Do You Feel Lucky?

(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Friday, November 13, 2009

A Few Things I'm Quite Serious About

Yeah, people seem - not like I'm a big fascinating topic, an enigma to twist into riddling positions that then perhaps, lay bare some far flung aspect of the world and reveal its metaphysical truths and symbolic layers while leaving my integral mystery essentially untouched - but yeah, people seem occasionally to be idly irritated at the wide range of weird, contradictory posts on here, and ask: are you serious?

So, I get it into my head to occasionally clear things up. Disclaimers and such explaining the point of the blog (or to put it precisely: the lack thereof) do help some, I believe. But here in this post, I thought I'd try a very direct approach. I aim to pick out a few of the more prominent recurring themes that I want to emphasize are true things about me, that I'm indeed serious on.

Christ. Yes, I am christian. I'm extremely serious about that. I don't advise disputing me on that point either, because buddy I will fuckin' take my...wait. I mean buddy, I will fuckin' turn the other cheek. Let's stay on point, here. So yes: Christ, and also I believe in God, just in case the two don't go absolutely hand in hand - to me, it's kind of a package deal, but from time to time I've spoken to a few people who see it another way.

Science. Well of course, science. Science is serious, and I'm serious about it. But despite the juxtaposition, I'm not a Christian Scientist. That's just...I can get into that in another post if people really need me to. Science is quite a serious enough endeavor and calling, without trying to slap Jesus into a lab coat and equipping him with test tubes as if he needs to experiment to determine truth. The C.S. crowd, as I understand it, claim Jesus has perfect and absolute knowledge of all workings - well! Perfect and absolute knowledge is not science. Perfect and absolute knowledge is the furthest thing from being science. If you know absolutely, before you even do the experiment, then whatever else you are doing there, you are not a scientist (or at least, you are not engaged in science). Science is the systematic groping towards truth. And it is beautiful, and serious business, and one of the most important things we as a species have on our plate in this life. We should all be on board with its aims.

Humor. By which I mean, there are no topics that are off-limits to humor. That doesn't mean all jokes are funny, it means fuck you if you can't take a joke, look at it, and understand that the only thing that can expose the essential weakness of the hold tyranny and injustice have on this world is humor. The freedom to expose what is wrong with the world via mockery and satire is essential. I swear: Hitler must be so incredibly delighted to have a world of prudes unanimously declare his mighty works off-limits to mockery. Having said that, if someone makes a crappy joke they can expect to be made fun of, right? Humor is a street that runs two ways. Look before you cross.

Profanity. It's extremely childish to believe in the magical power of bad words to harm, when every "bad" word has a "clean" synonym for its "dirty" meaning. Let's not damage our children's minds with such superstitious bilge. Let's not teach them to accept unreason, to value forms over meanings, to hand strangers unearned power over them to upset them without even troubling to think of a creative insult.

Feminism. I am a feminist. A feminist is a person who believes in and advocates on behalf of the social, economical and political equality of women. A belief that wispy idiot-bits of pop culture or discourse threaten and menace that equality is a popular stance within certain corners of the movement, but it is optional not mandatory. I'm not that sort of feminist, though I do admit to loving a bit of postmodern feminist textual deconstruction as much as the next guy.

This post is hard core! Sorry. I didn't mean it to be such a lead weight, there, but you know what? These are a few things I'm quite serious about.

And I'm happy to clear any of that up, every damn time I have to. Cheers!

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