The Hetero Bias
Thus the idea is to wake early and to get up when I wake up. And that might require, or result in, an earlier bedtime.
This morning I woke with Trash’s voice in my head: Brett… I like you and all (But?). And this got me thinking about who looks up to whom and why. Suppose Trash looks up to me because we had this argument…
Trash asked me if I was homo or hetero. I told him that it wasn’t polite to ask anyone that question. In short. Though I only wish the discussion was that objective. It got a little loud with me protesting and him demonstrating. And I didn’t want to be around him for a couple of weeks after.
I had thought that he was perpetuating a hetero conspiracy. Though I was told just after on FB that hetero people aren’t organized or smart enough to conspire. To which I replied that it must be an institutionalized bias. Whereby Chad, at least, agreed that heterosexuality was indeed institutionalized.
So, in my mind, Trash said that (simply put) he was biased. I only laughed at this a little (because a man cannot be biased toward women, either… this being the problem with his perspective that started the argument in the first place). Rather, I corrected, he was prejudiced (pre judged). And from this (and the FB conversation) I deduced that…
- the question is moot (Are you an HP or Dell?)
- the dichotomy is false (If you are Dell, you’re good.)
- the statement is prejudicial (If you are HP, you’re bad.)
- the bias is institutionalized (People are NOT computers.)
… I wasn’t playing. Both answers are wrong.
And from this I veered off into questions of patriotism (in. re. Giuliani and the moral equivalency question*): How can you (not) compare terrorism with terrorism seeing as how their flag is red, white, and green; whereas our flag is red, white, and blue? That is to say, they’re fighting wars for religion and we’re fighting for freedom (but not religious freedom, apparently). Etc. But at least I fixed on patriotism (remembered standing in the milk line in grade school saying the pledge of allegiance and feeling proud).
*When Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal suggested that the attacks were an indication that the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause", Giuliani asserted, "There is no moral equivalent for this act. There is no justification for it… And one of the reasons I think this happened is because people were engaged in moral equivalency in not understanding the difference between liberal democracies like the United States, like Israel, and terrorist states and those who condone terrorism. So I think not only are those statements wrong, they’re part of the problem." Giuliani subsequently rejected the prince’s $10 million donation to disaster relief in the aftermath of the attack. (from Wikipedia, Rudy_Giuliani)
QUOTE: Do you remember standing in the milk line in grade school, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and feeling proud?
I got stuck on my murder is murder spiel when I compared abortion to capital punishment (abortion is sin, capital punishment is not / capital punishment is murder, abortion is not). At least conservative Christians often agree with capital punishment (jails, war, etc) but not abortion (which goes against the hetero bias). Though I, at least, think cutting off the bad branch to save the tree is fine (even that trimming off a good branch is OK because then the tree can grow more healthy and produce more fruit).
QUOTE: Regarding abortion: It is OK to cut off a bad branch to save a tree. And it is OK to trim off good branches if, by doing so, the tree can grow more healthy and produce fruit more abundantly.
I used to think that abortion was ok up to the age of 2 yrs or so when the child could reply to the idea of being killed that he preferred to live [age of accountability]. This MAY be modified to the point where the fruit, if cut from the vine, can then survive… as a tree (iffy). Or it may be further modified to say that the SEED is viable if, when cast into the ground, it could yet produce a tree.
This last idea MIGHT save the Christians in their views. Assuming immaculate conception. Or something. Seeing as how I can’t quite picture at what point a child is a seed. Though I could also extend the idea so as to apply it to the notion that abortion is fine up to the point that a male child can produce viable sperm. Except this hardly resolves the original question of when murder is not murder.
And so I got out of bed. Anyway, I needed a pipe. And then coffee sounded good (and it was). And I thought I should write down my thoughts. And so my day begins as I said I thought it should:
On waking, one should grab hold of whatever thing it is that excited them enough to rouse them from sleep in the first place and then use that as motivation to help carry them through the day.
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