Let's get things right!

Let's get things right here...

The millennial generation(1982-1999) is taking a lot of flack for things.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/millennials-the-greatest-generation-or-the-most-narcissistic/256638/

I want to clarify things here on behalf of my generation.

First off; I think we are a more selfish materialistic generation than any that has come before us. It's about the numbers. How much we spend on unnecessary things, and how many people are spending. 

To any older generation that presumes that we are "lazy" however; this is far from the truth.

Here is why:

Let's compare my generation (millennial) to my parents generation (baby boomers).

My parents were afforded opportunities that my generation has not had the blessing of experiencing. The Baby-Boomers were raised up in a world being taught that they can do anything, be anything, and they have nothing to stop them. They were raised with a belief that America was truly the land of opportunity.

...so was I.

Problem?

Take this one simple creed for example:
My parents taught me to save my money and I did. I opened a bank account with my mother when I was 12. This is exactly the mentality that the Baby-Boomers have. Save your money! Put it in the bank and let it collect interest! Whoa! What? Interest on my money? What's that?

Ah! We have discovered our first distinct difference among the Boomers and the Millennial's!

When my parents were about my age, the common thing to do with your money was to put it in the bank and allow it to collect interest. Interest rates in the 80's ranged from 15-24%! That seems like an imaginary number for interest rates to me!
So they could take their $100 and put it in the bank, and a month later they have an extra $20 (assuming 20% interest)! This was more than saving; this was investing! And a smart thing to do it was!

Millennial's do not know that same blessing. We cannot take our $100 and put it in the bank and expect any sort of return. We have been raised in a world where interest rates are at best 1%! Generally speaking, most of us see a 0.125-0.5% return if were lucky.

So our attitudes towards investing are completely different, and if anything, more cynical. This makes life just a little more difficult for us than it was for our parents.

Now let's take a look at education:



The Baby-Boomers could afford an education with their basic income levels. Millennial's cannot! Unless you have been saving your whole life, even a public institution will make you go broke!


To anyone who thinks to the contrary; this simple chart illustrates the rise of tuition since the early 80's.


 

Besides the many other sins these charts reveal, do you see different the world is for a Millennial versus a Baby Boomer? Different in a bad way.

We hear our parents tell us how hard their lives were. Well; they didn't grow up in our generation. The experiences we've had makes their lives seem almost easy.

Saving is more difficult today than it ever was before. Spending is much easier to do today than ever before in our history.

... and there is blame to be had!

The Baby Boomers are the ones to blame. My generation is just now getting their feet wet in the working world. The older Millennial's have been in the working world and are just getting settled while the rest of us are still struggling to graduate, find jobs, find spouses, etc.

We are not in power. The Baby Boomers are the ones that run this country and they're running it straight into the ground.

Our economic situation is a result of a homogeneous bounding between The Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers. With the Baby Boomers causing the most damage. They're the ones who advocated TARP (Toxic Asset Relief Program) that bailed out the banks and auto-industry. They're the ones who vowed to build five million new homes for families... homes that sat in empty neighborhoods.

The Baby Boomers instituted the most damaging, violent, and negligent acts our nation has seen sense World War 2. They instituted the NDAA, CISPA, and the Patriot Act.

They engaged in an illegal war in Iraq, and a faulty, poorly thought-of and poorly-run war in Afghanistan that almost makes the Russians look good.

The greatest threat to my generation is not terrorism, is not Europe, is not China nor Russia. It is our parents.
It almost seems absurd, but our current economic and societal situation is the result of actions taken by the Baby Boomers, handed to them by the Greatest Generation. 
Still not convinced?
After graduating college, many folks from the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomer generation expected to have a job waiting for them. That job would be their last job. They would work for that company from the time they graduated college until the day they retired.

They could predict their future with much more certainty than anyone ever could. 

After retirement they expected a pension to help them through their golden years. Life was simple!

NOT ANYMORE!

College graduates now face an uncertain, and dynamic environment. One that is constantly in flux and never the same.

When we graduate we don't expect to have a job; we hope to have a job and we hope that job will be enough to pay our bills. Their expectations have turned into our hopes.

Upon graduation must search out with full vigor for a job and when we find one we must go up against hundreds if not thousands of other applicants, many of whom have more experience. We must fight tooth and nail for a job that we paid thousands of dollars for, a job that we need to pay off our student loans that are pulling us by our shirt-collars.

The jobs we are searching for are for companies ran by the Baby Boomer generation. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Exxon, etc. From banks and credit institutions, to engineering firms and hospitals, they are all ran by our parents. 

Oh... and if competing against your friends for an entry level accounting job (that also includes a desire for entry-level accountants to have 3-5 years experience), we must also face off against competitors from overseas in such places like Malaysia, India, Saudi-Arabia, etc. 

And then let's say we get the job. We are now faced with more pressure to perform, and out-perform more than ever before. We hold on to our jobs with both hands knowing full well that, even if we do succeed and meet the standards of the company that may not be enough. We may lose our job to outsourcing and other cost-cutting techniques, or we might see a reduction in hours, or even a salary cut, all so that the Baby Boomers in charge might make an extra buck and reward themselves, and occasionally their investors at the end of the year.

Unpredictable. That's what are generation should have been called. Not because we are unpredictable about what we will do; were not! But we have no idea what sort of actions will take place in the world that will lead us to react in a way we are unfamiliar with.
We have little hope of pensions, benefits, vacations, etc. The Baby Boomers have made things all but impossible now.
...Speaking of vacations. We Americans are given, on average two-weeks of vacation per year. TWO WEEKS! And many of us won't take those two-weeks off for fear that our company might see that as unproductive, and find someone who won't take off those two-weeks. 

There is fear in air and quite possibly that fear will stoke a flame of angst leading to blood in the street. 
Life cannot continue like this in America. Life is not about working yourself to death. It is a balance between work, family, friends, and self-reflection that may or may not include religion and yoga among other things.
I think our generation might just make it as the next Greatest Generation. Facing a war of attrition that has lasted longer than World War 2.

The Mystery of Carpe Diem.

This is an ongoing discussion I am writing about in length and is tied to my other blog "Political Ethics."

A non-comparative analysis.

Recently, on another blog site I host, I made a comment regarding my disdain for pornography and how I feel it upsets the social-order of things... only to introduce chaos.
I received many replies and comments from people. Some good, some not very good. But there was one that stuck out. A reader made a comment that many of my readers around various websites have made: "Isn't it better for society to have pornography to use as an outlet for our sexual frustration rather other, more dangerous forms of sexual expression like forced sex [rape], pedophilia [rape], and sodomy?"

I've encountered this argument many times but I haven't addressed it directly. Partly because I never took it seriously, which is a fault of my own, but I also don't see it as valid. In my mind, I see pornography as an evil much like rape.

On the surface of the question; pornography is the preferable choice. I would prefer that a pedophile remain in his house and away from children.
But if we dive deeper into the question there is more than initially meets the eye:

1) Is there a correlation between increased viewing of pornographic material and decreased sexual assaults [rape, molestation, etc]?
-Statistically it's a hard question to answer. There are many variables and the outliers involved. But here are the facts:
The increased viewership of pornography is directly associated with a decreased percentage of rape. According to:
http://www.law.stanford.edu/display/images/dynamic/events_media/Kendall%20cover%20+%20paper.pdf
http://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/porn.pdf
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3791317?uid=3739768&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698863378177
http://www.toddkendall.net/internetcrime.pdf

But is exposure to pornography really the only factor in determining the decrease in incidents of rape over the years?

I would argue that it is not. There may be other factors such as:
1) Public exposure.
   - Social media and the internet have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and the speed in which we do so. What happens in Siberia can be nearly instantaneously transmitted and broadcasted in Wichita, Kansas.
2) Punishment.
   -Is the punishment for sexual assault and rape any greater now than it was two decades ago? The answer is no.
3) Are people generally more aware of their surroundings and take greater precautions now?
   - Again, no.
4) Do possible offenders feel they have more to lose now than they did in years past?
   - Possibly. They might feel more connected to society and more connected in general to the people around them, thanks to social-media and the internet.
5) Are people 'easier'? I mean, is sex with another person easier to achieve today than it was in years' past?
   - Yes. Sex is more common and held to greater esteem today than it was a decade, two, or even three decades ago. When women and men alike were held to higher standards and dress codes, media (TV, movies, music, advertisements, etc), and public displays of affection were much more conservative.

Statistically speaking; rape is down, porn is up. And there is indeed a correlation.

This doesn't mean that pornography should be condoned. It simply means that much of American society is without the means to control their sexual urges. Thankfully; as a society, we choose the lesser of the two evils. Unfortunately, we do not choose abstinence and restraint.

SO,
We will now return to the initial question at hand: "Isn't it better for society to have pornography to use as an outlet for our sexual frustration rather other, more dangerous forms of sexual expression like forced sex [rape], pedophilia [rape], and sodomy?"

Again, the face of the question begs the answer YES! But it is to the contrary.

America is not only the largest producer of pornography but she is also its largest consumer. And one more thing: America is also popular destination for sex-trafficking.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cshti0810.pdf

According to the statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Justice [see link directly above], sex trafficking is on the rise. Perhaps coincidentally, there is a correlation between the consumption of pornography and the rise in sex-trafficking.
   It is estimated that one in five pornographic pictures on the internet are of under-age children. Many of whom are either forced, or coerced into the industry. And with the rising popularity of cell-phones, many children ranging from the ages of 12-17 are sending naked pictures to a specific love-interest, only for those pictures to end up on the internet.

SO,
Pornography leads to an increase in sex-slaves, child-trafficking, abuse of privacy, and an increase to human-trafficking in general, including drug-trafficking. Many of perpetrators of sex-trafficking are also involved in drug and labor-trafficking, which leads to an increase in crime, an increase in government spending which in turn leads to increased taxes and fewer dollars for Americans to spend on toys, food, clothes, homes, etc.

We have only analyzed the crime statistics, and the effects pornography has with our wallets and the threats it presents. We have not scratched the surface of porn's influence on government, monetary policy, household expenditures, or even delved into the metaphysical dangers porn presents to society everyday.

Next time you feel the need to defend porn, don't! You're not only wrong, but horribly uninformed, and a supporter of human-rights abuses of people of all ages, races, genders, and religions.

State of Affairs.

State of Affairs.
Pornography and material lusts.

I disagree with much the Republican party has to say; but I do not disagree with banning pornography. It's sad to see the state of society these days. A society that embraces pornography under the pretense of liberalization and free-speech, but condemns any expression of religion, morality, and traditional values simply because they are "old". 
What good is a nation that cannot produce men who have understand integrity and charity? Why is it so difficult for any person to control themselves? Under such circumstances you may be called a slave to debauchery and immorality. A slave to sin and perversion.
To claim that a person cannot control their desires is to admit failure, and ultimately to help yourself to desires that warm the flesh but yield no growth for the heart. We live in an age where premature ideologies trump the rights that our forefathers fought and died for; many of those forefathers wiser than we are today.
Sarcasm and cynicism prevails as formal communication in an age where no one can speak from the heart because they're too wound up in selfish desires and material lust.
God help us!
What value is there in lust? What good does it do to lust for anything? It is a sad time to live in, one that is justifiably akin to ancient Rome. We have become a den of thieves and a house of predators.
Society does not value matters of the heart; nor does it respect a sincere expression of integrity and honest principles. We have become fixated and obsessed with matters of the flesh and Earthly desires rather than embracing spiritual growth; a growth that always leads to joy, peace, and contentment. A strong spirit yields a good heart, which in turn yields a hard-worker, an honest person, and a character that history forever remembers. It is the honest and committed person who is remembered and immolated and praised; not the sinner. 
Yielding to the flesh under the guise of "normality" and forms of cynicism is simply the devil succeeding in his work. People have always resorted to excuses for their mistakes; there is nothing new about that. What is new however, is the common practice of accepting such excuses. Excusing bad behavior because you were born is not an excuse; it is a problem with discernment and judgement. We are all human and we all experience the same emotions and desires, but we choose how to express those desires based upon knowledge and wisdom. 
Lust clouds our judgement and ability to make rational decisions; we experience the highs and lows of our emotions rather than the stability that is brought about from rationality, which in turn is narrow band of thinking; the product of spiritual growth. Perhaps that is ludicrousness? We have history to back my claim.We will take a specific range of history; 1700's through the 1800's (commonly referred to as the American Enlightenment [1715-1789]). In this brief history of time we see an explosion of liberalization, self-expression, liberty, and democracy. The American Enlightenment was birthed of collectivized group of highly intellectual individuals within the nation. Part of the enlightenment I personally view with a sense of bias due to the rise of deism, but I also believe that to be beneficial in the long-run as it helped breed a new wave of curiosity.The impact was great, but it did not sever the spiritual faith of some of the great men of valor that eventually became presidents, statesmen, businessmen, and leaders of great renown.Between the 1700's and early 1800's industrialization was just getting its feet wet, and people were curious about a great-deal of political and socio-environmental issues. Undoubtedly, many viewed these issues with a sense of ethnocentrism, but it was through that lens that the worlds greatest nation ever, would arise.
If you study the linguistics and syntax of communication used by people of that time you quickly notice a level of detail and beauty that has sense been unrivaled. Furthermore, you experience poetry, essays, journals, and books that have sense never been equaled in elegance, clarity, sincerity, or acuteness. You also notice a great yearning for learning. People were not only curious, they were rational. Not simply rational as we know the word today (Pythagorean Theorem), they were rational in their ability to take the unimaginable and translate it in such a way that any laymen might understand it without misinterpreting a single syllable. Their sincerity gave life to their words.Art, science, and philosophy were arguably near their peak at this time. The minds and workings of people were outstanding, and incredibly liberal.
Looking back we see a sense of pride, charisma, and general happiness that has not since been equaled even though we live in a world where we have every need covered, and every want and desire easily within reach.
Today's world is much different. There is chaos everywhere; time is of the essence. Time is constantly on our mind and we base our entire lives off of it. Incredible!
Poetry and entertainment have "evolved" into forms of expression that only satisfy our immediate and childish desires. Rather than feeding the soul, modern music, TV, movies, books, and other forms of entertainment prey on the most primitive desires of people like sex, lies, cheating, selfish cravings of vanity and ego.
Sex and erotica in music and TV do not improve the lyrics of a song or the script of a show.Drugs do not change the words that are said. But they do affect the level of discernment of the user, and the interpretation of those words.
Would you rather live on your knees than die on your feet? Is the price of fleshly appeasement worth your soul? Selling yourself to immorality and becoming a slave to quick highs... is that rational? Is that admirable? Is it enjoyable to be as a dog and lick up your own vomit only to throw it up again?

American Business Failure!

I really want to convey to everyone the importance of the time we live in.

Evil is not any greater than it was a thousand years ago.

People's morals are not worse; nor are they much better.

It's a really frustrating time to be an American right now. This is still a great nation, capable of great things. We can commit great evils against each other, or we can act with great valor, prudence, and dignity. We may convey our power through "soft power" as Chomsky defined it; which is through dialogue, economics, and capitalizing on the value of speech and wealth-creating systems. Or we can convey our message to the world through "hard power" which is another term for force that is accomplished through military intimidation and might.

I was born in a Christian home and raised with Christian values. I was homeschooled my whole life until the age of 18. I said the pledge of allegiance everyday, and believed America was the finest, and most noble country on Earth. I believed this to be God's country! I truly did.

Then came the Monica Lewinsky affair. Then came 9/11. Then came the infamous speeches from the worlds most powerful man claiming "war is over" while it is still underway and just gaining steam. Then came revelations that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were based off lies; no. They weren't just based on lies; they were lies. From the WMD's in Iraq, to the power and influence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. These were events that would forever change the current attitude, and future course of the United States. The implications of these wars would live on forever, and stand as the writing on the tombstones of each citizen of this great nation.

Freedom of Information Act amendments. The Patriot Act. Warrantless tapping of citizens phones. Classified citizen details and detainment's. Covert operations and spying on tax-paying citizens, all because they said the word "Allah", or "terrorist".

TSA, Homeland Security, increased national defense budgets where no platter was too big, and increasingly militarized city police. Increased watchfulness of citizens speech and demeanor. Increased regulation on free-speech and rightful protest.

Wasted tax-payer dollars in the billions... wait... in the trillions. Increased percentages of Americans imprisoned (25% of world total).

And then...

The recession and government handouts to banks who's business model was supposed to be one that promoted business and free-market capitalism, but instead, ran with a business model that leveraged such high amounts of risk that governments viewed them as entities or agencies, not private, or publicly-traded organizations that were ran by uncaring, and cold-hearted men and women.

Boeing, JPL, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Haliburton, Exxon, Chevron, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Motors, and countless others all used their influence through lobbyists in Washington to convince our senators and representatives that we are a nation in danger, and through their services, and theirs only, would we be safe and secure.

Bank of America, UBS, Wells Fargo, and how many others received my... our money... to fund their business model that inevitably leads itself to bankruptcy?

We've all been had! Muslims are not terrorists! Banks do not need our money! Lobbyists do not need to be in Washington! Corporations are not people! Companies should not be allowed to finance ad infinitum politicians who care nothing for the people they were elected to represent.

Iran will not nuke us! China will not invade us! We have no legitimate enemy anywhere in the world right now! So why are spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on national defense?

Wal-Mart is both good and bad. They provide us with cheap goods that we all love, but poor working wages. Why do we subsidize them and other like Cabelas?

How can two liters of Pepsi cost me less than 24 ounces of bottled water? What are the market forces behind this?

How can our government spend itself into such a large amount of debt that we are no without any end in sight?

People of America: You have been had! Your government has lied to you, and you have lied to yourselves!

By making uninformed decisions on political candidates, you have allowed the poorly educated, and geo-politically uninformed to run your country! You are at as much fault as them!

Environmental Ethics. pt. 2

BE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS.
BE ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE.
BE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY.

I say this because it's so important that all of us do our part.

Consider how much waste we produce in America alone.

Last year we produced a total of 250 million tons of MSW (Municipal Solid Waste), of that amount we recycled nearly 85 million tons, equivalent to a 34% recycling rate. (sr. http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw_2010_factsheet.pdf)

Our ability to recycle is good, but not excellent. Most people do not feel there is much of an incentive to recycle, adding to a higher amount of waste that could be recycled, but is not.

So we have 165 million tons of waste that we add to landfills across the country every year. That's a lot!

Keep in mind that this "waste" is not material that can be disposed of without harming the environment.



** I will have more on this, and similar stories very soon.**

Environmental Ethics.

I want to take some time to discuss environmental ethics, with a primary focus on the United States.
It's very probable that this will lead to an entirely new blog, but until I am sure I want to commit myself to it I will begin with it here.

Ok, so let's begin.

I have always had an interest in so-called "green" technologies but had never really investigated them, or the various effects of pollution, until quite recently. In fact, I admit that I have almost been very opposed to "green" technologies for a couple of reasons, the first of which is because I have grown up around a social-environment that considers all proponents of "green" technologies as 'tree-huggers', to anyone familiar with that term it is generally regarded as a derogatory definition of an environmentally conscious person, yet has become degraded because most of these 'tree-huggers' are considered hypocrites.
Now I know what you're thinking... "how can he say something like that?", or perhaps "he's wrong!" Well I could be, however my personal experience which has been shaped through my interactions with these nature-loving folks speaks to the contrary. When I see someone driving a Prius, it is safe to assume that person is driving that particular vehicle not because he/she likes the shape, color, or design of the Prius's gauges, but because they enjoy the lack of emissions that exit themselves from the vehicle; they like the mpg. I can't blame them there, they are much 'healthier' to the everyday environment than my Nissan Titan is. But if you at what ingredients, and just how much of those ingredients are involved in the building stages of the Prius, one might reconsider.
See: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=14304 , http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=14304

Maybe I have some sort of personal dislike for the term "tree-hugger" because those folks who defend trees from the vicious saw-blades of loggers are the same folks who use paper, and tree-related material everyday. However, on the same note there must be a level of understanding of "tree-huggers", I cannot judge them because they use tree-based products, considering we live in such a society, one cannot help it. There are extreme cases where some of them may reveal a sort of fanaticism; in which case I ignore them.

Anyway. I am becoming more environmentally conscious. You should too!