It's True! The Mainstream Media is Liberal!

We've all heard the accusation from conservatives that the mainstream media in America has a liberal bias. Well, maybe they're not liberal, but they do have less sympathy for conservatives—probably because the majority of them are psychotic.

It makes sense to me that the media is biased. They're journalists. They go out of their own environment and learn new facts, experience other realities, and in many cases, they end up empathizing with people who are different from them. It's not that they're biased in favor of liberals or Democrats; they're biased in favor of facts, and how dare they?!

At least, that's true for the journalists themselves. The executives are biased too, but instead of being biased in favor of facts, they're biased in favor of making money. That's what prevents the media from actually displaying their bias in favor of facts.

The problem is, not everyone in this country makes decisions based in reality. Treating them as if they do is simply dishonest. What comes off as objectivitiy in the media, is actually just popular bull shit that makes money.

Despite the journalists' personal opinions, they still do an amazingly good job of treating the crazies with as much respect as people who are based in reality. A damn shame.

Jesse Ventura 2012

I happen to believe that the two party system could work in this country if its citizens became fervently and radically empathetic. If that were the case though, any system could work, even anarchy.

But that's not the case, so we have to work with what we've got, and from what I can tell, we ain't got much. I'd be happy to see the Republican party die, because at least then we could have a genuine debate within the Democratic party. Still, I'd prefer that both parties die. 2 is the exactly wrong and the worst number of parties to have. It drastically oversimplifies everything to the point where you pick a letter at age 25 and stick with that alphabetical character for the rest of your life.

Worse, you swear allegiance to it over your country. The best system would be no political parties. Next to that, many—as in, 6-10+—parties would be acceptable, then a one-party system, then a two-.

But here's the thing, the people have spoken, and they want simple. We're not in this situation by chance; we're in it by choice. As a previous post indicated, in 1960 45% of Americans said they thought neither the Rs nor the Ds were best fit to handle the country's problems, and we've been on a steady decline ever since, now near 14%. And what?! The parties have gotten better since then?! Fuck no! They've never been worse!

I tend to have very little hope for my country and for people in general, but if we ever had a chance, it just might be right now—if the economy stays bad, and gets worse. If it gets better, people will continue along, content to live the simple life, driven to acquire more money and more objects, to feed themselves and their egocentrism. At this moment, their capability to fulfill their greed is on the line, so now, they're getting serious.

I don't necessarily think Jesse Ventura is a particularly brilliant guy like Obama is, but at least he really does have the correct intentions. Ventura is definitely not a know-nothing like Bush or Palin. He's more than sharp enough to know whom to listen to, and in a role as massive as President of the United States, that's what's really important.

He's had his mistakes, but he's serious about terminating the sovereignty of the corporation over the "people's government" in this country.

I Support Outlawing Political Corruption!

It is illegal to pay a citizen for his or her vote in an election. Makes sense, right? We don't want millionaires just buying their offices, do we?

Then, why is it totally kosher for a special interest group to pay a politician for his or her vote on a bill? Of course, there's no explicit "deal" there, but the understanding is clear. If such an implicit agreement were made for a citizen's vote, however, both the campaign and the citizen would be prosecuted.

Both our political parties do this obviously, but on top of that, this is also what Republicans do for rich people via unnecessary tax cuts.

Instead of letting the citizens profit off their votes, we let lobbyists and the rich profit off their invested contributions. Of course, that's basically what most U.S. voters are trying to do, but there's a big difference: the corporations are successful in this effort, and in amounts many times greater than the citizens are even hoping for themselves.

An entertaining video from The Onion cleverly illustrates this everted system which seems to be incidental, but is actually a carefully designed arrangement by the powers that be:

If we don't want our politicians to be corrupt, making corruption illegal might be a good first step in that direction. Of course, the only people who could ever do that are the people who would never do it.

An Atheist's Consolation

I used to be quite frustrated by the idea that there is no afterlife. It was such a depressing thought that one day, it would all be over. I thought it was such an anti-climactic ending.

It turns out, we are the climax.

Buy Fur?

(mature content, viewer discretion advised)

Unless you've ever been skinned alive, you really don't have any business buying fur, ever, in any form.

Go to this page and do everything you can. Take the pledge to be fur-free. Take the opinion poll. Donate (come on, you can spare a few bucks). And tell everyone you know.

We Could Care Less

Not only do we not care, but we're caring less and less.

The most recent percentage of people who are apparently not supporters of one of the two major parties was 14%, a smaller portion of the vote that independent candidate Ross Perot received in 1992. That's about a third of what it was 50 years ago.

But, hey! We could still care less, and we're gettin' there!

Empathy

Empathy is the greatest virtue a human can have. Genuine empathy, not an emulation of the behavior it engenders, while frustrating and burdensome, is so valuable to our world.

I often hear my fellow Americans complaining that the people in this country are stupid. When I try to suggest that most countries aren't much better, they are quick to proclaim that it's just us Americans, that no other country is as stupid (regardless of whether or not they've ever actually been to another country).

20% of people in England think it takes one month for the Earth to complete a revolution around the sun (it takes a year, in case you don't know). It's not just us. Look at our average IQ scores. We're well above average.

Still, the majority doesn't accept the theory of evolution, so how smart can we really be? We might as well not accept the theory of gravity. That's about empathy too, or the lack of it, which is apathy. It's just so much easier to say, “God did it.”

France has an 85% voter turnout. The United States? 43%, and sometimes as low as 20%. Now, that's the percentage of people who actually show up and vote on Election Day, let alone actually pay attention to anything, ask questions and think critically.

A genuinely empathetic person cannot settle for simple, superficial, feel-good answers. No, an empathetic person is compelled to analyze, to find the truth, to make fact-based decisions, regardless of consolation.

I remember not that long ago hearing the common sentiment that, “If only everyone was just a little bit nicer to each other, think how much better the world would be.” I'd laugh to myself, and think how idealistic and naïve that mentality was. Granted, I perceived those people to be talking about trivial things such as politeness, which they probably were, but I failed to see how obviously true that idea is. Assuming the standard that the less pain there is, the better, then aiding each other would inexorably improve the world, as far as human actions are concerned.

The issues in America that are most important to me—in no particular order, the environment, health care (health), equality, poverty, etc.—all boil down to selfishness. People would rather convince themselves the Earth is going to be just fine, that “only God can end the Earth”, than take a serious look at the evidence. They'd rather not focus on the obstacles that the less fortunate face. They'd rather save that time for later and use it for themselves. It's not that Americans are stupid. It's that they're apathetic.

With all the wonderful ideas of forms of government, nothing will improve America, or the world, the way empathy can.