Evolution

Today I'd like to converse my thoughts on a rather controversial topic. Evolution.

Do I believe in it? Yes. There is a lot of evidence that points in the favor of evolution.

Is that to say that the creationists are wrong? No.

The way I see it, if Charles Darwin was smart enough to figure out the theory of evolution, then why wouldn't God?

I guess it all comes down to the Bible. I believe that the bible is something to be revered, but there are certain facts to be taken into account when reading the bible. First of all, the bible was written by people who lived thousands of years ago. People who would look at a television and declare it as black magic. And I think God might have understood this. He is God after all. He might have known that there was no way humanity at the time could understand the concept of evolution, and as such he dumbed down the story of creation for them.

The book of Genesis says that God created the Earth in seven days. It also says that millions of years is but a blink of an eye to God. So what's to say God's seven days were actual seven days? Perhaps they were millions of years. And in those millions of years he developed the earth to make it habitable for the humans he would one day populate it with.

Perhaps God knew that we couldn't simply be thrust into the world with all of the knowledge of how to survive freshly stamped into us. He understood that there were things that we needed to learn, instincts you could say. Even more importantly, maybe he thought there were things we needed to discover for ourselves. Maybe the sixth day was that turning point where God finally gave man the spark of intelligence that put him above the animals.

But I digress, getting more to the matter at hand now. The theory of evolutions states that an organism will adapt over a period of thousands of years. Whether that be to climate changes, dramatic alterations in its environment, or otherwise. That's where we lucked out. Humanity is the species that has adapted consistently enough to gain sentience. That spark of free will.

But are we still evolving?

Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I don't see a lot of research into the field of whether or not humanity is still evolving on a genetic level. I see a lot of signs that it is, however, and they don't look good.

See, evolution does not mean, "Advancement," it means adaptation. The perfect example would be swine. Studies show that a pig released into the wild will fall back onto wild instincts and be able to survive in the wild. But if you put a human into the wild (aside from Bear Grylls, I mean) and left him/her with NOTHING but their wits, what do you think the odds of them surviving past a week are? Much slimmer than a pig's.

Most animals have a much stronger immune system than humans do. That's evolution working on both sides. See, the animals themselves are naturally more resistant to the diseases. Their bodies have to fight illnesses on their own, or they die. So their bodies have taught themselves how to fight the diseases. Animals walk everywhere, their stamina is greater. Their instincts are stronger because they have to rely on them.

Humanity is different. We've spent the last two thousand years comforting ourselves more and more. Shoes for our feet, which make it impossible for us to walk long distances without them. Clothing on our bodies which make it impossible for us to deal with cold temperatures without them. Medicines which make our immune systems less and less able to fight off diseases that other species shrug off. This IS evolution. Our bodies are looking at all of these things that do its various jobs for it, and decide to rely on these outside influences.

If you wonder why obesity rates are rising around the world, I position the possibility that it is the next stage of evolution taking its toll on us. Our, "environment," consists of couches, fast food, and leisure in general. Most work is done behind a computer. Exactly how else should our bodies, "adapt," to that kind of environment?

While we're on the subject of evolution, let's get even more controversial. Homosexuality. I'm not against it, so long as no guy's hitting on me.

But I've always wondered how that fits in. Most homosexuals will tell you that it's natural. How they were born. That indicates to me a severe flaw in the instinctual behavior of the species.

A species basic instincts are to further itself, AKA, reproduction. I've heard reports that humans are not the only species that show homosexual tendencies. I grew up on a ranch and have seen a group of steers gang banging (so to speak) a smaller steer. It reminded me less of homosexuality as it normally is, and more of a prison scenario. The steers were secluded from cows, but still had basic needs and instincts. They had to settle with what they had available. But put that same group of steers into a herd of cattle, and they didn't display those tendencies anymore. I guess I can't say for sure whether other species are homosexual, but I don't believe they are.

Because I believe that homosexuality in humans is much like it is in the steers. It's a product of circumstance, not a natural occurrence. Basically, I'm saying that I don't think that you are born homosexual. Some extreme circumstance might psychologically push you towards that path, but to say that a person is BORN that way goes against the natural way. It doesn't matter what your stance is, creationist or otherwise.

The species exists to further itself. Natural selection says, in a nutshell, the survival of the fittest. That's why we have hormones and strong instincts to mate. Basic instincts to keep bringing in new generations. So if homosexuality is a natural thing that you are born with, something instinctual, it quite possibly indicates that our species is dying. Why else would we be developing the instincts to form unions that could not possibly produce offspring? But given my earlier state that we might be evolving around our leisurely lives, the species dying out doesn't seem like such a conspiracy theory.

YouTube Series

Starting tomorrow, I am going to be working on a YouTube series in my spare time. The point of the series will be to poke fun at internet culture. More specifically: Blogs, internet comment forums, online reviews, etc. When I finish prep work, I'll give more details.

Doc out.

A legend.

A legend passed away yesterday.

Leslie Nielsen, 84, died of pnemonia problems in Ft. Lauderdale. He was best known for his roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun series.

More importantly, to me, is that he filled my adolescence with joy. My father is a huge fan of Nielsen, and would watch one of his classic movies every month or so. His love of Nielsen's performances spread to myself and the rest of my family. My family, consisting of ten children, grew up with this man's comedy. Many days of my life were spent laughing at his dead serious in the face of the absurd routine.

My favorite movies, Airplane, the Naked Gun series, the Poseidon Adventures, Wrongfully Accused, and many others. Surely, he will rest in peace.

But don't call him, "Shirley."

Sigh

I get screwed over a lot in life. Mostly by myself. So much so, that I view the times my life screws up by some outside force not being myself as a good thing rather than the terrible thing that it actually is.

I'm a glass half full guy.

This is my life, though, it's what I have made it. I blame none but myself for the way I've turned out or the way my life unfolds. There isn't some secret organization designed to ruin me. There isn't some arch nemesis on the constant search for my displeasure (except perhaps my manager).

I've come to the conclusion that life goes on, until it ends, which is something that we all understand differently.

For me, what that means is that it doesn't matter if I become rich and famous for the book I'm writing. Would I like that? Yes, I'd be overjoyed. But even if it only gets me through the life I'm living, even if it doesn't do that, I will be happy just to say I took the plunge.

I can admit these things, but I can't quit smoking. The world's a funny place.

Doc out.

Something Incredible

Eyes are amazing things. Like most things that are so common in our day to day lives, however, they are underrated.

The camera was modeled after the human eye. It has, mostly, the same features of a human eye, which allow it to, "see," the image that you wish to capture on film.

Here's a fun thought. It's a common question that may never be answered. "Do I see color differently than another person?" What the question is asking is this. If I look at the sky and see that it is blue, does the person next to me look at the sky and see it as the color that I know as red, but to that person the sky is blue because what red is to me is what blue is to him/her? It's something that's not outside the realm of possibility, but simply (for now) unprovable. They say you can't describe color to a blind person, but how do you describe it to someone who can see as good as you can?

The most amazing thing about eyes, however, is not what you can do with them, but rather what they can do for you.

When you look at a person, you make eye contact. For those of us who are not blind, eye contact, and eye movement is probably the most recognized facial gestures that you read on a person's face. Your eyes can tell a lot about you. Probably more than your mouth can. Your eyes can tell someone that you're lying, that you're happy, sad, dying. Things that you can't bring yourself to say out loud will be clear as day in your eyes.

Look in the mirror, make eye contact with yourself sometime. What do you see? Can you read yourself as well as you read others? Can you read yourself at all? Do you like the stories that your eyes tell you? And if you don't, do you think that others would?

A Stance

I've lived very close (eighteen miles) to the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota most of my life. I've also lived around the Pine Ridge Reservation. I have seen things that most people associate with big city ghettos and third world slums.

I'm talking about children walking through the street, wearing nothing but diapers. These children are being either followed or flat out chased by stray dogs. The dog's are in no better condition. These, "Reservations," are little more than slums.

The Pine Ridge Reservation recently went sober. If you don't know what that means, let me explain it. No alcohol can be sold on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. None. At all. For any reason.

That seems like a step up, right? Not really. My good friend works in a Sam's Club close by Pine Ridge, and he told me the other day (shortly after the first of the month, which is when the Natives get their checks) that Sam's Club was swamped. He described it, "The Pine Ridge Reservation came to Sam's Club today, and they didn't leave much behind." Nearly wiped the store clean of alcohol. I was not surprised in the least.

Two years ago, I was in a Wal-Mart in Rapid City, grocery shopping, buying a video game...pretty normal trip to Rapid for me. When I went to the check out, there was a Native American in front of me, holding a thirteen inch screen television. He turned around right there, waved his check right in my face and said, "Thanks for buying me this TV, whitey!" I was very mad, to be sure, but the man behind me alleviated my stress by replying, "No problem, dude, we'll get it back in the pawn shop by the end of the month." People had the gall to call that man a racist.

There are a lot of benefits and donation groups for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and pretty much every reservation out there like it. To those groups, I have this to say.

Quit wasting your money.

90% of housing on Pine Ridge/Crow Creek is money down the drain. If you donated to housing there, you can be sure that your money went to a brand new house! Which was almost immediately stripped of its pipes (which sell for a good profit, beer money) and other such, "valuables," which can be turned into a fine stash of liquor and cigarettes. The same can be said with almost any donation money. If you don't believe me, take a look at some statistics. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into these places a year, just in donations. Crow Creek (Fort Thompson, to be exact) hasn't changed in the slightest in the 19-so years that I've been old enough to remember it. The only major change to the town was when I was a child and they fixed up their God damned casino.

Someone once said, "If you give a man a fish, hill will be fed for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will never go hungry again." The reason you teach the man to fish, however, is not necessarily just to help the man, but because if you don't teach him, he will start expecting you to provide him with the fish. Over, and over, and over again. It may sound selfish, but it's true.

Proverbial words aside, when is enough enough? We have been paying for our transgressions for over 200 years now. We meaning Americans, and transgressions meaning, "Taking their land." Time for some more statistics, however. Caucasians found America in the same way that the Natives found it. We FOUND it! We didn't plan some great siege on a group of indigenous people to take a land that was barely big enough for them, let alone us. No, we stumbled upon an entire continent full of open land and vast resources, sparsely populated by an indigenous people! We had as much claim to the land as they did!

I'm not against our initial apology to the Native Americans. We wronged their people, peace could have been made, instead we slaughtered a great deal of them. But after 200 years? It's time for someone to man up, say enough is enough, and put an expiration date on that payback. It's time to teach them how to fish, so to speak. There is nothing wrong with expecting someone to work for the freedoms they enjoy. I personally think it's racist that I have to pay them out of my paycheck each month, simply because they are a different race than I am.

Which is pretty much all it means at this point.

The Road Ahead

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to our capitalist economy. Therefore, I am offended by Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story.

To be completely fair, I am not mad at Moore for making a documentary. He has every right to voice his opinion. I am mad at him because, like all of his other movies, will most likely be riddled with left wing, socialist propaganda. Take Sicko for instance, the entire documentary put Canadian Health Care in such a bright shiny light that it blinded people to the downsides it caused. A socialist system will not help the people, in health care or economic matters.

First off, Moore has already made it clear in the trailer for the movie that he is going after the banks. And why not? The banks gave out home loans to citizens who couldn't afford them and so on, so why not attack them? Because the bankers didn't cause this problem.

It was the left wing politicians pushing a socialist agenda, the idea that everyone needs a good home to own, who pushed banks into giving loans out to people who either couldn't or had not intention of paying them back. Socialists like Barney Frank. Will Moore shed light on this in his documentary? Probably not. Like everything else, it will be the Right Wings faults.

So let me ask this, why is it that when a Republican speaks out, it's hate speak. But when a democrat speaks out it's free speech?

Doc Out.