist.

Bullying by kids against other kids is as old as human existence. I'll bet it's older than the oldest profession. Kids are mean bastards. They really are. They are guided to be something better if they have half-way decent parents, but left to their own, well, I wouldn't want to leave them to their own devices. Lord of The Flies, anyone?

Kids who are bullies will bully for any reason that presents itself, and in lieu of such a presentation, will create one to serve the purpose. Kids who are bullies think bullying is fun. They get a kick out of it, and like adult bullies, they are charged up by the feeling of power they get from running roughshod over a helpless victim. The reason to bully is irrelevant to them. The victim might be fat, short, a different race, might have a big nose or wear thick glasses, might be the teacher's pet or be a goody-two-shoes or yes, might be as queer as a three dollar bill in one way or another. But what is common among these unfortunates is that they are all weaker in some way, or appear to be or are when they find themselves within the circle of the bully and his lackies.

So the bullies go for it. They do what they do and if the kid is a homo, that's just an excuse for the bully to express his personal brand of malevolence. But is the homo more likely to get bullied? I don't know if we can make that judgement. According to FBI hate crimes stats for 2008, 7780 single bias incidents revealed that 51.3% were motivated by race. Of that number, only 1200 were anti-homo events, which is a bit less than 15.5%. Ellen says it's a growing issue, but we're told that kids these days don't have as much a problem with homosexuality. I'm confused. 15% of the total hate crimes doesn't sound like an epidemic. 77% of school kids claim to have been bullied. If 15% of those are homosexuals, what of the other 85?

I'm not trying to minimize the seriousness of child homosexuals killing themselves. But even to claim that they are killing themselves in greater numbers would require some evidence (as if the reason for kids killing themselves matters in the first place). I've found that half of the kids who consider themselves Goths have considered suicide seriously. (Or perhaps it was half the Goths have done so. I don't recall for sure and it's besides the point.) Depression among teens is commonplace and a major factor in all teen suicides, be they homos or not. The real issue here is that kids consider suicide at all. The reason for it is irrelevant.

So, notice the two major irrelvancies. The reason to bully and the reason to kill one's self. The reasons for either are of no concern to any rational and truly caring person. I don't care why a bully bullies. I just want him to stop. And I don't care why any kid wants to off himself. I just want him to go on living.

If you're going to say that you are concerned about bullying, then deal with the agressive tendencies of the bullies. Come down hard on every incident and make that one of those "zero tolerance" thingies that are all the rage in schools these days. There is absolutely no legitimate reason for bullying. Bullies need help. Some need incarceration. Left unchecked, they're more likely to go on to do worse things.

If you're going to say that you are concerned about the victims of bullying, then show concern for them all equally without favoring the homosexuals as being in greater need of protection. That's absolute crap and an assault on the dignity and value of all those other kids who are suffering just as badly at being bullied and harrassed for a different reason.

And if you say you are concerned about teen suicides, don't pretend that homosexuals are checking out in greater numbers. From what I've read, it's up across the board and the reason is the least important aspect. The choice of suicide as a viable option for anyone is reason to be concerned, and those who preside over kids should take pains to learn about the warning signs.

Finally, if the Ellens of the world want to insist that homosexual kids are somehow more likely to commit suicide over bullying or harrassment, doesn't that say something about the nature of homosexuals? Amongst those who aren't impacted by the pressures of the activists pushing the agenda that homosexuals pretend doesn't exist, there is still the question of which comes first: are emotional problems the result of being homosexual, or can emotional problems result in some turning to homosexuality? Of all the aspects surrounding the issue of homosexuality never to have been settled definitively, this is but one. A minor one perhaps, but when the issue concerns kids, I don't much care what the activists think or feel. It's something that needs to be settled.