Posts filed under ‘RANTS & RAVES’
RANTS AND RAVES: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I wrote this article in anger and despair, then decided not to publish it. But only today this article appeared in the Washington Post.
Here is another article which should sicken everyone, especially a parent.
How could my piece possibly relate to writing? Easy, it is life. And even when writing fiction, the roots of reality take hold and form the story.
I was raised a Catholic, my children were raised in the church, but I no longer attend mass. I was frustrated, then sickened as I sat on Sunday morning listening to discussions I could not challenge. Being told statements that were not true, or not researched. Making no sense to what I knew to be the truth.
I once found comfort in the presence of the church. The physical building offered peace. Even the smell of the church, in quiet moments of solitude, I found solace. Now, I question this source of salvation I once held dear. Wondering where the truth ends and the lies begin.
My faltering began with the first exposure of child abuse in this area of Pennsylvania, by priests. I could not wrap my mind around such an announcement. I realized that I was expected to confess my sins to someone, who potentially, had committed acts worse than I could imagine. When the Philadelphia Inquirer published their first article about these unspeakable acts by priests from the pulpit we were told not to read the article. As it turns out, this heinous crime was being committed by thousands of priest all over the country, then revealed that this practice was committed by priests all over the world.
I know that if I had committed these acts, I would have been jailed. When released put on Megan’s List, and my life ruined. Yet when the holy commit these crimes, they are transferred to a new parish where they could continue these unholy acts.
During one mass after the revelation of these crimes, I listened to the celebrant tell us that pedophilia was a disease. I would say a disease that should have been dealt with before too many innocent lives were ruined. In reply, I would ask this question, “Does the church consider homosexuality a disease?” For most of these acts come under that definition. Now every time the church I once attended plants small white crosses in the soil representing the thousands of children aborted, I wish they would also plant little black crosses to represent the thousands of children, living children, whose lives have been damaged by those they pictured as the holiest of holy.
I am sickened by an institution I once held dear. I did not write this article gain attention, but rather, to explore a past my life once held important, but now causes nothing but confusion.
THE GIVER BY LOIS LOWRY: AN OPINION FAR FROM THE USUAL
The other day I was getting my seasonal haircut, when I began discussing books with my barber and authors she enjoyed. During our conversation she mentioned The Giver. I have read this book and the books concept remains a sore point for me. I found it lacking in belief, even for fiction.
I know who am I, a totally unknown writer, and who am I to detract from a classic, but here it goes.
I had no problem with most of the story until the fact was revealed in the warped world of The Giver, all you needed to do is cross a bridge over a river and enter the world of normality. Salvation was just on the other side of this bridge, yet no one dared cross it. I find that unexplainable. Perhaps my readers can tell me how my thinking is wrong. My barber said they did not cross the bridge because they had been brainwashed. I feel it should have taken a lobotomy.
I shall now boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone.
I shall suggest an alternate ending to the novel. I would have preferred to see the novel take this turn. On the other side of the bridge there exists a sinister forest constantly cloaked in darkness. In this forest reside malevolent beasts, some part human, who kill and devour all foreign life they find. The journey through this forest would be dangerous beyond belief, but I feel some barrier must exist for the souls inhabiting the land of the Giver, to overcome.
Beyond this forest is another bridge over another river which these monsters of the forest dare not cross. Beyond this bridge lies a normal society. Those who risk the forest will find a fulfilled life.
That’s how I would have ended the story.
Comments?
RANTS & RAVES: THE SUPREME COURT
I cannot believe there exists so much division with the next Supreme Court nomination although none has yet to be made.
Is it possible for an individual (or party) to be always wrong or always right.
This episode only magnifies the fact that this country is in trouble, BIG TIME.
SUICIDE BOMBERS: WHY DO THEY EXIST?
As predicted, here I go off subject, but current events force me to speak.
I’ve been considering this piece for some time. The recent outrage in Paris has spurred me on to put pencil to paper and fingers to keyboard.
My thinking on this article began by considering the Japanese kamikaze pilot, of course, the current wave of suicide bombers followed. The Japanese were also known for their fanatical charges with little hope of success. I’m a World War II nut and am fairly certain I relate facts. The Japanese culture, at that time, was that suicide was preferred rather than accept defeat. That is why, with the dropping of the atomic bombs, lives on both sides were saved.
On a side note, I once read an article about the birth of the Japanese kamikaze idea. The concept was suggested by a Japanese soldier. I don’t remember if he was a pilot, but probably was. Then, during the 1990’s, someone recognized this same individual sitting on a park bench. Apparently the suggestion of self-sacrifice was not followed by action. I mention this, for I feel the idea of self-destruction is instilled in the weak with no future, and through manipulation, no choice.
I remember learning that during World War II, the American public could not understand or relate to the concept of an organized approach to suicide. In war, heroics cost the soldier his life when their backs are against the wall. But the concept of voluntarily committing suicide, to make a point is not present in our thinking. However, that attitude, in some societies and political groups exists today. We have become numbed by the almost daily report of suicide bombers doing their deed somewhere in the world.
We are now confronted with a world where men, women and even children are sent to their deaths. Manipulated to take their lives by those with an agenda of hate masked by religion.
I thought about this topic a great deal, as I’m sure many of us have. How could an individual’s world, with no threat immediately present, be hopeless enough to choose to leave it? How cheap is the value of a human life to those who have an agenda requiring the spread of terror?
RANTS & RAVES: THE PRICE OF OIL
Okay, I may be slightly paranoid. Perhaps beyond slightly, but here is another example of how I think we are being manipulated, by having ‘experts’ telling us that the sky is falling.
Someone out there please help me understand this. It wasn’t long ago when the price of oil was about to exceed 50$/barrel and ‘experts’ predicted a catastrophe for that would be a first. Economic distress would surely follow. Now, years later, the price of oil has fallen below 50$/barrel and ‘experts’ are predicting economic distress sure to follow. Are we being manipulated, do ‘experts’ not know what the hell is going on or am I just getting too old to take everything I’m told as ‘the truth’.
Is there anyone out there that can offer guidance?
I know this blog is dedicated to writing, but our writing, in some way or another – even if it be horror, is based on the world around us.
Let me know what you think.
Tis the season of politics, starting early and earlier with each election.
Just a short comment. Your vote does count, but you have no control over who you will eventually be voting for. That fabled ‘1%’ will make that decision for you and determine you options.
I read in the Washington Post on 8/1/15, that more than 50 individuals and entities (?) have given at least one million dollars apiece to super PACs, backing specific candidates. Nearly half given to a group aligned with Jeb Bush.
So your vote counts, but what filters down to ‘our level’ is predetermined by money.
TRUMP, AND REALITY
Trump reinforces the premise, ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’.
RANTS AND RAVED; THE DONALD
Now Donald Trump is bad-mouthing Senator McCain for being captured during the Viet Nam war. I’d like to see Trump’s military record.
We all have freedom of speech, and obviously, the freedom of stupidity.
I AM NOT A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, MAYBE
I wrote this piece on a lark, not intending to publish it, only to amuse myself. It was ludicrous, and somewhat embarrassing, then the landscape changed.
Donald Trump, aka ‘The Donald’, not to be confused with the duck, has just announced his is running for President of the United States, ‘really this time’. How in the hell could you not really run for the most powerful position in the world?
I wrote the following piece some time ago, not thinking I would post it, but the comedy has begun.
God help us all.
I want to make clear the record before there is one. I AM NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. There, I’ve said it. There is not turning back. No matter how much money pours into my coffers from super pacs. But if anyone who wishes to pour money into my coffers, you can contact me through this blog. Nothing in politics is written in stone.
This declaration is made because of observations I have made. There have been has-beens, and others, with no chance of achieving the coveted goal of president. During which, they have obtained media exposure by making proclamations identical to mine.
Currently, I am an unknown author, possessing no skills required for the office. Exposure is the point of this declaration. This is the reason I have decided not to run for the office of President of the United States. If you think this is a joke – look at the list of non-candidates.
Stay in touch. Who knows, I may change my mind now that ‘The Donald’ is in the race. Somewhere I know, Pat Paulson is smiling.
To ‘The Donald’, at some point, I may not really decide not to run for president.
That should keep him busy for a while.
RANTS & RAVES: SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES WITH NO BELIEVABLE SCIENCE
This may be the rants of an old man, or the product of age and wisdom. Age and wisdom, really.
Anyway, whatever it is, it is not a commercial for Netflix. But if they want to pay me, the income would be welcome. But I doubt they would see my comments worthy of pecuniary rewards. (There goes three years of high school Latin.)
I have been, of late, watching a great deal of horror and science fiction using Netflix’s instant viewing option. Just a side comment. While watching horror, both American and international, I find that Japan, in my opinion, produces the best horror after my limited sampling. The Ring, The Grudge, both remade by U.S. studios, are Japanese movies. I have viewed other Japanese horror offerings that will scare the hell out of you, not through gore and special effects but through story and setting. Some movies had twists I did not see coming, or circumstances that make you think after the movie is over, and experience which stay with you.
Now, back to science fiction.
I’d like to discuss two recent viewings, The Ring of Fire and 500 MPH Storm, both Netflix offerings and both, I’m sure, originally from a cable channel, but I could be wrong. It has happened before.
The first, The Ring of Fire, takes place in Oregon focusing on a corrupt oil company executive and his daughter, an environmentalist, locked in combat over a drilling venture in the state. The premise has the oil company drilling a well far deeper than they were permitted, and instead of tapping a huge dome of oil, headed for magma. Puncturing the magma dome could set off an event, tied to the volcanoes surrounding the Ring of Fire, triggering an event that would destroy all life on the planet. For those who don’t know, the Ring of Fire boarders the Pacific Ocean and is the most geological active area in the world.
I must be open as to why I found this movie lacking. My published novel, New Moon Rising, involves a catastrophic event also involving the Ring of Fire. First, as I point out in my novel, scientists insist that geological events occurring in the Ring of Fire are unconnected. The movie assumes that every volcano is connected to a source which would cause them all to explode because of the drilling in Oregon. Finally, the method the characters in the movie use to solve the end of life on the planet left me chuckling. View it yourself and see if I’m wrong. Just a side note, in my novel, all is not remedied.
The second video, 500 MPH Storm, makes Plan 9 from Outer Space, a classic in its own right, worthy of Oscars, looking like well thought-out science. The science in this film is nonexistent. The scientific logic escapes me. The special effects were poor, at best. The last comment brings me to the inspiration for this article.
In my opinion, some of the science fiction movies produced today have little to do with science. I know it is fiction, but the inclusion of science fact, not just make it up to fit the story, adds enjoyment to the work. Today’s science fiction movies are ruled by special effect and lack any scientific redeeming qualities.
I enjoy including science fact in the science fiction I write. I feel that it allows the educated reader to become more involved with the story.
What do you think?
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