Attack of the Lizz Winstead Drones

Apis abortis mellifera, also known as the Planned Parenthood Honeybee, can exist as an attack drone. When their queen is threatened they will swarm. But remember: drones are still drones, and the honey badger doesn't care.

Note to self: If you want to stir up a bees nest of angry feminists, postulating on the psychological profile of a Planned Parenthood advocate (using public statements readily available to anyone with Internet access), is the way to go. Like the life of the honey badger, future conflict is inevitable.

The drones of any good insect colony dutifully attack when the queen is threatened; Lizz’s did just that. It reminded me of a night years ago in Fort Benning, GA, when I spent an entire sleepless night getting chomped on by fire ants—simultaneously amusing and annoying, but ultimately something that would not prevent the overall mission from being completed. I didn’t hate those little guys, just like I don’t hate Lizz’s drones, but I have no problem properly disposing of either nuisance.

In the span of 24 hours I’ve had roughly 2000 liberal feminists and their friends read my piece on the co-creator of the Jon Stewart show. I’ve also been called a “turd” by a juggalo on Twitter, although I didn’t have the heart to directly remind him that as much as I wish he’d be the face of Planned Parenthood, he’s not…he’s just a juggalo.

The comments I’ve received have been indicative of what conservatives can expect when they strike a nerve: blind rage, distortions and pseudo-intellectual gibberish. I will address them one-by-one.

Blind Rage: “I want to boil his nuts in Aunt Trudy’s cast-iron chicken pot and set a match to his wiener until it explodes like a cigar.”

This one is somewhat understandable, given the sisterly bond the writer shares with Winstead. What is most interesting, however, is the liberal feminist’s instinctual reaction to conjure up visions of penis-mutilation. The inner rage and hate that bubbles up from them at a moment’s notice is reminiscent of characters brought to life by “Emperor George Lucas.” Remember: anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side. But that’s okay ladies, because I can take your hate. Give me your hate. It dissipates into an invisible mist as it nears me; the love of the things I “bitterly cling” to (God, family and country) burns white hot, like the barrel of a S.A.W.

Distortions: You don’t believe abortions should be legal. Or available to women at all. … [Your] opinion doesn’t matter. She doesn’t need your permission, or your approval. I’m certain she doesn’t give a s**t.

Not once in my piece did I mention my preferences for U.S. public policy on abortion. Faced with someone who doesn’t fit into the wacky-religious stereotype, the drones are incapable of adapting to their new adversary and continue to act as if the conditions on the ground match what they were told in the deployment briefing. In regards to Lizz not giving a “s**t”, again we have a case of cognitive dissonance producing pure entertainment. The internal monologue goes: “Lizz doesn’t give a s**t, yet she tweeted out the story to all her followers. Does. Not. Compute. Error code. Resort to default: Doesn’t give a sh**t.”

Pseudo-intellectual gibberish: “It just reeks of unexamined male privilege. You can’t even conceive how a woman might see being a parent as a chore, even while suggesting that she’ll be the primary childraiser. It’s your blindness which marked you as a male, not your opinion on abortion.”

When I was at USC years ago I was tasked with reading a piece by Peggy McIntosh called White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. The message for guys like me: You’re white. You’re racist. You don’t even know it. They system is rigged in your favor and will always be that way.

I then went to a presentation during Black History Month and asked one of the speakers what I could do to combat racism, since he referenced “White Privilege.” Answer: Nothing. I was told I would always be “subconsciously racist.” How convenient. The guy who had plenty of black and Hispanic “battle buddies” he’d gladly die for in the military was subconsciously racist, which would also allow said Black History Month speaker to collect checks for the rest of his life.

Fast forward to yesterday, where it turns out Planned Parenthood’s drones are capable of passing Gender Studies 101. Like “white privilege,” “male privilege” is a great way to end the debate. If you agree with the premise, you’ve already lost.

My advice for conservatives who come into contact with the drones is to kill them with kindness. Smile. Get that glint in the eye that Mark Steyn has when he drops intellectual atom bombs on his opponents. Show them that you love life, and they will usually let you know what they think about death:

“There is a direct correlation between the Roe v Wade judgment and crime percentages. Approximately 18 years post Roe v Wade the national crime average started going down. There seems to be no other major influencer besides that to attribute this to. A lot of people disagree with that. Although this is not conclusive – one cannot argue that this is inconsequential to the equation, in my opinion.”

Great point there. Nothing like promoting abortion based on the selling point that it results in lower crime rates. I don’t think I need to explain why that’s not a winner at the ballot box. Here’s a clue: Margaret Sanger.

Now, for you honey badgers, go find yourself a bees nest to upset. I have a favorite clip of Mark Steyn I’d like to watch for the 100th time.

An open letter to self-righteous non-writers everywhere

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From time to time all writers must deal with friends, family or acquaintances who look down on their craft. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of being a writer isn’t writer’s block, but the know-it-all non-writer who thinks they can churn out interesting content on a regular basis without the slightest bit of effort.

Let me spell it out for some of you non-writers in ways that you can understand: You can’t.

Some of us “bloggers” wake up early five days a week and go to jobs. Those jobs often require us to work late into the night, and that’s not even counting the time it takes to commute to and from work. That’s not including the time it takes to then prepare dinner at hours sane people don’t prepare dinner, pay bills, and handle any number of other responsibilities we have before hoping online to find something worthwhile to write about.

It’s not good enough to just write, because it has to be done well. In order to get people to return to our pages we have to have a unique voice, keep grammatical mistakes to a minimum, respond to feedback, and be willing to put in extra time finding links and videos to support our arguments. Sometimes photos aren’t readily available, or we have to Photoshop our own. We do this, and the vast majority of us aren’t getting paid to do to so—we do it because we love the written word. We love our craft and want to accurately articulate the things that motivate and inspire us in ways that will do the same for someone else.

Given the above sentiments, I hope you can understand how a writer might take offense when someone whose daily experience with “writing” is limited to text messaging his girlfriend in emoticons, or a few hastily made scribbles on a grocery list once a week, implies that he could write a blog or a book if he wanted a hobby.

Here’s the bottom line: You haven’t written a blog or a book, and you’re not a writer. Don’t pretend like anyone can do it, because it’s not true. People who write on a regular basis have a discipline that the “I could do that if I felt like it” crowd will never have, so stop kidding yourself.

When you, the self righteous non-writer, have put together a blog and delivered quality writing three times a week for at least a year, give me a call. Until then, go back to texting your girlfriend using as many acronyms as possible.

Best,

Doug

Super Saiyans Are Real Kid: He’ll Go Far…If He Keeps His Shirt On.

You can't go full on Super Saiyan on the first try, my friend! It takes years of training...

I’m going to break ranks and talk about the latest viral video, Super Saiyans are real. If you haven’t seen it, all you need to know is that a young man who’s been a fan of Dragon Ball Z cartoons makes a video. Long story short, he wants to be like the main hero, who appears to be inspired by Shaolin monks. Instead of going through the years of mental and physical training it would take to actually become a Shaolin monk, the young man hopes that by believing with all his heart and soul he can “go Super Saiyan” on his first try. He says:

This is something that’s been in my heart for a long time. All I ever wanted to be in life with a Super Saiyan…I just feel like when I see superheroes—why can’t we be that exciting and awesome? Why can’t I I wake up and if I’m late for school just teleport there and be on time? During that time of meditation and thinking about it I realized something: all of that is possible and more. It’s all in here. It’s all in your mind.

Think about anything you ever tried to do. You thought to yourself, “Man, I could never do that.” But then when you practiced, guess what? You got better at it and you actually achieved it, didn’t you? It’s the same thing when you look at super powers. Of course it sounds absurd when you first look at it, but if you actually set your mind to it and believe, you can achieve it. I saw a Chinese man set a piece of paper on fire with just the power of his hands. You’re going to tell me that was fake? No, it wasn’t fake! He channeled that energy from within. He channeled that energy through the creation of his mind…

I feel like anything you set your mind to, your mind can create that force. Your mind is just a powerful machine. Whatever you set it to and you believe and work towards achieving, you can do it. You can do it. And I believe I can be a Super Saiyan. This is my first time exposing this side of me to the world, and I know a lot of you are laughing…I’m going to attempt to go Super Saiyan on film.

All joking aside, the kid is onto something. What you think and what you believe will ultimately determine who you are. If you want something really badly and you put your mind to it, in many cases your preparation and persistence can mold reality to your will. Over the course of a lifetime, those pictures you create in your mind can become a physical reality. If this young man applies that very same mindset to his schooling and professional life, he’ll go rather far. Taking off his shirt and screaming in the workplace wouldn’t be a good idea, but overall he has a very inspiring message.

Where our young Super Saiyan erred was in thinking that he could take a short cut to success. There are no short cuts. In many ways the reality he sought to create DID happen—he now IS “Super Saiyan” to well over 475,000 people! Unfortunately, it’s not quite the reality he imagined because he didn’t put the time and effort into going about it the right way. Just as I wouldn’t walk into a gym and try and bench 300 lbs. without proper training, one shouldn’t delve into realms more closely associated with Shaolin monks and Buddhist masters without doing their homework.

Looking at the “likes” and “dislikes” on Youtube, it doesn’t take long to figure out why so many people enjoy the video. Deep down, you can’t help but like a guy who believes something with every fiber of his being. He wants to believe in Super Saiyans, but others want to believe in love, the ideology that guides their life, religion or any number of things. As we get older we tend to get more cynical, and it’s nice to see someone with youthful innocence in a society that seeks to strip it from children at an earlier and earlier age. I’d be willing to bet the meanest comments left on the young man’s Youtube page are left by people who have given up on themselves. The nicest comments probably come from people who know that the kid’s mindset won’t allow him to break the laws of physics anytime soon, but that it will come in handy when he graduates from college and enters the real world.

Keep practicing, kid. Keep your shirt on and tone it down a bit and you’re going to go far.

Linsanity drives racially insecure Floyd Mayweather mad

In one corner, we have a bitter boxer obsessed with race. In the other we have a nice kid who just wanted to play basketball who ended up in the feel good story of the week. I'm calling Jeremy Lin for a TKO in the ring of public opinion.

Basketball kid from Harvard has a tough time landing a gig in the NBA. Spends time on his brother’s couch. He gets the call on the biggest stage in the world, New York City, and has a string of games that’s made for a Hollywood movie. Feel good story of the week, right? Wrong. Not for everyone. That’s because racially insecure guys like boxer Floyd Mayweather exist.

Mayweather posted on Twitter: “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.” …

“Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine,” he tweeted later Monday. “As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized.”

No, Floyd—people are criticizing you because you’re an idiot. Should I go down the list of black basketball stars that the sporting world has (rightfully) fawned over for their athletic prowess over the last few decades? Sometimes, black athletes are so popular that years after they retire people still riot over their shoes… As a former kid from Chicago who grew up following Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, wore their shoes, collected their Wheaties cereal boxes and dragged my parents to get their cheesy championship t-shirts the morning after, I hereby proclaim Floyd a fool (knowing full-well that he could break my neck with one punch if he ever met me in person).

There really was no reason for Mayweather to inject race into the matter, but like Samuel L. Jackson he’s obsessed with it. Whereas the majority of the population just wants to get caught up in a really nice story about a nice kid, malcontents like Mayweather need to somehow make it about the downtrodden, millionaire black basketball players who aren’t getting the media exposure they deserve. Hyphenated Americans like Mayweather are usually a bitter bunch, but luckily more and more Americans see themselves as just that—American. There’s no need for weirdly capitalizing “White” or “Black” for most folks, and that’s a good sign. It’s just too bad that a big ball of debt is about to rain down on us like a Jeremy Lin three pointer at the buzzer, one of the rare cases where that analogy would actually be a bad thing.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Driven by Guilt, but will Garfield Deliver?

What do you do if you vowed to always do what is right, but also to never to take a man's life, when the right thing in a given situation IS to kill? We probably won't find out with The Amazing Spider-Man, but the trailer is still good.

The new Amazing Spider-Man trailer is out, and I must say that it’s better than expected. In November 2010, I blogged about liberal Hollywood activist Martin Sheen playing the role of Uncle Ben, and whether or not that would change his famous motto to “With great power comes other people’s money.” The message of the movie is still ultimately up for grabs, but at least the cinematography looks slick. While the franchise as a whole probably should have sat on the shelf for a few more years before an attempt at a reboot was made, it looks as if Andrew Garfield might turn out a respectable film after all.

Comic legend Stan Lee always said that Spider-Man was, “the superhero who could be you!” Peter Parker was picked on in high school. He had girl problems. He was skinny. That’s true, but what what was always so powerful about the character was the guilt Peter had to deal with for having let his uncle’s murderer get away when he had a chance to stop him. The message that one should always do the right thing is one that isn’t heard too often these days, in part because moral relativists have convinced large segments of the population that there isn’t a right thing. Because this new movie appears to concentrate on how the disappearance of Peter’s parents affected his life, more so than his culpability in Uncle Ben’s death, your Spider-Sense should be tingling.

Peter Parker has historically been driven by guilt, rightfully manifested when he refuses to so much as lift a finger (with his new super powers) to stop the man that would wind up killing his Uncle. Based solely on the trailer, The Amazing Spider-Man may be driven by guilt of a different kind, when he literally and figuratively gives Doctor Curt Conners a hand and it all goes wrong. It’s tough to say how these changes will impact the film, but the emotional weight of the character might suffer because of it. In one instance Peter must endure sleepless nights ridding the world of evil because he once let evil get away. In the other instance he must rid the world of evil because perhaps he was just too darned nice of guy. Or will he suffer both? It all depends on how much the writers decided to stay faithful to the canon at this point.

Finally, the one weakness Spider-Man stories have always had, and will continue to have for the foreseeable future, is that the character refuses to kill anyone. Anyone. That includes psychopathic nuts with superpowers. He makes a point to always use the minimum amount of force necessary to subdue an opponent, but has always ruled out ending their life (no matter how many times that villain returns to kill innocent victims). Sometimes the responsible thing to do is to take a life—something cops have to deal with every day. I’ve never understood why the writers of Spider-Man didn’t get that.

Regardless, on July 7th, 2012, check out The Amazing Spider-Man and let me know what you think.

Update: Head on over to Hotair to get Allahpundit’s take.

Basic Training Cured My ADD. Too Bad Drill Sergeants Don’t Come In Pill Form.

I wasn't given a prescription for Basic Training by a doctor (Drill Sergeants don't come in pill form), but it cured my so-called ADD. Who knew.

When I was a kid my mom wondered aloud whether or not I had ADD. She mentioned that some of my teachers thought the same thing. Although I was never placed on Ritalin, it was at that time that I was introduced to the word. Years later I was assigned to report to Fort Benning, GA for Basic Training. In a matter of weeks my “ADD” was cured! All it took was a Drill Sergeant and the life of an infantryman to sweat the ADD out of me. No drugs necessary. It turns out I was just a kid with a lot of energy, who also happened to be a bit of a joker. Nothing a few thousand push-ups, mud and cold couldn’t cure. It’s because of my own experience that I can’t help but be skeptical about many of the 3 million American kids who take drugs to “focus” each year. L. Alan Sroufe, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, is on the same wavelength:

Attention-deficit drugs increase concentration in the short term, which is why they work so well for college students cramming for exams. But when given to children over long periods of time, they neither improve school achievement nor reduce behavior problems. The drugs can also have serious side effects…

Sadly, few physicians and parents seem to be aware of what we have been learning about the lack of effectiveness of these drugs.

What gets publicized are short-term results and studies on brain differences among children. Indeed, there are a number of incontrovertible facts that seem at first glance to support medication. It is because of this partial foundation in reality that the problem with the current approach to treating children has been so difficult to see.

While I don’t subscribe to the Tom Cruise wing of the anti-drug alliance, it seems like the knee jerk reaction in the United States is to pump someone up with drugs the moment there is a problem. It’s hard work to get to the root of a problem, but it’s rather easy to find a doctor who will scribble some words on a piece of paper so you can feel better before the week is out. But no one really asks if you actually ARE better.

Over the past few years I had a job that was rather stressful. It was rewarding work, but the pay wasn’t great and the demands for excellence were high. I had trouble paying my bills (DC is an expensive city, and I racked up a lot of debt in the form of student loans). I was in a long distance relationship. I started having weird heart palpitations in the middle of the day. I couldn’t sleep. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, even though I’m a healthy male who doesn’t drink or smoke—and I exercise regularly. I talked with a number of people, all of whom cared deeply for me and wanted me to do what was in my best interest. Almost all of them indicated that I might need to resort to some sort of drugs to handle my anxiety. These trusted friends also indicated that if I saw some of the doctors they recommended (again, out of concern for my health), that I would most likely end up getting a prescription of some kind.

I determined that the financial, professional, and romantic pressures coming at me from all sides should be alleviated first. I quit my job, and found one that set me on a better course for my long term goals. I lowered some of my student loan payments just enough to give me the breathing room I needed to live and work in DC. While it wasn’t initially on the docket, I ended up getting married. In a relatively short span of time my sleep returned, my heart palpitations stopped, and my chest no longer felt as though The Incredible Hulk was standing on it. By making tough choices that were connected to the root problem, I was able to avoid drugs—which in my particular case would have only been masking the core issues at hand.

Professor Sroufe is on the ball when he says:

However brain functioning is measured, [studies geared towards the “inborn defect”] tell us nothing about whether the observed anomalies were present at birth or whether they resulted from trauma, chronic stress or other early-childhood experiences. One of the most profound findings in behavioral neuroscience in recent years has been the clear evidence that the developing brain is shaped by experience.

It is certainly true that large numbers of children have problems with attention, self-regulation and behavior. But are these problems because of some aspect present at birth? Or are they caused by experiences in early childhood? These questions can be answered only by studying children and their surroundings from before birth through childhood and adolescence, as my colleagues at the University of Minnesota and I have been doing for decades (emphasis added).

Again, none of this is meant to suggest that there aren’t biochemical conditions that can (and should) be treated with medications. The question at hand is whether or not we’re doing ourselves a disservice by going to quick-fix prescription drugs whenever it seems like some serious introspection might result in a handful of really tough decisions (e.g., Do I need to quit my job?).

We’ve become a nation that’s inflated with unearned self-esteem. When a problem arises, it’s not us who need to change—it’s our biochemistry! While this may be true in some cases, I’m inclined to think that millions of kids are needlessly taking drugs each year.

And if you’ve made it this far, take a break with some Jimmy Eat World. And remember, “I’m not crazy, because I take the right pills every day.”

The UCMJ works. The Uniform Code of Mujahideen Justice Doesn’t Exist.

Remember Fallujah? The people screaming the loudest about urinating Marines don't. The Uniform Code of Military Justice has worked for over half a century. The Taliban operate outside the rule of law. Case closed.

The world collectively yawned when Momar Gaddafi was sodomized with a crude instrument in his last bloody moments. Egypt’s Hussein Tantawi has a military whose first major objective after the fall of Hosni Mubarak was to strip down female protestors, drag them by the hair, and stomp on their chests. North Korea runs modern-day gulags, and it’s somehow fodder for late night comics. By and large American liberals are tight lipped about the barbaric nature of the enemies we face around the globe, so it’s rather peculiar that the video apparently depicting U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban has got them talking.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has put out a statement calling for those found guilty to have the book thrown at them:

“We trust that this disturbing incident will be promptly investigated in a transparent manner and that appropriate actions will be taken based on the results of that investigation. Any guilty parties must be punished to the full extent allowed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and by relevant American laws.”

Missing from CAIR’s website is a condemnation of the tactics used by the Taliban, or the call for their members to be tried by an Islamic equivalent of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The fact remains: The Uniformed Code of Mujahideen Justice doesn’t exist. In 2004, a judicial system also wasn’t set up by al-Qaeda in Iraq when they charred American civilians in Fallujah, hung them from a bridge, and danced around their desecrated remains.

Also missing from the current debate are calls for Secretary of Leon Panetta to step down, as was the demand de rigueur for Donald Rumsfeld when details surrounding Abu Ghraib came to light. Those looking for intellectual consistency from the left will not find it, but the broader point is not missed by fair-minded folks: the Uniform Code of Military Justice works. When American troops lose their military manner they are held accountable for their actions. Liberalism’s self-flagellation brigades don’t understand that, but most Americans do.

Lynndie England and those responsible for Abu Ghraib were court-martialed and convicted. For every rare instance where an Army Specialist violates the UCMJ, there are countless others who never deviate from the Seven Army Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. For the outlier Marines that falter, there are battalions defined by the Marine Corps Values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

American soldiers deployed overseas are facing an enemy that uses women and children as shields, hide in hospitals and mosques, and don’t wear a standard uniform. Terrorists take advantage of Rules of Engagement crafted more for scoring points with the United Nations cocktail circuit than winning a war and securing the peace. Then, the politically correct chattering class wrings its hands over the blow back they’re largely responsible for.

The last thing the Pentagon wants is this generation’s John Kerry testifying before Congress that American war fighters are “reminiscent of Genghis Khan.” The top brass will see to it that Uniform Code of Military Justice does its job, as it has for over half a century. Liberals attempt to put the entire military on trial in the court of public opinion every time they see an opening. Once again, it’s up to conservatives to provide the proper defense.

American Sniper: More Dead Terrorists Than Sales By Occupiers?

How odd is it that former Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle, has killed more terrorists than the number of “Occupy” protesters who will buy his book?

On Saturday I bought American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. On Sunday I started reading it. Tonight, I finished it. Needless to say, it was worth the $27.00 I laid down on the counter. If you’re a fan of Marcus Luttrell, you’ll want to add this one to your collection. If you’re a fan of Harry “surrender monkey” Reid, you might not. My full review will come in the near future, but there is one excerpt that I think sums up the essence of the book:

One night a little later on, we were in an exhausting firefight. Ten of us spent roughly forty-eight hours in the second story of an old, abandoned brick building, fighting in hundred-degree-plus heat wearing full armor. Bullets flew in, demolishing the walls around us practically nonstop. The only break we took was to reload.

Finally, as the sun came up in the morning, the sound of gunfire and bullets hitting brick stopped. The fight was over. It was eerily quiet.

When the Marines came in to relieve us , they found every man in the room either slumped against a wall or collapsed on the floor, dressing wounds or just soaking in the situation.

One of the Marines outside took an American flag and hoisted it over the position. Someone else played the National Anthem—I have no idea where the music came from, but the symbolism and the way it spoke to the soul was overwhelming; it remains one of my most powerful memories.

Every battle-weary man rose, went to the window, and saluted. The words of the music echoed in each of us as we watched the Stars and Stripes wave literally in dawn’s early light. The reminder of what we were fighting for caused tears as well as blood and sweat to run freely from all of us, (American Sniper, 84-85).

American Sniper is a very telling book. Patriots exist. But the patriotism displayed by Chris Kyle is not instilled in children today. It’s ironically very foreign to them, which is why Kyle’s run-in with anti-war protestors earlier in the book has such a profound effect on him. Once upon a time an overwhelming majority of Americans knew what it was the Chris Kyle’s of the world stood for, even if they could never know what it was like to be a SEAL. Once upon a time an overwhelming majority of Americans were rooted in the same love of country, even if military service wasn’t their calling.

Today, it’s different. It seems as though decades of moral and cultural relativism, taught in universities and reenforced through media, has taken its toll. The country is desperate for someone—anyone—who can articulate why the bedrock values the country was built on (e.g., limited government, free markets, and a strong national defense), are still relevant today. The Tea Party and the “Occupy” movements have charted two very different paths for Americans to walk down, and those in the middle are confused as to which road to take. American Sniper is a portrait of the type of American we should all aspire to be, and while Chris Kyle isn’t particularly political, the principles that guide him are deeply tied to our political discourse.

I highly suggest reading American Sniper. When you’re done you’ll have a deeper respect for the work that guys like Chris do, but you’ll also see why modern American conservatism is the last, best hope to preserving our great nation.

Update: Please pray for the Kyle family. Chris was murdered on February 2, 2013.

Update: The expanded book review for American Sniper is now up.
Related: No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account … of a great book

Why Marriage Matters

It wasn’t until my own marriage took place that I realized how important the institution of marriage really is. The little bits of wisdom I laughed at in my youth have piled up high over the years, to the point where I now have a silo filled with shoulda, woulda, couldas.

Humans are like metal, all of us with our purities and imperfections. When two people come together in a healthy marriage, a mental and spiritual metallurgy takes place, similar to the super alloys we see in the aerospace industry (admittedly not the most romantic analogy, but I’m going for accuracy, ladies).

Imagine the Air Force’s best fighter jet, and the kind of stresses that it must withstand during the course of its lifetime. When two people commit to spend their lives together, in essence they become one, and the implications of that union are felt immediately by the psyche. A married man, who knows he has a wife by his side, carries himself in a different manner. He’s much more confident and mentally strong, because he knows that if he ever stumbles there is someone there for him. A married man knows that there is nothing he can not accomplish, because a support structure is there to buttress him from the weight of workplace and professional setbacks, criticism, and bad breaks. The professional arena rewards confidence backed up with results, and it’s much easier to concentrate on performance when someone behind the scenes is stoking the fires of optimism in the heart, sanding the rough edges of the soul, and making sure that the creative wells never run dry.

Anyone who has forged metal knows it’s an intense process—like marriage—which is why “no fault” divorces and celebrity marriage fiascoes, complete with the drive-through divorce days or months later, are so destructive to our societal fabric. That’s not to say there are instances where it “doesn’t work out,” but by and large society’s expectations about marriage, what it is, and what it entails happens to be completely detached from reality. Sadly, we live in a society that nourishes narcissism. Individuals are expected to view themselves as the center of the universe, which might not be a problem if they actually knew how the universe worked…

The celestial bodies balanced in space (much more delicately than we realize) spin and circle and dance around each other, but there’s a synchronization to it all. One who views himself as the earth in his marriage shouldn’t forget that he needs the moon. The Sun is the brightest light in the sky, but if the planets and stars around it were aligned differently it might very well collapse in on itself. There’s a give and play to marriage that isn’t about one person not getting their way—nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a relief to the mind, the body, and the soul when one person can periodically give up control because they know their partner is going to lead them to someplace they wanted to go.

Two people who live together for a long time can have a healthy relationship, but there is an almost-unconscious change that happens to the married couple. When someone has taken an official oath to be faithful their spouse, those last little tinctures of doubt or questions about fidelity fade away. Those two individuals—again, now one—know that they have become the sole proprietor of their destiny, and the incentive to succeed goes off the charts.

While we can never go back and erase past mistakes, we can prevent others from walking into similar minefields. If this blog prevents even one person from getting hurt or from hurting someone else, I’ll have considered it a success. Marriage matters. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Kal Penn: Mocking Christians Is More Profitable Than Working for Obama.

Kal Penn will run to the Huffington Post crying if Joel Stein cracks a few jokes about Indians, but is perfectly okay making millions punching out priests (in 3D) for his stoner flicks. Maybe they should title his next movie Harold and Kumar Go Hypocrite.

Kal Penn once made a lot of money, in part, by making movies that make fun of Christians and Conservatives. He then got a job working for the Obama Administration as part of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Why?

“I’ve been thinking about [moving into politics] for a while. I love what I do as an actor. I couldn’t love it more…probably from the time I was a kid, I really enjoyed that balance between the arts and public service.”

Public service jobs don’t pay as much as making fun of Christians, so Penn returned to Hollywood to make A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (or perhaps to Penn making fun of Christians is a public service?) Who knows. The one thing we do know is that he’s a bit more prickly when it comes to making fun of Indians; when liberal Joel Stein had some fun at the expense of Kal Penn’s heritage he couldn’t quite hide his hypocrisy:

Gags about impossibly spicy food? I’d never heard those before! Multiple Gods with multiple arms? Multiple laughs! Recounting racial slurs like “dot-head”? Oh, Mr. Stein, is too good! I don’t know how he comes up with such unique bits.

Indian jokes are off limits for Kal Penn, but Jesus in a strip club is hilarious! Indian jokes are off limits, but punching out priests (in 3D) is holiday fun you can’t miss! Comedians are only funny if they go after everyone. Guys like Kal Penn are just intellectual bullies, making jokes at the expense of people who don’t fight back. They’re like Kevin Smith, who is perfectly fine making horror movies about fundamentalist Christians, but scared stiff (or should I say Silent Bob) on jihad.

Remember when Kal Penn was robbed at gunpoint in Washington, DC? Instead of penning a scene for A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas that ridicules gun control laws that benefit violent criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens, Penn opts to…shoot Santa in the face. Personally, I’d rather shoot criminals in the face.

Good luck with the movie, Kal. I hope you bring in sleighs full of cash. I just wish you realized what a hypocrite you are.

Jesus in a strip club is hilarious to Kal Penn. Jokes told by Joel Stein about the food Indian people eat? Blasphemy.