No? Well, it was worth a shot…. I’ve tried everything else I can think of to begin this blog. This has to be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, to come up with an interesting hook each day, one after another, ad infinitum, or, until I get tired of doing this. Since my sanity seems to hinge upon getting it done, I guess I’ll keep at it…. the alternative is unthinkable, to me…

Once again, I’m stranded here. Nothing in my empty brain, not a damn thing sitting around to stimulate me…. Ooh, ooh, I just remembered!…. I’m a grandpa, again!…. Wow… I can’t believe that escaped me this morning….

I am now the proud grandfather of a baby girl, Zoey, who arrived on Earth yesterday at about 1:30 in the afternoon…. which presents me with yet another conundrum; now there’s too much to talk about! I could, obviously, gush about her for a long time; what grandparent couldn’t? But, if I do that, we’ll be here forever, and I’ve already included one of my longest, most compelling rants below, from last year…. SIGH…. I am SUCH a BOZO!…..

Oh well, now we’ll have to use #4 again…. I suppose they can’t all be perfect gems…. Hang on, ffolkes, we’re goin’ in!….

Shall we Pearl?

This is a long rant, ffolkes…. When I start on this particular subject, I have a hard time stopping…. this time, to the tune of over 2500 words…. I figured I should give fair warning; this is not an easy rant of read, nor will it give any quarter to those it targets as evil protagonists…. If you don’t feel up to it, then you can skip it…. However, this is an extremely important subject, to me, so, I’m asking you to take the time to read it, think about it, and maybe pass it on…. This needs to change, for sure, and for certain…. I’ve even given it a title, in case I decide to publish it alone, elsewhere….

As we know now, 1976 has come, and gone, along with 1776, and 1876; yet, the oppression and ongoing abuse of women continues, unabated and unchecked. This is true despite any progress shown by society, all of which would be thanks to Ms. Anthony, and others like her, for having instigated, and overcome a number of the legal challenges involved in securing full rights for women, efforts resulting in SOME legislation that SEEMED to make some needed changes, not the least of which was voting rights…

In too many ways, unfortunately, things are worse, due to the ubiquitous attitudes, of misogyny and unreasoning fear of sexuality, so ingrained in both the male, and female members of society; indeed, too few who even acknowledge the issue, unless pressed…. at which time, they generally become defensive, feign indignation, or go into active denial…. This fear, based on ignorance, of course, is complicated by religious attitudes heaped upon men and women from birth, which only encourage such ignorance, in favor of dogma….. Now, 40 years into the next hundred years since the beginning of the women’s movement in America, the same can be said to be absolutely true….. Nothing below the surface has changed at all….

“You, you, you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t traumatize women with sexual intercourse.  I should know, I’m a medieval doctor, I own a mansion and a yacht.” — excerpted from the AMA manual of advice for teens and newlyweds, 1910, 1926, 1933, 1947, 1955, and, every year since then, without changing a word….

Okay, so, it’s not really there…. but, it certainly would be, if they could get away with it…. Such nonsense is definitely present in the ingrained prejudices of virtually every male doctor alive…. This idiocy is an example of the attitudes of which I’m speaking; the hidden, slyly perverted belief that women are no more than the sum of the misguided and totally false characterizations placed on them by men, who insist on perpetuating a completely  false image of women, in general and as individuals, as weak, feeble-minded, emotional, sex-crazed, or frigid, selfish creatures concerned only with using their beauty and sex to control men….

These claims are, of course, completely untrue in reality, but, the unreasoning, innate fear of their own sexuality, and the fear of being controlled by women, that permeates male attitudes, causes them all, or mostly all, to believe all of it, true or not…  Thus, as the quote below from former President Jimmy C. notes, this belief in a full set of delusions, falsely accusing women of evil intent, is used to justify all of the objectification, abuse, and oppression of women throughout history, continuing today, no matter how much anyone says to the contrary….

Below this paragraph, I am placing a link, to the web site/blog of a woman who rescued herself from sexual slavery; there is no other term that fits. She was forced, at a young age, to become a prostitute, spending most of her childhood and teen years trapped in the sex trade…. Her experiences should never happen to anyone; when I read her writing, it takes ALL of my control to keep from jumping up, buying weapons, and going hunting, for human males…. I get so angry it wouldn’t even matter to me WHICH males I started wasting; all bear equal guilt, from at least one point of view…. Otherwise, why would the rest of us, we males who do NOT wish to oppress our species’ mates, ALLOW this to take place? How can we know of this, and not act?

This may sound like a harsh accusation; to that charge I say: Yes, it is, and so fucking what? It’s a harsh world, and what men have been doing to women for millennia….. not years, not centuries, MILFUCKINGLENNIA, PEOPLE!, is reprehensible…. No exaggeration or hyperbole is necessary or, in my case, desired….

Listen up, all of you men out there, because I am talking to YOU!…. It IS harsh, and I make the accusation without apology; you see, I must, in all honesty, include myself in the group, of those who have not done all they could to see the issue addressed. I’ve done more than many, perhaps, and I do acknowledge the seriousness and urgency of the issue…. but, I, too, am guilty of NOT doing enough…. S’okay, the guilt just makes me madder, & more determined to keep writing about this….

You see, the whole issue illustrates one small, but, critical facet of human nature; a feature of our species part and parcel with the other character flaws presently leading us merrily down the road to hell, blithely wishing we had a bigger handbasket….. This tendency on the part of human males, to abandon honor and ethical behavior, in favor of allowing their fears and misapprehensions rule them, for our ENTIRE history, has held us back, from becoming all we have the potential to be, as rational creatures with an understanding and appreciation for what is good, and beautiful in life.

Instead, we have witnessed, over those thousands and thousands of years, virtually endless war, conflict, slavery, abuse of women and children, or anyone considered weak and unable to defend their rights. We have seen people learn to use lying, cheating, aggressiveness, and self-interest as their primary tools for obtaining the resources needed to live, and to hoard what they have taken, by right or threat of force. This process, in today’s world,  is considered to be a blueprint for successful living, with the ultimate goal in life the fulfillment of one’s own personal goals and desires, at the cost of whatever it may take to wrest it from other people, and the world at large….

“Get it while you can!” Do unto others before they do unto you.” Bigger is better!” “One nation under God!” (It would be more honest if they just said what they REALLY believe which is, “As a white male Christian, I have more rights than anyone who isn’t….”)

Okay, so the last line, in parentheses, is one most people will only say under their breath; you can be sure, though, that every “Christian” alive believes they are the elite of the species, the only ones with the true answers…. This, you see, naturally gives them all a completely unwarranted, false sense of entitlement, quite annoying to the rest of us, who haven’t fallen under the spell of that particular delusion, and couldn’t care less who they think they are…. I GUARANTEE, even if there WERE a God, such as the figment they seem to believe in, I’m pretty sure, as an omnipotent entity, She wouldn’t want to have anything to do with such idiotic wastes of sperm….

Ooh! That was harsh, too, wasn’t it? Oh well… Again, I have to say, so fucking what? If people insist on showing their lack of intelligence in public, they are fair game for anyone who cares to come along and poke holes in their lack of logic, and/or foolishly naive belief in delusions that someone taught them before they could defend their own minds…. It isn’t my problem if they are offended; that is their own reaction, for which THEY bear ALL the responsibility….

I welcome dialogue, and will listen to any argument, as long as it is evidence based…. However, don’t even think about coming at me with something that has nothing more to verify its veracity than “ispe dixit”…. You will regret it to your dying day….. And, so will I, for I am not really mean, or cruel by nature; I just can’t abide people acting as if being stupid is better than ANYTHING else; it isn’t, & wishing won’t make it so…. It’s better to put such folks out of their misery, before their ignorance can spread to others….

Men and women are in this together, ffolkes; neither sex can possibly survive without the other; why would anyone wish to? But, the way things are going now, if we don’t figure out, soon, how to take care of each other, instead of being at odds all the damn time (as all the people who spread jokes about the “war between men and women” keep yelling about, thus keeping such divisiveness alive, and actively harmful….), we will surely reach the point, in the not so very distant future, when our insistence on making the worst of our differences will result in the only possible ultimate end, to wit: our own extinction as a failed species.

The abuse of women, and anyone else; war; sales of drugs and/or arms; and the relative insanity of the divisive elitism as acted out by all organized religions…..  All of these blights and plagues upon the spirit and growth of Man, carried out for thousands of years by those in our species who refuse to embrace any sort of beliefs that do not serve their own ends alone, all spring from one source in human nature; the expression of that negativity in our spirit has held sway since the beginnings of recorded history……

It is that part of our inner selves which compels us to use our innate talents for violence, treachery, and selfishness, using them to take advantage of others for our own benefit, using fear, and the threat of reward or punishment to control others, the use of which has led us to the impending threat of doom we face in coming days…. In order to survive, human nature MUST change…. Hmm…. not terribly good odds, I should guess….

I wish I had the ultimate answer; I wish I knew just the right words, and could say “THIS, THIS, and THIS…. just do that, and we’ll all be okay….” I don’t have them, though, any more than anyone else has, so far…. The worst part is, I know what needs to be done; but, I can only make changes to myself, I can’t just DO it, or even just SAY it, expecting it to change anyone else…. It has to come from all of us, or it won’t work at all….

SIGH…. Damn if I know what to do…. I guess I’ll just go out, shoot a couple of pimps, and call it a day….. Oh, and if those pimps happen to be wearing a uniform of some sort, you may count on them being fully guilty as charged, with sentence carried out according to the dictates of justice…. in spite of any loud noises they might make to the contrary. Any noise they make in these situations is merely an automatic defense against the insistence on them taking responsibility for their actions….

Any lawyers who may try to involve themselves may try to make us feel differently, but, we can discuss that later, right? (We can decide what to do about them when we figure out where to dispose of the bodies….)  For the moment, my day will be over, and justice done; it’s all I need to get to sleep….. especially knowing the women freed by my good aim will have the choice and opportunity to start the process of changing out of their slave clothes, into something a bit more free, and of their own choice….

Well, we all have our fantasies, right? Now, the trick is to remove all the above from the realm of speculation and imagination, and make it so, in Reality…. I guess we’ll see how it goes, eh?…. Later, ffolkes, & remember…. Free our sisters, and we free ourselves….

This took a long time to write, because it’s important to me…. Hence, I took a long time to pick a closing pearl, one that had the right feel to it, to express the depth of emotion involved, while still giving a nod to importance of addressing the issue’s less palatable aspects, such as the way women having to live in today’s world, or any world we have seen, are consistently, often brutally, abused, made to feel secondary, and at the very least, completely misunderstood, by their own alleged mates.

I am speaking of men who, in the final analysis, are failing their own species, not to mention failing to understand the concept, or to comprehend the importance, of such old-fashioned words as honor, compassion, and duty…. any one of which requires much more strength than any sort of aggressiveness, or display of physical prowess…. Such behaviors are those of a child, based on fear, a child who never grew out of being selfish and/or afraid of girls, (i.e., afraid of their own sexuality, and of women’s….), refusing to grow up and truly BE a man…..

We need each other, men and women; nature’s other creatures have shown us how it is supposed to work, using the blueprint of nature’s design…. Each gender of a species is made to contribute certain characteristics to the solving of the puzzle of living, in concert with their opposite half, with the caveat of the simple FACT, neither can survive, one without the other. Both are needed for the species to prosper, and grow…… It’s a shame there are so many men in the world who are so afraid of themselves, and of women, they can’t learn to act as men….

Okay, so, this old-school pearl is another serendipitous find; the resultant concept framed by its combined statements seems to be a fairly complete list of some of Life’s most important lessons…. Well, maybe not the opening line, but, it does set the tone, and ask a question which concerns ALL of us, doesn’t it? Which, metaphorically, you must admit, is a pretty good lesson…. So, just relax, let your mind be directed to a rather fine display of how to live Life well….

“Just exactly how much ‘Whiz’ is in Cheese Whiz?”– Smart Bee

“Xenophanes said, “I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing.”” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Bashfulness

“When in doubt, fuck it.  When not in doubt… get in doubt!”– Brilliant Bee

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” — Horace

“To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“Before honour is humility.” — Smarter even than Brilliant Bee

“I couldn’t remember when I had been so disappointed.   Except perhaps the time I found out that M&Ms really *do* melt in your hand …” — Peter Oakley

“Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson”

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It’s done. Damn good thing, too; yesterday was a tough one, all around, so, I’m happy what I was able to get done fit in to the process this morning so well…. Never mind, ffolkes, I’m just babbling; I guess I’m pretty tired, of all the battling going on in my life…. All will be well very soon, as my plans come together over time…. I just need to be patient, and focused…. On that cryptic note, I shall bid the adieu for another day….

See ya, ffolkes….