The Controversial [American Centric] Survey!

[eumelia]

Gakked from omnivorously.

#1 Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?
There is evidence that suggests this, yes.

#2 Would you do meth if it was legalized?
No.

#3 Abortion: for or against it?
The phrasing of this question is boggling. Yes, everyone whose pregnant needs to abort that fetus. Now. Oh, please! I think everyone wants less abortions, but keeping abortion legal (which is what I divine for this oh so intelligently worded question) is the only way to keep it safe for those who undergo the procedure.
Of which there are many.
Personally, I hate the term pro-life... these people obviously have no respect for the life of the woman that is going through the abortion.
There is pro-choice and anti-choice.

#4 Do you think the world would fail with a female president?
As opposed to everything being just dandy with the various male ones?

#5 Do you believe in the death penalty?
No. Emphatic. The whole way the penal system is conceptualized is just wrong. Go read some Althusser or Foucault.

#6 Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Yes.

#7 Are you for or against premarital sex?
Marriage, the institution should be abolished by way of hammer.
That's be a yes, as the difference between premarital sex and "other" kinds are purely judicial and have nothing to do with the individual's right to do what they want with their own body.

#8 Do you believe in God?
I'm Agnostic and choose to avoid answering this question because it doesn't make any difference one way or another.

#9 Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
See answer to #7

#10 Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
I don't feel I have much to say about the issue, because I don't know enough about all the parties involved. But from reading what I have about it, it's a socio-economical issue (duh, right) which revolves around the fact that the United States uses these people as cheap labour while at the same time dehumanizing them by calling them illegals, while at the same time the United States economy created a situation in which the only viable survival strategy for people across the Mexico side of the United States-Mexico border...
What's really wrong here, I ask.

#11 A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
Yeah, who is this twelve year old?
Where does she come from?
Why is she pregnant?
Who is the father?
etc. etc. etc.

#12 Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
Hehe.
America.

#13 Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Preemptive war should a crime in the Hague.

#14 Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?
I think it should be an option open for people who wish to end their lives with dignity. I think it should case to case specific and not a hypothetical. Many people commit suicide. Some people want to and are unable to for various reasons.
Case to case.

#15 Do you believe in spanking your children?
I think in some isolated cases it is warranted, but as a rule corporal punishment should be a last resort.

#16 Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
Dude, I'd burn an empty house for a million dollars... and then give the money to the people whose property I destroyed. But I'd still do it.

#17 Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?
Obama... mainly because after eight years of Republican I don't know how much more the world can take. Also... he doesn't have a wingnut on his ticket or staff making stupid ass statements on television.

#18 Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Well, dear readers?
Do you approve? Agree? Disagree? Would vote for moi? Would see me a pariah of decent society?
I'm sure not everyone agrees, people after all, don't really share brains and even in your own brain you disagree with yourself on many things.
Am I right, or am I right?

Comments

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

I think I agree with everything you say, is 18 the legal limit for alcohol in Israel as well? I'm boggling at it being 21 in the US.

And I also hate the word pro-abortion.

To make it really controversial it would have to have question on guns (which I'm not a fan of by the way).

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Guns are tools, and any toll used incorrectly can kill you.
You take your life in your hands when you go driving (which statistically is the biggest unnatural killer).

I think the way the US fetishes guns is a bit, icky, but when you live in a society in which the cultural ethos supports guns as a way of life... I'd like to be armed to.

I dislike guns as a rule and having fires assault weapons in my life can see why people can become obsessed with them. But stronger regulation of bullets should be the way to go I think. Anyone can get a gun, but there should be a regulation on how many bullets you use in a defined amount of time.

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't not vote for you.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh? Well, strictly speaking I wouldn't vote for me either, because I'm a Loony-Left Wingnut :)

But would you care to elaborate?

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

D'oh!
I misread your statement as a negative, instead of a double negative!

*headdesk*

Thanks, hon!

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

I like how #4 obviously began as a question on Hilary and morphed to what it did.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Hilarious, isn't not.

Whoops, double negative! I meant "is it not", though you probably realised this.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

AHahaha ... I love how American-centric this survey is.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Tee Hee :D

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Y HELO THAR AMERICAN SURVEY!

The questions are very badly phrased indeed! In Australia, the drinking age and the driving age are both 18 - I'd like to see one of them (don't care which) raised or lowered a year. As for marriage, I think that in an unequal society it provides some (not great) protection for child-raising parents (usually the mother) and children. I would like to see it totally separate from religious implications though - "marriages" for religious people, "civil unions" for everyone. I know that's an even more important issue in Israel, and I understand why you would banhammer the entire institution!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I would like to see it totally separate from religious implications though - "marriages" for religious people, "civil unions" for everyone.

Wow, I really like this idea.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

If you scroll down, you can see my elaborated answer to the whole marriage thing and why it should be smashed and such.

Oh, um, here's the link to the comment: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/357733.html?thread=1870693#t1870693

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

Marriage, the institution should be abolished by way of hammer.
Would you care to elaborate?I don't see any reason to abolish it as a social construct.

Preemptive war should a crime in the Hague.
Sorry, but you're wrong.There are times and places where preemptive war can stop a much bigger war- say if Saddam Husein really had/did what the US government said he did then it would have been necessary.The six-day war, for all it's problematic internal fallout in Israel(the settlements for one) was necessary as far as I can determine.One of the first rules of war is that if you give the other guy the initiative you're at a huge disadvantage: the Maginot line in WW2 and Bar Lev Line in Yom HaKipurim are great examples to that.

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

Of course, there is also the philosophy that violence, no matter how well intentioned, will rebound on itself.

As Gandhi says, 'Victory gained by violence is tantamount to a defeat'

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

Gandhi was a noble man and had a lot of good intention, but I personally think he is wrong, because he was too much of a purist.In an ideal world his approach would work every time, but this world isn't even close to ideal, and there are people who don't see others as Human- excluding either everybody(sociopath/psychopath) or on some group basis(the extremist nuts on both sides of the current conflict).And his method simply doesn't work when the other side's goal is to kill you, pure and simple.

Which is why sometimes violence is necessary, IMO.I don't think it is ever good, but we don't live in an ideal world, and when the option is violence or wholesale death I personally would go for violence every time.Call me a barbarian if you feel like it, but the fact is that without people who think like me there would be a whole lot more of death and suffering in the world, because not only the army would disappear- the police would too.

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

What can I say, I'm a pacifist, and I take the Buddhist doctrine seriously, at least when it comes to human life.

The reason I can do this is because I believe in karma, and I believe in the ideal, I believe in it, I live it. I don't believe it's wrong, or that Gandhi was wrong - it's not a matter of right or wrong, it's a matter of personal choice.

The taoist mantra I repeat to myself when I find this ideal challenging:

"If it isn't enough, let things be and reside in the circle."

I can't control others, but I can control myself, and by controlling what I do I change the world, a little bit. And hopefully that's an example to others.

I hope I have the faith to hold out on this under the same conditions that Gandhi lived in, but Karma is everywhere. Things will resolve themselves, it's the order of the Universe.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Would you care to elaborate?I don't see any reason to abolish it as a social construct.
Really? You don't see any reason to abolish a social construct which historically has treated women as chattel and has done nothing but promote inequality among various factions within society.
Marriage is used as an excuse to keep religion up people's asses in this country... one has to go to very great lengths to have one's relationship recognized on the legal/financial/social level.
People who are "merel" long term partners do not, yet, have the same social standing as people who are married, those are considered a more solid relationship, despite the fact that nearly half of marries couples get divorced now a days and usually to the disadvantage of the woman.
The protection of marriage as an institution has made monogamy the only "normal" and "viable" choice for people, while it is clear that for many this is not so - both men and women - but those are considered abnormal for wanting to have casual or more than one relationships.
I can go on... but I think it's clear.

And I'm not wrong. We disagree on the actions needed to prevent warfare and bloodshed. I'm no pacifist, violence is necessary at times, but to fire in order to make sure that the other one doesn't has rarely been a good idea and has rarely had good long term consequences.

Sorry, long comment, but you warranted it :D

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

As to marriage:Why do you assume I meant just heterosexual,monogamous ,religious setups?I think that marriage, as a social construct of society acknowledging the fact two(or more) individuals chose to establish a household together for(hopefully) the rest of their lives is necessary from a psychological POV, because humans are social animals.As to religion- fighting crime has been used to push all kinds of super-restrictive laws: does that mean that we should stop people fighting crime?The fact is that there are many countries where people can marry without seeing a clergyman.I hope Israel will be one of them if/when I decide to marry.In addition, I think that making marriage a legal construct should be thought out, and is not necessarily a good thing.

And I'm not wrong. We disagree on the actions needed to prevent warfare and bloodshed.
We disagree on more than that- there is a huge gap, to me, between saying something is wrong and saying it deserves the attention of the Hague:to me, that's automatically equating it with genocide.And while there are justified preemptive wars there are no justified genocides.

to fire in order to make sure that the other one doesn't has rarely been a good idea and has rarely had good long term consequences.
But what I define as justified preemptive war is the situation where if you don't act *now* there is a very good chance that there won't be anything long term.If someone who repeatedly stated he wanted me dead points a gun at me and I have one he'll get shot, because otherwise I most probably will end up dead.It will tear me apart later, but I will do it, because I prefer feeling guilt to dying.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I never said anything of acknowledgment of relationships. I agree that is important as a social structure. But marriage as it is regarded today and most relationships which are regarded as legitimate because of the role marriage historically held and still holds in society is hetero-normative and monogamous.

I'm afraid we hold very different philosophical ideals about what is necessary and unnecessary in that case. Especially because when you look back at history, and history is rife with preemptive strikes it is clear that the consequences of that are always destructive.

Re:Marriage

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

So reclaim it.The same way you try to reclaim "bitch", for ex.The fact that a social construct is used for some purpose doesn't mean it can't be changed.There is no need to destroy it with hammers.

Re: Marriage

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I think you're oversimplifying the matter, especially by comparing an institution that is supported by religion (not just in Israel), the economy which bases itself on the nuclear family unit and various other societal rules and regulations to the word Bitch, which is not reclaimed by everyone and which still hurts when hurled at you as an insult.

[morin.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree on everything - especially pointing out the bias of the questions.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It was a fun survey to do.
It's very illuminating to figure out the bias and perspective of the writers of the survey... and then write differently than intended.

[kaetien.livejournal.com]

I am very much looking forward to my marriage. But I am also in a smart state, where the last wedding I went to was for two women.

Also, after having worked in divorce law for years, nearly every single divorce I encountered went significantly to the woman's benefit.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

#1 Very cute, cynically funny icon :D

#2 That's exactly my point, you live in a place where marriage really is a right and not a privilege and isn't considered through the religion lens.

#3 That could also be a function of the State you live in, because in Israel, divorce is notoriously hard on women... and that's the only real-life divorce I know. All other divorces I know are fictional in some ways.

[kaetien.livejournal.com]

I keep some good icons in my repertoire as ammunition to make conservatives CRAZY ;)

Society boggles me. That's all I can really say. Alas.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

*giggle*
and
*snort*

Respectively.