HMF is back BABY

I've decided to come out of hibernation for something very important. I'm going to say something that's on everyone's mind, but no one will actually say out loud. It's been on my mind, and it involves something surrounding the Aurora Dark Knight Rises shooting. But in particular this story: Let me be the first to say, I thought this event was horrible, and if it doesn't make the lawmakers in this country think about changing the gun and ammunition laws to make it harder for nutcases like this to amount arsenals strong enough to take Cleveland in a weekend, then they are the true heartless among us. No, the question I'm asking is: Is female life more precious than male life? Understand, I have NO problem with anyone jumping in front of anyone to save their life, what any of us would do in a situation where we have fractions of seconds to decide is a difficult thing to "project" we will just act without thinking. But - story after story about how these heroic boyfriends jumped in front of their girlfriends to save them, leads me to ask - is this what women subconsciously want from the guys they are with? That if push came to shove, they would put their woman's life above their own? We've all heard stories of "women and children" being saved first on the Titanic, or how about when news reports talk about people being killed in a tragedy and then tack on, "including 15 women and children" I'm asking a serious question here about our society and the media that shoots information directly into our consciousness: Is a male's life worth less than a woman's? And the underlying takeaway, from this incident I get is clear: if you're a male, your life is not as valuable as a woman's. Now, some may say, "Well, women have the capacity to give birth, so their value is clearly higher" Last I checked though, a woman can't generate a baby on her own. Why is one part of the process valued higher ? Wouldn't it be equally heroic if a woman jumped in front of her boyfriend to save his life ? Or, the other question to ask, if a boyfriend didn't instinctively jump on his girlfriend to save her life, risking his own, does that make him instantly a horrible person - if he thought of his own life and safety first ?

The walmart racial statement case

That's right folks. I'm out of the wood work, and better than before. Trying to change the world one person at a time.

My phoenix like resurrection is concerning this little tidbit :

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-112/1269076164166250.xml&storylist=jersey

I think people are clearly missing the point when it comes to the walmart case of someone saying "All black people please leave the store."

People look at this and say "Look! See how much the world hasn't changed, there's no progress, there's no racial unity, we still are a divisive society."

And I say that's nonsense. Understand this, whoever did this, whether he's an employee, a customer, a insurgent racist sent from wherever these people congregate and dispatch their minions to disrupt shopping, he's obviously committed to his craft of causing racial turmoil and expressing racist views... HOWEVER, I contend, 10 years ago, he would have had no problem saying

"Attention walmart customers, would all the f*cking n*gg*rs get out of here"

Yet, he filtered himself to say 'black people' - so lets celebrate this! It's progress.

Shout out to AK

Hey AK, if you're still out there. Here's a shout out to you.

If there's one chick I miss from the SM days, it's you.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance.

Here is an interesting principle, cognitive dissonance, it's the recognition of two contradictory perceptions, and it usually yields to amending one of the perceptions to become more resonant with the other. The perception that is amended is usually the subordinate of the two.

A very common example, buyer's remorse: Most people have the perception that their purchasing decisions are prudent, wise, and well thought out. Hence, when they spent large amounts of money on something that doesn't yield immediate value, they begin to artificially "bump up" the value of that thing, in order to avoid the dissonance with the stronger perception: I'm a wise purchaser.

Another example is investor strategy and loss. People believe they are wise stock investors, so they put money into a stock, it goes down, and they put more, and repeat the process - all because there's an underlying belief they are good investors, and the stock will eventually turn up. But what ends up happening? either you cut your losses, or go down with the ship.

There is a direct parallel here with women, and their choice of men. While it's clear society privileges women to choose their mates, it implies to most women they are innately better selectors (ie men are superficial, only care about looks, women are more mature, and choose based on personality!) This makes women convince themselves they are great selectors of the men they choose to have in their lives, so much that it becomes a firmly rooted principle.

Therefore, when guys treat them poorly, or is a general prick, they bump up their value, as it resolves the cognitive dissonance with the underlying principle they already have: I'm a smart chooser. Ultimately of course, it's the women that suffer by clinging to the belief they are "good selectors" - and sadly many go down with the ship.

Whats the solution?

It all comes back to equality really. If women actually work to erase the outdated gender model that they are "selectors" and it's the man's job to "chase" them, then *they* will ultimately benefit as they won't be constantly reinforcing to themselves they are "good" at mate selection, and perverting reality in their own minds, in order to avoid the cognitive dissonance.
A societal pressure for men to approach, and be more 'pro-active', has a flip-side:

A society that pressures women to be constant receivers of that information, and by extension, skilled evaluators - which evidence clearly states, they are not. So for their own good, women must actively choose to believe in equality thoroughly and completely, without exceptions and selectivity many normally apply.

*as a side note, if history is any guide, you can never convince ANYONE to undergo a course of action because it's morally correct (ie. pursue a just cause for equality, for equalities sake), rather you have to show how a course of action ( no matter how correct it is, in *principle*), will directly benefit THEM.

And there you go.

A great shirt.

a great shirt.

nothing more to be really said here.

A confessional - justice

I felt a little bad doing this, but finally I did it.

At a public library computer some desi girl left her email logged in, and I found she applied for a job. The guy who wrote her back said something like

"every time I come into the bank you have such a great smile, and that gives me a great smile"

so I wrote him back (As her)

"If I get the job, you'll walk away with more than just a big smile. if you know what I mean. hint hint, call or write xoxox"

Then I clicked send. I felt a little bad, then I checked this girl on facebook, and saw her picture. a total hottie, probably reaped off the fat of the land for a good while now - gaining favors, free meals, extra attention, telling good guys to f*ck off just based on their looks - so this small amount of justice was deserved. Heck who knows, maybe she was thinking that all the way, did her deed and now has the job!

Maybe I did her a favor! that would be the ultimate irony.

a wake up call.

If this isn't a wake up call to push for a society that treats men and women equal.. I don't know what is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090805/ap_on_re_us/us_health_club_shooting

Now I know what you're thinking.. "This guy is sick! he's a lunatic! he's a ... whatever" and yes, anyone who's willing to take their own life, and that of others, certainly is all of those things... but look what got him there...

a society that positions women in such a point of power, where a guy feels he has to take a gun to match that power.

This should be a wake up call. Now instead of arguing with me, how about we try and figure something out to stop this sorta thing.. hmmm?

By the way, I'm sure what this guy certainly did NOT need, was women telling him 'ugh you're so bitter , you're just angry, you're just this, you're just that!"