Getting your hands dirty

"I wash my hands of this."
What does that mean?
Generally, I suppose, it means getting rid of some situation or removing ourselves from an environment we no longer want to look back on.
How realistic is that, really?
It's sort of sociopathic if you ask me. We just turn off all emotion to the subject in hand ( nice pun, huh?). We make a conscious choice to no longer empathize with a person or a cause. That, or it is a way we justify not taking action or expending further thought on a matter we find too troublesome or too taxing. We want to think we are good people. So, in order to assure ourselves of such, we say we "wash" all of the troubles away. We can remind ourselves (others) how hard we really did try...how much of a burden it was for us to even offer our help or input to begin with. The "dirt" on our hands changes into a monument of our efforts and one made for all to see.
After we wash, we end up looking pretty good in the end...even pious. Nice move.
We can then say, "Nope, I quit," or "This is too tough," or "This has gotten boring," without actually verbalizing it.
Think about it, though. Is that how descent people act? If there is a wrong committed or an untruth being pronounced (in word or action), shouldn't we continue to do something? Shouldn't we continue to try? Untruth equates (in most cases) to injustice. By its nature, Injustice is always wrong and should always be confronted.
What if the civil rights leaders (black and white) said, "Boy, this whole equality thing is just too tough a road to travel."
How different would the world be now?
What if America washed our collective hands and said, "That Hitler guy is going to put up quite a fight. Let him do whatever he wants in Europe, we'll deal with him later."
It's unthinkable.

The truth gets frustrating at times, either because people don't want to hear it or they think the cost will be to high.
This is what I say...if you are going to wash your hands of a situation anyway, why not put a little more dirt on them before you go to scrub? Why not make sure there really is dirt on them?
If a mechanic works on a car, his hands get dirty. He may stop to go wash his hands, but he doesn't just leave the car there to fix itself. At some point (if he is a good mechanic) he goes back to it. He gets his hands dirty again...and again...until it is working properly.
We should look at Injustice the same way he does the car...keep going until it is righted.
Americans are washing their hands of each other. We are becoming more and more galvanized (polarized) to ideas, yet at the same time, losing empathy for our brothers. We are saying it is too tough to envision what another is thinking or refusing to even try to understand. Resentment is not only brewing, it is boiling over.
Many think we should find a way to "all get along."
While the idea may seem noble, it is absurd.
It doesn't seem humans were made for such a fate. We were created for confrontation in some form or another. We were designed to disagree...hence Free Will.
But...
What we can do, is keep getting our hands dirty, continue to interact with others, continue to fight Injustice (however we see it). In the process and through exchanges, we will all be fighting for Truth no matter how we approach it.

Okay, really now...Glenn Beck has gone too far.

I'm having a little deja vu.
I know I have seen this before...tears...cameras...a hand brushing under the eyes to wipe away those same invisible tears...millions of people watching...
WAIT! I know what it is!
If I am not mistaken, I remember the entire conservative base (I was part of them at the time) going into convulsive fits when Bill Clinton cried in front of a camera at Ron Brown's funeral...oh, the outrage! Everyone knew it was done for sake of media coverage. Looking back I don't know if it was that big of a deal. But for sake of argument, let's say it was evil...the sign of a sociopath in the office (a claim Rush has made)...that will be our starting point.
Let's jump 13 years into the future.
I see Glenn Beck...crying, nearly weeping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4xqnukQrM
Was that Days of Our Lives?
Anyone looking for a fifth of Melodrama? The bar is open!
Good Lord...he either needs to be taken ASIDE and given a hug, or dragged OUTSIDE and have his ass kicked.
There is no honest person on the planet who can say Beck's tears and quivering voice were genuine.
Forgive me, I will offer a little "strawman argument" for minute but it is one I have heard often. Many people shrug off his tears and say, "Oh, that's just Glenn. He loves theatrics."
So, that makes it okay?
If Bill Clinton was so wrong for forcing tears at the funeral of one man, then what is Glenn Beck? Beck forced tears for the nation's worst terrorist attack...the world's worst....in the ENTIRE OF MODERN HISTORY!!!!!
Hey, but it is on FOXNEWS, right? They are "Fair and Balanced." I want someone...ANYONE...to show me how it is possible to "Balance" what Beck did. How could there be? The only way ( I see) for there to be some sort of balance, is for FOX to have some Saudi national on cheering about how glad he was the attacks worked...and even then I don't know if that would be balanced.
Here is the thing. I understand Glenn Beck is not a reporter giving the news. I understand he is purely a commentator. But still...please! Even he knew he was going over the top. that is why he said he was looking like a televangelist. He had to cover up somehow.
While Glenn Beck is not reporting the news, many conservatives BELIEVE he is. His view of the nation is one of a crumbling and failing empire. He says FEMA concentration camps are being constructed and soon the 2nd Amendment will be scratched over like some mistake on a term paper.
I'm sorry, I have more faith in the American people than he does, I suppose. This is the nation which fought two wars on different sides of the planet...and WON!!! This is a nation that not only saw the end of slavery (through war), saw civil rights struggles for all men and women no matter what color their skin, then elected a black man for President. "We the People" will make through this turmoil.

But back to Bill Clinton for second. What Clinton did was wrong, but it was done for nothing more than to gain a little coverage from the media by showing how empathetic he was. It was a form of soft-marketing. Every President, Senator, and Mayor has done something similar at one time or another. It just looked terrible because he was the President and got caught so openly with it.
With Beck, it was not soft-marketing. It was pure marketing. It was a way for him to show how in touch he was with the American people, the "regular guys like you," as he calls us. (How condescending is that remark? Clearly, he isn't a regular guy...by making such a statement he points that out.)
My problem is not how he portrays his "emotions," but why he is. He has started a new website. The invisible tears slithering down his cheek were the first hits on his site.
Didn't Beck also scorn the followers of Barack Obama for acting like he was a savior? What does Beck do? As though he were Moses strolling down from a long chat with God, he presents 9 founding principles and 12 ETERNAL values as though they were the new commandments. Eternal? Only a god can make things eternal...is Beck our new savior? Should we look to him in our hour of need? Will Glenn Beck be our guide, our pillar of fire in this darkness?
I abhor him. While his clownish antics used to mildly entertain me, now they disgust me.
Glenn Beck has used to deaths of thousand of "regular guys" to bolster his ratings and widen his grasp on the market.
Make no mistake about it. His sorrow-stricken act was done for attention...ratings...and money...nothing more.
It had ZERO to do with the poor souls who lost their lives on 9-11.
How pathetic and vile is that? Even Shep Smith made fun of him!
Glenn Beck is a disgrace...an infected pustule on soles of America's feet.
I think I shall now go vomit.

Laws required to be followed by those who choose to speak.

On heels of my last post and maybe as an addendum of sorts to my brother's post (http://irish-salsa.blogspot.com/2009/04/english-butchery-102.html), I have created a list of new laws (and the required punishments) which Americans must follow in order to speak or communicate to another person (via computer, text, or yet to be designed technological devices).

Law:
No person will be allowed to use a flat or unqualified hyperbolic expression in reference, but not limited, to any event, person, or thing.
Punishment:
The punishment will be reflective of the crime.
For instance:
If a person says, "That is the greatest show ever!" they shall be banned from watching anything other than that particular show for the remainder of their natural life.

If a person says, "That is the best song ever!" they will only be allowed to listen to that song for the rest of their life.

Since this criminal has found the greatest show or movie or song, there is no point to them listening to anything else, NOTHING will ever be better.





Law:
No one (unless they are 14 yrs old or younger) shall use abbreviations similar, but not limited, to "LOL," "OMG," "WTF," or "B4."
Punishment:
Such person will be sentenced to 6 continuous hours of listening to a phone ring for each letter missing from the actual expression.



Law:
No person shall offer or pretend to have an opinion on a topic (any topic) if they follow it or precede it with "Hannity says," or "Rush believes," or "Oprah thinks."
Punishment:
Such a person will be sentenced to watching the testing color bars on a television set, with tone, until they are hearing the Voice of God.



Law:
No individual shall ever force another to listen to them sing.
Punishment:
The person committing such a crime shall be beaten with a club of the victim's choosing (even clubbed by the victim if they so choose), allowed to nearly heal, then beaten again.

Law:
No person will ever ask, "So, what's good here?" when going to a restaurant.
Punishment:
The criminal will be forced to eat from the establishment's dumpster until the empolyee's (victim) shift has ended.

Law:

No person will use the expression "You know" or "I mean" more than twice every ten minutes.
Punishment:
The victim (or person who hears such remarks) is allowed to smite the criminal.



Law:
No person will ever be allowed to ask, "Who is this?" when they call another human.
Punishment:
The criminal must call 14 pages worth of people from the phone book, ask for the person BY NAME, and explain what they did/ apologize for being such a dolt. Until the required amount of people have been called, the criminal will only be able to communicate to others in person, by mail (real mail), or through two tin cans and a string of yarn.

If a person doesn't know who they called, they don't even deserve fingers.



Law:
An individual is only allowed to call a wrong number twice.
Punishment:
The criminal shall be flogged in the nearest mall.



Law:
A person shall never utter the specific non-word: "ir-regardless"
Punishment:
Loss of tongue.
If the word is written...loss of finger tips.


Law:
No human will ever ask a question they already know the answer to, request an explanation for something they do not care about, or ask for advice if they have no intentions of listening to it.
Punishment:
The criminal becomes a servant of the victim and is forced to do the victim's bidding for 3 years.



Law:
A person shall never say they "gave it their all."
Punishment:
Since clearly the criminal did not give it their all (since they are still alive), they will be drained of ALL their bodily fluids.

They shall be totally dehydrated like a fruit for astronauts.


LAW (the most important):
No one will ever ask another person to repeat a question or statement they already heard.
Example:
VICTIM: "So, where did you and your wife go to eat last night?"
CRIMINAL: "What?"
VICTIM: "I said, ' where did you--.'"
CRIMINAL: "Oh, we went to Red Lobster."
Clearly, the criminal heard the question yet made the victim ask it again.
PUNISHMENT:
The criminal shall forfeit the right to communicate with another human for the remainder of his/her natural life.
In addition, to ensure this is done, the criminal will be marooned on an island and forced to listen to "It's a Small World" until they are dead.

Just a few ideas...take 'em or leave 'em.

Call me a traitor...I don't care.

I may say something which will really piss some people off ( go figure, right?), but I don't care.

First off, I must say, I love my country and the ideals it was founded upon. More specifically, I love the Constitution. Anyone who knows me, knows this.
However, I am also a skeptic.
I need to take issue with a couple things.
One, the idea of calling every, or nearly every, person who has served in the military a "hero." It seems to me people say such things to make themselves feel better, yet at the same time almost challenge others to do the same. It is a passive form of waving a flag or pledging allegiance. It silently shouts "Hey, I'm a good person! I back the military! I'm a REAL American! Go team!"
It is nothing more than laziness. People who say all soldiers are heroes render the word meaningless. They degrade the true heroes.
A hero is defined: "A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose" among other things.
Does everyone who severs in the military fit this?
The answer is a resounding "No!"
Joining the military makes a man no more a hero than putting an idiotic and Chinese-made "Power of Pride" bumper sticker on your car makes you a patriot. Power of Pride....what the hell does that mean anyway?
So why say it?
I think it is some new psychosis people (at least in America) have developed. It is a compulsion to modify or describe EVERYTHING (yes, that was on purpose) with the use of hyperbole. I call it Hyperbolism, or Hyperbolia....

For people who may not know, a "hyperbole" is an extremely exaggerated expression...such as, "I would rather die than listen to him sing." Really? You would rather die?
That is hyperbole.

Due to a lacking vocabulary or laziness (maybe both) people project their emotions in extremes to make a point. They vomit words at another person, not realizing or understanding the true idea behind what they said.
"That was the greatest movie EVER!"
This is what they do when they call ALL soldiers heroes. Soldiers can be valiant. Soldiers can be steadfast. They can be any number of complimentary and positive descriptions....however, they are not ALL heroes.
Ah, what is the harm, right? You know what I mean.
There is great harm. It not only harms the meaning of words, it depletes them...drains them of value. When a fantastic event or person comes around, they are left in the same category with lessers.
The way bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, mankind becomes resistant to words and their importance.

My second issue:
Here is a quick story. A man walks outside and sees a group of young men shoot his dog. He is outrage (and justly so). He shouts at the men who then run to their car and take off. The man grabs two guns, jumps in his truck, and follows the men. He chases them across four counties waving his firearms and finally runs them off the road. He holds them at gunpoint until the police arrive.

Now, most reasonable people would say this man went over the edge a tad bit (hyperbole). Actually, most sane people would say he went way too far, nearly deranged. Yes, his "best friend" was killed and he should be angry. And yes, the men who did it should be punished. Being a dog-lover myself and having had someone kill one of my dogs, I understand his pain. However, pursuing the men over the countryside with his weapons in hand (how many innocent people did he endanger with his high speed chase?) and running them off the road....too far.
Was he willing to get into a shoot-out four counties away from his home over a dog? Talk about extreme!
Hunting down dog-killers is not his job.
That is job of the police.
These men were not the James Gang. They killed a dog. While the act is horrible, it was just a dog.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, if you name is Marcus Luttrell and you were a Navy SEAL, it's just fine.
It seems Hyperbolia is manifesting itself. It's acceptable to say things which are sooooooooo extreme and now, even the actions of our "heroes" which are sooooooooo extreme, are fine too.
Hyperbolia.