Bill Maher

His first offence: he is a comedian, but he isn't funny. I cannot stand that, I know they say that humor is relative, but to find Bill Maher funny you have to agree with everything he says, and if you agree with everything he says, you are a sucker. Anyway, he shouldn't be as famous as he is as a comedian, I watched a show yesterday and didn't laugh once, even some women comedians get a laugh or two, come on*.

Alright, but onto the more serious matter. Bill Maher is one of the people who I hate most, not him specifically, but that sort of person.. that sort of manipulative, hypocritical, left-wing extremist that I said university is turning university students into in my last post. He tends to talk about one of two topics (sometimes both) when he opens his mouth: Republicans and religion... and he talks about them in the most fucked up, retarded, one-sided, hypocritical, close-minded, ignorant, un-funny, egotistical, pretentious, narcissistic way... that is to say, he talks about them whilst being a flaming bag of douche.

On Republicans, his talks are usually about how stupid and bad for the country (The U.S) they (Republicans) are.. so right there he is forgetting a few things. I understand that the left and the right do not get along, I don't understand why they don't or why they are so stupid about it, but I do understand that they feel the desire to mock each other. However, I feel that liberals, like Bill Maher, tend to forget everything they stand for when it comes to people on the right. They have always been heavy advocates for the freedoms of man-kind, but only when it comes to themselves, when it comes to Republicans they don't think that they should have the right to form their own slightly different opinions about what the country needs, nor for what they believe in spiritually, environmentally or any other sort of 'ly'.
Also, as his lecturers go on, it becomes apparent that he doesn't actually believe in the two party system, and he doesn't know how a democracy works. I think that he believes in the idea of a two party system, but he doesn't like it when his side doesn't win. So he takes this anger out by slandering the other side, and at the same time, becoming a massive hypocrit. He talks about how the Republicans are 'dumb' and makes them sound downright awful by telling half-truths and one-sided 'facts' about them and saying that they scare people into voting for them... Which I find interesting.. I wonder how one would classify his rants about them. He goes on and on about how they are going to be the end of the country, while leaving out any potential good that they do, almost as if he is scaring anyone who is listening into believing his point of view.. huh.. interesting.
As for not understanding democracy, it is simple, he doesn't understand that for one party to be in power, they have to get a majority of the votes. It is actually that simple. If a party is in power it means that the majority of the people in that country support them. He complains about how the whole country hates them and thinks they are as bad as he thinks they are, whilst forgetting that they did actually have the majoirty of support. Of course, he blames this on stupid, easily swayed people rather than accepting that some people just don't believe in what he believes.

As for his views on religion, if you have heard of Bill Maher, you probably know his opinions on the matter. Most of it can be summed up in my post about 'People who are extremely anti-religion'. One part I didn't touch upon in that post, however, is that the people like him seem to go on about (in a really high and mighty manner) how religion causes so much death and bad things.. and apparently that is a good reason to abolish it. Firstly, right there you are ignoring the first basic human right. Secondly, religion does not cause death and suffering, that is completely false. Humans cause death and suffering.
Religion is not the only thing that has ever caused death or war, that is just a cop out used by anti-religious people. The fact is, even if there wasn't religion, humans would find a reason to kill and invade, we are just a bad species. Think back to before Christianity was prominent, ancient Greek times for example. Those wars weren't about a difference in religion, they just  made war because it was, and is, in our nature. You didn't have slaves in ancient Greece because the gods said it was fine, you just had them because you could and it made life easier. Blaming Christianity for bad things is pointless, it is like saying that the war in Iraq is a war for oil. We blame things because we have to have a reason for everything, we have to have something to blame everything on.. it is just in our nature.


* Yes, I am saying that women comedians aren't funny. Got a problem with that? Go watch a whole heap of women comedians and tell me I am wrong.

University

Not so much a problem with the idea of furthering your studies, just with how it actually is.

The first thing that I noticed about the people who I know that have packed up and gone to university is that they have turned into... how do I put this.. ragin' liberals. I have no problem with people on the left (well, I find the whole political compass thing to be pointless and counter-productive, but that is not the point), but one gets tired of hearing about how fucked America is, and how Fox represents everything bad in the world... Hey, here's an idea, shut the hell up. You know what is worse than Fox news? Repeating everything your hippy lecturer says and adopting all of their values. I thought that university was for the open-minded individuals of our societies to go and learn about their desired field, not a place to go and become liberal elitists. "Fox news is just a mouthpiece for the Republican party/vice versa, I prefer more non-bias shows" oh yeah? Interesting that you care about that, considering you live in fucking New Zealand, and what exactly do you watch then? "Oh, I watch the Daily Show and The Colbert Report every night*"..... oh, those shows that almost exclusively mock those on the right... huh, I can see you have a very accurate idea of what the phrase 'non-bias' means.

Another thing that annoys me about university is the papers/courses available, seriously.. B.A's? Why even bother? They seem so incredibly pointless to me, mainly due to the invention and expansion of the internet. If you want to learn about media or theatre or communication that badly, why not just google it? How is it going to help you in a career hunt, at all, if you show a piece of paper that says you learned about movies for 3 years? **
In New Zealand, uni students tend to have a 4 month holiday over the end of one year and going into the next one, the purpose of this (I have been informed) is to let the students go out and get work experience in the field which they are studying. This is not done. They use it to drink, work at some crappy job, use the money to drink more. The reason for this is that a heck of a lot of students can't get work in their specific study-field, because jobs don't exist in that field. Which should really tell them to change their degree, maybe to something that actually has ample opportunities for work.. maybe. Otherwise just go for it, at least you can hang your degree in your office when you get a desk job, which doesn't utilise any of the skills/knowledge you spent all that time and money on, and never will.

Also, uni is full of hipsters.. filthy fucking hipsters.

*For the record, I actually really enjoy both of these shows, as well as highly respecting both of these men, but that is beside the point.

**An exception for the pointlessness of a B.A: if it is combined with something not pointless e.g. teaching.

This quote:

"In A Society That Has Abolished All Adventure The Only Adventure Left Is To Abolish That Society"
 (Link)

Now, this is clearly a quote that is implying that anarchy would be good, not that the people who quote it know that, they think it is just saying that people don't take enough risks or some shit like that. But either way, it is ridiculous! I mean, by abolishing society in favour of adventure, you are just going to create a different society, one that is completely adventurous, but it will become the norm and you will be left with another 'boring society'?

But it isn't really the 'plot holes' in the quote that annoy me, it is the people who use this quote as some form of inspiration behind their life, it all links back to my previous 'Teenagers refusing to grow up" post. It's the sort of people who think that to grow up and accept your place in society is boring, who think that getting a 9 till 5 job is selling out, people who think that the only thing to life is adventure but only if it is their idea of the word... you know, immature people. What these people need to realise is that 'adventure' does not mean 'going out and causing disturbances by being a moron'.

This is a reasonably short post because I have covered most of it before.. but people need to realise that society is a necessary part of life, also they need to see that 'society' and 'adventure' can actually go together. Their thirst for adventure is actually just typical teenage rebellion, but when you have rebelled against everything the only thing left to rebel against is rebellion itself.

Journalists (in New Zealand at least)

Now I don't know what it is like with journalists in other countries, but in New Zealand, something is going seriously wrong with the way they go about their jobs, or maybe it has always been happening and I have only started caring recently.. either way, it is damn annoying.

I don't have any journalist training, so I don't know if this is how they are trained, but my idea of their profession is that they should be there to research and present facts, not opinion. And if they do really need to present opinion, they shouldn't be sharing their own, but the ones they do share should be shared in a way that represents both/all sides of the story! I am so tired of news programmes in NZ trying to have bias, but not being able to make up their mind on which bias that is, they sort of just end up presenting stories which say "the government did this, which is bad. But the opposition was offering this.. which is also bad.. now, a story about ducks". STOP TRYING TO EMULATE AMERICAN NEWS! Our left and right wing parties don't lean that far in their respective directions, certainly not far enough to warrant news programmes with political favouritism.

But then, if they don't succeed in having a political bias, they decide it isn't worth having actual news on the news. Instead, they have a sop story, where someone got ripped off by someone or lost something or got kicked out of somewhere, accompanied by a tear jerking musical number and the most one sided investigative journalism the world has ever seen. Case and point, Close Up. Which is comprised entirely of stories like this. Designed to tell people what they are pre-disposed to hearing to provoke an emotional reaction (and a sense of satisfaction about the fact that someone on television agrees with their views eg. animals are good, activists are good, humans are bad, zoos are bad, aquariums are bad, corporations are bad, builders are bad, governments are bad). An example of this, tonight on Close-Up they were doing a story about NZ's national museum (Te Papa), who came out today saying that they would recommend that pregnant or menstruating women do not go on a behind-the-scenes tour of a Maori exhibition so to respect some cultural beliefs.. they weren't saying you can't, just that if you are pregnant or menstruating and want to respect their beliefs, you shouldn't.. but, mind you, only for that one behind the scenes tour, the rest of the museum is fine. However, in the build up to Close-Up tonight, we hear Mark Sainsbury's voice yelling "Tonight, why has our national museum told women to stay away!?!"..... Fuck you, Mark Sainsbury. You are an abomination, and yet you get praised as one of our top journalists?

Really, all I want is to be able to sit down and watch actual, well researched, news stories from New Zealand and from around the world presented to me in factual and non-bias way, preferably with an attempt at showing both sides of a story. Instead I get sensationalised news stories for 15 minutes, and then articles which can best be described as un-news-worthy crap for the next 45. But I am not sure who to blame. Is it us for putting so much pressure on them with ratings, or by having short attention spans? Maybe if we took away the yearly 'Best News Show' award, they might just stop fishing for ratings and start presenting the facts.

(Although, if you are in New Zealand and want good news, Prime News at 5.30 is pretty good. Short and, in my opinion, far superior to channel 1 or 3's news.)

Opposition to cubicle dairy farming

*Sigh*.. People and their views about animal rights, huh? I blame Disney.

Righto, a little back-story for anyone who doesn't know what cubicle farming is. It really depends who you ask.. For example, if you ask me, it is a cheaper, more efficient (and in some cases better for the animals) way to get the products that we love. And simply involves housing farm animals in indoor cubicles.. However, if you ask S.A.F.E or Greenpeace or any of those hippy types, they will probably describe it as more similar to Auschwitz... but with animals.. and probably say that cubicle farms are worse, you know, because they value animals more than humans.
Aaaanyway, recently (yesterday) three companies revived attempts to secure land-rights for some large-scale cubicle farms. And as expected, there have been outcries from usual spouters of animal-rights propaganda. But again, that is to be expected, as they will not be happy until man-animal marriages are legalised and everyone drinks their own urine (I assume).

Arguing against 'factory farming' does not make sense to me, especially when it comes to dairy farming. The reason for this is that it is better for the damn cows! They are housed indoors only for eight months of the year, the eight coldest months of the year. This is beneficial (especially in the areas where the farms are planned) because cows do not actually have much resistance to cold or wet weather, due to their lack of insulation (e.g. wool). So it actually makes sense, for the benefit of the animals, to keep them indoors during the cold times of the year. In fact, if they had any concept of the word 'prefer', the cows would probably prefer it.

Also, it is potentially better for the environment. Having taken (and failed) year 11 geography in high-school, I think I know a little about the environmental effects of dairy farming. And one of the downsides of high-density outdoor farming during the winter is the damage that is done to the ground. Damage which is very difficult to reverse and damage which makes it unlikely for anything to grow on that piece of ground. But having the cattle indoors during the time when that land is saturated would surely help to prevent this issue, making for more pasture in the warm/dry seasons - more milk produced. Another environmental problem caused by dairy farming is effluent run off into waterways, which I don't really feel the need to explain, nor do I think I need to explain why indoor farms could drastically lower run-off. But the only reason I care about that is because I don't want to be drinking shit.

So the last (and main) reason that I believe it is ridonculous to oppose them comes down to my personal views on animal rights. Now, I am going to get this out of the way first, I am not an advocate for animal cruelty.. but I think I have a different idea of what 'animal cruelty' entails than most, and I also see farm animals as tools rather than animals. It is much the same as the way that ancient Greeks/Romans saw their slaves, just with less moral wrongness... Anyway, to me, the animals are the property of the farmers, they need them to earn their living, and they need them to provide us with the delicious delicious dairy products(/meat/eggs in other cases). So right there you have a farmer's motive to not kill the animals, also the healthier the animals are, the better product they will produce - motivation to keep them reasonably healthy. It is much the same as how a farmer isn't going to go key his own tractor.
I think the thing that really annoys me is that it seems to me that people are only like 'no caged animals' for show.. Studies show that massive majorities of people are against animal cruelty and prefer free-range farming... but free-range eggs only make up 10% of the sale numbers when it comes to eggs. And that is why I despise animal activists.. The ones who are serious about it should be classed as clinically insane, and the rest of them are just like "oh man, I hate farms, fuck those guys", then go home and have a steak for tea. If you are against factory farming, eat free-range products, if you are against farming in general, be a vegetarian, otherwise shut the hell up.

Being nice to people.

Okay, so the title doesn't really capture the essence of what I want to talk about, but meh. It seems that in this day and age, respecting everyone is the greatest thing that people can do, and it has been that way for a long time. However, I believe that the meaning of 'respect' has become twisted somewhere along the way.

Firstly, it seems that to most people, respect means 'to be nice to them no matter what', this means you cannot question them, their opinions or their way of living. But to me, it means something completely different. People think that because I disagree with their opinions and think that they are wrong, I am not respecting them... no, I am just not agreeing , it doesn't meant that I don't respect them. I can get into a discussion with someone about a topic.. say, the environment.. disagree with everything they say, potentially throw in some insults, and come out of it not thinking less of them as a person (in fact, possibly thinking more of them, I respect people who will fight for their views). To me, that is respect.. the ability to have a massive argument/debate and come out with no hard feelings. But unfortunately that is not really how it works, for example, I was having an argument about saving beached whales (I was, of course, on the 'no need to save them' side) and someone piped up in the middle saying that I was a cunt and that they don't like me, purely because I didn't share their opinion.... Which gracefully brings me to my next point.. the warped conditions of being nice/showing respect: The fact that that being nice to people and showing respect for them only applies if the person shares opinions that the majority of humans share, or if their opinions and views aren't objectionable. So if a person is not against whaling, they are a bad person and don't deserve as much respect as someone who is against whaling. And you may say that this isn't true, but I have had plenty of experience with this way of thinking and I maintain that it is true.

My guess as to why people think less of you if you disagree with them is that I believe that 'being nice' to someone has lost all meaning. It is just something that you are expected to do no matter what, and that includes respecting other's opinions and not being outspoken about your own ("I would rather be overly nice to people than overly mean"). But to me, that doesn't make much sense, it has softened people and made them over-react when other people disagree with them. They are so accustomed to that old 'treat others as you wish to be treated' sort of thinking that we have hammered into us from a young age, that when someone doesn't agree with them, and tells them that their "opinion is stupid", they don't know how to react so just instincively react with agression ("yeah? well you are a cunt"). Therefore I think that maybe 'niceness etiquette' needs to change.. being nice to people shouldn't be the something you do to avoid conflict, people being nice to you should be something that is deserved.

Respect, not niceness, should be the 'default setting', regardless of whether they agree with you or not. That's not to say that you shouldn't quesiton their opinions, go hard! But when it (the argument, discussion, whatever) is over, still respect them, respect that they have their own ways of thinking and while they may not be the same as yours, that doesn't make them any worse of a person.

Saving beached whales

Here it is, my triumphant return to being annoyed. It has been a while, but nothing has really been annoying me until today.. with a sudden explosion of people talking about preserving animals and saving beached whales.

Now, I am aware of how evil this makes me sound, but I do not think that beached whales should be saved. I spend a lot of my time being told by people about how intelligent animals are, particularly whales. But it seems to me if a whale can make it's way out of the enormous habitat it calls it's home and land itself on the comparatively small area where it can't survive, that it isn't so intelligent. In fact, one might go as far as to say that it would be beneficial to the species if these whales do die. It all has to do with natural selection, and for all we know, by interfering with nature and trying to save whales that beach themselves, we may actually be hindering their progress as a species.

But what bugs me is that people try to claim that humans are at fault for whales beaching themselves, stuff about over-fishing or sonar.. you know.. bullshit. Firstly, there have been cases of whales beaching themselves since the 1500's, long before sonar, and I assume that over-fishing wasn't a problem back them or else we probably wouldn't have much fish today. Secondly, how on Earth would they have any idea about what causes it? All they have are assumptions and coincidences. When you get down to it, we probably have about as much idea about how a whale's brain works as they have about how ours work. Sure, you say, science has done research, but as I have made clear, I don't actually trust scientists and maintain that all their theories are, at best, educated guesses.

But now for the main event. The biggest reason I have for not thinking whales should be saved. It isn't fair... How many fish wash up on a beach and become stranded every day? And yet, best case scenario, only a few of them are even noticed by humans. And yet, as soon as a big ol' cute endangered whale washes up, entire communities come in droves to help save it. It seems that a lot of 'green' people believe that we don't have the right to kill any animal we want, but if they think that, why do we have the right to save any animal we want? It just seems that we are picking and choosing which animals we like, and those are the ones that we are going to save. As for the rest of them, come get us when they are endangered or they have a movie made about them. Quite frankly, it is disgusting. We choose to save the flightless birds but forsake the predators who feed on them, we publicise the efforts to save the whales and dolphins, but continue to show stories that make us fear the more heavily endangered sharks. We need to get over this idea that we can pick and choose which animals we save. Save them all, or save none and let nature take it's course.

People Who Hate Muslims: Part 1.

You've always gotta have somebody to hate.

I get that. As a society without a predisposition towards the downfall of a particular group we would quickly turn on each other and once again dinosaurs would rule the Earth. But what annoys me so much is people who discriminate against entire groups of people when only a few individuals from that group are truly worth hating.

This is the basis of my loathing for people who hate Muslims.

How many Muslims, in the history of the world, have committed what would be deemed as an act of terrorism? Going on current rates you'd have to say it was easily less than 10,000.

10,000, as a maximum, in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Currently there is, in excess of, 1 Billion Muslims. Not even counting the ones who have died throughout the centuries, that's still only 0.001% who have committed terrorist acts - and yet they're all grouped together into one huge hateable melting pot. Despite the fact that a majority of Muslims you will never come into contact with and who will never, despite what you think, rape your churches and burn your women; despite that, you hate all of them. "Better of without 'em" you'd say. Fuck you.

The point that people so often miss is that these groups, these large faceless societies you are presented by the media are actually filled with people. Actual, real life, people. Ones who probably care more about what they're having for dinner than blowing up your tacky house and your ugly wife and your retarded son. These people just want to live their own lives.

"But they hate us!" you say. Well, why wouldn't they?

People who are extremely anti-religion

Good weekend? Yeah, same. Big topic today.

Now, the title of this piece may lead you to believe that I am part of some sort of religion, don't think that, I'm not. I don't believe in God, Allah, or any sort of higher spiritual power. But in saying that, I am not against the idea of them or people who do believe them. You could be forgiven for thinking that I am/I do, especially if you know me, but I have had a change of heart this year. I used to be a massive 'anti-christian/religion' sort of guy, but I had the change of heart when a friend told me that he no longer believed in God and sort of credited me with the development, which, truth be told, made me feel awful. I have sort of grown to the point where I despise science and scientists more than religious people. Hence the topic of todays rant.

It was a weird feeling when I decided to be more open-minded to the idea of religion and started noticing just how ignorant and close-minded all these supposed 'open-minded' atheists actually are. They go on and on about how stupid religion is, and how only weak people are religious (which I hope isn't true, because, despite what they say, one hell of a large chunk of the worlds population follow some sort of religion) and how religious people are just sheep, taking the word of the bible and their preachers/priests/reverends/etc as truth without asking any questions. But for the most part, all these atheists do the exact same thing with science/scientists. They will believe, without a doubt, that we evolved from apes and that the universe was formed by the big bang, simply because scientists say that it is likely that we did/it was.

They claim that logic is the difference between science and religion, that evolution is likely and that God is unlikely. But, as I asked of someone yesterday, when you really think about it, putting all bias aside, what makes anyone think that we, as tiny, insignificant humans, would have any idea, or any kind of miniscule grasp, about what is likely or logical? It doesn't make sense to me, scientists talk about how old and infinitely massive the universe is, and yet they think that despite that, anything they say is relevent. That doesn't seem like logic to me, it just seems like pure desire/need/want to convince themselves that there is some sort of meaning to life, which really, is all religion and religious people are trying to do as well. The only difference is that religious people have actually found a meaning to their life and are happy with it.

Anyway, I am not trying to discredit science here, I am not saying that anyone who doesn't follow a religion annoys me. It is the people who go around telling Christians that their beliefs are retarded and screaming about how science has proved religion wrong etc. As someone who doesn't believe in a higher power but likes to think that they are (now) tolerant of other peoples' religious beliefs, these other types of atheists genuinely offend me. Why, you ask? Because they are going around giving me a bad name, making religious people think that anyone who doesn't believe in God is going to jam their non-spiritual views down their throats. They also create the illusion that all atheists masturbate over the idea of evolution, but to me (and I'm sure, many others) evolution is just as illogical as creationism, I prefer to go on the idea that, for all I know, the universe always has, and always will exist and that Humans exist, end of story, and that is all I need to know, I don't care how or why we are here, we just are.

The inability of some people to understand what 'ethnicity' means.

This annoyance links back to a part of my job, so bear with me.

One of the factors of my work is entering Workforce Survey data, one of the questions on this survey is about ethnicity, and a shocking amount of doctors don't seem to know what it means. Every time the census rolls around this misunderstanding happens on a much larger scale, with the whole public, not just doctors. They seem to think that 'ethnicity' is just another word for 'nationality' or 'cultural identity', which, as I'm sure you all know, it isn't. I don't know what the deal is with other countries, or if this even affects you, but in New Zealand we have two main ethnicities that cause the problem: New Zealand Europeans, and Maori (our indigenous people, for those of you playing at home).

The problem is, that a huge amount of NZE's and Maori people seem to think that this distinction between them in ethnicity questions is racist, or un-patriotic, or like, a metaphor for a divide in our national identity.. something like that.. anyway, whatever their reasons are, they are wrong. Every time the census rolls around, we hear the same thing, "Make sure you put 'Other: New Zealander' as your ethnicity, don't abide by their racist regime". And the people who say these things are the people who make me want to beat my face against a wall until I am dead. Don't get me wrong, I am all for unity within my nation, I hate the fact that some Maori peope are trying to push forward their rights to 'become equal' but are really just segregating themselves from the rest of us, as they already have all the same opportunities as a European person. I would love to see us all unite under one flag (literally, they have their own flag), but this ethnicity business has nothing to do with that! Ethnicity is about your ancestory and genes, not about nationality! So yes, if you are white, you may class yourself as a New Zealander, but your ethnicity is still New Zealand European, however you feel culturally does not change that. It goes for Chinese people in New Zealand too, I think it is fantastic that you see yourself as a Chinese New Zealander... But your ethnicity is still Chinese, buddy. Oh and as a quick note, 'Homo-Sapien' is not an ethnicity, you are just a dick.

This is something that always annoys me, some people just get so caught up in the thrill of causing a fuss, they forget to check if there is any logic behind the thing they are getting angry about. Before you get angry about something from now on, perhaps you should check a dictionary just to be sure you are actually getting mad about what you think you are getting mad about. And with this ethnicity business, all you are doing by rebelling against the question is shitting on your ancestors, come on, guys.

Teenagers refusing to 'grow up'

This actually annoyed me yesterday, but didn't feel like writing, and now I am in quite a good mood so this may be less extreme than other posts.

I have had an ongoing argument on Facebook (I have a lot, I think it is becoming a problem) about jobs vs living life to do what you love, my side was that at some point, a teenager has to accept that they are not always going to be able to do what they love and get paid for it, and that sometimes they need to relinquish their aims of being a famous musician or an artist and just take a boring desk job, or something along those lines. Whereas the person I was arguing with seemed to think that "money is insignificant" (actual quote) and that they can worry about that when they are old, but for now they are going to live it up and do what they love. Now I have nothing against that viewpoint, when you are in your early teenage years, once you start hitting your 18's-20's I believe that it is time to start growing up and accepting that you are an adult.

Sure, I am not saying that you can't go out drinking, have a road trip, play music, or do any other fun things that people in their late teens and 20's do, but you can't go through that period of your life thinking that money isn't important, while it would be ideal if it wasn't, the fact remains that it is imensely important. If you want to play/produce/write music, that is fine, but do it in your spare time.. if you want to get a career doing something you love, that is fine, but until you manage to get into that career you are still going to need some sort of income, and sorry, bud, but mooching off your parents or being on the benefit (without trying to find a job) just doesn't cut it with me.

And as for saying that money is insignificant.. are you mental? What world do you live in? How do you think you get those instruments/art supplies? People, particularly youth, have to accept at some point in their lives, that money actually makes the world go round, once they realise that they can get on with their adulthood. And with the realisation that money is incredibly important, hopefully, comes the realisation that while getting a job in a field that you love would be awesome and is everyone's dream, it is very likely that you aren't going to get one. Sounds pessimistic, i know, but that is because I am pessimistic. Young adults aren't going to advance in life until they realise that a job is a job, money is money, and that you always have your spare time to try reach your dreams.

I accept that in todays world it isn't easy to get a job if you haven't gone to uni, I was incredibly lucky to get mine, but at least look for one, and don't try look down on people who have managed to get a job, albeit a desk/office job, just because you are 'living life and loving every day".. you are actually just a bum.

Making fun of The United States/Americans

Now this is something that has always annoyed me, what is everyone's problem with The United States? Is it one of those anti-establishment things? Because the US is the most powerful country in the world you have to try undermine them? If I was running that country I would pull all of the aid, be is money or military, out of any nation it is in, just to show the world 'this is what it is like when we don't help you, now shut the fuck up'.

Something that particularly annoys me is how people make fun of the intelligence of Americans.. now I don't know about other nations, but I come from New Zealand, where mocking Americans for being stupid seems to be quite the 'cool' thing to do (despite the fact that we are like a bug compared to the US and could quite easily be wiped off the face of the earth by them). But the thing that annoys me most about this is that New Zealanders don't seem to take in their surroundings before mocking Americans, there are some very, very stupid people who live here, and that's the thing, every country has stupid people! Of course videos on YouTube are going to make Americans look stupid, they have been made for just that reason. (This all links back to people believing anything they see in the media - have I ranted about that? I will at some point, I hate the media - anyway, in this case I am classing YouTube as media). What a surprise that the video made by people who don't like the United States would show that they are stupid, and the fact that every single person in the video is stupid must mean that 100% of the people living there are stupid... now it seems to me that believing this makes you just as bad as the idiots you see in the videos (and they are idiots, I'm just saying that this doesn't mean every American is that stupid)

It just seems stupid to me that we have become a society who hates anyone in power, even if it is an entire nation. The thing that people need to realise is that in every factor of life there are extremists, be it religious extremists, activist extremists (I'm looking at you, Greenpeace), even right down to intelligence extremists, be they smart or stupid. So yes, there may be some extremely dumb people in the US, but there are extremely dumb people in every country, including the people who watch these 'anti-american' videos and believe them, if you ever watch these videos and think they mean that all Americans are stupid, you are your country's version of those people you are watching.

Vegans/Vegetarians

These types of people can fuck right off. I would also include animals lovers in there but, for the most part, they fit in the 'vegan/vegetarian' category, because if you say you are all about animals and yet you eat meat, then you are just a wanker. Anywho, these types of people (along with environmentalists) will probably come up more than once throughout this blog's lifespan, because they are right up near the top on my 'things that annoy me' list.

Lets start off with how pointless it actually is to be a vegan or a vegetarian. I would say that the only passable reason to be a vegetarian is because you genuinely do not like the taste of meat, and even then.. there must be some type of meat that you like, that shit is delicious.. Anyway, if you are not eating meat because you think it is going to make some sort of difference, you are a fuckwit. You may think "I know it won't make a difference, but I really just don't want to be part of the problem maaan", and many people may think that to be admirable, I however think that you just straight up retarded. Don't want to be part of the problem... what problem?!! Humans eating inferior animals to survive? Holy shit, it's not like every carnivore on the planet does that. "But Saam" you say "humans don't have to eat meat, we can live off things that were never alive", well, here's the thing, have you ever looked at your teeth in a mirror, see those pointy ones and the sharp ones at the front of your mouth? Yeah, those are for eating meat. And while we may also have herbivore style 'molars' as well, I never said we are designed specifically to eat only meat.

Along these similar lines, I cannot stand it when people say that the animals that we farm (cattle, sheep, etc) are smart or our equals.. What that fuck gave you that idea? Just because we are both living organisms does not mean we are equal. If they were as smart as you people seem to think they are, or if they were truly our equals they would have society, they would have civilization, they would have infrastructure.. but instead they live in fields, shitting and eating all day, if that is what you class as intelligent, then why does everyone hate morbidly obese people? The fact of the matter is, if animals were as smart as us, it is highly likely that they we would be the ones being farmed, or at the very least we would have some sort of revolution on our hands, no intelligent living creature just sits back and takes that kind of abuse.

Anyway, as a final message to all those who pose the question 'what gives us the right to do this to animals'.. The fact that we can do it gives us the right, the fact that we have been gifted with such a brain that gives us the intelligence to farm animals so that we have a guaranteed food source. Most of you vegans are evolutionists, therefore you are firm believers in survival of the fittest, and we, as humans, are the fittest. If lions had the means to farm humans for food, do you really think they wouldn't do it?

*This is labeled as popular culture because it has become 'cool' to think that animals have the same amount of/more rights than humans.

People getting all defensive about their opinions on music.

It isn't just big world and national events that annoy me, oh no, something as simple as having opinions on music can annoy me.


It is said, that what type of music you like and think is good is all about opinion.. But I believe there are different types of opinions: Mine (the good, and generally right sort), ones that aren't mine but would I would still adopt as my own if they were explained to me, and lastly, wrong opinions. Yes, I believe that opinions can be wrong, especially when it comes to music, and unfortunately these wrong opinions seem to be the majority.

Now, I am not one to give a damn about your feelings. If you say something stupid, or have a retarded outlook on anything, then I am going to point it out. It has led to a few enemies but I don't really care, if people don't know when they are being stupid/wrong then they will grow up thinking they are right their whole life, when they aren't. Also my 'in your face' method of pointing out stupidity helps them to become better at dealing with criticism, or at least, that's what I think.
Anyway, this all links back to music because liking stupid bands is no exception, if you like a stupid band then I am going to tell you that I think they are shit, and why I think that.

Unfortunately, I have come across very few people who can deal with that sort of criticism when it comes to music, and you may think 'yeah, but I bet you are no different', well you are wrong, I can take those sorts of comments when it comes to music, because I am so sure that my musical tastes are the best that I just pity the offender because they are missing out on such fantastic music. Here is an example. A person I know told me that I ruined The Veils for her (because I love The Veils and tend to obsess over them. listen to them if you don't already). Now that seems like an innocent enough comment, however I know the girl and know that she was trying to annoy me because she knows all about my short fuse, however, I did not get angry, I just said "I don't care, that is your loss". Which it is/was. And that is what people need to learn, if they are getting furious when I tell them that the Killers are the spawn of all average music, or that Muse sound like a sack of cats being drowned, then my opinion is that, subconsciously, they don't actually believe that they are a good band, either that or they are dicks.

Skins (The TV show)

Good lord, I despise this show. In fact, I hate it. I hate it with every fibre of my being. I don't know about you, or the people who, for some reason, watch it, but for me it represents everything that is wrong with youth in this day and age. To fully understand my hatred of the show, it is probably worth knowing that I also hate hipsters, so very much. Have you seen the the latest Rambo movie? You know the scene where he rips that guys throat out? That is what I want to do to every hipster I see on the street.

This point about hipsters is valid in this rant because it seems like that is what every teenager aims to be these days, except the few respectable ones (myself included, I'm 19 by the way, so I am still a teenager). My ideal dress code for teenagers would be: Jeans and a t-shirt that fits (possibly a sweatshirt/jacket as well) or a shirt (tucked in) and tie (done up properly), but unfortunately people just don't do that, and they are never going to while things like Skins are out there. Instead, we are having a generation of teenagers who wear t-shirts with necks that come down to their chest (which admittedly, is fine with females) and giant pieces of fucking material wrapped around their necks, not even scarfs, just massive loops of material. And don't even get me started on the piercings, when did it become cool to have pieces of metal in your face, or to stretch a massive hole in your ear.. seriously, it is just retarded.

Anyway, this all links back to Skins because it is a show that actively promotes this atrocity of a social trend, including all the other things that come with it. Things like drugs being used to measure how cool you are, parents and elders getting no respect, and not caring about your education are slowly becoming the norm with teenagers, and I, in all seriousness, blame Skins for a lot of that.
Now I am not anti-drugs, if someone wants to do drugs, as long as they don't hurt someone else, I am fine with it. What I hate is drug culture and people taking drugs just because they feel like that is what people are doing, and according to Skins, every teenager in Britain is taking 'em..
And as for parents, I think teenagers just need to realise that THEY ARE THE REASON YOU ARE ALIVE! You may think that they are dicks because they won't let you go to some big gig or something dumb like that, but before you go swearing at them and telling your friend about how you mum is a 'fat cunt' (yes, I'm talking about you, girl on the train), you should think about a few things. Firstly, they are the sole reason you exist in the first place, they are the sole reason you made it through your childhood alive, they would (and probably have done so) do anything to protect you from any harm... thought about it yet? Good, now go show some fucking respect and apologise to them for being a little shit.
And as for education, I shouldn't even need to talk about this. Forsaking your education to sleep with your drunk friends and take drugs may seem like a good idea at the time, but show some forsight, however you get your money, it isn't going to last forever. At some point you are goint to need a real job and who is going to hire you if you know nothing about anything (and no, looking up philosophical ideals online does not count as an education)

So there you have it, what annoyed me today, and sure, it may have been about hipsters and not Skins, but for me the two things go hand in hand. If you have a problem with it, leave a comment and I tell you why your comment is ridiculous.

Anti-Smoking campaigns

It's a bit late, but it took me this long to come across something that actually really annoyed me today. But trust late night television to do it for me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not against people quitting smoking, if you smoke and don't want to anymore, go ahead. But surely, surely, people now know of all the different ways to quit by now? And if new ways come around they can find them on the internet with a simple search, if they aren't willing to search for a good way to quit, it is pretty likely that they don't actually want to in the first place. Anyway, I just hate the hypocrisy behind the whole 'smoking is the worst thing since Cyborg-Hitler' movement. These are people who would fight tooth and nail for any other human right, but they hate the idea of something that provides people with a few periods of contentment and happiness a day, just because it will kill you later in life... heres a bit of news for you: living will kill you later in life! It is the one thing that is guaranteed in the human world!

"But Sam", you say, "they die such a horrible death and it is robbing their families of time with them".. Well, yes. It can be a horrible death, but anyone who starts smoking knows exactly how they could end up when they smoke that first cigarette. By pounding it into youth, who thrive on being rebellious, that smoking is the single worst thing that you can do, all you are doing is: firstly, teaching them things they already know, and secondly, giving them a great rebellious outlet!
And as for robbing their families of time with them.. For starters, that is the most terribly selfish reason for not wanting someone to smoke, but also it is such a cop-out. The time that is being robbed of you is the time that you would have spent going to the rest home to not be recognised by your own parent/grandparent.

It just seems to me that we have fought for generations so people in democratic societies have the freedom and right to do what they want with their own bodies, including smoking. It's all about personal choice people, if you don't like smoking, don't do it. You wouldn't want people coming up to you in the street or putting ads on television telling you that your energy drink is killing you and that they disagree with your decision to do it.

Whining Pakistanis.

This is not as terrible as you think.

I'm not annoyed at the people who have lost homes and families, futures and security in the wake of the terrible floods that have struck the nation. I'm annoyed at the Pakistanis who are somehow blaming the USA for this.

The US, the largest contributor the the United Nations Relief Fund, are being called out for not giving enough. Firstly, fuck you. The only obligation any nation has to another nation is a moral one. They don't HAVE to give any money or aid at all if they don't want to.

Secondly, you threatening America with a "Give us more or we're going to stop supporting the war on terror" isn't a particularly well thought out threat. Not only would this be counter-productive within your own country, where, you know, the bombings and attacks occur; but would also drive a wedge between you and the most powerful democratic nation on earth. Which, in summation, means they're gonna feel less obligated to help you out next time you suffer a natural disaster which your weak economy and poorly led government has no idea how to handle, leaving thousands, possibly millions to die.

So good luck with that.

A little advice, when you're suffering from the biggest catastrophe your nation has ever known, it's best not to drive away those who are offering you assistance and asking for virtually nothing in return (apart from your continued support in their efforts to stop your countrymen from being brutally exploded.)

Wikileaks

Posting this one rather early in the morning, so it is entirely possible/likely that something else will annoy me today, but at the moment it's Wikileaks.

I don't know why they annoy me so much, in essence, everything they are doing should be fine with me, they are speaking out against human rights injustices, which is fine with me, at least they are focused on injustices against humans and not animal. I guess I respect what they are trying to do, I just don't like the way they are doing it, as I don't really believe that citizens undermining other governments, let alone their own, should be tolerated. That is of course unless the government is of the oppressive nature, and you can say 'yeah but different people find different things oppressive', and the people who say that can pull their head out of their ass. If you have the right of free speech and are not being killed for being intelligent/from a certain tribe/of a certain religion, then sorry, buddy, you ain't got an oppressive government.

Now, I know it seems hypocritical for me to talk about the right to free speech and then get annoyed at wikileaks for manipulating that right, but I never said I wasn't a hypocrite. I mean, I wouldn't be so annoyed at them if they were just speaking out against the war in Iraq etc (I would still be annoyed, just not as annoyed) but for me, leaking government documents is taking your rights too far. We have elected officials for a reason, it isn't like they overthrew someone to get into power, they were elected by the people, you know, through democracy. And it is my firm belief that elected government should retain the right to have secrets, we elect them to make the hard decisions, if they had to consult with the public before every decision and if everyone had to agree on it, while that would be 'pure democracy', nothing would ever get done.

Also, what annoys me about wikileaks itself, not just the idea behind it, is that I have seen Julian Assange publicly admit that he presents the leaks in a bias way e.g through heavily emotive titles (Collateral Murder) and by not presenting the entire leak up front, but just showing the worst parts and not making it obvious that what you are reading isn't actually the entire leak. If you have to follow some radical, anti-establishment media form, at least try follow a non-bias one, anyone can make a story say what they want it too, if the leaks are that bad, surely they shouldn't need to use these kinds of methods.

A slightly less brief introduction to Luke.

Piss off, you dicks.

But now, in all seriousness, hello.

I'm Luke Robertshaw. Sam Doyle's co-conspirator in hating most things. I'm fairly pro-establishment and don't really believe in the right of the people and media to criticise elected officials for making responsible choices or for setting up plans that may take longer than instantaneously to come to fruition. At the same time I believe in the personal freedom to desecrate and destroy your own body as much as you'd like, in that, I'm against paying more for my cigarettes.

Top 3 hates being:

1. The creation of problems with no suggestion of solution.
2. Ignorance of the importance of established cultural practices (eg; whaling, cannibalism)
3. The general populace taking the media's word as law, without stopping to challenge why.

Oh, and communists. Fucking communists.
Not really though.

Reaction to alcohol law changes in New Zealand

Today in my little country our government reviewed and adjusted some of our alcohol laws, most notably, they raised the age you could buy alcohol from off-license premises (alcohol stores, supermarkets etc) to 20 (it was 18). Now you probably think this is what annoyed me today.. It isn't.. what annoyed me was the reaction by people in New Zealand.

Within hours of the law changes being released there were status updates all over Facebook that all went along the lines of "Fuck you John key, take away my drinking!! What a dick/cunt/wanker/choose your own insult". As you can probably guess, most of the people saying these things are 18-19, and the fact that they are saying them, I think, prove that it is a good decision to raise the age. If they are getting that upset that they can no longer go to the bottle store and pick up a 'doz', are they really mature enough to be doing just that?

Now, it is worth mentioning that the law change does not affect clubs/bars etc, you can still buy from there at 18, so what is it that is annoying these people so much? The fact that they can no longer buy large quantities of alcohol for cheap like they could from alcohol stores, essentially meaning that they can no longer get wasted for whatever they have in their wallet, which, funnily enough, is exactly what the government wanted!

We have heard all sorts of media and 'experts' saying that focusing on the youth drinking is not what the government needs to be doing as it is not 'tackling the problem'. But I would argue, what is better than teaching youth responsible drinking habits so they can carry those habits into older age? And I believe that having them go to a bar to get alcohol, where they can only afford buy a few and (hopefully) have a bartender who will cut you off if you get too drunk, is a good way to teach responsible drinking habits, or at least a better way than allowing them to buy huge amounts and getting smashed in the privacy of their own home. So I say, good on John Key and the rest of the Government, it isn't a quick fix like everyone wanted, but it is a damn good start, and I can appreciate that.

A brief introduction to Sam Doyle.

I hate most things, that is the main thing you need to know about me if you are reading this, and is the main reason that I am writing the blog. Now, when I say that I hate most things, I don't mean people(although, I do hate a lot of people), I really mean that I hate the ideas and opinions that most people have, I don't know why, I just do. Some people have recommended I take up meditation to calm myself down, to them I say: go fuck yourself.

Anyway, all I am going to be doing here is posting my opinions on different matters, topics and opinions that have crossed my path during my day/week/life. You may not agree with what I say, you may not even read it, but either way, feel free to get involved and share your opinions with me (be they opinions on the topics I am talking about or opinions on my views), don't worry, I am not as unfriendly as I may appear in my posts.

*A friend and co-hater of mine will also be posting on this site, and hopefully we will get around to some audio posts of discussions we have where our ideas flow freely