Random Rants
I feel like writing an entry that doesn't talk about anything in my personal life, rather, is a collection of rants in true random form.
Abortion
For those of you who may not know, I'm pro-life (with certian conditions- if having the baby is a risk to the mother, she has a right to decide wether or not she wants to put her life at steak, and there was something else I can't remember at the moment). But arguing pro-lifedness is not the purpose of this mini-rant. It's solely to try to have everyone see- that the whole debate of pro-life vs. pro-choice- boils down to when you think personhood begins. There are those that believe personhood begins at the moment of conception, and that has merit; the fetus is it's own seperate and unique genitic being at the moment of conception. There are those that believe that personhood doesn't begin till the fetus can survive outside the womb, that too has merit, it's not it's own self-sustaining being capable of seperate life until that point. Of course, you run into all sorts of greys every which way you turn. But the debate still boils down to- when does personhood begin? That there is what makes it so hard to argue, as "personhood" is such a broad, undefinable term, and it's definition rests on a part of a person's belief that you'd be hard pressed to ever change.
Welfare
I think welfare is a great idea, but as it stands the system is flawed. It is far too easy to "mooch" off of the system and never actually get anywhere. Face it, if you were paid enough to live to just sit and watch TV all day, are you going to want to work? Nah, people are all lazy. There need to be more and better job placement programs in welfare, and a better way of kicking people off it. It's understandable that sometimes you can try hard and just not find a job, which is why I believe that you should not be able to be kicked off welfare for the sole reason of not finding a job within a certian time period, I think the condition should be failure to attend job training classes, and failure to apply for and interview for jobs. Basically, you should have to prove that you're trying to get off welfare, and not just taking the free ride and stay on it. Not to say that you should be required immeaditely to find a job once you start recieving welfare payments, there should also be a grace period, 3-6 months sounds about fair, where you do not have to prove anything or attend any classes. That period's intention would be to allow someone to gather their finances and their personal affairs, though you know it won't be really used for that in most cases. Welfare should be there to help good people with bad luck get back on their feet; it should help the willing and not the lazy.
Affirmative Action
Even though it benifits me, especially in my technical field, I don't agree with the practice. I'm a firm believer in equality of opportunity, not equality of situation. Everyone should be given equal chance to succeed, and it should be up to them to work hard to take it. With that, I think that the pubilic school system needs some reform, but not as dramatic as some would have you believe. It's been proven that if anyone works hard enough, they can still get where they want to, I know many people here that went to public, inner city of Detroit schools and are doing well. But that doesn't change the fact, we need to increase opportunity in these areas, we need to give people better chances to succeed, but not give them special privilages. If anything, "affirmative action" should not be based on race or gender, but on socioeconmic status, if anything. I still think it's a bad practice in general. It promotes inadequacy. Also, it promotes contempt at the workplace and at school; people are going to wonder if you, as someone who stands to gain from affirmative action, got in for your abliities or for your skin color or gender. Most people probably did get the job or get accepted because of their abilities, but it's not going to seem that way, and therefore it discredits the very people it was trying to help. Of course, complete equality of opportunity will never really exist, rich people will always be able to buy their lives and poor people will have to work to even survive... but it should be possible for anyone willing to work hard enough or with enough intelligence or ability to be able to work their way to the "higher ranks."
I guess that's about good for now, if I think of something else I'll make another entry.
Abortion
For those of you who may not know, I'm pro-life (with certian conditions- if having the baby is a risk to the mother, she has a right to decide wether or not she wants to put her life at steak, and there was something else I can't remember at the moment). But arguing pro-lifedness is not the purpose of this mini-rant. It's solely to try to have everyone see- that the whole debate of pro-life vs. pro-choice- boils down to when you think personhood begins. There are those that believe personhood begins at the moment of conception, and that has merit; the fetus is it's own seperate and unique genitic being at the moment of conception. There are those that believe that personhood doesn't begin till the fetus can survive outside the womb, that too has merit, it's not it's own self-sustaining being capable of seperate life until that point. Of course, you run into all sorts of greys every which way you turn. But the debate still boils down to- when does personhood begin? That there is what makes it so hard to argue, as "personhood" is such a broad, undefinable term, and it's definition rests on a part of a person's belief that you'd be hard pressed to ever change.
Welfare
I think welfare is a great idea, but as it stands the system is flawed. It is far too easy to "mooch" off of the system and never actually get anywhere. Face it, if you were paid enough to live to just sit and watch TV all day, are you going to want to work? Nah, people are all lazy. There need to be more and better job placement programs in welfare, and a better way of kicking people off it. It's understandable that sometimes you can try hard and just not find a job, which is why I believe that you should not be able to be kicked off welfare for the sole reason of not finding a job within a certian time period, I think the condition should be failure to attend job training classes, and failure to apply for and interview for jobs. Basically, you should have to prove that you're trying to get off welfare, and not just taking the free ride and stay on it. Not to say that you should be required immeaditely to find a job once you start recieving welfare payments, there should also be a grace period, 3-6 months sounds about fair, where you do not have to prove anything or attend any classes. That period's intention would be to allow someone to gather their finances and their personal affairs, though you know it won't be really used for that in most cases. Welfare should be there to help good people with bad luck get back on their feet; it should help the willing and not the lazy.
Affirmative Action
Even though it benifits me, especially in my technical field, I don't agree with the practice. I'm a firm believer in equality of opportunity, not equality of situation. Everyone should be given equal chance to succeed, and it should be up to them to work hard to take it. With that, I think that the pubilic school system needs some reform, but not as dramatic as some would have you believe. It's been proven that if anyone works hard enough, they can still get where they want to, I know many people here that went to public, inner city of Detroit schools and are doing well. But that doesn't change the fact, we need to increase opportunity in these areas, we need to give people better chances to succeed, but not give them special privilages. If anything, "affirmative action" should not be based on race or gender, but on socioeconmic status, if anything. I still think it's a bad practice in general. It promotes inadequacy. Also, it promotes contempt at the workplace and at school; people are going to wonder if you, as someone who stands to gain from affirmative action, got in for your abliities or for your skin color or gender. Most people probably did get the job or get accepted because of their abilities, but it's not going to seem that way, and therefore it discredits the very people it was trying to help. Of course, complete equality of opportunity will never really exist, rich people will always be able to buy their lives and poor people will have to work to even survive... but it should be possible for anyone willing to work hard enough or with enough intelligence or ability to be able to work their way to the "higher ranks."
I guess that's about good for now, if I think of something else I'll make another entry.