Complex Numbers

Controversial

I used to tackle controversial topics all the time, mostly in my previous blog.

Turkey DrumStik did a survey on "controversial" topics in her journal. I linked it a couple entries back. Since then, I've seen responses by Mavis Moog ("Invalid Entry" ) and orangefiire ("Invalid Entry" ). Since orangefiire is 16 (not giving away any secrets here; she says so herself), and refusing to be outdone by a 16 year old girl, I feel I have to take my own stab at the survey.

Besides, we need a man's perspective.

Okay, Silver is 2 to the 5th Power also answered the survey in ""Controversial" Survey" , and he's a man. But we need MY perspective.

Before we begin, though, I want to point out that some of these questions are loaded. I'll point out logical fallacies where appropriate.

So here are the questions, and my (slightly inebriated, since my father-in-law just blew through town) answers:

1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and repost as The Controversial Survey?
It doesn't take guts. Only chutzpah. Chutzpah is distinct from "guts." Chutzpah is defined as that quality enshrined in a guy who, accused of murdering his parents, throws himself on the mercy of the court on the grounds that he's an orphan. Guts is just the ability to bypass fear. Big freaking deal.

2. Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Meth? Meth is fucked up. Meth is one of those drugs you do if you can't cope. I've seen what it does to people. No thanks.

3. Abortion: for or against?
Someone once said that while it seems like the pro-choice and anti-choice movements have no common ground, there actually is one. The whole "for or against abortion" argument falters when one realizes that both groups have one goal in common: no unwanted children. I was adopted. Many of my friends were adopted. I'm sure I'd have more friends if more women chose adoption over abortion. But the bottom line is, my biological mother didn't want me. More precisely, she didn't want a baby at that point in her life (I think she was a college student). My adoptive parents? They wanted a child. Adoption isn't a choice for everyone, obviously. Until we live in a perfect world (maybe never), abortion has to remain legal and safe so that all of a woman's choices can be respected. After all, if abortion had been legal and my biological mother had chosen that route... well, I wouldn't be here to bitch about it, and none of you would miss me. So yes, I'm for it. I'd even go so far as to say that abortion should be mandatory in certain circumstances, which is sure to get me lynched by both liberals AND conservatives.

4. Would our country fall with a woman president?
Logical fallacy: assumes our country hasn't already fallen. In any event, woman? Man? What's the difference? Plumbing? Demographics? By creating an artificial dichotomy between any groups of humans, you are setting up a false premise. The country would "fall" with the wrong person in the Presidency, and "rise" with the right person. The qualities necessary to be the right person are independent of gender, and diametrically opposed to the qualities needed to gain that office. Whoever wins in November has his work cut out for him, and that would be true if I changed that pronoun.

5. Do you believe in the death penalty?
In theory? Yes. There are some people we Just Don't Need. But that assumes a perfect world wherein we knew beyond the shadow of a doubt (not just "beyond a reasonable doubt") that person A committed a capital crime. But - here's the rub - in a perfect world, no one would commit murder. So in practice? No, I don't think the death penalty is a good idea. Every person's death diminishes the rest of us, whether someone believes it's deserved or not.

6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Okay, I'll be totally honest here: I have smoked marijuana. I don't see what the big deal is. Since I don't see what the big deal is, hell yeah, legalize it already. It's pretty much a given that it's safer than either tobacco or alcohol, both of which are legal within limits. So impose the same limits on it, but legalize it. I still won't see what the big deal is, but at least then the cops could concentrate on real crimes, like rape, murder and theft.

7. Are you for or against premarital sex?
Loaded question, assumes certain societal norms. I'm "for" sex between any consenting adults. Since I'm married, it's a moot point for me, since I have chosen to live in a monogamous relationship. I'm "against" extramarital sex in my own relationship, but I couldn't give a shit what other people think or do about it.

8. Do you believe in God?
I believe that a whole shitload of people believe that there's this thing called "God" and that belief affects their lives and relationships. Like I've said before, the difference between reality and imagination is that imagination only affects the person imagining, while reality affects all of us. Since others' belief in God affects their workings in this world, I have to come to the conclusion that there's something there, something that can be considered "real." As a creator, or the entity mentioned in the Bible? Not so much. This is something probably worth expanding on in the future. Basically, this is a seriously loaded question, assuming that everyone either believes in an invisible dude in the sky who directs everything, or believes that there is not such a dude. Lots of people have other beliefs. So why not ask, "Do you believe in the Great Spirit?" Or "Do you believe in Odin?" Because they're real, too. Or not.

9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Oh, please. Marriage (civil definition) should not be limited in any way, except to between consenting adults. Marriage (religious definition) should be left up to the individual religions. No amount of the government saying "We allow gays to be married now" can force YOUR priest to marry gays. On the other hand, no amount of the government saying, "A marriage is only between one man and one woman" can force your priest to limit marriage to one man / one woman. I know plenty of Pagans, for example, who are religiously married in a same-sex union whose union is not recognized by the state. Grow the fuck up. Gay marriage will one day be as accepted as interracial marriage is now - that is, by reasonable people, if not by closed-minded idiots.

10. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are moving to the USA?
Christ. Do I really have to answer this? Stop with the racist crap already. We're all human, and like Silver pointed out, the only people who have a "right" to be here were marginalized long ago.

11. A twelve-year-old girl has a baby...should she keep it?
See above answer on abortion. Hell, in My Ideal World, there are no such things as unwanted babies. In My Ideal World, no woman - or girl - can get pregnant unless she wants to, and then only if she's of consenting age AND the man involved also consents. That is what we "should" be working toward.

12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
It should be lowered to 14, and the driving age raised to 18. Let people get the "let's get drunk" crap out of their system before they start being able to endanger the rest of us.

13. Should the war in Iraq be called off?
What war? A war implies an enemy that one can identify. All we appear to be at "war" with is "terrorism," and that's certainly not limited to Iraq. Plenty of terrorists here in the US. One of them just shot up a UU church in Tennessee. Should we pull out of Iraq? We shouldn't have been there in the first place, but hell... yes.

14. Assisted suicide is illegal...do you agree?
One of the things I still can't get my mind around is how it's "humane" to end a cat's or a dog's suffering by "putting them to sleep," and yet we keep humans alive on machines for, potentially, years. Get a grip, folks. We're not much different from dogs and cats.

15. Do you believe in spanking your children?
I don't believe in having children. If I had children, I'd probably spank them under certain circumstances. My mother didn't believe in spanking. Instead, she would take away things that gave me joy. I learned to not take joy in anything, because she could take it away at any moment for violating some arbitrary principle. Is that better than spanking, which is over and then you can go play with your toys? I don't think so.

16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
The things I would not do for a million dollars would fit nicely on a small sheet of paper. But there is one American flag I would not burn for any amount of money, and that is the one that draped my father's casket at his full-military-honors funeral.

17. A mother is declared innocent after murdering her five children in a temporary insanity case.
Murder requires insanity. Whatever penalty there is for murder needs to be consistent, regardless of a person's mental state.

18. It's between you and a person who is being kept alive by life support, which one dies?
False dichotomy; completely hypothetical. But given that choice, I live. Period.

19. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Fear implies that I care, so... no. Judge away.