NRAce DEBATE

     Considering that Muslims, especially the middle-Eastern variety, are the enemies du jour of the United States, I wonder how the debate on gun control would be going if those Muslims living here in the United States as law-abiding, integrating citizens starting arming themselves and patrolling the streets à la the Black Panthers in an effort to counteract the endless suspicions their group faces and ensure they are treated justly?

(image source)

     Hell, even given the suspicion surrounding the various Latino communities, I suppose the same could be said for them too. Something tells me the Second Amendment wouldn't be coming up nearly so much in these debates...

     I thought it was the obvious question to ask (that of course wasn't) after having read that Addicting Info article linking under the Black Panthers picture.

THE DEVIL'S NOT IN THE DETAILS...

     Sometimes I think what led me on the path to atheism (a term I strongly dislike but I'll use for now because I seriously can't be bothered) is the idea that God is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, and infallible.

     First of all, I'm going to admit that I have not read the Bible cover to cover so I truly do not know if God's omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and infallibility is ever stated in the Bible itself or if that idea came later. Heck, the First Commandment suggests that God is not the only god out there, just that He must be worshiped above all others. Like, you can have gods AFTER Me, just not before Me. ;-) Moving along...

     I got involved in a discussion about free will and unfortunately had this thought too late for it to be of any use then, but if God knows everything that ever was, is, and will be...where does human free will come in? How is it possible for me to make a choice? If God is all-knowing, then my free will is an illusion because in order for me to truly have a choice, God would necessarily have to NOT know something...but since He knows everything, he can't not know what my choice will be before I've made it. It would suggest that whether or not I am going to Heaven or Hell was determined long before I was born and that it doesn't matter what I do because I never had any choice in it at all. How depressing... Would it also apply to God as well? Does God know everything He will ever do and done before He does it? Does God lack free will as well? Putting omniscience into the story of Adam and Eve and the apple also makes God look less than benevolent when he punishes Adam and Eve for doing what He already knew they were going to do.

     Then I thought about miracles, or rather, the idea of Divine Intervention. I wondered, if God is infallible, how could there ever be a bona fide miracle in this world? If God were to intervene at any point, it would suggest that He was wrong about something but if God cannot be wrong, where do miracles fit in? Again, you cannot claim that He needed to intervene to save a life or whatever because that would imply he didn't know it was going to happen because why else intervene except because something unexpected had happened?

     But then I thought, what if such declarations were the mistake made by overzealous preachers in the past? Sure, it is hardly an enviable position to suggest that God is not all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, and infallible but it would certainly explain what goes on in the world better and it would allow for free will too.
     If God is not any of those things, then the reason bad things happen to good people (and vice-versa) is because God is not able to prevent all injustice and rather than that being a path to despair, it would be instead a reminder of the necessity that we do good and resist evil because God cannot do it all for us.
     Other worlds are not mentioned in the Bible but a quick look at any astronomical text will show an unfathomably large universe which must be teeming with planets bearing sapient beings. If you take the grand miracles of God in the Old Testament as evidence of a visiting rather than nanny-like deity, it would explain why He doesn't seem to be around all too often. You could even take the story of Christ as a parting gift of sorts before leaving to instruct beings on another world. God basically telling humanity that he has to go now but will return should evil ever once again take hold of the world. But in the meantime, take these lessons and heed them because it is your (humanity's) responsibility to be stewards of this world; to be just and kind to others; and to be diligent in resisting evil; etc.

     I don't know (obviously). I'm tired too...

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

     I was thinking about the old Power Rangers series earlier this week. If you remember the show, the Power Rangers were color-coded (red, yellow, blue, green, black, and pink) and even when not in uniform, their street clothes were curiously color-coded as well. I'm sure this was done in real life to make things easier for the show's intended audience's age range but I was left wondering why this might happen for real given that it might appear like a bad move security-wise.

     I thought it would be funny if the Power Ranger teens were looking at old photos of themselves prior to their being summoned by Zordon, pointing out how weird it is that Kimberly (the pink ranger) isn't wearing pink in this photo and that Billy (the blue ranger) isn't wearing anything blue. And then they laugh about it because Kimberly and Billy love pink and blue respectively. Then Jason (the red ranger), showing a look of concern, asks to see a photo of him and notices he's not wearing any red and none of the remaining rangers have this color fixation way back when.

     Jump scene to them confronting Zordon who tries to change the subject while strongly suggesting he's guilty of something. They then pressure the more impressionable Alpha-5 to get an answer and he finally caves and admits one of two things (whichever is funnier to you):

a) That Zordon is many hundreds of years old and can no longer see as well as he once did so he put a spell on the rangers to compel them to wear clothes matching their ranger color assignment so that he could more easily distinguish the rangers out of uniform.

or

b) That Zordon cast a spell on them to compel the rangers to always be wearing their respective colors because, well...(Alpha-5 clearly nervous)...Zordon says that all humans look alike to him so he used this spell as a way to tell you all apart when not in uniform.

CARLY McKINNEY IS A ROLE MODEL...

     I saw this post on Gawker the other day. It's about a 23 year old math teacher in Colorado who has since been put on "administrative leave" for posts made on a now defunct Twitter account showing herself in various states of PG-13 undress, calling her students jailbait, and implying drug use.

Carly McKinney : Yes, I am totally adding these images in a nakedly desperate attempt to get my stupid blog to show up and be visited via a Google Image Search

     Now I personally do not know if any of the aforementioned tweets have been made on school time. If that's the case, I can understand any suspension and whatnot as I've argued in the past.  For the sake of this opinion, I will be assuming that they were not posted during school hours or using school computers and done instead, on her own time (even though under current law, my arguments do not matter according to the NEA - all that needs to happen is for the activity to be declared disruptive to the school: a judgement I'm sure will be found in a totally fair and unbiased manner).

     Comments in these articles inevitably point to Ms. McKinney deserving to be fired for failing to be a role model. (examples from the Gawker link)

"You can be a party girl famewhore, or you can be a schoolteacher. You cannot be both."

(commenter: Dismissed)

[sarcastically] "Yeah, she should really be rewarded for showing the judgement of a 14 year old while theoretically helping teach people's kids how to get on with life. Thanks for your insightful comment."

(commenter: Paul Tatara)

"...I know it is not right, but if you work in certain jobs, you simply can not behave this way online..."

(commenter: TuMadreTanbien)

"Idiot. You can't do that shit when you're a teacher, full stop. This woman grew up breathing social media if she's anything like other millennials, so there is absolutely no reason she should think any of that is okay. If you're a teacher (or any number of other public positions), you don't post this stuff online."

(commenter: GMaMazur)

     You can search articles for comments defending her: they're not hard to find. I will be offering my own defenses,  however, and these defenses will go beyond the obvious "slut shaming" thing needing to stop as it has happened inexcusably before and will continue to happen again. Because seriously, when was the last time a man was fired for being an underwear model or in porn?
     A quick Google search yielded nothing so the slant is fairly obvious.
     The teachers linked in the two articles not only did nothing illegal, but even if it's still technically conduct "unbecoming of a teacher" (how 19th century does that sound?), their photos and videos were made prior to them even becoming teachers!
     And it is that latter concept which factors into my defense...

     Why is Carly McKinney a role model of sorts? Because she demonstrates conclusively (at least up until the point of this media gossip-storm) that perfection is not required for success in life; that yes, you can grow up and with proper education, get a professional career regardless of one's past.
      It's the idea that you can still get ahead despite one's "youthful indiscretions". It's this idea that teachers can still be people too and not have to be held to these bizarre Victorian standards of stainlessness in order to be given the authority to teach our children.

Being hot should never be a terminable offense for a woman

     Because seriously, what are supposed to tell the stoners, the delinquents, the freaks and other perpetrators of "youthful indiscretions" in high school? That they can never amount to anything because they will be barred from any and all professions regardless of later academic achievement because society will refuse to acknowledge that they can change or gasp! actually be competent despite these faults?
     What are we supposed to tell the people who have prostituted themselves, performed in pornography, supported a position publicly that is unpopular, been to prison, and others whether legal or illegal? That despite this being a Christian nation, forgiveness will never come unto them? That they will be considered fuck-ups forever with no possibility for redemption or for simply letting bygones be bygones?

     That's the way it goes right now and probably will continue to go for the foreseeable future ever since background checks became so ludicrously easy to perform. And why should it be that way? Why should this system of intolerance and bullying - and yes, it is bullying...bullying in its most insidious degree as anyone who has ever been effectively shunned will recognize - be allowed to persist?
      And I don't care if the perpetrator was too young to know better or could have known better or should have known better...it doesn't matter. This gossip whose purpose is to ruin the lives of those who are either trying to make a better one for themselves or who are able to function competently in their jobs/professions despite their vices is entirely conducive to fostering hopelessness.
     Great...you made a mistake: now you've got to pay for it forever.
     Great...you've done something perfectly legal that petty people frown upon: now you've got to pay for it forever.
     Great...there's no point in working hard to achieve: no one will ever let you.
     Great...now you can either own up to your past and fail forever or you can hide it, living in perpetual terror that it will one day resurface and be used against you.

     What a shitty system.

Once a topless model, always a topless model...because it makes sense to do that to people

     If it were in my power, I would forgive Carly McKinney, reinstating her with pay immediately and without comment for actions both real and alleged portrayed by her online while off the clock. I would openly and hostilely condemn those who have maligned her for daring to have a life outside of her profession. I would condemn them for being busybodies and gossips. I would condemn those who insist upon such irresponsibly unrealistic purity standards for which a teacher may be judged fit for teaching.
     I would forgive those like Stacie Halas and Tiffani Webb, immediately reinstating them and without comment for actions performed by them PRIOR to becoming teachers and even if they were teachers at the time, those same actions were TOTALLY FUCKING LEGAL (and in the case of Stacie Halas for certain, also performed under a pseudonym) and thus would not be subject to firing if they were doing this stuff now (though if they did it in the school, yes...another matter entirely). I would condemn those that would judge these women unfit for duty on the basis of actions performed which were unrelated to their professions. I would condemn them for their inability to move on from their past lives. I would condemn them for holding these women guilty for their non-professional conduct. I would remind them that none of those doing the condemning and shaming are themselves without sin and that if held to their own standards, all of them would almost certainly be out of work.
     There are plenty of reasons to fire a teacher (or any professional): these are not any of them.

Because this clearly happened in the classroom

     No, if these women are to be judged, they are to be judged by the quality of their work in the classroom and their conduct therein. They should be judged by their professionalism as directly related their career. If Carly McKinney does an illegal drug in the classroom (or on school grounds): fired. If Stacie Halas films or her showcases her porn scenes in the classroom: fired. If Tiffani Webb models or has students take pictures of her in lingerie in the classroom: fired.

     But if they've done, they do or if they even consider doing any of these things (and more) on their own time, tell me again why it matters?

Pictured: personal time

      We tell people that life is about making mistakes and learning from them. But increasingly society makes life for people and especially professionals just so terrifyingly unforgiving. Yes, I am most certainly dreaming the dream of the idealist...but I want to live in a world where people are judged for their skills in life and not for their past lives.

     It really would only be fair.

As it should be...

ADDENDUM: Turns out a month before I had posted this, the Huffington Post reported that Stacie Halas, the teacher who PRIOR TO BECOMING A TEACHER performed in adult films had lost her appeal to get her job back and create a legal precedent that one's past is not allowed to infringe upon their present. Remember kids, in the eyes of the law: once a fuck up, always a fuck up. No forgiveness. No hope.

No forgiveness. No hope.

IT'S A NO-GO...

     The customer I had mentioned in a previous post came into work on February 1st. I approached her immediately and wasted no time (for once) in asking if she was seeing anyone or not. She said she was.

     Damn...

     Despite having had little emotional investment in her, the rejection still hurt. Who am I kidding? It always hurts. It only lasted the night, but it still hurts...

     Back to the Online Dating Site drawing board.....