To Alcohol!

I am so happy that a doctor has confirmed by belief that it is okay to be a moderate alcoholic. What's more, it may keep me from being anxious or depressed, and in fact that hasn't been much of an issue in my life since I started drinking. I rarely drink more than a few beers, cocktails or glasses of wine, and I have never had a blackout or been too drunk to remember where my bed was. I've never had a hangover, or done something I regretted later. I've puked a few times, but that comes with learning how and what to drink. Note: whiskey and OJ is bad news, and never try and finish the rest of that box of wine by yourself, there's more in there than you think.
Granted, very few can honestly claim the things I have, in an era of binge drinking that has overshadowed the idea of moderation. Quantity over quality, it seems. That's not what drinking should be about. I've agreed for a long time that parents should drink with their kids and teach them how to be responsible. Telling them no and turning your back to them isn't the greatest way to teach a segment of our population that notoriously avoids following shallow rules that aren't actually followed by their creators. Our society is so ill-informed that, as Rassmusen reports, only 51% of them rate alcohol more dangerous than weed.
Alcohol can be dangerous if used improperly, but we need to stop looking at it like an alluring taboo. As a social lubricant and pleasant, nerve-numbing beverage, it can be enjoyed with near impunity, and it has been seen in studies that light to moderate drinkers live longer. As an adult of the proper age, I enjoy alcohol as a meal enhancement, mind relaxer and calming device. I'm aware of the dangers of consuming it, and the walls I face in society for doing such. I am informed, adult and free to make my own decisions, so I believe that I will have another. And another, and another. But that's it, because I know when to say no.

You Know, Our Children Are Learning From You . . .

I've been seeing previews for this new Disney Princess movie, another raping of another old Grimm Brothers' tale, and I'm reminded again why I despise this particular corporation so thoroughly. The original story is quite ridiculous, in which a snotty princess is forced to abide by a promise she made to get her golden ball back. After her disgust toward the frog, he turns into a prince and yay! they get married and live happily ever after.
The moral of the story is that even the most unworthy, ungrateful and spoiled will reap great benefits if they put up with the ugliness of the world. That frog should have slapped her and walked out the door after he turned into a prince. It is only completely befitting of Disney to take such an atrocious story and twist it into a romantic comedy that panders to minorities and is insensitive to the painful black history surrounding New Orleans. And there will be a game too on several platforms and a full product line as well! I feel a little sick.
Disney has such a perverse way of doing business it's sickening to me that so many parents blindly let themselves be party to it. They are using their children against them, teaching kids to want this or want that so they beg and cry and scream until they cave and buy the brat a Happy Meal so they can get the toy they want and the DVD they will watch 76 times in a row and drive you to drink, only after they finally run out of sugar and crash into their cartoon-character adorned beds. And don't forget about Disney's long and storied history of horribleness. They made propaganda films for the government during the Cold War, 'nuff said.
Moving on, although I'm not not finished with you yet, Disney. This is just the foundation for letting our children be raised by Hollywood, barring any form of religious crap parents put them through. For the first decade of their developing lives, the average child will spend up to two and a half years in front of one screen or another. Six hours a day, letting companies and products train children to want. The more they watch, the worse it gets. Consumerism is what is turning America's kids into overweight, greedy, ignorant little brats, and we're letting it happen because it's just easier to park the little rug-rats in front of the TV instead of playing with them. Parenting sure seems to have taken a nosedive the past couple decades. Two generations of children raised on movies, TV and video games that will be running the world in a short time.
Having no children, can I honestly say I would be any better at parenting? I can at least hope so. If I do ever happen to raise a child, I would use my experiences in life to set them on the right path. My children will learn the cold, hard realities of life early on, hopefully gaining an acute sense of cynicism and disillusionment that may protect them from the world, along with a healthy mistrust for authority and an ability to think for themselves. They will expect nothing from the world, but appreciate what they have. If I succeed at this, I will create a commune attracting like-minded individuals, and we will barricade ourselves from, at the very least, the degrading effects of things like Disney franchises and their banal attempts at morality.
If I never see another film by them (Pixar and Buena Vista excluded), it will be far too soon. I still have a childhood's worth of memories to dredge up at any moment, bringing with it the shame and self-humiliation from what I have seen. The least I can do is to try and keep other young minds from being ruined by such tripe. Ramen.

Congratulations??

Approximately nine months ago, a close family member managed to impregnate a young girl, and the baby was subsequently born last Friday, the after my birthday. Now, regardless of the fact that the child was born out of wedlock, the parents (long since broken up), are causes for concern in the raising of this child. They are both relatively young, inexperienced, and have dubious morals. I foresee strained legalities and fierce arguments surrounding this child, since neither one of them is capable of raising it on their own, and will not be getting back together--ever. This is all a lead-up to my point.
Should such an event warrant the lauding and congratulations of numerous family and friends? Creating a child is not terribly difficult, barring any fertility problems. Worldwide, over 130 million babies are born every year. That's 360 thousand every day, 30 thousand every hour, 500 every minute, and 8 or so every second. Two stupid kids fooling around without condoms is not worthy of a celebration, in my opinion. I've been waiting for the phone call from whomever chastising me for not calling and giving my congratulations, when I feel I should be sending my condolences.
This kid is going to have to learn to grow up fast, since he hasn't done it yet in 21 years. You can't continue to act like a child when you have one. I'm not going to congratulate anyone, I would much rather sit down and have a serious chat about the ramifications of this, as if it would actually do any good. All I can hope for is that the child is resilient and surpasses his parents in intelligence and motivation. Sigh. Maybe I could get attention if I father an illegitimate child.

Tales of Bible Thumping

The Road to Hell . . .
I've had a few experiences this past week relating to religious parenting of varying degrees. I was lucky enough to have parents that respect my intelligence enough to not constantly question my lifestyle and lack of 'spirituality.' Some of my friends, however, weren't so lucky.
I went to dinner with my family last week, because my grandparents were in town. It was a nice, uneventful dinner, the only 'incident' occurred behind my back. But, I can handle my mother asking my girlfriend if she can get me to go back to church, since the idea is laughable even to her. This kind of covert soul-saving is much more subtle and easy to shrug off than some of the things I have seen recently. One of my longtime friends just had his first child, and him and his wife have chosen to raise their child without religion. Neither of his parents are religious, and hers don't seem like it, but apparently there are some underlying roots in Christianity. When his father-in-law found out that my friend was not keen on having his baby blessed, be flipped out, accusing him of 'keeping God from his child' and of 'taking his daughter away from the church.' Even after explaining his personal wishes to let the child decide on his own if he wants to be religious or not without forcing it on him, her dad still raised hell about it, causing the mother-in-law to plead for them to have it done, just to shut him up. You cannot bully someone into following your wishes, no matter your intentions. This kind of outright disrespect would not stand in my family, but I have no children yet, so I don't have a basis of experience. Still, I have known this person for nearly sixteen years, and I know him to be a good person, with just some bad habits. His lack of religion not being one of them. He never really believed that unbaptized babies go to hell. He has common sense.
The Toll to Get to Heaven . . .
The second experience is a tale of guilt-vampires and Calvinist hypocrisy, culminating in free food and the need to drink. My roommate, who also happens to be my girlfriend's uncle (long story), is the kind of guy who grew up rebellious due to overly-religious parenting; impelling him to commit acts that would get a child locked away these days. His dubious past notwithstanding, he turned out to be a pretty good guy, who takes care of his children and leads a quiet, sex-filled life. His parents just happened to be in town this week, and I was invited to the 'big' family dinner since I'm dating one of the grand-daughters. Free food from Mimi's Cafe was all I needed to be goaded into it. Over the years, I have heard plenty of stories and complaints filled with rolled-eyes and shaken heads from the brothers about their father and stepmother, and I was slightly nervous to be attending. The evil-stepmother was not in attendance, who is apparently the source of much of the problems, so papa turned out to be relatively harmless and uninterested in me over the course of the dinner. The real fireworks came today. Whilst I was slaving away at work, the parents showed up unannounced at our place and used the following four hours to dissect my roommate's life and explain to him why he was living such a terrible life and how he could fix it. The kicker? He could improve his life easiest by leaving his kids and moving across the country to work and earn a decent living, which is, apparently, the only way you can be a good person. If you have lots of money, you can get away with anything, it seems, even being a terrible parent. You will earn respect and gain contacts for 'network marketing,' ad you can participate in the occasional animal sacrifice on your lawn, but only if you're wealthy. This kind of thinking, especially from uber-religious people, reeks of hypocrisy and seems to me to be a sign of really fucked up priorities. If that is what it takes to get into heaven, I'd much rather join the eternal barbecue in hell, and retain my respect for myself.