Thought Pattern

Do people torture animals because it is not look upon as harshly as pedophilia?

Don't Tell Me...

If you believe people different from you are being killed due to the fact that you and your race perceive them as ignorant for the way they act then you are telling me you are prejudice. If you think for one second that you can judge a person's intellect by their clothes, their attitude, their actions, then you are truly a fool.
To take this prejudice that people of color are lesser than pale people as the reason they are being shot and murdered by police is pure ignorance. Most of these people being shot are not given a second to react, not given a second to even speak, they are being approached and killed.
If a person dresses, speaks, appears different than you, that does not make them a different class or lesser nor greater than anyone else.

Jaded: Leaps

I went to public school all but two years of my forced education. The two years of private school were drastically different. The contrast of these two schools is what formed who I am today. My first private school experience was at age 8. I attended a small private school in rural North Carolina. Every one there from the instructors to the students were caring and giving. There was very little bullying and when there was it was halted immediately most by other students but occasionally by the instructors. 

This school had a lot of alternative options for the students. This was 1980-1981 and I had my first chance to use a computer at this school. The instructor taught us how computers worked and also explained the internal parts and functions of a computer. These were also Apples, not your everyday IBM PC of that era. We were also given extensive time outside, often basic classes were outside on nice days. The headmaster had two dogs and they often ran the campus where we could socialize with them.

The next year was a new town, new school, new culture, bad experiences. Assuming all private schools were as good as the last, I was enrolled into a catholic all boys school in Tampa, Florida. Most instructors were nuns, although they dressed casually without the normal habit and garb. The instructors had no concerns for the students and attention was only given in the form of negative discipline. I would witness many students paddled to the point of child abuse even for that time. 

I was the personal punching bag for kids 3-4 years older than myself. Once I was tied to a tether ball pole and kicked repeatedly for ten to twenty minutes simply because I hung out with the “other kids”. The “other kids” were of different colors and cultural makeups than the typical white catholic kids. 

One of my friends was from India and he and I stayed pretty tight as a means of defense. He was hindu therefor he would not put his hand over his heart or raise the flag. This became a difficult situation for him since each student had to raise the flag during the school year. He was punished with a week of in school suspension, which meant he sat in the office during classes and completed his studies. When my turn came around I took a stand and refused. I had no religious or cultural basis for my refusal other than my friend stood up for himself so I was taking a stand with him. I received the same punishment as he, and learned that it also included slaps to the wrist with the metal end of a ruler on an hourly basis. With all that, I was born into the rebellious punk kid I am today.

The next year I entered public school in urban Tampa. Woodrow Wilson Junior High school would be my fate based on geography. This school had a drastic mix of poor and rich. I saw everything from kids dropped off in limos to kids walking in torn up shoes. My latter years at this school were the Miami Vice days. Again these things shaped my life as I was witnessing drug use, sexual activity, and the use of alcohol by minors. Often I would hear stories of how great the weekend party was, the keg, Saturday Night Live, so on. Each story made me thankful that my Mother offered me discipline and safety without force. I was free to ride my bike whenever and wherever, yet I was given gentle guidance to become a decent human being.

These were the developmental years that made me punk rock just before I found punk rock. I remember vividly being handed a Suicidal Tendencies tape along with a Minor Threat tape. These were played to exhaustion and I often hear them in my head with the slower worn out beat from an excessively played tape. Now I was alive and all the talk of keg parties, drug use and so on were just a reason for me to laugh and not be them. The lawyer, doctor, bankers kids had nothing on me and I was not going to be like them. For better or worse I am still not like them and I am growing further from them every second. 

The bullies of this world have become out of touch with humanity, and all that we share on Earth. We must be caretakers, not exploiters. We must also appreciate all the hardships that have come in our lives for they along with the good are what make us who we are.

Dominion

What does an astrophysicist know about gmos anyway? Probably nothing more or less than the general public. Yet Neil deGrasse Tyson's loyal followers believe every word he says. Tyson states, “I’m amazed how much rejection genetically modified foods are receiving from the public,” Tyson tells a French interviewer. “It smacks of the fear factor that exists at every new emergent science, where people don’t fully understand it or don’t fully know or embrace its consequences, and so therefore reject it.” This "fear factor" which Tyson speaks of reminds me of Albert Einstein's fear of a day when technology would overlap humanity. Truly this overlap has begun and not so much with food or gmos, but certainly with smart phones and human interaction. 
A lot of the debate in science is based on religion and ignores the fact that scientist often debate each other and come to different conclusion from their own theories and experiments. Again people don't want to see outside the spotlight. Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson have suddenly become the faces of science. Science has many realms, much more than just astrology and mechanical engineering. So when the followers of science believe every word from these two superstars of science, they themselves are truly not understanding and just accepting that and astrophysicist and a mechanical engineer can both explain all aspects of science as fact. This is simply not true. A woodworker may not be able to build a house and a carpenter may not be able to build a desk, yet the common person may think the duties are interchangeable because both use similar tools and methods to construct things. 
Many people choose to use resources as reason to debate an argument. Others may say, well you got your facts from someone who believes in aliens therefore nothing they say could be true, or you got your beliefs from the bible therefor nothing you believe is true. These assumptions are simple prejudice. We can all learn a lot from the people we disagree with and that has to be not only accepted but embraced and explored. If it were true that all actions from those whom we believe are not to be taken as fact then why are people accepting an astrophysicist who is host of a television show which is broadcast by fox, produced by seth macfarlane, and sponsored by corporations such as Chrysler and Samsung to know what he is talking about in regards to gmo?
It simply comes down to a multi sided argument in which all sides want to have the biblical control known as dominion. Just leave nature alone and nature will take care of you, or get rid of you. Either way is not wrong, if it is what nature does.

Thought Pattern

If a plane were to hit a building in NYC today, no one would notice because everyone is too busy looking at their phones.

Thought Pattern

Climbing trees, gathering rocks, digging holes, playing with sticks. These four things cross the boundaries of gender, race, culture. These are human instincts that are suppressed by adults who tell children they will get hurt, get dirty... Imagine if we could only follow our instincts. What would we learn, how would we appreciate our surroundings.