Archive for September, 2022

Conversion

September 12, 2022 By: Nick Carraway Category: Uncategorized

There is a concept I have been struggling with for some time. The concept is the concept of conversion. It’s a struggle because the term itself has a negative connotation for those that are wary of the heavy handed nature of faith. However, if we remove the religious connotation we can see the same hope for those that have become locked in a silo of hate, grievance, and expectation. The key word here is the word: deserve. It is a nasty word that has trapped millions into this silo of their own making. Others get stuff they don’t deserve. They didn’t earn it. It was taken from me. They took it. I need to take it back.

My wife and I started watching a series of videos called “What if…”. Essentially, it is a collection of videos of what would happen if (insert disaster here). The end result was almost always a horrible death. Pay attention long enough and you realize if you change this molecule, move or change the sun, add or change the moon, or change the rotation of the planets and we all die. It can turn you into an environmental fanatic or simply readjust our perspective. We don’t deserve to breathe. We get to breathe. We are lucky. Whatever cosmic force (or natural laws) we choose to believe in has allowed us to live. Suddenly, what we deserve doesn’t matter all that much.

A travelling priest brought this home last night. The key to conversion was the notion of gratitude. It is the same conversion that will move people from a position of grievance to a position of gratitude. It is the conversion that readjust our thinking from wondering why anyone lesser than us deserves to get something or someone greater than us that doesn’t need anything deserves to get something. In other words, deserve is a dirty word.

The question isn’t whether kids deserve to have their student loans forgiven. The question isn’t whether large banks or corporations deserve a bailout. The question isn’t whether we deserve to pay for services and benefits that we don’t personally benefit from. The question is whether any expenditure of our tax dollars provides the most benefit for the most amount of people. How do we collectively benefit from bailouts? How do we collectively benefit when others are provided with services and benefits? If we disagree then can we find something else that would benefit us all more?

The world of racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and every form of prejudice comes from the same source. That hatred all comes from the same source. It comes from a place of grievance. It comes from a mistaken belief that we live in a zero sum world where the stuff I deserve has somehow gone to someone else. It comes when I ignore the good fortune that I do have and instead guard whatever stuff I have with every inch of its life. It comes when I believe that someone else’s good fortune means I somehow must get less. The forces of evil do this to us. The forces of hate do this to us. We don’t need a conversion to a particular faith or creed. We need a conversion to gratitude. We need a conversion to the simple idea that we really don’t deserve anything, so we shouldn’t begrudge someone else getting a little help along the way.

 

Lotsa Friday Toons

September 09, 2022 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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What? No Known Famous Quote?

September 08, 2022 By: Half Empty Category: Uncategorized

In the near-continuous TV coverage of the passing of Elizabeth II, I stumbled upon an observation that Elizabeth was not known for any famous quotes. I beg to differ. She was hilariously self-deprecating. Here’s my all-time favorite that can never be mistaken for anyone else’s words:

 “I can never wear beige because nobody will know who I am.”

Hilarious.

Odd Oz

September 08, 2022 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

There are good ideas and there are bad ideas. And then there are ideas foaming from a gallon jug of crackpot.

 

https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1567551530726719491?s=12

Okay, sit down and catch your breath.

Now, somebody please ask this doctor exactly how you climb out of an abyss with a 15 minute physical at a festival. I wanna hear this because magic has to be involved and I just love magic.

And then there’s this

Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz has financial ties to at least two pharmaceutical companies that supply hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that he has floated as a possible Covid-19 treatment.

Here’s my request to John Fetterman. Do not debate this fool. Do not. He is going to say something batcrap crazy like this in the middle of the debate and even Cicero Hisownself wouldn’t know what to say and would probably just stand there with his mouth hanging open and little drool things running out the sides of his mouth.

Nobody can win a debate against a man who thinks somebody with cancer and no insurance can get cured in 15 minutes at a festival. But I’m sure there will be drug trucks on premise selling hydroxychloroquine.

 

Projection Much?

September 07, 2022 By: Nick Carraway Category: Uncategorized

There is an episode of South Park where some of the boys go watch “The Passion of Christ” by Mel Gibson. They concluded that it was a snuff film that sucked. They embarked on a pilgrimage to Gibson’s house to get their twenty dollars back. They found a downright batty Gibson who seemed determined to be tortured.

I suppose that plot line follows. If you watch a number of his movies that seems to track. He gets tortured or beaten down in most of them. He was Jesse Pinkman before Breaking Bad. I suppose conservative thought seems to be arriving at the same place as Gibson.

https://mobile.twitter.com/JennaEllisEsq/status/1275215576684802049?cxt=HHwWgsC9xfDzvLIjAAAA

As some of you may know, Ellis is one of the attorneys that was supposed to help Donald Trump overturn the election. Unfortunately, she is probably a C level attorney in an A level world. For those that don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, she is essentially saying here that if we want to cancel their Christianity then she will go down fighting. Good for her.

Studying conservative thought these days is a fascinating study for those of us with some psychology in their background. Sigmund Freud came up with his defensive mechanisms and the password here is projection. See, when your movement is about canceling stuff (abortion, CRT, history, LGTBQ+, ect) then I suppose it makes perfect sense for them to believe everyone else thinks the same way.

As you might surmise, there were a ton of good responses to her twitter. My personal favorite was the woman that retorted that Donald Trump spent more time in Stormy Daniels than he has a church. Well played ma’am. This projection goes beyond just Christianity into just about everything else. If you want to guess about their plans and their confessions you can simply wait to hear what they are accusing you of doing.

The idea of converting any human being into a god is distasteful. We don’t have Biden flags. We don’t camp out at Biden rallies. We don’t paste Biden bumper stickers all over our cars. We don’t worship the guy. So, you can focus on gaffes, past cringeworthy statements, or his son’s laptop. We simply want a decent human being and not a deity.

When you worship the golden calf you will find that calf threatened or stolen. We’ve seen what happens to those folks. Our number one objective is not to become one of them. If you are picking up your arms to combat the phantom menace you need to ask yourself who is telling you to do this. It certainly isn’t God.

Sign of the Times

September 07, 2022 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

Republicans have a new idea.  It’s hard to tell who’s doing this because their name is We The People of Texas – Fort Bend, and the only google entry I found is  —

But when you go there, there’s no there there. Or at least not much of one. It’s mainly to collect money and cookies.

They start off sweet enough —

 

And they shift to their favorite thing – money.

 

 

And then is gets scary —

 

 

There have been some heated discussions at the beauty salon over what the hell the last sign means.  Thelma thinks it means abortions. Junior thinks it’s about racism – that the white race needs to survive. Lucille thinks it’s about a civil war. Me? I think it’s about scaring the poop outta people and dosing out bucket loads of anxiety on the highway.