Clue

Allow me to jump to conclusions:
Islamic terrorism.

Funny that I had to scroll to Al Jazeera to find the "t" word.

How many cartoonists, out door shoppers, and music lovers must die before we admit that not all cultures are worthy of the same level of merit? Before we stop trying to placate? And where are the Muslims saying "that's not us?" Certainly not in Mecca.

Sorry for the week-late Twitter post. Been off world for a bit.

Twitter edition! Time machine

Then: Fire James Comey!
Six months later: how dare you fire James Comey!
Humor me: Google those who called for his firing... in 2016. See how many suddenly like his work.

I swear, if our president found a cure for cancer, the beltway left would find something bad to say about it.

Anarchy!

Yup, nothing should be illegal.
Nothing.
All things should be legal.
All THINGS.
Ah? Ah?
See what I did there?

Things don't cause problems. People cause problems. People are greedy, power hungry, selfish, stupid, and even disenfranchised and abused. People in those categories do things that are not always sociable. Some times, it seems that things are an integral part of the plot of a tale of woe, but they are scenery, if you think about it.

Drugs are not a problem. Addiction is. You don't need a drug to be addicted, in fact, people are at this moment ruining their lives with social media addictions. Sure, they don't go knock off a pensioner for another Facebook hit, but their addiction is no less real. It's just that face book didn't rot anyone's teeth and isn't smuggled from poor nations in the body cavities of poor people. Frankly, it's easier to blame the inanimate drug than to try to find out why people take it... isn't it? That's why drugs are illegal, isn't it? Alcohol consumes lives at a startling pace, but it remains legal. Remember when it wasn't? Would a sane person want to go back? Alcohol prohibition built the mob that the FBI had to be built to take down. Oddly enough, now that drugs are illegal, we had to build yet another TLA to take on the problem with guns, accountants, and blood. It's called the Drug Enforcement Agency, and like the FBI, they can literally get away with murder in the name of a McGuffin.

Am I advocating drug use? No, though marijuana seems to fit the "mostly harmless" category (don't give me the gateway drug spiel, none of my pot head friends would ever want to switch). However, drug use is missing the point. Or not... how have our laws against drugs done in combating drug addictions? Drug addiction is fought by social workers, not police.

This principle here, the idea that things are neither good nor bad, extends everywhere. There is a tendency, however, to blame things for the actions that people perform. This is absurd. It denies the fact that people are not suddenly tempted to do something bad by the presence of an object. People that would kill with a gun would kill without one. People who would get addicted to PCP would likely get addicted to something else. This behavior has roots, of course, and that ought to be focus of the law and the rest of society. Perfection can never be achieved, but that's no excuse not to try harder.

The first step to really cleaning up societal decay is focus on the people, divorcing the silly notion that things are bad... or good.

Nothing should be illegal. Harming others should be.

Digital World

I don't like Nelson Mandela.
You must support apartheid!
I hate apartheid.
You must be a communist!
Gahhhhhhh!

I don't agree with transgender people in the US military.
You hate transgender people.
I continue to serve side by side with them, treating them like any other person.
But you said...
No reason to be uncivil...

I hate the EPA.
Do you like dirty air and water?
I hate pollution.

My profession is the profession of arms.
You're a warmonger.
I am a pacifist.

I love God.
I thought you weren't religious.
True.
But... you like Richard Dawkins!
And?

None of these statements contain a grain of contradiction. The world is not digital. You can be somewhat between this and that. It is also possible to carry on while disagreeing with somebody else. The big point, however, is that I tire of people assuming that because I believe one thing, I must believe another that I don't really. The above strangeness all come from my personal life and encounters with other people. What, everything needs to be monolithic? I thought I saw the world in black and white, but for crying out loud...I'm positively nuanced!

I know I'm not, but sometimes I feel like the last sane man. Is it so crazy to be willing to fight for peace? Can I call somebody unfit if they can't run a mile and a half? Do we really need to fine ranchers for making ponds in their backyards in order for Lake Eerie to not be on fire? The middle path is always the hardest to defend, but I think its worth it. That's where wisdom lies, not because you're riding some fence or not taking sides or even being a misanthrope, but because you are thinking and applying morals to all of life. We should not accept sweeping generalizations for tweaks to society. We should strive to do right in all things, never overreaching or compensating. We should not root for "our" side, but for what is right. We ought not fear what might happen, but what does happen...and maybe not flip out and assume when somebody says a thing that there is all this subtext behind it.

I realize I soapboxed there, but I'm annoyed at so often having to throw that "well, actually" flag. Soon, I'll expound on what I think right is. I meant to do that today, but somebody accused me of liking communism because I didn't like apartheid. Yeah. Like its one or the other...
Tune in next week for why I think nothing should be illegal.
Haha! You have to come back now! That's insane!
Yes, yes. Insane.
Watch the insane man!

In closing, for real, to quote the great Alissa Rosenbaum, there are no contradictions...check your premises. At least one will be false.