Today is no different from any other day, except for this:
It is the 786th day of my ceaseless efforts to recruit followers for my worldwide movement, to put me (otherwise known as Peaches) in power as Supreme Grand Ruler Of Everything Important, ban stupidity and burn all pickles worldwide.
It's taken us a long time to get here, and we've gotten absolutely nowhere. Three cheers for our determination and refusal to give up a hopeless (if entirely just) cause!
Hoorah!
Hoorah!
Hoorah!
Thank you, loyal followers, for your secret and devoted support. I really wouldn't have done it without you. I look forward to the progress we may or may not achieve in the days to come. Thank you. Thank you.
Your future neighborhood dictator,
Peaches
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Rise of The Victim
I'm still reading The Godless Constitution (it cleared up considerably after the introduction), and I've had some interesting thoughts.
When the Constitution was being drafted and ratified, there was something called a religious test that I'd never heard of. Most states required people to take a religious test certifying that they were Christian- and usually a specific kind of Christian. But in Article 6 there's a line that says, basically, 'no religious tests.' Everyone was very upset about it. What if we get a Catholic for president? Or a Jew? Or, horrors, an atheist?! In all, very interesting, and I haven't finished reading yet.
But it got me thinking. Back when we were founding the country, bigotry was based mostly on religion. Are you Christian? Are you the right kind (ie, the same as me) of Christian?
Then it was mostly based on color. Are you white? Are you white enough? Were your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents white enough?
Then it was based on gender. That was pretty clear cut: either you were a man, or you weren't. If you weren't, you couldn't vote or hold office, although men were happy to let you work in their factory.
And then bigotry began to experience a revolution. We were still a Christian people, but a secular nation. Religious bigotry, for the most part, bit the dust. Slavery was abolished and after an agonizingly long time and the lifelong efforts of many, racial bigotry has also (for the most part) left the ring.
I won't bother trying to say that gender-discrimination has also disappeared, since it probably hasn't and there are too many people who would disagree with me to make it worth the trouble. But something interesting has happened.
We no longer discriminate (for the most part!) against religion, color, or gender. We discriminate based on victimhood.
Basically, the harder your life is, the more rights you have. Or, if that's too strong for you, think about it like this:
The more you have to whine about, the better off you are. If you lost your parents at a young age, good for you. But if your parents were burned to death by a drunk white arsonist and the judge dismissed the case on 'lack of evidence', feel free to consider that a blank check for the rest of your life. It doesn't matter if there really was no proof, one way or the other. It doesn't matter if your parents had a habit of smoking in bed and the drunk white was able to prove that he didn't arrive until after the fire started. It's obvious to you that it was a deliberate plot, a conspiracy- not against your parents- against you. Everything bad that ever happens to you is because someone out there hates you. Is jealous of your innate better-than-them qualities. (Best not define those qualities- could get sticky.)
Be honest. You've met someone like this. More than one someone like this. Someone who walks around in an aura of victimhood. If you're late, they're a victim. If the rules that apply to everyone deny them something they wanted- which everyone else also wants- they're a victim. Victims believe that because something bad happened to them, they are now owed something. Anything. If they can't get anything else, then they'll settle for respect. If they can't get respect- and who's surprised they can't?- then they're even bigger and better victims.
You won't have to look very hard to find these people. Often, we are them. Every time you get engaged in conversation with someone, and start enumerating all the hideous things that have happened to you today- from stubbing your toe to talking to an irate customer to being at the end of a long line- you're being a victim. It's easy to be a victim. It's a seductive mindset that denies any personal responsibility for your life, your circumstances, and your attitude.
My only comfort as I think about this is my firm belief in the Law of Natural Consequences. Or, in other words, natural selection. I was never able to completely swallow the theory of evolution, but natural selection makes sense to me. If you can't adapt or overcome, you'll die out. Victims are victims because they refuse to overcome and don't do adaption. Which means, sooner or later, individually or as a whole, they will die out. Either as a mindset (I imagine ex-victims blinking in the sunshine and wondering what they've been doing with their lives) or as individuals, this cannot last. Not without consequences.
So remember natural selection. Adapt. Overcome. Don't be a victim. Don't die out.
When the Constitution was being drafted and ratified, there was something called a religious test that I'd never heard of. Most states required people to take a religious test certifying that they were Christian- and usually a specific kind of Christian. But in Article 6 there's a line that says, basically, 'no religious tests.' Everyone was very upset about it. What if we get a Catholic for president? Or a Jew? Or, horrors, an atheist?! In all, very interesting, and I haven't finished reading yet.
But it got me thinking. Back when we were founding the country, bigotry was based mostly on religion. Are you Christian? Are you the right kind (ie, the same as me) of Christian?
Then it was mostly based on color. Are you white? Are you white enough? Were your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents white enough?
Then it was based on gender. That was pretty clear cut: either you were a man, or you weren't. If you weren't, you couldn't vote or hold office, although men were happy to let you work in their factory.
And then bigotry began to experience a revolution. We were still a Christian people, but a secular nation. Religious bigotry, for the most part, bit the dust. Slavery was abolished and after an agonizingly long time and the lifelong efforts of many, racial bigotry has also (for the most part) left the ring.
I won't bother trying to say that gender-discrimination has also disappeared, since it probably hasn't and there are too many people who would disagree with me to make it worth the trouble. But something interesting has happened.
We no longer discriminate (for the most part!) against religion, color, or gender. We discriminate based on victimhood.
Basically, the harder your life is, the more rights you have. Or, if that's too strong for you, think about it like this:
The more you have to whine about, the better off you are. If you lost your parents at a young age, good for you. But if your parents were burned to death by a drunk white arsonist and the judge dismissed the case on 'lack of evidence', feel free to consider that a blank check for the rest of your life. It doesn't matter if there really was no proof, one way or the other. It doesn't matter if your parents had a habit of smoking in bed and the drunk white was able to prove that he didn't arrive until after the fire started. It's obvious to you that it was a deliberate plot, a conspiracy- not against your parents- against you. Everything bad that ever happens to you is because someone out there hates you. Is jealous of your innate better-than-them qualities. (Best not define those qualities- could get sticky.)
Be honest. You've met someone like this. More than one someone like this. Someone who walks around in an aura of victimhood. If you're late, they're a victim. If the rules that apply to everyone deny them something they wanted- which everyone else also wants- they're a victim. Victims believe that because something bad happened to them, they are now owed something. Anything. If they can't get anything else, then they'll settle for respect. If they can't get respect- and who's surprised they can't?- then they're even bigger and better victims.
You won't have to look very hard to find these people. Often, we are them. Every time you get engaged in conversation with someone, and start enumerating all the hideous things that have happened to you today- from stubbing your toe to talking to an irate customer to being at the end of a long line- you're being a victim. It's easy to be a victim. It's a seductive mindset that denies any personal responsibility for your life, your circumstances, and your attitude.
My only comfort as I think about this is my firm belief in the Law of Natural Consequences. Or, in other words, natural selection. I was never able to completely swallow the theory of evolution, but natural selection makes sense to me. If you can't adapt or overcome, you'll die out. Victims are victims because they refuse to overcome and don't do adaption. Which means, sooner or later, individually or as a whole, they will die out. Either as a mindset (I imagine ex-victims blinking in the sunshine and wondering what they've been doing with their lives) or as individuals, this cannot last. Not without consequences.
So remember natural selection. Adapt. Overcome. Don't be a victim. Don't die out.
Friday, May 29, 2009
To be?
Tired. Considering taking a half day today, since there's no point in studying so hard that I wipe myself out and score horribly on the SAT.
Today was the last day of seminary. (Hooray!) It was the last day of school for 99% of my friends. (Booo!) (One of my friends is home schooled. And she's graduated. So while she's not goofing off, I don't think she's doing school either.)
Too tired to think of anything interesting to say, except that I'm weird. I haven't come across an essay question yet that I could agree with. I can't even disagree normally. All these questions about do I think government money should be spent on this or on that. And all I can think is Duh, I don't want the government to spend money at all. Certainly not my money. (It's not spending my money yet, but it will be.) But if you don't write your essay on the topic provided you get a score of zero. So I've been doing a lot of contortions to write on topic and still be honest to what I think. Example: I wrote an essay about how the space program should be continued because it helps save the environment. No joke. It was that or say Yes! I want another dead weight welfare program draining resources we don't have! And I'm too honest to be able to argue that.
It's terrible, what believing liars go to Hell will do for you. Even though the space program is cool.
Today was the last day of seminary. (Hooray!) It was the last day of school for 99% of my friends. (Booo!) (One of my friends is home schooled. And she's graduated. So while she's not goofing off, I don't think she's doing school either.)
Too tired to think of anything interesting to say, except that I'm weird. I haven't come across an essay question yet that I could agree with. I can't even disagree normally. All these questions about do I think government money should be spent on this or on that. And all I can think is Duh, I don't want the government to spend money at all. Certainly not my money. (It's not spending my money yet, but it will be.) But if you don't write your essay on the topic provided you get a score of zero. So I've been doing a lot of contortions to write on topic and still be honest to what I think. Example: I wrote an essay about how the space program should be continued because it helps save the environment. No joke. It was that or say Yes! I want another dead weight welfare program draining resources we don't have! And I'm too honest to be able to argue that.
It's terrible, what believing liars go to Hell will do for you. Even though the space program is cool.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Hamster Wheel Remix
Study study study study study study pant pant pant study study study (repeat endlessly).
I took a practice test the day before yesterday. I graded it yesterday.
There's a possible scaled score of 2400 on the SAT. I scored 1870. Which is probably higher than average because I scored average in math and writing and excellent in reading. (Is anyone surprised?) I want to bring it up, though, because although I don't mind having average math skills, I resent being an average writer. So my goal is to raise my score by thirty points to get to 1900.
The Teacher has now graded two of my practice essays. I don't think I'll ask her to grade them anymore. I could write Hamlet in miniature and she would still find something wrong with it. (Okay maybe that's not fair but I see no point in beating myself endlessly on this particular rock when there are so many other rocks to choose from.) Anyway, a score of five out of a possible six isn't bad.
When I have kids that I'm homeschooling, I'm going to give them more than three weeks' notice before they take the SAT.
I took a practice test the day before yesterday. I graded it yesterday.
There's a possible scaled score of 2400 on the SAT. I scored 1870. Which is probably higher than average because I scored average in math and writing and excellent in reading. (Is anyone surprised?) I want to bring it up, though, because although I don't mind having average math skills, I resent being an average writer. So my goal is to raise my score by thirty points to get to 1900.
The Teacher has now graded two of my practice essays. I don't think I'll ask her to grade them anymore. I could write Hamlet in miniature and she would still find something wrong with it. (Okay maybe that's not fair but I see no point in beating myself endlessly on this particular rock when there are so many other rocks to choose from.) Anyway, a score of five out of a possible six isn't bad.
When I have kids that I'm homeschooling, I'm going to give them more than three weeks' notice before they take the SAT.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Not So Smart
Apparently I'm not as smart as I thought I was.
The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore. Sounds like light reading, right? After all, it's only half an inch thick. And paperback. How hard could it be?
On the third page: "A shift in rhetorical strategy to widen political appeal does not affect the substantive issues at stake." Okay... I know rhetorical, strategy, political appeal makes sense, and substantive I kind of know...
Page 15 (looking at the page number now instead of pages into the chapter): "Suffice it to say that our intention is not to marginalize religion. If anything, it is to warn against the ways that some aggressive proponents of religious correctness are doing exactly that in their political battles, even as they try to lay the blame elsewhere."
String lots of sentences like that together, and even if each sentence is clear enough, what you soon get is pages and pages of huh? I still haven't figured out exactly what these people are trying to say. I kind of know, but I don't like kind of knowing, I want to know for sure.
So- suffice it to say- I'm starting this book over. With a dictionary. And a notebook. The power of the notebook will quash all uncertainty.
In theory.
The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore. Sounds like light reading, right? After all, it's only half an inch thick. And paperback. How hard could it be?
On the third page: "A shift in rhetorical strategy to widen political appeal does not affect the substantive issues at stake." Okay... I know rhetorical, strategy, political appeal makes sense, and substantive I kind of know...
Page 15 (looking at the page number now instead of pages into the chapter): "Suffice it to say that our intention is not to marginalize religion. If anything, it is to warn against the ways that some aggressive proponents of religious correctness are doing exactly that in their political battles, even as they try to lay the blame elsewhere."
String lots of sentences like that together, and even if each sentence is clear enough, what you soon get is pages and pages of huh? I still haven't figured out exactly what these people are trying to say. I kind of know, but I don't like kind of knowing, I want to know for sure.
So- suffice it to say- I'm starting this book over. With a dictionary. And a notebook. The power of the notebook will quash all uncertainty.
In theory.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Good Book
This is my only comfort during all this SAT prep: The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour. Like The Virginian, but better, because in The Virginian you're on the outside, and in The Lonesome Gods you get to watch from the inside. Johannes Verne is as good a liar as the Virginian was. (Frog farming, anyone?)
Anyway, my conclusion is that as long as there are good books in the world, nothing will ever be that bad. Don't ask me to specify 'that'.
Anyway, my conclusion is that as long as there are good books in the world, nothing will ever be that bad. Don't ask me to specify 'that'.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Heaven and...
I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Hell. I decided that I didn't want to go there and that's as far as I've speculated.
I don't need to speculate. I know.
Hell is a cold (sore throat, headache, earache, runny nose) and a now confirmed two week deadline to the SAT.
I hope you're having a good time, because I'm not. I don't want to die anymore, so that's an improvement. I'll consider living in the morning. Right now I'm the zombie student.
I don't need to speculate. I know.
Hell is a cold (sore throat, headache, earache, runny nose) and a now confirmed two week deadline to the SAT.
I hope you're having a good time, because I'm not. I don't want to die anymore, so that's an improvement. I'll consider living in the morning. Right now I'm the zombie student.
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