There’s been a disturbing trend in right-wing politics lately, and that’s attacks on education. Conservatives’ complaints of “liberal bias” in colleges and universities have been around for a while, and they’re generally just as false as their infamous “liberal media” claims. In recent years, however, the anti-education contingent has really grown in strength. Scientists, economists, and other educated people are routinely heckled and smeared by the likes of Fox News, simply because they arm themselves with facts. With the popularity of Fox, talk radio, and the Tea Parties, millions of people believe — and are raising their offspring to believe — that education is something to be avoided.

Seriously…how the hell did this happen?! It’s flagrant stupidity on a level I can barely understand. Why would you ever want to shit on improving one’s mind, and instead reward the opposite, which is idiocy?

Most of the complaints I’ve seen don’t focus on public schools, as for the most part, it’s required by law for children to attend them. The exception is homeschooling, but even though that’s been slightly on the rise, it’s not as widespread as the anti-college sentiment. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; there’s boatloads of conservative pundits and politicians who have had excellent educations, yet they turn around and bash the very system that taught them.

Another part of these anti-education views is the increasing role of fundamentalist religion in the United States. Just look at how politicians and religious groups have tried to ramrod complete nonsense like intelligent design into taxpayer-funded public school programs! It never fails to amaze and anger me that people want to supplant rational thought and factual information with superstition, and that’s the very antithesis of a proper education. To return to the subject of homeschooling, there’s a lot of parents out there who feel that public schools are “too secular” at best and “evil” at worst. Thus, they homeschool their children according their religious beliefs, and this is another level of insanity. How can you expect a child to function in the real world when you’re consistently decrying the facts at home?

My theory is one shared by many others: conservatives and über-religious folks hate the educational system because it teaches people to think for themselves, and that may lead them to question these same politics and religions. As well it should! You should question and learn about everything, be it right or left, god or godless. The whole point of a good education is that you can make your own well-informed decisions borne out by facts, not hearsay.

Do you need a college education or higher learning experience to succeed in life? Not necessarily. But dismissing education out of hand is idiotic, no matter which side of the political fence you sit on.

When I go to the gym after work, I often watch the local news on the televisions attached to the cardio machines. The news is fine, but the advertisements in between the reports thoroughly disgust me, often to the point of changing the channel.

Lame commercials are nothing new, but as we’re rapidly approaching election season, an overwhelming majority of the ads are for political campaigns. Specifically, we’ve got our state primaries coming up very soon, so the candidates for governor, Senate, and Congressional positions are making their final pushes to sway voters and secure their parties’ nominations. Why does this bother me? Because the ads are nothing but attacks, hit pieces, and smear campaigns.

Ads aired earlier in the spring and summer did indeed discuss critical issues. Those are what’s really important, so why not just stick with that tactic instead of this lowbrow mudslinging garbage? The candidates are all behaving like children.

Instead of talking about important issues at hand, such as the state economy, unemployment, infrastructure, et cetera, the candidates would much rather smear one another. Usually, this is done by pointing out “lies” in one campaign, and claiming that the opponent would never do such a thing. (Guess what: that’s probably a lie, too.) I understand that candidates can and should defend themselves from false claims, but doing so by viciously counterattacking is just sinking to their opponents’ scummy levels. It’s a sad indicator of just how low political discourse in this country has fallen.

Just in case any of my readers decide to run for political office, here’s some friendly advice. I’m one of those rare voters that casts their ballot based on multiple issues that are of critical importance to my state and country, rather than single issue, special interest nonsense (like gun rights). The serious issues are of utmost importance. However, personal conduct does carry some weight. If the centerpiece of your campaign is to smear your opponent rather than discuss the critical stuff, then it’s unlikely I’m going to vote for you. I’ll take a beleaguered underdog who can actually help my state over a shifty blowhard any day of the week.

I can’t stand the fact that we Americans have become such an extremely litigious culture. Granted, some lawsuits have merit; if you injure yourself in a store due to an unsafe environment, for example, then by all means, the store should pay your medical costs and reimburse you for the time you have to take off from work while you heal. If they refuse, then take their asses to court. But beyond that, I don’t buy the “mental anguish” nonsense that so many people throw into lawsuits. It’s not anguish…it’s only money that they care about.

I get angry when I hear yet another story about parents suing school systems for the most inane reasons, such as playing competitive games like tag, or exclusionary games like dodge ball. Just because your kid may not be as good as the others on the playground doesn’t mean the school district owes you money. Nobody’s perfect; if your kid doesn’t excel on the baseball field, I’m sure they excel elsewhere. How would you like it if other parents sued you because your kid surpassed their own in mathematics, for example?

What really drives me into a rage is when someone is tragically killed..and the family sues for millions. That’s disgusting, as they’re literally trying to profit off of their loved one’s death!

You have the right to sue anyone for anything, but the problem is that too many people take extreme advantage of that right just to get rich quick. I think this practice needs to end, or at least be severely lessened. Believe it or not, there’s a very simple way for people to fight back.

It goes like this: say someone falls on your sidewalk because you forgot to shovel the snow off of it, and they sue you for $4 million. That’s obviously way more than what’s necessary to cover medical bills and recovery time, so it’s clear that the plaintiff is just a greedy scumbag. So…don’t give them a dime. Ignore the lawsuit. The cops come to arrest you? Let them. A judge wants to throw you in jail over it? Fine. You’ll end up in a minimum security prison, and likely only have to serve a fraction of your sentence, anyway. The end result is what’s important: the greedy bastard who sued you won’t get one cent, and they’ll have likely lost a ton of their own money filing the lawsuit in the process! They’ll think twice before trying that shit again, now won’t they?

Now, the prospect of jail time will naturally put most people off. But if enough principled individuals stood up against this frivolous nonsense, the rest of the population would take notice. Civil disobedience can be a very powerful tool, and people might start to rethink wasting taxpayers’ time and money in order to further their own foolish greed.

Sometimes, people wonder why I’m an agnostic. This post ought to clear up some of those mysteries, so before you denounce me as a godless heathen, hear me out.

First, the usual history. I was baptized and raised Roman Catholic, and as a child, I had no choice but to attend church services with the rest of my family each and every Sunday. I attended public school, but was also put through the requisite years of after-school CCD. Now, when you’re a kid, you can’t make informed decisions about such weighty matters, so I don’t really consider all of that stuff a big deal in retrospect. (At the time, I was more annoyed that the stuff took time away from toys or television.)

What did bother me was that I still wasn’t given any choice in the matter through my teenage years. I was still forced to attend Mass every Sunday, even though at this point my intellect had developed to the point where I had serious reservations about Christian teachings, and the Bible’s contradictions of historical facts. I wasn’t comfortable receiving the sacrament of Confirmation, but again, I had no choice in the matter. (Ironic, as that particular sacrament is one that’s supposed to be 100% voluntary.)

Once I turned eighteen, though, the yoke lifted. I obviously couldn’t be forced into church if I was away at college, and I was free to exercise my own beliefs (or lack thereof) at this point. I had the opportunity to study many world religions in college; I wasn’t searching for one to fit me, but it’s important to have a well-rounded education, and learning about the widely varying belief systems found around our planet is fascinating. At this point, I had pretty much settled on the fact that I had become an agnostic, and I’ve remained that way to this day.

Put simply, I don’t actively believe in God or any other deities, but I accept the possibility that there might be some kind of “higher power” out there. What could that being or beings be? Who knows. A god, a group of aliens, technologically advanced human beings from the future, mutant termites…all of them are plausible. But, until I see some evidence or other form of proof, they’re not possible. In the meantime, I’m not going to run my life based on ancient, outdated texts written by man in the guise of gods. This is especially important since said texts often run contrary to modern sociological development!

Now, I do think that there’s some sort of afterlife. I don’t know it’s what’s commonly referred to as “heaven,” but there has to be some place that human consciousness goes after our bodies go the way of all flesh. Consciousness is unique and important, and I think it’s a form of energy. As we know from physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed. I’m sure we end up somewhere, in some form…but, as with the theory of a higher power, I just don’t know what.

Most of my friends and family may not share my specific views on religion, but their own beliefs range across the spectrum. I’ve got friends in the clergy, and others who are atheists. I have no problem respecting the beliefs of any religious or non-religious person. The only time I get angry is when they try to force those beliefs upon others, especially when it comes to government and society as a whole, and this sadly happens far too often. This is an incredibly dangerous practice, as said beliefs are almost always in flagrant violation of the facts.

For example, I’m vehemently opposed to creationism and its thinly-veiled swordpoint, “intelligent design.” The fact that so many religious organizations want to ramrod this stuff into public school science classes makes me want to projectile vomit. That stuff has no basis in scientific fact whatsover: it’s not science, period. It’s religion, and as such, it does not belong in science classes. It belongs in religious, philosophy, or mythology classes. There’s zero evidence of creationism, and plenty of evidence supporting evolution and the history of the Earth. Creationism and intelligent design are mythology, not facts. It’s quite simple. (The same applies to religious opposition to scientific research. Since religion is not science, it should have no bearing on said research. Fundamentalist protesters really need to stop hampering human progress.)

Then, of course, there’s the excessive amount of violence that comes about as a direct result of religious beliefs. Nothing in human history has caused more death, destruction, and misery than people acting in the name of their god or gods. That in and of itself is more than enough to turn me off to deity worship, and the modern politicians and pundits that continue to promote such divinely-inspired violence and tyranny to this day are the last straw.

On the flipside, I do take issue with some militant atheists. Publicly fighting back against outdated religious doctrine is perfectly acceptable and often warranted, given the millennia of persecution that nonbelievers have had to endure. But when you cross the line into just being nasty and personally insulting, then you’re undermining your own message. Joking around is one things, but know your limits.

I’ve had my share of turmoil in my life, and I’ve also experienced things I’d have a hard time explaining rationally. However, that doesn’t automatically push me into one camp or another. I enjoy being free to make my own choices based on individual events that I come across; there’s no “one-religion-fits-all,” in my mind. If you’re committed to a rigid belief system, things are going to clash with it. Some people can “go with the flow” and adapt to the circumstances when this happens, but too many others are apt to just ignore the facts in favor of their beliefs. This disconnection from reality is not healthy!

Naturally, I’ve been scorned for my stance on religious matters. I even had classmates in high school and college who told me right to my face that I was going to Hell…because I was not a born-again Christian. That’s bigotry at best, and vitriolic hatred at worst! Of course, I really don’t give a shit; if they want to believe that I’m a horrible person simply because I don’t follow their strict ruleset, it’s not my problem. For every person that’s demonized me for my lack of belief, there’s ten or more who support it, even if they don’t subscribe to it themselves.

I’m comfortable with my agnosticism personally, and at the end of the day, that’s all that should matter. Choose your own path, whatever it may be, and leave everyone else free to choose theirs. That’ll make the world a much more peaceful place, now won’t it?

I’m sick (pun intended) of the healthcare debate in this country.

Let me make things very simple for everyone: we need reform. There’s millions of uninsured people and children in this country, and it’s absolutely inexcusable that a country that calls itself the most powerful on the planet can’t take care of its citizens with free basic medical care. Yes, I know there’s people that would abuse it, but the cost in lives overrules that complaint.

The Republicans and the right-wing pundits blast any attempt at reform as “socialized medicine,” and lately, they’ve sunk to the new low of having their followers disrupt town hall discussions with violent protests. I’m all for peaceful protests, and even civil disobedience, but this is nothing but organized chaos along the lines of the Fox News Tea Parties. You’ve got misinformed and ignorant Americans, driven by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, shouting down any opposition to their views. I’m confident that most of these Republicans, pundits, and their listeners don’t even know what the word “socialized” means. Nor do they have any trouble with our other socialized programs, such as police departments, fire departments, or libraries. Their opposition to healthcare reform boils down to one thing, and one thing only: money.

There’s a lot of money to be made in the medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries, and any publicly-funded healthcare program would cut into the bottom line. In other words, the Republican opposition to healthcare reform is nothing but putting profits over human lives. Standard operating procedure for the right wing, I’m afraid.