The Last Road

Living every day like it's the last… because one day, it will be.

You should listen to this

Posted by Rystefn on March 18, 2012

Not just hear it, mind. Actually listen. If this song doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, then you have no soul. I’m not judging or anything, I’m just saying. No soul.

Posted in Living every day like it's the last | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Are you Stalking Me?

Posted by Rystefn on July 23, 2011

So, looking at my stats this evening, I came across a curiosity. The top search that’s leading people he is still “opposite of regret,” as it has been since I wrote the post (the English language really seems to need a word that means that… can we hijack one from somewhere else? German? Japanese? Portuguese, I’m looking at you…), but the second place entry was “Rystefn Skepchick.” Now, either someone is really interested to see what I have to say on the subject, or someone’s digging around for a connection, right? Am I missing something?

Look, there’s a history there, and it’s no secret. I’ll give you the whole story, and believe me, I don’t come off as the good guy in it, if you like. I’m just curious: if you’re one of the people running that search, what are you looking for?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

What the fuck is wrong with people?

Posted by Rystefn on July 23, 2011

So, over at PZ’s bastion of idiocy, he pointed out that he had run afoul of the scourge of the internet. A neck-deep bog of misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and every other label he and his crew can think to pile on those who do not toe the party line. Skipping right over the part where disliking something is a phobia, you may be asking yourself what this perfidious den of evil was… Normally, I would hesitate to even type the words, but for your own safety, I must tell you: online gaming.

Yeah, I know. His first mistake was to think that playing WoW makes him a fucking gamer and gives him any acquaintance with the actual world of gamers. May as well call himself a gamer because he plays Angry Birds and Farmville. So, super-nerd that I am, neck deep in nerd pastimes of all sorts, I make the insane decision to wade into that shitstorm and try to explain to them the difference between bigotry and trolling. For some reason, anyone who calls someone a fag as an insult clearly thinks of homosexuality as wrong, despite the fact that in the same sentence, they carefully explain how often they fuck your father. Must be one of those self-hating fags, I guess. Somehow, the idea that a person would use whatever words get a reaction regardless of what they actually are is so alien to them that they cannot even understand what I’m saying. Somehow, by explaining to them what they are dealing with, I have also become a misogynist, bigot, etc.

They cannot grasp that in the world of gaming, “bitch” is gender neutral. “Bitch captured the flag!” tells you nothing about the sex or gender of the person that did it. Of course, rather than admit that they were beaten on that point, they twisted the argument to pretend that by using the word “bitch” as an insult, I was somehow a men’s rights activist. Never you mind that it was actually someone else’s example initially. That person, being one of the True Believers, was immune from such accusations… but what do you expect from people who are so hardwired into tribalism that they thing if you half-agree with someone on one thing, then you are allies and guilty by association, and that if you actually agree of three or four, you must the closest of compatriots and BFFs.

Interestingly, that’s not really the meat of my post here, though. Everyone knows what that festering den is like. Read on for the actual point: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Outrage | Tagged: , , , , , | 6 Comments »

On Privilege

Posted by Rystefn on July 9, 2011

To begin: I do not deny that this is a real thing. To follow, people mostly need to shut the fuck up about it. I do not think I’ve heard it more than two, maybe three, times being used as anything except a means of dismissing a valid opinion from someone who is making a valid but disliked point. Privilege doesn’t prevent a person from having valid views on poverty, sexism, abuse, rape, violence, or the level of threat presented by these or anything. Everyone has privilege over someone else, but most people also have privilege over each other.

You know how male privilege lists usually prompt a bunch of guys posting women’s privilege lists? Well, there’s some validity to that. Mostly it’s crap, but here’s the big two: I can’t present a personal problem as a gender problem to gain legitimacy, and I can’t present a universal problem as a gender problem because it never occurred to me that everyone has to deal with it.

Both of these have been coming up a lot lately. Does this look familiar? “You don’t know what it’s like, all women live in fear of potential rape at all times!” How many times do women have to say “I don’t!” before it goes away? I would guess a shit-ton more. How about this one: “You don’t know what it’s like to never leave your drink unattended, so you either take it with you or leave it and then get a new one.” News flash – most men don’t leave our drinks then come back and keep drinking them either. This isn’t new. We don’t make a big deal out of it, though, because it’s a stupid thing to bitch about. It’s a universal human concern with a simple fix, so we go about our business.

Worse, the ever-present threat of violence. Men are more at risk then women in pretty much all situations. Somehow this means that women should be more afraid… Quick, what’s the least reported crime? If you said rape, you’re stupid. It’s insane on the face of it. Vandalism. How much graffiti do you see around you? Think about the desks in your high school. Think about street signs and playground equipment with names written on it. Think about the infamous mens room wall. How many of those do you think are reported? Really? Do you actually think rape is more common than that? If you do, then you’re stupid.

Quick, which do you think is unreported more often, rape of men or rape of women? Which do you think gets taken more seriously by people in general or by law-enforcement specifically? Before you start saying that it doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen enough to be important, ask yourself what you have to go on when you come up with ideas like that. The numbers? Of reported crimes? For a crime that you have to admit is very near the top of unreported crimes? A crime that even you, progressive that you are, probably think is funny. A crime the culture we live in suggests only happens to weak and effeminate men – you know, victim blaming… but rape is a women’s problem.

So please, please, before you tell someone to check their privilege – fucking check your own.

Posted in Privelege | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

The Continuing Drama

Posted by Rystefn on July 8, 2011

A new voice of reason has entered the fray… Paula Kirby relates the following:

I see a parallel here with one of the arguments we often have with the religious. Many of the religious don’t want to abandon belief in God because they find the thought of having to stand on their own two feet too daunting: they are afraid of having to take responsibility for themselves. And generally speaking, we atheists might have some sympathy with the fear, but we don’t accept it as a good reason for giving in to it: ‘Tough’, we say: ‘That’s just the way it is’. And that’s sort of what I’m saying here too. All of us have to take responsibility for ourselves, make things happen for ourselves, learn from our mistakes, brush up our skills, and stop waiting for other people to make things easy for us.

You should go read that now if you want to see what reason looks like. If you prefer to see more drivel about privilege and failure to grasp that disagreement might be more than a failure to understand what you’re saying, then you should go here instead. Is there a feminine of “mansplaining”? Nah, that’s not right. It would be wrong to imply that only women get all condescending and talk to people about privilege as though that’s the only reason a person could hold a different opinion…

Also, check out the new TAM schedule.

Posted in atheism, Emo | Leave a Comment »

Of Elevators and Keynotes and Other Fancy Things

Posted by Rystefn on July 7, 2011

So apparently people have been following my comments back here. Given that my last post was a year and a half ago, I don’t imagine it’s serving much purpose. Now, I can’t imagine a reason why anyone would follow one of my comments back here unless they cared to some degree or another about what I’ve been saying, I guess I should go ahead and spell it out neatly, in plain English, all in one place. Yes, this is going to offend some people. No, I don’t give a shit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in atheism, Hope, Outrage | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Horror

Posted by Rystefn on December 16, 2009

Ok, so I haven’t posted in a long time around here. Life’s been pretty crazy of late, even by my own standards. I may or may not be updating semi-regularly again soon, but I couldn’t allow this to pass without comment.

Of course it wasn’t a slut-shaming, woman-hating, sex-hating culture that divides young women into “good” (virginal) and “bad” (fallen) and allowed a 13-year-old girl to believe that she had ruined her life forever by showing a boy her tits… Parents, teachers, administrators, pastors, bullies, slut-shamers, fools, woman-haters, hypocrites, tell me why YOU think they are killing themselves. Do you know? Do you know why Hope Witsell hanged herself? Do you know why she thought she had no future?

It wasn’t because she made a momentary, impulsive expression of her barely-adolescent sexuality (or gave in to peer pressure from boys who felt that her body was public domain; if the latter, that is just another horrible thing to add to this horrible thing, but either way it was not because she took a picture of her boobs). It wasn’t because of a media-manufactured techno-trend. It wasn’t the internet. It was not that, as this putrid “news” article disgustingly asserts, “The downward spiral of Hope’s life was unstoppable.”

If everyone I know who had a picture of their boobs on the internet before their 18th birthday killed themselves, I’d have a lot of dead friends. I wouldn’t be around to remember them, though, since I’d be dead too.

It wasn’t SEXTING.

It was you, adults, all the adults in her life.

Uptight, sexually-repressed fucktards aren’t just hurting themselves. We should not feel pity for them. We should feel anger, rage, Hell, toss out some hate while you’re at it. They deserve every ounce of scorn we can heap upon their heads. Save your pity for their victims.

Posted in Outrage | Leave a Comment »

You Are the Oppressor

Posted by Rystefn on August 8, 2009

This relates to the discussion here and here.

I know I haven’t exactly made a big deal about around here, but this blog was created for a different reason. Since it doesn’t really serve that purpose anymore, I may as well start putting it here as well. So far, I think the only real indication I’ve put up that I’m an atheist is the Dawkins scarlet A in the sidebar over there. If that lead some of my readers to think I’m one of those quiet, polite atheists who don’t stir up trouble, the you don’t know me very well. I’m one of the loud, angry, strident atheists who make a scene in public if I hear someone make an offhand comment that “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance isn’t that big of a deal, or that America was founded a “Christian Nation™”.

You may not know this (it’s easy to wear blinders when it’s someone else’s problem), but there is a concerted effort in this country to oppress the nonbelievers. Atheists are among the least trusted groups is America, despite being among the least violent and least likely to commit crimes of any kind. People toss around phrases like “militant atheist” to make themselves feel better about claiming people demanding equal rights need to be quiet about it. We live in a world of real militants. Militant Islam is not Muslims standing up and demanding fair treatment, it’s Muslims picking up weapons and killing people. A separatist is someone who wants to separate. A militant separatist is someone who is killing people about it. We use the same definition of “militant” for every religion and philosophy it’s ever been applied to… except atheism.

If you’re one of the people who use the phrase “militant atheist,” then you’re one of the oppressors. If you’re one of the people who say atheists shouldn’t be so loud/angry/strident/impolite/irreverent/willing to disrespect a cracker, then you’re one of the oppressors. If you hear about a civil rights rights struggle, and don’t get involved, then you are the oppressor.

Every day, I hear some asshole say we’re alienating potential allies by being so vocal. Really? There are people out there whose willingness to see us get the freedoms that are our right hinges on how polite we are? You know what I say to that? Fuck those people! I’m not interested in trading angry oppressors for kinder, gentler oppressors. I will not allow my rights to hang on the whim of another, whether that other wants to deny them as a matter of course, or simply because I said the word “fuck.”

You do not have the right to not be offended. Whether you’re offended by my language, my disrespect, or the fact that I reject your belief system doesn’t matter. You do not have the right not be offended by me, and you do not have the right to deny me mine because you are offended. If you think you do, the you are the oppressor. If you think to yourself that you’re a nice person, not like those raging, angry fundamentalist types, so you shouldn’t have to hear us shouting about being oppressed, guess what? You’re oppressing us, too. At least the openly anti-atheist crowd are honest about it. “The world would be a better place without atheists in it” is oppressive, but guess what? So is “the world wold be a better place if I never had to hear about the atheists.” If you wish we would just shut up or calm down or get over the little things or any variation on the theme, you’re not just enabling the oppressors. You are the oppressor.

I know someone is going to come along and say something against me for having an “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality. That’s not accurate. There is a third group: the group that doesn’t realize anything is happening. You know what’s a good way to get someone’s attention? Shouting. If you’re telling us to stop shouting, you’re telling us to stop trying to tell the people who don’t know that there’s a problem. Whether you’re doing it intentionally or not, you’re trying to stop our fight for civil rights before it even really gets started. That puts you squarely against us, doesn’t it? If you wonder why people are mad at you even though you’re polite and soft-spoken and don’t want to take away our right to vote or hold office or not have our children indoctrinated into your delusions, that might be why.

It’s because you are the oppressor.

Posted in atheism | 4 Comments »

The Next Morning

Posted by Rystefn on July 21, 2009

So I’ve been writing more lately, and I thought I’d share. Quick bit of background: This particular piece is set in the world of ShadowRun (imagine a cross between Blade Runner and D&D), and features this guy, a former teen pop star turned shadow criminal: Station

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Living every day like it's the last | Leave a Comment »

40 Years

Posted by Rystefn on July 20, 2009

Following up on my last post… 40 years ago today humanity took our first steps on an alien world… While Luna is not so distant we cannot easily see it on almost any night we care to look up, we shouldn’t downplay what a momentous achievement this was. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go look at the sky for a bit.

Posted in Hope, Living every day like it's the last, love | Leave a Comment »

 
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