Bank Socialism

Bank ownership of property

Do you own your house that you pay mortgage on? No the bank owns it

Do you own your car that you make payments on? No the bank owns it

Do you own the items you purchased on your credit card that is not payed off. no the bank owns it

Our credit based economy has turned us into a form of socialism
Where the means of production and distribution are controlled by the banks.
With the option for private ownership or the option for state ownership.

Are we really living in a capitalist society?

Gay the new Black?

A Blogger compared the current fight for gay rights to the civil rights movement of the 60's and was told by her friend that we, as gays, had no business comparing our struggle to that of African Americans.

Her reply was... well, I'll just link it from SheWired



I would have approached the comment a little differently.

First stating that we are all United States citizens who are guaranteed equal protection of the law. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.

This country was founded on the idea that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And since the inception of this country, our society (including our government) has not been living up to that ideal.

Realize that this fight for equal rights has been fought over and over again for each marginalized group in this country. The fight has been slightly different for each. We've all come out of it wounded. Some worse than others. Some are still healing. Some of us are still hurting.

I know it is difficult to see past my own suffering to see someone else suffer. But if we can do that then we'll realize that we can aid in healing each other.

The only way we can end this fight is if we come together.

I would assume it would be painful to carry such a tumultuous history and have to deal with such injustices today; and then see those same injustices that your ancestors fought against, used against someone else.

I'd assume that seeing the fight in the gay community would cause some old wounds to open up and compel you to fight with us.

They're using the same tactics and the same arguments to deny our equality. To even deny our humanity.

They're destroying our families, our livelihoods, our dreams. They're taking our lives.

We can't let this continue in America, for anyone. We have to come together so that EVERYONE can pursue the life, liberty, and happiness we are entitled to.

Prop 8 and the Black Church

The Bible and Slavery.

The Bible is a very tricky book. The Bible was used to justify slavery. BUT, at the same EXACT time, the Bible was used by the Black community to overcome. Black spirituality was key in helping blacks survive slavery. The Bible and The Church was used to overcome segregation.

People use the Bible in whatever way they can to help their OWN agenda.
Gay rights isn't a part of the Black community's agenda. It's just not. Why not? Many gay black people are in the closet and if they do come out they are shunned by most black church goers. And that's a lot of people to be shunned by. That's life.

I never really wanted to see it; but now I think many white people really do have a hard time understanding (or don't want understand) the black community.
For some odd reason, I wanted to give people the benefit of the doubt. To say that being black in America really isn't that hard to understand. That the black experience really wasn't all that different than the white experience; but from what I'm hearing... I was way off.

After thinking about it a while, I stand by my original idea. Being black in America isn't that hard to understand. I realized that there aren't too many people actually trying to understand it. Too many people coming to conclusions about the black community when they haven't bothered studying the history.


You can't be disappointed when you already know what's going to happen. I KNEW that black church goers were NOT/NEVER/NO Way going to vote to support gay rights. Not going to happen.
It was a no-brainer. ESPECIALLY, when the no on prop 8 activist blatantly excluded the black community from their campaign.... WTF did you expect to happen?

I'm hearing a lot of people who thought they were automatically going to get a majority of the black vote because of some shared sense of oppression... that's pretty f'in naive.
A community isn't going to go against the religious institution that has been their ROCK since their ancestors came to this country in chains.
If the Church brought the black community out of it's oppression; they aren't going to go against the church. ESPECIALLY, if the church is the main force that his bringing them throuh their current troubles.

"The disappointment many of us (white People) feel is that we were able to rise above our prejudices and vote for Obama, but many in the black community stuck by their prejudices against us"

I'm going to have to call bullshit on that one or Ask you to take a really deep look at that comment.

Did people REALLY overcome prejudices and vote for Obama? How many people who were prejudice against black people voted for Obama? Really?
OR did 66 million people really not care about Obama's race? Are you really saying that 43% of white voters overcame their prejudice to vote for Obama?
I really doubt that a great percentage of white voters went to the polls thinking, "I really don't trust/like black people; but I'm going to vote for Obama anyway." What I think really happened is that a majority of white's who voted for Obama really didn't care if he was black or not.
But, again, maybe I'm wrong. I could have too much faith in people in this instance.

Blacks vote Democrat

I'm so sick of this "black people who voted for Obama are racists"
FactCheck.org: When did blacks start voting Democratic?

A Majority of Black people have been voting Democratic since
Obama Broke Johnson's 1964 record of 94% of the Black vote by 1%.
Gore came in third with 90% of the vote.

So can you really say that black people voted for Obama JUST because he's black? Or is it because they historically vote democratic?

And if it was really about racism, why didn't black people vote for Cynthia McKinney?
Why didn't they vote for poor old Alan Keyes?

And I guess the "Real America" doesn't include the black America; 'cause I don't remember McCain campaigning in predominately black areas.


G.O.P. Tries Hard to Win Black Votes, but Recent History Works Against It

A Cynic's Guide to Civil Rights

First of all, Civil rights are not granted by popular vote.
I'll let you crunch the numbers. In America's history, what percentage of civil rights were denied by popular vote? I bet it's a fucking lot.

Historically, what is the most effective way to protect civil rights? The courts and the legislature
With the courts, you just have to be persistent. You gotta cover for the cases that are going to be dropped and the ones that will be lost. Eventually, the courts will realize that it's their job to protect the rights of citizens...
With the legislature, you have to protest. Congress only hears the loud and multiple voices. A healthy dose of boycotting never hurt anyone.

But if you insist on wasting your time trying to get people to vote for your cause then you have to learn how to campaign. From what I've seen, gay rights activists suck at campaigning.
They suck because they don't seem to put any thought in their campaigns... it's a lot of preaching to the choir. And for gay rights, the choir's pretty small.
And a whole lot of too little too late. I think I've heard more about prop 8 AFTER it passed than I did before it was voted on.

Word of advice... Don't fuck yourself.
Do You know the best way to fuck yourself? Alienation.

Common sense. If you alienate people, they won't vote for your causes.

I love Rachel Maddow; but I was a little disappointed in her for questioning Obama for Campaigning in Red states. She thought he was wasting his time. So, what would have happened if Obama just campaigned in Blue states? He would have lost. Why, because he would have been alienating Republicans, independents, and democrats who were ripe for the picking.
What happened to McCain who picked a running mate that was very attractive to the conservative base... he lost. Why? Because she alienated democrats and independents.

First mistake, you don't just assume that people are going to vote for your cause because it seems glaringly obvious to you that your cause is just. People don't work that way.
First obstacle, people are selfish. (With the exception of animals and babies)If a cause doesn't affect them or someone they know personally, they're going to be apathetic at most. At worse, those who oppose your cause are going to fill them with all types of reasons why your cause will affect them negatively. They will tell them that you are a threat to their way of life. And they will believe them.

Second obstacle, people are ignorant. Of course, this can be attributed to their apathy.
You have to educate the people about your cause. Regarding issues that are seen as moral, education comes in the form of intimate conversations. It's putting a FRIENDLY face on your cause. It's going door to door. It's having real conversations with ALL of your friends about the issue (Don't just assume that they support your cause just because they're your friend). It means coming out to your family and showing them that you are not a threat to their way of life.

Second mistake, the whole "my people are more oppressed than your people" is just so fucked up. When someone tells you the story of their oppression, you don't try to drown them out with, "Well, I've been oppressed too, you're not special."
What you're supposed to say is, "I'm sorry to hear about your oppression. I too have suffered oppression. LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO STOP OPPRESSION."
Try it one day. It's not so hard.

I can't believe I'm going to address this race issue; but it's so fucking stupid I can't resist. First of all, ANYBODY can be a bigot. When you talk shit about a group of people because they're not like you... that makes you a bigot. When you don't support a group because they're not like you... that makes you a passive aggressive bigot. And IMO, a majority of people are passive aggressive bigots.
When you try to blame an entire group for the failure of your cause...that just makes you a stupid bigot. And... calling people bigots... doesn't make them sympathetic to your cause.

So let's be realistic. Say you live in a community that has the church as its base. The best way you can organize this community is through the church. AND their church don't like the gays.
So, what happens if you're a gay person in this community? You keep it to yourself. (Side note, how feasible is same-sex marriage when you can't even come out of the closet?)
If you keep it to yourself, then how many of the people in this community are going to be truly educated about gay life? How many are going to be sympathetic to something they really know nothing about?
But, let's say you do come out to your family. What do you think the family dynamics look like when the church is telling your family that you are morally wrong? Do you really expect conversations that focus on truly understanding the gay family member?
And if these people don't know any out gay people, who are they going to get their information about homosexuality from? The church. And we've established that the church doesn't like gay people.

How do you reach out to these people? You teach them that their church doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. How do you do that without alienating them? Encourage the gay people in their community to come out. How do you do that? This is the part where people outside of their community have to come in and show them support. This support will give them the courage to come out. Hopefully they can then use their intimate relationships and show their community that you're not of the Devil.

Food for thought...
You can't have true equality unless you achieve true unity.

Do as ye will

I honestly believe in freedom. That people have the right to life, liberty, and property (pursuit of happiness). In my mind, people have the right to do anything they want and society (or govt.) can only curtail these freedoms if that freedom imposes on the life, liberty, property of another citizen.

People are going to do whatever they want.
Many things can happen in relation to human urges
people will repress the urges
which usually causes internal harm and they tend to redirect the urge. Sometimes in a good way, most times in a bad way.
I believe the good way only comes when they seek help for their urge and are taught healthy ways to redirect.
Then there is Expressing those urges despite the conflicts it may create in the community, family, religion
Expressing those urges and finding a community that accepts that behavior
Eliminating the urge. For innate biologically predisposed urges, it's virtually impossible to eliminate the urge. This is where redirection comes in.
For urges caused by nurture, trauma... it is possible to eliminate an urge.

If it is an urge that is supported by a group, they will often times segregate themselves from the rest of the community and create their own space

People are always looking for information that confirms their desires. Often ignoring or invalidating info that goes against their urges.


Defense mechanisms

Denial: You completely reject the thought or feeling.

Suppression: You are vaguely aware of the thought or feeling, but try to hide it.

Reaction Formation: You turn the feeling into its opposite.

Projection: You think someone else has your thought or feeling.

Displacement: You redirect your feelings to another target..

Rationalization: You come up with various explanations to justify the situation (while denying your feelings).

Intellectualization: A type of rationalization, only more intellectualized.

Undoing: You try to reverse or undo your feeling by DOING something that indicates the opposite feeling. It may be an "apology" for the feeling you find unacceptable within yourself.

Isolation of affect: You "think" the feeling but don't really feel it.

Regression: You revert to an old, usually immature behavior to ventilate your feeling.

Sublimation: You redirect the feeling into a socially productive activity.

Repression is the blocking of unacceptable impulses from consciousness.

Intellectualization is the use of a cognitive approach without the attendant emotions to suppress and attempt to gain mastery over the perceived disorderly and potentially overwhelming impulses. An example might be an individual who when told they had a life threatening disease focuses exclusively on the statistical percentages of recovery and is unable to cope with their fear and sadness.

Fantasy, when used as a defense mechanism, is the channeling of unacceptable or unattainable desires into imagination. This can protect ones self esteem as when educational, vocational or social expectations are not being met, one imagines success in these areas and wards off self condemnation.

Compartmentalization is a process of separating parts of the self from awareness of other parts and behaving as if one had separate sets of values. An example might be an honest person who cheats on their income tax return and keeps their two value systems distinct and unintegrated while remaining unconscious of the cognitive dissonance.

Compensation is a process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived weaknesses by emphasizing strength in other arenas. The "I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover" philosophy can be an example of compensation as can the Napoleonic complex.

Acting out - The individual copes with stress by engaging in actions rather than reflecting upon internal feelings.
Affiliation - Involves turning to other people for support.
Aim inhibition - The individual accepts a modified form of their original goal (i.e. becoming a high school basketball coach rather than a professional athlete.)
Altruism - Satisfying internal needs through helping others.
Avoidance - Refusing to deal with or encounter unpleasant objects or situations.
Compensation - Overachieving in one area to compensate for failures in another.
Humor - Pointing out the funny or ironic aspects of a situation.
passive-aggression - Indirectly expressing anger.

In Sigmund Freud's topographical model of personality, the ego is the aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. The id seeks to fulfill all wants, needs, and impulses while the superego tries to get the ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner.

What happens when the ego cannot deal with the demands of our desires, the constraints of reality, and our own moral standards? According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant inner state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that things are not going right.

Frued identified three types of anxiety:

1. Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's urges, resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior.

2. Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually easily identified. For example, a person might fear receiving a dog bite when they are near a menacing dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety is to avoid the threatening object.

3. Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our own moral principles.

In order to deal with this anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped shield the ego from the conflicts created by the id, superego, and reality.

Not a big fan of Freud but I'll ride with him on this theory.

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