Uh-oh, It's the Prop. 8 Post !!!

Hello all,
I've not updated my blog for some time. A lot has gone on since my last apology for not keeping this up-to-date. I have tons of stories and thoughts, both humorous and a bit more serious, that will probably find their way onto this blog.

Right now, however, I'd like to address something more current. I'd like to talk a little bit about Proposition 8.

I am sure you all know by now that on November 4th, California passed, by state referendum, a ban on same-sex marriages. The vote was roughly 47 to 52% in favor of the ban. The vote was cast. It's over. And, that's all I'm going to say about that.

The most visible response (certainly not a universal one), especially here in New York, has been one of vehement outrage. Already, there have been at least two massive protests. Celebrities and news anchors have used the media as a vehicle to, perhaps inappropriate, disdain for the vote. People talk about having moved one step forward (with the election of Obama) and one step backwards (by banning same-sex marriage). Another talking point that I am hearing a lot of is, "All these people want to do is add permanence to their relationships. Why are they denied this right when heterosexual couples can get married just for the heck of it, get divorced within months, even weeks, and enter into another loveless marriage?" This frustrates me on two levels.

First of all, I would point out that same-sex couples are comprised of people too. This means that they are just as capable of being selfish, lustful, compulsive, adulterous and violence as heterosexuals. I will note that many of the same-sex couples seeking to get married are committed, and have been together for quite some time. Still, this fact of "commitment" does not raise these couples to a level beyond human.

Secondly, and much more importantly, I would like to bring up the subject of divorce. Divorce is awful. Divorce is painful. Divorce takes two things which God has knit together, and rends them apart in the most brutal way, inflicting serious emotional wounds on anyone even marginally involved. Our culture tells us that it should be easy and simple. "If a relationship isn't working out, you can just sign a paper, and all your troubles will be over. Simple as that." The Church has bought into this lie, and has even propagated it. In the United States today, over 40% of marriages will end in divorce. And, studies have shown that if you're divorced, you are more likely than not, to get divorced again. The problem is even bigger IN the Church. There is a much greater percentage of Christians who get divorced, than those outside of the Church. Some may argue that this is because unchurched (what a word!) people don't even bother to get married in the first place. I say, the Church has turned a blind eye to this very serious problem. While so many Evangelicals are wringing their hands about same-sex marriage, they have whole-heartedly endorsed a much greater threat to God's perfect idea of the uniting of a man and woman! Here is the problem. If anything has allowed for same-sex marriage to occur, look no further than inside the Church. It's only natural for this train of thought to follow in this way. To echo those celebrities and news commentators, if heterosexual couples can marry and divorce at will, then why not committed same-sex couples?

I feel like the Church has taken the easy road. It's easy to hold signs, and march in protest against an issue that has not, by in large, infiltrated the pews. It is much harder to address the fact that many of those in a given church have been divorced unreasonably, and are not repentant about that fact.

Does this make the Church's voice in the issue null and void? Certainly not. But, it does make weaken their argument considerably.

May we pull the log our of our own eye before reaching out to those who are hurting in ways most of us cannot even imagine. And, may God give is wisdom.

To my handful of readers who have probably already stopped visiting my blog, I want to apologize for my negligent lack of posts. It is not that I have stopped thinking altogether since I have been home. Indeed, my mind has been overflowing with ideas both inane and sublime, many of which I did want to write here. Alas, I have been extremely busy with work (which could have supplied countless entries) and building a giant puppet (another entry!). Yes, I did say a giant puppet.
Anyway, I will try to be more diligent in the coming weeks to relate to you all of the goings-on in and around both my job and this giant monstrosity that bears a strong resemblance to Benjamin Franklin. I will too make an attempt to fill in the gaps between my last post and now, at the very least with topics about which are worth writing. You can be sure that I will also include various samplings of those aforementioned innane thoughts courtesy of youtube.
Thus concludes my apology.

Thank you, and goodnight.

Ha!

...so goshdarnit, you will listen to me.

While not everyone can have the opportunity to audition to be become the next American Idol, everyone can certainly have the chance to be their own version of Simon Cowell. A culture supersaturated by reality television, where contestants are constantly critiqued and "voted off" if found wanting, along with the rapid growth of the Web 2.0 community, has created a country full of people determined to have their opinions heard, and has provided them with the means for them to make it happen. While participation in the public forum is generally a good thing, much of the debate, critique and subsequent digression into name-calling, needless sarcasm, and petty accusations, has migrated to the least pertinent of areas. No longer is this type of talk exclusive to online political or video game forums. Heated debates rage on in the comments of Youtube videos. Disagreements in how-to forums turn into personal attacks. Varying personal experiences create raging arguments among photographers as to which camera is really the best for a particular purpose.
Recently, I was watching a how-to video on Youtube, showing how to economically pack a small, carry-on suitcase for about a five day trip. The guy in the video said he was packing for Florida, so his clothing mostly consisted of t-shirts, jeans, and the like. Even so, his folding technique allowed him to include about two changes of clothes for each day, two pairs of shoes, and that ever-necessary toiletry bag. I thought the video had some great insights for packing light on a short trip. However, the comments below the video showed that not everyone agreed. It would have been one thing if they were just disagreements, but the notes consisted of sentiments such as , "WTF. Won't his shirts get wrinkled?", "What a dumb*ss. He didn't leave any room to bring stuff back with him.", "Good luck when they search your bags!", "What if you're going away for two weeks and not just four days?", "Stupid video; a complete waste of time",or "What a tool!" And the list goes on. Needless to say, this is all quite frustrating.
It would seem, however, that many of these people offering their opinions rely only on what they're thinking at the moments, doing little to no homework on what they're saying. Often, these opinions are not backed by facts, are inaccurate, and are generally very one-sided. A prime example I saw this past fall was a person who passionately contended that the war in Iraq was wrong because "the U.S. has killed one million Iraqi civilians." I'm sure.
Online forums were initiated to encourage sharing of advice, discussion and debate. However, it seems that the cloak of anonymity that the internet provides allows people to take simple discussions overboard. As this type of Web 2.0 technology has progressed and become more accessible to the masses, these attitudes have started to bleed into offline life. We feel entitled to give people our opinion on something, whether or not they want to hear it. The attitude is that of "I have a blog, so goshdarnit, you will listen to me!" I have seen more people be openly harsh and critical toward strangers in the past few years than I have ever. Gone is the decorum; gone is common courtesy. And frankly, it scares me a bit. What will be the next digression? Perhaps we should turn off our televisions and pull away from our computers enough to get to know people for who they are, and not for how well they perform to our fickle standards.

Much more on this later

XLII

Most of you who know me well probably know that I normally do not care much for professional football. No, I do not find it to be a coarse and barbaric contact sport; I just usually find to to be boring. However, a fact I am certain most of you do not know is that I am also a New York Giants fan. And when my team makes it to the Superbowl and starts playing an amazing game of football, televised football happens to keep my attention rapt. Coming into the game as certain underdogs, their performance tonight was stunning. Instead of buckling under the predictions of a Patriot win and perfect season, they gave one of, if not the, most amazing Giant wins I have ever seen. Add in a performance by Tom Petty, and a Coke commercial featuring a Charlie Brown parade balloon, and you make for one spectacular evening.

Okay. I've gotten that out of my system.

Live from... Pennsylvania ?!?!!

I realize that I have been quite absent from posting lately. To be honest, I am not in New York at the moment. This semester, I am on medical leave and am living at home. Continuing to update this as if it was really live, from New York, would not be the most honest way to go about this. Instead, I plan on writing some more editorial posts, along with some memories from the past semester at Fordham. I'll use this font so that none of you gets confused and starts to think that the complaining about the new Turkey Hill down the road, and the proposed Target expansion are actually happening in New York. So, there you go.