Thoughts

 I was "doom scrolling" on my Fire tablet this morning. Meaning I was reading the news on the internet app "Hotsheet." which connects to newspapers & political blogs across the political spectrum along with sports & other stuff. So when I click on Drudge Report or Huffington Post or other sources and scroll down I think of that as doom scrolling. I stole the term from a Stephen King tweet. My favorite author is rather guilty of hysterical tweets himself lately. But, I digress.

I turned 66 this year. I know! I couldn't believe it myself! Crap! Can't I get up out of a chair these days without passing gas? Hey! You kids! Stop riding your bikes in front of my dog! Now where was I? 

Oh yeah. I was going to say something about the culture war. I think we are all being distracted. While everybody is trying to cram religion, secularism, chicks with dicks, & trying to force young women to have a baby even if they are raped or are 13 years old our society is crumbling.

So smart butt Stevie has some answers. Your milage may vary and of course there's a chance I could be wrong.

Also. Full disclosure: Even though I'm from "The Deep South!" I hope y'all heard a deep condescending voice of a Northeastern American white news anchor reading off a teleprompter when you read that. But, again I digress.

So anyway as I was saying when I so rudely interrupted myself. Even though I'm Southern, white, old, baptized and fondly remember Pony Miller's and wacky terbacky I'm trying to be totally objective. Which of course is impossible but I try.

Wow! People get mad on the interwebs these days. Calling each other Nazi's and baby murderers and racist killer's! And that's just discussing college football.

 So let me say what I'm basing my opinions on. My own life experience and gut instinct. That's it! Full stop! This isn't based on religion, country, skin color, sexual preference (although if there is a tribe of tall blonde amazon women that want to abduct me and do unmentionable things to my body I'm available.) I'm old but I ain't dead yet!

 Sorry! Where was I? Oh yeah. I remember. I was giving my disclaimer. So anyway here's my thoughts as of this morning after one cup of coffee on the culture wars of the US and the world. Which like most Americans I'm pretty sure revolves around us.

Abortion: I Hate it and fully support a woman's right to choose. If men had babies you could get an abortion pill out of a vending machine. Y'all know it's true. But, I do get tired of certain far left people on TV acting like it's a holy right to decide the life inside you isn't something you want to be responsible for. It really is a potential child that when your old and your tattoo looks like a surgical scar and men no longer hover about you the adult child will still love their momma. But, sometimes a young woman is raped, or the baby Will be horribly deformed and has no real hope of a viable life. Sometimes the mother is in abject poverty and those so called pro life folks want to withhold medical and housing care. And sometimes a woman just doesn't want to carry a child.

So while I think young women should be informed of the truth and not be told they're a social warrior for women everywhere. It's still their choice. Not your church's choice, not your feminist choice. Their choice. Sorry. It's just true.

Privilege: This is a big one because it's based on lies! Being born white does not mean you automatically have an easy life. Being born black does not automatically mean you are oppressed and helpless. I knew a white child born with cerebral palsy. He had to be fed clothed and pushed in a wheelchair. I knew another child born black. He was handsome, strong and his parents loved him. So who had privilege? Please stop! We are all in our unique journeys through life. Some were born on third base and think they hit a triple. Some are born behind the foul line and honestly have a hard row to hoe. But most of us in this country are still able to go where we want, when we want and live the way we want. At least to an extent. 

Black lives matter: Yes they do. You know when else they matter? They matter when single mothers have to grieve when a gang member shoots into an apartment because he was disrespected. They Also matter when kids on the streets of Baltimore or Chicago or Birmingham or Tuscaloosa are getting killed.

But Joe Biden ain't visiting those folks and Al Sharpton ain't "saying their name." because there's no pub and virtue or late night tv hosts patting them on the head.

 No old white devil to blame it on. It's something that both black and white politicians could fix but they won't.

 Obama bailed out General Motors. Bush bombed a third world country back to the stone age. Congress gives billions of dollars to foreign countries everyday. But we can't build hospitals and mental health facilities and drug rehabilitation resources. 

 We can build more jails though. We can expect cops to deal with mental illness and poverty and drug addicted people which they don't have the training for. And it's honestly not what they should or even want to do. 

Gay Rights: I fully support people being who they are. Period. Joe wants to marry and leave all his worldly goods to Bob? Fine by me. None of my business. Your church doesn't believe in gay marriage? Fine. But understand that this is a nation of many people and religions and no religion at all. 

Marriage is only sacred if the married couple make it sacred. That's between y'all and God. But marriage in a free country is a legal binding of two adults. Stop splitting hairs and grow up.

Transgenderism: I sometimes think society loses the thread here. I always thought if you're a dude and you dress in women's clothing then you're a transvestite. Meaning you like women's clothing. Not my thing and not my business. 

I always thought if you decide to have surgery and hormone therapy that you are transgender. You don't simply say you're a woman. You literally have your dick removed (OUCH) and go through the medical procedures. Again. Not my business. Not my problem. Live life and be a decent person I don't care what you identify as. But, don't let minor children have life altering surgery that can't be reversed. You can't drive legally at 12. So support, love and affirm. But don't try to artificially stop nature and body changes in a minor child. It ain't that complicated folks.

But, while I fully support peoples right to attend and put on a drag show I do draw the line at sexualizing children. Schools have no right or obligation to discuss sexuality with minor children. Sex education such as function and consequences of active sexual lifestyle? Yes. In middle school and high school. Being confronted At 5 or 6 years old by drag queens or worrying about the religious philosophy of the First Baptist preacher? NO. See? I fixed it for ya. 

Bathrooms: if you're a parent and you let your 8 year old go into ANY public restroom alone boy or girl then you're a damn idiot! If you have a dick use the men's urinal and if you have a vagina then I assume you know what to do. If your dressed as a man or woman then use a water closet of the gender you're dressed as. Or build unisex bathrooms or quietly use your own judgement. This is so rare that I truly believe politicians should be working on more pressing needs. This is just a distraction.

Pronouns: Dear God! 

Who gives a chit? If you want to be called zer or Zey or them or they I don't care. I'm a decent human and if you ask me nicely to call you something I'll give it my best shot. But, at the end of the day Imma just talk so if I misgendet or mispronoun you and you get mad then that's a YOU problem.

Immigration: I think most if us are fine with people having a path to come to America. It's amazing how the media is no longer worried about children on the border or cages or mean old border patrol. Hmm. 

But, let me say this in defense of folks coming across the border. Most if them are trying to build a better life for themselves and their family. So take that into account no matter your politics when you see a person who is here "illegally." That doesn't mean you can't demand border security. It just means be a good human being. Be kind.

Politics: When I was younger I wasn't really concerned much with politics. Then as a young man in my mid 20's and 30's I was strongly conservative. I was a card carrying, Limbaugh listening dittohead. If you don't know what that is then Google is your friend. 

 Then around my late 30's and into my 40's I started becoming more liberal. By my mid 40's I was a born again left wing liberal. 

Then as I got older I started really looking and by my late 40's until today I have become middle of the road leaning a little left especially on social issues. 

I'm old school liberal when it comes to censorship. I hate it! Nobody should be shouted down without a fair hearing. No book should be banned or edited for "correctness." 

CNN & FOX: I just use those two because they are so well known. During the Trump presidency we honestly needed the CNN perspective because FOX was acting like a dictator's news source. In the Biden presidency we honestly need FOX because CNN is acting like a Soviet era mouthpiece for the Democrats. 

Truth is we need the truth. Not echo chambers. Thanks to the internet we can check a wide variety of sources. 

Also, thanks to the internet we can retreat to our echo chambers and continue to be mad & self righteous and yell over each other. 

Oh well. Good luck.

Final thought: A young man asked an old terminally ill man how it felt to think about dying. The old man answered "How does it feel pretending you're not?"

Life's short. Be kind. Eat the chocolate cake when you can.

Peace!

Spaceman Spiff!

 loved the X-Files! In the early 90's or as Dean Koontz said back then "on the cusp of the millennium." Cindy and I would be glued to the exploits of Mulder & Skully. By the way speaking of "Millennium" that was a very underrated show itself. 

I'm a boomer. I'm one of those born in the late 50's who missed Vietnam by a hair. Not quite old enough to be an actual hippy but close enough to understand the life style. At least a little. I started school in the day when America was rushing to get to the moon before the dreaded Soviets. We were taught that Israel might have been the chosen people but America was the Apple of God's eye. 

Into that atmosphere I dove into Batman & Superman comics. But I also had another passion. Space! Jules Bergman was an American journalist. When NASA launched The Mercury Spacecraft I would sit spellbound as he used a toy or model rocket and would detach different parts to show the way the rocket would launch, orbit & return to earth. In serious, wonderful black and white I watched raptly. 

Added to this I would get a library card and be amazed at the science fiction section. Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Ben Bova. Covers depicting rockets and planets and meteors. I wouldn't read the books much Because I was young and Asimov despite the covers bored me. But I would get comic books and watch all the science fiction movies that "Dialing for Dollar's" on channel 6 or 13 out of Birmingham would show. 

I remember when the U.S.A. won the race to the moon. It was just a matter of time before we would have moon bases and flying cars like the Jetson's cartoons. 

Somewhere in all that as I got older the paranormal merged with UFO lore. The spacemen became  interdimensional. A movie based on a book called Chariots of the God's came out. What if our ancient myths and legends were actually brought here from somewhere else? 

Then I discovered an actual serious researcher named Jaques Vallee. Stephen Spielberg would base the French scientist in Close Encounters on him. In the late 60's and early 70's Vallee had written "Passport to Magonia." it was an extensive study of flying craft, The Fae (Faerie folk of Europe) and African, Egyptian and Native American stories. He made and still makes the argument that the presence has always been with us. Appearing as fire and Angels or The Fae to spaceships in our modern times. 

In the 80's an American author that my little bookworm self was familiar with from a horror novel called The Wolfen wrote a book called "Communion." Whitley Strieber like so many before & since was attacked and called crazy. Just a failed horror writer trying to make it big.

The problem was Hollywood had already turned two of his novels "The Wolfen and The Hunger" Into popular movies so "failed" was not a term to use regarding him. 

Anyway this was right in my sweet spot. The boring Star Trek soulless universe was giving way to endless possibilities of unending space, life, consciousness and discovery. It wasn't the Klingon (Space Russian) or the ever so logical Vulcans that would make first contact.

It would be our forbearers. Spiritually wise and eternal. That had guided us not simply from a more technological earth from outer space but also from infinite inner space.

So now I am older. I have my own experience with spiritual and practical matters. I have an inner life and it is at times a dialog with The Divine and sometimes a crazy mess. I don't subscribe to ancient aliens or the sterile little blue ball with no meaning either. I've become or am becoming someone that has no label. 

I don't do much social media. A few Facebook memes and jokes and a few people I love and respect I keep in touch with on messenger. As a respectful older dude I stay off Tic Tock, Discord and most any other sites. I do however use Twitter. 

Back in the day I got the nickname "Tweet." I was young and I guess I reminded someone of Tweetybird from the cartoon. So when Twitter started up I had no choice. I had to grab Tweetybird as my profile pic and open an account under the handle TweetSnead.  So even if nobody else on Twitter gets it I have my own little inside joke. The revenge of the little guy. Call me a funny name & I turn it into an inside joke.

But, I discovered something on Twitter. A whole subculture of UFO nuts like me. So I post occasionally and read regularly at #ufotwitter. Most of us have a great time nerding out. But alas there are those true believers and true stick up their butt skeptics that fight and argue all day. 

Now honestly and not just because I love the possibilities. The so called skeptics are the worse. Calling names and demanding an accounting for why every light in the sky isn't swamp gas and the planet Venus. I've gotten to the point where the minute I hear a "skeptic" attack a person's character instead of honestly discussing I just skip over it.

I'm not a true believer in anything. I know what I've personally experienced and I meditate and ponder those things. Because all we know at any given time is our own inner life. 

But I love to think "what if?" when I look at the stars, moon and planets. I love to close my eyes and let go of trying to figure it out and just explore inner space. 

I figure at my age another 20 years or more if I'm blessed to see it and I won't care if a Democrat or a Republican is president. I have enough life experience to know the baton is passing no matter how much I want to keep running the same race.

But, when that day comes "What If?" So I'll keep watching the skies and inner space. I believe Paul said something like I wait all my life until my change comes!

I don't do religious dogma. I'm still religious in my own way. I just don't think I or anybody else has all the answers and one size doesn't fit all.

I've always been a book nerd. But as I've aged my attention span has shortened and my eye has floaters and I don't see well unless my nose is right in the print. So podcasts, YouTube Audible & ebooks are how I follow my interests. My Kindle can be adjusted for light and font and switched to dark mode. So I have quite the collection of UFO ebooks these days. I even read them from time to time. Once a book hoarder always a book hoarder. But at least ebooks don't take up much space.

Space. Oh yeah. This is where I came in.

Peace!