Humanity: Good News, Bad News

[idioticidioms]

No, it was directed at who answered it.

See, a person can know something is faulty and not be able to help themselves anyway, yet profess the faults of said thing. Which is why I said what I said. Note that being attracted to said things doesn't make you a deplorable person, but acting on said attractions does. It is not something that people can help themselves with, obviously, because the traits you mentioned people being interested in are the same traits people have been interested in since the dawn of time, as is shown by our own history.

I can't help but be attracted to such things, but I would rather they happen naturally and not have a woman go out of her way to achieve. The question is, if it is naturally achieved and well within the laws of society to accomplish, does that still make it wrong? And if so, would I then be expected to find someone who is the 'right' weight, size, etc., with teats that are at least a C cup, and looks to be middle-aged?

I think it becomes more a matter of personal preference, and a good majority of people's personal preference is all one way. Do I find it deplorable that they advertise it as the only way a woman can be considered hot? of course I do. But, at the same time, the women involved are choosing to be exploited in that manner, so if you want to say that it is insecurities on a mans part for his involvement, you must also include the insecurities on the part of the women involved.

As it stands, that type of woman is not the only type I am attracted by. My attractions change based on my moods. I am secure enough in myself to state that I am also attracted by fat women, which is almost the complete opposite of everything stated above. The real truth of it is that I am attracted to women in general, which is the same for every man if they only would learn to push their insecurities out of the way; the insecurities that tell them they must do this and that to be considered a real man.

[Lord J Esq]

You make a good point, idioticidioms, that I neglected to clarify. I don't want to go out on the extraordinary limb of condemning all people who are attracted to a certain body type. If I implied that, my apologies. But! I do think the underlying motives of those preferences (and, really, all sexual preferences) are worth exploring.

[Radical_Dreamer]

The real truth of it is that I am attracted to women in general, which is the same for every man if they only would learn to push their insecurities out of the way; the insecurities that tell them they must do this and that to be considered a real man.

But to be a real man, a male must be attracted to females?

[Uboa]

This is something I've thought about a lot (why is impossibly thin seen as beautiful?), since I'm currently in recovery from anorexia nervosa.  Although to be fair, for me it was all about control, ownership of my body, punishment, and maybe subconsciously craving to look like I did before I was 9 years old, before I was ever abused.  It was never about being beautiful.

That is interesting, because I at one point realized that my ED had much to do with escaping being a full grown female.  Mine also had to do with trying to be "normal", but there was also that escapist aspect to it...

[Sajainta]

That is interesting, because I at one point realized that my ED had much to do with escaping being a full grown female.

Wow, I wonder why that is.  What do you think?  I think for me, I wanted to look like a child again because I felt my adult body was somehow "tempting" men to hurt me (which is ludicrous, of course, but an ED-ridden mind is not a healthy mind and is not thinking rational thoughts).  I think I also felt that if I could return to looking like I did before I was 9, I could somehow erase everything that happened after that age.

[Uboa]

Having the perspective of that past escapist desire, I can certainly see how that would be a strong motivating factor.  I had enough gender identity issues as it was to want to escape being a female altogether, but I know that there was more to that particular motivating factor of my ED. 

Also, sadly, I do not think that it takes a mindset as extreme as one which is plagued by an eating disorder to fear being perceived in certain ways in this toxic media culture. 

[tushantin]

FUCK TERRORISM!!

http://overheadblog.com/2010/02/german-bakery-pune-blast-koregaon-park-pune-bomb-blast/
http://naukri.im/pune-bomb-blast-in-german-bakery-in-koregaon-near-osho-ashram-of-pune/archives/3364

That's right.... my city....

Google "Koregaon Blast" and the page is full of the info. True, this isn't remotely as devastating as the Haiti incident, but what sickens me is not the wrath of mother nature - it's the devious minds of those who have nothing better to do!

What the hell are they after? Money? Political gains? Revenge? Fame? A waste of time! They seek to strike terror in the hearts of civilians and the government, perhaps the world. And you know what? They did it. I'm terrified. My city is terrified... every family here is scared shitless... But guess what? That isn't going to do them a bit of good. Money, politics, vengeance, etc. they'd keep dreaming. They can't bring the government down, all they know is how to pick on the weak and unarmed civilians who pose no threat to them. They'll run and hide from the officials and attack their blind side. Thousands will be killed, but the day will pass. They wouldn't be remembered as some kind of messiah... they'll be considered "trash", just some disease or infection that was cured by time.

... But they will strike again, and some more will be killed. Pointless waste of time and resources caused by brain damaged cowards... But the dreams the are born and in an instant are shattered as death comes knocking our doors.

And I post this horrid message at Valentines day of all days... Tell me... where the heck is love?

[Lord J Esq]

I've been hearing about this on the hourly news over the past couple of hours while listening to Jazz on the radio. The thought crossed my mind that America is currently so much stabler than most other countries. I am thankful for that...and anxious about where the right-wing fringe in this country is heading.

From the sound of it, they targeted a restaurant frequented by internationals, probably for the news value. Take some comfort, I hope, in the likelihood that lower-level targets are probably not targets at all. Be rational; it will help diffuse some of the anxiety. Be prudent, though, and safe.

[Uboa]

I just found this travel blog entry regarding the attack:
http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/67968/German-Bakery-blown-1

Hellish to think that such a usually pleasant place was the site of this senseless, violent act.   Third places like this are so beneficial in terms of helping individuals and communities keep a positive and forward-thinking outlook.  That this place is gone is a tragedy in itself, but that it was the target of the attack is compounds the tragedy immensely. 

I hope that you and your family are safe and well, tushantin.

[idioticidioms]

The real truth of it is that I am attracted to women in general, which is the same for every man if they only would learn to push their insecurities out of the way; the insecurities that tell them they must do this and that to be considered a real man.

But to be a real man, a male must be attracted to females?

That is another misconception entirely, but one I'm glad to see brought up, as it is cause for yet another male insecurity which forces them to womanize. I did not mean to exclude that with what I said.

Fact of the matter is, there are going to be extremes on both sides, men who look at only women and men who look at only men. Same is true for females, as well. But, the extremes are not as oft occurring as most men would have you believe. A lot of the so-called 'straight' men, and even a good amount of 'straight' females, live in fear of being found out that they have same-sex desires.

I further find that labels such as 'gay', 'homosexual', and 'bisexual' along with the female variations, to be inadequate.

A vast majority of people are attracted to the same sex as well as the opposite sex, but a good amount of people will never admit it due to the fear that I already explained. For most, it is a fear of not being excepted, a fear of being hounded for this trait and a fear that somehow, it is an abomination of the human spirit. After all, according to the bible, it was Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve.

It is not something that is a choice or even something that can be avoided, but it is something that is natural.

For one, it has been scientifically proven that the male anus is a pleasure center, no matter what any male says to the contrary.

For two, it is human to be attracted to beauty, no matter what the source.

And third, sex is an entirely natural process and what nature tells us as we're growing up, before we find out differently, is that experimenting with both opposite and same sex is perfectly okay.

There is nothing wrong with having sex with the same sex just as there is nothing wrong with having sex with the opposite sex. People are fed this propaganda by the church that it is not natural nor God-intended. But, let me ask you this: If it was not intended by God for us to feel these desires, then why would we have them? Easy answer is that it is the work of the devil. But, when you think about it, if religion is correct, God created the devil and is more powerful than him, meaning that God could win the supposed war on evil at any time he chooses to. What the Bible also says is that God is omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent, meaning that he is everywhere at once, all-seeing, and all-knowing. It also tells us that God has a reason for everything and even though at times we can not see the reason for things, you can be sure, if you're a person of faith, that God wills it to happen because it serves a higher purpose.

Further, if there is a reason for everything, then even all of the bad things that happen are for the good, not only because it helps define what 'good' is, but because it keeps everything in a delicate balance.

It is then very hard to determine what IS right and wrong, because even the decisions people make for the right reasons can turn out to have an ill-effect on everything, and vice versa.

But, back to the topic of sexuality. Most of humanity is hypocritical. This we know to be fact. Many times, you will find a male making fun of another male for their sexuality, even if they do nothing to show said sexuality. This is usually done to try and cover up the persons own sexuality which they fear to be an abomination due to what they're taught.

It does not help when there are those people out there who are flamboyantly, over-the-top 'gay'. They give everyone else a bad name due to their theatrics and drama-style actions. Granted, some of them may not be able to help themselves, but I personally find the whole show to be distasteful. And, I think it adds to peoples fear, because the words given, as I previously said to be inadequate, tend to lead people think of those flamboyant individuals who they also to see as distasteful and do not wish to be thought of in the same grouping.

I think it is truly the greatest injustice to the human spirit to not allow people to just be themselves.

[Uboa]

Over-the-topness comes in all shapes, sizes, sexualities, political leanings, and so on.  I find myself put off by it in a lot of contexts, but in the end I know that personality trait of a few individuals should not have an effect on how I perceive their sexuality, sex, race, political leanings, and so on and so forth.  (That is not to say that it never does!) 

That quibble aside, however, I feel like I should offer a round of applause for your post.  I'm always thrilled to see somebody step forward and offer an emphatic statement to cut through the prevailing homophobic nonsense.

[idioticidioms]

It's something I've given a lot of thought about, trying to work out my own sexuality, and I spent a lot of time trying to wrap my head around the whole thing, doing research here and there and using a logical and reasonable approach to it.

I wish I could say that my actions follow the pattern of my thoughts, but I was raised in an environment that was highly intolerant and I find myself acting that way without even thinking about it, but it is something I'm getting better at.

I have learned a lot about psychology in much the same manner, lol, trying to work out my own insecurities and downfalls. I've made huge leaps and bounds in that department in just 5 years of trying and I piece that together with what I learn from other people, but it's still incomplete. One of these days, when I get the chance to go to college, I'll have to take a course in psychology just to see what they have to say on the matter, to appease my own curiousity.

[Radical_Dreamer]

The real truth of it is that I am attracted to women in general, which is the same for every man if they only would learn to push their insecurities out of the way; the insecurities that tell them they must do this and that to be considered a real man.

But to be a real man, a male must be attracted to females?

That is another misconception entirely, but one I'm glad to see brought up, as it is cause for yet another male insecurity which forces them to womanize. I did not mean to exclude that with what I said.

I brought it up because it seemed like a conclusion you'd reached based on your above statement. I'm glad to see that this was not the case.

[Lord J Esq]

Good News:
New (Male) Circumcision Device May Improve Circumcision Rates in Africa

AIDS is a slow-motion holocaust in Africa, with morbidity rates that would be ridiculous if they weren't utterly tragic. Now, China has developed a cheap device that could reduce the health risks and physical pain of adult male circumcision. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be spending money to conduct a large-scale test of the device.

If it work, this could be huge. All else being equal, being circumcised decreases one's risks of contracting HIV. Where unprotected sex occurs—and in Africa it is rampant—circumcision provides one extra layer (or in this case “non-layer”) of protection that, statistically speaking, could save a great many lives. And I'm not just talking about the lives of the males attached to those cut penises, but to the females who these people have sex with—often without consent. There are not many fates more loathsome to justice than developing AIDS as a result of being raped.

The big question here, which is touched upon in the article, is by how much the health gains coming from increased circumcision rates would be offset by the health losses as a result of more reckless sexual behavior due to the erroneous belief that circumcision provides immunity rather than relative protection.

Bad News:
Democrats in Trouble

Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, will not run for reelection this year. In my opinion, that's pretty much the end of the ballgame in terms of holding our ground in these elections. I now see no way for the Democrats to maintain or increase their Senate margin this year. Now our primary objective is to minimize our losses. We could still do that by passing comprehensive healthcare reform, financial reform, jobs reform, labor reform, and environmental reform. In fact, if we had done that last year, we wouldn't be looking at inevitable losses this year. We'd be looking at even larger majorities.

But let's be realistic. That's not gonna happen. The Senate hasn't got the makeup for it. And, so, down go the fortunes of the Democrats in 2010. There is now a tiny but plausible threat that we will lose control of the House outright, and, with Bayh's retirement, people are now sincerely talking about that possibility for the Senate, too.

A lot depends on how the legislative process unfolds this year. If Democrats regroup and get some work done, we will hold many of our vulnerable seats and our losses will be low. If not, then we will lose pretty much everything that is competitive. There isn't likely to be an in-between (which is somewhat counter-intuitive).

It's worth pointing out that Bayh was a nuisance to the Democrats, as one of the most conservative Dems in the Senate and a big force behind the fallacy of “the middle is always right,” which is only true if “right” is taken to mean “conservative” rather than “correct.” On this count, his loss is a net positive. But! Of course, Indiana is a purple state with a conservative rather than liberal voting history, and even in the best of years an open Senate seat contest would be very competitive. In an anti-Democratic year, there's a good chance this seat will go Republican. And a Republican in that seat will do the Democrats more harm than Bayh ever did.

It's very important now to shape the nation's mood as an anti-incumbent one rather than specifically an anti-Democratic one, because, in addition to being more correct, it's also our best hope for minimizing our electoral losses. The Republicans have more seats to defend in the Senate. If we can pick up a few of those seats as a result of anti-incumbent sentiment, then that will mitigate what keeps becoming a longer and likelier list of Democratic seat losses.

WTF News:
A Day with the Na'vi of Hometree, Wisconsin

First of all, this is satire...it's not serious. Second of all, it's pretty awesome satire. It's the kind that's so embarrassing for the participants that it hurt me to watch it. And yet, through its painful humiliations, it depicts humanity fairly well. What do you get when you mix crazy religious beliefs with overzealous, often oblivious believers? Heh. You get this. These actors did beautiful work capturing that bizarre combination of reverence, righteousness, ignorance, and hypocrisy that describes the faith of a typical mook.

Third of all...jeez. WTF?!

[Truthordeal]

The good news is made even better by the fact that circumcision seems to be one method of fighting HIV(the other obvious one would be condoms and whatnot) that even Benedictus can get behind.