h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am most interested in your new note with your name. Has something specific happened?

I am an anti death penalty advocate (see my page), member of Amnesty Inernational and have been a progressive activist for many years. I must say that over time I have seen a real ebb and flow of legislation regarding civil rights, the environment, the death penalty, the supreme court, congress......I could go on for days.

Keep the faith and keep working for good

KT

messy situation with another researcher demanding that yet another researcher change the way he acts or stop posting to common fora... VERY pissed about it.

it all makes me sick. i see it at school; people make fun of the special education students behind their backs, the self-proclaimed "popular" shun those who are not "popular"... i've reached critical mass. either something's going to change or i'm going to be forced to start fighting back.

it's mostly ignorance. it pisses me off that 2 out of 35 people in my economics class has cut down on their power usage to prevent brownouts. we had a stage three alert today; if no one prevents it, the california power grid is going to be shut down.

i HATE people. why must they be so stupid? why can't they CARE?! society is SELFISH, and it makes me SICK. it makes me so mad i start to cry.

the biggest thing with me is civil rights. my biggest pet peeve is when people disregard the rights of others. it makes me want to inflict physical violence upon them, but fortunately over the years i have learned to control the rage that comes from this topic.

ugh. i started out explaining and ended up ranting. i'm sorry, you probably didn't need to hear all the gory details. i'm so pissed right now i could put a fist through the computer monitor.

but i won't.

once again, the fragile art of self-control.

The answer is to treat others as you want to be treated. Which I'm sure you do.

Rights is the wrong word tho. 'Rights' is when black people claim that the use of the word niggardly is racist (whuich it isnt. it means petty or something) and sue, successfuilly. (I dunno if you heard about this, but it happened.) I incidentally am not racist. I just hate those who use their situations as tools.

Just be sanguine. Don't worry. It's not your fault, as long as you do something for others.

*grin*

i only mean that everyone is equal.



i'm a sub-editor now!!!!

OK - first of all niggardly means stingy, but nonetheless, if someone won a lawsuit because the defendant used this word it would have to be that: for the case to be heard (not dismissed as frivalous (sp sorry)) there must be some merit to the reason for the legal action. Perhaps this word was used not as it is defined, but to connote a type of behavior or language that is injurious to the plaintiff in the suit. So with that being said, for anyone to comment that they are not racist and then dismiss as that lawsuit out of hand is perhaps a subtle demonstration of bigotry. Now I am ranting.

I applaude you sea-sXe for your stand. It is much too easy in America to take the low road and either condone by silence racism and bigotry, or actively make efforts to take away the fundamental rights of certain groups in our society. Unfortunately, with the last election, those of us who stand up for the disenfranchised and downtrodden must work harder, not be afraid to raise our voices when we see, read or hear of actions that will cut away at the heart of our innate sense of justice.

Look to Ghandi and Dr. King for inspiration and then read and check out the web site for Sister Helen Prejean - she is one my most inspirational people. All of us in the anti death penalty movement look up to her as a guiding spirit.

Please, please don't allow your rage to abate.....channel it into teaching tolerance and compassion for all

KT

Oops! Hit post when I wanted to edit.....Very quicly back to the "niggardly" comment....If someone calls me a bitch, I am insulted and depending on the context in which it is used I might be tempted to sue. Sure, it is not Webster's definition, but.......

this time

KT

i can see how that word can be insulting. i hear people use it all the time. it's sad, really, how many people curse... one would think that they would put the effort into finding an intelligent way of expressing themselves...

we will change the world, KT... *hugs*

Keep yur chin up...you're right we can change the the world I think when you get to NYU you'll meet a lot of people who think like you do and also want to make a difference. Ignorance is all around us, the important thing is to not to give up.

KT

*sigh* sometimes it's so hard though...

i can't wait until college. escape my parents, who are SO unlike me that i'm convinced i'm from another planet.... meet other people like me.... find a decent guy to spend too much energy trying to figure out...

My parents used to tell me that I was from another planet!!!!!! They gave up after a while 'cause they knew I wouldn't change. I went to NYU partially to get away too, but that ended up being great for other things too...like good friends and great places to hang out - the Village is awesome! Shopping, coffee, music, more shopping, great haircuts!

Maybe you can add some of your civil rights thoughts to your page. Actually, Galaxy Babe suggested that I start a discussion page on the death penalty - maybe you'd like to work with me on if I do it.

that would be interesting, considering that i have mixed views on the death penalty...

i'm not really FOR it, because who are we to decide who should live and who should die? however, for violent crimes (such as rape, assault and battery, child abuse, murder) i think that the punishment should fit the crime. for example, i believe that convicted rapists, upon their second offense, should be castrated. child abusers as well. murderers... well, i think they should be locked in solitary for a LONG time. bread and water diets. forget the cuttent penal system with its internet access and libraries. make those.... people... pay!

so i don't know how that mixes with my feelings on civil rights. i guess i believe that if you commit a violent crime, you forfeit all your civil rights the moment you infringe upon those of the other person.

sorry, that should be "forget the current" not the cuttent...

OK here's a little something to think about....it is a statistical fact that the death penalty is uneqally applied. It is documented fact that racial minorities (blacks, Native Americans) are more likely to receive the death penalty than the white middle class. It is documented fact that blacks committing capital crimes against whites are more apt to get the death penalty than blacks killing blacks. We legally execute the poor, the mentally retarded, the racial minorities.

If you have time (I know you are busy) read Sister Helen Prejean's "Dead Man Walking" and you will read about not only the condemned, but the families of the victims and how the execution of their loved one's killer does not give them closure or ease the pain of their loss and that in most cases it only adds to it.

Anyway, enough about all that...Just think if legal killing is any more moral than capital murder.

KT

i totally sympathize.

but i still advocate the idea of "let the punishment fit the crime"

*grin* maybe it would cut down on a lot of the crimes that occurr every day.

We will never change the world. We're powerless in the face of whoever. And the use of the word was entirely innocent. But it doesn't really matter.

my, UH dear, you have a VERY pessimistic way of looking at things... so young and yet so disillusioned... tisk tisk...

One last comment on your last note re: capital punishment....It is (again - grin) that states without the death penalty have lower crime rates than those with. So much for the deterrant theory .

I feel strongly that if we just live our lives in a positive manner and doing what we can to acheive equality for all, environmental controls, support the Bill of Rights and take care of each other, we will make a difference.



KT

It's shocking, isn't it. But all true. The world WILL end within thirty years, one way or another.

there's no proof of that. not that i don't agree.

the odds are sky-high it will happen in the next four years, while bush is in the white house. the odds double if he gets re-elected.

Bush will be able to do nothing. He's a moron, and the republicans know it. They'll just leave him in his office with a few big red buttons to play wioth