sometimes a douchebag is just a douchebag

everybody deserves to be treated with kindness and respect. and when they aren't, it is perfectly reasonable for them to be unhappy about it. happiness is not a reward for only thinking good thoughts, and the lack of happiness is not a punishment for being the wrong kind of person. nobody asks to be mistreated. nobody wants to be mistreated. nobody goes out hoping to be raped or to come down with chronic illness. stop blaming the victims. bad things happen to good people all the time. it's not their fault.

plato was a douchebag, too:
"We won't allow poets to say that the punished are made wretched and that it was a god who made them so. But we will allow them to say that bad people are wretched because they are in need of punishment and that, in paying the penalty, they are benefited by the gods."

mind manipulations, again

divisive rhetoric serves one purpose, to keep us fighting each other instead of the institutions of oppression.

exodus

spiritual wisdom isn't for sale
you can't just pick it up in the gift shop at the luxury spa resort
no matter how much you paid to hear the guru talk at you
you can't just slap the words "native american" on it
and give it some elevated status
that the native americans themselves
never had

friendstacy
(copy/pasted from facebook)

friendstacy on groupthink (again)

democracy is not freedom. it is majority rule. and the majority are idiots who agree to let the few rule over the rest of us, so we get a republic instead. which is even further from freedom than anyone cares to think about. but you know, people talk that smack. and they will say anything they think you want to hear except the truth. because bullshit sells and truth by definition is free. and freedom is the last thing they want to happen. it scares them terribly.

a story

story from a cherokee friend
as close as i can get it to his telling


so let me tell you
this story i heard
a long time ago
there was this boy...

to get to the fertile river valley
where the good hunting grounds were,
he had to cross some mountains.

along the way he came across a snake
the boy saw that the snake was struggling
and gave him some of his water
he was a big strong boy
and had brought more than enough
for himself and to share

the snake gratefully drank the water
and when he was feeling refreshed
he asked the boy if he might carry him
"you can just sit me on top of your backpack
i am not very big and you are very strong"

they boy hesitated but did not object
he carefully picked up the snake
gently placed him on top of his pack
and the two continued their journey
together

it wasn't so long before they reached the other side
where the river flows and the good hunting can be found
as the boy was helping the snake to the ground
suddenly and without warning
the snake struck and bit him on the leg

as the boy lay there in agony
he asked the snake why did he do that
after the journey and friendship they had shared

"because i'm a snake,  that's what snakes do"