a dark shrike’s nest

81%

Yesterday or so while reading the archives of a blog I’ve taken a liking to I discovered a link to a woman who posts a blog by the name of “Blue Flypaper,” she goes by “True Blue.”  I read a few of her posts as well as her responses to various commenters before I lost any taste for reading further.  The sample size may have been small, but it was exceedingly consistent.  It is my fervent hope that this woman does not call the Pacific Northwest home, but by the same token, I don’t see many rational people hoping she’s in their metaphoric back-yard either.  This woman bothers me on deeply personal level.

It is not so much that I disagree with her opinions, of which there are a plethora to choose from, as I am horrified by how she holds them.  The application of critical thinking seems to be completely alien to this woman.  I would suspect that there are at least a couple topics where our opinions are more or less in line with one another, but there is no way I would ever willingly call attention to those intersections of commonality.  Any group that allows her to speak on their behalf will be the weaker for it for that one simple fact.

Let me illustrate my point, she responded to a couple commenters to a post where she was deriding a guy simply because he likes guns and believes they have a purpose.  Her rebuttal was,

“First. Are you folks going to tell me that there wouldn't be a loss less deaths in Iraq if guns were outlawed? I wish we weren't there (and it is an illegal and immoral war, if you don't beleive me as Cindy Sheehan, she should know!). Anyway, since we're there, the least we could do would be to implement some strict gun control measures so that people would stop getting shot. We've exported our gun culture to the Middle East, and don't tell me that it wasn't us. Because it was!”

Fair enough.  It’s an alleged argument of dubious merit, but about par for the course in conversation these days.  However, as it is an argument, let’s take it apart and see how it stands up to scrutiny.  Not too well as it happens.

The first statement is based upon two major assumptions; that guns are not outlawed and that guns are the cause of death in that country.  The first assumption, that firearms are not outlawed, makes no rational sense.  Before the US moved in to occupy the Iraq, the country was governed by a military dictatorship.  There is no way that the government would tolerate weaponry in the hands of normal citizens.  Since the invasion, the distinct potential of armed partisans looking to cause mischief is going to be high in the thoughts of both US armed forces and the current Iraqi government which means that guns are almost certainly illegal to possess.  Though I do not possess first-hand knowledge about the legality of firearms in Iraq, the odds are that the first assumption is incorrect.

The second assumption flatly ignores the number of people killed by stoning, hanging, and decapitation as a matter of public record, let alone the efficacy of explosives.  There is no indication that removing guns from the equation would have anything beyond a cosmetic effect.

A stated wish possesses no merit to an argument.

Next, we move right back to the earlier assumption about the legality of firearms in Iraq which has already been discussed to segue into a nebulous statement.  “Gun culture” sounds good.  It sits on the brain and tongue well.  What it lacks is definition and without those pesky minutia delineated to indicate what the term is supposed to mean, it’s a moot term and therefor irrelevant.

The juvenile tone of the concluding statement does little but further damage her prior claims.

If one endeavored to counter Blue’s claims with evidence in support of their contradicting views, she is quick to discount it.

“I love how gun control conservatives love to throw facts around! Fact here, fact there. Statistics here, statistics there. Sheesh, give it a rest!”

That’s because being able to produce evidence in support of the claims you are making demonstrates a foundation in reality.  Without it, all one has is speculation at best.  Regardless, unsupported statements are exercises of rhetoric and fiction.

There is a very definite pattern to Blue’s actions.  This is not atypical of her capacity to debate and as I mentioned at the outset, it’s this woman’s sharply limited cognitive abilities that bothers me.

1. Her opinions are inviolate.  Someone can ask her why she believes a particular thing, but there is no room for challenge.  If the reason is good enough for her, it is good enough for everyone.  Therefor, her opinions are maintained out of blind faith rather than formed out of reason.
   
2. When confronted with arguments she does not agree with, but cannot categorically refute, she either does the text-based equivalent of putting her fingers in her ears and talking over the other person until they shut up or dismissing it as some sort of nefarious “trick”.
   
3. On the occasions when she admits to lacking knowledge on a certain topic she wishes to speak about, she attempts to portray her ignorance as a virtue.

Although I really hate that I have linked to her site and could theoretically inflate her sense of self-worth with more traffic, I think it’s important to point out someone who has failed in their charge to be a rational adult human being.  Whatever merit her beliefs might have held is stripped away by her blind faith that feelings are paramount to logic.

While checking email today I found a sad bit on news posted by the Associated Press.  You can read it while it's fresh here.

In summary, one guy walked up to an armored truck, shot a guard, shot the second guard, grabbed a bag of money and fired upon the third guard before driving off. 

"He just came out initially and just assassinated them, that fast," Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

Of course, Mr. Johnson wasted no time at all decrying how easy it is to acquire firearms and attempting to shift blame to a nebulous "societal ill."  He was then quoted making one of the most daft lines of utter shit I've heard in a long time, "Every other country has the same problems we have. The one problem they didn't have is our gun problem ... A robbery with a knife or a baseball bat, somebody might have been injured. A robbery with a gun, somebody's killed."

What the fuck fantasy land are you living in, bud?  Nevermind that this country has had firearms dispersed through the citizenry since the landing of the colonists.  Set aside for the moment, that no one has the least clue just how many guns are actually distributed across the continent and so even if mankind never made another firearm again, it would be centuries at least before they stopped turning up.  The fact this critter used a firearm is immaterial to the crime. 

It was a direct, brutal, and short assault.  They guy knew exactly what he was doing and how.  Before he even made his approach, he'd committed himself to killing the three guards.  He executed the two outside with fluid dispatch.  It doesn't matter that he used a gun in this instance, I don't think it would have slowed him in the least or made him any less lethal if he'd used a knife or a club.  If someone in intent on murder, the tool they use is simply window dressing. 

I'm fed up with this crap that getting murdered with a knife, tent-stake, chain, brick, or what-have-you is magically better than being killed by a bullet.  I've seen blade wounds close up.  I've seen damage from blunt impact.  There is no bloody way in hell you can tell me it's not as serious as getting hit with a bullet.  Guns take aim to put a tiny chunk of heavy metal through something vital.  They're fast and give you the benefit of distance, but anyone can stave in someone else's skull with a rock without any skill beyond being able to pick it up.  I may have a good chance of killing someone using a gun, but a guarantee I can send someone into the hereafter with something lower tech.

A weapon is a fucking weapon and unless you're advocating putting everyone into a vegetative state, there is no way to keep weapons out of the hands of those who would use them unlawfully because ANYTHING can be a weapon with the right mindset.  There is no way the guy who robbed that armored truck did not have have that mindset.

Far I am now concerned, Sylvester Johnson has just proved he's a fucking idiot who shouldn't be allowed laces in his shoes because he's more interested in "feewings" than rational thought.

What set you apart from the rest of the kids at school? 
Submitted by jks.

Initially, it was awkwardness.  I was enough of an introvert that I didn't immediately throw myself into forging friendships with my fellow kindergarteners so when the first social circles came into being I was only tenuously included.

This brought about the next thing that set me apart, ostracism.  Odd man out.  Every emerging tribe needs something or someone to hold themselves seperate from/above.  That was my given role.

In turn, the isolation turned to anger, hatred, bitterness, distrust, and frustration.

By the end of my educational run, what set me apart was that I had well established myself as a bent, darkly perceptive weirdo.  But I was OK with that.

What story from your wild-and-crazy youth would nobody believe about you today?

I was not only a Boy Scout, but I'm an Eagle Scout.

Although, given my fascination with knives, axes, rope, and wilderness areas... perhaps it's not that unbelievable.

Somehow this just makes living all the sweeter.

I have had it with the morally superior arguments of the militantly vegan.  They can spout all the well-crafted arguments they want to, it's never going to change biological reality.  And now, it can carry criminal consequences.  Here's some highlights from Nina Planck's article:

When Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed 3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty."

I've seen animals, predatory animals, subjected to the dietary whim of those who don't believe anything should eat another creature.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, it meant the animal suffered a slow, painful death by malnutrition.  Of course, that gets less press than when the victims are human.

I can almost hear the howls of outrage already.

Hard to argue with physiology though.

Lil did this first, Molly then got her hands on it.
So I shall do my damage to it, because what's a meme without the added indignity of a haphazard blogger heeding it.

Using the list below, bold all the titles that you’ve read. If you’ve read other titles by the same author, add them under that author.

Delete nothing! Play along, and leave a comment to let me know you did so I can check out your list.

For the sake of adding my opinion of the various works below, those I've read shall be color coded.  Red means I like it lots.  Black indicates a neutral opinion.  Blue means I hated it.

Das lizst:

The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
Angels and Demons

Emma (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility

To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (J. R. R. Tolkien)
LOTR: The Two Towers
LOTR: The Return of the King
The Hobbit
The Silmarillion
The Book Of Lost Tales Vols. 1 & 2
Unfinished Tales

Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island

Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Lord John and the Private Matter

A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J. K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
The World According To Garp
The Hotel New Hampshire

Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)

Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)

The Stand (Stephen King)
Salem’s Lot
Night Shift
The Dead Zone
Firestarter
Cujo
Different Seasons
Christine
Skeleton Crew
The Green Mile
Hearts in Atlantis
Dreamcatcher
From a Buick 8
Misery
Desperation
Insomnia
Pet Sematary
The Tommyknockers
Gerald’s Game
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
The Langoliers
Needful Things
Thinner
The Dark Half
It

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Little Men

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)

The Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish
Mostly Harmless
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
The Screwtape Letters

East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
Of Mice And Men
The Grapes of Wrath
The Red Pony
Tortilla Flat
The Pearl
Cannery Row

Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Dune (Frank Herbert)
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
The Dragon in the Sea
The Santaroga Barrier
The Dosadi Experiment
The Jesus Incident
The White Plague
The Lazarus Effect

The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)

Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
The Fountainhead
We the Living
Anthem

1984 (George Orwell)
Animal Farm

The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
Lady of Avalon
Priestess of Avalon
The Forest House
Falcons of Narabedla
The Door Through Space
The Colors Of Space
Survey Ship
Warrior Woman
The Planet Savers
The Sword of Aldones
The Bloody Sun
Star of Danger
Winds of Darkover
World Wreckers
Darkover Landfall
The Spell Sword
The Heritage of Hastur
The Shattered Chain
The Forbidden Tower
Stormqueen!
Two To Conquer
Sharra’s Exile
Hawkmistress!
Thendara House
City of Sorcery
The Heirs of Hammerfell
Rediscovery
Exile’s Song
The Shadow Matrix
Traitor’s Sun
The Fall of Neskaya
Glenraven

The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
Eye of the Needle
The Key to Rebecca
On Wings of Eagles
Lie Down with Lions
Night Over Water

The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)

I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
She’s Come Undone

The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)

The Bible
The Koran
The Torah
The Book of Latter Day Saints

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace

The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years After
The Vicomte of Bragelonne aka The Man In The Iron Mask

Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
Nicholas Nickleby
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield

Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender’s Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
First Meetings
Empire
Red Prophet
Alvin Journeyman
A Planet Called Treason
Lost Boys

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)

The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
Tim

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
The Vampire Lestat
The Queen of the Damned
The Tale of the Body Thief
Memnoch the Devil
The Vampire Armand
The Witching Hour
Lasher
The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned
Servant of the Bones
Exit to Eden

Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Márquez)

One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Bridget Jones’s Diary (Helen Fielding)

Shogun (James Clavell)
King Rat
Tai-Pan
Noble House
Whirlwind
Gai-Jin

The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
In The Skin Of A Lion

The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
A Little Princess
Sara Crewe

The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

Charlotte’s Web (E. B. White)
Stuart Little
The Elements of Style

Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)

Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of the Winds
Soul of Fire
Faith of the Fallen
Pillars of Creation

Good Omens (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman)
Thud (Terry Pratchett)
A Hat Full of Sky
The Wee Free Men
Going Postal
Where's My Cow
The Last Continent
Monstrous Regiment
Jingo
Maskerade
Feet of Clay
Interesting Times
Hogfather
Night Watch
Men At Arms
Soul Music
Lords and Ladies
Small Gods
Reaper Man
Witches Abroad
Thief of Time
Eric
Moving Pictures
The Truth
Guards! Guards!
Pyramids
The Fifth Elephant
Mort
Sourcery
Wyrd Sisters
Carpe Jugulum
Equal Rites
The Color of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Johnny and the Bomb
The Art of Discworld
Wintersmith
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Dead
The Bromeliad Trilogy
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
The Last Hero

Swan Song (Robert McCammon)

Watership Down (Richard Adams)

Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)

Blindness (Jose Saramago)

Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)

Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
The Matarese Countdown
The Road to Omaha
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Supremacy
The Aquitaine Progression
The Parsifal Mosaic
The Matarese Circle
The Holcroft Covenant
The Chancellor Manuscript
The Gemini Contenders
The Road to Gandolfo
The Rhinemann Exchange
The Matlock Paper
The Osterman Weekend
The Scarlatti Inheritance

The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
That Was Then, This Is Now
Rumble Fish
Tex

White Oleander (Janet Fitch)

A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)

The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)

Ulysses (James Joyce)

The Past Through Tomorrow (Robert A. Heinlein)
Expanded Universe
Requiem
Grumbles from the Grave
For Us, the Living
Sixth Column
Beyond This Horizon
The Puppet Masters
The Rolling Stones
The Star Beast
Citizen of the Galaxy
Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
Podkayne of Mars
Glory Road
Farnham’s Freehold
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Time Enough for Love
Friday
Job: A Comedy of Justice
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset

The Girl Who Heard Dragons (Anne McCaffrey)
The Ship who Sang
Partnership
The ship who Searched
The Ship who Won
Crystal Singer
Killashandra
Crystal Line
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
Dragonsdawn
The Renegades of Pern
The Masterharper of Pern
The Skies of Pern
Dragon's Kin
Dragonflight
The White Dragon
Dragonquest
Dragonson
Dragonsinger
Dragondrums
Dragonriders of Pern
On Dragonwings

So I think I found a fighting style worth the strutting and fear of those surrounding.

I give you Kabumei!

*Evil laughter*

• Say hello to my little shrike!
• Have you ever danced with the shrike in the pale moonlight?
• Remember, you're fighting for this woman's shrike, which is probably more than she ever did.
• Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'Shrike' at will to old ladies.
• I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shrike.
• We're on a mission from Shrike.
• It is too late, my shrike is in your veins.
• If I was a shrike, a perfect shrike, how would you know it was really me?
• Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to shrike.
• As God is my shrike, I'll never be hungry again.
• They call me Mister Shrike!
• Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my shrike. Prepare to die!
• I love the smell of shrike in the morning.
• When there's no more room in hell, the shrike will walk the earth.
• You can't handle the shrike!

Compliments of the Random Movie Line Generator!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Eminence the Very Lord Geoffrey the Abrupt of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Eminence the Very Lord Geoffrey the Nefarious of Helions Bumpstead Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Fitting no?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Milord Sir Lord Geoffrey the Expensive of Tempting St Mary Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Most Noble Lord Geoffrey the Essential of Withering Glance Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I think this sums me up in so many ways.