Sunday, November 01, 2015

This and That

     As long-time readers of this blog are well aware, your faithful correspondent, as well as being the lord of Nib Manor, is also a craftsman (this done to pay the gardeners and stable-men; being a lord just doesn't pay the way it did since the five percents went the way of the dodo) at a company in the aerospace-defense industry. For some years the company has engaged the services of an outside security firm to prevent the theft of material and the protection of the cars in the parking lot. In other words, the company has security guards who usually sit in a little booth and either listen to police band radio dreaming of their day to catch a hardened criminal of the John Dillinger/Pretty Boy Floyd type, or watching porn on their laptop computers. And they are a varied bunch.
     Recently one of said guardians of property has announced to the night shift in the shop that he is no longer a he. He is a she, and he is undergoing a "transition" from being a young man to a young woman. He has gone so far, in this insanity, that he has had breast implants and has had to buy a large uniform shirt to contain said silicone bags. The reaction of the shift was, "Well, okay. Good luck with that." That was enough for the shift. The shift, being almost to a man, conservative, really don't think that there is such a thing as a "tran-sexual"; there are only men who want to look like women for one reason or another. And they don't want to hear about "transitioning" when some lady/boy wants to talk about it. The, among the night shift without security guard, opinion of the young fellow's decision was either, "This is very sad", or "The kid's a freak." But no one said that to the kid.
     Now be aware that machinists are usually a pretty rough bunch and are not slow to hurl insults, as well as ball-pein hammers, at one another at the drop of a hat. In the case of Victor/Victoria they kept their opinions away from him for two reasons. They felt sorry for him and hoped that he'd wise up in some way, and because they were afraid if they expressed their true opinions to him they would be set up by an LGBT rights group and sued out of their 401(k)s for some sort of sexual discrimination. They don't worry about being called "haters". They worry about losing their retirements because they are "haters."
     It's a strange and passing thing when a bunch of men who have been through the military, gang warfare, illegal border crossings or sometimes even prison will back down from calling silliness and stupidity silliness and stupidity. But the legal system has managed to squeal the freedom of expression for these guys. It's not the threat of prison or publicity that will shut these guys down. It's the ought of losing what they have worked for so many years for. Ain't modern life great?
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     Recently a professor from  Pfizer College in Southern California, a professor of "secular studies" and an almost professional atheist who gets a lot of press because he constantly slams Christianity, admitted something interesting. When asked why, despite being a liberal man who supports feminism and human rights of all sorts (including "gay rights"), he didn't criticize Islam in the same way that he does Christianity (please know that this writer does not know if he criticizes Judaism; he's a secular Jew, but may be one of those dopes who thinks of Jews as only an ethnic group and not a monotheistic religion that Muslims particularly hate). He stated that the reason that he bags on the Jesus crowd and not the ass raising crowd is because he is afraid of Muslims. He is afraid that if he criticizes Islam the way that he does Christianity one of the enlightened tribe of Allah will find out his home address and kill him or his family or both. He also said that he is grateful that Christians and Mormons are so long suffering as to put up with his tearing them down and that the reason that he lives the life that he does is because of Christianity. In other words, he admits that the Christian society protects him, but at the same time Christians are fools. He's like the guy in the lifeboat drilling a hole in the bottom of the boat that is keeping him from being shark bait all the while claiming that he has a better lifeboat that is no where to be found.
     So much for higher education and the wisdom of college professors.