"We are visiting all Language Arts classes this week to speak with students about their role in creating an atmosphere free of discrimination, and alerting them that any acts of racism, intimidation, or bullying will not be tolerated. We are notifying our students, faculty and administrators of their duty to report discrimination and civil rights violations..." Hello, Communism! It's been awhile. I haven't seen you appear so strongly in society since everybody voted NO to the REAL stadium (twice) and they built it with taxpayer money anyways.
Going from class to class informing students that they are required to report acts or words of racism or discrimination is a pointless waste of everybody's time. If somebody cracks a black joke in the halls, are you going to arrest him, or suspend him, or both? But let me rewind for those of you that don't know the entire situation. At Alta High School, a student wore a KKK hood to a pep rally and pulled a Nazi salute, presumably targeting it at a specific black student named Larz. The racist boy has since been suspended and the NAACP has essentially but the school on lockdown for a thorough investigation into the school's "rampant racism." Students are being stopped and questioned by police officers throughout the halls, and though I'm unaware of any other suspensions there apparently have been several more reported racial or discriminatory incidents. I'm not racist, but I DO advocate equal rights. Yes, people, there is a difference between not being racist and advocating equal rights. Put it in this light: if that Larz guy were to show up to school in all black with a t-shirt that says "Black Power," nobody would even blink. Granted, it was in very poor taste to don a KKK hood even if just for a few laughs. But at the point where Larz takes that isolated incident and turns it into "this entire school is racist, do something about it".... that's where it gets ridiculous. If you stop a guy in the hallway and ask him "are you racist?" what happens if he replies with a "yes"? Do you arrest him? Detain him? Suspend him? For the sake of free speech, I certainly hope not. I truly would not be surprised in the least bit if in the near future it becomes illegal just to make a racist joke in public. I'll be outraged, but unsurprised. I'm no racist; I have nothing against the African American people. What I have issue with is the inherent reverse discrimination prevalent in society today. "African American Golfer's Digest" is just one arbitrary example. If anybody tried to start a "White Golfer's Digest" somebody would get shot, or sued, or arrested for discrimination, or all of the above. Yes, it was wrong of this guy to show up in a Klan outfit. But NO, it is not okay to waste taxpayer money by having police roam the halls of a high school interrogating students about how racist everybody else is. That's pointless and ridiculous and won't solve anything. If somebody makes a racist comment and ends up suspended for it, that's impeachment of free speech, and if this continues I will soon lose all remaining faith I have in America.
J R Williams
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Official Homefront Review *Warning, Graphic Game Content*
Sunday afternoon I realized starkly that I had a big test the following morning in Criminal Justice. Talk about a gun-to-head moment. Frantically I printed out the 28 pages of study guides (the ones I should have filled out over the past couple weeks so I could actually STUDY them for the test) and wondered how I would even fill them out in time for the test, much less actually study them too. Luckily a friend of mine came to my rescue and gave me all the answers, essentially saving me hours and hours of reading through the textbook. Now I could focus on cramming for the test itself... which took me hours and hours. And my intensive, panicked studying came through for me! I pulled through and think I did very well, actually. Hoorah for cramming.
Alright, so I've logged double digit hours playing Homefront and I'm going to present my official review/opinion of it now. It was essentially Call of Duty with the widespread feel of Battlefield. The visuals were very much like Call of Duty, if somewhat better. The game would probably pin its claim to fame on its reputation for brutality, and for its vision of the destructive Korean occupation of America. It is an experience of intense warfare literally in our own back yard. The first ten minutes of the game are a fairly accurate depiction of what to expect throughout the remainder of the game. You are loaded onto a prison bus and treated with a slow roll through a terrorized Colorado town with a front row seat to the oppression of the American people. You see men lined up against a wall and shot down. You see a soldier throw a bag over a man's head to strangle him. You see two soldiers beating a man to death on the side of the road with their rifles. You see a weeping child forced to watch his parents shot down in front of him. This is a very, very brutal game. At one point later on, you uncover mass graves where tractors simply dump dozens of bodies into holes in the ground. You are very shortly thereafter forced to jump into the pile to hide from the enemy. I was continuously struck by the sheer graphic nature of the game. I believe the point to this was to instill a feeling of nationality, or a rally-around-the-flag way of thinking in people. I believe it was intended to bring up sympathy and heartache for the game's characters and these poor American people. The impression I got, however, was one of almost distaste. The brutality was just that: brutality. Yes, it was all very tragic. But I wasn't emotionally stricken with grief for the game's characters. They were angry and gritty and heartbroken, but fickle. They seemed almost to switch personalities throughout the game. And while the single player gameplay was very fun and environmental, much of it was unbelievable and some of it was even a little repetetive. The multiplayer was a vast disappointment. I think the biggest thing I liked about it was the fact that when you shoot at someone, you die a lot faster than in any other games of the kind. There isn't any of this emptying an entire magazine into someone and finally killing them, if you're lucky, nonsense. Four hits and boom, down you go. The emphasis is on vehicular combat; you can literally spawn into a vehicle, and that's your assigned vehicle. You can get out of it, but if you stay outside of it for X amount of seconds, you lose the ability to get back in and now you're an infantryman always on the lookout for other infantry and hiding from enemy vehicles.
In short, it was a fun game, but I found that it tried to compensate for its lack of ingenuity with its shocking brutality.
J R Williams
Alright, so I've logged double digit hours playing Homefront and I'm going to present my official review/opinion of it now. It was essentially Call of Duty with the widespread feel of Battlefield. The visuals were very much like Call of Duty, if somewhat better. The game would probably pin its claim to fame on its reputation for brutality, and for its vision of the destructive Korean occupation of America. It is an experience of intense warfare literally in our own back yard. The first ten minutes of the game are a fairly accurate depiction of what to expect throughout the remainder of the game. You are loaded onto a prison bus and treated with a slow roll through a terrorized Colorado town with a front row seat to the oppression of the American people. You see men lined up against a wall and shot down. You see a soldier throw a bag over a man's head to strangle him. You see two soldiers beating a man to death on the side of the road with their rifles. You see a weeping child forced to watch his parents shot down in front of him. This is a very, very brutal game. At one point later on, you uncover mass graves where tractors simply dump dozens of bodies into holes in the ground. You are very shortly thereafter forced to jump into the pile to hide from the enemy. I was continuously struck by the sheer graphic nature of the game. I believe the point to this was to instill a feeling of nationality, or a rally-around-the-flag way of thinking in people. I believe it was intended to bring up sympathy and heartache for the game's characters and these poor American people. The impression I got, however, was one of almost distaste. The brutality was just that: brutality. Yes, it was all very tragic. But I wasn't emotionally stricken with grief for the game's characters. They were angry and gritty and heartbroken, but fickle. They seemed almost to switch personalities throughout the game. And while the single player gameplay was very fun and environmental, much of it was unbelievable and some of it was even a little repetetive. The multiplayer was a vast disappointment. I think the biggest thing I liked about it was the fact that when you shoot at someone, you die a lot faster than in any other games of the kind. There isn't any of this emptying an entire magazine into someone and finally killing them, if you're lucky, nonsense. Four hits and boom, down you go. The emphasis is on vehicular combat; you can literally spawn into a vehicle, and that's your assigned vehicle. You can get out of it, but if you stay outside of it for X amount of seconds, you lose the ability to get back in and now you're an infantryman always on the lookout for other infantry and hiding from enemy vehicles.
In short, it was a fun game, but I found that it tried to compensate for its lack of ingenuity with its shocking brutality.
J R Williams
Monday, March 21, 2011
Libya
Oh, Libya. Where to begin. The hypocrisy staggers me, first of all. Make no mistake, we are at war. Our military has attacked the military of a soverign nation. We attacked; we struck first. I wanted to first say that as a side note. As for the hypocrisy: When Bush got a UN resolution authorizing military force, liberals called military action illegal because Congress did not declare war. Obama has now done the same thing -- in less than a week's time, at that -- and suddenly it's okay. Where are the liberals and their outrage now? Nobody's done or said very much about it. Liberals said Saddam being a murderer was not a valid reason to go to war because Iraq posed no imminent threat to us. But now when Obama does the same thing, it's okay. Hypocrites.
As much of a supporter as I am of the "we want to help" idealism laced throughout our international policy, the simple fact is we shouldn't be anywhere near Libya right now, much less militarily. It may be in the best interest of a decent person's moral code, but it contradicts national interest. Libya is no threat to America. We've been dropping bombs and shooting down Libyan military for days now. We are, in every definition, an imposing military force invading the territory of a soverign nation. Good reasons or no good reasons aside: that is, in very essence, what is happening. If we continue this trend of sending military assets to every country at war with itself, it will lead to indefinite U.S. military occupation of most of the countries in the world, Africa and the Middle East specifically. I hear there's civil war in Somalia; let's send the army and fix their problems too, while we're at it (complete sarcasm: let's NOT go to Somalia). America is the most indebted nation on Earth, with a national deficit of over 14 trillion 236 billion dollars. Considering the average population of America being just over 310 million people (these are generalized numbers that can be verified/more specified at http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/), that means that each citizen's share of the debt is roughly $45,889.53. We cannot even remotely begin to afford yet another war on our hands. Our military is already spread thinly across the world. We are merely borrowing even more money that we cannot pay back to send soldiers out somewhere halfway across the world to settle one of COUNTLESS countries' domestic problems. I'm not insensitively giving the "screw you" to oppressed people worldwide; I AM saying that we need to get our own country in order and back on its feet before we go imposing ourselves on so many others. The King James Bible says: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" The NIV Bible translates to: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" I personally translate this to: don't try to fix the world if you can't fix yourself (in regards to America).
Again, I completely sympathize with the "we want to fix the world and save all the people" idealism, because I hate to see suffering as much as the next man. But that idealism is exactly that: idealism. The reality is that we simply cannot go wherever we please in the world without consideration of cost, motive, or general right to interfere, and make everything better. Yes, bad things happen to innocent people. But America can't control the entire world. We can't even control our own government.
J R Williams
As much of a supporter as I am of the "we want to help" idealism laced throughout our international policy, the simple fact is we shouldn't be anywhere near Libya right now, much less militarily. It may be in the best interest of a decent person's moral code, but it contradicts national interest. Libya is no threat to America. We've been dropping bombs and shooting down Libyan military for days now. We are, in every definition, an imposing military force invading the territory of a soverign nation. Good reasons or no good reasons aside: that is, in very essence, what is happening. If we continue this trend of sending military assets to every country at war with itself, it will lead to indefinite U.S. military occupation of most of the countries in the world, Africa and the Middle East specifically. I hear there's civil war in Somalia; let's send the army and fix their problems too, while we're at it (complete sarcasm: let's NOT go to Somalia). America is the most indebted nation on Earth, with a national deficit of over 14 trillion 236 billion dollars. Considering the average population of America being just over 310 million people (these are generalized numbers that can be verified/more specified at http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/), that means that each citizen's share of the debt is roughly $45,889.53. We cannot even remotely begin to afford yet another war on our hands. Our military is already spread thinly across the world. We are merely borrowing even more money that we cannot pay back to send soldiers out somewhere halfway across the world to settle one of COUNTLESS countries' domestic problems. I'm not insensitively giving the "screw you" to oppressed people worldwide; I AM saying that we need to get our own country in order and back on its feet before we go imposing ourselves on so many others. The King James Bible says: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" The NIV Bible translates to: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" I personally translate this to: don't try to fix the world if you can't fix yourself (in regards to America).
Again, I completely sympathize with the "we want to fix the world and save all the people" idealism, because I hate to see suffering as much as the next man. But that idealism is exactly that: idealism. The reality is that we simply cannot go wherever we please in the world without consideration of cost, motive, or general right to interfere, and make everything better. Yes, bad things happen to innocent people. But America can't control the entire world. We can't even control our own government.
J R Williams
Poetic Insights
I'm currently listening to: "Iris," by the Goo Goo Dolls.
Today I'm going to share some poetry. I've been on a massive influx of creative outflow in regards to both stress and inspiration, and consequently I've not only gotten back into poetry (I used to write it and stopped a long time ago), but I've never written more than I have just over the past few days. When I'm angry, hurt, impatient, upset, or stressed, I write short (or long, if that's what I'm feeling) poems about my thoughts (without details, of course) and I feel better. Yay poetry.
I wrote this two nights ago:
My escape takes me from reality.
Shows me a place where life is good finally.
My mind battles chaos
And jumbled thoughts.
But my hand battles only a pen
As the words flow onto the page.
My escape is constructive;
Beautiful;
Productive.
My escape is both thrilling and seductive.
My escape takes me to a faraway place.
A place without pain or tears.
My escape, my new escape, shall simply be:
Poetry.
-"Poetry," written by Me.
J R Williams
Today I'm going to share some poetry. I've been on a massive influx of creative outflow in regards to both stress and inspiration, and consequently I've not only gotten back into poetry (I used to write it and stopped a long time ago), but I've never written more than I have just over the past few days. When I'm angry, hurt, impatient, upset, or stressed, I write short (or long, if that's what I'm feeling) poems about my thoughts (without details, of course) and I feel better. Yay poetry.
I wrote this two nights ago:
My escape takes me from reality.
Shows me a place where life is good finally.
My mind battles chaos
And jumbled thoughts.
But my hand battles only a pen
As the words flow onto the page.
My escape is constructive;
Beautiful;
Productive.
My escape is both thrilling and seductive.
My escape takes me to a faraway place.
A place without pain or tears.
My escape, my new escape, shall simply be:
Poetry.
-"Poetry," written by Me.
J R Williams
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Homefront
I'm currently downloading Homefront, the new game that came out yesterday but didn't hit Steam until a few hours ago. I love how they do that, because it gives people like me the unique opportunity to hit the ground guns blazing a full day after the rest of the world has had time to figure out all the best sniper points and workings of the game. This inexorably results in the swift kicking of my rookie-behind for the first few hours, deeply embarrassing my hardcore gamer ego. I have both high and low expectations for this game; high expectations regarding the storyline, despite the fact they completely took the general idea of a novel I've been writing for over 3 years (it's about the Second American Revolution). The low expectations come from the fact that it looks visually like nothing more than an over-inflated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The graphics look essentially the same, and so does the gameplay. Homefront appears to be a collaboration of ideas from both Call of Duty and Battlefield. Examples: Call of Duty look and feel, down to the gameplay and appearance of the soldiers and the tempo of battle. Battlefield size and scope, in that the emphasis on the field is to be in vehicular warfare, leaving only a bleak outlook of building-hopping for infantry hoping to escape, say, an M1 Abrams tank's wrath. I won't pass any judgment on the game yet, but it appears to be this: Call of Duty with larger maps and a significant emphasis on vehicular combat (tanks, helicopters, etc.). Hopefully it'll impress me and prove itself worth buying it. We'll soon find out.
In other news, I have over 200 rounds of shotgun ammo on my shelf and a very deep need to use them. Does anybody shoot/want to go shooting with me? I'm looking to go shooting this weekend. It's time to go out and lay waste to some orange clay.
In other other news, I'm still completely at a loss and at the mercy of the Lord at what's going to happen with my planned California trip to see my girlfriend next month. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I'm determined to get there, even at great expense to myself. I gotta get over there somehow.
That's all I've got today.
J R Williams
In other news, I have over 200 rounds of shotgun ammo on my shelf and a very deep need to use them. Does anybody shoot/want to go shooting with me? I'm looking to go shooting this weekend. It's time to go out and lay waste to some orange clay.
In other other news, I'm still completely at a loss and at the mercy of the Lord at what's going to happen with my planned California trip to see my girlfriend next month. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I'm determined to get there, even at great expense to myself. I gotta get over there somehow.
That's all I've got today.
J R Williams
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