………..
|
||
| …. |
Date: May 29, 2014 …It’s called Panorama… |
…. |
|
……………………………………………  |
||
Panorama…
Leave a reply
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Pirate Television: The Everlasting Scars of War…
Date: May 27, 2014
01) Pirate Television: The Everlasting Scars of War
Ann Jones is a journalist, photographer, and the author of ten books, writes for “The Nation” and “Tom Dispatch”.
The boys of St Vincent – legendado em Português-br…
Date: May 27, 2014
Though I’ve heard of this movie a number of times in the past, this is the first time I have actually watched it.
This is a movie about monstrous abuse, clear and simple…and it is a harsh movie to watch.
There is a little bit of nudity in it, though brief and incidental.
As a BoyLover, I find this movie disturbing in it’s subject matter…and I’ve also gone on record several times in the past, regarding the issue of sex abuse in the catholic church…in this general sort of setting…
…And I cannot impress strongly enough, just how much the sexual behaviors depicted in this movie are not BoyLove…They are, instead, acts of predation…
The acting, however, is quite good…and as a movie, it is a powerful vehicle for an anti-abuse message.
I offer a link to this movie, for those who wish to view it.
Memorial Day, 2014…
Date: May 26, 2014
In my mind, probably the most somber U.S. national holiday in existence is Memorial Day…
This is, of course…a national day in memory of all soldiers who have lost their lives, in service to this country.
It is hard to really reconcile a lot of things in this complicated world…I consider war to be a crime against humanity, and yet…life is not so simple, as to be able to imply that the people sent off to these wars, “deserved their fate”.
…In fact…our fallen soldiers…all fallen soldiers, with few exceptions…are every bit as much victims of this crime against humanity…as anybody else impacted by it.
I wish the solution to this crime against humanity, were as simple as everyone refusing to take part in it…The ambitions of some, have refused to allow this…because so long as there are violent aggressors in this world…there must be credible, substantive force to defy them…to stop them, from destroying order in this world…to stop them from brutalizing and murdering the defenseless and the weak.
Soldiers come in many different styles…Of all I have had the privilege to serve with, a miniscule few have I even suspected to be serving for reasons of malicious and vulgar blood lust…Overwhelmingly, I have found that soldiers serve for all the right, upstanding and ethical reasons…and that most of them never want to take another humans life.
For some, it is easy to set out there…with idealistic viewpoints…point fingers and throw rocks at soldiers…It is easy to act, as though “they deserved it”…It is easy to ignore everything going on in this world, and say the soldier “just should not have been there”…that they “should have defied the government”…that they “got what they deserved”, when coming back dead or crippled…Some have even suggest, that allowing yourself to be sent off to war is…”cowardly”, in comparison to serving time in prison, or deserting and living as a criminal fugitive.
…As soldiers…when we take an oath of service, it is not only our bond…but what we do when faced with the moment of truth, is what defines our true integrity and character…
…There is no act committed on this planet, which displays more pure, raw bravery…than to walk into a theater of chaos, where you know your own death is looming in high probability. Facing your fate when you know these are the stakes…when you know, you are not that good with a rifle…when you feel you are entirely out of place…when you just know, that in the middle of this chaos, you are likely to end up amongst the dead…there is nothing more sobering…than facing this type of a pending death sentence.
People who lay their lives on the line in defense of others, deserve nothing but the utmost of respect. Their personal flaws fall by the wayside…and it makes me personally ill, to witness anybody disparage these people, or belittle them as human beings…or even devalue the numerous sacrifices they have made…
The people who speak in dogmatic, idealistic terms about this issue…virtually none of them have ever had to walk this path. If they ever had…they would not even consider behaving in the way that they do…because they would know what it is like, to live the many realities of a soldiers life…
We face a lot of really horrible things in this world…and while on some level, many of them don’t seem to make any sense…they are still the realities we find ourselves thrust into, even when we want nothing to do with them.
Soldiers are people forced to make the hardest choices imaginable…with the steepest consequences imaginable…this is a very harsh road, which deserves empathy and respect towards those traveling it.
…And the fact that we no longer have the draft in the U.S., is no excuse to attack U.S. soldiers…The draft was done away with, for many sound reasons…One major reason, is that it raised the over all standard of quality, in soldiers being brought in. The draft was fraught with problems, including the infamous issues of Vietnam…where in, the war became a trade off for prison, in the case of many violent, even mentally ill criminals [some of whom were sociopaths]…We will never even know, how many of our own were sent off to be slaughtered by our own soldiers, who never even had a chance because someone who rightly belonged in a prison cell was “dumped into a fox hole” with them.
No…the U.S. soldier has been spat upon for far too long, and from far too many corners, by ignorant people…when the individual who is that soldier, is just trying to make the right decision in an impossible situation.
Nobody has standing, to judge these individuals for their service…Nobody at all, anywhere…and those with arrogant chips on their shoulders, who fancy themselves right to throw stones…they should hope, and pray to anything they are inclined to pray too…that they are never forced to face this brutal choice, themselves…
Many people lack the courage and strength of character, to face this with integrity and dignity…Those who do face this, never come out of this experience the same…if at all.
This demands respect…especially for those who lost everything.
Frontline: United States of Secrets…
……
|
||
| …. |
Date: May 22, 2014 “How did the government come to spy on millions of Americans? In United States of Secrets, FRONTLINE goes behind the headlines to reveal the dramatic inside story of the U.S. government’s massive and controversial secret surveillance program — and the lengths it went to try to keep it hidden from the public.”
No comments today…Just offered for your consideration. |
…. |
|
||
In Life And Fiction, Edward St. Aubyn Sheds The Weight Of His Past…
Date: May 21, 2014
…Fresh Air: In Life And Fiction, Edward St. Aubyn Sheds The Weight Of His Past [MP3 Download]…
“The writer is best known for his semi-autobiographical novels about an Englishman from a posh but monstrous family. St. Aubyn’s new book marks a departure.”
About ten minutes in, we get to the point where they first mention how Edward St. Aubyn’s father allegedly raped him several times, starting at the age of five…and it gets quickly moved past…
They don’t get into any real detail, until around 16:30…
Edward claims to have written a fictional novel, wherein one of the characters experiences what he did as a boy…making this novel semi-biographical.
An interesting question comes up, regarding how sadistic and deranged a father can be to do that to a son.
…He imagines his father had so much spare pain, he had to get rid of it in other people…
Apparently, this is a legitimate case of rape…and it’s being summed up as homosexual, pedophilia incest…
About 20 minutes in…”I think that the people who behave in ways which are very destructive, immoral and which they know to be wrong, search for whatever excuses, pretexts…umm…and lies available to them. And someone like [the fictional character in his book] will naturally choose to regard the disapproval that most people would feel about what he does, as middle class prudery. That’s the defense available to him. Other people would use other defenses, other explanations…you know, character formation or ancient Greece, or, you know, whatever…you know, or imagine that their victims are really enjoying it…Or, people tell themselves the craziest stories.” – Edward
“Instead of feeling shame and horror at his own actions, [the fictional character] seems to be wishing that he could talk about it with somebody, share the experience.”
Edward goes on to talk about his own experience…his own isolation by this…a suicide attempt [which he later admits was not sincerely intended to end his life]…
…Edwards father had just died, when he decided to come out to the world with this revelation…
He talks about the inner “civil war”, of both identifying with what about his father made him who he is [I’m guessing the good things and connections], and the part of his father that tormented him…and of no longer having an external target, to direct the hate towards…and other things get said, also.
Honestly…I don’t know how I feel, about someone writing a semi-fictional novel like this…I mean, given the saturation of negative pedophile stereotypes we are forced to relentlessly endure…I’m not too excited about, “Oh, hey…here is another!”…I feel, the overwhelming and inescapable nature of this content, and the social atmosphere it creates, is outright abusive and dehumanizing, against people like us…So I am well outside the point, where I even find this kind of account to be constructive…or of interest to delve into…
…It is a “been there, done that [too many times over]” kind of thing…It feels like the same old dead horse…and it’s time for a new start, and a new narrative…So, I’ve had growing distaste and lack of patience, with this type of content…
…But, apparently…it is his story…and if there is one thing I respect…it is a writer using writing, in order to work through his own issues.
Even though I know life is complicated…I cannot help but feel…if Edward was going to reveal all of this…I am conflicted over whether it was wrong of him, to wait till the man he accuses can no longer answer his charges…or whether it was an act of mercy, allowing the man he accuses to slip beyond the reach of punishment…
…Another question that went through my mind, is essentially the same one I was thinking when Corey Feldman told the world, he knew who was abusing young people, but he was not personally going to stop it…
…Okay…so, you knew from personal experience that this happened…you knew what this person was prone to do…and yet, you allow them to go free and potentially assault others?…
I know people can be deeply traumatized by brutality…and I know a lot of victims of this sort of thing don’t want to come out about it…I just wonder how they deal with knowing, that their inaction may have gotten somebody else brutalized.
ChildWiki…
……
|
||
| …. |
Date: May 19, 2014 I’ve never been a huge fan of the wiki format…largely, because it just feels like a huge glutty mess of links, in a generally ugly format. Often, navigation on wikis is confusing…and you just run around in circles, randomly viewing content. That is not to say I don’t understand they have appeal…I just don’t get the social movement that has risen up around them…you know…these communities with their hierarchies and positions, and the talk pages…and all the insane degrees of politics that go on, over who gets to edit, when someone should edit…was the edit “unbiased”…etc, etc… …I swear…based on some of the Wikipedia stories that have been relayed to me, there are some people out there doing some very heavy duty Napoleon Complexing, via the Wiki scene. I don’t even know how anybody could stand putting up with that degree of abuse…And it is no surprise, that a number of BL/GL/TL/CL friendly wikis have sprung up. I support this development even if I’ve not been in the thick of it…but for the record, I have only officially been associated with BoyWiki…and I’ve not really done anything to speak of, there…not yet, anyway. Doing a bit of search engine research…I found it a bit awkward that ChildWiki decided to lift my entire user page from BoyWiki, and host it. Considering how meager that page is on content, I would have thought it better to just write a brief paragraph or two about me, and link to my blog…maybe lift a bit of content from my blog…as opposed to essentially making it look like I am a registered user on ChildWiki. Anyway…I will try to get around to looking over ChildWiki…and I’ll probably place it in my links section, when I get around to working on that again. – Steve |
…. |
|
……………………………………….  |
||
…ChildWiki Main Page…Billy Elliot…
……
|
||
| …. |
Date: May 14, 2014 “Video Description: Billy Elliot is the triumphant and heartwarming story of an 11-year-old boy from a working-class family who discovers a passion for dance that will change his and his family’s lives forever.” Expires: 7/31/2014 This is a really good movie. If you’ve not seen it, you should give it a try. |
…. |
|
||
Pregnancy is a Process: Rights of the Unborn…
Date: May 13, 2014
01) BoyChat Response
If at any point a pregnancy is ended, you ultimately get the same end result…the zygote/embryo/fetus can no longer progress towards sentient life.
Because of this, I really have a hard time seeing any discernable difference, particularly when we are discussing ethics, between performing abortions at different phases in a pregnancy…If you’ve killed the embryo, then you’ve killed the fetus by extension…and killing they zygote kills both the embryo and the fetus, likewise…
Is there anything, other than emotional connection and mindset, which causes a person to give more consideration [and defense] to the fetus than to the embryo?…or the zygote?
Unless it is the emotional connection, because the later stage fetus has developed into [or close to] a physical infant, then I just don’t get the idea, behind why people even make this distinction.
If you’ve done it earlier…then you’ve still done it…there is just less mess, and less to deal with.
Now…the social context issue, is another one I have a hard time not taking issue with, also…
…I can understand the argument, that a mothers [someone who is already a viable, thriving and socially integrated person] life being jeopardized, might justify an abortion…There is no easy answer…There is no “right” answer…It is just crumby circumstance.
Where I diverge, is in the question of incest or rape…Crumby circumstances, yes…But it comes down to a question, of just how sincerely held…are these beliefs on “the rights of the unborn child”…
It is no more the fault of any zygote/embryo/fetus created from rape or incest, that it exists at all…than it is the fault of any other zygote/embryo/fetus, created in the socially condoned ways.
If “the rights of the unborn child” mean anything at all…then children of incest and rape, have every bit as much right to life…and have every bit as much right to be fought for, and protected.
I’m reminded of this show I once watched…A woman was being interviewed…She had been raped by someone she did not even know [who was never caught], and became pregnant…and she talked about the process she’d gone through, when wrestling with what to do about her situation…She was single and young.
…But she decided to have and raise this baby…And by the end of the interview, she was speaking positively glowingly, about this young man she had raised, and all that he had brought into her life…even how it had given her life meaning, to have him…
It was really a staunch look at an issue…from an angle which we almost never see or hear…And it’s not that I’d never conceived such a thing was possible…but it’s the first time I’d ever seen anyone speak of this issue, in that light…It really made me think.
To my mind…the championing of “unborn children’s rights”, in the face of incest and rape exemptions…that comes off like strategic, cliché “sound bite” arguments…like sidestepping an elephant in the room…
In some cases, this is done by some who have even gone through the wailing, gnashing of teeth, screaming, crying and pleading [or sometimes more extreme behavior], to convince us all of the sanctity of unborn life…and of it’s rights.
I cannot help but question how sincere is the campaign, when there are even perceived inequalities amongst zygotes/embryos/fetuses, within the movement itself.
If there are “disposable minorities”, even amongst those staunchly opposed to abortion…what does that say?
This is controversial, for sure…but it seems to me, that turning ones back on the most vulnerable of “just get rid of it” cases, cuts through all of the rhetoric…and displays how honestly dedicated one is to the actual “rights of unborn children”.
Of course…it is unfair to raped women…They have to draw a line, somewhere…but how is it any less fair to the zygote/embryo/fetus, to draw a line such that it excludes all consideration for them and their future?
…If this is how things stand…then how are “the rights of unborn children” even a real thing?
I Want to Tell You Something…
|
……
|
||
| …. |
Date: May 13, 2014
This is an interesting documentary from the Netherlands, I believe…It’s been a few weeks ago, since I actually watched this…so, I may have some brain fog regarding some details. I feel I should give a nod to one BoyChatter, who mentioned this film years ago…the name of whom, I honestly do not recall…But I found this movie on SnagFilms…and decided I should watch it. What is very interesting about this, is cultural differences…and how some of the things done/said in this movie, might come off as unthinkable in the USA. One such instance, is how the mother describes her son, who was born deaf, as having been pathetic and sad…Of course, she wasn’t trying to be mean or devalue her child…she was just being blunt about the situation, after learning of his disability and the life he would face… Another scene, we see him [I guess he is six years old, if I recall right], and his younger brother being offered alcohol [wine] at the dinner table…and they both drank some of it…and commented about liking it…The mother even explicitly says to them, “this is not just for adults”… That last scene alone, is enough to get parents locked up and the children removed from their home…provided it happens here, in the USA. This film has a few golden nuggets, of the diverse realities in human life…of how things are not so universal. Well…I hope you enjoy this film…It is about the family of a child born without the ability to hear…and their struggles with it…over whether to seek a surgical treatment, which might allow him to hear. |
…. |
|
|
||
Our Love Frontier 