Mediocre Man vs. The Well-crafted Argument

Wednesday evening saw the close of another chapter in my education adventure. I somehow managed to survive a grueling eight weeks of essays, readings, reading responses, and research, research, research. English 121 was a considerable challenge. It wasn't so much the content--I am a capable composer and reader--but rather the volume of the classwork and homework being juggled with a busy time at work. Grades have not been posted yet, I am waiting to hear back from the professor on whether I can choose to accept the grade she gave me for the first draft of my final essay in lieu of turning in a revised copy (it would be difficult to improve upon a grade of 100).

Ever since I started taking English classes SNHU-100 (which isn't really an English course but has a lot of writing elements), English 101, and English 120, I have been conditioned to expect English 121 to be a difficult class. I was not surprised or disappointed to find this to be the truth. I find that if I am not being pushed or challenged then I tend to get bored rather easily (see also: middle school, high school). My professor for 121 was extremely well versed in her field despite being as young as she is (27) and you can tell she truly loves what she teaches. Liz did an awesome job despite a tough crowd (most of the class didn't appreciate the challenge as much as I did it seems). Like Wheeler (my professor from the above mentioned classes) she was persistent that I become a professional writer. Wheeler wants me to become an English teacher whereas Liz thinks I would excel in some sort of journalism field. 

Any way, Monday I start COM-212 (public speaking), again with Wheeler. As anxious as I am about it, I find myself kind of excited to be doing it. I wrote to Wheeler a few weeks ago while we were playing e-tag trying to work out a time for getting together for coffee.

I am looking forward to--as well as dreading--public speaking next term. I was always pretty (debilitatingly) shy in my younger days and had a deeply seeded irrational fear of speaking in front of people. In my elder days I have come to a point where I don't much care. I spent five years in retail and another five as a bouncer yelling in people's faces, so I am interested to see if my trepidation in regards to public speaking is real or if it is just a residual notion from days of yore. I am thinking more the latter, but we shall see.

So, see we shall. The adventure continues....

Mediocre Man vs. Jonathan Swift

Yep, you read right. Jonathan Swift... the brain behind Gulliver's Travels. I had to read a bunch of essays for my 121 class and write another reading response. One of the essays I read was Mr. Swift's "A Modest Proposal." If you have never read this before (as I hadn't) it is a scathing commentary on the poor treatment of Irish peasants during the famine. Swift, in the guise of a nameless economist, penned and distributed the essay as a pamphlet in 1729. His modest proposal was to have poor mothers sell their extra offspring as a source of fine cuisine for the wealthy, and use the skins of said babies to make the finest supple gloves and slippers.

I kinda loved the essay of course, which is why I chose to do my response on it. The response is kinda long so I wont post it here, rather you can read it here.

Mediocre Man vs. The Elusive Carrot

We had another "town hall" meeting at work today. I was really looking forward to good news in the form of some sort of notification that I will be able to kick back for the summer. Sadly that is about as far from the truth as it gets. Rather than giving us any straight answers, they opted instead to tell us that corporate has hit road blocks in their launch of the product Mexico is building and as a result of said delays we may be here a little longer. They refused to speculate on a concrete date but doing the math involved with the information they gave us it looks like we are now closer to a mid-July time frame than a mid-June time frame.The suckiest bit is that my boss told me he will probably need me around for at least an additional 2-4 weeks to help close up shop. BLAAAAARGH!

Yeah, yeah, I know it's a down economy and I should be happy to even have a job... and I am, but that doesn't change the fact that I have been chasing this fucking carrot for two and a half friggin years, nor the fact that I hate this company, this job, and a majority of the people I work with.

They did break down how we would be told of our termination date and how we would be presented with our final benefits package. Whoopie! Does me a whole lot of fuck-all when it comes to planning out the near future and any potential for job hunting.  It's kind of hard to look for a job when I would have to ask them to hold it for me until June... oops no wait... July... oops no wait... maybe August.

I just want to be done and be able to move on and start over.

Mediocre Man vs. Religious Dogma

Fun with Facebook!

My friend posted this image on his Facebook page.

So yeah, I got a big kick out of it being the godless heathen that I am. Unfortunately, other people have very little humor when it comes to religion. For those of you who missed it on facebook,  the following is the war it sparked (the names have been changed to protect the indoctrinated). 

Little Bo Peep: It's a sad day when people don't believe in the word of God!

Mediocre Man (playing devils advocate): Conversely it could be said that it's a sad day when sane, logical adults still believe in a fairy tale about a fat guy on a cloud that magically made and controls the entirety of existence. There are always 2 sides to every argument. :)

LBP:  Have you ever read the bible? Don't you know this great country was founded because people want to worship God! Do some research and you will found out that this country started to move in a downward spiral when religion was slowly moved out of the public eye! You don't know your history and that is why you have ignorance about God and Jesus! you probably grew up cerebrating Easter because of the Easter bunny! talk about fantasy!

(oh no she di'int!)

MM: I don't celebrate Christian holidays. And the "Easter bunny" was a pagan symbol of fertility that the Christians usurped (much the way they did with most of the pagan holidays) in order to bring the pagan holidays in line with Christian holidays so they could phase them out and indoctrinate the pagan majority. To answer your question, yes, I have read the bible, and every logical synapse in my brain revolted against the amount of blatant contradictions contained within its pages. The bible, sad to say, is not a historical document, nor is it the word of God. It is a collection of fables edited together by the council of Nicaea, who coincidentally rejected any parts of the gospels, or entire gospels, that didn't further their agenda. The word of God may be infallible but that of man certainly is not. I do not discount the notion that there was a teacher named Jesus, but I do not put much stock in the idea that he was any more than a man with an idea. It is an act of hubris, and more abhorrently an ad hominem attack, on your part to assume I am "ignorant" simply because I have an opposing viewpoint on organized religion.

As for this great nation, it was founded on the principles of freedom from tyranny, unjust taxation, and a lack of parliamentary representation. Sure, the pilgrims may have come here first to seek freedom from religious persecution, but the actual founding of the nation, as is set down in the declaration of independence, has less to do with religion and more to do with freedom from oppressive rule. The founding fathers of this nation were indeed wise enough to make room for the freedom of choosing and practicing of religion, but they were also smart enough to separate it from the governance of the nation.

So, your argument that this nation started into a downward spiral when religion was set aside from its governance is a straw man argument, and it implies that the nation started its descent before it even started.

Lastly, please do not hold Christianity up as a bastion of virtue. I can sit here all day and point out the atrocities perpetrated by so called peace loving Christians, starting with the recent Christian militia that planned to murder peace officers and use their funerals to cause further bloodshed in the name of overthrowing the government, and I could go back to the crusades where "believe in my god or die" was the standard idea of "love thy neighbor." Don't even get me started on kiddie raping priests and the system that protects them. In my humble estimation all religions, and the sheep that blindly accept everything that they are brainwashed with, are directly responsible for the current state of the world; and not, as you have suggested, the absence of said religions. 

LBP: I do not share your views and will never share your views! It sounds to me as if you were copying from a book. Never the less you are blessed enough to live in a country where you are entitled to your opinion and have the freedom to say so. I never met you and don't plan to, so lets just say enjoy your life and see where it takes you!

God Bless you!

MM:  Copying from a book? No. I'm really that smart.

So yeah... Sorry if I caused any undue friction for you there nameless friend who posted the offending image. I simply cannot abide a single sided argument, particularly when my intelligence is called into question. 

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