EdenLancer Stories

Okay, I’m going a little political this time because…well…I can, I’m not paid to do this so I can do whatever I want. Anyways, for those of you who like to talk about the deeper things in life, keep reading, if you’re not interested in politics or ethics or have a very small attention span (like myself), you can turn back if you wish.

Here we go. Obama bowing to a Japanese Emperor. Go ahead and leave a comment telling me whether it is acceptable for an American President to bow to a Foreign Leader? Go ahead, I’ll wait………done, good.

My answer, I think it’s acceptable. Before all you “patriots” come after me with your pitch-forks and torches, I want to say a little something about this. First of all, I’m a patriot, I love this country, yeah it’s a little tough, but seriously, what you put in is usually what you get out. Note the usually, yeah there are the cases where people give it all and get nothing back, but that’s going really deep and it takes solid information to talk about that. Information I don’t have time to gather right now.

Alright, for those of you who haven’t heard I’ll tell you the “outrage”. President Obama went to Japan to continue his Asian trip. While in Japan, President Obama took a bow while shaking the Emperor’s hand. Critics and nay-sayers have been outraged at this saying it’s a disgrace that an American President bowed to a foreign leader. Now I’m sure the first reaction to some would be “hell yeah, an American President should stand tall and proud.” Shut up for a minute, this is my note, not yours.

I understand the feelings toward some people in that an American President should be proud and strong. Yes, I fully agree, but in saying that, there is a limit in that pride becomes overdone. Being too proud makes you arrogant and having too little means your weak. Obama wasn’t disgracing America because he wasn’t proud of it, he was obeying the customs of an ancient land and culture. In Japan it’s right to bow when greeting people. That’s the way they do it in that country and since we are in that country we should obey their customs. Right? If you say no, I’ll explain why you need to be slapped.

I distinctly remember when Mexicans and other immigrants came into the nation, everyone was yelling at them saying to speak English, do it this way because this is our land, or telling them to conform to our ways. Don’t dare say I’m wrong either. Because it’s true, we expect people that come into this country to respect our customs and way of life. Why shouldn’t we do the same in a foreign nation? What makes America an exception to that rule? America is no exception. Here we are bitching and complaining about foreign nations being “bullies” and not giving us imports as much because honestly our foreign policy has be shit and chips. It’s true. We have made very little friends in the international world. Those countries that stick beside us are great allies.

Think, this is the kind of crap that made America have a bad name, because Americans were too proud to accept that there were other ways of life outside our own. Because of all the people saying we shouldn’t bow to an emperor shows how cultured we really are. That’s how they do things over there and if you expect people to obey our customs we better make damn sure we obey theirs. It’s true, we shouldn’t have any exception because we are an International Superpower. That doesn’t mean anything, but if anything at all, that should mean we have to be role models for all the other nations struggling out there. How to be respectful and mindful to other cultures.

But then again, I’m talking about people who stand up and protest about gays and lesbians outside a school! Outside a grade school at that! Who gave you the right to condemn!? No one! If you’re anything like a Christian, you’d know that you are NOT to condemn, if you do, you are claiming you have the same rights as God himself and therefore saying you take his place, which I believe breaks a few commandments. What a good Christian you are.

Okay, before I go any further, I want to make clear that “you” is a general “you” and not you in personal. I’m sorry if I offend anyone about these topics, but honestly if you’re offended by this, that means you’re closed minded and stubborn (not conservative, because conservative is a whole different area).

Anyways, back onto Obama. This is the kind of stuff that really upsets me because we think we’re better than everyone else. It’s not just like that internationally, but it’s like that within our own boarders. Don’t get me wrong, almost every country has this kind of problem, but I can’t speak about them because I don’t have experience with that culture.

But to put it bluntly, if I were the President, I would do the same thing. Maybe not as full of a bow because yeah okay, he did bow a little low. There are certain bows:

The Nod- This bow is just to say hey, I acknowledge your presence or to say yes. Very informal and very secretive. Maybe suspicious, watch where you do it, you never know who could be watching…like me…

The Gesture-This nod is really a half bow that only comes down a few degrees from a straight stance and this bow is mainly used to do the conservative gentleman stance where you hold back a curtain or open a door for a woman you are courting. Yes I used courting, so what? Want to fight about it?

Respect Bow- This bow is the bow Obama should have used which is a full bow to say I respect your authority and see you as an equal. This bow is brief and to the point and both people should participate. If any of you have been in martial arts, you see this all the time. Even in fencing this is used.

Subordinate Bow- This bow is what Obama did, see how he holds the Emperor’s hand and bows down holding the position? That’s the bow that shows you are inferior. Which might be why people are in outrage, which is understandable to a point. Okay, he did the bow wrong and should have bowed first then shook his hand, or bowed with a straight back showing respect instead of hunched over showing inferiority. But saying that an American President shouldn’t bow is wrong because the President must show respect, he should be a role model to what respect is and how to act when meeting with a foreign leader like the Emperor. This bow should be level with the other person’s bow, eye to eye.

Worship Bow- This bow is completely bowing down in which the angle between your stomach and legs should be 90 degrees or lower. This means you are a follower and worshiper of whatever God you may believe in.

There are several other types also, but in conclusion. Yes, Obama may have bowed too much which may have came off as inferiority, but not bowing at all would mean arrogance and superiority. Which at the place we are in right now, we don’t have much force behind the smack we talk. But I hope you enjoyed my little rant. Oh yeah, I want you to do me a favor. Press “Ctrl” and “W” at the same time. Go ahead do it.

Well, thanks for reading again!

Okay, this is a rather serious one, actually a very serious one. So if you have no interest or concern of philosophical or psychological banter, I suggest you turn around…well…actually press the back button, but you get what I mean. This is about murder, whether prejudice or not, murder in a general and whole case notion.

Everytime I hear the news, someone is killed, some is murdered, taken away from the world with no understanding why (or maybe they do know?). Today, I got an e-mail from the president of Virginia Tech (not me exlusively) that two fellow Hokies were victims of a homicide 12-15 miles away off-campus, luckily, I’m not even a mile away off campus. First the big incident was Cho and the massacre that happened. Then it was some guy that decapatates his ex-girlfriend or girlfriend for whatever reason. Then now this. What is going on? Why would people do this to one another? What makes them click?

I’ll tell you straight out that I don’t know, I’m not a psychologist or a professional philosopher, but I can give amateur light to the dim topic. Usually for a murder there is always a motivation, target, and justification for these acts. Basic enough right? Well, I’m pretty sure there is a lot more than that, but hear me out and comment, give me your thoughts and questions please. Murder is a very serious matter and any insight or thoughts on this topic is more than welcomed.

Where was I, let me really start by saying we all say “I’m going to kill you” in a joking way, beat each other up, threaten in a friendly matter, but you never know how it is to see a beloved killed right before your eyes. Or what murder does to both sides of the spectrum. It changes people, it rips fragile and wonderful things apart, and it fills people with hate and loathing. Just because you listen to Death Metal, wear skulls around your neck, or dress like a goth, YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO THE EFFECTS OF MURDER!!! Got that, you should…it’s in all caps.

So, first I think motivation comes in. Motivation as in something driving someone to commit this crime. These motivations can be a lot of things. Anywhere from love, hate, religion, money, and pressure. Let’s go over some of these. Love can entice anyone to kill, weak minds and weak hearts usually do this in that one case, one person asks them to murder in favor of them being together or someone being together that another person doesn’t want together. The later happens more than the other, but it does happen I suppose. I’ll talk about the later since it’s more clear. It can either be the case of, for example; a guy like this girl, but another guy is already with her. This guy can just walk away, find someone else, or try to better the other guy, but the easier way is just to remove this obstacle. So he’s killed, but does that really happen too often? I don’t know, anyone have statistics? The most common is where a girl breaks up with a guy (and/or cheats and it CAN be the other way around with guy cheating) and is with another guy. That guy kills the other. Simple enough, I can elaborate if need be.

Hate crimes are very popular and common. Usually it happens with race, color, and sexual orientation because people just don’t like it…………….get over it, it’s as simple as that. Do they really think they are making the world a better place by taking someone out that is of some group they don’t like. Yes, yes they absolutely do. In their mind they are making a difference in the world, saving it from corruption and evil. When in actuality, they embarrass their families, wreck the lives of the victims family and friends, and cause panic and saddness. Not to mention take another chip out of the fragile economy. Think about, depending on how important and how much the victim worked, the government loses that tax money. They’re not helping, just hurting.

Religion is one other motivation either in that they want another religion out or they believe they got some divine message by what religion calls a “merciful and loving God” to kill someone. Okay okay, how does that work, if God is merciful and loving, He would not have them kill someone that he created in His image. Someone that is probably more pure, loving, and better looking than them anyways. What sense does that make? None.

Money. Everyone wants more money and everyone wants a good life, right? Right. Some people will even kill to get it. Money is the root of all evil and I believe it. Nothing good comes from it, yes you can buy a lot of things and have a good life, but does that mean it’s necessary to kill (excluding military, law enforcement, and other saftey workers)? No it is not, people trample over each other to get the best deals, they step on babies and children. They rush in stores to get the latest video game or CD, hoping to beat everyone else so they can say they got it first. What does it really matter? It just shows you’re an arrogant and worthless asshole (pardon my language). There is no need to trample all over people, there is a difference in camping out at night and waiting patiently than running in pushing everyone out of their way and maybe even killing people to get something so trivial and unnecessary. Do we need a brand new game or CD or gadget enough to kill. NO, absolutely not. Wait til it gets cheaper or when they fixed the bugs and stuff. Basically if anyone tramples people to get something like that, they are in my mind subhuman. They are pond scum in the bottom of a swamp. Materialistic and shallow. I’m sorry if that’s harsh, but no human being should have to risk getting trampled trying to get something for their child before the foamy mouthed lunatics rush in. Okay, next topic, sorry.

I won’t talk about pressure really, but if you want to talk about it with me, then I would be more than happy to.

NEXT: the target is the person they want out. Almost all murders are premeditated, someone is not going to go down the street and stab a random passer-by in the back with a 12″ knife usually. No, there is that thought of killing someone meaning it is somewhat premeditated. Therefore there is some motivation of doing it, what motivation, I have no idea. Talk to a psychologist or we can brainstorm, I guess.

FINALLY: justification. Justification is usually they’re resoning for doing this. It’s usually mislead, not very well planned out, and just plain wrong. Justification for love, is to win the heart of the person by removing a barrier or obstacle or by just trying to heal a broken heart. That doesn’t work. It usually ends in suicide. Justification for hate is to make the world better through THIER eyes. I explained it above. Justification for religion is to please a God that probably is pissed off at them at that time. Justification for money is to either get more from mugging, settle a debt (which doesn’t make sense too much), or to get something brand spanking new. This is a brief section about justification mostly because I spent time talking about it above.

Okay, I know this is long, but if you read through it thank you. I appreciate it. If I missed something and you want to talk about it or if you have feeling about anything I said please comment or we can talk online if you want. If you have been part of it and need someone to talk to, I’m available to talk, but I can’t solve any problems. Please, please, please if anyone you know or you yourself have witnessed a murder or have been through a tragedy and have horrible mental symptoms, seek the aid of a professional psychologist! I can’t stress that enough. But if you are intrigued about the topic or want to talk, I’m always open. Thanks everyone.