Just a single topic here.. tonight I had a conversation with a friendI haven't heard from for awhile, and while talking about politics, I hadan idea .. well, really, an enlightenment. He commented on how a certainpolitician is impressive because they're 50% honest, much more honest thantypical. And it got me to thinking, why are politicians so notoriouslyunable to talk straight? There are plenty of small reasons, but a new onecame into my mind, and combined with the obvious ones, it seems to cover allthe ways in which they're deceitful. To explain in detail, let's firstconsider a family. Some of us, probably most, have people in their familywho say or do things we disagree with. Often, it might be a certain someonewho our parents tell us NOT TO TALK POLITICS WITH, or DON'T REMIND HIM OFTHE WAR, or DON'T MENTION HER WIG, or something like that. In sum,families are complex, and many of them have people who, for the sake of peace,you just need to steer clear of certain topics. Heck, after you age a bit,go through college, get opinions, and all that, you might become one of thesein your family. If you don't even have the faintest degree of this in yourfamily, your friends probably tell you about this kind of stuff in theirs.If not, you're not living in my universe, so how are you reading my blog?Anyway, society is your family, on a larger scale. If you even mentionvietnam to Uncle Fred, you're going to lose, there's no way out of it.If you remind Aunt Francis that she always gets you lost when she's drivingthe family somewhere, the fireworks will go on for hours, so even if shewill get you lost and you know it, it's better to just suffer it.Society is full of damaged people, and part of politics, no doubt, is avoidstepping on areas where entire groups of people are broken. As I've oftenbeen told, there are times where, even when you're right, you're wrong.It generalizes pretty well. There are a lot of little taboos in subculturesthat people can easily step on inadvertently, especially when what theysay is listened to by a whole nation. And I, dear reader, am probablystepping on a few taboos just mentioning this..
Hmm.. I guess I have a *little* more to say. Lots of blogging today, heh.It's funny how, because of symbolism (I imagine), a lot of middle easternarabs have swords on them. I guess that's just part of their culture...but it does leave me to wonder, where do all those swords come from? If they
- are* symbolic, do they still have swordsmiths over there, or is there some
So, Amazon sent me a video game thing I wanted, and, I only assume this isa video game thing, because I've never gotten it from any other amazon orderand I've never ordered a video game accessory from Amazon before, there was apacket of listerine breath strips in the packing materials. Thanks, Amazon!I guess you're making a statement :) Wow, I wonder if I've broken enough tabooswithout touching the ground to merit me a 1-up?
Ok, finally a disclaimer. I know that not all arabshave swords, and I'm not going to claim that I know the fine details of whichcountries consider swords symbolic things to carry around, and which don't.I have nothing particular against arabs.