The airwaves crackle with speculation about the Georgia woman who just couldn't face her long-planned wedding. Law enforcement is deciding if they should prosecute or try to recoup the almost 100,000 dollars spent when it was believed that she had been abducted.
What's the problem? Her fiance states that he still loves her and wants to marry her. The vendors for the 600-guest wedding will get paid anyway, without any of the work. The families' pride will eventually be restored and their embarrassment erased.
What does the hoopla say about the state of our society? In other eras, without the mass communication apparatus available today, people could just disappear, and often did. When someone drops out now, we assume foul play because we are so inured to its occurrence. Is it her fault that a manhunt was launched? Her initial claim that she had been abducted was patently false; her real act of running away was an emotional jolt to her family but surely not against the law, nor was it for the California housewife who chucked everything and went to Las Vegas.
Or is there an obscure statute somewhere that prohibits us from shipping out with no notice and no apology? If we are not avoiding debts or crimes, why can't we go wherever we want?
Our society is so organized and our identities so rigidly bound with numbers and personal history that we can no longer escape ourselves. Wherever we go, we can be traced: social security numbers, names, dates of birth, bank account numbers, fingerprint archives, Internet droppings, medical and dental records. Where does it stop?
Communication and intelligence-sharing is needed for security purposes but just how deep into our private lives should Big Brother intrude? Personal freedom means the freedom to be ourselves, to go wherever, and do whatever, we want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Do others have, in fact, the right to know who and where we are?
Look at the almost-bride's eyes in every photograph. She looks like a terrified rabbit seeking a way to bolt - and finally she did. Poor little rabbit, you didn't get very far, did you?
The occasional urge to flee, to run off to join the circus, to tie up our goods in a scarf on a stick and set off to see the world, tempts all of us at times.
Forget it. You'll be found, brought back, publicly humiliated, and presented with a bill for the money it cost to search for you.
No wonder we read books, watch movies, and play games rooted in fantasy. Was it a coincidence that both the George bride and the California housewife both headed for Las Vegas, the ultimate fantasy? We are no longer allowed a life of adventure or exploration, spending our days, as Thoreau envisioned, leading lives of "quiet desperation."
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34565
Monday 22 February 2016
Homosexuals Have Higher Intelligence
I find that when people dump all the preconceived notions of society, they tend to be better observers. Therefore in my professional opinion and observational studies of human nature through people watching: A Gay American in that regard does have an advantage over others in observing things, he/she/it feels, sees or studies. As long as the individual or test subject in this case keeps an open mind, much is possible.
Many believe that people who are homosexual and travel against the norm of society, are better observers provided they do not cloud their views by assuming. Of course one would not have to be gay to do that, but as a whole you will find a higher intelligence level in homosexuals; less clouded issues of perception. Gay men tend to be good judges of character of women and other men. I think this is because they spend much time talking with them and many women open up their feelings to them, because, well they are easy to talk to. A gay man can provide empathy that another straight man in society would not wish to show or has psychologically blocked from his realm of thought. Most of this is due to social engineering and nurture to hide one's feelings.
In that regard outsiders studying Western Culture, behavior, societies and the human brain are able to study without prejudice of what they will find. For instance when Gandhi said about Western Culture "I think it would be a good idea," he did so through is observation of the concept, incidentally; so do I and maybe someday we might want to re-evaluate what we have built and fix it. When Ayn Rand discussed Capitalism and socialist views, which stifle the innovation and when Charles Dickens predicted much of what we see today; they did so as observers. A gay man presently in this period is outside the norm of society, especially in some places like Billings or Butte Montana since there are Oil Field Boys and Mining Men. They are rough, tough guys there, by way of genetic breeding and nurture, partly also due to the hostile weather conditions in higher latitudes. I hope this makes sense to you. It is but another theory and observation. Never turn my brain off and always seek to study everything I see, hear, feel, touch, smell, receive and observe. Do you? Maybe you might think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34487
Many believe that people who are homosexual and travel against the norm of society, are better observers provided they do not cloud their views by assuming. Of course one would not have to be gay to do that, but as a whole you will find a higher intelligence level in homosexuals; less clouded issues of perception. Gay men tend to be good judges of character of women and other men. I think this is because they spend much time talking with them and many women open up their feelings to them, because, well they are easy to talk to. A gay man can provide empathy that another straight man in society would not wish to show or has psychologically blocked from his realm of thought. Most of this is due to social engineering and nurture to hide one's feelings.
In that regard outsiders studying Western Culture, behavior, societies and the human brain are able to study without prejudice of what they will find. For instance when Gandhi said about Western Culture "I think it would be a good idea," he did so through is observation of the concept, incidentally; so do I and maybe someday we might want to re-evaluate what we have built and fix it. When Ayn Rand discussed Capitalism and socialist views, which stifle the innovation and when Charles Dickens predicted much of what we see today; they did so as observers. A gay man presently in this period is outside the norm of society, especially in some places like Billings or Butte Montana since there are Oil Field Boys and Mining Men. They are rough, tough guys there, by way of genetic breeding and nurture, partly also due to the hostile weather conditions in higher latitudes. I hope this makes sense to you. It is but another theory and observation. Never turn my brain off and always seek to study everything I see, hear, feel, touch, smell, receive and observe. Do you? Maybe you might think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34487
The 7 Deadly Sins: New American Icons?
With the focus of the world on the change of power in Rome, now seems like an appropriate time to look at some tenets of that ancient faith as developed through the centuries.
We all break one of the 10 commandments occasionally, and feel terribly guilty afterwards. The 7 deadly sins are something else: not only do we too frequently display them, but our culture seems bent on idolizing them! Consider:
Pride
The arrogance of believing that our way is the only way and asserting our certainty about how the world should work is exemplified by President Bush and his right-wing minions. The fact that he won re-election confirms that our citizens have no aversion to excessive pride, no matter what their particular religious doctrine prescribes.
Envy
"Keeping up with the Joneses" is a cultural pursuit touching all levels - we want what others have, we want it now, and we will build up our personal debt (just like the National Debt) to get it. Not only do we crave the expensive toys that confer rarefied social status, we rejoice in the fall of our competition and take secret delight in the firing of a coworker who beat us out of a promotion or the fall of a public personality who unfairly seemed to have it all.
Anger
Road rage entered the common vernacular when it became a common occurrence. We no longer publicly counsel patience and personal restraint, we laud the value of being upfront and aggressive. Business executives strive to be straight shooters and drivers, seeing self-contained, mild workers as passive and non-managerial material. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it any more" is a rallying cry for any cause we promote.
Sloth
While we continue to extol the virtues of hard work and personal effort, we quietly buy our lottery tickets, wile away our time at the alluring casinos now dotting the national landscape, and enter every contest where we might get something for nothing. Surf the Internet and try to count the ubiquitous and seductive ads promising monstrous income levels without work, without effort, without thought, without meaning.
Greed
We are constantly hearing of scams that have left hundreds of people penniless, homeless, or otherwise terribly hurt. Why are so many victimized? Trace the swindle to its core and there sits greed - the promise of a better investment return, more income, making a small fortune. While most of us are well aware that something that sounds too good to be true probably isn't, we still fall for it if the reward sounds good enough. Do you think the spammers would keep sending out those emails "I am the widow of the late Nkrumo Obol who amassed 25 million dollars . . . " if they never received one response?
Gluttony
Ah! Super-sized America. Two thirds of us are overweight, four in ten clinically obese. Do we have a national metabolic problem? No, we are a nation of guzzlers: we eat too, too much food, consume voluminous cheap foreign goods to the tune of billions of dollars per year, and siphon the majority of the earth's oil into our gluttonous SUVs. We have lost all sense of moderation and balance. We live to consume and then poison our environment with the garbage such overconsumption produces.
Lust
Forty percent of marriages involve at least one affair. Our religious leaders, sports stars, celebrities and even a former President, indulge their libidos when opportunity combines with personal power. Sex has become the vehicle for selling anything and everything, its economic value proved over and over. Desperate housewives and Internet pornography are not mere "lusting in my heart" but reveal the lurid landscape we have developed that creates superstars out of those who exude sex and virility as if it were a talent or a sign of character. We have birthed industries and empires based solely on gossip, rumor, and the promise of sexually-oriented details. Plastic surgeons become millionaires over the bodies they rework for the goal of increasing desirability and eliciting greater lust in the eyes of the beholder.
Are these sins really deadly? Regardless of the "moral value" vote trumpeted after the 2004 elections, few of us regard all manifestations of these sins as totally unacceptable. We may be tempted, we may fall short of our aspirations, we expect to occasionally slip. But when we elevate such personal and characterological weaknesses to the level of cultural goals, we pay the price: a violent, dangerous, and self-destructive society that demands ever more aggressive security, protection, and policing, and produces a burgeoning prison population.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34563
We all break one of the 10 commandments occasionally, and feel terribly guilty afterwards. The 7 deadly sins are something else: not only do we too frequently display them, but our culture seems bent on idolizing them! Consider:
Pride
The arrogance of believing that our way is the only way and asserting our certainty about how the world should work is exemplified by President Bush and his right-wing minions. The fact that he won re-election confirms that our citizens have no aversion to excessive pride, no matter what their particular religious doctrine prescribes.
Envy
"Keeping up with the Joneses" is a cultural pursuit touching all levels - we want what others have, we want it now, and we will build up our personal debt (just like the National Debt) to get it. Not only do we crave the expensive toys that confer rarefied social status, we rejoice in the fall of our competition and take secret delight in the firing of a coworker who beat us out of a promotion or the fall of a public personality who unfairly seemed to have it all.
Anger
Road rage entered the common vernacular when it became a common occurrence. We no longer publicly counsel patience and personal restraint, we laud the value of being upfront and aggressive. Business executives strive to be straight shooters and drivers, seeing self-contained, mild workers as passive and non-managerial material. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it any more" is a rallying cry for any cause we promote.
Sloth
While we continue to extol the virtues of hard work and personal effort, we quietly buy our lottery tickets, wile away our time at the alluring casinos now dotting the national landscape, and enter every contest where we might get something for nothing. Surf the Internet and try to count the ubiquitous and seductive ads promising monstrous income levels without work, without effort, without thought, without meaning.
Greed
We are constantly hearing of scams that have left hundreds of people penniless, homeless, or otherwise terribly hurt. Why are so many victimized? Trace the swindle to its core and there sits greed - the promise of a better investment return, more income, making a small fortune. While most of us are well aware that something that sounds too good to be true probably isn't, we still fall for it if the reward sounds good enough. Do you think the spammers would keep sending out those emails "I am the widow of the late Nkrumo Obol who amassed 25 million dollars . . . " if they never received one response?
Gluttony
Ah! Super-sized America. Two thirds of us are overweight, four in ten clinically obese. Do we have a national metabolic problem? No, we are a nation of guzzlers: we eat too, too much food, consume voluminous cheap foreign goods to the tune of billions of dollars per year, and siphon the majority of the earth's oil into our gluttonous SUVs. We have lost all sense of moderation and balance. We live to consume and then poison our environment with the garbage such overconsumption produces.
Lust
Forty percent of marriages involve at least one affair. Our religious leaders, sports stars, celebrities and even a former President, indulge their libidos when opportunity combines with personal power. Sex has become the vehicle for selling anything and everything, its economic value proved over and over. Desperate housewives and Internet pornography are not mere "lusting in my heart" but reveal the lurid landscape we have developed that creates superstars out of those who exude sex and virility as if it were a talent or a sign of character. We have birthed industries and empires based solely on gossip, rumor, and the promise of sexually-oriented details. Plastic surgeons become millionaires over the bodies they rework for the goal of increasing desirability and eliciting greater lust in the eyes of the beholder.
Are these sins really deadly? Regardless of the "moral value" vote trumpeted after the 2004 elections, few of us regard all manifestations of these sins as totally unacceptable. We may be tempted, we may fall short of our aspirations, we expect to occasionally slip. But when we elevate such personal and characterological weaknesses to the level of cultural goals, we pay the price: a violent, dangerous, and self-destructive society that demands ever more aggressive security, protection, and policing, and produces a burgeoning prison population.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34563
National ID Card? Congress Approves Electronic ID Card
Are we moving towards an Orwellian 1984 scenario in the United States? Are we still truly the land of the free? Many are predicting severe limitations to our way of life in light of the impending requirement of a national ID card.
On May 10, 2005, Congress approved the "Real ID Act" as part of a military spending bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly.
So, what's the big deal? Currently, the federal government has no method for tracking citizens within the United States. If you fly to Las Vegas for a week, the government cannot track you without obtaining a warrant based on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The "Real ID Act" potentially kills the advertising slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Effective May 2008, all Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards containing electronically encoded personal information. The personal information will include your name, sex, address, date of birth and a digital photograph at a minimum. All of this information will be kept in a national database. Anyone without the ID card will be unable to fly, open a bank account, enter federal buildings and, most likely, obtain a job. In short, we are looking at a database that allows the federal government to track your every move, finances, spending activities, etc.
From a practical standpoint, the Department of Homeland Security will put forth specifications for the cards. It is believed that the cards will be issued through state DMV offices and may be incorporated into drivers' licenses. To obtain the card, citizens will be required to produce a photo identification, proof of address, social security number card and possibly finger prints or retinal scans. The information will then be digitized and put into a federal database. The particularly scary element of this is that there are no limitations on what the can be required by the Department of Homeland Security. Can DNA samples be far behind?
Backers of the Act argue that it is needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses and prevent terrorists from "hiding in the open." Opponents argue the cards constitute a national ID card, gross violation of civil rights and platform for massive identity theft. Whether you support the Act or not, it is undeniable that big brother will have you in his sights beginning May 2008.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/35417
On May 10, 2005, Congress approved the "Real ID Act" as part of a military spending bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly.
So, what's the big deal? Currently, the federal government has no method for tracking citizens within the United States. If you fly to Las Vegas for a week, the government cannot track you without obtaining a warrant based on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The "Real ID Act" potentially kills the advertising slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Effective May 2008, all Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards containing electronically encoded personal information. The personal information will include your name, sex, address, date of birth and a digital photograph at a minimum. All of this information will be kept in a national database. Anyone without the ID card will be unable to fly, open a bank account, enter federal buildings and, most likely, obtain a job. In short, we are looking at a database that allows the federal government to track your every move, finances, spending activities, etc.
From a practical standpoint, the Department of Homeland Security will put forth specifications for the cards. It is believed that the cards will be issued through state DMV offices and may be incorporated into drivers' licenses. To obtain the card, citizens will be required to produce a photo identification, proof of address, social security number card and possibly finger prints or retinal scans. The information will then be digitized and put into a federal database. The particularly scary element of this is that there are no limitations on what the can be required by the Department of Homeland Security. Can DNA samples be far behind?
Backers of the Act argue that it is needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses and prevent terrorists from "hiding in the open." Opponents argue the cards constitute a national ID card, gross violation of civil rights and platform for massive identity theft. Whether you support the Act or not, it is undeniable that big brother will have you in his sights beginning May 2008.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/35417
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