darcibastiaan:

My name is Patrick Meighan, and I’m a husband, a father, a writer on the Fox animated sitcom “Family Guy”, and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica.

I was arrested at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with 291 other people at Occupy LA. I was sitting in City Hall Park with a pillow, a blanket, and a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Being Peace” when 1,400 heavily-armed LAPD officers in paramilitary SWAT gear streamed in. I was in a group of about 50 peaceful protestors who sat Indian-style, arms interlocked, around a tent (the symbolic image of the Occupy movement). The LAPD officers encircled us, weapons drawn, while we chanted “We Are Peaceful” and “We Are Nonviolent” and “Join Us.”

As we sat there, encircled, a separate team of LAPD officers used knives to slice open every personal tent in the park. They forcibly removed anyone sleeping inside, and then yanked out and destroyed any personal property inside those tents, scattering the contents across the park. They then did the same with the communal property of the Occupy LA movement. For example, I watched as the LAPD destroyed a pop-up canopy tent that, until that moment, had been serving as Occupy LA’s First Aid and Wellness tent, in which volunteer health professionals gave free medical care to absolutely anyone who requested it. As it happens, my family had personally contributed that exact canopy tent to Occupy LA, at a cost of several hundred of my family’s dollars. As I watched, the LAPD sliced that canopy tent to shreds, broke the telescoping poles into pieces and scattered the detritus across the park. Note that these were the objects described in subsequent mainstream press reports as “30 tons of garbage” that was “abandoned” by Occupy LA: personal property forcibly stolen from us, destroyed in front of our eyes and then left for maintenance workers to dispose of while we were sent to prison.

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“Any world that I’m welcome to is better than the one I come from.”

Good job, LAPD.  Well played, big money launderers.  You’ve helped me significantly by influencing my decision regarding whether I’ll someday move to Canada.

geekfeed:

As the man say: Don’t just reblog this and feel like you helped the world because you’re half-assing it. Sign it. Reblog it. Sign it and reblog it.

I, for one, find Tumblr one of the more reliable sources of information and one of the most up to date. We knew about the content of Obama’s impromptu surprise announcement before he announced it himself, just to name an example. The same difference applies to Youtube, so when I see things like this:

Sssssooooo…the government is enforcing copyright. Without proof or hearing they uproot a UK resident and SHIP HIM OVER to be persecuted in the US. WITHOUT PROOF.

Now we have The IP Act that is on the fast track of becoming a law.

An except that summarizes what this does: “The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners – movie studios and other content providers – simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you even pass a disagreeable fart, a big angry fist will punch you in the butthole and seal said butthole forever.

WHERE’S OUR SHIT GONNA GO?

Before:

After:

So the title of this, while an exaggeration of something that hasn’t happened, is a very real possibility and it’s so close to happening.

SIGN THIS SHIT

 SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

SIGN THIS SHIT

Don’t just reblog this and feel like you helped the world because you’re half-assing it. Sign it. Reblog it. Sign it and reblog it.

Well, shit.

I like a lot of things.  Some of these things are social networks, having a viable career, and the ability to post media online.  In one way or another, I rely on all of these to spread my music around and gain a bit of credibility here and there so when I do get in deep with the music business, I don’t look like some talking head who’s chained to the radio antenna.

For the first time in ages, I can use the phrase ‘for great justice’ in a justifiable manner.  This goes above and beyond justice; it is, simply put, the ending of social media as we know it.  Not only does this bill completely miss the point, but it also restricts our access to anything that has some sort of cultural influence, i.e. ART.

If you didn’t hear the man, sign that shit.  Reblog.  Hopefully we’ll wake up 5 years from now and not be driven around by the ever-preset din of FM.

A famous man once said “a famous man once said ‘what is love, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more.’”

That’s an excellent question, Mr. Haddaway.  Let’s discuss the premise.

Well, I’m sure if I were raised in the 60’s, we’d have the same idea here, and everything would be fantastic.  We’d probably have some real nice conversations.

Of course, this isn’t the case.  I was born in ‘94.  Plastic age.  Nothing is real anymore.  I grew up thinking that the whole concept of love was one that failed miserably due to some pretty terrible happenings, but reflecting on this, I now realize that this makes about as much sense as having eaten really terrible apples for a lifetime, never once realizing they were oranges.

I realize now that these people didn’t have love, they just had a really strong mutual desire to fuck one another’s brains out.

Forethought: If I was a well-read spaceman looking at earth for the first time, I’d think what this ‘love’ is was actually a virus that had been almost completely eradicated by the human race, now only kept in small quantities for experimental purposes in the high-security bowels of the USAMRIID.

Effectively, what we have in relationships now just isn’t what it’s supposed to be.  We have countless couples waiting in line to be messed with and thrown around for nought, burning into ashes of alcohol and depression.  Were distrust marketable, we’d be able to make enough profit off of the romantic sector alone so as to be able to feed the population of at least three different third-world nations.

We have people who get on really well with another, but are brought down by the bleak social asymptote called the friend zone.  We have people who can get into relationships and be the best they can be, but for some reason are stuck with somebody who takes them for granted, or with friends who put them down for it.  These problems are chiefly due to a whole bunch of people who have no goddamn idea how social issues work out.

See, people group with other people; namely, like people.  This is the whole concept behind association with people you can get along with in every sort of relationship, platonic or romantic.  This is where the first buck stops: if you’re in a relationship with someone only because they’re physically attractive, stop reading this and go sort your life out.

Along with this, we all have personalities that stick to us throughout life.  People don’t change, seem it as they may- it’s more of an aging process; not unlike cheese or fine wine, we mature as we sit out in a warm, dry room for years on end, being ignored until we’ve reached our peaks and are now ready to be harvested.

Well, the first part of that applied, anyway.

Effectively, this means that people won’t really be completely indiscernible from their past selves as long as they haven’t had some sort of blow to the head that forced them to start from scratch.  You will always appreciate being around old friends (provided they didn’t turn out to be somebody completely different), you will always fall for the same characters, and you sure as hell can’t steal other people’s friends.

Now, second buck is grinding to a halt: if you find yourself in some sort of relationship where you do have reasonable feelings for somebody regardless of the poison you’re drinking, stop reading and cut the poison off at its source.  Sort your life out and consult who you need to.  You’ll feel better about yourself.

To those of you who remain, I offer you kudos of the highest caliber.  Keep on keepin’ on.

Effectively, what I’m getting at here is that society (or at least the vast majority of it) seems to have lost sight of what’s actually important, instead going for whoever is the richest, or the strongest, or owns the most oxen, or has the hugest tracts of land.  Society fails to realize that the only reasonable meaning of life is to help other people, and that relationships are for being there for others who can support and complement you; people who you can not only live with, but can’t live without; people who you can spend a lifetime with without harboring a growing intrinsic feeling of wanting to stab somebody.  These people are what life is about, not money or sex or plastic.  These people allow you to breathe; find out who they are and, once you have, hang on to them for dear life, not daring to let go.  If they don’t feel the same way about you, don’t blame yourself; you are a viable character.  An individual.  Trust just as easily the next time so that it may come naturally to you, and, should it work out, never take your lover for granted, for a life is such a terrible thing to throw to waste.

Society, you’re a living, breathing figure of what should be expected by an individual.  Drop the spray tan and cancel your silicone implant appointment.  You’re a representation of what will come to be.  Start fucking acting like it.

This is my new song.  It’s a song about a boy and his trusty VSTi plugins.

Many moons ago, I awoke from a fever dream with the sudden and baseless desire to create a Tumblr account.  So I did.  I’m not sure why I took this action; maybe it was the result of many of my friends having accounts on this website.  Peer pressure has always been a convincing argument, so we’ll go with that.  Right, so upon the completion of the details of my account, it occurred to me that I’d likely not be using this account for months to come.  Turns out I was right- I’ve not utilized the account since its creation, and only now, due to my sudden realization of the utility of a blog and my growing distance from the portrayal of society, am I utilizing it again.  Coincidentally, I have once more awoken from a fever dream.  Some things don’t change.

Right, so I promised a rant, and I don’t like making promises I can’t keep, so I suppose we can get to that now.  So as of late, I’ve noticed more and more events of social injustices occurring around me and culminating in the back of my mind, endlessly evolving and aging in a manner similar to that of fine wine.  Up until now, these have mostly been wasted with their expression in the form of disappointingly primal teenage angst.  As such, I’ve decided to actually make use of my experiences and offer what audience may come my point of view on the subject.

Now, this subject is a lot like the long-running racial inequality issues that surrounded my parents and their parents alike, but different in that it’s from the point of view of a high school student.  That, dear reader, is the ever-present subject of gender-related issues.  In some manner, I’ve been affected by all sorts of biasing issues, but none of these have laid the biggest footprint on myself (as well as virtually every individual in this society) as bias of individuals based on their gender.  Granted, I make every attempt to be as unbiased as possible, but having been the conscious owner of a penis for nearly 17 years, there’s going to be some inexplicable bias here and there, try as I might to avoid making such mistakes.  So, I’ve kept you waiting long enough- let’s get on with this.

For as long as you or I or anybody can remember, there have been traits associated with genders that have just been accepted and passed on through generations.  To me, this is not a matter of truth and experience so much as it is putting meanings to words, and basing these definitions solely on the worst perceptible habits shared by multiple members of the same sex.  Put in perspective, this makes exactly as much sense as organizing the food pyramid based on how good a food group tastes rather than its nutritional content.  Were the food pyramid to be grouped in that manner, society would likely have not met the advancement it has today due to issues that would arise from such a mistake being made.  The same goes for these gender issues, except unlike chocolate versus cabbage, there is no clear winner; in fact, both parties fall just as hard onto their faces in the scheme of it all.  On one side, we have the men; vitriolic, abusive, perverse, and corrupt.  On the other, we have women; scheming, controlling, volatile, and caustic.  You, the reader, know that there are some men and women who fit into these molds, but you also are aware that very few people you know fit these completely; granted, they likely will share some of the qualities they are portrayed to have, but that is far more a matter of individual personality than gender.  Of course, every so often, the tables will turn completely and we will have men and women who fit their counterpart’s negative mold!  Once again, an issue of individuality.

Thanks to the worst portrayals of these characters and their recursion in some of our individuals, the molds have stuck; the media will fuel this further by giving us immediate access to deceitful and cheating men and unnaturally passive-aggressive women.  However, the media makes no attempt to explain that these characters are not representative of their genders- these characters are simply some of the most distastefully marketable iterations of people you could meet!

Granted, there is some sad truth in these characters that reflects us, even if it is a manner of how our own genders will play by their own rules or how obviously these aspects of our psyches will shine through.  But in no way does this represent the population of either gender!  Were we not to have any form of individuality, these might just be true, but individuality is exactly what sets us apart from one another.

Back to me for a second.  As stated earlier, I make every attempt to be unbiased.  In a world full of horror and corruption, I want to try my best to be the most outstanding person I can be- that said, I fail as often as anyone; I am not the best person I can be, but it’s never stopped me from trying.  I want to be the best person I can be so that this world may be better off when I have died than it was when I was born; that in somebody’s eyes, I can restore a glimmer of hope in humanity lost to the deceitful snakes who run our society; that I may make some lucky woman my wife and show her firsthand how wonderful our world could be.  I seek to spread the message of equality and love so that we can set aside our differences and all evolve and conglomerate to become an overall better human race.  I have friends who fit these molds.  I don’t love them any less for them (though I do still penalize them on occasion for it), as we’re all human.  I’m human, even though I do my best not to be; I am not comfortable with being a human myself, even though I accept it in others.  From your point of view, I could be the most devious combination of self-consciousness and self-righteousness.  You could be right, or you could be wrong, but you’re likely somewhere in between.  I don’t judge people based on their color, or their religion, or their class.  Everyone is a person.

Let’s take for example one of my friends.  Her name is Rose.  She’s one year my senior, enjoys the theater, is full of vitality and wit, and she can come up with some of the most entertaining conversations, provided you’re all right with a healthy dose of chaos now and again.  Now let me tell you something else about Rose: she is of African-American descent.  Do you see her any differently than I described her?  Does this affect who she is as a person?  Assuming you’re a well-rounded individual, the short answer is: of fucking course it doesn’t change who she is.  Skin color has no basis in who you are, except in the sense that it can affect your culture and family history.  The color if your skin is not decided by you upon conception, nor is your culture or family history.  It makes an absolutely minimal difference on who you are.  You have no decision or say in it; you are today who you were when you were born, albeit with more character and enhanced cognitive and motor skills.  The same goes for whether you are a man or a woman; hormones make a difference in your base personality, but you can be whoever.

The difference here lies in who we’re expected to be.  From a young age, we’re expected to talk to certain social groups and play with certain toys, evolving into diluted half-persons more based around chromosomes than character.  Boys have to hide their emotions in order to fit in with their peers.  Girls have to be fashionable in order to be socially accepted.  The fact of the matter is that we’re forced to be these people from a young age and not only shapes us for better or for worse, but it continues the lasting impression that we’re all the same.  We’re all just drones to one another.

Once again, I am a member of the male half of the population.  All my life, I have been not only as respectful as I could have been to women, but I transposed that same respect to men.  I wanted to be respectful to everyone, unless I could jokingly get away with ribbing my closer friends.  I wanted to see the good in everyone.  I still do my best to see people for their best qualities and not to judge them for it.  I have guy friends and lady friends.  They both crack caustic jokes at one another when they see fit, and these are often based on genders.  I crack no such jokes, opting instead to create a less biased brand of humor.  I guess you could say I’m not like those other men.

But wait- who are those other men?  And who are those women?  There are no such people.  “Those” is a weasel word in this case; those other men are all the same; those other women are all the same.  The fact is that ‘those’ people do not exist; we are not drones- we are individuals, who all think and feel differently.

Granted, we still have people who fit these molds; we have spiteful men who will hurt women and equally spiteful women who will hurt men, both with whatever means necessary and however they see fit.  These men and women operate on gender-based playing fields.  The fact is that these are not men and women- these are overgrown boys and girls who will never look beyond the division between boys and girls, looking to bring the two sides to common ground.  The fact is that these playing fields do not exist; that these are one field, and it is level all the way across, yet it is cluttered still with the hate of players who won’t play by the rules.  The fact is that men and women, on a psychological level, are not all that different from one another- we’re all individuals, but each of us is as well-rounded as the one before us.  So with these facts in mind, I ask you this final question:

In a world where we are taught this golden rule as children, this rule that tells us to treat others with respect, where so many of us test that golden rule and proceed to have it backfire or ignore it completely and fall on our faces, where so many of us grow to accept that we’re all different people, yet some of us are more different than others, where we all attempt to treat these people with the same respect, but so often fail to bridge the gap so that we are all scarred with the stigma of inequality and bias based on social groups, why do so many of us seem to grow out of respect at some point?  Why must we have a society and a correspondent culture that is so heavily based in the fault in our perceptions of one another?  Why must we endure all this madness-induced pain that is so frequently and consistently inflicted upon every aspect of not only my being, and not only your being, but the being of virtually every human who has graced this Earth yet?

Why can’t we all just get along?