Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Battle Against Homophobia
I never thought that I would see the day that people would be judged, threatened and prosecuted because of a life choice that makes them happy.
But here we are, and it's happening to me...kind of.
The REALLY fucked up part is that it's not happening to me directly, but because I'm showing support for a venture of pride and happiness.
Let me explain...
About a month ago the frat house that I live in was "pranked" by another frat. Their prank idea? To hang a rainbow-colored flag, commonly accepted as a symbol of homosexuality, from our flag pole.
At first I was upset...but then I thought about it. Why was that insulting? When did it become so commonplace to make homosexuality such a negative thing?
For the record, I'm not gay, nor have I ever have been. However, I'll openly admit that I support gay rights...I mean, why shouldn't I? Gay people have EVERY right to be as happy as heterosexuals, and every right to be proud about what makes them happy.
Why is it that people should be insulted for harmless personal lifestyle choices?
After coming to this realization, my roommates and I decided to keep the flag up, to show that we're better people than those who hung it and to make it known that we support gay rights, despite our heterosexuality.
Recently, our household has felt backlash because of the flag.
This past Saturday, at roughly 5 in the afternoon, a group of guys that none of us knew egged the back of our house. When we confronted them as to why they did it and their response was "because you're a bunch of faggots!" They then proceeded to try and fight us, but cooler heads prevailed
That's right. A group of completely random people vandalized our house, all because of a rainbow flag that was hanging in the front and their immense homophobia.
Earlier tonight one of my fraternity's alumni drove past the house, stopped, and stormed up to my window to have a chat. He stated that the flag "offended him" and that it should be taken down. There was no complaint about the Dallas Stars and Saskatchewan flags in my window....why the vendetta against the rainbow flag? Out of respect to his wishes I took it down, but it has recently been raised again, this time in my roommate's window that once again faces the busy street in front of our house.
And that's where we intend to keep it, with the exception of putting it back outside again. This flag controversy has become one that could become very dramatic in the near future, but we feel that such a controversy is almost necessary.
In the short time we've had the flag there has been a strong wave of homophobia and heterosexism directed towards us. Such blind hatred, such bitter judgment, all because of a personal lifestyle choice.
I can't even BEGIN to imagine how much hatred and discrimination homosexual people have to face in their day-to-day lives. The fact that gay people have to face such challenges only to express their true selves and do what makes them happy is a truly despicable thought.
And so, as such, I've thrown my hat into the ring of a battle that isn't really mine to fight. But I've always been a firm believer that people should be given FULL respect and encouragement to do whatever it is that makes them happy (as long as it doesn't harm others, of course), regardless of what makes you happy. Whether it's homosexuality, dressing like a Mime, log-rolling, or anything else, I believe that if it makes you truly happy, then it should be celebrated. and most definitely not prosecuted.
Apparently such a notion is lost on my fellow Calgary citizens and, I'm sure, people from other cities in other countries (homosexuality is a sin punishable by death under Sharia Law). So I'm going to stand my ground and fight for what I believe in, and let it be known that one doesn't have to be gay to be an advocate for gay rights.
But here we are, and it's happening to me...kind of.
The REALLY fucked up part is that it's not happening to me directly, but because I'm showing support for a venture of pride and happiness.
Let me explain...
About a month ago the frat house that I live in was "pranked" by another frat. Their prank idea? To hang a rainbow-colored flag, commonly accepted as a symbol of homosexuality, from our flag pole.
At first I was upset...but then I thought about it. Why was that insulting? When did it become so commonplace to make homosexuality such a negative thing?
For the record, I'm not gay, nor have I ever have been. However, I'll openly admit that I support gay rights...I mean, why shouldn't I? Gay people have EVERY right to be as happy as heterosexuals, and every right to be proud about what makes them happy.
Why is it that people should be insulted for harmless personal lifestyle choices?
After coming to this realization, my roommates and I decided to keep the flag up, to show that we're better people than those who hung it and to make it known that we support gay rights, despite our heterosexuality.
Recently, our household has felt backlash because of the flag.
This past Saturday, at roughly 5 in the afternoon, a group of guys that none of us knew egged the back of our house. When we confronted them as to why they did it and their response was "because you're a bunch of faggots!" They then proceeded to try and fight us, but cooler heads prevailed
That's right. A group of completely random people vandalized our house, all because of a rainbow flag that was hanging in the front and their immense homophobia.
Earlier tonight one of my fraternity's alumni drove past the house, stopped, and stormed up to my window to have a chat. He stated that the flag "offended him" and that it should be taken down. There was no complaint about the Dallas Stars and Saskatchewan flags in my window....why the vendetta against the rainbow flag? Out of respect to his wishes I took it down, but it has recently been raised again, this time in my roommate's window that once again faces the busy street in front of our house.
And that's where we intend to keep it, with the exception of putting it back outside again. This flag controversy has become one that could become very dramatic in the near future, but we feel that such a controversy is almost necessary.
In the short time we've had the flag there has been a strong wave of homophobia and heterosexism directed towards us. Such blind hatred, such bitter judgment, all because of a personal lifestyle choice.
I can't even BEGIN to imagine how much hatred and discrimination homosexual people have to face in their day-to-day lives. The fact that gay people have to face such challenges only to express their true selves and do what makes them happy is a truly despicable thought.
And so, as such, I've thrown my hat into the ring of a battle that isn't really mine to fight. But I've always been a firm believer that people should be given FULL respect and encouragement to do whatever it is that makes them happy (as long as it doesn't harm others, of course), regardless of what makes you happy. Whether it's homosexuality, dressing like a Mime, log-rolling, or anything else, I believe that if it makes you truly happy, then it should be celebrated. and most definitely not prosecuted.
Apparently such a notion is lost on my fellow Calgary citizens and, I'm sure, people from other cities in other countries (homosexuality is a sin punishable by death under Sharia Law). So I'm going to stand my ground and fight for what I believe in, and let it be known that one doesn't have to be gay to be an advocate for gay rights.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Rightly knowin' junk
Everyone in life has goals. Some of these goals are grand and ambitious: to become rich, to travel into space, to be the best hockey player/singer/log roller/whatever you can be, and so on. For some of those less fortunate, the only ultimate goal they have is to actually stay alive.
It's these goals and ambitions that further the progress of humanity and the evolution of our species. If it weren't for visionary men like Copernicus, Edison, Einstein, and so on, where would our world be? If it weren't for great, strong-minded individuals to blaze the trail humanity could still be stuck living in caves or blindly following the ancient teaching of some tribalistic book of fairy tales (sadly, many parts of the world still live this way)
But despite the great thinkers among us, it doesn't take a genius to see that the world is completely fucked up right now. Maybe I'm still stuck in the mood of humanity negativity after reading Watchmen, but for a graphic novel that book makes a lot of damn good points. There are a lot of fucked up things in this world...greed, corruption, injustice, ignorance. All of these things only exist to embrace the individual, instead of the species.
One of the problems with our world is that the goals that so many of us have are just like that. Wanting to be rich, wanting a bigger house, wanting to be famous...these goals are materialistic and, for the most part, don't do any service towards any greater good.
What people need to do is shift from materialistic goals to psychological ones. The first step towards this is focusing on knowledge.
Behind happiness and health, respectively, knowledge should be the thing that people strive for the most. Ancient Greek philosophers used to value knowledge as one of the most valuable things a man could work towards...where has humanity gone wrong?
Knowledge isn't seen as important as it should be anymore. Looking at the world right now it's easy to see numerous examples of where stupidity and ignorance flourish where they should have been immediately fixed.
People care more about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and other useless celebrities than they do local politics. George Bush got elected TWICE, and Sarah Palin, a woman that didn't know whether Africa was a country or a continent (when do kids learn this, like grade 3?) almost became the vice president of the most powerful country in the world, and she'll likely be running for the presidency in 2012. Some Islamic nations ignorantly base their entire societies around the Koran, a book which is easily shown as a crock of shit when studying it critically and comparing it with the rest of the world. The Israel/Palestine conflict is made up two sides killing each other in an unending, uncompromising cycle over a fucking chunk of dirt...doesn't anyone else see the insanity of that?!?
It feels to me like some people take PRIDE in being fucking ignorant and stupid about the world around them, and are blissfully happy as long as they have their TVs, toasters and steel-belted radials to comfort them. Don't people feel like there's more in this life than that?
Just think of how much better the world would be right now if everyone was always trying to learn more, to expand their worldy knowledge.
Hundreds of years ago this could be excused considering the way human cultures were, but now with the Communication Age coming into effect and the amazing progressions that have been made in technology there's no excuse for ignorance anymore. It's so easy for anyone to learn anything...all it takes most of the time is a simple Google search, which apparently is too much for a lot of people.
This term has been thrown around a lot lately, but I do strongly believe that the world needs a Second Renaissance. The human race is capable of so much, but in order to achieve anything truly meaningful we need to reinstate the importance of education
I'll admit that I'm no genius. Hell, I'm not even the best student in my program. But at the same time I do what I can to learn, when I can. I truly value the importance of knowledge and am always looking to learn more, whether it's in class or even on my own time surfing the internet. There's so much knowledge out there and I know I'll never attain it all, but I'm sure as heck going to try and learn as much as I can.
Hopefully one day more people will reevaluate their goals and go back to valuing intelligence. After all, it doesn't take a genius to know that there are problems in the world that need fixing.
It's these goals and ambitions that further the progress of humanity and the evolution of our species. If it weren't for visionary men like Copernicus, Edison, Einstein, and so on, where would our world be? If it weren't for great, strong-minded individuals to blaze the trail humanity could still be stuck living in caves or blindly following the ancient teaching of some tribalistic book of fairy tales (sadly, many parts of the world still live this way)
But despite the great thinkers among us, it doesn't take a genius to see that the world is completely fucked up right now. Maybe I'm still stuck in the mood of humanity negativity after reading Watchmen, but for a graphic novel that book makes a lot of damn good points. There are a lot of fucked up things in this world...greed, corruption, injustice, ignorance. All of these things only exist to embrace the individual, instead of the species.
One of the problems with our world is that the goals that so many of us have are just like that. Wanting to be rich, wanting a bigger house, wanting to be famous...these goals are materialistic and, for the most part, don't do any service towards any greater good.
What people need to do is shift from materialistic goals to psychological ones. The first step towards this is focusing on knowledge.
Behind happiness and health, respectively, knowledge should be the thing that people strive for the most. Ancient Greek philosophers used to value knowledge as one of the most valuable things a man could work towards...where has humanity gone wrong?
Knowledge isn't seen as important as it should be anymore. Looking at the world right now it's easy to see numerous examples of where stupidity and ignorance flourish where they should have been immediately fixed.
People care more about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and other useless celebrities than they do local politics. George Bush got elected TWICE, and Sarah Palin, a woman that didn't know whether Africa was a country or a continent (when do kids learn this, like grade 3?) almost became the vice president of the most powerful country in the world, and she'll likely be running for the presidency in 2012. Some Islamic nations ignorantly base their entire societies around the Koran, a book which is easily shown as a crock of shit when studying it critically and comparing it with the rest of the world. The Israel/Palestine conflict is made up two sides killing each other in an unending, uncompromising cycle over a fucking chunk of dirt...doesn't anyone else see the insanity of that?!?
It feels to me like some people take PRIDE in being fucking ignorant and stupid about the world around them, and are blissfully happy as long as they have their TVs, toasters and steel-belted radials to comfort them. Don't people feel like there's more in this life than that?
Just think of how much better the world would be right now if everyone was always trying to learn more, to expand their worldy knowledge.
Hundreds of years ago this could be excused considering the way human cultures were, but now with the Communication Age coming into effect and the amazing progressions that have been made in technology there's no excuse for ignorance anymore. It's so easy for anyone to learn anything...all it takes most of the time is a simple Google search, which apparently is too much for a lot of people.
This term has been thrown around a lot lately, but I do strongly believe that the world needs a Second Renaissance. The human race is capable of so much, but in order to achieve anything truly meaningful we need to reinstate the importance of education
I'll admit that I'm no genius. Hell, I'm not even the best student in my program. But at the same time I do what I can to learn, when I can. I truly value the importance of knowledge and am always looking to learn more, whether it's in class or even on my own time surfing the internet. There's so much knowledge out there and I know I'll never attain it all, but I'm sure as heck going to try and learn as much as I can.
Hopefully one day more people will reevaluate their goals and go back to valuing intelligence. After all, it doesn't take a genius to know that there are problems in the world that need fixing.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Decisions, decisions
Have you ever wondered how different your life would be if you'd done something differently in your past?
I'm not only talking about the big decisions that take lots of consideration and weighing of pros and cons, but even the little ones. Lots of people have heard of the Butterfly Effect, and how a supposed flap of a butterfly's wings could cause a hurricane thousands of miles away, but how many actually take the time to step back and think about it?
I've had a lot of time to think recently, and a lot of that thinking has gone towards my past and how my life has unfolded. There are the big decisions, like where I decided to go to school, where I've decided to work, what I chose to take classes in, and etcetera...but what's really getting me are the little things.
Would I be the same person I am today if I had never attended Aunt Theresa's birthday the summer between Grade 9 and 10, spending the entire night there having fun with my cousins, an event which I hold as one of my fondest memories because it was so good that it pushed me over the edge when I got back, making me realize how terrible my life was after I was reminded what it means to be happy.
What about if I had never strolled past the Kappa Sigma booth in Mac Hall during rush week? I never thought that joining a fraternity would be such a huge change for my life, but I'm currently in my second stint living at the frat house and almost every single person I met while attending the U of C I met only because I joined the frat, through some weird extension or another (friends of friends of friends and etc.). If I would have simply never walked past the booth at the right time, or simply chosen to not pledge, my life would be nowhere near what it is today.
Hell, what if I had chosen McDonalds over Wendy's five years ago? What if I chose to stay home instead of going out to the bar two years ago?
All of these choices, both significant and insignificant, can lead to sequences of events that change our lives in ways that we can't even imagine. It feels like the world as it is right now, with humans able to travel to space, able talk to someone face to face through a computer screen even though they are thousands of miles away, possessing weapons powerful enough to destroy EVERYTHING in an instant, completely lucked out. The slighest, narrowest, most ignorable change from hundreds or thousands of years ago could have made none of this possible.
Or, it could have made us all the better. What if Hitler had died when he was fighting in World War One? What if the Bible was never written?
Would my life be better or worse than it currently is because of past choices? It's impossible to say and it's enough to drive a person fucking nuts to think too much about. Whether we like to admit it or not, EVERYONE holds regrets about their pasts, big and small. But how are we to know that going back and changing things would necessarily make us happier?
I don't like to think about fate...having everything "set" to happen to you isn't a very reassuring notion, because who knows which people fate will favour and which ones fate will fuck over.
There isn't much that we can do except try and live our lives as best as we possibly can...and hope that those little, seemingly insignificant things that we do will only make things better, instead of worse.
I'm not only talking about the big decisions that take lots of consideration and weighing of pros and cons, but even the little ones. Lots of people have heard of the Butterfly Effect, and how a supposed flap of a butterfly's wings could cause a hurricane thousands of miles away, but how many actually take the time to step back and think about it?
I've had a lot of time to think recently, and a lot of that thinking has gone towards my past and how my life has unfolded. There are the big decisions, like where I decided to go to school, where I've decided to work, what I chose to take classes in, and etcetera...but what's really getting me are the little things.
Would I be the same person I am today if I had never attended Aunt Theresa's birthday the summer between Grade 9 and 10, spending the entire night there having fun with my cousins, an event which I hold as one of my fondest memories because it was so good that it pushed me over the edge when I got back, making me realize how terrible my life was after I was reminded what it means to be happy.
What about if I had never strolled past the Kappa Sigma booth in Mac Hall during rush week? I never thought that joining a fraternity would be such a huge change for my life, but I'm currently in my second stint living at the frat house and almost every single person I met while attending the U of C I met only because I joined the frat, through some weird extension or another (friends of friends of friends and etc.). If I would have simply never walked past the booth at the right time, or simply chosen to not pledge, my life would be nowhere near what it is today.
Hell, what if I had chosen McDonalds over Wendy's five years ago? What if I chose to stay home instead of going out to the bar two years ago?
All of these choices, both significant and insignificant, can lead to sequences of events that change our lives in ways that we can't even imagine. It feels like the world as it is right now, with humans able to travel to space, able talk to someone face to face through a computer screen even though they are thousands of miles away, possessing weapons powerful enough to destroy EVERYTHING in an instant, completely lucked out. The slighest, narrowest, most ignorable change from hundreds or thousands of years ago could have made none of this possible.
Or, it could have made us all the better. What if Hitler had died when he was fighting in World War One? What if the Bible was never written?
Would my life be better or worse than it currently is because of past choices? It's impossible to say and it's enough to drive a person fucking nuts to think too much about. Whether we like to admit it or not, EVERYONE holds regrets about their pasts, big and small. But how are we to know that going back and changing things would necessarily make us happier?
I don't like to think about fate...having everything "set" to happen to you isn't a very reassuring notion, because who knows which people fate will favour and which ones fate will fuck over.
There isn't much that we can do except try and live our lives as best as we possibly can...and hope that those little, seemingly insignificant things that we do will only make things better, instead of worse.
Monday, May 4, 2009
And so it begins...
So here I am again.
Standing on the edge of another summer.
For reasons that I've never been able to understand, I don't think I've ever had an enjoyable summer. I know this goes back to when I was young, having a troubled, lonely childhood, especially when my birthday rolled around in August, but I feel like I should be over all that by now. I've led a great life for a while and still do, but for whatever reason my summers always haunt me.
Two summers ago I went through a life-chaning philosophical re-evaluation of my life, in which I kicked my old religious beliefs, which I held very tightly. While I am happy for having gone through this then, it wasn't an easy process at all.
Last summer I'm pretty sure I exhibited all the signs of workplace stress, as well as a few for social anxiety and probably even depression. Having a completely stupid relationship (and breakup that followed) that really threw me off certainly didn't make things any easier.
I told myself that those horrible summers were caused by the job that I worked at (40 hours a week of gruelling, over-taxed labour for which I received no respect) and as such decided to not return for another summer, but here I am now, feeling the exact same way. I've even set out this plan to make this my best summer...I'm living with great roommates and I don't plan on working full time, to avoid unwanted stress. There will be plenty of partying and socializing, and keeping this very blog, which I've wanted to start for a while now. I'm still sketched out, though.
Maybe it's because I'm tired from an exhausting four days away from home, out at Kevin's cabin in BC. Maybe it's because it's past midnight and I'm extra tired because I'm coming off of a marijuana high. Maybe it's because I'm anxious about beginning to look for a job tomorrow, knowing that most places currently aren't hiring. Maybe it's because I'm sitting on this stupid old green futon in my closet of a room, still waiting for Mark to move out so I can actually move into a room that's bearable. Maybe it's because I can hear the joyful chatter of two different couples just down the hallway while I sit here alone, reminded that I've been single for a loooooooooooooooooong time now.
Maybe.
Or maybe it's something that I still can't quite put my finger on, that same damn thing that's haunted me for so many summers. I honestly can't remember the last time that I had a good, enjoyable summer...isn't that crazy? I can't figure it out for the life of me.
I guess it's still a liiiiiiiiiiittle too early to judge. I mean, my last final was less than two weeks ago; summer is just beginning. There's plenty of time to turn this all around and to have the best summer of my entire life. Still...there's this aura surrounding me that I don't like. It's freaking me out right now. I think I just need to buckle down and brace for whatever is coming.
For now I'm going to relax until I feel tired enough to go to bed. Maybe keep reading Watchmen. I should probably shave, too. Misery Signals is playing out of my shitty laptop speakers (oh, how I can't wait until I have a desk to set up my good computer speakers on)...their music always speaks to me, after every single listen. Now it's the new Metric CD playing...
"We're so close to something better left unknown."
"Come on baby, play me something, like Here Comes The Sun."
I'm very thankful that Syd's extreme admiration for Metric caused me to stray away from the music that I normally listen to and give a further, closer look at this band. They're growing on me at an exponential rate. I'm also thankful that Syd started up a blog of her own recently...it really gave me more inspiration to stop being lazy and get this one created. I'm sure I'll send this link to her to show her my blog like she's done to me with hers...so, Syd, this is my shout out to you. You're one of my closest friends and I'm going to fucking miss you like hell this summer while you're in Radium, even though I already miss you a ton right now.
Just thinking about Sydney being gone made my sad, but now I'm cheering up, remembering all the fun I've had in the very short (although it feels so very long) time that we've known each other. Hmm...maybe this is a good sign that my summer might not be so bad after all?
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