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Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Ralph Hayes, Jr. is a coward and a fool.
It's not often that I do this; after all, writing a post for everyone who commits a logical fallacy in a debate would fill this blog to the exclusion of all else. However, argument through appeal to force is something I feel the need to write about.
The subject of today's rant is known as Ralph Hayes, Jr. Mr. Hayes is the illustrator and author of a couple of excellent webcomics, in addition to several mediocre to outright bad ones, hosted at his site which I linked to in the title.
This has little to do with my problem, however. What it has more to do with is the fact that he is an outspoken social conservative, and happens to advocate revoking all funding for AIDS research and treatment, in favor of quarantining the victims of the disease. I virulently disagree with his conclusion, but even that's not why I'm writing this.
No, I'm writing this because, after I wrote a long reply detailing just how bogus his money-saving rationale is, due to the fact that a quarantine would require cutting off international trade to prevent the virus from being re-introduced into the country, which would cost the economy an amount of money that makes the $13.7 billion he complains about seem paltry by comparison, he deleted my reply and banned me from commenting on his blog.
That's some way to win an argument there. Don't like what someone has to say? Destroy the evidence and get rid of him! Comrade Stalin would be proud.
As you can (currently; I don't know how long it'll last) see, he did not delete all my replies. Earlier ones based on the immorality of locking up so many people who had done nothing wrong were dismissed on the basis that quarantine would save lives, and he simply claimed I was wrong when I pointed out that quarantine in the modern world, with modern travel, isn't as effective as he would like, but when I destroyed his flimsy rationale, he got rid of me. Guess I struck a nerve.
I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when discussing it with him, but I'm sure as hell not going to now. The method of controlling the disease that he advocates is ineffective by every single measure - cost savings, preventing the spread of the disease, easing the suffering and extending the lives of the victims - except the measure of punishing those who engage in what he, as a social conservative, sees as immoral behavior. Sure, it's costing us boatloads of money and not advancing medical research in any way, but at least we get to lock up THE GAYS!
There. I said it. He hasn't, but that's the only purpose his proposed solution would serve, so there it is.
Mr. Hayes, if you ever read this, I want you to know: Censorship is the act of a coward. Public censorship, openly removing material after it has already been published and read, is the act of a fool. You have revealed yourself as a foolish, pathetic little man who, given a modicum of power, is quite prepared to use force against those who disagree with him. I also want you to know that argumentum ad baculum may make you feel better, but it has yet to ever win a debate.
"The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honor you can bestow on him. It means you recognize his superiority to yourself." - Joseph Sobran
The subject of today's rant is known as Ralph Hayes, Jr. Mr. Hayes is the illustrator and author of a couple of excellent webcomics, in addition to several mediocre to outright bad ones, hosted at his site which I linked to in the title.
This has little to do with my problem, however. What it has more to do with is the fact that he is an outspoken social conservative, and happens to advocate revoking all funding for AIDS research and treatment, in favor of quarantining the victims of the disease. I virulently disagree with his conclusion, but even that's not why I'm writing this.
No, I'm writing this because, after I wrote a long reply detailing just how bogus his money-saving rationale is, due to the fact that a quarantine would require cutting off international trade to prevent the virus from being re-introduced into the country, which would cost the economy an amount of money that makes the $13.7 billion he complains about seem paltry by comparison, he deleted my reply and banned me from commenting on his blog.
That's some way to win an argument there. Don't like what someone has to say? Destroy the evidence and get rid of him! Comrade Stalin would be proud.
As you can (currently; I don't know how long it'll last) see, he did not delete all my replies. Earlier ones based on the immorality of locking up so many people who had done nothing wrong were dismissed on the basis that quarantine would save lives, and he simply claimed I was wrong when I pointed out that quarantine in the modern world, with modern travel, isn't as effective as he would like, but when I destroyed his flimsy rationale, he got rid of me. Guess I struck a nerve.
I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when discussing it with him, but I'm sure as hell not going to now. The method of controlling the disease that he advocates is ineffective by every single measure - cost savings, preventing the spread of the disease, easing the suffering and extending the lives of the victims - except the measure of punishing those who engage in what he, as a social conservative, sees as immoral behavior. Sure, it's costing us boatloads of money and not advancing medical research in any way, but at least we get to lock up THE GAYS!
There. I said it. He hasn't, but that's the only purpose his proposed solution would serve, so there it is.
Mr. Hayes, if you ever read this, I want you to know: Censorship is the act of a coward. Public censorship, openly removing material after it has already been published and read, is the act of a fool. You have revealed yourself as a foolish, pathetic little man who, given a modicum of power, is quite prepared to use force against those who disagree with him. I also want you to know that argumentum ad baculum may make you feel better, but it has yet to ever win a debate.
"The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honor you can bestow on him. It means you recognize his superiority to yourself." - Joseph Sobran
Thursday, June 26, 2008
I am shamed: An open confession
There is no easy way to do this, but it must be done. I have broken my vows, and the first step to amends is to air my transgressions and motivate myself to not allow it to happen again.
I should explain before I go further. When I was in college, I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism. This is the world's largest medieval reenactment organization, and it is highly organized into kingdoms, baronies, and so forth.
As befits medieval reenactors with that kind of organization and scale, the Society has titular kings, lords of various grades... and knights.
I confess, I dearly wished to earn knighthood in the Society when I was still active, but it takes years of participation and dedication, years that I didn't have. Partly I wanted it for the sheer, nerdy glory and fun of it, but it was also partly because my temperament is such that it needs a restraint upon it that I care about, and I felt that the vows of knighthood would be just such a one.
As I said, I never earned the authority and responsibility of a knighthood, but as I knew the time when I would have to move away, too far away to feasibly participate any longer, was drawing near, I took the vows regardless, not bound to any lord or king, because none knighted me, but binding myself to the virtues of knighthood, as a safeguard against the fouler side of my temper.
The vows are many, but at their essence, they are outlined in this, the statement made by a knight before he is invested:
I swore to "ever be a good knight and true, reverent and generous, shield of the weak, obedient to my liege-lord (which I interpret as loyalty to my country and my vows, since I swore to no lord), foremost in battle, courteous and truthful at all times, champion of the right and the good."
I do my best, but I have of late failed and failed miserably at one: Courtesy. After a hard and frustrating day at work, I allowed my temper to gain the better of me and, without provocation, flamed a non-native English speaker for his poor spelling. I was mortified afterward, but pride motivated me to keep my silence for a time.
No more. I have made amends to him and obtained his forgiveness, but I have thought long and hard on it and realized that if I do not make a stand with myself, give a motivator to stop it here and now, I will continue to slide, and eventually what I promised to myself will mean nothing to me. I know of no better way than to write an account of my failure and place it up as a reminder that I expect better of myself, and shall keep a level head.
At the end of a knighting ceremony in the Society, it is traditional for the king to strike the new knight hard upon the chest after he has risen a knight, and to tell him to let the blow remind him that knighthood will bring him pain as well as honor. It has brought me pain these last two weeks, and I hope to return to honor. It may seem silly to people reading this, but this is important to me; I must reestablish shamefastness, the fear of shame, to keep myself from straying like that again. I renew my vow, and go forward with the virtues of chivalry at the forefront of my mind.
I should explain before I go further. When I was in college, I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism. This is the world's largest medieval reenactment organization, and it is highly organized into kingdoms, baronies, and so forth.
As befits medieval reenactors with that kind of organization and scale, the Society has titular kings, lords of various grades... and knights.
I confess, I dearly wished to earn knighthood in the Society when I was still active, but it takes years of participation and dedication, years that I didn't have. Partly I wanted it for the sheer, nerdy glory and fun of it, but it was also partly because my temperament is such that it needs a restraint upon it that I care about, and I felt that the vows of knighthood would be just such a one.
As I said, I never earned the authority and responsibility of a knighthood, but as I knew the time when I would have to move away, too far away to feasibly participate any longer, was drawing near, I took the vows regardless, not bound to any lord or king, because none knighted me, but binding myself to the virtues of knighthood, as a safeguard against the fouler side of my temper.
The vows are many, but at their essence, they are outlined in this, the statement made by a knight before he is invested:
I swore to "ever be a good knight and true, reverent and generous, shield of the weak, obedient to my liege-lord (which I interpret as loyalty to my country and my vows, since I swore to no lord), foremost in battle, courteous and truthful at all times, champion of the right and the good."
I do my best, but I have of late failed and failed miserably at one: Courtesy. After a hard and frustrating day at work, I allowed my temper to gain the better of me and, without provocation, flamed a non-native English speaker for his poor spelling. I was mortified afterward, but pride motivated me to keep my silence for a time.
No more. I have made amends to him and obtained his forgiveness, but I have thought long and hard on it and realized that if I do not make a stand with myself, give a motivator to stop it here and now, I will continue to slide, and eventually what I promised to myself will mean nothing to me. I know of no better way than to write an account of my failure and place it up as a reminder that I expect better of myself, and shall keep a level head.
At the end of a knighting ceremony in the Society, it is traditional for the king to strike the new knight hard upon the chest after he has risen a knight, and to tell him to let the blow remind him that knighthood will bring him pain as well as honor. It has brought me pain these last two weeks, and I hope to return to honor. It may seem silly to people reading this, but this is important to me; I must reestablish shamefastness, the fear of shame, to keep myself from straying like that again. I renew my vow, and go forward with the virtues of chivalry at the forefront of my mind.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Indiana's Primary Elections
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was a precinct inspector for the Indiana primary on May 6. I'm sorry this report was not written on the 6th as I'd promised; I was held up for so long at the courthouse afterwards that all I wanted to do was go to bed.
Setting up the polling station was simple enough; the biggest problem was the fact that the legs didn't want to stay in their sockets on one of the voting machines. The same machine caused problems later in the day because it had a dark spot on its screen that made it hard to see one of the ballot entries.
It is against Indiana election law to campaign within 300 feet of a polling place. When I arrived at the polls, there were campaign signs stuck all over the ground outside the building; I had to remove and confiscate them when the polls opened. After that, though, there were no further problems with electioneering.
After that, the day was mostly long and boring. Voter turnout for my precinct was about 35%, which is high for a primary in this state, since we usually don't matter for the presidential election.
Since the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's law requiring photo identification at polling places in order to vote, my job mostly consisted of asking for ID at the front door. Voters kept cracking jokes about being illegal immigrants and/or having fake ID, but other than that, it went off without a hitch in my precinct. (Some nuns in South Bend were turned away for not having proper ID; I'm not clear on whether they were permitted to fill out provisional ballots as is required.)
There was one interesting thing: With the exception of the presidential ballot (for some reason, Huckabee, Romney, and Paul are all still on the ballot) all the Republicans ran unopposed. They didn't have enough candidates to go around, apparently; they were not contesting the judge's seat, and were only running two candidates for the county council (when the ballot allows voters to vote for three).
Voting was busiest at the end of the work day, as expected, but it trickled off well before closing time. We had one voter at the end of the polling time; there was nothing like the rush we were told to expect before closing.
All in all, it was a good day, and a new experience. I'd do it again if asked, though I couldn't resist informing the Democratic chairwoman of the irony of her choosing me to do it afterwards, so I don't know if I'll be asked again.
Setting up the polling station was simple enough; the biggest problem was the fact that the legs didn't want to stay in their sockets on one of the voting machines. The same machine caused problems later in the day because it had a dark spot on its screen that made it hard to see one of the ballot entries.
It is against Indiana election law to campaign within 300 feet of a polling place. When I arrived at the polls, there were campaign signs stuck all over the ground outside the building; I had to remove and confiscate them when the polls opened. After that, though, there were no further problems with electioneering.
After that, the day was mostly long and boring. Voter turnout for my precinct was about 35%, which is high for a primary in this state, since we usually don't matter for the presidential election.
Since the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's law requiring photo identification at polling places in order to vote, my job mostly consisted of asking for ID at the front door. Voters kept cracking jokes about being illegal immigrants and/or having fake ID, but other than that, it went off without a hitch in my precinct. (Some nuns in South Bend were turned away for not having proper ID; I'm not clear on whether they were permitted to fill out provisional ballots as is required.)
There was one interesting thing: With the exception of the presidential ballot (for some reason, Huckabee, Romney, and Paul are all still on the ballot) all the Republicans ran unopposed. They didn't have enough candidates to go around, apparently; they were not contesting the judge's seat, and were only running two candidates for the county council (when the ballot allows voters to vote for three).
Voting was busiest at the end of the work day, as expected, but it trickled off well before closing time. We had one voter at the end of the polling time; there was nothing like the rush we were told to expect before closing.
All in all, it was a good day, and a new experience. I'd do it again if asked, though I couldn't resist informing the Democratic chairwoman of the irony of her choosing me to do it afterwards, so I don't know if I'll be asked again.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Well, I'm a poll inspector now
With only a few days' notice, I've been tapped to be a poll inspector for the Indiana primary on Tuesday. The precinct they've put me in charge of is a small one, but this is still an incredible responsibility. I have the voting machines in the trunk of my car as I write this; I'm responsible for their security from now all the way until I turn them in at the end of Election Day.
I'm deeply honored to be entrusted with this, but it's funny at the same time. I was called by the head of the county's Democratic Party Committee to do this because my mother is on the committee; I suppose she assumed everyone in the household was also a Democrat. I am, obviously, not, but it doesn't matter; I'm committed to the integrity of the electoral process and will execute my duties to prevent voter fraud and other shenanigans the very best of my ability, and that's all the job requires. It's just highly ironic that the Democrats would unknowingly tap a Protest Warrior to run the polls.
It's also kind of unnerving that so little security goes into choosing who will run the polls; it would have been easy for them to have asked someone who is both less than principled and has a stake in the primary. I suppose we're simply fortunate that they did not... this time.
I'm deeply honored to be entrusted with this, but it's funny at the same time. I was called by the head of the county's Democratic Party Committee to do this because my mother is on the committee; I suppose she assumed everyone in the household was also a Democrat. I am, obviously, not, but it doesn't matter; I'm committed to the integrity of the electoral process and will execute my duties to prevent voter fraud and other shenanigans the very best of my ability, and that's all the job requires. It's just highly ironic that the Democrats would unknowingly tap a Protest Warrior to run the polls.
It's also kind of unnerving that so little security goes into choosing who will run the polls; it would have been easy for them to have asked someone who is both less than principled and has a stake in the primary. I suppose we're simply fortunate that they did not... this time.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
Just ringing in 2007, and resolving to post to this blog more. Happy New Year, everybody!
Monday, August 28, 2006
The government has been infiltrated by... Owls?
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Okay, I'm back. For real this time.
Well, after a brief scare in which HP gave me the wrong tracking number and managed to convince everyone (themselves included) that they'd shipped my computer to Albuquerque, it came today. I'm back, this time for sure.
It's late and I'm tired, so I'll only put in a little bit about the late conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. (I promise, barring major new developments, I'll start harping on something else soon.)
I'm sorry to say it, but strategically Hezbollah won. Just barely, and in such a Pyrrhic fashion that they can't stand to "win" like that again, but the so-called "Arab Street's" expectations are so low by now that merely surviving against Israel for more than a couple weeks is seen as a massive victory, and that perception is enough of a boost for Hezbollah to make it worth it to them. Tactically, Israel won every battle, but in the end none of it's objectives were achieved. Hezbollah is not disarmed, it is still present on the Israeli-Lebanon border, and the kidnapped soldiers whose capture sparked this whole thing were not recovered. And to top it off, the real losers in all this were the Lebanese people, bombed back into Third World status after Hezbollah used them for cover.
And in the meantime, France is chickening out after promising to lead the UN peacekeeping force, outdone by an order of magnitude by Bangladesh in troop numbers committed. Good luck to the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah. I sincerely hope that this turns out all right, but as usual the prospects seem dim.
It's late and I'm tired, so I'll only put in a little bit about the late conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. (I promise, barring major new developments, I'll start harping on something else soon.)
I'm sorry to say it, but strategically Hezbollah won. Just barely, and in such a Pyrrhic fashion that they can't stand to "win" like that again, but the so-called "Arab Street's" expectations are so low by now that merely surviving against Israel for more than a couple weeks is seen as a massive victory, and that perception is enough of a boost for Hezbollah to make it worth it to them. Tactically, Israel won every battle, but in the end none of it's objectives were achieved. Hezbollah is not disarmed, it is still present on the Israeli-Lebanon border, and the kidnapped soldiers whose capture sparked this whole thing were not recovered. And to top it off, the real losers in all this were the Lebanese people, bombed back into Third World status after Hezbollah used them for cover.
And in the meantime, France is chickening out after promising to lead the UN peacekeeping force, outdone by an order of magnitude by Bangladesh in troop numbers committed. Good luck to the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah. I sincerely hope that this turns out all right, but as usual the prospects seem dim.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Be back soon
Ordered a new comp yesterday. I'll be back to blogging when it gets in, though not for very long before I take yet another four days off to go to GenCon. See you then.
In the meantime, here's to Israel kicking Hezbollah right in the bollocks. But do try to not shell the crap out of villages hours after the rocket launchers have left, mkay?
In the meantime, here's to Israel kicking Hezbollah right in the bollocks. But do try to not shell the crap out of villages hours after the rocket launchers have left, mkay?
Friday, June 30, 2006
...or not.
My apartment's kitchen caught fire on Saturday morning. I lost my computer to all the soot floating around. I'll make yet another "I'm back" post when I get a new comp.
But as long as I'm here, Hamas evidently wants a war with Israel. Do they actually think they can avoid getting curbstomped by the country that defeated Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq at the same time and in less than a week?
But as long as I'm here, Hamas evidently wants a war with Israel. Do they actually think they can avoid getting curbstomped by the country that defeated Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq at the same time and in less than a week?
Friday, June 23, 2006
Well, I'm back
After a significant interruption in Internet access, I'm back. I should be updating regularly again now.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Got an Xbox!
My brother, roommate, and I went in and split the cost of a used Xbox off of Ebay, with ten games including Halo 2. WOOT! In a related note, I probably won't be online quite so much for a few days. ;)
That is all.
That is all.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
About me
Well, I suppose I should introduce myself, after a fashion.
As my partial list of interests in the previous post probably shows, I'm a gamer (of the tabletop pen-and-paper variety as well as more conventional computer gaming), a music student (bassist, to be precise), and political junkie. I do my level best to keep up with current events, and try not to form concrete opinions on something without thoroughly researching that thing first. I used to maintain a blog of sorts at my web forum, found here, though I updated very infrequently.
To address those interests in order, my gaming specifically consists of vast quantities of Dungeons & Dragons, a game I thoroughly enjoy and incidentally inspired the name of this blog (or rather, one of my characters did); some Halo and Halo 2 on other people's X-boxes, and several real-time strategy PC games, including Dawn of War and Warcraft 3. In D&D, I'm most fond of playing paladins, a preference that partially reflects my general outlook on life.
I am, as I mentioned above, a bassist, and a reasonably accomplished one if I do say so myself. I play in both the jazz and classical styles, though I got my start in bluegrass and actually started reading for bass from treble clef parts and guitar chord lines. Before taking up bass, I was a trumpet player of enough skill to sit at the top of the trumpet section of a state championship marching band (Forest Park Marching Rangers, Indiana class D champions, 2001 to be precise), but lost my ability to play over the course of having braces. I am also a bass singer.
Politically, I'm all over the map; if one was to take an average of all my positions on various issues, the result would probably be center-right (as most of those online political tests make me), but that isn't nearly the sum total. I suspect that I'll be making many politics-related posts over the course of my sojourn in the blogosphere, and know that I'll be making one or two today, so I'll let my positions come out there rather than make this the Longest Blog Post Ever™ and ensure that no one reads it thereby.
One other note before I go on to my next post: In keeping with the blog title, I do tend to ramble and have rather purist viewpoints on a lot of things. Just remember, patience is a virtue, and I will eventually get to the point... and if you disagree with that point, I just may decide to smite you.*
*This last comment was made entirely in jest.
As my partial list of interests in the previous post probably shows, I'm a gamer (of the tabletop pen-and-paper variety as well as more conventional computer gaming), a music student (bassist, to be precise), and political junkie. I do my level best to keep up with current events, and try not to form concrete opinions on something without thoroughly researching that thing first. I used to maintain a blog of sorts at my web forum, found here, though I updated very infrequently.
To address those interests in order, my gaming specifically consists of vast quantities of Dungeons & Dragons, a game I thoroughly enjoy and incidentally inspired the name of this blog (or rather, one of my characters did); some Halo and Halo 2 on other people's X-boxes, and several real-time strategy PC games, including Dawn of War and Warcraft 3. In D&D, I'm most fond of playing paladins, a preference that partially reflects my general outlook on life.
I am, as I mentioned above, a bassist, and a reasonably accomplished one if I do say so myself. I play in both the jazz and classical styles, though I got my start in bluegrass and actually started reading for bass from treble clef parts and guitar chord lines. Before taking up bass, I was a trumpet player of enough skill to sit at the top of the trumpet section of a state championship marching band (Forest Park Marching Rangers, Indiana class D champions, 2001 to be precise), but lost my ability to play over the course of having braces. I am also a bass singer.
Politically, I'm all over the map; if one was to take an average of all my positions on various issues, the result would probably be center-right (as most of those online political tests make me), but that isn't nearly the sum total. I suspect that I'll be making many politics-related posts over the course of my sojourn in the blogosphere, and know that I'll be making one or two today, so I'll let my positions come out there rather than make this the Longest Blog Post Ever™ and ensure that no one reads it thereby.
One other note before I go on to my next post: In keeping with the blog title, I do tend to ramble and have rather purist viewpoints on a lot of things. Just remember, patience is a virtue, and I will eventually get to the point... and if you disagree with that point, I just may decide to smite you.*
*This last comment was made entirely in jest.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Grand opening
This will be a mixed bag sort of thing. I'm not one to write much about my personal life aside from ranting when things suck, so this will mostly follow news, politics, and things that interest me, such as gaming developments and the wonderful world of music and music education. This is probably just as well, since blogs about people's personal lives (with a few notable exceptions) tend to suck mightily.
For now, guest replies will be accepted by the blog so that people don't have to sign up if they just want to leave a comment, though this will change quickly if I get a lot of spam. Enjoy reading. Or don't. Not like it makes a difference to me anyway.
For now, guest replies will be accepted by the blog so that people don't have to sign up if they just want to leave a comment, though this will change quickly if I get a lot of spam. Enjoy reading. Or don't. Not like it makes a difference to me anyway.
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