I am a firm believer that political correctness has forced society to do away with common sense. I am a believer in science, numbers, physics, facts, statistics and well, reality. To me, proof is proof. If you can prove something to be true, then it is fact. The problem is, the facts aren't always politically correct, so we have to abandon those facts, or risk being considered an immoral, or bad person.
I know I've touched on racism in one of my previous blogs titled "Hug a Racist", but recent events in the world are bringing on the urge to restate my position, and point out the obvious, which people seem to either be blind to, or are unwilling to accept.
Police profile people. It's their job. It's what they are trained to do, and it enables them to be effective, and efficient at their job. But recent events have not only called those practices into question, but are causing people to ask for a ban on them all together.
Now, before we go any further, I'd like to test your common sense, or your sense of reason. Now, let me give you a statistic. People are three times more likely to die driving a Chevrolet Camero than they are a Chevrolet Malibu. Now, you might assume that the Camero, is a less safe car. It must not hold up as well in a crash, but that's not the case at all. This statistic is a product of it's conditions. The Camero has more power, and is owned by a much younger demographic. So what you have is a very fast and powerful car, driven by inexperienced drivers, therefore it's more likely to be involved in a crash, and a high speed one at that. Now do you condemn the Camero for being the cause of more deaths than other cars, or do you realize that the safety of the car isn't to blame, as the statistic is just a product of a different demographic of drivers.
Now how about a scenario, there is a car, that has just had it's window broken, and some change stolen from it. There are only three people in the neighbourhood that could have done it. One is a 40 year old man, that is wearing a clean business suit, was walking by the car on his way home from his office job. The second suspect is an 78 year old women, who just came out of the nearby grocery store. The last suspect is a 30 year old man, that looks to be wearing the same clothes for the last week, and appears to be high or drunk. Who is the most likely suspect? Your job right now, is to profile. Common sense. Granny didn't smash out a car window, and most people don't smash windows for change on the way home from their 9-5. Unfortunately, political correctness is suggesting that all three suspects be treated equally, even though, we know who did it. We are forced to throw all previous experience out the window, as well as common sense, and statistics. Who wins in that scenario? Who wins by wasting an hour questioning granny about a crime she didn't commit?
Now, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this, and maybe you don't like it, but please read on, and hopefully I can lead you to the big picture. For years police have been told, by governments, to crack down on crime, in high crime ares, where drug trafficking, firearm possession, murders, rapes, thefts etc are the heaviest. Makes sense to me. These are the rough neighbourhoods, the "ghettos". So the police targeted these areas, which in the states, are predominately populated by black people. Now black people in the states only make up about 12% of the population, and yet make up 35% of people that are incarcerated. Now that stat offends people. They claim it's due to profiling, and that more black people are arrested than white people due to racism. In reality, the highest crime areas, are more densely populated by black people. So when a cop goes out on duty for the day, he can go to a middle class, suburban neighbourhood, which will probably be predominately white, where reported crime is very low, or he can head to the part of the city that has far more reports of gang crimes, murders, drug trafficking and the likes. Now if the crime riddled neighbourhood is predominantly black, does that mean he is profiling, and/or a racist? Or is he just using common sense?
I have a friend that lives in northern Alberta. In his area, there are many Indian reserves. I've talked to him many times about this, and he explained to me the experiences he has had dealing with natives. He says they fit the stereo type. They are quite often drunk, or high. They are dirty and usually poor. He crosses the street when he sees them, to avoid being hassled for change, or cigarettes. Now, I guess he is profiling them when he chooses to cross the street. Maybe he should wait to see if the person does hassle him before passing judgement, or maybe he should respond to his previous experiences and cross the street. What's the right thing to do?
I'm not going to say I know where to draw the line. I know questioning a 78 year old women about smashing the window out of a car seems like a waste of time, and assuming the crack head did it, will probably save a lot of time. But what if a middle class neighbourhood has been complaining of recent break ins, and as a police officer, I see a young black male, dressed in dark clothing walking around that neighbourhood at 1 am. Should I question him? Is that profiling? Will it help prevent more crime? Will it cause outrage in the black community that another black male has been profiled for no reason, other than he is black? What if statistically he is 5 times more likely to be the culprit than a white male? Is the cop a racist if he does stop a black male, but not a white male, or is he using statistics to help him solve a crime?
Now the flip side of the coin is how profiling isn't fair to innocent people. That's a given. Why should a black male be stopped, and searched, when he has done nothing wrong, when a white male is left alone? I'd call bullshit on that too, and after so many years of oppression, it must seem like things are never going to be fair for the people that are being profiled, but this doesn't change the fact that profiling is a very important tool. In Alberta, young men pay more for insurance that young women, regardless of their driving record. That's profiling. Good young male drivers are getting screwed, and bad young female drivers are getting it easy, but clearly you can understand why insurance companies do this? Statistics. Men crash more. So it's clear cut, legal, profiling, based on numbers. We have to deal with it. After writing this last example, I have to apologize for comparing car insurance prices with police brutality, racism, and years of oppression.
Now, on to the big picture. I don't have an answer for the problem. I think profiling is a tool that police have to use to be effective at their job, and I also think that many people have suffered unjustly at the hands of profiling. I don't have the answer for the problem, but I do know what the problem is, which seems to be something everyone is over looking.
Are natives under achieving, drunken, deadbeat criminals, or are people that were torn from their homes, stripped of their identities, murdered in the thousands, abused, introduced to alcohol, and left with nothing, under achieving, drunken, deadbeat criminals? If the roles were reversed, do you think white people would be in any better condition than the indians are in now? Natives are a product of their circumstances. Their circumstances are something white people caused. Just as black people are a product of being slaves, having no rights, being considered less than equals and treated like animals. When they final gained equality, they were in bad neighbourhoods, unable to find jobs, and resorted to crime. I don't care if you are black, white, yellow, or red, if you are born in the ghetto, and all you know is crime, and to be poor, that's how you will grow up and continue to live. Black people aren't criminals because they are black, they are criminals because of their circumstances. You round up all the white people, take away all their money, and drop them in bad neighbourhoods, and they will turn out just the same. Profiling natives or black people isn't the problem. Breaking they cycle is the problem. How do we help people, stop being a product of their circumstances?
Friday, July 15, 2016
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Trump: The best thing to happen to politics in decades?
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is having a massive impact on politics. You might agree with his ideas, and support his boldness, or maybe you're intelligent, and see a completely unqualified, uneducated, narrow minded, ignorant fucktard. Either way, he has forever changed who a politician can be, and that is of huge importance.
Previously, presidential candidates played the game a very different way than the Donald is playing. Candidates spent all their time and energy saying as little as they possibly could. Negative publicity was viewed as far worse, than good publicity is good. You were better off saying nothing, than saying something that might offend. Both the Democrats and the Republican did everything they could to stay in grey areas. No one wanted to be too left wing, or too right wing. Abortion, gay rights, gun control, freedom of speech, freedom of privacy etc, were all tip toed around. No politician was ever willing to give a black and white answer. If you were to say for example, that you were in total support of gay marriage, you might make all the gay people happy, but that doesn't mean they are going to vote for you, however, all the bible thumping, hill billies, that hate gays, will definitely not vote for you, so you've lost votes, but not necessarily gained any. It's better to stay neutral, and not offend anyone. Unfortunately, this means that it's impossible to know what any politicians views are, because they aren't willing to risk disclosing them. In the end, you have a Republican, and a Democrat, that seem to have almost identical opinions, so who do you vote for?
Then came the Donald. He is more than willing to speak his mind, no matter how outrageous. He has offended pretty much everyone, including women, and all minorities, which is a pretty large demographic. So knowing what we know about politics, he would have no chance at getting any votes, and yet he captures the Republican nomination to be the next president of the USA? In some ways, Trump is like Ralph Nader. Nader was willing to speak his mind, and was further left wing than the Democratic nominee. As a independent, Nader was able to draw a lot of votes away from the Democrats because he was willing to be more bold, take a stand. Maybe that was foreshadowing. Maybe people want something to vote for, instead of something to vote against. Donald Trump is showing us that offending people isn't the worst thing you can do as a politician, and that speaking your mind, no matter how against the grain your thoughts might be, can earn you respect, even if people don't agree with you. Trump has said that Mexicans are rapists, thieves and murderers, and that a member of the supreme court is not capable of doing his job, specifically because he is mexican, and yet Trumps approval rating amongst Hispanics is still at about 11%. Yes that low, but still, after saying that, 11% will still vote for him, and you know that 98% of racists will vote for Trump because of those statements. So maybe Trump has changed the way the game is played? Maybe there is more to gain, and less to lose, by making a statement. Maybe instead of staying neutral, politicians need to take a stand on their beliefs and let people be the judge.
HA! Just kidding. The only reason Trump is getting support is the fact that Republican voters are uneducated, narrow minded, ignorant fucktards. No intelligent person is capable of seeing Trump as anything but laughable. USA! USA!
Previously, presidential candidates played the game a very different way than the Donald is playing. Candidates spent all their time and energy saying as little as they possibly could. Negative publicity was viewed as far worse, than good publicity is good. You were better off saying nothing, than saying something that might offend. Both the Democrats and the Republican did everything they could to stay in grey areas. No one wanted to be too left wing, or too right wing. Abortion, gay rights, gun control, freedom of speech, freedom of privacy etc, were all tip toed around. No politician was ever willing to give a black and white answer. If you were to say for example, that you were in total support of gay marriage, you might make all the gay people happy, but that doesn't mean they are going to vote for you, however, all the bible thumping, hill billies, that hate gays, will definitely not vote for you, so you've lost votes, but not necessarily gained any. It's better to stay neutral, and not offend anyone. Unfortunately, this means that it's impossible to know what any politicians views are, because they aren't willing to risk disclosing them. In the end, you have a Republican, and a Democrat, that seem to have almost identical opinions, so who do you vote for?
Then came the Donald. He is more than willing to speak his mind, no matter how outrageous. He has offended pretty much everyone, including women, and all minorities, which is a pretty large demographic. So knowing what we know about politics, he would have no chance at getting any votes, and yet he captures the Republican nomination to be the next president of the USA? In some ways, Trump is like Ralph Nader. Nader was willing to speak his mind, and was further left wing than the Democratic nominee. As a independent, Nader was able to draw a lot of votes away from the Democrats because he was willing to be more bold, take a stand. Maybe that was foreshadowing. Maybe people want something to vote for, instead of something to vote against. Donald Trump is showing us that offending people isn't the worst thing you can do as a politician, and that speaking your mind, no matter how against the grain your thoughts might be, can earn you respect, even if people don't agree with you. Trump has said that Mexicans are rapists, thieves and murderers, and that a member of the supreme court is not capable of doing his job, specifically because he is mexican, and yet Trumps approval rating amongst Hispanics is still at about 11%. Yes that low, but still, after saying that, 11% will still vote for him, and you know that 98% of racists will vote for Trump because of those statements. So maybe Trump has changed the way the game is played? Maybe there is more to gain, and less to lose, by making a statement. Maybe instead of staying neutral, politicians need to take a stand on their beliefs and let people be the judge.
HA! Just kidding. The only reason Trump is getting support is the fact that Republican voters are uneducated, narrow minded, ignorant fucktards. No intelligent person is capable of seeing Trump as anything but laughable. USA! USA!
Friday, January 22, 2016
Envy, the most useless emotion.
Why do we become jealous or envious, of other people, or their material items? Envy is a very strong emotion. People have different ways of expressing envy. Some might be happy to see other people do well, but for the most part, it creates hostility.
I recently bought a piece of property. It is a beautiful piece of property. The pictures look like they could be from a high end resort. It's a park like setting, complete with a pool, hot tub, beautifully built house, and a second guest house. I'm very proud and exited. I think it's going to be a spectacular place to live. I can't help but want to tell everyone I know, and show them pictures, and explain how awesome it is. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to tell everyone of my good fortune. It seems like a strange trait that we humans have. The thing is, I feel I shouldn't. I feel I need to be modest, or even humble. The problem is, what's the difference between telling people of your good fortune, and bragging?
I feel a lot of people spend their lives, trying to impress everyone around them. To me, that seems like a waste. Why someone else's envy is relevant in your decision making process is lost on me, but the big shiny SUV, with chrome 24" rims, Rolex watch, or Prada purse isn't for you. It's for everyone around you to see. People want everyone around them to be envious. If Prada, Oakley, or Mercedes Benz stopped labelling their products, their sales would plummet. Why? Because no one will spend $200 on a pair of sunglasses if they can't brag to their piers that they spend $200 on them.
And lets face it. Most of use don't like people that brag. Personally, I can't stand it. It shows how phony and superficial someone is. I think people that need to spend every dollar they earn trying to impress people are missing out on what is important in life. How does making someone envious make you happy? No one likes having money rubbed in their face. I can't respect anyone who's goal in life is to convince the general public that they are better then them.
That being said, I did not purchase the property I did, based on how much envy I could generate with it, and yet I run the risk of being the asshole that brags about it.
I've learnt from various people growing up, that you should always pretend you don't have very much money. It seems like a strange concept, but I've done my best to embrace it. I came to the greatest understanding of this concept during the purchase of my new property. During the purchase process, I had to deal with many different people. I had home inspections, septic inspections, dealt with real estate agents, notaries, tenants, and insurance brokers. Some of the people had no issues with me, but I noticed some under toned resentment from others.
I'll use the insurance broker as an example. I originally only talked to her over the phone, and she was very helpfully and eager to assist me. She was familiar with the property, as it was already insured through her company. However, I eventually went into her office to sign some paper work. That's when she realized that I was much younger than she had expected. Even though she didn't know how much I paid for the property, she knew it was very nice, and likely, very expensive. At that point I assume she realized, that someone, clearly much younger than herself, had accumulated much more wealth than she had at her age. My dealings with her from that point on changed. She was short with me, slow to respond to emails, or faxes, and at times even rude. Maybe something else made her act that way, but I assume it was envy, or jealously.
I noticed different responses from people I dealt with during the purchase of the property. When a hard working individual would show up to do an inspection, they looked at me, and the property, and I guess maybe felt cheated, that they didn't have what I do, at my age. It kind of made me feel like a pompous ass. Like some entitled piece of shit punk kid. The thing is, that wasn't my intent when dealing with people. It was hard to be modest when the people were there, looking at the property.
Showing signs of wealth also has another negative side effect. Don't expect people the give you any breaks on anything. When you can clearly afford expensive things, people will not hesitate to sell you the most expensive of what ever they have to offer, and not give you any sort of discount. The gentleman that did the septic inspection on the property had no problems explaining all the extra things he thought I should splurge on for the property. Things that cost thousands of dollars, that he wouldn't have recommended, had I been buying a cheaper piece of property.
Some people brag, in an attempt to make others envious, and others do it unintentionally.
You'll never earn respect making people envious. A little humility goes a long way.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Are we aloud to complain?
It's been a while since my last blog, and I guess my blogging in general has been slowing down. I thought that maybe I had run out of things to rant about, but that's not it. It's because I've come to a realization. First world problems aren't problems at all. The things I see going on around my home town, and that I see on the news throughout north America, don't matter.
I've started playing a fun new game with myself. It's a fantastic game. It makes you feel better about yourself, your situation, your social status, or any of your problems really. It's quite simple, and I invite you to play too! All you have to do is, the next time you are upset, or angry, or depressed, or stressed, stop. Take a quick breath, and then, in your head, call yourself out, through the eyes of a person that is much worse off than you. It sounds a bit confusing, so I'll give some examples:
You get your electric bill, and it's quite high. You realize, that the electric company has increased their rates, yet again. You realize you're going to have to be a bit tighter with your money, until payday, to make sure you can afford the bill. Stop! Now, say it in your head, through the eyes of a rickshaw driver, who lives in India, and has his three children and wife living with him in a 400 square foot shack, that doesn't have running water. "Oh, so your dishwasher, big screen TV, washing machine, oven, and air conditioner are costing you a bit too much money, so you might need to cut out the $6 Starbucks coffee tomorrow morning, or god forbid, due without those new designer shoes you've been eyeing up. Life is tough for you. I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes."
Or how about, your car breaks down on your way to work. Now you're going to be late, you need to pay for a tow truck, who knows how much your repair bill will be, and now you'll need to share your spouses car until yours can be repaired. Stop! Through the eyes of a Darfur refugee, who lived in a small village, but was forced to leave everything he has ever known, to flee rebel forces, that will kill him, his wife, and his children, if he doesn't flee fast enough. "Oh, so one of your families many vehicles has inconvenienced you. Now a very small portion of you annual salary will need to be used to pay someone else to fix it for you. Not to mention the stern talking to you will receive once you get to your place of employment, where you have, a roof, heat, no people with AK-47s trying to kill you, water that runs through a cooler, because lets face it, room temperature water is almost undrinkable. Then you will need to leave for work 10 maybe even 15 minutes early for the next few days, because you will have to be in the same car as your spouse for the commute to AND from your job. I know I spend 80% of every day, just trying to put food in my families bellies, but dealing with a car breaking down would be horrible. Sucks to be you right now."
See how it works now? Next time you have a problem, try looking at it through someone else's eyes. Someone that has REAL problems. Maybe a single mom, that is working 2 jobs, and is 2 month behind on her rent because she had to miss work to go for chemotherapy. I know that's grim, and dark, and not something to joke about, but that's the point. Some people have real problems. All your drama in life is pretty laughable through the right eyes. If you can have a different perspective, it's easy to make light of a shitty situation. This little game I play is a way to gain instant perspective, and maybe laugh at your situation, instead of cry. Feel free to call others out on their bullshit too. Next time you get a sob story, just say "first world problem". Shuts them up real quick.
I've quoted it before, and I'll quote it again. "And somewhere around the world, someone would love to have my first world problems." Matthew Good.
I've started playing a fun new game with myself. It's a fantastic game. It makes you feel better about yourself, your situation, your social status, or any of your problems really. It's quite simple, and I invite you to play too! All you have to do is, the next time you are upset, or angry, or depressed, or stressed, stop. Take a quick breath, and then, in your head, call yourself out, through the eyes of a person that is much worse off than you. It sounds a bit confusing, so I'll give some examples:
You get your electric bill, and it's quite high. You realize, that the electric company has increased their rates, yet again. You realize you're going to have to be a bit tighter with your money, until payday, to make sure you can afford the bill. Stop! Now, say it in your head, through the eyes of a rickshaw driver, who lives in India, and has his three children and wife living with him in a 400 square foot shack, that doesn't have running water. "Oh, so your dishwasher, big screen TV, washing machine, oven, and air conditioner are costing you a bit too much money, so you might need to cut out the $6 Starbucks coffee tomorrow morning, or god forbid, due without those new designer shoes you've been eyeing up. Life is tough for you. I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes."
Or how about, your car breaks down on your way to work. Now you're going to be late, you need to pay for a tow truck, who knows how much your repair bill will be, and now you'll need to share your spouses car until yours can be repaired. Stop! Through the eyes of a Darfur refugee, who lived in a small village, but was forced to leave everything he has ever known, to flee rebel forces, that will kill him, his wife, and his children, if he doesn't flee fast enough. "Oh, so one of your families many vehicles has inconvenienced you. Now a very small portion of you annual salary will need to be used to pay someone else to fix it for you. Not to mention the stern talking to you will receive once you get to your place of employment, where you have, a roof, heat, no people with AK-47s trying to kill you, water that runs through a cooler, because lets face it, room temperature water is almost undrinkable. Then you will need to leave for work 10 maybe even 15 minutes early for the next few days, because you will have to be in the same car as your spouse for the commute to AND from your job. I know I spend 80% of every day, just trying to put food in my families bellies, but dealing with a car breaking down would be horrible. Sucks to be you right now."
See how it works now? Next time you have a problem, try looking at it through someone else's eyes. Someone that has REAL problems. Maybe a single mom, that is working 2 jobs, and is 2 month behind on her rent because she had to miss work to go for chemotherapy. I know that's grim, and dark, and not something to joke about, but that's the point. Some people have real problems. All your drama in life is pretty laughable through the right eyes. If you can have a different perspective, it's easy to make light of a shitty situation. This little game I play is a way to gain instant perspective, and maybe laugh at your situation, instead of cry. Feel free to call others out on their bullshit too. Next time you get a sob story, just say "first world problem". Shuts them up real quick.
I've quoted it before, and I'll quote it again. "And somewhere around the world, someone would love to have my first world problems." Matthew Good.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Thanks Jebus
You know what really grinds my gears? People that thank Jesus for other peoples hard work, or even their own hard work.
There is one individual in particular that continues to frustrate me every time the spotlight is on him. His name is Trey Canard. He is a professional motocross racer. He has had a fairly successful career, and according to him, when it comes to motocross "this is what the lord made me for". From my understanding, Trey chose #41 as his career racing number, because of the movie Ben-hur. In the movie, slave number 41, has to fight an up hill battle, but meets Jesus, who helps him win a race and save his family. Trey's life isn't too far off the plot in a lot of ways. He has had very, very unfortunate, and unlucky incidents happen during his career. He broke his femur twice, and was involved in the worst racing incident I have ever seen, when another rider landed off a huge jump, directly onto Trey. Trey had spinal damage and had to have three vertebra in his back fused together. Every time Trey has met major adversity, he has fought back with astonishing determination to return better and stronger than before. He believes Jesus wants him to continue racing, so he does.
I have no issue with him worshiping god. Many riders do. What irritates me, is that he puts god above everyone else, even people that have directly influenced his life. When interviewed after winning a race, he always likes to "thank the lord above first and foremost."
First off, there is an incredible group of people that help Trey win races. Without them, he doesn't win, end of story. He has personal trainers that keep him in shape, help him recover from injures, and help him eat right. He has a personal mechanic that modifies, sets up and maintains Treys bikes to be the best they can be. Also, he has an entire team behind him, providing him EVERYTHING needed to partake in racing. They supply a semi trailer and mobile home to every event. His riding gear, bikes, food, and accommodation are all waiting for him at each event. Just so you understand, they don't just get the stuff there, they provide it all to him free of charge, including his race bike, which can be worth upwards of $200,000. Also, Trey gets paid somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000,000 a year to ride his motorcycle. So out of all the sponsors, trainers, mechanics, family, and other support he receives, Trey thinks that god is most deserving of gratitude? Trey seems to be under the impression that all this good stuff happens to him is because it's gods will, when in actual fact, it's the hard work of many individuals acting under free will, including Trey himself. People like to think that the lord controls luck, or chance. Having a motorcycle provided to you is not luck, or chance, it's a teams decision. I guess the luck or chance could come on the race track itself, but in Trey's case, luck has not played in his favour often. He has been on the receiving end of bad luck more times than most riders. Even still, the luck or chance people see on the race track is nothing more than one or more persons carless mistakes. Running out of gas on the last lap of a race isn't bad luck, someone just forgot to top up the tank. Being landed on by another rider, someones bad judgement of speed. Winning the race, hard work, and great skills.
Second, god doesn't care. I am an expert on Jesus Christ. I know every fact about him, which is none. No facts have ever been verified about the existence of a god of any kind, so that makes me as knowledgeable about god as anyone else. And what I know, is god has better shit to do than follow Trey Canards life, or any one persons. So many professional athletes thank god for their success, or pray to god so that they can win the next game or race. Well if both teams are praying to the same god to win, how will he ever decide?! All you can pray for is for is god to keep you safe, and one thing I've learned about professional sports, no one is safe, especially Trey Canard. I saw the leader and head rider of "Team Faith Racing" do a prayer service one morning before the first round of a race series. At the beginning of the very first race, he was involved in a first turn pile up. He was the only person injured, with a broken neck. He did recover though. Thanks Jesus? But really, there are people dying all over the world from disease, starvation, natural disaster, and wars. Atrocities happen around the globe every minute of every day. What does gods to do list look like?
1: Prevent major earthquake in Japan
2: Cure Ebola
3: Help Trey Canard with a race
4: Try to remember why I created earthquakes and Ebola
Third, Trey's riding style is sometimes erratic, aggressive and dangerous. This is possibly why he has sustained as many injuries as he has. But more importantly, it has caused him to cause crashes and injure other riders. In the last supercross season, he landed on another rider on two separate occasions. One of the riders suffered a broken collar bone. I believe that Trey rides the way he does because he thinks god will watch over him and keep him safe, or that god wants him to win, even if it means riding dangerously. If you want to believe for yourself, that's fine, but if your belief puts others at risk, that's unacceptable.
Blind faith is exactly that. You're failing to realize the grand scale of things around you. You're giving all your praise to something that hasn't effected you in a single way, when there are people that are much more deserving of your gratitude. You're putting your trust in something that has no bearing in any situation. To be so blinded by faith is to ignore reality, which is disrespectful to the people in your life, which are the real contributing factors. Lets face it, if Treys house caught fire, I bet he wouldn't waste a second praying for the good lord to put it out, he'd phone 911 and let real people do something tangible. The sad thing is, he'd then thank the lord for the fire department, instead of thanking the firemen.
There is one individual in particular that continues to frustrate me every time the spotlight is on him. His name is Trey Canard. He is a professional motocross racer. He has had a fairly successful career, and according to him, when it comes to motocross "this is what the lord made me for". From my understanding, Trey chose #41 as his career racing number, because of the movie Ben-hur. In the movie, slave number 41, has to fight an up hill battle, but meets Jesus, who helps him win a race and save his family. Trey's life isn't too far off the plot in a lot of ways. He has had very, very unfortunate, and unlucky incidents happen during his career. He broke his femur twice, and was involved in the worst racing incident I have ever seen, when another rider landed off a huge jump, directly onto Trey. Trey had spinal damage and had to have three vertebra in his back fused together. Every time Trey has met major adversity, he has fought back with astonishing determination to return better and stronger than before. He believes Jesus wants him to continue racing, so he does.
I have no issue with him worshiping god. Many riders do. What irritates me, is that he puts god above everyone else, even people that have directly influenced his life. When interviewed after winning a race, he always likes to "thank the lord above first and foremost."
First off, there is an incredible group of people that help Trey win races. Without them, he doesn't win, end of story. He has personal trainers that keep him in shape, help him recover from injures, and help him eat right. He has a personal mechanic that modifies, sets up and maintains Treys bikes to be the best they can be. Also, he has an entire team behind him, providing him EVERYTHING needed to partake in racing. They supply a semi trailer and mobile home to every event. His riding gear, bikes, food, and accommodation are all waiting for him at each event. Just so you understand, they don't just get the stuff there, they provide it all to him free of charge, including his race bike, which can be worth upwards of $200,000. Also, Trey gets paid somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000,000 a year to ride his motorcycle. So out of all the sponsors, trainers, mechanics, family, and other support he receives, Trey thinks that god is most deserving of gratitude? Trey seems to be under the impression that all this good stuff happens to him is because it's gods will, when in actual fact, it's the hard work of many individuals acting under free will, including Trey himself. People like to think that the lord controls luck, or chance. Having a motorcycle provided to you is not luck, or chance, it's a teams decision. I guess the luck or chance could come on the race track itself, but in Trey's case, luck has not played in his favour often. He has been on the receiving end of bad luck more times than most riders. Even still, the luck or chance people see on the race track is nothing more than one or more persons carless mistakes. Running out of gas on the last lap of a race isn't bad luck, someone just forgot to top up the tank. Being landed on by another rider, someones bad judgement of speed. Winning the race, hard work, and great skills.
Second, god doesn't care. I am an expert on Jesus Christ. I know every fact about him, which is none. No facts have ever been verified about the existence of a god of any kind, so that makes me as knowledgeable about god as anyone else. And what I know, is god has better shit to do than follow Trey Canards life, or any one persons. So many professional athletes thank god for their success, or pray to god so that they can win the next game or race. Well if both teams are praying to the same god to win, how will he ever decide?! All you can pray for is for is god to keep you safe, and one thing I've learned about professional sports, no one is safe, especially Trey Canard. I saw the leader and head rider of "Team Faith Racing" do a prayer service one morning before the first round of a race series. At the beginning of the very first race, he was involved in a first turn pile up. He was the only person injured, with a broken neck. He did recover though. Thanks Jesus? But really, there are people dying all over the world from disease, starvation, natural disaster, and wars. Atrocities happen around the globe every minute of every day. What does gods to do list look like?
1: Prevent major earthquake in Japan
2: Cure Ebola
3: Help Trey Canard with a race
4: Try to remember why I created earthquakes and Ebola
Third, Trey's riding style is sometimes erratic, aggressive and dangerous. This is possibly why he has sustained as many injuries as he has. But more importantly, it has caused him to cause crashes and injure other riders. In the last supercross season, he landed on another rider on two separate occasions. One of the riders suffered a broken collar bone. I believe that Trey rides the way he does because he thinks god will watch over him and keep him safe, or that god wants him to win, even if it means riding dangerously. If you want to believe for yourself, that's fine, but if your belief puts others at risk, that's unacceptable.
Blind faith is exactly that. You're failing to realize the grand scale of things around you. You're giving all your praise to something that hasn't effected you in a single way, when there are people that are much more deserving of your gratitude. You're putting your trust in something that has no bearing in any situation. To be so blinded by faith is to ignore reality, which is disrespectful to the people in your life, which are the real contributing factors. Lets face it, if Treys house caught fire, I bet he wouldn't waste a second praying for the good lord to put it out, he'd phone 911 and let real people do something tangible. The sad thing is, he'd then thank the lord for the fire department, instead of thanking the firemen.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
We are a strange bunch
So I've noticed a trend, that I was going to say was interesting, but it's not, it's just stupid, and very counterintuitive. It's the concept of making sure that the things you like, or at least claim to like, aren't liked by other people, or normal people. Apparently liking common music, common clothes, common cars, common restaurants, etc, is not cool, or "trendy" This doesn't seem very logical to me. You'd think that the most popular places to eat or shop, would be popular because they are the best, and the most downloaded music and best selling shoes would be the most sought after due to the majority of people approving of those things. Unfortunately, the "hipster" mind set is now preventing people from enjoying the things they love.
You can't like mainstream music anymore. The less known an artist is, the trendier they seem to be. You are looked at like an idiot that just "follows the masses" if you admit to liking a band like Nickelback or Eminem, even though literally millions upon millions of people have decided that these artists music is enjoyable.
You can't eat at a chain restaurant anymore. You need to seek out some undiscovered hole in the wall, and report how awesome the atmosphere and ambiance is on Facebook. Sorry, but chain restaurants became chains because of supply and demand. People liked their food and service, they made profit, and opened more restaurants.
I guess I shouldn't mention Facebook. I'm sure that's not acceptable anymore either. Seeing as how everyone is on Facebook, no one will admit to using it, and will mock anyone that does.
Then there's what you are allowed to wear. You can't try to look good. A nice pair of pants, and a collard shirt is out of the question. You need to try your best to look like you don't care, because caring what you look like isn't cool. People will spend hours to look like they put in no effort, rather than a few minutes to look normal.
Even hygiene and self grooming has become a total joke. People will spend time to make it look like they spent no time doing their hair, or will always trim their facial hair to make it look like they haven't shaved in a week. I guess it's cool to not care about shaving, because being clean shaven means you're "working for the man" or "conforming to societies expectations". Does it seem logical to spend the same amount of time to make it look like you haven't shaved as it would take to just shave?
This all reminds me of people that get tattoos of Chinese symbols because it's "different", except it's not different. It's the same as everyone else that got tattoos of Chinese symbols.
If it's trendy to act different, so everyone is trying to not be mainstream, wouldn't that make everyone not cool because they are still all doing the same thing? All they have really done is denied themselves the things they truly like because they weren't "acceptable" to like.
I had a conversation once with a friend of mine, and one of his friends. The topic of rap music came up. My friends friend was talking about how much he liked rap. I said I wasn't much of a rap fan, but I liked Eminem. Both my friend, and his friend went off about how horrible Eminem was and how he had no talent, and he wasn't a real rapper. (Even though I knew my friend liked Eminem, but would never admit it in front of a "true rap fan") It's strange because as one of the best selling rappers of all time, Eminem is clearly enjoyed by far more people than most rappers. So how do you gauge whether someone or something is likeable? The less liked they are, the more likeable they are? I'm going to go with the grain on this one and suggest that maybe people need to accept that things are popular for a reason, and that liking the same thing as someone else, doesn't mean you can't think for yourself. Skinny jean look fucking ridiculous, unknown hippy bands are unknown because they suck, and Sammy J Peppers has awesome steak bites.
Also, liking things that are not mainstream, makes them mainstream, which means you can't like them anymore, thus destroying them. Once it was nice to be able to wear a Fox Racing hat or shirt, then every douche bag started wearing them. Then it was nice to see an Alpinestar hat or FMF hat, but even those became popular, even though the people wearing them had no idea what the companies were! Please, take your John Deere hats off too. You don't live on a farm, you don't own any farm equipment, you don't even own a John Deere ride on lawnmower, but you'll wear the hat like it's the most original piece of clothing ever invented.
It's time to make a decision for yourself, even if it's the same one as the masses.
You can't like mainstream music anymore. The less known an artist is, the trendier they seem to be. You are looked at like an idiot that just "follows the masses" if you admit to liking a band like Nickelback or Eminem, even though literally millions upon millions of people have decided that these artists music is enjoyable.
You can't eat at a chain restaurant anymore. You need to seek out some undiscovered hole in the wall, and report how awesome the atmosphere and ambiance is on Facebook. Sorry, but chain restaurants became chains because of supply and demand. People liked their food and service, they made profit, and opened more restaurants.
I guess I shouldn't mention Facebook. I'm sure that's not acceptable anymore either. Seeing as how everyone is on Facebook, no one will admit to using it, and will mock anyone that does.
Then there's what you are allowed to wear. You can't try to look good. A nice pair of pants, and a collard shirt is out of the question. You need to try your best to look like you don't care, because caring what you look like isn't cool. People will spend hours to look like they put in no effort, rather than a few minutes to look normal.
Even hygiene and self grooming has become a total joke. People will spend time to make it look like they spent no time doing their hair, or will always trim their facial hair to make it look like they haven't shaved in a week. I guess it's cool to not care about shaving, because being clean shaven means you're "working for the man" or "conforming to societies expectations". Does it seem logical to spend the same amount of time to make it look like you haven't shaved as it would take to just shave?
This all reminds me of people that get tattoos of Chinese symbols because it's "different", except it's not different. It's the same as everyone else that got tattoos of Chinese symbols.
If it's trendy to act different, so everyone is trying to not be mainstream, wouldn't that make everyone not cool because they are still all doing the same thing? All they have really done is denied themselves the things they truly like because they weren't "acceptable" to like.
I had a conversation once with a friend of mine, and one of his friends. The topic of rap music came up. My friends friend was talking about how much he liked rap. I said I wasn't much of a rap fan, but I liked Eminem. Both my friend, and his friend went off about how horrible Eminem was and how he had no talent, and he wasn't a real rapper. (Even though I knew my friend liked Eminem, but would never admit it in front of a "true rap fan") It's strange because as one of the best selling rappers of all time, Eminem is clearly enjoyed by far more people than most rappers. So how do you gauge whether someone or something is likeable? The less liked they are, the more likeable they are? I'm going to go with the grain on this one and suggest that maybe people need to accept that things are popular for a reason, and that liking the same thing as someone else, doesn't mean you can't think for yourself. Skinny jean look fucking ridiculous, unknown hippy bands are unknown because they suck, and Sammy J Peppers has awesome steak bites.
Also, liking things that are not mainstream, makes them mainstream, which means you can't like them anymore, thus destroying them. Once it was nice to be able to wear a Fox Racing hat or shirt, then every douche bag started wearing them. Then it was nice to see an Alpinestar hat or FMF hat, but even those became popular, even though the people wearing them had no idea what the companies were! Please, take your John Deere hats off too. You don't live on a farm, you don't own any farm equipment, you don't even own a John Deere ride on lawnmower, but you'll wear the hat like it's the most original piece of clothing ever invented.
It's time to make a decision for yourself, even if it's the same one as the masses.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
The real cost of money is time.
As I'm realizing more and more, old sayings are far closer to the truth than they are given credit for. I guess "time is money" isn't a saying so much as a phrase, but is completely accurate non the less.
I like to view myself as a financially savvy person. Or at least a person that understands money. Not that I'm fantastic at making it, or even keeping it in my bank account, but I have a good concept of how it is used properly, and poorly, everyday, by everybody. A lot of my friends talk to me when they need advice on a big purchase, or need help getting out of debt. The problem is, it seems like none of them seem to take my advice. Is my advice not sound, or is it just that they don't like what they hear? I contemplated writing a self help type book. You know, the ones that go on and on about how awesome you are, and how you deserve anything you want? Except no one would buy mine, because it would be the last thing anyone wanted to hear. People don't want to hear that the best thing you can ever do is stay out of debt, and invest money wisely. People want to hear that they should buy a new car, because they deserve it.
Well I guess I'm going to try one more time here to paint a picture for everyone. It's going to get confusing, so put on your thinking caps and try to keep up.
Time is money. Literally. Keep that in mind.
Everyone makes a wage. It might be a lot or a little. You have your "gross" and your "net" or take home amount. But lets look at it differently. Lets say you have your "gross" your "net" and your "take home". Gross is before tax, simple. Net is after tax. ok. But take home is completely different. Lets say your take home is what you actually take home, at the end of each month, after all your bills are paid. Your "net" income might be lets say $2000. From that you pay $800 for rent, $70 for a phone, $130 for car insurance, $200 for fuel, $100 for cable/internet, $150 gas and electricity and $200 for food. So your actual take home is about $350 a month. This money if for luxuries. Things you want, but don't have to have. Eating out, coffee, going to the bar, new pair of jeans. And lets face it, at the end of the month, the $350 is spent. It doesn't make it into a savings account. When we have money in our pockets, we think that it's because we've done good and we deserve a treat, so we take ourselves out for dinner, or buy a new pair of sunglasses. Now lets take a different person, that has the net income of $3000 a month. That's a third more, so they have way more than $350 in the bank at the end of the month right? Well rent is $1150 because they want to live somewhere a bit nicer, their phone bill is $100 because they wanted the new iPhone. They have a new vehicle, because they can afford it $500. Insurance on a new vehicle is far more money $200. Fuel $200. Faster internet and more HD channels of course $150. Gas/electric $150. $200 for food. So for someone that should have an extra $1000 after all the bills are paid, they actually have the same $350 at the end of the month.
Ever notice that even after you get a raise at work, you never seem to have any more money in the bank at the end of the month?
The question is, what's the game plan? What are you working towards? Ever think about retirement? How much do you need to retire? You work from the time you are 18 until you are 65, and in that time you're supposed to have enough money in the bank, that you can afford to live for the next 30 years without working. Well lets say, you never buy property, and rent your entire life. How much does it cost per month to live when you retire? Well, the same as now I'm guessing. Rent, cable, food, insurance, electricity etc. Those bills won't stop will they? So lets say it's $1650, if you live the cheaper life style. Well you need $600,000 to retire then. We came to the conclusion, that your take home each month, when you are in the 18-65 year range is $350, after all your bills. So even if you put every penny of that $350 in the bank each month, which you don't, it'll take you 140 years to save enough money to retire. That's not good. Unfortunately, I'm noticing that almost all people today, are buying new cars, new phones, expensive sunglasses, going out for dinner, and going on nice holidays. They can't even afford these things, they just finance them. Not only are they not putting $350 in the bank, they are going further in debt every year. They are going backwards, even though, if they were going forwards as fast as they could, it still wouldn't be even close to what they need to be doing.
Now here's what I mean when I say time is money. If you buy a new car, at $50,000. How long does it take to pay that off? I don't mean how long do you make payments on it, I mean, how far back does it set you back finically. If you managed to put $850 a month into a savings account, but instead spend $500 on a new car, and only put it $350 a month, that's 8 years of not putting in the extra $500 a month. If you put the full $850 a month in, after the car is paid off, it'll take you 5 years to get that lost money back in the bank. That's 5 years you are behind. That means retiring at 70 instead of 65.
At the end of the day, the month, the year, we take home very little money. We have so much money we need to pay out every month, just to live. To put money in the bank seems like a near impossible task, and yet every month we spend money on things we don't need. Every thing you buy, costs you time. Your time at work. Time from the 18-65 years. When all you have left at the end of the month is a few hundred dollars, and you spend that on a night out, or a trip to the mall, your spending your entire months wages. You don't take home $2000 or $3500 a month. It takes you all month to bring home $350. You work 160 hours for $350! You're only taking home $2 an hour! You want to buy a pair of fucking sunglasses for $180? That's two weeks worth of work! Everything is paid in time. Don't ask how much something is, ask how much longer you'll have to work to buy it. 140 years and you'll be able to retire, what's 5 more for a new car right?
I like to view myself as a financially savvy person. Or at least a person that understands money. Not that I'm fantastic at making it, or even keeping it in my bank account, but I have a good concept of how it is used properly, and poorly, everyday, by everybody. A lot of my friends talk to me when they need advice on a big purchase, or need help getting out of debt. The problem is, it seems like none of them seem to take my advice. Is my advice not sound, or is it just that they don't like what they hear? I contemplated writing a self help type book. You know, the ones that go on and on about how awesome you are, and how you deserve anything you want? Except no one would buy mine, because it would be the last thing anyone wanted to hear. People don't want to hear that the best thing you can ever do is stay out of debt, and invest money wisely. People want to hear that they should buy a new car, because they deserve it.
Well I guess I'm going to try one more time here to paint a picture for everyone. It's going to get confusing, so put on your thinking caps and try to keep up.
Time is money. Literally. Keep that in mind.
Everyone makes a wage. It might be a lot or a little. You have your "gross" and your "net" or take home amount. But lets look at it differently. Lets say you have your "gross" your "net" and your "take home". Gross is before tax, simple. Net is after tax. ok. But take home is completely different. Lets say your take home is what you actually take home, at the end of each month, after all your bills are paid. Your "net" income might be lets say $2000. From that you pay $800 for rent, $70 for a phone, $130 for car insurance, $200 for fuel, $100 for cable/internet, $150 gas and electricity and $200 for food. So your actual take home is about $350 a month. This money if for luxuries. Things you want, but don't have to have. Eating out, coffee, going to the bar, new pair of jeans. And lets face it, at the end of the month, the $350 is spent. It doesn't make it into a savings account. When we have money in our pockets, we think that it's because we've done good and we deserve a treat, so we take ourselves out for dinner, or buy a new pair of sunglasses. Now lets take a different person, that has the net income of $3000 a month. That's a third more, so they have way more than $350 in the bank at the end of the month right? Well rent is $1150 because they want to live somewhere a bit nicer, their phone bill is $100 because they wanted the new iPhone. They have a new vehicle, because they can afford it $500. Insurance on a new vehicle is far more money $200. Fuel $200. Faster internet and more HD channels of course $150. Gas/electric $150. $200 for food. So for someone that should have an extra $1000 after all the bills are paid, they actually have the same $350 at the end of the month.
Ever notice that even after you get a raise at work, you never seem to have any more money in the bank at the end of the month?
The question is, what's the game plan? What are you working towards? Ever think about retirement? How much do you need to retire? You work from the time you are 18 until you are 65, and in that time you're supposed to have enough money in the bank, that you can afford to live for the next 30 years without working. Well lets say, you never buy property, and rent your entire life. How much does it cost per month to live when you retire? Well, the same as now I'm guessing. Rent, cable, food, insurance, electricity etc. Those bills won't stop will they? So lets say it's $1650, if you live the cheaper life style. Well you need $600,000 to retire then. We came to the conclusion, that your take home each month, when you are in the 18-65 year range is $350, after all your bills. So even if you put every penny of that $350 in the bank each month, which you don't, it'll take you 140 years to save enough money to retire. That's not good. Unfortunately, I'm noticing that almost all people today, are buying new cars, new phones, expensive sunglasses, going out for dinner, and going on nice holidays. They can't even afford these things, they just finance them. Not only are they not putting $350 in the bank, they are going further in debt every year. They are going backwards, even though, if they were going forwards as fast as they could, it still wouldn't be even close to what they need to be doing.
Now here's what I mean when I say time is money. If you buy a new car, at $50,000. How long does it take to pay that off? I don't mean how long do you make payments on it, I mean, how far back does it set you back finically. If you managed to put $850 a month into a savings account, but instead spend $500 on a new car, and only put it $350 a month, that's 8 years of not putting in the extra $500 a month. If you put the full $850 a month in, after the car is paid off, it'll take you 5 years to get that lost money back in the bank. That's 5 years you are behind. That means retiring at 70 instead of 65.
At the end of the day, the month, the year, we take home very little money. We have so much money we need to pay out every month, just to live. To put money in the bank seems like a near impossible task, and yet every month we spend money on things we don't need. Every thing you buy, costs you time. Your time at work. Time from the 18-65 years. When all you have left at the end of the month is a few hundred dollars, and you spend that on a night out, or a trip to the mall, your spending your entire months wages. You don't take home $2000 or $3500 a month. It takes you all month to bring home $350. You work 160 hours for $350! You're only taking home $2 an hour! You want to buy a pair of fucking sunglasses for $180? That's two weeks worth of work! Everything is paid in time. Don't ask how much something is, ask how much longer you'll have to work to buy it. 140 years and you'll be able to retire, what's 5 more for a new car right?
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