The End

It is something that everyone, no matter how blissfully happy or seemingly perfect their life is has thought about, if only for a fleeting second. However, many will deny that the thought has ever crossed their mind. They are lying. What am I talking about? Suicide. Just because the thought has crossed a person’s mind, does not mean that they have seriously considered it, but to say it has never crossed their mind is disingenuous at best, and a flat out lie to cover their serious consideration of it at the worst. There is an imagined stigma attached in many of our minds to admitting that we have thought about it, no matter how briefly. We think that if we admit to the thoughts that we will either be considered unstable, unfit, or will be somehow locked away until we are proven to not be a “danger to ourselves.” This is dangerous.

If we find ourselves unable to discuss it when these thoughts come across, then it can lead to feelings of further isolation and misunderstanding, which can lead to further thoughts of suicide that slowly get more serious, and may eventually lead to action.

Sometimes it may be believed that it can only be discussed with a licensed professional. Some do not feel comfortable with that for many reasons, and others are either unable to access those professionals for whatever reason. If a person is seriously considering suicide, then yes they do need to speak to a professional, but we as the general public need to discuss it more openly and realistically. Keeping the thoughts secret, and somehow “dirty” or “evil” only adds accelerant to the flames.

Everyone is going to have difficult times in their life. Sometimes we try to open up and find some support from those around us about some of the issues, but rarely about suicide. All too often platitudes are offered. Platitudes are good in some cases, and it is easier to try to find a platitude than to discuss a sensitive topic. Often just the act of listening and being supportive means more than anything that could be said. In fact it is often the case that the platitudes are more harmful than just ignoring the person. Here follows a list of some of the worst platitudes that are very common place.

Others have it worse.

That which does not kill you only makes you stronger.

Things will get better.

Smile. Or – Turn that frown upside down.

You’re storing treasure in heaven.

It isn’t that bad.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

There's always tomorrow.

 It could be worse! Someday you'll look back on this and laugh.

Let go and let god handle it.

Time heals all wounds.

Don’t worry, be happy.

Any day this side of the dirt is a good day.

Count your blessings.

This too shall pass.

If it was meant to be, it will be.

God will only give you as much as you can handle.

Instead of offering a platitude, which is the equivalent of giving a empty gift card as a gift, sometimes it is better to just shut up, listen, and most importantly, be there.

Is it really what you think?

One of the common elements of different cultures, people, and ages is the search for something greater than ourselves, or at least answers to life. Some do this through a scientific explanation, but more search for something a bit more incorporeal. This is a natural response. It has led to the foundation and creation of many different religions. There is nothing wrong with this. However, it is also natural for some in the population to seek ways to exploit others and rise to a position of power. Again, this is normal and natural.

Where the problem comes from is the danger they present when they are either taken to extremes, or the lust for power exploits those outside of the religion. It is easy to look at the extremists of terrorists groups like Al-Qaeda, but they are not the ones that I am most afraid of; I more fear the more insidious, “well-meaning” christians and catholics. They have incessantly preached a doctrine to eliminate thought, furthering the idea that the only path to heaven was blind unwavering faith. This way, they can say any ridiculous thing and it will be accepted by the mindless masses.

Let’s take a closer examination of some of these ridiculous positions. The condemnation of homosexuality: Many religions condemn homosexuality even when while practicing it behind closed doors. Officially they take a stand against it. But why? I may not understand the desire for one’s own gender, but I can understand the desire to be accepted and loved for who and what I am. All of these same religions that condemn homosexuality say out of the other side of their mouth how their god is all about love, forgiveness, and acceptance, at least as long as you are exactly like them. It can’t be both ways. Either the god you serve is about love, forgiveness, and acceptance, or it is against this or that including homosexuality. To say that it is somehow both is empirical proof that it is not real, but instead, it is a social club of exclusive membership without true foundation.

Another hot topic is the refusal of the right to use birth control. Saying that a.) sex is a sin and is only excused if done in the marriage bed for the purpose of reproducing, b.) that it is up to some god to decide how many children should be born, when, and by whom. Yet many of these same ones that are against contraceptives see nothing wrong with seeking help from fertility doctors so that they can whelp a litter. What of “god’s will” then? Aren't these same ones again speaking from different sides of their mouths? Back to point “a,” making sex into a sin allows for it to be a shameful act and a tool of manipulation and domination. This is a practice used by many religions for the male to dominate the female through the “humiliation” of sex. Is that really how sex should be viewed or used? To the point, should sex ever be “used” as opposed to being shared?

Again a rallying cry of many in religion is deeming early term abortion to be murder. There are times that they get so worked up about it that some have actually assassinated doctors who perform abortions. The official stance of the church in these situations is that they do not condone the action, but do see it as justified. In no way is it justified, it really is murder. I will not get into the merits of abortion or the arguments against it further, as that is not the point of this discussion. I bring it up only as a part of the pattern.

So on to the next piece of that pattern; these same churches often rush to justify many wars as being righteous and holy. Of course this is not the stand of every pastor or preacher, but it is the overriding majority of the powers that be. As a whole, churches of many of the major religions justify war as a means to either make their opponents repent and join their side of the “enlightened truth” or to die as an infidel dog. Either result is fine. The point is to be the only religion in the entire world and have every single person fully indoctrinated. The goal: World domination. It brings to mind the Warner Brothers’ cartoon “Pinky and the Brain:”

“What are we going to do tonight, Brain?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to take over the world!”

What, you may ask yourself, do these things have in common? Numbers, that is what they have in common. Despite the words that are used to condemn homosexuality, the truth is it is because homosexual activity does not produce children. They condemn birth control and all abortion? Because it prevents the birth of more children. So what all does this have to do with war? If the “christian nation” does not keep up a steady flow of children, then eventually they may be out-produced by the muslims and other “heathens.” They need a larger and larger quantity of children because some will not survive to adulthood, some will actually learn and turn away, and some will just be deemed useless to the cause due to either mental or physical defect. One of the biggest challenges to their power over these new generations is knowledge.

The church has a long history of fighting education, true education. People are born with a natural desire to learn. Despite the desires of the church more and more were learning, and with that learning were turning from the church. So they decided to fight fire with fire. The church got into the education game as a means to control what was being taught and how people were being trained to “think.” Because they discovered that people like to think for themselves, (even if it is only the illusion that they are thinking for themselves). So over the decades, education has systematically been refined to cull thinking out of the majority. The majority is all that they could manage to control, because there will always be those who are able to see through the lies.

I don’t intend to invalidate anyone’s faith or speak to the legitimacy of any form of worship as it pertains to the individual’s belief in any god or gods. What I am speaking to is the fact that the most corrupt and power hungry organizations in the world are the churches. More evil is done in the name of religion than all other reasons combined.

Think on this for a moment. What if we all believed that there was no heaven or hell, there was no reincarnation, but that when we die, it’s all over. If this were what we all believed (with the same fervor now given to religious belief), how many would we be willing to send into war? How many would sign up for battle? How willing would our leaders be to extinguish lives if there were no afterlife to fall back on? Would we be more or less likely to seek the death penalty for those convicted of multiple murders?

While thinking on that, consider this. The majority of people are religious in some fashion or another and mindlessly think that to be atheist or agnostic means that one has no morals. Why? What atheist or agnostic ever called for a jihad? What atheist or agnostic ever practiced sacrifice? No, what is scary about atheists and agnostics is the fact that they are not under the mind control of the church, and are therefore dangerous as examples.

Drone

A popular thing to complain about is our education system. It is an easy target as it really does have a lot of issues that need to be fixed. However, to fix it we first need to understand exactly what needs fixing and why. The number one thing that needs to be fixed will allow other fixes to happen, but if it is not fixed will prevent any other fix from ever working at all.

What is this big fix? Non-educators need to shut up, step aside, and stay out of the policymaking/decision/evaluation picture.  Administration is filled with people with no teaching experience who, for whatever reason, feel that their $0.02 is invaluable and therefore must be heard. The thing is, teaching is a professional position that takes years of training, much like a doctor, and yet every nitwit who has gone though school believes that they know all there is to know about teaching (after all, they have been taught!) And heaven forbid these people have a child; this engenders the feeling that they have been touched by the hand of god and know everything there is to know about how to educate children. I’m sorry to break it to everyone so bluntly, but just because you can successfully fuck does not make you a successful educator, or even a successful parent. It would be the same as going to the doctor’s office with a fever, chills, aches, and congestion, and saying, “Doc, I know what you and the test results are saying, but I’m telling you that I don’t have the flu, it’s just hemorrhoids. I know because I have had a cold before.” This may sound harsh, but the fact is that interference from well-meaning but clueless individuals cause more harm to our educational system than most anything else.

More harm, that is, except for the politicians; politicians who have no idea of what is actually involved in classroom but know what their wealthy donors want. They want a ready and steady workforce that is just educated enough to do the job, but unburdened with the ability to think for themselves. To achieve this, they need a sufficient education system to impart the bare working skills and the impression that the student is able to freely think (thus keeping them happy), but without actually teaching true critical thought or skills to excel in the workplace. Businesses want to train specific skills and efficiency techniques once the workers have been hired and assessed. If the ability to think critically was actually taught, then the ways that businesses, government, and those of wealth and power work harder at keeping an unofficial slave culture alive rather than actually improving the country and its people would be apparent to all, rather than just a fortunate few.

Now, many may think that this is just bitter rhetoric, but it isn’t. Just take a look at the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It is an absolutely fantastic slogan and the mouth-breathers sing its praises. However, if you actually know anything about effective education and look at NCLB critically, then you will see that it is another trap for the masses.

So what does the act say it offers versus what it actually offers? First, it purports to offer teacher, school, and student accountability. Great; there should be accountability from each of these. But what it actually offers is a biased system to punish those who fail to conform to a normality dictated by politicians as well as those who just fail. Does it offer any way to assist those who are just failing or to make them more likely to succeed? No. In fact, under NCLB guidelines, teachers who fail will be fired and schools that fail will be shut down, causing class sizes to become even greater than their already over-capacity status. No academic class should ever at any time be more than 20 students, yet it is not uncommon to have classes with 30 to 45 and sometimes even more per academic class. Is there any incentive for meeting the “standards” set by NCLB? Only that you don’t get fired.

Which brings us to the next failing of NCLB: Standards. The promoted purpose after accountability is to set standards. Again, this sounds reasonable enough to most. But then what needs to be examined is who determines the standards and what essential programs are going to be sacrificed in order to focus on these standards. There is a focus on core subjects; math, science, language arts. Without doubt, these are essential subjects, but they can’t be focused on solely at the expense of subjects like:

 PE, which helps keep the body healthy and therefore the mind, which is a proven fact.

Music, which helps with math and science.

Theater Arts, which help in language arts and science.

Art, which helps with science and math.

And the list goes on, but more than the aid that these subjects offer to the “core” is the help they offer to the student and the school. These subjects help provide an emotional connection and personal impact that helps motivate the student to learn and attend school. When these “auxiliary” programs are forced out, it cheats the student of being able to learn.

Then there are the standardized tests; tests that are supposed to be unbiased and fair. If you believe that then contact me, for I have some oceanfront property in Nebraska that I’ll sell you real cheap. If we were to discuss the problems with tests in general, not to mention the many added flaws inherent in standardized tests, then we would be looking at a post the size of War and Peace. But to name a few; cultural bias, regional bias, development bias, guessing instead of answering. First let’s look at cultural bias and regional bias, as they are very similar. It is a question of perspective. Each of us have been bought up in and influenced by the culture of our family, our neighborhood, our community, our city, our state, etc. Because of this there are things that Alice, raised in a rural homogenous farming community, and Joe, raised in a overpopulated, diverse urban area, are not going to view the same way.  This isn’t even counting racial, religious, or any number of other biases that could come into play. A test can’t take all of these factors into account and still be standardized. Next, let’s talk about developmental bias. Ashley is in fourth grade and is on a fourth grade level in language arts, but is still first grade level for math or science. There is nothing wrong with Ashley, she has no learning disabilities, she just is behind developmentally on math and science in her natural progression. This is natural, and there is nothing wrong with it, or with her. Yet she has to test at the end of the year at fifth grade level or she, her teacher, and school will have failed under NCLB. If at the end of the year she tests and is at fifth grade level in language arts, but at fourth grade level for math and science, then there is punishment pending, despite the fact that Ashley advanced two grade levels in those subjects, which is a great success in the real world of learning. Especially at earlier grades, students do not always progress at the same level on all subjects. It has nothing to do with there being a problem with their learning ability or the way they are being taught, it is just how they develop.  Finally, let’s discuss multiple guess, otherwise known as multiple choice. If a person knows how tests work and/or is a good guesser it is easy to look very good on multiple choice, true/false, and matching tests. Many schools are teaching how tests are set up to aid students to pass the test, instead of teaching actual material. Personally, I was taught in school how tests were prepared and set up, and I am an excellent guesser. I took a test one time that was a timed multiple choice test. It was broken into subjects. I found myself running out of time on my weakest subject, so I resorted to using my answers to spell random words or make patterns on the answer sheet. I ended up with my best score, an incredibly high one, on this section. These tests do not test knowledge, or measure learning. What they do is help categorize where you fit as a drone.

That is the true goal of NCLB (other than a political slogan); to create worker drones. Yes, an abundant number of people will fall through the cracks and be a “burden” on society. The politicians and their wealthy and powerful puppet masters don’t care about those ones, except as handy tools to divert those who are able to care about society from looking too closely at what is going on. Besides, those in power are also almost insisting that we over-breed so they have more fodder for the machine. They are aided in this by the political machine known as the church, but that is another post.

Business

It strikes me funny that so much is made of a politician being a “Great Business Man” as being a plus for them to run government, especially in a sense of the economy (as if it will somehow translate). It’s another case and point of people not really thinking, but just accepting.

Think for a minute. What makes a businessman successful? It’s not creating jobs. It’s not raising worker standard of living or happiness. It isn’t even necessarily being beneficial to the area economy. No, what makes a good businessman is most often quite the opposite. You see, the success of businessmen is measured by their profit margin. To increase profit margin, a business man will cut jobs, reduce wages, slash benefits, and basically make misery for the worker. They do this not because they have any animosity towards the worker, but because they can make a higher profit if they slash costs. Where can they cut costs? Labor! That is the most consistent area that costs can be adjusted.

This brings us to the other thing that makes a businessman successful: Spin. After all, with all the harm that they cause their workers, it would be understandable if they were unable to find workers, even in a tough economy. Yet a successful businessman can cut wages, benefits, and hours and make many believe that he is somehow doing them a favor (as if being “goatse-d” could ever be considered a favor). Successful businessmen love to see high unemployment rates and less-than-optimal economic times, because these conditions give them free reign to slash and burn at will. The workers will not complain or riot because they have no alternative, and the businessman can excuse it all as a result of tough times.

Perversely, people (especially in tough economic times) rally to the idea of a good businessman as the answer to governing the country. That should come as no surprise, however, considering that we are a nation that has had critical thought taught out of us. But that’s another post, and it’s coming soon.