QuirkyAndSuch: an intellectual blog

Bag Designing?

2009-04-12T16:27:00.001-07:00

There is a bag design contest Fred Meyer is having, be sure to check it out. And vote for my bag!:

http://www.designareusablebag.com/vote-for-designs/bag.aspx?BagId=13023&banner=fredmeyer

Federal Way Protest (March 31st 2009 4:00 pm)

2009-02-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

We are having a protest March 31st 2009 4:00 pm at the Federal Way Washington Mall. We are protesting our local government (the Federal Way city council) because they are not hiring enough police officers and funding police to protect Federal Way citizens. Many crimes in Federal Way happen above the national average include rape, property crimes, burglaries, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle thefts. It is a fact that more police officers and better funded stations equal lower crime rates.

Please come and support our cause, happening here:
The Commons at Federal Way
1928 S Commons
Federal Way, WA 98003

Use www.mapquest.com for directions there.

If you have facebook join our group and event to show support, you can search for it, it is called:
Federal Way Protest

Racism in gay culture.

2008-12-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

I’ve read many rants about the racism within gay culture. These rants are usually written by racial minorities who feel that their race leads to the exclusion in a culture that promotes diversity.

This problem doesn’t exist. There is a certain amount of racism in the gay community; every community has a certain amount of people that are prejudice. There is no more racism in the gay community than in any other community.

Preference towards Caucasians exists but preference is a natural occurrence, fairly or unfairly, in every culture. Someone isn’t a racist if they only prefer gay white males any more than they’re sexist because they prefer men over women. Race is just like any other physical feature that you may or may not find attractive. Whether I prefer tall or short guys is as valid a feature as race but because race is a hot button issue the word racism becomes a tool used to help some individuals who are minorities especially when they have few admirers.

I find many other races attractive; I’ve had crushes on men of many shades and admire the unique sexual attraction an exotic male can have but the reality is that attraction cannot be controlled by people. If a man doesn’t consider you attractive because you’re not white does that mean he’s really a racist? We can only minimally control what or who we think is attractive, so it doesn’t make sense to be angry about a sexual preference such as race.

Gay advertisements do have a larger amount of Caucasian models compared to other races but every society displays images of the dominant member when showing religion, race, sexuality, cultural tradition, and many other factors. It’s not fair, but it’s a byproduct of every society and culture. The interesting thing about gay visibility and gay advertisement is that it actually shows more images of multi-racial couples than straight culture. Gay culture isn’t racist, it’s more progressive than the parent culture.

Some might argue that the color of skin is a very small piece of a larger picture and could barely be considered a physical feature as important as other measurements of beauty, such as the difference between being muscular or overweight. I disagree. Human bones can be used to determine with great accuracy what race someone is by looking at them. If race can determine how our bones are shaped than it also determines many other obvious and also subtle features because bones determine facial features and how our bodies are shaped. Race is a powerful influence on what we look like and there are large differences between one race and another. It’s all about personal taste in looks rather then arbitrary exclusion based on inaccurate preconceptions about an individuals character correlating to their race.

The real culprit is vanity. When a gay Asian or gay African is rejected by a gay Caucasian it can be hard not to want to blame racism because the rejection is often cold and callous, which resembles the actions of the average racist, sexist, and homoist. But rejection is always a harsh reality, and connecting it with racism isn’t correct. Different people simply have different tastes, for whatever reason.

Drag queen artwork.

2008-12-26T00:32:00.000-08:00

I once visited the myspace profile of faux celebrity Jeffree Star and noticed that although he wears female clothes and a full face of makeup he refers to himself as a “mannequin” and says that he isn’t a drag queen or a transsexual. His exact words are “And I'm a MANNEQUIN, not a drag queen OR a transexual. I DONT wear wigs and fake tits. I'm JEFFREE STAR. Get used to it.” He can’t spell the word transsexual and has poor grammar. Is he aware that there are also male mannequins? Is he aware that they tend to wear culturally male clothes? He can call himself a mannequin and be annoyed with people calling him a drag queen but if anything he’s just a drag queen mannequin. Jeffree Star is the kind of bad wannabe celebrity that that lacks any real notoriety, but this time he serves a purpose. Drags queens are loaded with such bad associations and taboo behavior that even some drag queens are in denial about being drag queens. I wonder, why? Maybe it’s all the hostility.

There isn’t anything wrong with liking feminine clothing, the line between what’s “girly and guyly” is cultural and tied into tradition. There is no absolute divide in clothes and when you look at the difference between male and female garments they change dramatically throughout history and when compared between cultures. Despite all this drag queens are looked at negatively by a majority people in all modern cultures.

Drag queens are judged harshly because they are seen more as failed art. When they look like real women, especially beautiful women, they are viewed with awe and surprise. It’s those that fail to look like women that receive the blunt of criticism. Is this fair or unfair? It’s hard to tell. And for a transsexual? They believe they were meant to be a woman. Whether or not that’s true is for another article. But a drag queen? I think there might be fairness in the criticism they receive. When you try to duplicate something beautiful made naturally you’re producing art. Just like a painting or sculpture you’re capturing images and feelings that don’t naturally come in that form but are expressed well. A drag queen is someone creating art using themselves as a canvass. If they can’t create something appreciated by others then their art is for themselves and not something they need to share, which always happens when you convert your own visible body and interact with people in the community around you.

Unfortunately most art is bad. I’ve read enough poetry and fiction to know how bad it can be. In the art world the best usually rise to the top leaving the amateurs behind but with drag queens it’s someone walking right past you. It’s not something difficult to notice, it’s just there. Drag queens make themselves up as women but they also have to take care of their bodies to make them feminine and part of dressing in drag is being able to act like a woman too, so it’s also a performance art. There are a lot of things that can go wrong.

The reason for those stares and comments has less to do with homoism for some people than it has to do with being forced to look at a piece of art done by a crude amateur. It’s harsh, but part of the world of art. Just walking around forces other people to look at potentially failed art.

The prohibition was not a failure.

2008-12-19T23:37:00.000-08:00

The general opinion about the prohibition being a total failure is wrong. Many got away with making illegal alcohol, but many were also caught, and there was less drinking in total. Although there were more deaths from alcohol poisoning (from people breaking the law and drinking illegally made alcohol) the law helped innocent people who didn't break the law because there were fewer deaths from drunk driving. And I view the lives of law abiding men, women, and children as more important than people wanting to get drunk, even when it means break the law. The prevention of deaths from drunk driving was a strong success.

And there was also less cirrhosis of the liver (where scar tissue replaces normal, healthy tissue, blocking the flow of blood through the liver and preventing it from working properly. Cirrhosis is the twelfth leading cause of death by disease, killing 26,000 people each year. There is also suffering, hospital costs, and lost productivity for those that do survive).

So I don't think of the prohibition as a failure, that’s just an opinion that everyone assumes because they hear stories about what the prohibition was like instead of looking at actual data. It became politically unpopular, and was a political failure, but that doesn't mean it failed socially.

Execution as punishment

2008-04-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

Many people talk about the death penalty negatively saying that it denies humans of their natural right to live, while others consider a just punishment to some of the worst crimes committed. I look at the issue differently.

Every prisoner costs between $20,000 and $40,000 a year depending on which prison they’re at. That money comes from taxpayers, taking care of prisoners is one of the most expensive parts of any states budget and takes a large share of money that could go to governmentally funded homeless shelters, women’s shelters, children’s medical care, crime prevention programs, and various other important governmentally funded services.

If prisoners that commit the worst crimes such and rape and murder are allowed to be executed, they save us money that could go to helping people that these criminals hurt. If someone rapes and kills a child they no longer retain the right to life. All human freedom is conditional, total freedom would create chaos. We aren't free to pollute, steal, or physically hurt others. Our freedoms are granted based on the value of us having them. A criminal that costs $30,000 to take care of and keep away from others drains society of resources that could go to helping those that are on the streets starving, children that need medical care, and rape victims that need rape kits and counseling. Spending this much money, and social resources, on someone just to keep them away from other in prison is costly. These people are in prison because of the choices they made, and out of necessity to protect societies innocent victims.

Are these people worth the resources we spend on them? We're investing in people that don't pay back what they take from society. I don't look at executing a child rapist as taking away their rights. I look at it as taking resources from someone that takes from society more than they give to it, and giving these resources to someone that truly deserves them. Every dollar taken away from these criminals care goes to people in society that are victims of poverty and starvation, teenagers that got hooked on drugs but are now trying to get their lives on track. We could help these people, but too often money goes into prisoner care instead of drug rehabilitation programs and care for the homeless.

We should start investing in people that are misguided or in a bad situation, but can be turned into humans that contribute to society. And we should also look at caring for children rape victims as a higher priority than taking care of the rapists "rights." Rights are conditional. You have the right to privacy from the government, unless you commit a serious crime that needs to be investigated. The right to life should be viewed the same as any other right. You take more from society than you give, you go to jail. You take more from society than you could ever repay? The death penalty.

Execution should be reserved for the highest crimes against society such as child molestation, rape, and murder. But it is a valuable tool. Not only in making a society a safer, but in helping those that truly deserve the governments services.

Is helping a single parent feed their kids worth more than feeding a serial killer? Is providing medical care to a foster child more important than providing medical care to a rapist? Is giving shelter to a homeless person a better way to spend government money than giving shelter to someone that has been convicted of beating someone to death?

And I don't believe that the death penalty creates a "culture of violence." The death penalty is about helping people at its core. It's more about helping those in society that have services being denied from them than it is about these actual prisoners, because ultimately the death penalty helps support those that are living more than it punishes those that commit crimes.

The queer word

2008-04-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

The word queer has been used as an umbrella term covering all GLBT people but hasn’t been accepted by every member pf the gay community. I was reminded of this when I had recently read James Kirchick’s article “Young, Out, and Gay---Not Queer” about the word queer having no place in the GLBT community.

Kirchick quotes the dictionary telling us that the proper literary use of the word is for things that are “strange, odd, peculiar, eccentric, in appearance or character. Also, of questionable character, suspicious, dubious.” And that he doesn’t approve of it being used to describe homosexuals. The one thing he fails to realize is that the word has no negative effect on gay people. His logic is the same used for you to dump your boyfriend when you find out that he used to date someone you didn’t like … sure it’s bothering but is the relationship really worth throwing away because you can’t get over a weak association?

Compare the word queer with “alternative lifestyle.” In essence it doesn’t quite make sense. How can the lifestyle be alternative if gay people don’t choose to be gay? And how could it be alternative if so many people are practicing it? But when you consider that we have gone from “deviant sexual behavior” to “alternative lifestyle” it puts things in perspective. The word “queer” is the same, it benefits everyone and breaks stereotypes.

When I say “here come the gays” am I talking about gay men, lesbian women, or two lesbians and a gay guy? If we start using “queer” as a replacement the word “gay” might be able to relax and not have to work so hard trying to suit different purposes when doing so can become confusing. “Queer” is useful … it’s used as an umbrella term for the gay community and helps set boundaries.

One thing I don’t understand is why some individuals would chose to alienate this word even though it is currently serving the GLBT community and is going through its own change from a word representing strangeness to a word representing the gay community. Words and symbols are only worth as much as their current meaning. The word is neutral and only carries negativity when someone starts pulling up the words past.

Kirchick brings up an obvious fear of the label queer taking over the label gay and replacing his safe identity yet forgets that an umbrella term can’t replace a component term. Being gay or lesbian are specific descriptions. Kirchick’s fear is like anorexics fearing people will start calling them eating disorders. Umbrella terms just don’t do that. It’s impolite.

The abortion distortion

2008-04-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

When does something alive become a life? Anti-abortionists claim that after the sperm fertilizes the egg it's a human life that needs to be protected. When does an egg become a human? An egg that isn't fertilized is just as alive as an egg that is and so is the sperm that fertilizes it. A fertilized egg is only slightly more developed than an unfertilized one and doesn't resemble a human any more than it. It's just another stage of development and being an unfertilized egg isn't any less important or full of potential.

Being alive and having a life are very different things. You wouldn't keep someone alive if you knew that they would be unconscious for their entire life. The thing that makes us human is our awareness. We shouldn't look at this biological stage to guide us towards our definition of when an egg becomes a person. Awareness is what makes us human, accumulates our self concept, and what makes us different from things without awareness. Human and animals are given rights that help them avoid unfair suffering. Human rights and animal cruelty laws. Fertilized eggs aren't anymore aware than plants. Until that biological mass becomes aware it shouldn't be given false rights that could unfairly have an impact on someone who actually is aware and can claim an actual life.

There are many people who claim abortion is wrong unless you are a rape or incest victim. Those anti-abortionists (if you can really call them that) don't make sense to me. How is a human that comes from rape or incest any less important or any less a human being and a life because they are the result of a rape? The reason so many people hold this anti-abortion unless rape or incest opinion is because they are easy answers to complex questions. Abortion is only challenged because it seems wrong, not because it is. But when you bring in certain scenarios such as rape people get uneasy to stick with anti-abortion views because they are drawn into the rape victims perspective and have to start looking at how an unwanted pregnancy effects someone else's life.

Another anti-abortion argument that every anti-abortionist holds is that the fetus is the potential to create a human and should be protected whether it's a complete human or isn't. This argument doesn't make sense to me either. Potential people just aren't people and shouldn't have rights that could put actual living people at a disadvantage in their lives if they don't want a child or aren't ready to take care of one. The potential people argument also lacks to recognize the millions of eggs that are also potential humans but are never fulfilled. Possibility is only a good thing with choice, it would be ridiculous to claim that every egg in every woman and every sperm in every man has the potential to become a human and should become one because of this potential.

I've even heard an argument where an anti-abortionist asks you "if a mother had five previous children who had all died and was poor should she get an abortion?" and when you say "yes, if she can't take care of the baby" they then say "you just killed Mozart!" Even if Albert Einstein, Ludwig van Beethoven, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could have been aborted during their times the same is true for Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Saddam Hussien. It's unfortunate but most people don't have strong impacts on the world by furthering education, artwork, and even helping others. The chance that the fetus will become a person that doesn't help others or have a lasting impact on the world is probably the more likely possibility to happen. Whether or not a good or talented person might be born or aborted doesn't make sense because they aren't born that way, they become that way after birth.

Abortion is an issue that has been distorted through misconception and a lack of knowledge about the subject, it's should be viewed in a more realistic way to preserve the quality of life for those that are actually living a life.

Gay virginity

2008-04-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Penetration makes you lose your gay virginity. Unless you never want to have anal sex. Then it’s blowjobs and mutual masturbation. You might change your mind and decide you want to have anal sex later on though, in which case penetration is your new virginity even though you lost your last virginity because it doesn’t count anymore now that you want to do more. What?

I’ve seen people use the concept of gay virginity to seem more experienced. I’ve also seen it used (more frequently) to make themselves appear pure and innocent. It all depends on how they word their experiences. Maybe the whole ideology behind being gay and a virgin doesn’t hold; the whole concept is too unstable.

Traditionally virginity has been used to capture the image of straight couples getting intimate for the first time but ever since gay culture came out of the closet us queers decided that we too wanted that special moment. Did we think it through? Maybe realizing that we’re gay, coming out, and entering the gay community are enough special landmarks to let us give up virginity. But we could never do that. The idea of a cute young virgin just can’t be shaken as one of the hottest sexual encounters and in the gay world that means it stays. How could we give all that up just because the lines are blurred a little when determining exactly when that cute young virgin actually loses their virginity?

Many young gays use the old penetration rule used by heterosexuals. The problem is that not ever gay guy is going to be involved with anal sex. It’s possible to consider blowjobs and mutual masturbation as the loss of virginity if you’re not going to do anal sex. But why couldn’t someone just have anal sex and consider themselves a virgin if they don’t participate in oral sex and mutual masturbation? It seems absurd, but maybe we only consider anal sex closer to an actual act of sex because it represents the image of sex that straight intercourse portrays. Sexually stimulating someone else’s body with our own may be enough to be considered sex since all sexual actions are the same at the very core: sexual stimulation.

Maybe gay people should have many gay virginities; anal virginity, masturbated virginity, and oral virginity. You could give all your virginities to that special someone or give one to each of your three favorite lucky guys. I’m a complete virgin myself, so I might need to decide how my virginities are given away along with all the other virginal guys out there.

If multiple virginities don’t catch on that’s okay. I have a backup. Losing your virginity might be like having a white blanket. You have oral sex and it gets stained red. The more you do the more red stains you have. It might feel awkward being a stained blanket. That’s a lot like how it can be awkward transitioning between being inexperienced and gaining that experience. After you’ve done everything though you’re more confident sexually. That white blanket is fully dyed and stops being stained; it simply becomes a beautiful red blanket and ever new experience makes it a little richer in color.