Inauguration Day

Today America has a new President.

Contrary to the cynicism espoused by Tim, I am cautiously hopeful that something good will come of this change. It has been pointed out that Obama is by no means superhuman. He is not a savior, or the single solution to our problems. He is, however, a tool – a means by which America can, given a fierce desire to learn from the lessons of our past, and an unwavering resolve to fix a system that is most assuredly broken, return to the principles and ideals which defined our past and helped make us great.

I’m under no illusions about my level of oratory skill, but when, after I went to submit my e-mail address for “updates” on the new WhiteHouse.gov, I was prompted (yes – it’s required) to enter a comment I was forced to think for a moment about what I would say to President Obama if I could (and to put my thoughts in writing…).

In the end, I sent him this note:

Congratulations President Obama! You have helped a nation begin once more to hope. That’s a lot of pressure to live up to, but as long as you strive to be open and straightforward with us I think you will find that we will strive in kind to remember that you are a man, not a figure of history. As a man, all you can do is your best; that is all we have any right to ask of you. For my part, I hope that you will remember the same of us, and that you will ask the same too.

We are each of us human, and no one of us is ever going to be able to solve the problems of the rest. It is that realization, I have found, which forms the root of President Obama’s appeal to me. I tend to be centrist in my political leanings; I’m very conservative on some issues, and very liberal on others. Naturally, parts of President Obama’s agenda are at odds with my personal beliefs. I do believe, however, that the greatest gift of man lies in our capacity for ingenuity. I believe that America is great because, at the time of its founding, it attracted settlers possessed of a certain unbreakable spirit. It called to the adventurous, the entrepreneurial – those who firmly believed that all they needed was the right opportunity. America is built on the sweat of these men and women who refused to give in, refused to give up, and refused to accept the notion that something “could not be done”.

If America has fallen from the place we formerly occupied in the world, it is because we have become complacent. We have lost our reverence and respect for the spirit that forged colonists into citizens, and colonies into the United States. President Obama’s strongest appeal is not his disdain for Guantanamo Bay. It’s not his promise to spend billions of dollars to “fix” the economy. It’s not even his promise to end the “failed policies” of George W. Bush (a good many of which, I will admit, rub me the wrong way). It’s his willingness to admit to the American people that his kind of change is going to take hard work from all of us, and his ability to inspire faith and hope despite that harsh dose of realism.

No matter what any of us may think of his policies, we have to admire his politics. No one, no matter how naive, can claim that the American democratic system is what it should be; rather, it exists as an ideal which we move closer to and further from. If for nothing else than the chance for long-overdue change, the audacity to believe in the possibility that one man could be unwavering in his commitment to that ideal, I support President Obama and wish him all the best. For the first time since I can remember, I believe there is a chance for America to heal its divisions, cast off the shackles of a system that has failed to adapt to a new global and cultural reality, and to truly move forward into a new era built on the spirit that helped turn it from a rebellious colony into a shining beacon of hope and opportunity.

Wounded Game Theory

The other day I posted a rather long quote on the Tumble about so-called “Wounded Game Theory”. Having had a chance to discuss it with those friends of mine who happen to be of the male persuasion, I’ve discovered that she’s actually startlingly correct.

On some things anyways. It’s like this: far from being a kickback to our dark, primeval past, this phenomenon hints at something which is actually quite a recent phenomenon. With the rise of male image stereotyping in media, guys (especially college-aged guys) are becoming more and more self-conscious. Now days, many of the same self-confidence issues that people stereotype women with are becoming more and more prevalent among men. What does that mean to you? Y’all make yourselves too inaccessible. Especially when you’re all “prettied up”.

(more…)

Aids and Gay Rights – ooh, I’m getting political!

Tim appears to have been too lazy to post this gem, which is arguably the creepiest “children’s book” I’ve ever seen besides the one I posted earlier.

I’m particularly angry at this book because it appears to be a book that exists entirely to serve the “nurture” end of the “why are some people attracted to the same sex?” argument. Seriously – are they trying to indoctrinate young children now? Oh – that attraction you’re feeling? Yeah, you’re just not right in the head. Go see a therapist and get some drugs; they’ll fix you right up!

Seriously people, this is not the solution. Shouldn’t we be trying to teach our children to be more open-minded rather than closed-minded? Sometimes I feel like the government should just take all children at birth and raise them in a government-sponsored institute. I mean, sure – we’d never be able to create a government responsible enough to raise them without bias, but the idea of ridding the world of prejudice once and for all seems wonderfully tempting.

I don’t really know enough about the issue to be able to say that attraction to the same sex is definitively an issue of nature OR nurture, but I do know that what the friends I have who are gay feel is real enough and that those of us who aren’t gay have no right belittling their feelings because it doesn’t fit our narrow conception of correct gender roles. Teaching children that it’s “all nature” or “all nurture” is not the way to go – kids should be taught to examine the facts and view these things with an open mind (My how Post-Modern of me!)… Of course, I’m not really sure if that’s even possible. It seems natural to believe that you need to teach kids SOMETHING for sure so they have a frame of reference… If you must teach something, then, doesn’t the more open and accepting idea seem the better one to teach?

Just to end the night on the same note it started on, here’s an interesting pro-safe sex (really anti-AIDS) commercial I found on Stage6. Fair warning, this commercial is NSFW.

Booya – Safe Sex

If anyone wants to see it full sized, the original can be found here.

Oddly, the ending makes this commercial seem to be promoting abstinence as the best option, but the commercial doesn’t really show any consequences of pre-marital sex (other than it being boring or just not the right “fit”), and the ending just really seems to flow as a natural consequences of having found the right fit at last… It’s kinda hard to tell what they’re trying to say, actually, except for the final frame’s blatant “fight aides” message.

I thought Cheney was the puppetmaster?

Wait a minute – wasn’t Cheney supposed to be the one secretly in charge? So why was he the one that did the about-face on Iraq policy? Maybe it WAS Rove after all… For those of you who’re not history buffs, Cheney is speaking in past tense because he’s talking about the Gulf War. In all fairness to him, it could be argued that this war is “different circumstances”; what I’m curious about is why Saddam Husein went from “not worth very many… dead Americans” then to suddenly being worth thousands now…

I’m not really pro or anti the Iraq War, but I’m no fan of Cheney, and I’d be curious to see his reaction to being confronted with this video…