Banks & Getting Nickel-And-Dimed To Death

Ever wonder about the ethics of banking? That's easy - it doesn't have any. Not a one. Without exception, banks are the scaliest, scummiest operators on the planet. Think a bunch of Ferengi in a feeding frenzy - and that's an insult to the Ferengi!

So you have a savings account - and say you leave money in that account and don't deposit or withdraw anything from it - do you know what will happen? Go back in a couple of months and check.

Will the amount you left in there be more? Or less?

What do you thing?

Rotten To The Core - America's Deceptive Slant On History

Just Google the question: "What war did slavery cause in the United States?" and see what comes up. The American Civil War, naturally. There's no mention of the American Revolution (or "the American War of Independence") - and why should there be? The American Revolution was about... well, other stuff. 

Wasn't it?

Um...

Cultist Zombies At My Door

Today's tale comes with the compliments of social convention.

By that, I mean that it's acceptable standard practice for people to have some form of doorbell at the front entrance to their homes. Not having one naturally would make it harder for anyone visiting to attract the attention of those inside - except for knocking as the most likely alternative, followed closely by shouting, or "hollering" as our 'murican cousins call it.

Let me begin with the note that I'm on holiday - my annual vacation to be exact, and as such I've made it my mission to sleep later than my usual 5:45 workday routine the rest of the year. Things that make this quite difficult for me include various forms of body ache and pain left over from numerous accidents and injuries over the years (yes, I've lived quite an interesting life, haven't I?) - and that... fucking.... doorbell.

Or, rather more accurately, people who exist outside these walls who insist on ringing it. Especially the ones who actually mean to visit our immediate neighbors and can't seem to realize that our doorbell panel - mounted between our entrances - has a different number on it than the house they're visiting. But no, that wasn't today's issue. No, it wasn't.

The Christian War On Everything

Family, right? Love them or hate them. At the time of the winter solstace, the Chrispies among them - who've ignored you for the rest of the year, tend to suddenly remember you exist and around midnight send you "Merry Christmas" messages via text, or on WhatsApp or Facebook. Bearing in mind that they either know you're not a Christian, or that they just casually assume that you are, this speaks to a sort of detachment from reality, lack of empathy, and entitlement that flows from what I would describe as an expression of the narcissism inherent to the religion itself.

I mean, who - what sort of person, and in what sort of mental state would send someone they barely know (and face it, some relatives really are that distant) this sort of message AND tack on a "thank God for sending Jesus" at the end?!

No, everyone is not a Christian - and just because you are, and just because you believe in these fairytales doesn't mean everyone else does too - or should - or should pander to your shortsighted, selfish and wilful imposition of your beliefs onto them.

What message does all this actually deliver? Ah, let me count the ways!

The Dichotomy Of Left vs Right Wing Is Why Modern Democracy Is Failing

Why are democracy and politics such an overwhelming shit-show? Do you want to know? Really? Here, let me tell you why - in one brief summary:

The dichotomy of left vs right in politics itself lies at the very root of the mess. It is in itself a major flaw in modern democracies, because this instantly and irrevocably sets up issues like basic human rights at the center of a perpetual maelstrom, placing human rights and dignity up for grabs for whichever side wins any subsequent elections - and that's precisely why nations like the USA rarely make any substantial or lasting progress on human rights issues, because their entire political system is set up around fighting either for or against who is allowed or supposed to have equality, and the opinions of those who oppose them having those rights or equalities. 

Just Let It Go

Religion is not something permanent or everlasting. While this is unsurprising, because nothing in this universe truly is, in the context of continuous human evolution, religion can be understood to be a tool developed by humans to facilitate its survival and growth as a species. In this respect, it's certainly played a monumental role in shaping our perception of reality today. It's irrevocably placed its stamp on our civilizations and cultures for a start, and we only need to look at our history as a species to see how we got here today. I've long said that the history of religion is written in blood, and I doubt anyone would ever be able to convince me otherwise. 

 

But, just like the journey from stone tools to electron microscopes, traveling by horse-cart to flying rockets to the ISS, or wearing skins to mass-produced synthetic clothing - or, in the biological sense of growing then shedding baby teeth - religion was something humanity needed and even found indispensable for a time - all in order to develop to a particular point... by which time it then grew out of it. 

 

Religion then, may be a necessary tool useful to a young developing child species still trying to get to grips with its own nature as sentient, thinking animals. That time however, is - or has, drawn to a close. Its demise is long overdue.

South Africa's Right Wing Has No Originality

 

 

So on Saturday morning I noticed the above screenshot of a poster put out by the local Afrikaner nationalist newspaper, "Die Burger", being circulated on social media. The poster makes it fairly clear that "Die Burger" are trying to encourage local right wingers to join in with the hate for Taylor Swift - presumably for the very same reasons that the US variety of right wing loons are doing it.

But this set me to wondering why the local right wing nutters would focus on Taylor Swift? Why should they even care about Taylor Swift?

What is it with Afrikaners these days? Is it something in the melktert? 🤔

Last I heard, the US singer really had nothing to do with South Africa, other than some of her music making its way out here, and I think it's really bizarre that the local right wingers have managed to put down their Klippies and biltong and have stopped arguing about rugby or singing De La Rey long enough to focus on sending hate towards a remote American singer who probably doesn't even know they exist, and whose music they have probably never even listened to, probably because it has no concertinas  or right wing icons in it.

Don't South Africans have enough problems of their own - closer to home, to be concerned about? 

More to the point, why is it that every time the red-cap brigade over the pond get their panties in a twist about something, the attention of the local right wingers seems to follow their example?

Don't they have any originality?

Breaking Into The Echo Chamber

  

Yesterday I wrote an article about the Dear South Africa petition post on Facebook against the implementation of gender sensitivity training for children at schools across South Africa.

Of course, sometimes I just can't help myself, and I happened to leave a comment on the Facebook thread as well - which naturally attracted the attention (and ire) of all kinds of nutters who are the sort of people who believe all the bullshit meme-like trash being put out there about LGBT+ people - you know the sort - that we're "groomers", that transwomen transition in order to molest children or women in public bathrooms, or because we find participating in women's sport so much less of a challenge.

The hate from people like this is palpable and tangible. This article will focus on the sort of propaganda-based arguments used by transphobes and homophobes to attack attempts to bring inclusiveness and understanding of diversity into classrooms that appear to be universal when it comes to their source - imported right wing propaganda.

Lock Up Your Schools, The Transgenders Are Coming!

There I was, just minding my own business, when an ad from Dear South Africa - that's right, the petition website portraying itself as a civic-minded action entity - crossed my feed.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the heading "Have your say on the Department of Basic Education's gender ideology training programme".

The...what?

The actual FUCK did I just read?

Wait-a-minute... Why is this even an issue?

And if you're thinking "this is bound to be another case of hysterical screaming, and panicked arm-waving again", well - you'd be perfectly right.

Too Much Money, Too Little Sense

Y'know, the very furthest thing from my mind when I was finally able to buy my first brand new car some years ago, was to try and see whether it was bulletproof - least of all by actually taking a gun, and shooting it. Like, with a gun. Deliberately. For reals.

 

And people have been doing it - Americans, naturally, because this vehicle, the Tesla Cybertruck, won't be available anywhere else. The main reason for this is that no other country, apparently, has as low an appreciation for the safety of its citizens as America.