Trump?
November 4, 2016
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion, Social Issues.
He could win.
As we near the day of decision the fear – for me – becomes very much a possibility. I say this because on my FBPage I sing with members of the choir. We are bright, erudite, informed humans with an ability to dig until we have read and discussed all the angles. We have weighed the words and the pantomime and the evasive answers and the performance art of Donald J. Trump.. We are not the folks to whom he preaches. Those folks are scared too – but they are scared of things they have always held in anger and contempt. Foreigners, Dark skins, women, Jews and dozens and dozens of offshoots of these same targets of anger, violence and hate. To be in 2016 and watch this unfold is beyond bizarre to those of us who have lived somewhat longer and have the ability to compare and contrast. But we are heading for heaven’s door and one day the Social Media will name the last Baby Boomer and their end.. We all know that. We are not smarter or better – we just have an ability that only time provides – reflection, experience and for many – plain old common sense. Electronics and Technology have not dulled that. In a sense we are at devolution – not moving forward but – at best – running place – at worst – running amok. If we could run backwards we might kickstart our evolution again. But there will never be another generation that has lived and seen both forks in the road. And the road more travelled is crowded. Trump’s message does not have to have substance. The listeners don’t have substance. He is a brilliant huckster but unlike PT Barnum he is fooling more of the people more of the time. And I hardly need mention that great civilizations rise to glory and fall in hubris and despair. I am fearful that Barack Obama was our last President. I fear for the United States of America – because today – we are anything but.
Posted by voolavex in Social Issues.
Tags: Aldous, alien astronauts, Almighty, app, Arthur C., bigots, black hole, Black people, Carl Sagan, Cosmos, earth, Elon, even horizen, George, greed, Jews, Kim Kardashian, Life on Mars, Mary Roach, microchip, Millennials, money, nano, Online info, peace, Religion, sic-fi, singularity
We know a singularity is not unique in the cosmos, but it is clearly unique to this world. We have no event horizon to compare, therefore no directions or exit strategy exist to fix it. Or even try. In our existence – for all practical purposes, it is one of a kind. And because we truly believe history repeats itself*, it becomes an accelerated waiting game. Momentum is building faster than we imagined and like momentum it simply goes on until the end. Imploding. A black hole. Ask a physicist all about it. But chaos has begun, in my eyes, to ensue.
The world is panicking. If you describe it in terms of “hotspots”, we have created a new circle of hell. If you are a firefighter, we are engaged in a global inferno and if you are an American you are becoming more and more afraid. I think it’s an understandable reaction. As we have established America as the place on the planet from whence all things come – good and bad (and might I add, in error). We are ill-equipped for the bad part. American pride has been worn as a badge for 240 years. And just as we exported ourselves as champions of freedom, justice and the American way – we have also exported bad habits, excess, precedents that should never have been, propaganda, and just about everything we could to inculcate ourselves into the collectives minds of the world. It seems to me that we did not export any brains, morality or genuine goodwill, because all we thought we sent was all we thought was important. The lapses in judgment of our history are far too serious to ignore; but ignore them we do.
We have a world in which flags stay at half mast – as if with electronic media one needs a reminder. And electronic media surely bears some of the blame; lots of the blame. It is not better to know it all , all the time. Perhaps millennials believe they can handle it but I think it’s bravado. They can’t imagine they can’t. The app genius that created instant access to every damn thing did not have the time to experience or posit all the ramifications. If there is a world left; we will soon not have to ever think for ourselves. Every sci-fi scenario you have read will be an app. And this can be a game of sorts – a sad game – add your comment to the list of
Some things one will not have to learn:
How to drive and park a car.
How to actually search for information w/o
the Smartphone (where the only thing that is smart IS the phone)
How to start a coup.
Methods of mass murder
All the words to all the songs
Having an opinion
Directions
How to humiliate, shame and possibly drive to suicide, a peer.
How to lie effectively (excellent news for hatchling politicians)
How to hate.
The new kids will never have to worry about keeping a secret. The gender of their baby. Which politician is being indicted. Time to learn knowledge that forms human experience. Because when you live “in the moment” – it starts to become the tunnel of life. They will have things that do things for them. And because the ones who came before will reach their out of code date and soon expire; there won’t even be a memory to be had. But there will be an app for that.
Life on Mars. Elon – stifle yourself. Read Mary Roach. Ask an astronaut. It sounds like a fun idea – but I wouldn’t count on that. And if we fuck up this planet – how dare we start on another?
Peace is a construct – we have never had it. We are a bellicose species. We LIKE blood and death. If we didn’t we would try very hard not to do it. We are trying it with “companion animals”, trials on humans will not happen soon.
Money is the root of all evil. But it has been upgraded to a revenue stream – like the Granta or the Charles or the Seine. If you accept greed as a virtue there will always haves and have nots.
BIGOTS. Like cockroaches, they may inherit the remains. Racial hatred is alive and well and online. Quick fixes have not worked for centuries and those who may be able think outside the box will likely try to find an app to fix it soon. It may not be Jews or Black people – but it will still exist.
Do you worry about your online info? I hear so many folks who won’t do somethings, yet offer their info up for others. Get a clue – THEY know. The way you blithely microchip your pet will one day be the way you do the same to your baby. I am surprised it isn’t done to convicts in the privately owned, for profit, prisons today. Or dementia sufferers. Your naughty pix online? If you did it and posted it – it is always there. Yup Kim Kardashian’s ass and twat will forever appear in two shakes of a nano. Oh Aldous, George, Arthur how did you know? (Were they a warning or how-to guides?).
And in closing – The Almighty? Those who choose “yes” should stop praying and start being very angry. The Deity appears to prefer hate and bloodlust very well and is hypocrite. For others. Is it, as alien astronaut theorists suggest, them? If so, then it is clearly evident that whoever did it, is disgusted. Is it simply the cosmos, as Carl Sagan insisted, then it is completely strange to seem to be a one-off in the universe. All votes are not in. But the Giant Fan of Life on Earth is definitely being hit. Will anyone see this and turn it off?
*History seems to be repetitive but it does not set any examples we absorb. Therefore it is an exercise in futility whose course cannot be changed. So we don’t bother.
Posted by voolavex in Genital Matters, LBGT, Politics, Social Issues.
Tags: peeing, penis, stalls, toilet, trans, Transgender, urinals, vagina
Let’s go to the public toilet. Right now and while you are doing your business – think about public toilets you have used in your lifetime. My mother used to line the seat with toilet paper. Then seat covers. We used the stall and locked the door, we flushed, washed outr hands and kept on going. In school we used the stall, tried not to hit the seat while squatting on tiptoes. Nice people flushed. Some people got caught smoking (that was then) and people said Pee-ewww (or worse) if it smelled. Some schools had cases (seriously) and some called it the basement, the bathroom, the girl’s room but we all went and we all used it. I don’t know much about urinals. Actually I think it’s kind of odd to pee standing next to another person – but I have been in places where there were no doors and that took getting used to. But by and large the idea is to get in and out – relieved – as quickly as possible. I have peed standing up in Paris pissoirs. At the British Museum I peed and used toilet paper marked “Property of British Museum”. It was so stiff and waxy one could imagine writing the Magna Carta on it. Somewhere I kept a clean sheet as a souvenir. I stole it.
My family owned a restaurant in a resort town and it had only one rest room and was called the rest room. No one complained. I have used the men’s room when I hadda hadda go because the women’s line was too long. I hadda go – gender considerations were not an issue. And now we are in the throes of a controversy about transgender and restrooms. What is the matter with us? It is my assumption that transgender individuals have the same needs as others. They are humans and peeing and pooping are something we all do. Some trans folks have full trans surgeries and thus it is no ones business which bathroom they use publicly nor should it be an issue. (is it? maybe it is). Others who are in the process – dressing to gender identity, don’t wear signs saying – “hey I am trans and still need to pee – am I ALLOWED to do it here. Why would they? And every public restroom does have a stall or two. Some people of all genders don’t like to be watched while in the toilet. Husbands and wives included (fact). So my question is: what’s the big deal? If you have a penis and wear a dress, why not go to the ladies room and close the stall door. If you have a vagina and dress as a male, why not go to the men’s room and use a stall. I reckon peeing at a urinal without a penis is messy and silly anyway. But anyone can use a stall. If you are a trans person and announce your genital business in the peeing or pooping process, then I would say you are probably inviting issues to arise. But I can see no reason for the brouhaha. I have never been asked about my gender in a rest room. And asking a person that question strikes me as rude, nasty, looking for a fight or just plain stupid. And reveals a bigotry that is even uglier.
I applaud and support anyone who has gender confusion and moves to resolve this personal matter. If those folks speak of it – then I am listening and I am happy they have the confidence and self-esteem to do so. But it is NONE of my business. And it certainly is no one’s business what anyone uses to void when in a public toilet with a closed door.
Why are we suddenly the Piss Police? What is the severe preoccupation with genital matters in this country. Other countries are not where I live. A public toilet is a public toilet. And segregating humans who have to go by personal choices or gender issues (or color – remember Jim Crow – who hadda go too?). And I suppose I would add – if women all sat at a troughs and peed – like men do at urinals (Ick) – it wouldn’t have lasted long anyway. Attire dictated certain customs. Little girls practice peeing standing up, I know (I did) but it is messy and a few tries quickly ends the experimenting.
Using the rest room should not be political. My suggestion is if you are in a place where this controversy is ongoing or you may go to toilet jail, do it on the floor outside the restroom. If the new arbiters of human functions don’t like it – then they should realize they need to cleanup their act or keep their legs crossed.
But here is a reminder to everyone who uses the toilet – at home or in public don’t forget to flush and please wash your hands.
Posted by voolavex in common sense, Election 2016, freedom, Horse Racing, Politics, Social Issues, solutions.
Tags: bigots, Blue, candidate, Democrats, Election 2016, Loyal Opposition, No Matter Who, Vote Blue
Here is a screed from the Screeder in Chief – just a heads up for my Blue Buds. Many of you have heroes in the race. Many of you shout the names and wear the shirts and rally at the rallies. There are two choices that I can see. Each one speaks different things to each of us. We hear what we want and we decide based on what we perceive are truths. Remember that politics consists of wish lists and promises by the candidates that cannot always be realized without many others horning in on the deal. “She is stupid. He is stupid. He lies. She lies.” You forget that this is how the game is played. I love your loyalties and arguments but I remind you that we MUST put Democrats back in charge. We MUST vote Blue. No matter who. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to this country by declaring for a candidate who may not wind up in the running. We are running for our lives. We cannot pout.
Support your choice and stay loyal right up until he or she is nominated. Then allow common sense, self-preservation and unity kick in. When the candidate is declared -if you must grit your teeth – grit them. But when you enter that private voting booth – consider all that your vote can do to change the morass the Loyal Opposition has created in the last 16 years. How they wasted the efforts of a good, decent and honest man because he was a good, honest, and decent BLACK man. How the Loyal Opposition released the bigots from the trees and hills and streets and police stations of this country and incited riots and violence and misogyny. How some were chosen – but most were excluded. Because of race, color or creed.
Speak your minds, support your choice, expound, extol and put forth your favorite but allow this fact stay in the mix: This is NOT a personality contest. This is not a nitpicking bee. This is not a horse race ‘place or ‘show are not options. This one is for the Rose Garden. So please, when election day arrives, VOTE BLUE. NO MATTER WHO.
Posted by voolavex in Elections, freedom, guilt, Health, Medical, Politics, Politics & Religion, sex, sexist, Social Issues, vagina.
Donald Trump can kiss my ass. How dare anyone – man or woman – imagine a punishment for an abortion? What could be worse than the entire situation itself. Somehow the self-righteous right (and many others, sacred and profane) think women have abortions when there is nothing good on sale at Bloomingdales or K-Mart? Is that what they imagine. Well imagine this – you are pregnant and it is not a thrilling fact of your life. Rich,poor, any ethnicity and no one is faced with this truly except women. Casual sex, marital sex, oops sex, rape, you are knocked up. And you had no intention to become a parent – actually – a mother. Your choices should be unlimited in a normal society. But in the eyes of mostly men – you are so low and foul – even in Chanel – you not only are a slut to be shamed but you should be punished if you can manage to make a personal choice. Hoe dare he. How dare they? I will not face this decision again in my life but I have in another time of my life. I have chosen and if you do not think that choice was a difficult and emotionally wrought one – then you are ducky. Women may be relieved after this choice – but they carry it inside them forever. In their minds, their hearts and their body’s memory. I do.
So despite this being a medical decision for the doctor and an emotionally medical one for the woman what more is there to exact? A fine, probation, stay 30 feet from a penis for the rest of your life, have it stitched shut, have a tattoo on your face like Hester Prynne? Community service in a creche or nursery? Lose the children you have and love because you didn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t have another that you did not want to bear. Birth defects – how dare you – you MUST have a baby with no quality of life – including yours and that of your family? That would be an agony that covers a lot of ground.
Was he quick to retract his statement? WOW. You betcha’ because he knew he had crossed a line of voters who do not play that period. And I suspect he actually was sorry about the pressure he bore for it. I think he believes all his pompous, dangerous demagoguery. I’ll bet he had a laundry list of nasty punishments for bad women who chose choice. But Donald is not alone. He just bleats his ideas (?) more easily. I suspect this is the stance of most GOP men and some women. And I also bet they have paid for numerous terminations about which they have no guilt, whatsoever.
Men. Stay out of our vaginas unless you are invited in. Men. Stay out of our wombs unless your opinion is requested. Men. Worry about your frequently out of control dicks and refrain from making medical decisions for females. It is not your right. You have no standing to do so.
And this: Back once more – hectic few months. Hating this Election Season 2016
Posted by voolavex in Social Issues.
Tags: BDS, boycott, dhimmis, Hamas, Islam, Israel, Jews, Palestine, products
Boycott, Divest, Sanction Israel. Yet this has to start with South Africa and Apartheid. America and other nations used these ideas to force the Union of South Africa to end apartheid. It worked. But what it basically did was restore to the whole of non-White South Africans was equality. It allowed a non-white man to become president, ended the BDS and South Africa joined the world as a different but better (in my opinion) country. It ended a system that was used by the Afrikaaners, and given a new name; it was vigorously endorsed, installed and enforced in that country. But this is not about Republic of South Africa.
BDS is a movement founded in 2005 by 171 Palestinian NGO’s to essentially isolate Israel economically from the world, bring it to its knees and take over. Some like the idea; others do not. If you read the Balfour Declarations and subsequent “mandates” for the Holy Land – you may be as confused as the Holy Land is about; drawn lines on maps, geography partitioned and the belief by some that “Palestine” should have been part of Transjordan. Logically the last sounds right in terms of actual land and location but it didn’t happen that way and from the end result – in 1947/48 when the UN decided they should be the administrator of this issue (this is the ultra short version), they created the two entities and then it hit the fan.
I suspect folks reading this will know the whole story of the Roman Occupation and their choice of names for the area that is now Israel. In brief it was named by the Roman emperor and the name stuck. It is not in any way to name the residents – any resident – a Palestinian except to designate what part of Empire they lived in. Jews, Arabs, others who lived in what the Romans called Palestine were ALL Palestinians. The name stuck. And then – as centuries passed it became not just a name but a battle cry for Islamic Arabs who lived in the area. Their “right” to the land was equal to the Jews and others who lived there. In light of whose land was it – it was no man’s land and everyone’s land and the land of the conquerors who invaded it. History lists them all. And this is NOT a history lesson. Look at the maps that show how it was and how it is and you will see the boundaries are very fluid.
This is about what the leftovers could be if BDS prevailed – not to change an unfair system, but to snatch back landthe group wants, thinks its deserves and owns. Choice not an option. As an aside – the media has all but underwritten terrorism as a just and reasonable way to behave in this century and I include all of the media and their reporting. The Israeli Arabs have great spin doctors. And people largely still hate Jews. And if Israel is truly treating “others” as dhimmis – they picked this up from the Islamic communities throughout history. Bombs speak louder than truth however.
Lets see what has to go in BDS done right: You can go to their website and see them all with logos, free information and a chance to throw good money down a rat hole by simply clicking http://www.inminds.com/boycott-brands.html. Call me lazy – but there are so many I resist the pick and choose. They range from fast food, produce, beverages, Sodastream, tech, electronics and the list just goes on. Starbucks. Nestle (well I cannot argue about Nestle), parts of goods (you have to figure this out – small computer items), software – it promises new items daily. Oh and life saving medical inventions that are used in worldwide is most hospitals. I suspect it would like to boycott The Nobel Prize but hasn’t figured out yet exactly. (The prize itself is lots of money.). TEVA – the largest generic Rx company in the world is going to be tough – countries worldwide prescribe them and they are how medicine is made affordable for those with disease and no money to fix it. ( FYI Israel provides free medical care to all its citizens) and if BDS hasn’t found something – they will keep looking. It could take years.
So what does this movement accomplish? It is designed to engender sympathy for the poor Israeli Arabs who throw rocks at Jews, invade shuls and create bloodbaths, blow up themselves to blow up Jews at weddings, cafes and at random. They want to dismantle and remove the Kotel, dismantle and remove the Jews and other infidels, sneak attack Israel on religious holidays and complain about hard treatment to anyone who will listen. And just in case you think it will be sorted out through BDS – peacefully and equitably – I will direct you to this link: http://Mahmoud al-Zahar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_al-Zahar Wikipedia His son, a member of the Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam …. Jews in History and Promises and De…..Hamas is a completely Palestinian organization. Gaza is its location. Ending the Jews is their mission. They are dead serious.
In closing then – if you think BDS is a great idea – I suggest you check out the information and ask yourself – “what the hell am I thinking“. That’s all this post is about. I suggest you buy or check out a book by Alon Contini titled “A World Without Jews” and see what can happen. And then use your own knowledge and your own mind to decide what to do. This post is simply one POV. You have choices.
Posted by voolavex in Anti-Semitism.
Tags: 000, anti-Semites, BDS, bible, Christians, church, Contino, cruxifiction, Ehrman, hate, Holy Roman Empire, Jesus, Jews, Messiah, moshiach, Muslim, Roman, Romans, Rosh Hashonah, torah
Before I post this blog (or post this blog) I want to acknowledge and thank Bart D. Ehrman, historian, Bible scholar and Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I have been enlightened by and borrowed liberally from his book: ‘How Jesus Became God’. If I had footnoted this post the op cit would have been Professor Ehrman and this title. His book is footnoted extensively and there is a Scripture Index. My best advice would be to obtain a copy and read it more than once. Some of his material has been paraphrased and others quoted. I must also thank Alon Contino for “his shattering book “A World Without Jews”. Indescribable and researched intensely as well. It sheds light on more recent acts of Jew hatred.
I shall be quite surprised if anyone accepts the challenge, but it is a revealing test and it could yield revealing answers. As people (some people) Support BDS – I have to ask why in a broader sense. But I can see that Jew hating today in other, newer ways, is still alive and well. Rosh Hashonah – 5776, sees hating Jews and Israel become a global issue and people have taken sides and I am not sure they even know why.
Why do so many hate the Jews? Is there a reasonable answer? It cannot be that you have had a bad experience or that you had loud Jewish neighbors or you can’t stand gefilte fish. People hate Jews. Really hate them. Some say they don’t, but in secret they do. No one wants to simply say “I am an anti-Semite”. Slay them, smite them, slaughter them, set fire to them, gas them, starve them and I still have no idea why? Why do so many people HATE the Jews? I dislike some Jews as individuals, but this goes for any religious or ethnic group. And it is personal. Not everyone likes everyone. Admittedly there are some people who don’t – the people of India have no issue with them – it is my opinion that when India’s Jews left for Israel, the Indians were not delighted to see them go. Surprisingly Albania had no problem with Jews. And this in the 20th century. Many individuals do not. History will show us that for brief uneasy moments Jews were not hated and shunned but by and large – people seem to have enjoyed and actively cultivated Jew hatred. Habitually. Why?
The Romans in the Middle East didn’t hate the Jews anymore than they hated their other subjugated subjects who didn’t fall into line during their era. But the business in Jerusalem on that fateful Pesach weekend was not really about “the Jews” – it was about a Jewish rabble-rouser and the disruption of the daily life of the Roman occupation religion (it was trending subject in those times). It wasn’t Easter weekend. There was no Good Friday and believe it or not Crucifixion was the approved execution method of the Roman times (before they decided to toss Christians in with large cats) for criminals. The Romans were what we now call “pagans” and had their own worship they hoisted from the Greeks. The Romans named their province “Palestine” – not the Jews or anyone else. There were no Muslims because it was long before Islam. The land had been occupied and the Jews angered most of the conquerors by not knuckling under to their prevailing religions or gods – but I suspect it had to do with faith and not just singling out the Jews for this dislike. Anyone who didn’t fall into the party line was not considered a really good subject. If you want a subsequent history of the Jews and their treatment by Christians it’s out there in many incarnations. I will not revisit it nor will I revise it.
For me it is that the early Jews who began their deification of Jesus had a small problem in the light of scriptural writing. The business of the Messiah. Remember there was no “new” testament while Jesus lived; nor was there electronic media. Jews were and continue to be believers in the concept or idea of a messiah or savior. He is called “Moshiach” and he is the anointed one from the line of David who will come to overwhelm the enemy and set up God’s kingdom. There is no “Second Coming”. No Jew until Christianity was ever considered to be the messiah. Despite claims to the contrary the Hebrew bible does not once mention the word “messiah”. There is no mention in Jewish scripture of dying and rising from the dead as a messianic indicator. It was not a condition or factor. It is perhaps a good idea to understand that Jesus was proclaimed messiah by his apostles during his lifetime, although he never called himself that and nothing about his death or “resurrection” would have all of a sudden indicated that this alone made him the messiah. The Messiah had to conform to conditions set down ages before and none of them included death and rebirth. And the Jewish people were not buying it. Consider too that the Romans were running the show and the Roman Emperor was worshipped as a god. So either worship the pagan gods or keep your own heathenism quiet. The Jews did not worship Roman emperors; why would they worship a poor schlub from Galilee who was crucified as a traitor and enemy of the state? And why in future would they worship Jesus who did not fulfill the requirements set down in antiquity for the presence of true Messiah. Remember that Jesus and his friends were all Jews and knew the Torah and the drill.
The anti-Semitism that has evolved probably started about at the end of the second century in the city of Sardis in Asia Minor in a sermon delivered by a bishop named Melito. In it he places the blame for the crucifixion on the Jews. Period. And because Jesus had attained the status of God – the Jews had killed their own God; their own Messiah. He concludes by saying that ‘God has been murdered, the King of Israel has been destroyed by the Right Hand of Israel (that would be Jesus who was sittething on the right hand of God”). To a small group of believers this would be wild rhetoric, but the Church had already become a majority and Constantine, born again in 312 CE (or so) and created the Holy Roman Empire. Constantine started with a gusto by railing against the Jews as enemies of “GOD” and laws were passed to constrain Jews in their activities. Jews had done a bad, bad thing and they were going to suffer for it. Christianity spread. So did anti-Semitism. Jews suffered. And so we come back around to the question: “Why Do YOU Hate the Jews”. Now, right now? An invalid choice is “Because They Killed Our Lord”. My purpose is to find actual reasons that might sound realistic but are incorrect in the light of explanation and proven facts. No one has to soften it. No one has to sugar coat. I am interested in honest answers. And I will be interested to see who will take the test.
This post is dedicated to a person with whom I share a birthday and who is a Muslim and whom I consider my brother. It is for a sweeter, kinder New Year – the one my tribe celebrates and for every other human who would rather talk than shoot. Shalom.
Posted by voolavex in Social Issues.
Tags: bookkeeper, death, death camps, disabled, Gay, morally guilty Jews, Nazis, oskar groning, Reich, Romany, SS, Waffen, zyklon b
Meet Oskar Groning SS–Unterscharführer. Perhaps the last of the participants in the Final Solution devised by the Nazis to rid the Reich (the 1,000 Year Reich) of Jews, Gays, Infirm, Romany, Disabled and a laundry list complete with designations and badges that were essentially tickets to death. Just a bookkeeper – he committed no crimes but he was fully trained to do so and he was armed. And he watched. As he collected from the walking dead their belongings – money, jewelry, anything of value and recorded it neatly in a ledger so that the Reich would be able to balance its assets as it completed its war to own the planet.
You can read Oskar’s boring early history at Wiki and see that he was bright and destined for better things than being a foot soldier. He believed in the fight and wanted to join the ranks of the elite who could strut and swagger in their SS uniforms complete with insignias, lightening bolts and boots and britches. Clean and turned out as a highly placed man in a position of authority and doing meaningful and important work. What could be more meaningful than being a bookkeeper in a busy death camp, stealing from innocent people about to be gassed and burnt to ashes? Who needs to shoot prisoners to destroy them? And how such a mundane assignment relieves the burden of guilt. His description of his own job, in his own words, makes it sound so routine and clerical one might almost believe that’s all it was. But it wasn’t and he knew that. Not for humane or guilty reasons, He knew what he was doing and why. He did it because he was a Nazi and a true believer. And his recounting of the circumstances of his work left me literally sick to my stomach.
I have read all my life – and since I was very young, as early as JHS, countless of books on the Nazis. Not an obsession but an attempt over and over to understand why my tribe and 5 million others were so dangerous and lethal to the Nazis they would expend money and energy to make the world free of them. I should also mention that I read everything on every subject that interested me and this was by no means limited to Nazis but it was of great interest and I simply couldn’t establish any reason for the acts and atrocities that justified or even explained them to e. or made it just a war thing. The plan was the central leitmotiv for the SS and it did, in many ways, cost Hitler the war. His loyal foot soldiers starved and froze while Adolf kept the ovens burning and the aktions moving briskly along.
Reading about Nazis is not light reading. But missing from the entire body of work were the observations of those who worked on their side. Denials were invented and documents burned to erase this massive murder plot; war trials were held and the convicted hung or locked up for life but there was another them in those events – those poor SS men were only following orders. Orders they signed up to follow. And judging from their job enthusiasm; the orders were followed to the letter and with gusto. But in the main our knowledge comes from the survivors or the liberators. The survivors who escaped death but not the memories of their devastating ordeal. The stories are many things – and each story is part of an homage to human spirit and strength and reading them brings grief and redemption because we know such bravery and honor exists among our species.
So meet Oskar Groning who sat on the other side of the desk. Who willingly did his job and lived to tell about it. Too little too late because despite his accurate and honest descriptions of this savagery, he said it became routine and he stayed at it for at least two years. When he was sent to the UK as a laborer and subsequently released he went back to a good and comfortable life and thrived to the grand old age of 93. Should he get a pass for his self-claimed moral guilt and having “to live with his memories”. Has he “suffered enough?” I don’t think so. Nor do I believe he suffered at all. Read his own words and you decide – I am sure there will be reams of quotes and millions of comments but for me, finally hearing it reported from a live SS–Unterscharführer; in the tongue of The Fatherland; an uniformed officer who saw it happening and kept writing down the numbers. Three hundred thousand souls vs. 70 years of a clean and comfortable life they never had. Keep this quote in mind before you excuse him. There is no excuse.
…a baby crying. The child was lying on the ramp, wrapped in rags. A mother had left it behind, perhaps because she knew that women with infants were sent to the gas chambers immediately. I saw another SS soldier grab the baby by the legs. The crying had bothered him. He smashed the baby’s head against the iron side of a truck until it was silent.[4]
After witnessing this, Gröning went to his boss and told him that he was not able to work at Auschwitz any more, stating that if the extermination of the Jews is necessary, “then at least it should be done within a certain framework”.[3]:138 The superior officer denied Gröning’s request.[3]:138 The framework had already been built.
Posted by voolavex in Social Issues.
Tags: Christian, death, Earth Day 2015, GOP, greed, Jews, Mars, money, murder, Muslims, Religion, religious right, Republican
I skipped March. It was in like lamb and out like a lamb and I did not hear the Baaa. I woke up very angry. Earth Day. Wow. I remember the first one – now we talk more and still fuck up. Everyday should be earth day on earth. Every single day. And we know it but we are small minded, greedy and wasteful and there is a tipping point. We are teetering. When it first became a day of “Saving the Planet” I was very excited because my generation tried hard. We did more than talk – but talk is cheap. We are a cheap species. We have created more and more waste and crap and bad stuff and we are not even imagining an end to it.. What will stop eventually is us. And I doubt it will be a single thing that happens – I simply think we will tip and stay tipped. That was one thing I was angry about. I also am going to try not to rag on the GOP handlers about greed and hating the less moneyed folks; the 1% who are using the planet like they own it. I suspect they do in large parts. They do not want to give up a penny of their money and this is a given. If the other 99% of us starve, rot, shoot, stab and cheat each other – they do not give a good goddam. They are playing the Jesus Card because it is there. They are the folks who have enabled the rest of Religion Card players to sit down at the game. My tribe – will find itself becoming crypto-Jews (think Inquisition) because they are too embroiled in money politics to see what is happening. Muslims of real faith should practice real love for their almighty. Everyone should be free to believe or not and the rule of civility is about ten things and the rest is commentary. The balance of power and money for the Muslims is so skewed I can almost see why they are angry and commit murder. Almost. And their 1% can fix it but they won’t. This country is a shame, a snare and a delusion. We are NOT going to leave the planet and colonize Mars. We are going to dissolve in our own filth, waste and murder. There will be no Lord to help and there will be no Rapture. It is looking pretty bleak. And guess what – even those in “power” will be powerless. All their money will be useless and that is a tragic irony because all that money could fix many problems and still create revenue streams for them. If you have no customers, you will make no money. Enabling the 99% is the cost of business. Growing the consumers is what grows the business. I will continue to sinle out GOP members who piss me off. I am angry and not even started – but this is how I feel right now on Earth Day 2015. Comments are welcome. Stream of consciousness is about all I can say for my screed. Feel free to screed too.
Posted by voolavex in Social Issues.
Tags: rape, sex
Social media has put rape on people’s minds. For which women and girls, for the most part should be very grateful. No, that isn’t right. No woman should be grateful about any kind of rape – it is a nasty word; long whispered – that is now in capital letters. It was never discussed in the presence of children when I was one. It was shameful and ugly and dirty but it was always the woman who had done something, anything , to make it happen. Consequently raped women were soiled, whores, sluts, dishonored, used, unmarriageable (horrors), no better than prostitutes, unclean and a laundry list of other denigration that drove these women and girls to hide in shame and in many cases, commit suicide. Enslaved women were beaten and raped. Sex trafficking is part of a very old profession. Most went unreported, children of rape were pariahs and rapists – well -they just couldn’t help themselves. Oh sure they were animals and monsters but it was women who made this behavior occur and therefore, men were worse victims of this invasion of body and soul than the cheap women who deserved what they got. Let me tell you , it is going to take more than social media, DNA and rape kits to make it stop.
Here’s the disclaimer: I like men. I am married to a male – and not the first; I have a male child and a father whom I adored. This is the best part in some ways because I have loved and been loved by men that left me sad when they were gone, happy when they weren’t and angry when they took what I had not given freely. But it makes me a sort of expert. Women surrender themselves in the back seats of cars, the picnic blanket, the football stadium after dark, in their own rooms when no one else is home and it is often forcible surrender. And I suppose the crux of the matter is that last phrase. But for me the issue almost always excludes the one thing that no one seems to address (and it may be not be addressable – [I suspect it is]); the nature of the men who rape; the date rapist, the frat boy, the boss, the lover (yes, the lover), the relative, the stranger, the man is very much a product of nature not nurture. The gun has been in his pocket all his life and this gun has always had a mind of its own. Not every man is a rapist – not every man has this drive in his heart or soul or mind; but every man has the weapon and instructions come with it. And it’s okay because to them; just as women “get themselves pregnant”, they also “get themselves raped”.
Cultural differences are usually not included in the war on rape. We would like it all to be the same and in the end it is all the same, but it is not seen or done the same way. Raped is raped; but customs – whether they are good or bad are part and parcel of the crime. Questions of whether any woman has essential equal rights to the sovereignty of her being form part of the basis of how the act is regarded. If you come far enough to those endless local and federal government and legal debates, in this country alone, you will see that the very Solons and lawmakers, in their suits and ties, who run the show, regard rape in as many ways as there are ways to think about it. And apparently men think about it a lot. The lure of a woman’s body appears to be unmanageable for a large number of men and judging by the thousands of reasons they concoct to excuse what they did, thought, wanted, were entitled to have; they are not entirely comfortable with any of it or some don’t even believe it was actually wrong Whatever emotions or appeal men have for women – ours seems less fraught with confusion and much more emotional.
There is the age old (and I mean eons old) fact of “pillage and rape”. After the angry hordes have decimated their adversary – almost as an afterthought or a reward for the pillaging, they rape. And you might imagine they would be exhausted after the destruction and murder and mob violence – it seems logical – but adrenalin and testosterone and sexual assault are not the things of logic and victims (male and female) get raped. In some ways ending war is the twin brother of ending rape. Or not; having endured marital rape and date rape and having said “no” and meant it, to no avail; I suspect that freedom from rape is just as much an imaginary construct as peace on earth. Sad, but this is what I think.
Now you may be thinking. Eee-oo, what a nasty look at some of the rape issue – but this is how I see it now. But more than these self-evident truths is a larger and much more pressing question. How does the world in this century undo eons of thoughts, attitudes and the act itself. Talk is so cheap and support groups are so superficial and the courts are so backlogged with cases in this country alone, it defies the issue and that is just one part of it – but look at recorded history. Rape has been for many men – an entitlement and for many more – an expected part of war. And I suspect in many, many cases it is almost a reflex. Yes, that’s what I think. After all – sex is a very basic act and one can argue about whether rape is a crime of a sexual nature or of power – but does that really matter if you have been raped? I think it is a tiresome debate because I think it is both and we waste too much time debating which one it is.
A recent article in the NY Times Sunday edition of January 25, 2015, entitled “Searching for Sex” by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz includes a survey. “Of the top ten questions about “my penis” nine involve size” Average monthly searches (derived from anonymous and aggregate web activity) are telling and size is a source of insecurity if the numbers are even close.. Just as it is good to be king, it appears good to have big dick. Touching briefly on the male Gay community; it is also an issue there and a peek at “Grindr” is informative and a little scary. I will let you decide on your own.
Answers? I am not convinced there are any. Rape is not new. It is being dealt with at this point as if it is – but that is a Sisyphean position. Zero tolerance on campuses, asking permission for hot sex that is consensual is absurd. Yes. These are both very PC but very unproductive and not practical. Alcohol fuels sex and as a woman I can attest to that. Do men take advantage of this? Yup. Do they memorialize it on smart phones and social media? Yup. Do they brag? Certainly. And do they expect a pass when it is reported? Yup. They have always gotten a pass (and by always I mean historically) – this has been a part of having a penis and may be a serious reason why men believe they are in charge and control. To some degree they are. I don’t understand gang-rape well; the same men who insist on female purity accept sloppy seconds + when presented with the chance. But shame? Not much.
Can you teach a male to not rape. Some men simply never will. It will be abhorrent to them. But just as some people will never use a gun even if they have one, the inherent problem in the case of sexual force, abuse or rape, is that the means are stuck on the front of men’s bodies. And this organ responds without permission. Women who are skin and bones get raped, women who are very overweight get raped, nuns get raped, pregnant women get raped, mothers with children in tow get raped, disfigured women get raped, disabled women get raped, mothers and grandmas get raped, children get raped. They are beaten, subdued, unconscious, in burkas and “modest” apparel. They are raped by one; they are raped by gangs and they are raped by turns. This has always been part of human history and in last few years of the 20th century and in the 21st we have decided to fight a war which is so entrenched and so widespread it makes me despair. And in the end we tend to ignore a simple truth that confounds us. Boiled down to the its essence; since the basic tool for the rape is attached to the rapist, the rape is on the rapist. It is on their person. It is part of them. And that is the entire source of the problem. Until men do not see rape as a viable or opportune act – there will always be rape and the raped will continue to bear the shame and the blame.
Voolavex 