The current system of democracy in America is a bit of a joke. I'm really tired of this two party system. Having two choices is not a democracy, especially in a situation where you just end up voting for the lesser of two evils. There are other parties out there, but they end up causing trouble as spoilers. (Example: Ralph Nader's Green Party had ideals similar to most Democrats, so when he ran in the 2000 election, he ended up stealing votes from Al Gore, which only helped George Bush.) It's very important to give these smaller parties a bigger voice, and the way to do that is the run off system.
With a run off system, you would be able to rank candidates instead of just voting for one. Then, if your top ranked candidate doesn't have a majority, your vote would then change to your second pick. It's a simple system, and adopting it should be equally simple.
So I encourage everyone to stop voting for Democrats and Republicans. People who live in swing states might want to play it safe and still pick a lesser of two evils, but if you know your state to be solid blue or red, GO FOR IT! Pick a Libertarian, a Socialist, Rainbow/Green party or write yourself in! An even simpler start would be to register as an independent. Doing this will send the signal that we want change, because we are well aware that the fight between red and blue isn't working to our advantage.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Small Essay on Equal Rights
Equal rights for all mankind would truly be great, but I think a lot of programs and ideas meant to encourage this are actually doing the opposite. Gay pride parades, black history month, women's film festivals etc... might seem like a good idea, but it just highlights the fact that these groups are different. Equality is the goal here, and since I think we can all agree that a straight pride parade would be stupid, it makes you wonder why they thought a gay pride parade was a good idea in the first place.
Another thing I'd like to see go is the feminist movement. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but my concern is, when will feminists know when to stop? What would have to happen for feminists to say "WE DID IT WE WON! We can stop calling ourselves feminists now, there's no need!"? The truth is, men and women aren't the same and therefore can't truly be equals. As a matter of fact, that goes for every single person on this planet, not to mention the fact that women can be as different from each other as they are from any man. So this is a situation that should be more about fair rights and not equal rights, and fairness can really only be determined on a case per case basis. Besides, assuming all women might want the same thing is damaging to begin with.
The point is, I think it would be a lot more progressive for people in any of these groups to just band together and campaign for equal/fair rights for all. Separated as they are now is inefficient, and potentially more harmful than good.
Another thing I'd like to see go is the feminist movement. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but my concern is, when will feminists know when to stop? What would have to happen for feminists to say "WE DID IT WE WON! We can stop calling ourselves feminists now, there's no need!"? The truth is, men and women aren't the same and therefore can't truly be equals. As a matter of fact, that goes for every single person on this planet, not to mention the fact that women can be as different from each other as they are from any man. So this is a situation that should be more about fair rights and not equal rights, and fairness can really only be determined on a case per case basis. Besides, assuming all women might want the same thing is damaging to begin with.
The point is, I think it would be a lot more progressive for people in any of these groups to just band together and campaign for equal/fair rights for all. Separated as they are now is inefficient, and potentially more harmful than good.
Small Essay on Oil/Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels are destroying our environment and are not renewable. The only logical option here is to stop using them as soon as we possibly can. I understand that we can't just totally drop them overnight, but we can do many many things to ween ourselves off them, and make a smooth transition over to alternatives.
This really should be so simple for everyone to understand, but sadly it isn't. It's so simple that I'm not sure what else to say about it, so I'm going to focus on how "drill baby, drill" is one of the most terrifyingly ignorant things a person could say. It doesn't matter how much oil is still left in the world, or what country it's in, we can't keep using it. It will only lead to more disasters like the spill in the gulf, and the continued pollution of smog and greenhouse gases. What's worse, and this is huge: it will just reinforce our societies' dependence on oil, delaying our move away from it.
So I want to make something very clear: if we allow it to sneak up on us, the transition away from oil will be devastating to humanity. Almost everything that makes our society what it is can be traced back to a fossil fuel, and without them, things will fall apart in a terrible way. We are going to have to learn to live without oil, and the sooner we do, the less chaotic the switch will be.
This really should be so simple for everyone to understand, but sadly it isn't. It's so simple that I'm not sure what else to say about it, so I'm going to focus on how "drill baby, drill" is one of the most terrifyingly ignorant things a person could say. It doesn't matter how much oil is still left in the world, or what country it's in, we can't keep using it. It will only lead to more disasters like the spill in the gulf, and the continued pollution of smog and greenhouse gases. What's worse, and this is huge: it will just reinforce our societies' dependence on oil, delaying our move away from it.
So I want to make something very clear: if we allow it to sneak up on us, the transition away from oil will be devastating to humanity. Almost everything that makes our society what it is can be traced back to a fossil fuel, and without them, things will fall apart in a terrible way. We are going to have to learn to live without oil, and the sooner we do, the less chaotic the switch will be.
Small Essay on Education
Schools need help, and a simple lack of funding isn't the real problem here. More money would certainly help in a lot of areas, but the basic structure is the real issue. I'd like to see a bigger focus put on wisdom instead of just intelligence. Another way of saying this is I'd rather we taught understanding, instead of just facts. Too much of what we're doing, such as standardized tests, just encourage memorization of information and not true understanding. Wisdom can really only come from experience, which means we need to focus more on critical thinking skills, hands on learning, and creativity. This approach also lends itself well to self guided learning, because not everyone learns the same way.
A wise person can learn anything, and is an all around better asset to society.
A wise person can learn anything, and is an all around better asset to society.
Small Essay on Consumerism
Consuming and consuming is going to leave us with nothing left. Most materials on this planet, such as metals and plastic, are not going to last forever. Depleting our resources to build more and more junk for people to buy at a big box retailer is going to land us in trouble, and it's already happening. I don't want to focus on that so much though, I want to offer some nice alternatives that can give us the satisfaction of consumerism, without so many of the drawbacks.
1. Libraries
Libraries are a fantastic way to consume things, and it's not just books! They have movies, music, documentaries and even some video games. Going to a library and picking out what you want satisfies that "need to shop" without actually buying anything. It's like retail therapy, but you've spent nothing. And when you're done with it, you can just bring it back and you don't have to worry about it cluttering up your house.
2. Digital Media
The digital age can really go a long way in saving resources when it comes to consuming. Almost any form of media product can now be free from a physical format, meaning there's hardly any material used to make it, and no need to waste energy to ship it around. Just please remember to be a responsible consumer on the electronics needed to enjoy these digital formats!
3. Buying used
Buying used stuff is an adventure. Clothing, furniture, games, exercise equipment, tools...anything! Never forget these things can be found used for much cheaper. Thrift stores have all sorts of interesting things in them. The key is to focus on functionality and not brand names or trends. Buying used lets you consume and conserve at the same time.
The goal here is to stop waste. There's plenty to go around if we do it right, and doing right doesn't have to be drastically different from what we're doing now.
Small Essay on Healthy Eating
It's important to eat healthy, but you already knew that. The problem here is not a lot of people know how to do it, even the nutritionists change there mind every few years! So allow me to make a few simple points.
1. Sugar, fat, and salt are good for you.
That's why they taste so good! Our taste buds evolved that way so we would seek out these foods because our body needs them.
HOWEVER: too much of them is no good.
ALSO: the form they come in is important. Getting sugar from an apple is great, getting it from an individually wrapped snack cake is not.
2. Industrialized/Processed food should be avoided.
It's been said that you should shop around the perimeter of a super market and avoid the aisles. This is because the aisles are where all the processed foods are. More and more, these processed foods are being blamed for all sorts of health problems in industrialized countries.
A simple way to look at it is this: If people ate it before the industrial period of the world, it's probably fine.
OR: if your food spent more time in a factory than a farm, it's probably bad.
3. Eating healthy is also healthy for the environment.
This was the thing that really tipped the scales in my mind and got me to actually care about what I ate. Foods that are good for you are also good for sustainability of our environment-lucky for us! Fresh local produce has great nutrition and uses much less energy to ship around the globe. Beef from grass fed cows has less fat, and less need for antibiotics. Avoiding "factory foods" cuts down on trash from wasteful packaging. So if you're the type to think "health nut or not, we die all the same," now think about how important the environment is, and how we can kill two birds with one stone by eating healthier.
1. Sugar, fat, and salt are good for you.
That's why they taste so good! Our taste buds evolved that way so we would seek out these foods because our body needs them.
HOWEVER: too much of them is no good.
ALSO: the form they come in is important. Getting sugar from an apple is great, getting it from an individually wrapped snack cake is not.
2. Industrialized/Processed food should be avoided.
It's been said that you should shop around the perimeter of a super market and avoid the aisles. This is because the aisles are where all the processed foods are. More and more, these processed foods are being blamed for all sorts of health problems in industrialized countries.
A simple way to look at it is this: If people ate it before the industrial period of the world, it's probably fine.
OR: if your food spent more time in a factory than a farm, it's probably bad.
3. Eating healthy is also healthy for the environment.
This was the thing that really tipped the scales in my mind and got me to actually care about what I ate. Foods that are good for you are also good for sustainability of our environment-lucky for us! Fresh local produce has great nutrition and uses much less energy to ship around the globe. Beef from grass fed cows has less fat, and less need for antibiotics. Avoiding "factory foods" cuts down on trash from wasteful packaging. So if you're the type to think "health nut or not, we die all the same," now think about how important the environment is, and how we can kill two birds with one stone by eating healthier.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Small Essay on the Environment
This should be an obvious one but most people don't seem to give a damn about protecting our environment. I think a lot of this has to do with a misunderstanding of environmentalism, and I think many environmentalists themselves have this misunderstanding as well. You see, the main goal of environmentalism shouldn't be saving the trees, saving the whales or saving the pandas. The point is to SAVE THE HUMANS. In other words, the planet is fine, it's gone through hell worse than us and made it out alright. Mass extinctions, global warming, and destruction of habitats are all things nature can and will adapt to. It's what nature does best.
These ARE NOT things humanity as we know it can adapt to. If we want human civilization to continue to prosper things need to change and they need to change right quick. Everything we know and love has come from this planet, and our ability to easily live on it. Without it, we have nothing, and if the goal is to save the humans, saving things like trees comes as part of the package anyway.
So I implore you, see the environment for the paradise it is, and stop trying to control and work against it. It's perfect for us just the way it is, and we need to learn to live with it, not make it live with us. This DOESN'T MEAN we should all revert to simple farm towns and abandon technology. It is possible for us to continue our advancement and prosperity without ruining the environment. In fact, protecting the environment is the ONLY way to continue our advancement and prosperity.
These ARE NOT things humanity as we know it can adapt to. If we want human civilization to continue to prosper things need to change and they need to change right quick. Everything we know and love has come from this planet, and our ability to easily live on it. Without it, we have nothing, and if the goal is to save the humans, saving things like trees comes as part of the package anyway.
So I implore you, see the environment for the paradise it is, and stop trying to control and work against it. It's perfect for us just the way it is, and we need to learn to live with it, not make it live with us. This DOESN'T MEAN we should all revert to simple farm towns and abandon technology. It is possible for us to continue our advancement and prosperity without ruining the environment. In fact, protecting the environment is the ONLY way to continue our advancement and prosperity.
Small Essay on Gay Marriage
My problem with Gay Marriage really has nothing to do with gays and more to do with marriage. It's become pretty obvious to me after hearing all the debates that marriage and the ceremonies that go along with it are a personal choice and have nothing to do with laws and politics. For this reason I think instead of pushing for gay marriage, we should be pushing for civil unions for all couples, and if you want to call yourselves married and have a ceremony for it, that is your choice and you can do that all separately. This way everyone is entitled to the legal benefits that are typically associated with marriage, and everyone has the freedom to define marriage as whatever the hell they want.
Small Essay on Abortion.
Oh boy, this sure can be a tricky one. I'll just say right off the bat that this essay will probably anger both sides of the debate, but that's why I think it's really important to share this point of view.
First off, Pro-Choice is the only logical option. No matter how much you hate the idea of legal abortion, outlawing it would only cause more problems than it would solve. It's that simple. We can't outlaw abortion, but before I explain why, I'm going to seemingly fly in the face of of two big view points Pro-Choicers have.
1. Abortion ends a human life. (A.K.A. Abortion is murder.)
I want to keep this short, so I won't be giving a lesson on the stages of pregnancy, but the only difference between a fertilized egg and a baby is time has passed. Since time is not a force we can control, it makes no sense to treat a fertilized egg as anything other than human life. There is definitely a bit of a gray area in that time when the egg hasn't actually implanted on the uterine wall, and this is where the morning after pill is used. It's a gray area because the fertilized egg (now a blastocyst) doesn't always implant and result in a pregnancy. However, once implantation has occurred, and pregnancy has officially begun, intentionally interrupting this process is without a doubt snuffing out a human life.
2. We should stop saying "it's a womans right to choose."
The idea that it's a woman's right to choose bothers me because it implies women have sole authority over the reproduction of the whole species. It isn't fair to shut men totally out of the equation, considering it almost always takes a man and a woman to start a pregnancy. HOWEVER I am in no way suggesting a man should ever have the power to force a woman to carry a child she doesn't want. That is a scary thought and I would never feel comfortable in a society that allowed that. All I'm trying to say is that I would like the people who say "it's a womans right to choose" to recognize that the father might actually care about the future of their unborn child. Also, I'd like the women who might say "it's my body, my choice" to see that it isn't that simple. They now have another body inside theirs, and it has a right to live.
Okay, so it's clear to me that abortion is basically murder, yet I'm still Pro-Choice. The reason for this is simple, like I said earlier, outlawing abortion would just cause more problems. It wouldn't end abortion any more than outlawing drugs has stopped drug dealers. Women who want an abortion would have to turn to a black market system of underground and likely unsafe practitioners. This obviously would not be an improvement.
The only real way to solve this problem is to get everyone to think smarter about sex and pregnancy. By decreasing the about of unwanted pregnancies, we would decrease the amount of abortions. I know this isn't really a new idea, but I promise it's the best option we have.
First off, Pro-Choice is the only logical option. No matter how much you hate the idea of legal abortion, outlawing it would only cause more problems than it would solve. It's that simple. We can't outlaw abortion, but before I explain why, I'm going to seemingly fly in the face of of two big view points Pro-Choicers have.
1. Abortion ends a human life. (A.K.A. Abortion is murder.)
I want to keep this short, so I won't be giving a lesson on the stages of pregnancy, but the only difference between a fertilized egg and a baby is time has passed. Since time is not a force we can control, it makes no sense to treat a fertilized egg as anything other than human life. There is definitely a bit of a gray area in that time when the egg hasn't actually implanted on the uterine wall, and this is where the morning after pill is used. It's a gray area because the fertilized egg (now a blastocyst) doesn't always implant and result in a pregnancy. However, once implantation has occurred, and pregnancy has officially begun, intentionally interrupting this process is without a doubt snuffing out a human life.
2. We should stop saying "it's a womans right to choose."
The idea that it's a woman's right to choose bothers me because it implies women have sole authority over the reproduction of the whole species. It isn't fair to shut men totally out of the equation, considering it almost always takes a man and a woman to start a pregnancy. HOWEVER I am in no way suggesting a man should ever have the power to force a woman to carry a child she doesn't want. That is a scary thought and I would never feel comfortable in a society that allowed that. All I'm trying to say is that I would like the people who say "it's a womans right to choose" to recognize that the father might actually care about the future of their unborn child. Also, I'd like the women who might say "it's my body, my choice" to see that it isn't that simple. They now have another body inside theirs, and it has a right to live.
Okay, so it's clear to me that abortion is basically murder, yet I'm still Pro-Choice. The reason for this is simple, like I said earlier, outlawing abortion would just cause more problems. It wouldn't end abortion any more than outlawing drugs has stopped drug dealers. Women who want an abortion would have to turn to a black market system of underground and likely unsafe practitioners. This obviously would not be an improvement.
The only real way to solve this problem is to get everyone to think smarter about sex and pregnancy. By decreasing the about of unwanted pregnancies, we would decrease the amount of abortions. I know this isn't really a new idea, but I promise it's the best option we have.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Flooding.
That article is just one of many talking about the impact of the floods currently happening along the Mississippi River. I've mostly just been seeing news about impacts on human life though, and not so much on the environment.
The truth is, floods are pretty good for the land. River sediment would typically get deposited on the top soil, making for some of the best farm land the world has to offer. With all these flood controls in place, this valuable sediment ends up washing away out to sea.
Of course I'm not suggesting to just let the place flood. That water is poisoned and contaminated now anyway, so it would likely do more harm to the farmland than good. I will suggest not living so close to a river though, especially one as big as the Mississippi.
Rivers flood. It's what they do. Don't build so much stuff near them.
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/floods.html
I found this nice "Ask an Earth Scientist" article about this topic. My favorite part is: "A wise society, in my opinion, would reap the benefits of flooding and avoid many of the negatives if they would choose to build cities in ways that can accommodate flooding without trying to avoid it. Attempting to go against nature is almost certainly a loosing prospect in the end."
Let's be a wise society.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Bin Laden.
It seems like it's useless to find news that isn't about Bin Laden right now so I figured I might as well post something about it and wait a bit for it to blow over.
It has already been said by better writers on bigger blogs, but celebrating this isn't something we should be doing. If it meant the war was over that would be cause for celebration for sure, but it isn't.
I just want to again point out like others have, that when you see people on T.V. cheering with their American flags out, celebrating death, it looks way too similar to those who celebrate the terrorist attacks that we're trying to stop.
It has already been said by better writers on bigger blogs, but celebrating this isn't something we should be doing. If it meant the war was over that would be cause for celebration for sure, but it isn't.
I just want to again point out like others have, that when you see people on T.V. cheering with their American flags out, celebrating death, it looks way too similar to those who celebrate the terrorist attacks that we're trying to stop.
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