November 14, 2011

Plus, 10 Things I'm Not Apologizing For

1. Being against the death penalty. I don't believe a state ought to have the right to do it. I know there's lots of folks who want to see justice done, especially to child abusers and people who kidnap and torture little children and all that. And I certainly get it. But I don't think, in the long run, the people ought to ever give the power of execution to the state. It just shouldn't be done.

2. Being against the Viet Nam War. I'll admit the impetus of my being against it was pure cowardice. Since I faced the possibility of going I actively worked against it, knowing full well that if I was drafted I didn't have any deferments and, in my family, you just go in and that's that. But the more I looked into it the more I saw real reasons to be against it. From the Gulf of Tonkin "incident," which wasn't; to the worry that SouthEast Asia was going to fall to communism, which it didn't. In fact the first thing that happened when the war was over was that Viet Nam and China had a short war of their own. Duh. Where I started to stray from my fellow hippieradicals was when they began blaming the guys that were drafted and went because of it. That crossed the line with me.

3. Having taken just about any drug you can name at one time or another. I didn't say it wasn't stupid, I'm just saying I'm not guilty about it.

4. Liking Motown. It saved my life in high school when I was pretty much a loner, before I found my group. It doesn't matter to me if you don't like it, it has a different meaning for me, so bite me.

5. Being in tacit approval of Occupy Wall Street. Not saying I'm sure they're doin' it right, and I'm certain there are crazies hanging around it just like there are crazies hanging around the Tea Party. But I'd rather identify with these kids than the pole-up-the-ass lawn chair snake flag wavers my own age. A lot of the over-vocal "conservatives" my age are really people who missed out on the 60's and felt very uncool during all that. Truth is they were uncool. In fact they were dull, pointless, boring, and not very bright back then, and they still are all that today. Just the kind of people the GOP likes these days. Just sayin'.

6. Voting for Barack Obama. And I'm doing it again just to spite you. He may be in the lower 33% of Presidents that ever did anything for the country. Not very good at all. But him being reelected will get so many people apoplectic they may croak. Which would be funny, and a positive for the gene pool for all we know.

7. Not believing the Bible should be taken literally. It doesn't even matter to me which version of the Bible you're talking about. Pick one. But really, maybe, it's not so much people who think it should be taken literally as much as it is people who think it should be taken literally and then pick and choose which parts they want to do and not do. Stoning people for working on Sunday... not a good idea. But literal nonetheless. Point is not in the details of what it says - it can't help it, it's the people reading it who are screwed up - but in the things it's used for. One way or the other. The Bible is like a person - torture it enough and you can get it to say anything.

8. Voting Libertarian, and helping the LP, all those years. I'm not apologizing for it. I'm also not saying it wasn't asinine. See #3 above.

9. For being a Scientologist for a year and a half. But I am doing everything I can to see that other people don't make the same mistake.

10. Deleting 0ver 20 names from my Facebook "Friends" list. Though most came on from games and that shit and don't really care, a good number were not from that category. And they can go piss up a rope. So there.

What are you not apologizing for?

12 comments:

Kaye Waller said...

Being VERY happy that you're blogging again. So there.

Verdant Earl said...

I'll never apologize for preferring pets over children.

Gino said...

for falling short on just about everything.
there's only so much i can or will do, so there.

sybil law said...

I'm not apologizing for not working every school event that comes up - no matter how many looks I might get about it. I do enough, and I love the word NO.
I'm not apologizing for drinking pre PTO meeting tonight. (And so funny you brought up Nora, because I envision this insanity all around me, people screaming and whatnot, maybe throwing things, and there I sit, cool as a cucumber, dodging crap. In spite of what image I portray, that's definitely more my style.)
Also not apologizing for my long assed comment.

Brian said...

1) Ditto on the death penalty and voting for Obama.

2) Being against every large-scale military operation the US has done in my adult life (and most of the small ones).

3) Making an exception for number 2 for killing Osama. That was badass.

4) Not wasting time on people that aren't worth it. Even if we share some genes.

5) Making a very conscious decision not to have children.

Avitable said...

I won't apologize for the mistakes I've made, as they've helped me become who I am now. Also, I won't apologize for eating a beef burrito covered in Hershey's syrup, because that shit is delicious.

RW said...

SK - Hmph!

Earl - Though I can't imagine life without my kids and grandkid(s to be), I also can't understand people who criticize people who have made the choice not to have kids. Last time I looked, it was THEIR choice. No?

Gino - That should be my #11

sybil - Hope you have a chance to use her quote in the midst of falling down... "women and children first, boys."

Brian - All good, but then Osama was a belligerent, internationally. Though, no, I still would have seen him brought to trial and just locked up for life, when he got offed "nothing of value was lost."

Avi - chocolate on a burrito is very close to mole sauce. Just sayin.

Dave2 said...

I'm not apologizing for my taste in music. I regularly get verbally beaten up over it, and I just don't care. I like what I like.

Which holds true for a lot of things, actually.

Daisy said...

Moving an hour away from my mother. As much as she would like me to feel guilty about it, I'm not going to.

Candy's daily Dandy said...

I'm not apologizing for anything I did to you...or am I?

Why are we not blogger friends anymore? Was it something I said that I'm not apologizing for?

Am I one of those piss up a rope people?

RW said...

dave - Your taste in music is excellent.

daisy - it was a good decision. My God an hour away is nothing, in the big scheme of things. I know people who are states away and are still available.

candy - I dropped out of everything for a long while earlier this year and got some of the same questions. Comments and posts just stopped for a long while. Just started coming back in the last couple of weeks. I don't believe you were ever on my Facebook list? There were just some very tiresome people there . I decided I didn't need their static, is all.

Mrs. Hall said...

wearing leather. i had been a vegan once, so i know better but screw it. i want boots that will effing last.

so there!