It Doesn't Affect Anyone So Give 'Em Gay Marriage. If They Want.

I wrote this because I believe that people have rights that go beyond some religious views... I emphasize that I said views... not truths...mere views.

Also I would like to think that people find it important to stand up for other peoples rights out of decency really. We all have the right to some rights.  So here I go I suppose.

I was inspired to write this post because of an article (see link at the end of this post) and a conversation I had.

I shall start by saying the obvious... gay people all around the world are born gay. If you tell a gay person to stop being gay you may as well also tell them to take off their own head and play catch with it.

I shall also put forth my view that I am  FOR gay people getting married if they want to do so. It isn't even an issue in my eyes. I see no problem whatsoever, in fact I think it is a natural step for society to take.

I am now going to talk about...(gasp)... religion. I believe that many religious people nowadays don't disagree with gay marriage because of what they think marriage is about plus the desire to keep their religion how it is... and these people are not necessarily homophobic at all.

I was talking today to an (unnamed) person who happened to be Catholic (my family happen to be Catholic so I'm not having a go at something I know nothing about). This was partly the inspiration for me writing about the issue on this post. This is a basic version of how the conversation went.

Ed: What do you think of gay marriage?


U: I don't think there should be gay marriage... I have nothing against gay people but I don't believe they should be allowed to marry in a church.


Ed: Why?


U: It takes away the whole point of marriage.


Ed: What do you think the point of marriage is?


U: One of the main points of marriage is to make a promise between a man and a woman that they will stay together so that they may be able to have children and create a family. Gay people can't reproduce, so they go against one of the main points of marriage.

Ed: But what about straight couples that get married in a church but decide that they don't want kids?


U: But they are capable of having kids.


Ed: Don't you think that everyone has a right to make that special promise to someone, no matter what their gender.


U: Well yes, gay people can do that... it's called civil partnership.


Ed: But what if they believe in God and they want to make that promise in front of their God in a church.


U: Well that goes against the teachings of the church.


Ed: Really? Jesus didn't say anything at all about homosexuals.


U: Yeah but gay marriage goes against the traditional teachings of the church.


Ed: If your God disagrees with gays then why did he make them in the first place then? Would he not think it was fine for a gay couple to make a marriage promise, to love and cherish each other. I thought you believed that God was loving and would want to promote love.


U: Yeah but it goes against church teachings.

... and so on.

The main reasons (in Britain anyway) that people are against gay marriage is because,
(1.) They have a different definition of what marriage is and what it is meant for.
(2.) The teachings of Christianity go against gay marriage... and they don't want to change those teachings.
(3.) They don't like change that they might see as being too radical.
(4.) Welll *cough* well yes I suppose they might actually just homophobic... but not always.

So they are not homophobic, they might just think that marriage is for straight people. Maybe there are some out there that are afraid of it all happening too quickly; some might want things to change more gradually (in some way), not all at once... which is fair enough I suppose... who am I to condemn that?

So I suppose if gay rights activists wish gay marriage to come about they need to make some people change their mind about the definition of marriage. There are some that are not for change just because they don't like it... so I suppose these people need to be somehow lured out of their comfort zone so they might be able to see things differently... if they don't want to see things differently then that is their choice and again... I suppose, again, who am I to condemn that?... because others might be willing to step outside of their comfort zone and see things differently.

Gay marriage isn't a threat to anyone... it's just a 'thing'.

Other people getting married to the same gender doesn't affect my life... it affects theirs. Why should it bother me or anyone else?

Let the gay babies have their bottle if they want it.

If you disagree with me for 'reasonable' reasons that is fine... freedom and all that... but I disagree.

Peace Out, whether you be gay, straight, bi... or Jeremy Clarkson.

Hail Diversity. Respect.

Over and Out.
ED.

Here is the link to the article I read.
http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2012/04/scruffies-against-straights

• P.S- I (mostly) don't like to hold political views like this on my blog all the time. Also don't assume just because the article is from New Statesman that I'm left... I could be right or indeed centre... oi read all sorts of publications oi do.

Meat Is The Cause of Overpopulation Plus A Recollection of My First Recorded Nightmare.

"I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking trade or leases- 
Take a bank note and fold it up-
And then you will find you're money in creases!
From 'Epigram for Wall Street' by Edgar Allan Poe. 


I was reading the newspaper today and I read the headline,

EATING MEAT WAS THE KEY TO EXPANDING HUMAN RACE.

I was willing to accept that idea. It said that meat helped humanity to have more children because it made weaning come more early. The article made it sound like eating meat was the only reason that caused humanity to grow and get to where it is now. Surely there are the other factors that we can put into consideration. I mean thousands of years ago we were in danger of being wiped out and there were two human species, Neanderthals and us lot. If the climate and weather conditions didn't change then things might have been much more different.
Anyway if any politicians are complaining about there being too much people on the planet they should not introduce some sort of family planning thing... they should just tell people to go veggie.

A few nights ago I had my first ever nightmare. It was the first nightmare that I think I have ever remembered and it was about time.
I was running in a shadowy hallyway (not necessarily from something) and I ran into the lift that was at the end of the hall. I pressed the button for the lift to move and I realised that there was very little room in the lift because both my arms were touching both opposite sides of the lift. I began to fall and I remember clearly that I was anticipating what was going to happen when I hit the bottom. Just as I hit the bottom I raised my legs...
... then I woke up with a shudder (the type of shudder you sometimes get when you think you are falling while you are getting off to sleep). 

When I woke up I was genuinely grateful to be alive... I'm looking forward to another nightmare to be honest if my subconscious allows it.

Over and Out.
ED.

Haydock Horse Racing.

This is not an event that I have ever been to before.

On Saturday I went to the horse races at Haydock Park. I had never ever gone horse racing before so it was a unique experience.

My mates Munchy and Dave were there (this whole day was thanks to Munch who brought us along because at the Haydock races because he had a family gathering there every year and I was lucky enough to be invited).

Before the races we sat down and had a three course meal. For my starter I had a cube of haddock with salad leaves of some name that I don't know. For the main course I had salmon with some sort of bean sauce underneath it. Lastly for pudding I had a cheesecake with half a strawberry and some nice looking sauce sprinkled on top... and I couldn't tell you about the fancy names for each of the dishes but they were very good.

After the meal it was about time in which the racing started. My first bet that I made was on the second race and the horse was called Tiger O'Toole and was the second horse... and from this bet I won about £7. 50 for the £5 that I had bet for the horse. Dave being a lucky person placed a bet in the first race and his horse came first... which meant that he won about £80!

I don't know if there is a technical term for it but we were able to sit in a 'box'.

 We saw the horses strutting up and down after each race by the parade area which I bet the horses were annoyed (I assume) because by that time they would have been absolutely knackered... they seemed happy enough.
I wonder if the horses are aware that they are taking part in a race or whether they just think it is normal to be told to run fast by their trainers.

The day was really good, an enjoyable new experience. I just need to have better luck betting and have more knowledge about horses and the whole racing game so I can have a good chance at winning...

I would like to show my appreciation to Tiger O'Toole for the £7.50 I won.

Over and Out.
ED.

Everyone Needs Comic Books In Their Life If They Have Any Passion For Literature (A Post For The Uninitiated Or Reluctant).

I am writing this post in an attempt to try to get people who have never tried comics before to start reading comic books or at least attempt to... take what you want from this post. I was inspired to write this because of the lack of people that read comics in my general part of the world... and I haven't got anyone to talk to about about comics at the moment... plus I want to talk about comics anyway... cus I like 'em.

Those who read comics need not read past this sentence (instead you can go and read some comics).

I was sorting my bookcase out recently and while I was I got distracted by looking through my shelf and a half of comics and manga that I have stored with the rest of my 'regular' books.

I am a great comic books fan. I have been reading them off and on for the last few years but have really got into them in the last three. If you are aware of the whole comic book thing out there then you are aware of the many universes that are part of comic books. A few of the stories that I have been reading for a bit are,

• Batman (various story arcs).
• 30 Days of Night.
• Mice Templar.
• The Five Issue series retelling the Dracula novel.
• 2000 AD Programmes and Judge Dredd Magazine... in which my favorite strips are Defoe, The Ten Seconders and Strontium Dog.
• Marvel Zombies.
• Spiderman.
• Iron Man. 
• League of Extraordinary Gentleman: Century.
• 20th Century Boys (Manga).

As of not long ago my nearest newsagents have been stocking various Marvel publications so my interest in comics has resurfaced to regular reading. Many of the characters I like to read about have been having their continuing stories told for nearer to one hundred years now and are still living... even though some have died and been resurrected. The comic universes that exist are very much alive with real characters, in continual motion through the stories of all the many characters that you find on the shelf in various stores all over the place... you can only get real ever moving fictional universes with comic books nowadays. Brilliant stuff.

Comic books can present stories so well and can be more effective than stories being written down. An example of this is Chapter 4 of the Watchmen graphic novel (which basically means a comic that is longer than a small comic issue. A graphic novel is usually collected issues of a whole story arc... info for the uninitiated). In this chapter the character of Dr Manhattan has transported himself to Mars. He is basically a naked blue man that is a godlike character. Watchmen was written in the eighties so the story surrounds the war with the Soviets and the threat of nuclear war. Dr Manhattan has the ability to save humanity but he slowly feels a growing indifference. The whole chapter is about Dr Manhatten contemplating about the universe, how he became who he was, humanity and the thing that started the universe. Dr Manhattan sees the passing of time differently (which is represented in the panels of the story) and can see what will happen and what has happened at the same time... which raises the question of whether we are just puppets without choice. I don't think that chapter could have been properly done if it wasn't in comic book form.

The prevailing thought I think is that so called 'normal' books are of a higher caliber than the visual storytelling of comics... when the only difference is that one uses artwork and words and the other just uses words. While a comic book story is being read you can see clues to what might happen in the future of the story in the artwork and a sense of the character through use of the artwork among other things... even the way that the artwork is drawn can set the tone for the story. 

Comic books are also continous. You can get an issue once every week or month and as you do you see how the characters solve a problem or deal with a situation. Here is a good quote,

"Once the reader immerses himself or herself, the ambiance changes. He or she is thrust into an unknown situation... The plot thickens and the hero is cast in circumstances that demand a resolution. The confrontation ensues and against seemingly impossible odds, the hero finds an answer in an unlikely place or person. Once the comic book is finished being read, very little time had elapsed."

You can identify with the characters as they try to find resolution and since many comics are continual it is as if you are going along with the lives of your favourite characters... and through this imaginative activity you can use what you have learnt through the storytelling in your life. Many of these characters have been developed and written by many people over the years so they truly are everyone's characters... and they will live on in literature long after the originator has gone.

If you want to see the original comics then just look on walls of ancient temples or in burial chambers of ancient pharaohs. 

Also if you enjoy art it is excellent because you get to know about the artists just as much as the writers in the comics field. 

There are many, many genres and varieties of comics, you just need to take your pick. You will definitely find something to suit you... and then you can recommend what you have found and we can both talk about it together.

If nothing else it is a form of cheap entertainment for one little issue.

Over and Out.

ED.

P.S- I have started to write my very own comic books script for the first time in my life.

In The Garden... Nought But Dust (I'm Tidying My Room As I Write This).

Below me are two pictures. Each of these pictures are different in some way.

Picture 1.

Picture 2.

The grass is not as tall as the other (picture 2 is the less tall grass one)... I probably should have made you guess but you may have just read on until you got the answer anyway.
I have been doing gardening recently (the pictures are from me gardening at my own house because... might as well) and I have not realised how beneficial to my inner world mowing the lawn is. As you mow the lawn you are basically forced to think... unless you're listening to music but then again you are usually thinking while you are listening to the music anyway. It is through my last few gardening jobs at the moment that have given me a compulsion to think a lot more than I already had been doing... which basically means that right now I am nothing more than a consciousness contemplating about everything.
As I was mowing the lawn today one of my thoughts was (not said in the way I shall present it to have been said but just as a thought... it was more of a lingering feeling if anything),

Ah mowing the lawn... I am taming the wilderness that has existed for millions of years before humanity. When humanity has gone this nature shall smash human civilisation and make the world it's dominion once again... Humans are nought but dust I tell ya!


You know by that description of the type of thoughts I was having... those vaguely profound ones in which you think about obvious subjects with obvious viewpoints but you are thinking about them because you are doing something that vaguely involves them at the time of your thinking those thoughts. It is similar to the thought that usually pops into my head when I am at the seaside,

Ah the sea... mother of creation. You can create and you destroy, raging and calm, like the gods of ancient myths. Your mystery knows know bounds. What does all this mean? Humans are nought but dust I tell ya!


or the thought that I have when I'm eating a sandwich.

Ah sandwich... quencher of hunger. You were made by humans hands... hands that are nought but dust...


As you can see there were some nice daffodils at the furthest lawn. I had to cut them down and mow over them... but fear not because they are now relaxing in a pot with their other mates.

Apart from gardening I have been reading, writing and winning four or so solitaire games this week and smelling the sweet smell of grass... amazing.

... I'm doing more gardening over the next few days as well. More contemplating for ole Ed.

Over and Out.
ED.