Category Archives: Politics

August 3, 2012 · 9:22 pm

My One Word About Chick-fil-A

I am not good at not being angry. I am not good at not letting my emotions run away with my words so by the end of an argument, I’m spewing inarticulate venom at the person I’m arguing.

And, at the end of things, I’m just tired and sadder and unable to understand and empathize.

Let’s start slow and let’s see if I can keep my temper.

Let’s say that you have misinterpreted this whole Chick-fil-A thing as a First Amendment issue, which it’s not. It’s about the restaurant donating money to anti-gay groups. Groups that are AGAINST human beings because they have a specific kind of CONSENSUAL sex.

Let’s say that you see how upset and sad and angry people are who are being singled out because of this one difference. Let’s say you notice that there are millions of people who are affected by this, who are hurt by this, who are feeling like they are treated like second class citizens.

If your response is to immediately go to that restaurant and buy Chick-fil-A’s food specifically to say, “Ha! Your problems and worries and fears are inconsequential! I’m going to turn this into a I’m right, and You’re Wrong argument that I clearly just won”, then you’re an asshole.

You’re not fighting for rights. You’re not championing free speech. You’re not sticking up for the little guy. You’re giving money to a fast food chain that donates to groups that hurt people.

There’s no way to dress that up. There’s no way to polish that turd.

You’re an asshole.

Let me repeat this: You gave money to a fast food company and you told yourself you were protecting free speech. You told yourself you were a hero.

Really what you did was contribute to the severe, nationwide problem of obesity and helped to contribute to a company that actively works to restrict freedom.

Good going.

You have our eternal thanks.

You asshole.

-D-

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May 7, 2012 · 9:57 pm

Tell Me Why, Amendment One

I normally don’t talk about politics. I think it ends up being a preaching to the choir situation, where your enjoyment of the entry comes from whether or not you agree with me already. I don’t think I’m going to change any minds and I think, at best, I can just get people to understand where my views are coming from. Which is fine. I think the country would be in a better position right now if people spent less time trying to force everyone to agree than if they just tried to spend five minutes trying to understand where someone is coming from.

So that’s what I’m going to try and do right now. I want to understand. I want you, the reader, if you disagree with me, to tell me where you’re coming from. I’m doing this, because I really do not understand. I am lost. I am incapable of empathizing.

Here’s the issue: In my old state (North Carolina), they’re going to vote on Amendment 1. It defines marriage as being between a man and a woman and they’re voting on this tomorrow.

And I want to know why, because this kind of thing makes me angry. In point of fact, I’m pretty fucking pissed off right now. I do not, cannot, comprehend the sheer amount of cussedness it takes for one human being to try and restrict another human being’s happiness when no-one is being hurt. These are consenting adults. These are individuals who have made a decision to legally bind themselves to one another. And you are saying no.

Why are you saying no?

That’s all I want to hear from you. I don’t want to change your mind. I don’t want to enter in a discussion with you. I have no ambitions or designs upon your opinions, even if those opinions are about to strip rights from your fellow citizens.

Is it for religious reasons? Have you read your Bible and you’ve read that bit about how God doesn’t want men to lay with men as they lay with a woman (Lev. 18:22)? If you’re religious, I can see how that might be a reason. These are the holy words of God. You don’t want to disobey them. That’s a sin. You’ll go straight to hell for ignoring His words.

Do you also make sure to keep your woman outside of the house during her menses? She’s unclean, you know. Needs to be purified. That’s Leviticus 12. Whole chapter on how filthy women are when they’re menstruating. I’m guessing there aren’t a lot of good, Christian women who obey any of those laws, even if they are the holy word of God.  Not a lot of Christians nowadays who pay attention to any of the old laws though. They ignore the dietary laws. They ignore the laws about the Sabbath. They ignore any laws about sacrifices or stoning. Not a lot of adulterers being stoned nowadays.

So why not ignore the whole bit about men laying with other men? You find it so easy to ignore everything that’s inconvenient for you or your family. You pick the one thing that’s so easy to do. All you have to do is hate someone that’s different. You ignore Jesus when he says “Sell all that you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.” (Mark 10:3). You ignore when Jesus says that the second most important thing (after loving God) is to love your neighbor (Matthew 22 36:40).

Do not hide behind your holy book when you deny your fellow man. Do not cower behind religion when you hate someone who is different from you. Have the decency and the backbone to acknowledge the fact that your hate, your contempt, your bigotry comes not from holy words or from saints or angels, but from yourself.

Are you trying to protect the sanctity of marriage? Do you think, for some reason, that marriage can be ruined by two people with the same genitals getting hitched? I think a marriage can be ruined by spousal abuse and domesticate violence. I think a marriage can be ruined by alcoholism or drug addiction. I think a marriage can be ruined by two people who no longer love each other. I think a marriage can be ruined by infidelity or boredom or illness or bottled emotions or money problems.

But I don’t see YOUR marriage being ruined by Adam and Steve getting hitched, just like I don’t see your marriage getting ruined by Stephanie and Adam…ina. Marriage is not an institution, a grand old building that can be ruined by one thing. Marriage is a legal contract between two people. So explain to me how the sanctity of your marriage is being ruined by two dudes. Please. I want to know. Explain to me in excruciating detail why this is the case.

Because I…do…not…understand. And I’m furious. And I’m not a gay man trying to get married. So I can’t even imagine how anyone in that position must feel. Even if they don’t want to get married, I imagine they’re pretty pissed that someone is telling them that they can’t just for pure pissedness.

So tell me, in the comments below, why? That’s all I want. Tell me why you don’t think same-sex couples should enjoy the same legal benefits as different-sex couples.

I’m done yelling. I’m ready to listen.

Please

Why?

-D-

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February 9, 2012 · 9:31 pm

In this I Believe

Nowadays, keep their beliefs to themselves among family and friends or risk an argument to which there is no end. Political discussion, is, for the most part, reduced to vitriolic soundbites provided for us by either the media or our favorite politician. If ever we need a retort to someone who holds a different political belief than us then, by golly, it exists. Our leaders don’t debate each other, they trade soundbites so that, in the weeks that follow, people will be able to quote back their favorite.

So, here’s the deal: I’m going to lay out my beliefs in a clear and honest manner. I will do so without denigrating the other side. In the interest of spreading political discussion and not arguments or even debates, here is what I believe:

I believe that women should have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. As a man, I feel it’s not my place to decide whether or not a woman can terminate a pregnancy.

I believe that religion has no place in government. Now, more than any other point in history, I feel it’s important to not tread on the beliefs of our citizens. One of the most enduring strengths of this country is that we’re not some homogeneous culture, but a blend of a hundred different peoples. Prayer, creationist theories (without scientific evidence) and a Judeo-Christian teaching of history do not belong in our public schools.

I believe that the death sentence is not an effective method of reducing crime. For more on my thoughts about that, check out this earlier entry and this one as well.

I believe that marijuana should be legalized, if only so people will stop talking about it.

I believe that gay men and women should be allowed to marry each other, simply because I do not believe it is the government’s role to legislate whether or not two consenting adults can marry one another.

I believe that everyone should pay taxes based on their income. If you make more money, you pay more taxes. This society, as we have built it, cannot survive without a constant influx of money. We are currently engaged in two wars. We have a huge number of social programs to support. We have an infrastructure to support. Cut the wars, the infrastructure costs, or the social programs and then, and only then, consider reducing taxes.

These are my core political beliefs, for the most part. There are other things, but we’re already at 400 words. So let’s leave it at this for now.

Dylan Charles

 

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January 18, 2012 · 10:15 am

A Creator’s Thoughts on SOPA and PIPA

I’m a writer. I write stories and I have, in the past, posted them on the Internet. Other people have taken these stories and posted them in other places on the Internet without my permission and, most of the time, without crediting the story to me. Sometimes, the poster even gets complimented on his or her  story, as though they wrote it. There’s even one person who’s talking about making a game using a character I created, even though it’s my goddamn character.

Every time I see one of my stories posted on someone else’s website, without it being properly credited, without my permission, a series of blood vessels begins bursting in my brain. It makes me so angry that if I were to meet any of these people in person, I’d slap them sharply and without explanation. But they’d know why, deep in their awful, crusty, thieving hearts. And then I hope that they die with that knowledge that they’re damn stealing stealers.

Now, with that said, I still think PIPA is a terrible idea. Even with my incandescent, nearly homicidal rage whenever I see one of my stories pirated, I think PIPA is so terrible, it shouldn’t have successfully gotten past the planning stages. It is clear that the people who wrote this bill had only the barest glimmer of how microwave technology works and shouldn’t have been let anywhere near something as stupefyingly convoluted and complicated as the Internet.

With SOPA and PIPA, if a user posts pirated material on YouTube, YouTube gets shut down. If a users posts pirated material in a forum, the forum gets shut down. If a user posts pirated material on Facebook, Facebook gets shut down.

In order to avoid being shut down, every website ever in the history of websites, will have to monitor its users and commenters to make sure no-one is posting pirated material or linking to pirated material. Facebook alone has something like 800 million users that they would be responsible for policing at all times to make sure that one of them doesn’t post something that’s copyrighted.  So Facebook is doomed.

While SOPA has been set aside so that they can retool it and PIPA has had some of its teeth removed (originally, the bill stated that any site dealing in pirated materials would be blocked from view by ISPs. For example, Comcast and RCN would be responsible for making sure that you can’t go to piratebay anymore), they still blundering and awkward tools that are incapable of stopping piracy and incredibly capable of hindering progress. Any new social media site is going to have to greatly restrict the flow of information in order to police its members effectively. The Internet’s growth will be determined by two bad bills.

When a bill fails to do what it achieves and does more harm in the process, then it’s a bad bill.

As a creator and as a creator who has had his work lifted by goddamn stealing, thieving pirates, I believe PIPA and SOPA, bills designed to protect the creator and the creator’s work, are a bad idea.

Dylan Charles

For sources: The SOPA Blackout, PCWorld’s take on the matter, and PIPA itself

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