WHAT THEN MUST WE DO?

Jun22

by Calico Blackie on June 22, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Posted In: A Dose Of Reality, Bread and Circuses for the Masses, Divided We Fall

WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW) IMAGES IN TODAY’S COLUMN.

Is it time for us to see things in a whole different light?

Our old philosophies and rules have failed us. Not because they were necessarily wrong ideas, but rather because we as human beings will take those ideas and corrupt them.

Maybe we should give the following points some serious thought and then take action to correct our ways of thinking.

Maybe I’m wrong and everything is just fine. Anyway, I’m working from the assumption that everything isn’t just fine. I’m working on the premise that we need to begin to re-shape the world before it’s too late (if it isn’t already).

Here are a few examples of what I see as “wrong” in the world.

This first example might be an oversimplification, but maybe someone could explain it to this country bumpkin….

The bankers get bailed out for legally robbing us blind

(1.) Why is it that when you buy an $85,000.00 house in America, by the time your 30-year mortgage is paid off, you’ve paid a fortune for it?

You hear the usual stuff: “Banks are in business to make money.”

Most people are ok with this concept, but when is enough ENOUGH?

Maybe it’s time to revamp the way houses are bought and sold here. The banks get to charge you a stiff rate for the money they loan, but how much interest do they pay for that same money when they get it to loan to you?

Let’s take that 85,000 dollars and spread it out over 360 payments (30 years). If you did that, you would have to put 236.11 dollars away each month to reach the 85k figure at the end of 30 years.

OK. The banks have to make money, so let’s add a $40.00 loan fee payment each month. At the end of 30 years, you would have paid an extra $14,400 for the original 85k.

Why isn’t that “enough” money for the banks? Is this too simple?

Explain it to me please.

Conspiracy theories aside, here is Marilyn Monroe. Rich, beautiful and famous, and yet she killed herself. Would you say she was happy?

2. Maybe on the personal level, we need to re-examine our entire concept of what constitutes well-being.

In our country, it’s become the norm to treat anyone who doesn’t work 40-60 hours a week like a degenerate, and pay them accordingly.

We then create a culture that equates purchases and possessions with luxury and happiness.

You need to make more money to buy better things, and we hope no one notices that all the distractions, coping mechanisms, and drugs people buy wouldn’t be necessary if they didn’t spend half their waking lives doing something they hate.

Much better to have our best and brightest churning their lives away so they can someday have the same nice car as their boss…..

RIGHT?

What is well-being? Should we re-define it? Should we teach a new definition of well-being in our schools?

Which brings me to……

Women making obscene gestures and flashing their boobs in St. Peters Basilica in Rome. How many religious people are offended by this? Offended enough to pass laws restricting it? Offended enough to KILL?

3. Maybe we need to create a society that regards extremism and fundamentalism (particularly religious extremism and fundamentalism) as a form of mental illness and begin to work together to eradicate this blight on the world.

I’m not saying we should embrace atheism.

The hard-core atheists I’ve met are, for the most part, self-righteous assholes that I wouldn’t trust to walk my dog, much less to run a country. They’re just extremists of another stripe.

A good example of extremism was thrown in our faces just yesterday in this news story from CNN:

Deadly standoff ends at Afghan hotel; hostages freed after several hours

Imagine if the Taliban extremists ruled the world? KISS FREEDOM GOODBYE IN THE NAME OF GOD

“Taliban militants attacked a hotel near Kabul on Friday and seized dozens of hostages, sparking a fierce gunbattle with Afghan and NATO troops that left 26 people dead, authorities said.”

“Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the hotel attack targeted Westerners.

Attackers are armed with suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, he said in an e-mail while the siege was under way.”

“Every night people come here for different types of debauchery, but on Thursday night, the number increases, including foreigners who come here and they hold anti-Islamic ceremonies,” Mujahid said. “Tonight, according to our information, a number of ISAF and embassy diplomats from foreign countries have been invited by some senior Kabul administration officials and are now under attack.”

Link is here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/world/asia/afghanistan-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Calico Blackie says:

"Prostitution, pimping, sex, dancing and the drinking of liquor?" Sounds like Washington, DC. Here we see a picture of the head "pimp" Jamie Dimon about to address a whole roomful of his whores.

Those “anti-Islamic ceremonies” included prostitution, pimping, sex, dancing and the drinking of liquor which the Taliban says is forbidden under Islamic law.

Now, I don’t know about you, but the vast majority of Moslems I’ve met over the years are basically a “live and let live” type of people.

It’s the extremists you’ve got to watch out for.

AND IT’S THE SAME FOR ANY GROUP OF EXTREMISTS WHETHER THEY BE MOSLEM, CHRISTIAN, ATHEIST, OR WHATEVER FLAVOR OF BELIEF THEY’VE CHOSEN FOR THEMSELVES.