lose a job, ya hippie!

21st century "rights" activists... today's revolutionaries? or just spoiled brats?


Here's what upsets me about a lot of "modern day hippies." I find that most of them have to pick something to cry about because they don't have any real problems in their lives. I obviously don't know what everyone goes through, I'm not talking about anyone specific, I'm not judging anyone's motivations or how they live their lives. I am purely saying, that it appears to me, that most people that stand up for a lot of "rights", just have no real other problems of their own to worry about, so they have to make noise.


When was the last time you saw a homeless dude standing on the street with a sign that says "STOP EATING MEAT"? I'll tell you when... never, that's when. Is it a coincidence that celebrities are often the most outspoken activists? I would say no. Especially where most of these celebrities give less than 5% of their income to even their chosen charities. These people make millions and millions and millions of dollars a year and then they hand over 500k to a charity and we're suppose to think they're saints. Not buying it folks. I'm getting a little side tracked, but it's all relative. My point is that people that are homeless, single parents, work on the docks trying to support their families, recently laid off, have major drug problems, have a major disease, etc... these people are usually too busy to cry about things like people not eating meat, same sex marriage, legalizing marijuana, "sweat shops", stopping Wal-Mart, etc etc.

Just so people don't lose their minds, I will address my opinion on each of those topics.

First, I of course don't agree with a lot of the way animals are killed and processed. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love animals, I will sit and watch Animal Planet all day long if I can get away with it. Do I eat meat? Yes I do, but I am not opposed to the consumption of meat due to religious beliefs, I believe God made certain animals for people to live off of, but we won't be getting into that right now. If you don't want to eat meat for health reasons, that's your deal good for you. Lord knows I could eat much healthier, I'm a mess. And again, the way certain companies treat animals in the food process is terrible. But shut up about not eating animals, it's really annoying and there are so many bigger problems going on in the world. Yes, an average of 100,000 cows are slaughtered every day in order to feed the world's massive population, and that is unfortunate. However, while that is going on, an upwards of 70,000 PEOPLE die every day from disease, war, and hunger in JUST AFRICA! Don't eat animals? Do you people really have that little to worry about that you've got to tell me to not eat meat? As of 06/16/10, over 1200 animals have died from the current oil spill in the gulf, why aren't you whining about that, vegans? I'm sure some of you are, but I actually know people who are outspoken vegans that have zero opinion on the BP disaster. Really? I won't even get started on people that are against killing animals for meat but are pro-choice abortion, that will triple the length of this blog and then we have to start getting deep into religious stuff which I don't feel like doing right now. Furthermore, on a separate but related note, most people don't realize that about probably an average of 90% of vegan products contain animal bi-products in them anyway, so realistically a very small portion of people are actually eating organic and/or meat free. (Please contact me if you'd like to know more on the facts I just mentioned about the food products). I do also want to repeat, if you eat vegetarian for health reasons, I applaud your commitment, I personally could stand to be in better health myself and probably should change my diet a bit.

I'm sure you think i've got plenty to say about same sex marriage on the religious front. Nope. My point is once again, in my opinion it pales in comparison to all the other disgusting shit that goes on in this world and is at least not yet worth flipping out over. First of all, marriage is a religious institution (no matter what you believe in), so I don't know why people are freaking out at the government about it. You can live common law with a same sex partner and receive the benefits of doing so, so if you want to complain about same sex marriage, take it up with THE CHURCHES. And good luck with that, because the churches themselves are often the ones against same sex marriages. I am in no way saying that homosexuals should not have rights, this is not even about homosexuality or their rights at all. Granted I am not gay, so this does not directly affect me, but what I'm saying is, in my opinion you're barking up the wrong tree when getting into marriage specifically. With a damn near 50% divorce rate in this country, you're better off just taking the common law benefits and not losing half the shit you own when it ends anyway. If you ask me, I say let's wait until we've abolished all forms of racism before we pick a new civil rights revolution.

Legalizing marijuana time? This isn't getting more than a few sentences. Yes, it is bad for you, major permanent memory loss and brain function is a PROVEN result of continued marijuana use. This is of course a lesser example of this blog, but it blows my mind that people even bother. Daniel Tosh said it best, "grow up and do coke like an adult." It's just annoying at this point. Instead of worrying about whether or not marijuana is legalized in this country, why don't you spend some time worrying about children across the world that are bought, sold, abused, and killed in the world of international drug traffic and prostitution. That's what I thought.

Sweat shops. I don't know a TON about this, but there is one aspect that annoys me, so here goes. Let's take care of pandering the reader first. Of course I think forced labor, unfair pay, abuse, slavery, all that jazz is horrible. But what I will say is, some of these big companies that use "sweat shops" and pay children and women next to nothing to work... what you're forgetting is that if they weren't paying them next to nothing, they would be making nothing nothing. A lot of people fail to remember that SOME (I repeat some) of these companies "sweat shops" are the only thing keeping these people alive. No job = no money = no food = dead. That being said, one of the most annoying things to me is American Apparel. "Ooooh, I love American Apparel, it's so soft and it's sweat shop free, and the owner of the company is a disgusting womanizer who is constantly accused of abusing and sexually harassing women, and I just love their v-necks!" Wait? What was that middle part? Oh, right, the owner of the company Dov Charney is a full blown pervert who has repeatedly had sexual harassment and abuse charges brought on him. That's much better than companies who higher children to make their clothes. Also, did you know Ed Hardy was an outspoken racist? Of course you didn't, and obviously neither do all the people that buy and wear that clothing line.

Last, the cry to stop Wal-Mart. I'm really tired of typing right now and am going to make this short. Wal-Mart isn't killing America, it's helping it. I'm sure many of you have seen "The High Cost of Low Prices" documentary, now take some time and watch Pen & Teller's Bullshit episode about the truth of Wal-Mart. Like the oh so evil sweat shops, Wal-Mart is often a source of employment for people who can not get other jobs. I know people that have cashiered there at $12 an hour. Oh, those poor bastards, $12 an hour with no college education? How will they ever survive?! I will say that Wal-Mart is certainly not helping the small business man, and that is very unfortunate, but that goes beyond the Wal-Mart debate. To that I say WELCOME TO CORPORATE AMERICA. This is nothing new. I'm really sick of typing, just look into the great Wal-Mart debate, it's not what everyone thinks it is.

Oh, almost forget a good one. I refuse to name names, but here's a fun local example. There is actually a person in the New England area who is taking it upon them self to try to undo the hateful meaning of the swastika. Talk about having nothing better to worry about. It must be nice having so much free time and money that you can start a clothing company to try to reverse a symbol that has an unforgettable historical blemish on it. No matter how much it would be nice to take it's hateful power away, you can NEVER ask the people that have suffered it's pain to forget what they lived through, and exposing them to it on a t-shirt is just about the ultimate ignorance.

Sigh. Ok, now that i've listed but just a few examples of things that are barely worth complaining about and have stated my opinions on why they just might not be as big of deal as people think and/or people are just plain misinformed, I can go back to by beginning statement and wrap this up.

My over all point is, once again, people need to get their priorities straight. Just a bunch of spoiled brats with nothing else to complain about but animal rights and how much it costs these days to fill up their 2010 Jetta. Some folks need to keep in mind that there are a lot of people in the world, and even in this country, that could only dream of having the time or energy to complain about some of this stuff. But, unfortunately, a lot of them have to focus on if they're going to eat this week, or how they are going to afford diapers for their children, or how many different forms of medication and treatment they need. And thankfully, even some people with out immediate personal problems are busy worrying about the lack of education across the world and in our own country, the millions of people with out reliable food or water, or the slaughtering of innocent people over oil and diamonds, or the amount of children bought and sold like sex objects. There are a lot of topics I am unfamiliar with and probably many that I am misinformed about. I don't claim to know everything, I don't claim to be better than anyone else, I am no philanthropist (though if I had the means I would certainly donate great deals of money to the appropriate charities and lend my hands to things like the gulf cleaning). But my point is priorities.

Your priorities are of course different from mine, I'm sure some of the things I've talked about are your priorities. Which is why those of you who disagree with me are going to either make a safely anonymous comment arguing with me, or at the very least will ignore what you've read and keep fighting your fight. But that's the beauty of opinions, and this one is mine. All I ask is that you consider what's really important and what will really make this world a better place. Buying tofu instead of hamburger is not going to help our children or their children live in a better world. Instead, why don't we all send some money towards getting a child out of the hell they live in over seas or perhaps contributing to finding a cure for cancer? Just an idea. Enjoy your Tofurky and American Apparel deep V.