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52:43 by ChristianLeBlanc

It's getting pretty close to Halloween, and I felt like youtubing Mad Monster Party, a children's stop-motion special made decades ago that I've heard lots of good things about, just to preview it a bit to see if I wanted to spend $10 and get it on dvd.

The very first comment on the video that I read started talking about "the idiot liberal agenda that says such characters are too violent" for kids today to be familiar with, suggesting that children today would be unfamiliar with such mainstays as The Mummy, Dracula, the Wolfman, etc.

People today are way too willing to fight. News media sources play a huge role in this; people like Glenn Beck exist strictly to piss people off. Because when people are happy, they don't say much. When people have an axe to grind - especially in today's internet age where everyone has a loud, anonymous voice - they talk about it: at work, at school, on message boards, and, yes, even in the comments section of clips from children's videos.

So as I say, the media has figured out that the easiest way to get people talking is to piss them off. Hopefully, all this talk takes place on said media's message boards, or the media source is mentioned during these angry conversations. Links are freely passed back and forth and advertised, so everyone else can read the article that got their friend so angry. The media gets ratings, page hits, etc, all good things they can show their advertisers.

The huge drawback to all this, of course, is that people are so riled up by this 'us vs. them' (left vs. right) dynamic that the media promotes, that noone is willing to work together towards the greater good. Noone is willing to compromise, or relent their position.

A common right-wing complaint is that the left has become far more intolerant of the ideas of the right, than the right is of the left. I can understand. Let's say someone tells you that segregation could maybe use another try; hopefully, that idea is offensive to you, and you would be intolerant of it. I think that's a natural reaction, and I think that's what's behind a lot of indignant reaction from any angry lefties.

The thing is, is that the right is not necessarily the bogeyman that wants segregation, racism, intolerance etc.

Take the issue of gay marriage, for example. The common generalization is that lefties are for it, righties are against it. Both sides feel quite strongly that their position is the right one. It doesn't take very much for a shouting match to happen over the issue.

The thing is, is that if people would stop yelling long enough, they might find that their positions on the issue are startlingly close. The problem that some people have is the idea of the government forcing churches to go against their beliefs and perform ceremonies they don't believe in. Seen from this angle, many lefties and righties could compromise, say, and only have gay marriages performed outside of the church, as well as by churches who are ok with it.

Obviously, this is an oversimplification of things. Still, hopefully it illustrates what I mean, and shows the idea that there are many other contentious issues that have a lot of potential middle ground.

Vegetarianism is another such issue, in my opinion. For something so simple as what a person decides to have for supper - a decision which affects only themselves - there has been a tremendous amount of anger, hatred, bad feelings and circular arguments generated out there. I find it extremely difficult to find a neutral voice on the internet about it; as a friend of mine put it recently, either you burn in hell for eating meat, or you're crazy for not eating it.

Now, as for my stance: I believe very strongly in not eating meat, that the nutrition I lose can be made up by eating a variety of certain foods, and that, simply put, if I can have a meal without something having to have died for it, then I'll have that meal. No big deal. However, screaming my righteous beliefs isn't going to change anyone's mind about it. And telling people who are curious about it propaganda-style exaggerations about how easy it is to start, also doesn't help (this is partly why I only lasted 6 months with it the first time I tried it out). Having a rational conversation about it, just might change an opinion. One patch of middle ground out there that's a good starting point for rational, non-accusatory discussion: free-range, as opposed to factory, farming.

Lately, whenever I see Stephen Harper's name brought up anywhere, there's such an immediate hostile and mean-spirited reaction from the left that it just makes me cringe. This is the same man who, I could be wrong about, was the first prime minister in Canada to finally issue an apology to Canada's First Nations: Click here

This actually details a little more reaction on the apology, and shows a touch of suspicion towards Harper still, just in case I'm appearing too biased here :)

At any rate, no matter the justification, I've never seen fighting and shouting change the way anyone thinks. And that long-winded, full-of-holes nonsense up there is what this week's lyrics (a mere 5 lines) are about :)

I am no kind of expert on politics, and am woefully underqualified to even write the above blog entry. I do feel, however, that we could get a lot further as a country if we could stop yelling at each other so much, and start working together. The current state of the two-party system seems like a tug-of-war, not the well-implemented three-legged race that it should be :)

If any of the above pisses you off: I'd like to think I'm still too young to get in real-life arguments over politics. And I don't think there's anything too outrageous in the basic message I'm trying to promote:

Don't be a dick.

Ok, so music this week: not my best Dave Gahan impression, but that's still what I was going for. Also trying out tremolo picking (finger, I don't use picks) and hammer-ons. Whee. 9 more songs to go!!!!!!!!!

"We're opposition only in name
What we both want is roughly the same
So hold on tonight
Hold on tonight

We've been your enemy since you were a youth
We've pissed you off so long that you won't listen to truth
But hold on tonight
Hold on tonight"