What’s Your Opinion? – Conformity

I was going to start the Opinion Question(s) next month, but last night I had a dream that agitated me quite a bit; and was no doubt sparked by an earlier conversation.

In this dream I was arguing with someone and telling them that ‘I don’t have to conform. I’m an individual.’ And they kept telling me that I had to conform.

So, here are the questions. Please share you thoughts in the comments section. You can answer as many of the questions as you’d like.

• Is being a conformist dangerous?
• Are we loosing out identity?
• Have we lost our individuality?
• Were we ever individuals?
• Did we ever have our own identity?

Stay? or Go?

My plan was to stay away from this topic, but the more and more I hear the more and more frustrated and angry I become, because if we (the United States) don’t do something about it right now it’s going to become so bad we will not be able to recover fiscally.

According to the latest numbers I could find since October 2013 more than 52,000 unaccompanied minors have fled their homes in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) and crossed the border into the United States. And according to a recent Washington Post article the White House will ask for $3.8 billion to deal with the influx.

Should Literature be Changed to be Politcally Correct?

Yesterday I wrote a post on Political Correctness (Walking on Eggshells) going to far. There was a realitively healthy and high-spirited debate between myself and another blogger. Doobster brought up a point in regards to word usage and one example was: “. . . there are just certain things that people don’t need to say, certain words that people find offensive that are just unnecessary, such as “the N-word.” For some reason in the middle of night, I woke up and thought about the move to take “nigger” out of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

When I heard about this several years ago I was outraged. How dare someone even suggest removing it and replacing it with another word.

Walking on Eggshells

There is another blogger, who I want to be like when I grow up — HarsH ReaLiTy. About a week or so ago, he made a post called, PC-ME and I got to thinking about this Political Correctness shennanigans again and a conversation I had a little bit ago with a coworker and my best male friend.

The question I posed is, “Have we gone too far with being Politically Correct?”

And they answered with a resounding, Yes. I completely agree. Society has taken Polictical Correctness to a level, I and many others believe, it wasn’t meant to go. People are just to damn sensitive nowadays. Once upon a time you could say what was on your mind without someone breaking down in tears or going to go tell their mommy and daddy or losing their jobs.

Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think anyone should say anything that is deliberately malicious, but no one should have to walk on eggshells or tiptoe through the daisies or beat around the proverbial bush in order not to offend. Being offended is a part of life. It helps to thicken your skin. In my opinion some offenses help you become a better person.

So, I did a little bit of digging, as is my way when curiosity gets the better of me. Where did the term Politically Correct/Political Correctness (P.C.) come from?

A Dangerous Dance with the Devil

A couple of days ago I read an article in the Washington Post (Bergdahl’s Writings Reveal a Fragile Young Man) on Bergdahl’s state of mind. Now if the information provided in the article is correct, he was not mentally stable when he was accepted into the Army. According to the article and what I’ve read over the last couple of days he was given a psychological discharge from the Coast Guard. If this is true than he was ineligible to join any other branch of the armed services.

Don’t think that I’m on his side for deserting his unit and the military and being the cause of the death of several servicemen, but I’m just curious as to how much of this could have been prevented and by whom. Is it the Army’s fault? Did they and if so, why did they grant a waiver to someone who was discharged from another military branch for psychological reasons? Should his friend, Kim Harrison, have given his journals to the Army when he enlisted? Why didn’t his family and friends speak up sooner? How did the Army miss his instability? Was he really faking his psychological state when he was in and discharged from the Coast Guard?

I do not under any circumstances believe that he should have been traded for 5 high-ranking Taliban leaders. And truthfully he shouldn’t have been traded for the newest Taliban recruit with no power. Since this story broke, I’ve wondered if we’re doing a dance with the devil. If we are than it’s a very dangerous dance and could have exponentially devastating effects on not only the United States but U.S. supporters.

Yes, sometimes you do have to dance with the devil in order to cut its head off, but I just don’t think this is the best move. In my opinion it’s a really bad one and I feel in my bones that the ramifications (although not immediate) will be great.

But the burning question for me is: Why these 5 Taliban leaders? or does it even matter which ones were released? Why so many for one man? It doesn’t make sense to me. And no matter how much I try to wrap my head around it I just can’t. Is it politics gone to far? A bad ‘business’ deal?

I, along with so many other Americans, want to know the truth behind this decision. I don’t want to hear the propaganda made in an attempt to placate us, just the truth.