Avatar and LONG ASS RANT

[kageisuke]

I actually woke up at 10:30ish today and I DON'T KNOW WHY. Last time, it was because my app was coming up and I think I was anxious, but now I have no excuse cus I don't feel anxious at all this second time, reagardless of if I get in or not. ::Strokes chin:: Or am I? ::shrugs:: Either way... I think it was destined for me to watch the Avatar Finale. Prince Zuko~! :DDDD

Seriously, I really am amused by Zuko and his princely!angst. But, to tell you the truth, seeing how HAPPY he was scared the crap out of me... He was so freakin' cute and 'Awww, he's smiling!' but at the same time I was like 0.o 'Where did angry!Zuko go?!!?! Haha, and he chose the fire nation after all... but come on, we all KNOW that's not gonna last cus he's the kind of character who will eventually 'fight the good fight' after some huge epiphany. And for that, I laugh and totally ship ZuTara because I am special like that. Also because I know that she'll totally end up with Aang because that's just how these stories go and I rarely ever ship main couplings, it seems... Except for Furuba, because my luck turned good for .025 seconds.

In other news, I finished my app for CFUD again. Sent it in. Await my second failure and mull over my two different versions for my other app. ::strokes chin:: Should be interesting, I guess. Won't wait until the last minute so I can get more than 1 out of 3 betas to respond... =_= I plan on getting at least 2 Naruto-mun's to look it over and one person who knows nothing of Naruto to make sure it's still funny without knowing the canon fully. Or so I say I will but procrastination is a disease, I tell you...

Now, I really have no problem with people believing in God, centering their life around Him and all those other sorts of things. But, religion, in general, is just one big quagmire of hypocrysy. Maybe it isn't the religion itself but the people involved. I will, for one, put aside the hole badboytouching issue because we all know about that and shake our heads in dismay even though most of us couldn't give a rat's ass as long as it doesn't happen to anyone we know.

But, again in general, I think that if you want to beleive in God that you shouldn't rely on religious rules to govern you. As far as I know of, the ten commandments are just Common Sense things. Don't steal cus it isn't yours. Don't kill anyone because you have no right to. Treat your neighbor the way you want to be treated because karma is a bitch and it will bite you in the ass. Things like that. And, honestly, church people are some of the worst people. Ever. Don't even look at me like that. They are some of the most two faced people out there. Coming to church Sunday after dancing like a ho on Saturday night. Embezzaling money from the church [not that others don't do that as well]. Gossiping about people behind their backs because you're too much of a wimp/pussy/douchebag to do it to their face. I really just don't like it. If I don't like you, you will know. I may not come out a say it, but my tongue is sharp and you shall be ripped to shreds in one of my less tactful moments. They are frequent.

I'm not even saying this is true about all church people because generalizations are bad and I know that the church is capable of doing a lot of good things. They help out the community. Give scholarships. All sorts of good things, but that doesn't really change my opinion of them as a whole. I think self-study is the best way to learna nd appreciate almost anything, and the Bible is one of them. I would rather read it all myself and take what I want from it than let someone else guide my thoughts and actions in something that supposably so important.

I especially hate how we're supposed to have a seperation of church and state but there's all this talk about how marriage should only be between a man and a women because God Says So. Personally, I don't think that should have anything to do with our laws. You keep those things at home and out of our government. If you believe homosexuality is wrong, fine. You have your own opinion and I understand that you think it's disgusting and gross and ew and all that. Everybody has their squick and that's a lot of people's. But you know what, the arguement 'The parts don't fit so don't do it' is a better arguement than 'Some higher being who I have never seen but believe is there says it's wrong, so don't do it!'. I don't understand why everyone has to be so meddling and try to ruin other people's happiness. Get a life. Get a hobby. Exercise you lazy ass instead of sitting around all day thinking of ways to stick your nose in someone else's business.

And another thing I haven't ever understood is people's fear to die. Maybe it's my lack of survival instinct or just showing how cold blooded I really am, but An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth isn't taken nearly as literally as it should be. I believe that if you kill someone, you should be full and ready to die yourself. If you don't want to die, don't want to see the consequences of your actions, then you better not do it. Those people who are like 'We have no right to kill someone no matter what they've done!' get on my nerves. Those people who say 'They can be reformed and learn how bad they were and go back into society' are deceiving themselves. I believe that you can feel guilty after doing something in the 'heat of the moment'. Even if you'd been planning something bad for a long time and do it, you can still feel guilty afterwards because the action of doing something speaks more volumes than thinking of it. For a first offense, I'm willing to say you have learned and go on your merry way, but after that, you are all on your own and I have no mercy for you...

What is the purpose of life in prison with no possibility of parol? Hope? Hope for what? You're NEVER getting out. If you escape, they'll hunt you DOWN. If your life is so important to you then WHY DID YOU DO IT? What is the point of confessing to a horrible crime and lessening your sentence from death to life in prison. You want someone to tell you where to piss, when to sleep, what to eat, dictating the rest of your life just so you can LIVE? If you have the balls to do whatever you did, then die like the bastard you are with your head held up, as horrible as that sounds. Just get on with it and stop spending my tax dollars to keep your miserable ass alive.

And going back to the religion aspect of this rant after that long tangent... All you have to do is repent and your sins will be forgiven? God will forgive you for all you've done if you just believe in him? That's some shit. Everyone be thankful we have a merciful God, because if he wasn't, more than half the population would be burning for eternity in the bowels of hell. Whether it be stealing, killing, lying, we would all be burning. ::snorts:: And that's why I say you need to go on common sense and humanity rather than religion, but you know what? Morals differ to every person so who knows which way is better...? Might as well stamp it 'TBA : Social Morality To Be Decided' and get it over with, cus we'll never come to a single conclusion anyway...

Begin Time : 12:42 PM
End Time : 1:44PM

Comments

[akuni.livejournal.com]

All I gotta say to all that is 'Amen, sister!'
(not sarcastically... you're preachin' to the choir on this one, yo)

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

Just another rant that I've been meaning to get around to...

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Point the first: you speak of the "church" and generally imply "religion" as being specifically Christianity. If you're taking issue with a single religion, fine, but you're speaking in general, do so in more general terms, rather than attacking a single example under the guise of going after the whole concept.

Point the second: "seperation of church and state" is a foolish, foolish myth. There is NO clause in the constitution or otherwise that says this. What our core laws DO say, is that the church (as an organization) cannot rule over and dictate the state, and that the state cannot rule over and dictate what is an "official" church and the like. The "church" in the form of individuals have every right to compaign and make governmental choices according to their personal beliefs, people have every right to display religious artifacts in public property, lead public prayers, etc. In fact, the state attempting to rule these acts as unlawful is in itself the act that is in violation of the supposed "seperation of church and state". No one forbids talking politics in church grounds, why forbid religion in government property?

Point the third: there is something to be said for corporal punishment. People think that it's "old-fashioned" and "inhumane" and we're "above that", but we really are only falling to less effective and on occasion less humane means. Though I could write a whole essay on this subject just in and of itself, but suffice it to say, that there are times when people need to fear the law to obey it.

Final point: You're really hitting upon the exact issue that the vast majority of people confuse. And you know what? All it is, is that you're assuming that certain things are mutually exclusively, rather than putting them all together at once.

Or actually, let's put it this way. You're writing a story, with characters and world that you've made up. You like the characters in your story, and in the end, have a good ending planned for them. However, you know that their story, their existance, would be meaningless if you deliberately forced them to do everything right and perfect up to that happy ending. So instead, you let the characters make mistakes and choose their own paths, even if they screw things up for themselves and others along the way.

Now expand this up one very big level. God creates a world, and people and everything in it. God has it all set up just right in the beginning, and has the ending all worked out. But, God knows that it's meaningless to make everyone puppets, and lets people have free will to make their own choices. So people do make choices, and a LOT of them are bad. This of course makes God sad, because he really wants the best for everyone, but forcing people to do something against their will would defeat the whole purpose, and they wouldn't like it much anyway (if they were even aware of it, that is). Also, God could just make it so that no matter what people did, nothing bad would happen, but without consequences, those coices would be utterly meaningless. Because then no matter what you did, it'd be okay. So, God lets them keep making mistakes along the way, and get all the consequences for those mistakes, but, if they ever at any point decide that they want to go to God for help, he's perfectly merciful and will forgive them and help them. But people are still not perfect, so even then they'll screw up again. And God will forgive again. And God will ALWAYS forgive, because all people have to do is choose to accept that. And that is how God is good and merciful, because he's so merciful, that he lets people make their own choices and learn things the hard way.

(And yes, I do happen to be rather interested in things such as the discussion and religion and theology and so on in general.)

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

For the first point, yeah, really speaking of Christianity rather than general terms, as I do not and will not get into other religions I have only a very very slim understanding of...

The second point is a nice fact I didn't know, but really doesn't affect how I'd like to keep many things of religion and state seperate, but we all know that won't happen anytime soon as many people's morals overlap with their religion if they aren't in fact governed by that itself.

Don't use story ideas... please... it makes my brain hurt to think of how I'm neglecting my own story... >_< It's stalking me in my dreams...

::strokes chin:: Very interesting imagery. Should I use this idea when people ask God 'Why did you let this happen?' They wouldn't be very happy with me, I think... And which things am I saying are mutually exclusive? I think the only things that are mutually excuse in this world are one-to-one relatioships in databases and Paris Hilton = Annoying Ho... <---take whatever you want out of that last one

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

*nods* Most people really aren't familiar with other religions, and therefore end up basically exclusively harping on Christianity while pretending they're attacking all "religion". Which is quite annoying, especially since I do have at least passing familiarity with the fundamentals of most major religions.

Many people don't know that, and that is a major problem, really. And all it takes to understand is to actually read the words of the constitution and apply some sense thinking about it, rather than just accepting whatever you're told. And peoples' beliefs and morals will always factor into their judgement, even if they're atheist. Beliefs and thus "religion" is inherently a part of human reasoning, regardless of which religion it is.

People tend to assume that being "merciful" and/or "good" is inherently exlcusive of allowing bad things to happen. Hence the question "how can a good God let bad things happen?" which is a lot of the idea you were hitting upon. In any case, if you want to use that analogy, go ahead, though I'd recommend taking more time to analyze and think it over first to make sure you understand the concepts, since arguing without understanding first tends not to work well. And that is exactly the explanation/argument I use for the whole "why did God let this happen?" thing, though of course the exact wording and approach would be altered to be more appropriate to the situation. A bit of tact and all. But it *is* the concept, really. And it's one of the hardest concepts for most people to grasp without a long explanation/analogy, most people have far less difficulty with the concepts behind other religious systems. (for example, being required to pray five times a day, or being able to get into heaven by doing enough good deeds... that all makes sense right away, this whole good and merciful God concept? that's the one that confuses people.)

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

I think I know a bit about a lot of other religions but have yet to give form to them and differentiate betweent hem all, but that's for a time when I can sit down a do a major religion study, because religion is some of the most fascinating things about humans. It can also be very destructive, but I'm totally not getting into that right now...

Sorry, but I think most people take the constitution for granted. Even when we have to 'learn' about it in school, we don't read more than what's necessary. We probably just know the basics, if even that, and forget it promptly when the lesson is over.

No. I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Being merciful is not the same thing as doing everything for you and making life easy. Not at all. I believe that bad things will always happen no matter what and that you should never rely on anyone but yourself to do many things in life. There is not 'black and white' as people say, and the world is very very gray.

And as far as the merciful God thing, I don't believe I ever said anything with having him being 'good or evil' or whether mercy is a good or bad thing. As far as I can tell, God doesn't really do anything. ::shrugs:: He is there as a symbol of hope and redemption. Maybe not as far as the redemption, but the idea. I think that everyone needs something to believe in. Whether this be a God or just believing in yourself and who you are, you have to believe in 'something'.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In the high school I went to, some of the religion and/or social studies classes went fairly in-depth in studying the history and fundamentals of various world religions. Like Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, etc. And unlike a lot of people, I actually paid a lot of attention, because it was interesting.

Yes, and that's just the problem. People take too many of the wrong things for granted, and don't bother to think for themselves. And are encouraged to continue in this practice.

Hm, yes and now. I wrote a whole rant/essay once on why believing in the existance of God isn't the same as believing in God, could try to dig it up...

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

I can really remember how in depth I went in for other religions in highschool... ::scratches head:: I think, at the time, I thought it was very interesting as well... but I am a classic example of 'if you don't use it, you lose it'... D:

Unless we decide to go through a total social reconstructing, it's gonna stay that way for a long time. People are attracted to tradegy/misery/misfortune anyway. More interesting than the heartwarming stories.

::strokes chin:: Interesting topic that I'd like to read if you can find it. ::amused:: It's like when you ask someone if they believe in God and they reply 'No' many people's reaction is a quick 'Then how did you get here then?' Best thing to do is shrug and go 'I never said he didn't exist. I just don't believe in him.' That gets the best/worst reactions ever.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my classes at least went through the history and fundamentals and such of the major religions. Basically, getting an idea of where people're coming from and why the religion works the way it does, etc. And I have an insane memory for random things like that, so... >_>;;

Yes and no. It's not changing society that'll make the difference, but changing individuals. Individual responsibility and such.

I'd have to seriously go digging, and yeah. I can't remember anymore when I posted a lot of stuff. @_@ And heh, that's a totally valid response. Or as someone I know has said when discussing the subject, "even the demons know that God exists, and tremble." So yeah, believing God exists and believing IN God are totally not necessarily the same thing.

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

My insane memory has no rhyme nor reason, it seems... Anime is a compeltely different topic though...

::strokes chin:: Individual responsibility... I think it's had to make individuals change unless there are social pressures, because we're pack animals...

That's why I love tags... and since you don't post alot, it isn't nearly as bad as me... Either way, if you find it, great... I'm curious as to the dynamics of that arguement... and yeah, I couldn't think of a less intellectual way of saying that...

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

I don't remember peoples' names well, but I remember all sorts of other things nearly perfectly. Stuff I read, or watch, and so on.

Mm, no. People are, at heart, self-centered. Social conditioning does not work in the long wrong because someone will exploit it. Changing the social structure will not change the people within it. This is the inherent flaw in concepts like socialism. Therefore, it is an individual decision, just obviously if there's a way to do things with minimal effort for best (obvious short term) advantage by going with the herd, that's what people will do.

Yeah, but I've had my journal for almost 3 years now... I only post 2-3 times a week, but that's between 100 and 150 posts a year, so over time it accumulates... and only the new style supports tags, and I should mess around on one of my RP journals first to find something I like before I'm willing to change mine.

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

I barely remember people's names at all, but once they stick, I'll remember them as long as I have contact with them... But after a few months, they fad and are gone again unless I've known them for a long time...

Now you never said the long run... ::snerks:: But really, to change people individually is a painstaking task... something that would have to start while they were young and then for them to make a conscious decision laater that they would like to stay that way if they ever question their raising... overall, very difficult unless everyone around them is raised in the same manner, I think... I want to take socialogy...

Before I had a RP journal, I just messed around on this one... ::amused:: But if I ever decide to change this one, I'll definitely use my RP account. If I never end up RPing as Grimmjow, it'll be the perfect place to play around on unless I use it for something else...

[psycho-dono.livejournal.com]

*too tired read entire post and rants*

Avatar: Zuko is better with a full head of hair.

CFUD: Harp on the religion more!

Religion: It sux. Causes war and death. Now you can stop harping about it.

*is lame while dancing around a burning something*

[kageisuke.livejournal.com]

Zuko is totally better with a full head of hair...! ::amused::

::stabs MooChi-nee:: War and death would happen regardless of religion, so meh.

::douses your fire with water:: trips you:: :D

[psycho-dono.livejournal.com]

True, but religion is often used as a simple and convient justification for the war and death.

D: Hidoi yo, Kage-nee!