Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, hare hare

Bored shitless, or maybe just constipated, I followed a link to some latter-day mild article on “the environment” that was mostly tips on gas economy in cars. I came across this sentence “… shitting is the most economical means for any transportation …” I had to read it a few times. Yes, of course, to make sure it said shitting, and then to try and figure out what they might have been trying to say. Maybe that standard gear shifts save fuel (that is if you use ‘em right)? Or maybe it wasn’t a typo. I can’t go very fast on shit alone, but it is renewable.

I would have saved the link if I knew that pearl was hidden in the shell. There should be a sister site to damn you auto correct, something like ‘you Really Said that.’

There are a lot of things I only listen to or read halfway. The problem with the information age is that every one is sure they got some. It’s like the diet industry; every year thirty new diet books make a first run of more than five thousand copies (conservatively) even though every way of consuming food has been flogged to pate. For some reason that industry gets a pass when the whole body shaming waves get to high tide. If this were a currently hot topic someone would say something like “… it’s easy for you, you have a privileged body and don’t know what it’s like to be shamed …” Heh, have of that is true, it is every time I hear that argument. I’m built like pit-bull, short, stocky and really dense. With the exception of doctors no one calls me fat to my face, and doctors just say “You’re thirty percent over recommended BMI”. Which is medically damn near morbidly obese. Ok, two thirds true; I do know what it’s like to be shamed, I just rarely accept it. Seven teenagers hanging out on a street corner that shout out “Dude, you are so fucking fat” doesn’t shame me at all. Sorry, off topic. I don’t know anybody with just5 one diet book, they either have none or a shelf full. Eat balanced meals and exercise. Everything else is special effects crystal licking. And, you know, shit, you might not lose weight, but you’ll feel better. You also might not need to lose weight. To tie it all in, I might not to read shit I know I’ll only get halfway through. I’d feel better.

So, I had this 90-minute conversation with this guy from something-something ministries. They sent me a free book a couple years back and I’d been putting off talking to them. Why ninety minutes? I think both of us expected to be offended or lose patience and it didn’t happen. It was good conversation, I don’t think minds were changed. I’m not an atheist. I’m an agnostic, which, to me, means I’m not done figuring it out, but, I’ve read more than halfway through all kinds of theological texts, and am pretty sure the best of them aren’t meant to be taken literally. Makes it hard to have a meaningful conversation with armchair Christians who’ve been taught it’s all literal. Priests, Rabbis, Ministers — most clergy in this country have PhD’s and don’t hang out in bus stops asking if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Revival tents and decidedly average congregations get the condescending fire and brimstone sermons, but scholars tend to be scholarly. This guy was refreshingly different, and, I had expected somehow to be asked to ‘donate’ for the book. Never came up. Everyone from the Hare Krishna’s to the Jehovah witness’s want a donation for their free copy of the Bhagavad-Gita and watchtower, respectively.

I’m sure I had better things to do, but I wasn’t doing them anyhow, so, there’s that. It’s been a while since I’ve had that sort of conversation without the mantra of ‘idiot, idiot, idiot’ chanting in my mind. Most folks just want respect for their ideas. Freshly minted evangelists want notches on their war cross. I would love to say that I treat everyone with respect and that’s kind of true at first, I mean if someone asks how are you I don’t say fuck you weasel beaked cat ass. Most of the time I say, fine, thank you, and you? It’s sort of like playground rules, the first to swing is at fault for you beating their ass. I try very hard not to be the first to swing. I know full well that with functioning adult respect breeds respect, and yet, sometimes I just don’t like the cut of a motherfucker’s jib. With discussion, debate, something topic driven, I’m even more conscious of not throwing the first punch, but I do often have the second punch lined up and squared away.

I don’t really understand debate teams except in the ‘good show old sport’ kind of way (as much as I understand anything that has good show old sport attached to it). You get points for everything except being right. I know, a lot of topics are opinion and no opinion is ‘wrong’ but some are much closer than others. I haven’t watched many debates (heh, I say that as though I’ve watched more than one) but I assume they often shoot for topical things and someone has to take an opinion they absolutely disagree with, which seems kind of fun, but they have to frame it as though it weren’t fun at all. Is that the vicarious position of the audience? Watching some kid sweat out an argument contrary to his or her core beliefs? If so I think I might have more respect for the ‘sport’ and a dimmer view of basic human decency. I mean that’s fucking cruel in an entertaining way. Somehow, I think that’s just a fantasy, though. I think the audience either has skin in the game (I’m thinking more a relative than a bet, though, I imagine there are betting lines on those things. I would love to hear a bookie say, bad luck old sport just once before I die) or likes to think they are clever for spending the evening listening to a highly structured and researched argument. Clever is a dirty word where I come from. It means you aren’t witty enough to be funny or intelligent enough to be smart or skilled enough to be a journeyman, you’re just clever.

I think it’d be easier to convince me that debate was cool than that Jesus was the literal son of god (which, if you have to delve into, he’s one third of a god head, one aspect of god. Might as well be Hindu, they have cooler outfits for church and much cooler temples). Convincing me debate was worthwhile is like convincing me Christ had an agreeable message, I’ll stipulate to those in a heartbeat. Cool and son of god crosses a line where even my crazy ass thinks rationality has slipped behind the horizon. The fortunate thing for the world is that my opinion in these matters is meaningless, even to me. I have no problem with Debate or Jesus and have never walked up to a stranger and told them debate and Jesus are stupid props for extra shitty shit-heads. That’s one of those cases where not doing unto others as you’d have them not do unto you just doesn’t work. To be fair I have never been approached by a debatevangelist, but, my high school teacher thought I should join the team. It’s possible that they just needed a warm body, that one member just keeled over and spontaneously died of boredom. I won’t lie, I like to argue, but not in a structured debate. I hate to fight, but I’ve been in a few, in my opinion there’s no advantage whatsoever to fighting by the limits of the Marquis of Queensbury rules. Why would you argue by the Marquis of Queensbury rules except, perhaps, over that guys sexual proclivities? I understand why he’d get into fights.

Once again, I’ve rambled where my fingers led. I could have shut up at the first word without affecting the world or this entry. Stay safe, use protection and be nice.