Miscellaneous Rant About Nothing in Particular.

The difficulty of finding profundity in one’s thoughts isn't by any means an easy task. Finding it easy to laugh at oneself is much more difficult. I've learned so very much in my life. There is only one thing can say without a doubt I know. I know that there isn't much I know. Every time I think I've managed to stranglehold life it shows me how very little I am compared to the omnipotent power than it possess. I am dirt in its hands. Life is under God’s control and I’m less than dirt in His sight line.

Why is it the American people are so incessant with what they think and don’t allow new factual information the opportunity to shift their points of view? I mean, take any topic, any situation, any stance. If new information surfaces about said topic that is relevant enough to allow it to be heard, don't you think, at least listen and allow the words to envelope you? What actually happens is; once a couple of words are heard that they don't like or agree with, they either interrupt with whatever half listened rebuttal they can muster or they allow the information to flow but they are trapped in their heads screaming silently at the speaker about how wrong he is again without listening to all the information. The preconceived notions that have been the unruffled distortion that many have been born into can and will never be unhinged. These people are trapped in their decadent time and ways. The rest of the world almost doesn’t exist around those in this mindset. And they have most of the control of the country and really the world. Their bloodlust of greed is unending and once they've had their fill of average people they will begin to eat each other until only one remains like the movie The Highlander. Except they don't consume a soul, they inhale all monetary assets. I suppose the good news is that with everyone carrying smartphones and social media the feast will be broadcast from every angle with a live 24 hour news stream accessible at any given moment.

I've recently been attempting to catch up on the HBO show Last Night with John Oliver show. I typically don't advocate any particular television show but I recommend it to anyone looking for a light hearted take on relevant world news, this is the show to watch. Thinking about TV shows, why is this country so star and reality TV obsessed? When shows like Survivor, Honey Boo Boo and American Idol receive more undivided attention than any informational or educational outlet you'd have to surmise that this country is backward. I find it difficult to believe from a country populated with a disillusion that this is hands down the best country on the planet would be so repulsed with learning and being knowledgeable hardly seems like a factual statement.  Sadly however, it is a factual statement. This country is so distracted with trivial matters and Kim Kardashian. That we don't see the devil in the details, we think we have freedom, we kind of do but not much more than most other modern nations. But we're so indifferent and distracted that we barely notice anything other than the fear mongering television news and prime time local television.

I digress; I could go on that path until the only simile I can create would hardly be coherent. I didn't really have a particular topic I just wanted to sit and see what came out. I thought I'd share it with whoever took the time to read it. Feel free to comment, I enjoy hearing from you. As always, the best to you and yours and I wish each of you smooth sailing through the uphill stream that is life. I'll leave you with this; never assume you have control of a situation, the stronger your belief of control the more likely the chance that you'll lose it.  

This Is Just the Beginning

        It’s been so much longer than I had hoped for posting this blog. Initially, I was planning on taking a shot (pun intended) at Duck Dynasty. My original draft was missing its edge. My second draft turned into a manifesto style rant that had no real ending. During my attempts to find a conclusion to my rant against the hypocrisy that Duck Dynasty stands behind, my heart grew heavy. The latest Supreme Court decision on the “Hobby Lobby Case” reverberated with me. The more I thought about it, the more upset I became.

        Before I get into the meat and potatoes of what I’m aiming at accomplishing here today, I’m going to say this and it’s aimed directly at everything and everyone involved in the Duck Dynasty debacle that seems to have gained so much popularity. YOU ALL DISGUST ME!!! You use Christianity as a means to make profit while conning actual believers into thinking that you stand for the Lord. If you were a tenth as Christian as you claim, you wouldn’t swim in the blasphemy that you wade in. Cleaver marketing and advertising to get your brand out is bad and rather annoying (I’m tired of seeing your pretend hillbilly faces and names on every piece of crap item sold at every gas station across the country) but not blasphemous. But stamping your name on Bibles is. If you have a shred of faith in Christ, cease and desist in your money making endeavors that involve our Lord and Savior. And with that, I digress.

        I’m not going to delve into specifics or start calling out who said what. I am however, going to point out that with each day that passes our government shows its interests lie with big business and not the people. All of which would honestly make sense if 75% of all tax dollars were paid by corporations but sadly they aren't. I saw a stat the other day (please bear in mind, that I didn't fact check this stat but it certainly seems legit based on sheer observation alone) that stated in the 1950’s, corporations paid nearly a third of the federal governments bills. It goes on to say that, last year corporate income taxes accounted for less than a tenth of Uncle Sam’s total revenue.

        I think the thing that bothers me the most is that the people that are making these decisions are the same people that have cut funding to the needy, taken food out of the mouths of the hungry, have left the homeless on the streets despite the millions of empty homes, left our veterans jobless and without benefits, made corporations “people”, watched idly as oil prices have nearly bankrupt the common man, and on and on and on. I could literally write for hours about all the things that have been done to spite (not help) the people and all of these decisions were made by people who claim to be children of Christ. These “Christians” have done everything that Jesus wouldn't do and they've done it in His name.

        These same people are the ones saying that gay marriage is ruining the country and that God is judging us for it. I don’t speak for God and would never claim to but it seems more like God is judging us based on how the people we've elected are prospering on greed and hate not tolerance of others. I don’t personally agree with gay marriage but I also wouldn't even consider protesting it. I've decided to let God handle their judgment. They will pay for their sins (as we all will) when we go forth and meet the Father and stand judgment for our wrong doings. Who are we as PEOPLE to cast damnation on a group of people because we don’t agree with them? In my opinion, true Christians will allow God to do as He said He will do. We as mortals have no place making these decisions. One last thought on the gay marriage issue before I move on and that is I don’t even understand why we see the marriage the way we do. In philosophy, it makes sense but we haven’t practiced it in longer than I can think back to. We say we hold marriage in such high regard but our divorce rate as a nation suggests more than we’re just hypocrites.  

        I feel myself getting dangerously off track and topic. My fingers are dying to type more than my brain wants them to. So, I think I’ll wrap up this installment with a one last thought. If you claim to be Christian and deter from the words of Christ, THEN YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN! You can’t call yourself a Christian and believe that we are not all equal. You can’t call yourself a Christian and cast judgment on groups of people you fear or don’t understand. You can’t call yourself a Christian and support programs that leave people desperately in need of food, clothing and shelter. You can’t call yourself a Christian and support needless war. You can’t call yourself a Christian and be pro-life but doesn't care about the child after it emerges from the womb. You can’t call yourself a Christian and make it a point to support programs and companies that promote hatred. You can’t call yourself a Christian and cherry pick which of Christ’s words you believe. You can’t call yourself a Christian and act as if you know more than God. And lastly, you can’t call yourself a Christian and put yourself above Christ.

        I most certainly could keep going but I’m going to step down off my soapbox for now. So until next time I’ll leave you Christ’s words, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

OMG…Grandma is a socialist….part two

Opening scene – Close up shot of a pair of elderly eyes, there’s visible distress showing through. Pan out to reveal and elderly woman that’s sweating and breathing heavily.  Reveal more of the shot to show an ever increasing group of elderly women and of who appear to be running. But not just running, escaping. Pull out further to show the entire shot. Behind this large group of elderly women, there is a large crowd of overweight, misinformed and willfully ignorant group of “real American’s” chasing down the evil socialist grandmothers.

Alright, I admit that (at least the way I visualized it) it’s a ridiculous but funny thought. But I think it’s an excellent metaphor to the way some of our lovely citizens have come to demonize socialism without fully understanding what socialism really is. I am willing to go as far to say that Fox News would turn on granny in a second.

No one faulted grandma for wanting everyone to have the same. Matter of fact, some went out of their way to comply with grandma’s desire for equality. That’s why I’ve had such a hard time understanding how in the past eight or so years we’ve come to feel the way we do. So I did my research. Finally, the simplest but easily escapable fact smacked me in my grandmother loving face. It’s the media. Our corporate media system breaks down into a very easy to understand hierarchy. Very rich people, telling rich people what to say to middle class people how they should feel about poor people. Simple and accurate and the saddest part of this observation is how effective it has been.

I’m not going any further down this rabbit hole today. I am going to end this with an emphatic plea. Before you take a stand on a topic; before you make up your mind about something; look into it and know what you’re talking about! Do it not and be prepared to be called an idiot by someone who does know what they’re talking about. 

OMG….Grandma is a socialist!!!

I spent the early part of Easter Sunday thanking Jesus for the sacrifice He made for us. After a few hours my thoughts shifted towards an extreme dislike I have of the capitalistic aspects of what we've turned Easter into. Eventually, I shifted to plotting ways to murder the Easter Bunny in a way that Jesus would approve of. (My logic lies in that the Easter Bunny being mythical Jesus wouldn’t disprove of a public execution, lol). By midday I have arrived at my traditional family gathering and I was just enjoying the food and atmosphere. Until, the egg hunt began that is. That’s when my earlier thoughts took the forefront of my mind. Then a simple fact that had been overlooked, something that had been a part of this tradition as long as I could remember smacked me right in the face. Grandma is a socialist.

Wait, what? A socialist?  Then I drifted back to my childhood and I seen it. Every year, after the egg hunt, my grandmother went around to each child and made sure that everyone had an equal amount of money and often candy.

I know that socialism is a word that we hardly used in this country until the scary black guy; I mean President Obama was voted into the White House and I know that it seems that everyone has a different definition of the word. But the simplest definition of Socialism is that everyone that participates gets an equal share.

Now it’s simple to surmise that grandma just wants everyone to feel included and equal (so evil), she wants to spare the feelings of those that may not be as fast or as strong (keeps getting worse), she wants to minimize the chances of someone to have a bad day or memory (someone call a priest and schedule an exorcism).

My curiosity got the best of me so I did a poll at work. I talked to eight of my coworkers and all but one of them had similar memories. The one that didn’t fit in, sadly, their grandmother had passed before their memory could recall.

So after much thought and deliberation only one question was left unanswered….if most of us grew up with memories of a wonderful grandmother wanting nothing more than for everyone to be happy and healthy and equal, that we came to hate equality (i.e. socialism)?

END OF PART ONE………  

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to Musings and Rants. I am hoping to turn this blog into my flagship endeavor to illuminate those that I come into contact with about what’s truly happening in this country, as well as other things. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a grudge against dish soap and take to the internet to release some tension. Otherwise, I plan to focus mainly on the topics of the day. Combined with my Facebook page Occupy Media (www.facebook.com/occupymedia2013), I hope to foster an environment of debate and discussion. I am not particularly interested in only interacting with those that think along the same lines as I do. I also, enjoy sharing ideas with those from the other side in an attempt to find the middle ground that our legislators refuse to find. If the people can stand together then it isn’t unreasonable to hold our elected body to the same standards. 

I feel that one of the problems we face, and believe me there are many, is that our citizenry is too focused on arguing with each other over one or two issues. And while we’re distracted with gay rights and abortion laws, pieces have been moved to position corporations at the head of the table in this country. So while we bitch and moan about the details of the Affordable Care Act, major corporations have alleviated their tax liability, decreased employees’ rights and increased profits one hundred fold. But I digress…for now.

For the sake of true introductions, I suppose I should give a little background about myself. Please keep in mind that I’m not usually the type to speak in great length about myself, I do feel that my readers should know at least a little about me. My name is Dwayne Mulder and I live in Indianapolis, Indiana and have my entire life. I’ve spent most of my adult life dreaming of living on the west coast, but have yet to see that dream fulfilled. I have no children but do have wonderful nieces and a nephew that I have not spent enough time with. I graduated from Northwest High School in 1997 and am currently enrolled at Ivy Tech. One would think that I would perhaps be majoring in journalism or political science but that’s not the case. My major is for an Associate of Applied Science Computer Information Technology. As it turns out, I’m just a computer nerd that has had more than he can take and is finding any way possible to make a difference in this country. 

Moving forward, I plan to get at least one post in a week. I plan to integrate my Facebook endeavor’s with this blog and grow an audience of like minded and differently minded people so that maybe we can band together and begin a grassroots movement to bring forth much needed change to this country. I fully plan to respond personally to each comment left on the blogger website. The time is now so please make sure that if you have a question, ask it. If you like what I’m saying, share it with your friends and family. If you dislike what I’m saying, let me know. We can chat about it. Follow me on Facebook, (search for Occupy Media 2013), Twitter, (@OccupyMedia2013) or email me @dmulder213@gmail.com. I look forward to the future and what I see brewing on the horizon. Come and join me and let’s make some noise together.