The Five Strands of A Sedentary Empress

Projectile

I'm still prone to judgment, no matter the reading material or kind words or positive energy around me.

Like how I absolutely despise those types of people who will join a 'Find So and So' group on Facebook or 'R.I.P Whatever Your Name' en masse. I hate those people, feel like knocking them out because there's a sick kind of narcissism in a person who will join this kind of group just to see their badly written comment on a wall of other badly written comments. Just like a couple years ago, when my sister's childhood friend went missing and every kind of loser joined the Facebook group, along with some very well meaning people, just so they could hurl out accusations and play amateur detective. When she was found (well, when parts of her were found), there was such a weird reaction, with horrible poetry composed in sporadic messages, people who had never known her talking about how much they were crying and promises of retribution from people who barely spoke to her when she was alive. Now, there's a new popular group in these parts, a group created to help find a missing 8-year-old named Victoria. She went missing a couple weeks ago, a tiny, blonde-haired, blue-eyed darling wearing a Hannah Montana jacket, and when I first noticed that people I knew were joining the group, I thought I'd take a look. I was not prepared for the lunacy of it, though. While most people who have joined are only demonstrating awareness and solidarity in respect to wishing for a missing child's return, there are some who seem to be getting some kind of strange thrill out of projecting their theories and berating one another. Thousands of accusatory messages written by people with minimal education, most of whom are convinced the mother is responsible (I don't know if she is, but I will admit to thinking that there is something shady about her). I am amazed at the insanity of these people, accusing one another of actually being the mother using a false identity or of possibly having unfaithful husbands (how could your husband possibly be faithful to you, you're such a cow!), or of not getting laid enough (you know what you're problem is? You need to get laid!), as though any of it has much to do with the issue at hand. No, these aren't teenagers, either. Judging from the photos, this is the minivan set going head-to-head in a public forum designed to bring a lost child home. I did not join, obviously, and my stomach sinks and cools with each passing day that the girl is not found. She's only eight. This kind of thing just should not happen.

Since I'm in the business of judging this evening, if that girl is harmed I do hope that whomever is responsible is ripped limb from limb, wolves on rabbit style. I've only so much empathy to go around, and I've none to waste on a child killer. At some point, limits need to be set, and mine are positioned around the children. Oh, I understand the whole 'you can't solve violence with violence' stance, and most of the time I might be inclined to agree with it, but I've little patience for people who would harm an innocent and I honestly would rather see them dead. I feel like mercifully extinguishing the lives of those who seek to harm or infect is the socially responsible thing to do in some ways. Like I said, I have no patience.

Then, there's the whole 'gay marriage' issue which has been a huge story in the media lately, astonishingly enough. I'm amazed that this became such a huge news story when there are so many other more pressing issues to take note of, like the economy, unemployment, North Korea, Pakistan, etc. These people were enraged over what a beauty pageant contestant had to say, for chrissake, and what's worse is that the question was presented by a guy who writes (I use the term loosely) celebrity gossip, like he is any kind of positive role model. He was irate about her response, not thinking about the irony of it, that he makes a very good living spewing out nonsense and exposing people who have every right to their privacy, which he blatantly ignores, and then he goes on the attack just because she expressed her honest opinion. Now, to be clear, I am someone who supports gay marriage as I see no reason to deny anyone their rights and I understand that homosexuality is not a choice, not even a 'lifestyle', but is just how some people are built. Why shouldn't they marry? But, I get that not everyone thinks the same way I do, and that as members of a society which values 'free speech', they have every right to express their differing opinions. You cannot condemn someone for being open about what they believe if you want to be heard yourself. You cannot say you support 'free speech' if you want to muzzle anyone whose opinion doesn't mesh with your own. It doesn't work that way, and it's naive, and a little self-indulgent, to say otherwise. I have to say I was just as offended that this guy was even included as a judge to begin with, given that his career is based on mean-spirited nonsense and has nothing to do with good ol' American values. My position is this: the majority will eventually dictate the law and at some point marriage will be legal for everyone who chooses to enter into it. It's coming, and there is no need to get into a flap about what a young, gullible churchgoer says while participating in a beauty pageant. No one with a modicum of intelligence takes anything those girls say to heart, anyway. These are not the people who create our laws or rule our world. They wear crowns and cut ribbons at supermarkets before you forget who they are entirely. She wasn't spreading hatred, didn't condemn anyone for their preferences, she just said that it didn't coincide with her religious/family beliefs. While many, including myself, may not understand where she's coming from, it doesn't really matter. Sometimes, when people prattle on about free speech, what they're really saying is 'as long as you agree with me!', which, like I said, is fairly ridiculous. Oh, and name three other Miss U.S.A winners. I'm guessing you might have only come up with Shanna Moakler and Tara Conner, right? Probably because they're both always the aforementioned judge's blog where he chronicles their drinking, relationship dramas, possible bisexuality, drug use and bad mothering. It's called exploitation, and it's a manipulation, pure and simple.

Get the facts, think, and then make up your mind. You're entitled to it. If everyone thought the same way we'd never get anything done, but my basic grievance is with the way people attempt to make their point. Yelling, screaming, simpering and moaning is NOT the way to go about it. Have some class, try to see things from the other person's viewpoint and counter in a respectful way. One person who seems to really know how to do it right is the current U.S President, and, it must be noted, he supports gay civil unions but does not support gay marriage but I do not recall such widespread criticism when he asserted himself on this point. Is it because he's not a blonde with big breasts and white teeth? He was honest, she was honest, and one of them was widely denounced. There seems to be some inconsistency there.

In other bits of judgment news, my sister sourced an eight hundred garbage pail (sorry, wastepaper basket) for one of her clients the other day. Eight hundred dollars. On a garbage can. See? You're with me on that one, I can feel it.

To close, I say get rid of the guns because that amendment was drawn up when people got their food from fields behind their houses. The natives aren't firing arrows into the window anymore as they've been mostly wiped out, remember? 'Guns don't kill, people do' is also old. People can't kill you by firing an imaginary gun, moron. Sure, there are other ways to kill but guns are not just weapons in the hands of the uneducated and misguided, they are illusionary, metal penises for those who tremble in fear without one in their hands. Time to look at the statistics and let logic take a seat at the table. I also say it's time to get rid of fast food and any other kind of food which has trans fat or excessive sugar and salt. The people eating it are doing so because they lack education or the finances to eat properly. Diabetes and heart disease are on the rise, primarily in minority groups who don't realize that vegetables and lean meats are the only way (with exercise) to stay healthy. Cigarettes need to go, too. There is nothing positive about them, so it's time to face up to the fact that an industry has been built on what amounts to assisted suicide and unintentional murder by way of secondhand smoke. Oh, and while I'm not a prohibitionist, I cannot erase from my mind what an emergency room doctor recently said in front of me: 85-95% of the people he treats in the E.R have some tie to alcohol consumption. M's friend C. said the same in his field of reconstructive surgery, although drugs also contribute a fair bit. To quote C. 'I hate having to fix stupid people.' I understand his cynicism. This past weekend he spent something like sixteen hours fixing the lacerated legs of a guy who got effed up on coke and fell through a window. It's hard to feel sympathy for that kind of person, no matter what the back story is.

Oddly enough, despite all the anger I've just purged, I truly only want people to be happy. The problem is, I want them to be happy on my terms.

I'm not so very different from anyone else, I know it.