This is going to be tough to do without foul language

I’ve been seeing the term ‘rape culture’ thrown around A LOT lately. To be honest I had never heard it before until I started paying attention to the rape case in Steubenville, OH. After hearing and seeing the term explained countless times, I get it now. It’s something I’ve been around for a long time and just didn’t know it.

That case baffled me, and still is baffling me  because of the things coming out of it. I don’t care what a person has done before, whether it’s recent or not. It doesn’t mean that you can touch them just because you feel like it. All of those kids (yes… KIDS) that said they didn’t see anything wrong happening, that they didn’t know what rape was, that they thought all of this was normal… where on earth did they come up with that kind of mentality? How did they come to think that it was OK? The biggest thing that’s bothering me about it is that one of those boys’ attorneys is appealing on the grounds that his brain isn’t fully developed, so he couldn’t have known that he was doing wrong. IS THAT MAN OUT OF HIS MIND?!? If there was any degree of truth to that, then how are 16 year old kids aloud to work? How are they allowed to drive? How are they able to go places by themselves? How are they aloud to do anything at all? I was 16 once, and I did some stupid things, but I knew full well what I was doing, and as wrong as some of it may have been, I can’t blame it on anyone or anything but me. I consciously made some poor decisions then, and it was me that did it, not anyone else. In plain English: I knew better, but did it anyway.

Something else that just bothers the hell out of me is that people have been attacking Zerlina Maxwell because of her remarks about the case and rape in general. All I got out of what she said on Hannity is that she didn’t feel like a gun was the answer to every situation for every person, and as much as I support the right to own and carry a firearm, I think she was right one some level. Most people are assaulted by someone they know. She was able to point out a situation that was a wonderful example of where she didn’t think a gun would help. She had a point, and people are mad because they took it as ‘you hate guns, you want to take our rights away’. She even said if you felt you need to have a legal gun, then get one. I don’t think she was attacking anyone’s rights at all.

Something else she talked about was that rape prevention should start with teaching men to just not do it. Know what consent is, when you have it and when you don’t. It shouldn’t be all on a woman’s shoulders to prevent her rape. I don’t hate her for that. In an ideal world, I shouldn’t have to worry about something like that happening to me at all. Unfortunately however, I do need to worry, and I’ve had to worry before.

There will always be people out there that think it’s cool to be evil. Should I run into one of them, I want to be prepared. Bottom line here is that we need more education, more communication, and people need to stop being afraid to speak. I don’t agree with everything Ms. Maxwell has said, but I see where she was coming from. I think we could all learn something from her.

That was one of the most beautiful yet sad things I’ve ever seen

I took my son out for a happy meal yesterday, and caught CNN on the way out (at least I believe it was CNN). They were showing footage of a service for one of the officers killed by Chris Dorner. In thinking about it, that news cast sparked an opinion, which I’m posting later tonight. I’d do it now but my phone is almost dead and I’m typing this via word press for android.

 

You can find me sitting at the round table in Valhalla, waiting on our 72 virgins while Krishna gives the chosen a back rub in congratulations for accepting Kanye West as their personal lord, and insurance provider.

Thank you to my friend Anthony for inspiring my title. He wanted to cover all the bases, just in case the world really does end.

Here’s that opinion I said I’d give the other day: Whiskey tango foxtrot?

Sandy Hook – That’s got to be one of the most god awful things I’ve ever heard about a person doing. I had just taken my son to see his new school and get him signed up when I heard about it. I mean.. who would shoot up an elementary school of all places? I believe that Adam Lanza was deeply disturbed, and needed more help than what he had; if he even had any to begin with. I also believe that nobody will ever really know all the whats and whys of that situation, because unless you see shit for yourself, how can you? Now for the opinionated part: as horrible and tragic as this was, I don’t feel a weapons ban will solve a fucking thing. The gun did not commit the crime, the person committed the crime with a gun.

Connecticut has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and those laws didn’t prevent this man from killing innocent children. No law has ever prevented a person from committing a crime of any kind. The only thing I feel is broken in the system as far as guns are concerned is that things change depending on what state you’re in. Like here in Indiana for instance, someone with ‘crazy papers’ as a friend of mine called them, can still get a gun believe it or not, but just isn’t allowed to carry. You can also purchase at 18, but can’t carry until 21. There are loopholes out the ass, and those loopholes don’t need to be there. Then again, crazy or not, someone could just up and decide to shoot me if they want to. I don’t know because life is just like that, nobody knows what will happen 5 minutes from now, let alone the next day. If a person wants something bad enough, they’ll do whatever they feel is necessary to get it done, even if it means violating the law, or violating the rights of another person.

There are already plenty of mental health services available all over the country. Part of the issue there is staff within some of these places, and patient compliance. There are people in this world that don’t know what to ask when discussing their treatment, so they just say nothing. Not saying anything can be dangerous though, so for the love of God please educate your patients! Answer their questions if they have them, and point them to whatever resources you can think of. I honestly think that if the medical community at least tried to appear like they care more, that would solve a lot of patient compliance issues. People don’t do things for others simply because they want to anymore, they do it for a fucking paycheck. You can’t just throw pills at a person and expect the meds to solve all of their problems. They work best when used in conjunction with therapy. However, medicine is a practice and the public needs to understand that medical professionals of all types are people too. No one individual knows everything, no one individual can solve all the problems of the world, and no one individual is by any means a super hero. No treatment of any kind will work instantly, because things take time.

As a society, we’ve become extremely narcissistic, lazy, and about as impatient as people can get. We want, want, and want some more; and don’t care what happens to everyone else as long we have those things we think we need for some reason. Before we begin to fix anything, we need to take a look at ourselves. There’s not a damn thing wrong with the government, the issue is the people.

In short, we all need to start giving a fuck. Even it’s something small, do something nice for someone. That one small thing could make a big difference.

*I’ll eventually be expanding opinions more, when I have time to do some more research. I’m a person who believes in the second amendment. There’s a legal gun in my house, and it’s staying here. At some point in the future, there will be more legal guns in my house, and I intend to keep every one of them.

Guns, God, government and homemade trash cans

There’s a lot coming up. I have yet to form an official opinion about the current state of things, but its coming.

I’m feeling compelled to give my opinion today, so here it goes

A couple nights ago, I was on my way home from class talking to a friend about why I think an assault weapons ban is ridiculous.

The difference between assault and battery was explained to me as follows: Battery means you were touched but not hurt, and assault means you were hurt. That being the case, I believe that anything and everything could be used as an assault weapon. I think my exact words were ‘If I wanted to, I could assault someone with a slice of cheese’. If I were to do such a thing, I highly doubt that I wouldn’t be able to have cheese at my house anymore. So why take a gun?

I don’t like the fact that I feel like I need to carry a weapon. I hate walking out my door knowing that with where the world is headed, I could end up dead or seriously injured, and it wouldn’t be through any fault of my own. That’s how things are though, and until that changes, my home and my family are going to be properly defended. Gun owners don’t want to create violence, they just want to be ready when something happens.

 

*Update* – I learned that the definitions I was given about assault and battery were backwards. Also got some good info on the 1994 assault weapons ban courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/EmsFireLeo2ndAmendmentSupporters?fref=ts