"How did you know you were Bisexual?"

How did you know you were straight?

Creation Scientists.

"Even though you can back up the theory with piles of scientific evidence,you weren't there at the time that the earth was made,so you don't know that the big bang happened. But the earth is definitely 6'000 years old and made by an omnipotent god,cos it's written in this here book of stories and poetry." 

- A summary of Ken Ham's presentation during The Creation VS Evolution Debate Live. 

I admit,as an agnostic atheist,I felt pity for Christians around the globe as this muppet tried to support his creationist logic with bible verses and other scientists who just so happened to be of the same faith,against Bill Nye the Science Guy. Not only that,but he consistently dodged reasonable questions put to him by Mr Nye and the live audience.What a massacre.It was cringeworthy and ultimately a success in many ways.

This is why I will never try to seriously debate a creation scientist. 
You'd have more luck getting blood from a stone.

The Midnight Theatre.

Dreams can be very crazy things. Dreams can turn into nightmares pretty quickly too - I should know,I've been plagued by them for years now. You'd think I'd found a solution to them by now,but I regret to inform that the miracle cure eludes me yet.

You might also think ' Dreams? How bad can it be? I have bad dreams sometimes and I'm fine.'

That's all well and good,every once in awhile a nightmare won't cause a tremendous amount of harm. It's the repetition and the deep fears that worm their way into the cracks of my unconscious while I'm sleeping.Very rarely will I sleep without dreaming something.Sometimes a years old terror or event will appear in a dream out of the blue,which restarts my worry and anxiety. It's exhausting,really. 

Dreaming is a minefield. I'd rather not sleep. 

Depression Is Fashion.

It takes a lot to shock me in the clothing and makeup industry but when I found out that the clothing brand,'Urban Outfitters' had released a t-shirt entitled "Depression is Fashion" with the word 'Depression' plastered all over it,my hope for humanity was severely lowered.
I admit that I feel disgusted by this.

What's more I learned that,two years ago,the very same brand opened up another can of worms by putting out another shirt with "Eat Less" in huge writing. There's no justification for either of these statements and it's THIS bullshit that is crammed down the throats of young,impressionable male and female teenagers. It's damaging,it's morally wrong and quite frankly,it's sick.

   

Photos taken from the the Daily Mail

With such a young target audience,Urban Outfitters must be held responsible for their actions. These statements not only promote negative activity but are extremely harmful in the long run. It's not just a t-shirt,people,this is far more psychological. As if we didn't have enough subliminal messaging from television and advertising,now it's just a slap in the face. 

I honestly never thought a clothing company would stoop so low - clearly,I was very wrong indeed.

It's Too Cliché.

Speaking from personal experience,indulging in any sort of romantic venture is complicated business.

Can you relate?

Is it just me that finds it inexplicably awkward and more difficult to navigate than the Amazon Rainforest? 

I'm so lost all of time.Maybe I'm being hit on,maybe I'm not.Maybe they like me,or maybe they don't.I can't tell and I don't know HOW to tell.Even the internet can't help me with that.People are so individual inside and though we'd be boring without such a trait,it's all the more confusing in the dating world. 

I've supposed that consistent physical touch could indicate a candidate,but that theory has been wrong in the past. An abnormal level of personal interest always left me wondering whether there had been something more than simple face value only then for me to find out that the person was just doggone nosy! Then there's the age old dilemma of a lack of confidence in myself - after all,why would anyone ever like me as anything more than a friend?

Nope,I really can't answer that question because I don't know. 

I guess I'm young,so at least I've got that going for me.Experience comes with age though,8 out of 10 times. I can't tell you the amount of books and articles I've read ( much to my shame.) about body language,in the hopes to somehow crack this code. But to no avail;I'm still clueless.

I'll just have to hope that one day I'll wake up and magically understand how it all works.

A Letter To The Homophobic.

I'm sick of this constant religious bigotry towards homosexuals.People really need to stop quoting from a simple text that has no place in our current century. It's been used as a crutch for those ignorant enough to use it to attack people's freedoms for far too long.No more intolerance.Homosexuality and common marriage have been around for far longer than the book that so many people lean on to support their prejudice and arguments.Far longer than ANY of the books used,for that matter.Marriage in any event was the joining of people for different purposes,including wealth,land ownership and love.Did y'get that? LOVE.

Yes,I know that there are some people who just don't like 'the gays'.It's a sad fact of life that you can't have everyone like you all of the time but unfortunately most of it's built on prejudice,misunderstanding and old,outdated values.

I'm really tired of this subject,mostly because I cannot understand why it's still such an issue for so many people. The 2013 Christian male trims his beard. Christian farmers will sow different kinds of seeds in the same plot,right? Christian females still wear two different types of cloth on the same day and make no hesitation when offered a juicy shellfish platter or a cheeky prawn cocktail.According to your book,all of these things are unlawful.Please do look it up if you must but can you see the common denominator?

Difference.Some people are so scared of it.

And no,I won't take your 'Old Testament' excuse.No more picking and choosing.It's your life guidance book so why don't you live by it? Because it's practises are fucking stupid,that's why. You know that.You accept that shellfish is tasty and so you eat it,you accept that different kinds of cloth make a warmer garment,so you put them together. You accept and understand that the rape and murder of men,women and children is wrong and so you DONT DO IT,even though the bible so clearly lays these situations out that 'God' himself fulfils. 
We're living in a world of science and development and honestly,I think it's about time people stopped clinging to a contradictory scripture.

Those that preach commands regarding homosexuality from the book often bring nothing more than misery and suffering,with a disgusting level of ignorance. Not only does it proclaim,in Leviticus,more than once that homosexuality is an 'abomination' but some stretch to believe that it is some kind of disease to be cured by the 'love of God'.Furthermore if we're arguing over these points being given as 'Jew Laws' from 'God' then why are people still fretting and looking down upon gay people in this day and age?
It makes no logical sense.

Do you understand how this makes people feel? To be ostracized and treated as if this is all some kind of horrid 'phase' that will pass but never does? To be cast out and shunned by an entire community of people who make you feel isolated and as though you're polluting the very air they breathe,simply by living? It's not a wonder suicide rates are so high in gay and lesbian teenagers.
But after all,it's so much easier to carry on with the discrimination of gay marriage and relationships than to stop mixing fabrics,right?

Humanity horrifies me.

Can We Have Faith In Humanity? - A Shortened Summary On Broad Topics.

With everything that seems to be going to pot in the world at the moment (Syria,battling the ever-constant religious and political hordes,yada yada.) I felt like I should write up an insight post with some brief descriptions of my stances.I feel as if I've built up enough experiences to confidently answer the question "can we have faith in humanity?" in my own words.If you want the summary of my post,skip to the end.If you're interested,I invite you to read on.


So I cannot help but feel helpless.I'm just one person and with as much awareness of the world as I have,I can't do anything about anything.And neither can you for that matter - unless you so happen to be the King of the world.I'll be the first to admit that as a 'citizen of earth',I don't feel awfully secure.It's not a complete surprise,given the inevitable psychopaths running around,the tyrant governments and the general sheep-like behavior that we humans appear to cling at.Furthermore,we're hooked on all that morbid crap.

Turning towards a particular angle,I'd like to target the concept of 'society'.It's very much ingrained within many of us that 'society' is the blame..the root of all evil as it were.'Society' pressures people.I consider that to be wrong - People pressure people.Maybe they're one and the same,but I thoroughly despise this overused,blanket statement that seems to be used as a phrase for shrugging things off like they're perfectly acceptable occurrences. Eating disorders,Suicides and even Rape is swept beneath the rug,put down to 'society's' curse.Though I agree that the media influence upon young people today is abused and often twisted,I do sense a severe lack of responsibility from those who should find themselves more than capable of dealing with the effects of said media.

That being said - is it a simple case of not knowing how to deal with these problems? If so,surely that can and should be addressed.

Now,on the tangent of religion (which,believe you-me,I could go on about all day.),I am well and truly stumped by the pure ignorance because the thing is,humans are intelligent.If we weren't,we wouldn't have gotten this far.Before any church-goers out there start ranting at me,let me explain that I do not hate you.I've got nothing against you - I simply detest your beliefs in the same way that I'm sure you detest mine and that is fair enough.We don't have to hate each other for it.
So how is it that a bit of blind faith,a couple of self-contradicting books along with the promise of an eternal heaven of which we have absolutely no proof here-nor-there that it exists (Or doesn't,granted),make us go buckwild? Well,it's pretty easy in all honesty.

Fear.

Religion instils power,be it to a person or deity.Power instils fear.We all know about fear,don't we?

It's all quite primal to think about but in caveman terms,if a bigger man with a stick shakes it at you and tells you'll end up in the equivalent of an oversized bonfire pit,filled with grim demons that poke you with pitchforks in odd places if you don't do as a sacred,pure and relatively harmless-looking book tells you,you're bound to at least give it a moment of thought.That's when it begins,at those first,creeping moments of fear.A lot of religious folk will put it under the 'guise of loving,worshipping and serving God for his wholesomeness.They are in the position because they're too bothered about the after-life to care about wasting their current one.It's maddening to me.Furthermore,people are terrified of being alone in the world without a 'divine' guide. (I don't blame them,it's scary.)

I don't mind the people who follow religions though,and I know that sounds odd.I have a few religious friends myself and they're quite pleasant indeed.I almost feel a bit sad when I think about it.Not all religious people are radical either - I pretty much only identify hatred for the religion itself and it's as if someone's been snatched away from a living a free life because of it.Religion is a restraint.A glass box.

Something that I find to be one of the most loathsome things that anyone can do,is to indoctrinate a child.But you can of course see the logic..to prey on the vulnerability of their emotions and essentially scare them into living their lives to 'God's' standards.It ensures perfect compliance and obedience - at least until the child grows up and realises that they're able to think for themselves.

As I am hoping you can see - Humans can be really screwed up.Weakness is picked at in any way,shape or form.


At this point in time,I have taken a break from my typing.I find a cup of tea clears the mind suitably.Right - back to it I suppose.

Let's talk a bit about politics,shall we? I don't consider myself particularly well-versed in this area,but I can at least outline what I despise about it : The flip-flopping,the lies and the in-house warfare.Presidents and Prime Ministers appear to go full circle from complaining about their predecessor then doing exactly what the predecessor did,promising things that we all knew wouldn't be kept,essentially make things even worse than before and to top it all off : half of them fancy themselves as a 21st century Napoleon Bonaparte.

"But I want my war!" - Every significant leader ever.
(Alright,it's a generalization.I'm trying to add some humor to an otherwise dull subject.)

As a group,country,movement..whatever,we place our trust in other humans that we consider capable of holding us together - kind of like glue.We go through the very same processes,over and over with the picking and choosing of government members,only to 'discover' that actually,we don't like them that much anymore because they just didn't do what they'd promised.It's like kids in a sweet shop and the officials running the country aren't much better.I'm not saying we need to be rid of the authority because in some ways it's vital.All I'm questioning is the constant headache of politics.


Moving on from there,the next thing I want to talk about is individuality.In the same way that people pressure people (relating to my society segment) - people also build others up.What I mean by that,is that we spend a minority of our lives being told that we're destined for great things as a child.In such a heavily media-influenced world,celebrities and the like are idols to the younger generation.I feel as though teenagers and older children are feeling the types of pressures which set them up for failure before they've even begun.So much is expected of them that,along with the harrowing desire to be unique and individual,in their minds nothing is good enough.They are expected to act as adults,take adult life situations and be able to deal with them adequately,all the while they're being treated like children when the fancy is taken and with the added hyena mentality of popular media,it's a sure fire way to send a kid insane.From what I've seen (again,this is NOT typical of all of the later generations) once a child or teenager has fallen in to a stereotyped social group,they are deemed irretrievable.There is still a huge amount of stigma.In a very tragic way,both technological and evolutionary developments have formed this problem in the minds of young people - Make no mistake,I'm one of them.

Speaking of stigma,it's still a massively confusing to me that in 2013 we still apparently have trouble accepting different races and sexual orientations.Neither can be 'chosen'.Speaking in bias for my own sexuality - I already understand the niggling fears of not being accepted.The same,I'm sure,goes for those of other races.Casual racism can be observed quite readily,be that by mature generations or by those of a separate,racist culture.Yet again,fear comes into play.People really don't like what they can't understand!

"Just because something makes you feel uncomfortable,doesn't mean that it's wrong." - Daniel Sulzbach.

We also observe the common theme of 'tradition' throughout history as a scapegoat for justifying doing wrong.When are we going to grow up and face the fact that no matter how much we try to force a stationary world,it just won't work? It's a shame that some developing countries still have this extremely dangerous problem.


What a mess,right?
I guess you can see my doubts thus far.I am constantly afraid for my species and the fact of the matter is : we just don't know what will happen next.That isn't to say that we should all start wearing sandwich boards and advertise that the end is nigh just yet.The mere happenstance of being human is pretty beautiful - We're living,breathing,lovely and squidgy.We make things happen,good and bad.We're conscious (for the most part) of our actions and how they affect matter.We're doctors,scientists,ballerinas,entertainers,fast food workers and cat enthusiasts.And we are brilliantly emotional things.All of this can't be enough for redemption though,can it?

We're so inwardly conflicted.We're great but we're horrific all at the very same time.It's quite spiritual in a way and yet our true monster appears only in actual worldly reality,where it counts the most.I am terrified that we'll run ourselves into the ground with all of the fuckery going on.

Anyway,I suppose the real question at root here has yet to be answered.I am very confident in my answer and I hope that you'll understand why I gave it this way.It's probably not a satisfying answer either but thank you for reading to the end.

When I asked myself,as I wrote the last words of this post, "Can we have faith in Humanity?"

I replied, "I just don't know."