Here's what I don't understand: silence.
No, not the silence of the lambs, but the silence that persisted in the whole Penn State debacle that's currently unfolding and resulting in the retirement of a legendary coach.
You see, it doesn't matter that he, and others, followed University protocol, reported the 'situation' to their supervisors, and then went on their merry little way . . . while, allegedly, an untold number of boys were repeatedly molested/raped.
You see, forget University protocol. Someone - the assistant who first told the coach, or the coach who told his supervisors, or the father of the assistant who told his son to report it to the coach - should have said the hell with protocol and gone to the police.
You know what might have happened?
The molestation might have stopped. An untold number of boys might not have become scarred for life by the molestations.
The fact is, everybody is at fault because nobody did what they should have done: gone to the police.
I don't understand the silence that prevails in situations like this. I don't understand, no matter the circumstances, how every single person involved just went on with their lives.
Is it part of human nature to not want to assume some sort of responsibility? Well, I told the coach, so my job is done. Geesh.
What about the boys who were molested/raped after the fact? Didn't they matter?
I guess I'll never know the answers to these questions. I can only hope that I, in a similar circumstance, would do more, do what is right, and go to the police.
In the end, no matter what guilt is felt by the molester, the coach, the assistant, and all others involved in the cover up, the highest price paid is by those boys that could have been saved by molestation if only someone had done the right thing - go to the police - in the first place.
Scottford
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
PTC
I don't need someone to police my television shows. I don't need some group - that thinks they're way more intelligent than everybody else in America, so much so that they can decide what people watch or don't watch - of obviously (allegedly) limited intelligence to make it their life's goal to Big Brother me.
I'm perfectly capable of deciding whether I want to, or don't want to watch a program, read a book, see a movie, or whatever.
Apparently, the PTC, aka Parents Television Council, has decided that NBC's The Playboy Club is a "degrading and sexualizing program". The PTC, through their rabid dog efforts, have convinced 7 advertisers to quit advertising on the show.
We are not Russia during the Cold War. We are not a third world country ruled by a dictator. We, i.e., the United States of America, are a democratic country with citizens, for the most part, capable of making informed decisions.
So, dear PTC (and trust me, the words I could fit to those initials aren't pretty - ha), GET A LIFE! I don't need you making decisions for me. The citizens of the United States do not need you to make decisions for them in regards to what they watch or don't watch on television.
Scottford
I'm perfectly capable of deciding whether I want to, or don't want to watch a program, read a book, see a movie, or whatever.
Apparently, the PTC, aka Parents Television Council, has decided that NBC's The Playboy Club is a "degrading and sexualizing program". The PTC, through their rabid dog efforts, have convinced 7 advertisers to quit advertising on the show.
We are not Russia during the Cold War. We are not a third world country ruled by a dictator. We, i.e., the United States of America, are a democratic country with citizens, for the most part, capable of making informed decisions.
So, dear PTC (and trust me, the words I could fit to those initials aren't pretty - ha), GET A LIFE! I don't need you making decisions for me. The citizens of the United States do not need you to make decisions for them in regards to what they watch or don't watch on television.
Scottford
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Bullying . . .
. . . is unacceptable in any way, shape, form!
Can you hear me Michelle Bachmann? Rick Perry? NOM? Do you understand that your actions in attempting to deny equality to the GLBT community is a form of bullying? Do you understand that your actions help reinforce that bullying is okay?
How many kids have to die, before the world at large takes notice? How many, before you and your like-minded counterparts finally realize that your words/actions have an impact on others? Your words/actions aren't any different than that of the bullies who led Jamey Rodemeyer to commit suicide!
Oh, you justify your words/actions, you make excuses for them, but, in the end, the excuses, at least to me, mean absolutely nothing. Humanity has a long history of justifying abhorrent behavior . . .
. . . Hitler
. . . The Crusades
. . . just to name two.
Hitler truly believed he was right - as did many others - in what he did to the Jews, and to others that didn't meet his standards for humanity.
The Church, back in the day - the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the extinction of the Pagans - believed it was justified, that it was God's will, in what they did, i.e., kill, rape, do whatever they had to in order to convert people to the one, true religion . . . at least in their minds.
Once upon a time, this county believed that women were inferior and should stay at home, barefoot and pregnant (okay, only if you lived in the South), and didn't have the right to vote or, for the most part, work outside of the home. If someone were to say that we should go back to those days, then those same women seeking to deny equality to the GLBT community would be up in arms!
It's funny - in a sad, sad way - that these same women can so easily denounce/deny equality to fellow humans and completely forget that their gender had to fight for what they have right here and now. Michelle Bachmann, a few generations back, wouldn't even have been able to consider a run for President. Just sayin' . . .
Once upon a time, this country believed in slavery.
There are so many more instances I could write of the denial of equality, of bullying on a level that is - almost - unbelievable.
There comes a time and place where the narrow-minded views of the allegedly righteous need to come to an end.
That time is HERE!
That time is NOW!
Scottford
Can you hear me Michelle Bachmann? Rick Perry? NOM? Do you understand that your actions in attempting to deny equality to the GLBT community is a form of bullying? Do you understand that your actions help reinforce that bullying is okay?
How many kids have to die, before the world at large takes notice? How many, before you and your like-minded counterparts finally realize that your words/actions have an impact on others? Your words/actions aren't any different than that of the bullies who led Jamey Rodemeyer to commit suicide!
Oh, you justify your words/actions, you make excuses for them, but, in the end, the excuses, at least to me, mean absolutely nothing. Humanity has a long history of justifying abhorrent behavior . . .
. . . Hitler
. . . The Crusades
. . . just to name two.
Hitler truly believed he was right - as did many others - in what he did to the Jews, and to others that didn't meet his standards for humanity.
The Church, back in the day - the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the extinction of the Pagans - believed it was justified, that it was God's will, in what they did, i.e., kill, rape, do whatever they had to in order to convert people to the one, true religion . . . at least in their minds.
Once upon a time, this county believed that women were inferior and should stay at home, barefoot and pregnant (okay, only if you lived in the South), and didn't have the right to vote or, for the most part, work outside of the home. If someone were to say that we should go back to those days, then those same women seeking to deny equality to the GLBT community would be up in arms!
It's funny - in a sad, sad way - that these same women can so easily denounce/deny equality to fellow humans and completely forget that their gender had to fight for what they have right here and now. Michelle Bachmann, a few generations back, wouldn't even have been able to consider a run for President. Just sayin' . . .
Once upon a time, this country believed in slavery.
There are so many more instances I could write of the denial of equality, of bullying on a level that is - almost - unbelievable.
There comes a time and place where the narrow-minded views of the allegedly righteous need to come to an end.
That time is HERE!
That time is NOW!
Scottford
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Bullies
Let me put one thing in perspective: politicians, for the most part, are bullies, whether on the State or Federal level.
North Carolina has put their blatant attempt at discrimination, at denying equality to human beings, i.e, the Marriage Equality Ban, on the May 2012 ballot.
This, dear readers, is bullying.
This, dear readers, is just another example of hate legislation.
Our government is full of bullies passing, or trying to pass, hate legislation so that only those that they believe are superior, i.e., heterosexuals, can marry.
This is only the beginning. Sooner or later, these bullies will begin to introduce other legislation that strip away the rights of citizens of the United States.
It is unfortunate that our government is no longer a democracy. Our government is led around by the nose by allegedly narrow-minded conservatives who line the political coffers of these politicians so that their limited point of view becomes the view of this nation.
We are better than that, dear readers.
We deserve better than a pack of bullies running the Federal and State governments. We deserve people who can't sleep at night because inequality exists in our nation. We deserve people who are willing to stand up and fight for EQUALITY, and not people willing to bow down to the pressure of their financial backers.
Every senator or congressman, Federal or State, who votes for any legislation that denies equal rights to any citizen of the United States is nothing more than a bully. They are equal to the bullies in schools that harass GLBT kids to the point where those same kids commit suicide.
Schools across the nation are implementing anti-bullying laws, and yet shouldn't similar laws be in place in State/Federal governments so the continued bullying/harassment of the GLBT community can come to an end? Shouldn't the concerned citizens of this country speak up and say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
I say YES! How about you?
Scottford
North Carolina has put their blatant attempt at discrimination, at denying equality to human beings, i.e, the Marriage Equality Ban, on the May 2012 ballot.
This, dear readers, is bullying.
This, dear readers, is just another example of hate legislation.
Our government is full of bullies passing, or trying to pass, hate legislation so that only those that they believe are superior, i.e., heterosexuals, can marry.
This is only the beginning. Sooner or later, these bullies will begin to introduce other legislation that strip away the rights of citizens of the United States.
It is unfortunate that our government is no longer a democracy. Our government is led around by the nose by allegedly narrow-minded conservatives who line the political coffers of these politicians so that their limited point of view becomes the view of this nation.
We are better than that, dear readers.
We deserve better than a pack of bullies running the Federal and State governments. We deserve people who can't sleep at night because inequality exists in our nation. We deserve people who are willing to stand up and fight for EQUALITY, and not people willing to bow down to the pressure of their financial backers.
Every senator or congressman, Federal or State, who votes for any legislation that denies equal rights to any citizen of the United States is nothing more than a bully. They are equal to the bullies in schools that harass GLBT kids to the point where those same kids commit suicide.
Schools across the nation are implementing anti-bullying laws, and yet shouldn't similar laws be in place in State/Federal governments so the continued bullying/harassment of the GLBT community can come to an end? Shouldn't the concerned citizens of this country speak up and say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
I say YES! How about you?
Scottford
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Dating Done God's Way
No, joke, people, no joke at all . . . at least according to a commercial I saw multiple times this weekend.
So, I watched a bit of television this past, long weekend, and I kept seeing ads - multiple, btw - for dating sites from Zoosk, to Match, to EHarmony, to Christian Mingle . . . which alleges you can find your perfect match "God's way".
Okay, I'm sorry, but . . . SERIOUSLY! God is now running a dating site for Christians? This is His way for Christians to find a date?
I'm sorry, but I think God has a bit more on his plate than to run a dating site. Oh, I think they mention finding "God's match for you". Uh-huh, yeah, take that with more than a grain of salt.
Seriously, people have way too much time on their hands to come up with stuff like this.
I didn't meet my partner - of 17 years, btw - by using a dating site. I did it the old fashioned way: I went out to a public place and met him.
Yes, dating sites make things easier: you see their alleged picture first, find out their likes and dislikes, and, depending on the site, take some compatibility tests so the site can match you up with your perfect mate.
Well, my partner and I found out those things for ourselves . . . and we're still together. Yeah, we have our ups and downs, as all couples do, because there is no such thing as a perfect relationship.
The sad thing about all of this is that people are going to actually believe that this Internet dating site actually has an in with God. They're going to get their hopes up, and then . . . in a good percentage of their cases, they're going to get their hopes dashed.
Are these people with dashed hopes going to blame the site? Of course not. They're going to unfairly blame God because of the BS this site used to promote their site in the first place.
Scottford
So, I watched a bit of television this past, long weekend, and I kept seeing ads - multiple, btw - for dating sites from Zoosk, to Match, to EHarmony, to Christian Mingle . . . which alleges you can find your perfect match "God's way".
Okay, I'm sorry, but . . . SERIOUSLY! God is now running a dating site for Christians? This is His way for Christians to find a date?
I'm sorry, but I think God has a bit more on his plate than to run a dating site. Oh, I think they mention finding "God's match for you". Uh-huh, yeah, take that with more than a grain of salt.
Seriously, people have way too much time on their hands to come up with stuff like this.
I didn't meet my partner - of 17 years, btw - by using a dating site. I did it the old fashioned way: I went out to a public place and met him.
Yes, dating sites make things easier: you see their alleged picture first, find out their likes and dislikes, and, depending on the site, take some compatibility tests so the site can match you up with your perfect mate.
Well, my partner and I found out those things for ourselves . . . and we're still together. Yeah, we have our ups and downs, as all couples do, because there is no such thing as a perfect relationship.
The sad thing about all of this is that people are going to actually believe that this Internet dating site actually has an in with God. They're going to get their hopes up, and then . . . in a good percentage of their cases, they're going to get their hopes dashed.
Are these people with dashed hopes going to blame the site? Of course not. They're going to unfairly blame God because of the BS this site used to promote their site in the first place.
Scottford
Monday, August 29, 2011
Natural Disasters
You know, limited intelligent life-forms shouldn't be allowed to run for political office. Then again, if they didn't, who would fill the positions?
Seriously, MB in another illogical move, has now determined that God is trying to get the attention of politicians by wreaking havoc with natural - hurricanes, earthquakes - disasters!
Seriously, woman???
Do you really think that God gives a hoot about politicians (of which MB is one!!!)? If so, why doesn't He just send a bolt of lightning to wipe out the lying/corrupt politicians currently in office . . . and those running for office?
I hate to tell you MB, but God is not speaking to you through natural disasters. You might think he is . . .and you might want to check into your own clinic for some reparative therapy while you're at it . . . but he isn't.
People die in natural (oh, you might want to look up the definition of that one in your spare time, MB) disasters time after time. Were they bad people? Was God punishing them? What about devout Christians that die of cancer? With your current illogical thinking, MB, that would be God talking to the politicians.
If you're hearing voices in your heads, they have meds for that, MB! Just sayin' . . .
Seriously, MB in another illogical move, has now determined that God is trying to get the attention of politicians by wreaking havoc with natural - hurricanes, earthquakes - disasters!
Seriously, woman???
Do you really think that God gives a hoot about politicians (of which MB is one!!!)? If so, why doesn't He just send a bolt of lightning to wipe out the lying/corrupt politicians currently in office . . . and those running for office?
I hate to tell you MB, but God is not speaking to you through natural disasters. You might think he is . . .and you might want to check into your own clinic for some reparative therapy while you're at it . . . but he isn't.
People die in natural (oh, you might want to look up the definition of that one in your spare time, MB) disasters time after time. Were they bad people? Was God punishing them? What about devout Christians that die of cancer? With your current illogical thinking, MB, that would be God talking to the politicians.
If you're hearing voices in your heads, they have meds for that, MB! Just sayin' . . .
Monday, August 22, 2011
Homosexual Lifestyle . . . NOT!
According to The Advocate General Mills allegedly dropped its ad/sponsorship of the show Pretty Little Liars because one of the characters is a lesbian. General Mills disputes this allegation. Uh-huh!
But . . . the reason General Mills even knew a character was a lesbian is because that fun little group known as the Florida Family Association (i.e., alleged hate group . . . at least in my opinion) sent the following message to General Mills that the "shows audience of primarily 12 - 18 year old girls was being sent a message that reinforces and legitimizes this homosexual lifestyle in a manner that could affect these young girls' sexual identity for a lifetime.
Uh-huh!
First, dear Florida Family Association, there is no such thing as a homosexual lifestyle, because, if there is, well, then, there's such a thing as a heterosexual lifestyle which I'm 100% POSITIVE you and the other allegedly narrow-minded people that make up the Florida Family Association would vehemently deny.
Homosexuality, like heterosexuality, is a part of a person's genetic make-up. You're born hetero or homo. Nobody chooses this option. God chose it for the person at the moment the sperm met the egg and did the little happy dance that fertilized the egg and created life!
Oh, and just in case you're wondering (and listening to Michelle Bachmann), you can't cure homosexuality, any more than you could cure heterosexuality. It's never gonna happen. Born Gay. Die Gay! Born Straight. Die Straight. It's the facts of life people!
Scottford
p.s. No more Cheerios for me!
But . . . the reason General Mills even knew a character was a lesbian is because that fun little group known as the Florida Family Association (i.e., alleged hate group . . . at least in my opinion) sent the following message to General Mills that the "shows audience of primarily 12 - 18 year old girls was being sent a message that reinforces and legitimizes this homosexual lifestyle in a manner that could affect these young girls' sexual identity for a lifetime.
Uh-huh!
First, dear Florida Family Association, there is no such thing as a homosexual lifestyle, because, if there is, well, then, there's such a thing as a heterosexual lifestyle which I'm 100% POSITIVE you and the other allegedly narrow-minded people that make up the Florida Family Association would vehemently deny.
Homosexuality, like heterosexuality, is a part of a person's genetic make-up. You're born hetero or homo. Nobody chooses this option. God chose it for the person at the moment the sperm met the egg and did the little happy dance that fertilized the egg and created life!
Oh, and just in case you're wondering (and listening to Michelle Bachmann), you can't cure homosexuality, any more than you could cure heterosexuality. It's never gonna happen. Born Gay. Die Gay! Born Straight. Die Straight. It's the facts of life people!
Scottford
p.s. No more Cheerios for me!
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