The Cradle Will Fall

A post by my ex recently drew my attention back to the "sexual predator" track that shows like Dateline are so fond of. In case you're new to the scene, here's the score so far: some local news stations have signed up with the police to coverthe entire process of luring and trapping sexual predators, so that the footage might give hope to the families of sexual crimes and parents who sit terrified every time their daughter leaves the house. All well and good, and while I don't care two jerks about Dateline themselves, I applaud the police forces who seek to keep children safe from these sick men.

The problem, as always, comes when everyone starts reaching for someone to blame. Nightline has covered various stories of underage girls engaging in a range of illegal, immoral activity, from drug abuse to prostitution. This is nothing new...In my father's generation, the hippy generation, they would have covered the exact same thing. However, in my father's generation, they would have turned around and blamed the Beatles.

In our generation, Nightline is blaming MySpace.

This is where I speak out. I'm not denying that these girls are here, or that they are doing any of the things Nightline was claiming. (Back in the day, my friends and I would see these same girls on the street, engaging in the same giggly, too-flirty behavior. We called them "tinywhores".) No, where I take issue is the idea that this behavior is somehow the fault of MySpace, any more than murder is the fault of the gun.

The problem here (it seems to me) is the same one America has always had: everyone is trying so hard to follow that age-old rule of "Don't tell someone else how to raise their children." Well, bullshit. In my humble oppinion, that gets you as far as common sence before you're due a smack in the head.

Parents of America, pay attention to your children. If they're dressing like a pop idol, with their legs and belly showing, say something. If they're wearing makeup like an adult woman, speak up. If thinking about them, dressed as they are, alone on the street makes you uncomfortable, put a stop to it. Remember: you're their parents! You hold the most sway over their lives!

If they balk at your decision, if they hate you for a week, a month, a year, so what? How many times did you scream "I hate you" when your own parents put their feet down?

I don't care what anyone else says, and unlike a lot of people, I don't really care what they do with MySpace. If they lock it down, I'll sigh and shake my head (once again) at the foolishness of mankind. However, if it's the final loss before people wake up and start looking at parenting, I'll say it was a worthy sacrifice.

Note: For the blog that inspired this, visit Ivy's stuff.

Damn you Hollywood

If you perk at the sound of an igniting engine like some individuals I could mention, you're probably familiar with the Fast and the Furious series by now. Not the best series, by far...hell, not a good series by any stretch of the imagination outside of certain circles. Luckily, however, it was a series that had been put to bed before it could reach the infamous "trilogy" status that had doomed so many before. Though the concept and so-called "plot" would always be bad, it was acceptably bad.

That is, until Justin Lin thought it would be a good idea to raise the formerly-dead series with its newest installment: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

This has to stop. Seriously. This street racing thing is becoming a cancer, beginning in the foul, disease-rotted minds of the vampires controlling Hollywood and manifesting its worst symptoms in innocent, impressionable kids who, within the space of 90 minutes, are irrevocably convinced that small Asian cars can be "pimped" or "tricked out" to be massive, unquestionably-cool speed demons.

You know these kids. They're the kids who laugh like jackals as they wast an inch of rubber from their already too-low tires. They're the kids who spend thousands on a great sound system so that they can play music with all the grace and melody of tribal drums, at high enough decibals to permanently scar their auditory nerves. They're the kids who buy neon lights that illuminate the road under their ugly little cars as they race down this or that main drag, winning not even the respect of their peers with whatever skill they might have.

No one has ever informed them that their Civic will never be as fast as Vin Diesel's, and that they could easily save their "mod" money and invest in a car with far more power right off the line, without customizing a thing.

No one has informed these poor little children that the very culture that made their cars made them to conserve fuel, sacrificing speed in the process.

No one has taken the time to point out to these kids that, within twenty years, they are still going to be working a dead-end job, lusting after high school girls, and cruising Main with kids half their age.

As I said, this has to be stopped. I like a good chase scene as much as the next guy, but I prefer mine in a nice little package of plot. Let the children go, Justin Lin. Let them grow up to be real people.

The Reverend Mr. Black...

There is something altogether wrong with Christians today, and I think it begins with the term "God-fearing."

I'm not wrong about this. Jesus, the one they call The Christ, said "unless you can come to me as a child, you will never be able to see my Father's kingdom." Even today our priests and evangelists share this story, saying this is The Way, this is the straight and proper road...yet in the same breath, they are able to call themselves and others, those whom they praise as those following The Way, "God-fearing".

Perhaps I'm the only one who sees the irony in this. Perhaps I'm the only one pointing at all God-fearing evangelists of the world (the prophets with the fire of God lit 'neath their devine hindquarters) and laughing myself sick. These men, for men thy are, preach of a God powerful and mighty, fearsome in his love, and I realize that they have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

Have I lost you? Let me paint a picture, as Jesus would have done: A child does not fear God. If a child fears something, it runs. If a child knows its creator, it knows a presence not unlike that of the ultimate parent: a protector when one is scared, a friend when one is lonely, an ear when one has a secret. In the heart of a child, God is in all the beauty and the joy of life...To a child, fearing God is as ridiculous as fearing the sunshine.

"Come to me with the heart of a child." Come with hearts full of love and joy.

Fear of Happiness

Been thinking of my exes lately...which is unusual, because of the three, I only have contact with my first. (And her rarely!)

With Ali's help, I think I'm close to having someone again...which makes me feel good, warm and loved, but also makes me think of them. The closer I am to happiness, the more I think about other times I've known it...and then lost it.

"Happiness is fleeting", as Drew once said.

Three...each different. Each special to me, in their own way.
Each one gone under different circumstances.

If I wasn't more in control of my mind, I'd prolly give up before I got hurt anymore...as it is, I think I'll take the uncertain, painful road.

I will embrace fear, I will rejoice that I am alive.

south of the border

Just heard this little snippet on the news. Apparently the Mexican government is adjusting their drug laws so that there will be more lenient punishments in cases of "individual use" and more extreme penalties for traffickers, pushers, and dealers.

Tom Brokaw and the other anchors immediately began ranting about how horrible this was, how wrong it was to let up on any drug-user, and interviewed American addicts who told how easy it would be to go down to Mexico and buy heroin.

Now, not to be argumentative or anything, but hold up just a minute. What are we really trying to stop here? Are we trying to stop people from using drugs in the privacy of their own homes (where some might argue that it is their own business whatever they do) or are we trying to stop the sale and spread of these same drugs?

As for me, I don't care what someone does in their own home, so long as they don't hurt anyone else. It's unfortunate that they feel the need to drown themselves in chemicals, but it is their problem. As soon as they bring it on the street, they share their problems with the world.

I think that this adjustment is the best idea the Mexican government has had in quite some time. If we could get our own government to adopt this kind of thinking, maybe we wouldn't have prisons full of victimless crimes.