The Hypocrisy of Man

Hola, readership!

Today, I'm going to touch on something that might, quite possibly, offend someone. It might cause someone to get all huffy and puffy and go about blowing little pig's houses down. But maybe, just maybe, it'll get one person thinking.

And that's the person I'm writing for.

You see, I've been researching for a while on World War II for an essay contest. I mean, yeah, we've all read about it in history books and such, and we've all seen movies, but this was the first time I'd really read up on the full details.

Quite honestly, it's making me lose my faith in mankind.

Not because of the Nazis, mind you. Yeah, okay, they're probably contributing a bit. But what's really getting to me is how we in America go around, saying things like "Blah blah blah, Damn Nazis!" or "Blah blah blah, Damn Hitler!", when the truth is, we're a bunch of freakin' hypocrites. All of us.

I'm not saying we contributed, but what I'm saying is, we knew damn well what was going on, and yet we did nothing - NOTHING - to stop it. Not at first. Not until we were threatened by it.

Don't believe me? Look at the facts.

Evian, France, 1938 - The League of Nations convene with delegates from 32 countries to consider helping Jewish people to flee Hitler. No country wants to take them in.

May, 1939 - The St. Louis, a ship full of fleeing Jewish people, arrives at the U.S. and Cuba, begging for entry. We refuse, and the people are forced to turn back to Europe.

December 7, 1941 - The U.S. finally gets involved....the day after we're bombed by Japan. And we STILL don't do ANYTHING about the situation in Germany, though we KNOW what's going on....we declare war on Japan. Japan. Egads.

December 11 - Hitler declares war on us. Yes, that's right. They don't tell us about that, now do they? HE declared war on US first. Roosevelt had to BEG Congress to declare war on Germany.

This war didn't end until 1945, people. By that time, by the end of the war, 3,000,000 Polish Jews had died. That's right - that's only a number from one country.

There were 17 countries involved.

Sorry if I'm sounding...I don't know. Bitter? Sad? I just...I don't understand how we can sit up on a high horse about WWII, acting like we're heroes or whatnot, when the truth is, we sat back and watched while people died. The only deaths we cared about were our own people's deaths. Yeah, okay, we concentrated 90% of our military ventures on Hitler after Pearl Harbor.

But think about this: how many lives would've been saved if we'd had the balls to do something before we absolutely had to?

*sigh* I'm going to end this rant before I'm arrested for treason or something. Just...remember this. Remember that we're not this perfect country that people make us out to be. We never were.

We're just...America.

Whatever that means.

Until next time,
-Writer Girl <3

He Said, She Said - A Few Quotes to Make Life Suck Less

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.
- W.C Fields

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquests.
- Charles Lindbergh

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
 - Mae West

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
- Mark Twain

Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to
come back home
- Bill Crosby

I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
- Joan Rivers

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
- W.C. Fields

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we have no idea where the hell she is.
 - Ellen DeGeneres

The reason there are two senators for each state is so that one can be the designated driver.
 - Jay Leno

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
- Scott Adams

That Kid's Bopping to What Now?

Hola, ladies and gents!

Today I'll be tackling something particularly interesting to me - Kidz Bop.

Well, actually, kids and music in general. But I'm using Kidz Bop as an example. You see, today's post is addressing just what kind of image that we're showing our darling little kiddies when they turn on their radio. And, what CD do we all buy for our little muffins, expecting it to be totally safe and sweet and all about doing your homework and respecting your parents and helping little old grannies across the street?

Enter Kidz Bop.

But let's just take a 'lil looksie here - On Kidz Bop Numero Uno, released in 2001 and marketed as a cute little kid friendly thing. But...what's this? Oh...look at that... Livin' la Vida Loca, originally recorded by Ricky Martin. What does that translate to? 'Living the Crazy Life'.

And what exactly is that little musical gem all about?

"She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancin' in the rain. She'll make you live her crazy life and she'll take away your pain, like a bullet to your brain."

Dancing naked in the rain. That's nice and wholesome. (Not to mention talking about champagne, drugged drinks, cheap hotels...you get the picture).

But check this - I've compiled a little list here of songs that have been included on Kidz Bop with some....er...."less than innocent" meanings. Take a look:

THE EVIL TRUTH ABOUT KIDZ BOP

Get the Party Started - P!NK

Guilty of: Partying, Slight Sexual innuendo

Whenever, Wherever - Shakira

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

(counting the freckles on his body? Come on, what do you think they're doing?! Playing Operation?!)

Headstrong - Trapt

Guilty of: Violence

Are You Gonna Be My Girl? - JET

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

Toxic - Britney Spears

Guilty of: It's Britney Spears. What is Britney Spears NOT guilty of?

Let's Get It Started - Black Eyed Peas

Guilty of: Partying

Obsession (No Es Amor) - Frankie J

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

("Ooh, I love the way you freak it like that?" Again, what the heck do you think they're doing?! Dressing up for Halloween?!)

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Greenday

Guilty of: Suicidal Thoughts

It Ends Tonight - All American Rejects

Guilty of: Suicidal Thoughts 

Lips Of An Angel - Hinder

Guilty of:

It's about the guy cheating on his current girlfriend with his ex. Again. How wholesome.

How To Save a Life - The Fray

Guilty of: Suicidal Thoughts

Party Like a Rockstar - Shop Boyz

Guilty of: We all know how rockstars party.

Take You There - Sean Kingston

Guilty of:

In the first two lines, they talk about drinking and going to the slums where the "killas get hung". That's nice, isn't it?

Circus - Britney Spears

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

Fire Burning - Sean Kingston

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo. ALOT of Sexual Innuendo.

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga

Guilty of:

The song is about stalking someone until they love you. 'Nuff said.

Telephone - Lady Gaga

Guilty of: Drinking. Partying. Not being able to reach them on their telephone.

California Gurlz - Katy Perry

Guilty of: Drinking, Partying.

Evacuate the Dancefloor - Cascada

Guilty of: Partying

Billionaire - Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars

Guilty of: Greed. Sexual Innuendo

Alejandro - Lady Gaga

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo

The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas

Guilty of: Sexual Innuendo, Drinking, Partying

Dynamite - Taio Cruz

Guilty of: Partying

Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida

Guilty of:

Partying, Drinking, People Taking Their Clothes Off, Prostitution....you get the picture.

And it's not that I don't like these songs. In fact, most of them I have on my iPod. (Ok, not the Sean Kingston and that kind of thing. I really dislike rappers.)

But the point is, why do we campaign so hard against sex in society (The pure retardedness that is Abstinence-Only Education, anybody?) when the truth is, we're encouraging it? I mean, I'm all for sex in music. Sex should get to the point where people realize that it's just sex, not some big unholy act. "Accept it. Embrace it. Deal with it, it's where your babies come from." That's my motto! (Just kidding. That is not my motto....or is it?)

I'm not saying that this stuff is bad music, either. In fact, a lot of good music deals with weighty subjects like sex, drugs, drinking, suicide, depression, abuse, cutting, etc. Instead, the moral of this story is more along the lines of this -

"I got attention by being funny at school, pretending to be retarded, and jumping around with a deformed hand."

- Leonardo DiCaprio

Justtttt kidding! Actually, it's more like this -

"We're all just monkeys in business suits, running around and pretending to be executives."

- Unknown

Now THAT was deep.

Until next time,

-Writer Girl <3

(Song on my iPod right now: Paper Planes by M.I.A.)

The Questions That Haunt Us

Greetings, readership!

Today I come not with an answer or an opinion, but instead with a question. This is a question directed at everyone, and it's a question that I think we all need to ask ourselves - why?

The reason I'm asking is because today... was stressful. Scratch that. This past month has been stressful, at least for me, and I keep lying awake at night and just thinking. I think about all the whys in my life - why did this happen, why didn't that happen, why didn't I say this or why did I say that.

But that's the wrong why.

The truth is, I can lie awake every night for the rest of my life asking myself why everything in life isn't perfect. But if I do, then I'm going to wake up one day and see that I spent my life asking why it happened, instead of accepting the fact that it did. We all act like there's some big significant reason why everything is what it is and does what it does, but I don't think that human beings are actually smart enough to figure out that reason. I think that the smartest thing we can do is just to accept ourselves, and live with whatever comes, and stop asking all those whys.

Because there's only one why that's ever going to be important - why do we have to know?

I'm 15 years old. I spend all those nights asking myself why, but what happens if I figure it out? What's that supposed to accomplish? Is knowing supposed to make everything magically better for me? Is finding all these answers really going to make me happy?

That's a question I can answer: No.

So today, instead of asking myself why, I'm going to stop caring why. Why something happened doesn't matter a bit - the only thing that really matters is what. What we do about it, what we say, what we accomplish in our lives.

I'm 15 years old, and guess what? I don't know why. And I'm not going to know why when I'm 16, or 17, or 25, or 50. I'm never going to know why, and neither are you. Which is why I dare you to stop asking yourself why.

Instead, I dare you to start asking yourself "Why not?"

Until next time,
-Writer Girl<3

Whose Country Is It, Anyway?

You make a good point, Paparazzo. And it brings up a topic that I'd really like to address.

You see, in recent times, it seems to me like the whole world had clued in to “by the people, for the people”, and yet they really didn’t put the pieces together. To me, “by the people, for the people”  means that this country was founded by the people, and the policies and statutes of this country should be made and upheld by the people. It’s what we want, and sink or swim, it’s what we decided on. Our country. By us, for us.

And yet...

And yet today, politicians aren’t respecting the people. It seems like it’s all “by the politicians, for the people”. We say that everything is for the people, and yet everything we vote on is so slandered and torn to pieces and talked about and lied about and – it gets to the point where it’s impossible to know what the people want, because the people are freakin’ confused. Where do we draw the line between politics and flat out lying? When does it end?

These days, it doesn’t really matter what the people want. The only thing that really matters is what the important people want. The celebrities and the wealthy people and the lobbyists, they matter. They can voice their opinions and be heard. But us? What about the real people, the people that are affected?

What about what they think?

If we’re talking about Prop B, then I’ll use that as an example. People here, people that were against the bill passing, said that it only passed because of the ‘city vote’. But the ‘city vote’ was still the voice of the people. That’s the same mentality I’m talking about – you can only voice your opinion if you’re important enough to be heard. The ‘city people’ might not say the same things that you’re saying, but does that mean their voice is any less meaningful? Does that mean that they don’t deserve to be heard?

If we allow this bill to repealed, then what kind of message are we setting? “You can voice your opinion and be heard...as long as you’re saying the right thing.” Is that what the ‘American Dream’ has become? A muddled mess of political agendas and biased objections?

I say that if America is going to thrive, then it’s not a bill or a political agenda or a speech that’s going to save us. I say that the only thing that can save this country is reverting it back to what it was meant to be – “by the people, for the people.”

Listen up, America. Because one of these days, the people are going to start screaming so loud that you can’t ignore or muddle them anymore.

The question is, will it save us?

Or will it be too late to make a difference?

Affectionately until the next rant,

-Writer Girl <3
(Song Playing On My iPod Right Now: Up Against A Wall by Boys Like Girls)

The people spoke. Will you listen?

One of the hottest debates, not only the state as a whole, but my own town, is Proposition B. If you haven't heard, Prop B is "The Puppy Mill Bill". It makes breeders actually take care of their dogs, (Not saying some don't) and gives the dogs more "rights" I guess you could say. If that doesn't help, just Google it. That'd probably be easier than me explaining it :P. BUT! Don't believe everything you read. One of the biggest pet-peeves of mine that goes along with this bill is people saying it has to do with other animals, not just dogs. "It will leak into other industries" as some people put it around here. I mean really people? Really?!? Read the freakin bill. The laws we have now are almost useless. They aren't enforced, and that's a major problem. Maybe if they were enforced more, I wouldn't have supported this bill so much.  But the things included in the bill are almost common sense. It's sad that we have to write a bill making this all law. "The dog has to be able to stand and turn a complete circle in its cage." Really? That had to be made into a law? It's sad.

But what is even more sad is the fact that the bill is facing repeal. I knew from the minute it past (Really. The minute it past. I stayed up till like 2 watch the results) that  it would face a repeal. It past with 51.6%. As much as I supported this bill, I knew it wouldn't pass. I just knew it!  Everyone was talking about it. Not around me though. People around here know I never lose an argument. Especially with politics :P. But back to it not passing! EVERYONE was saying how it was going to "take away hunting". That's when I just said, "read the bill." I was tired of arguing. I knew I was right (Always am! ;) ) <- that looks weird :\ --Anyway! I argued with my teachers about it, I argued with my family about it, I argued with some of my closest friends about it. My best friend and I were yelling at each other at lunch one day about it. They got all their info from the teachers against it of course, but it was still fun to argue.

And that brings me to another thing! Besides Writer girl and myself, there was like no other student for it. We had to fight for what we thought, even if we were alone. A few teachers were for it, (thank goodness! I don't know what I would have done!) but that was basically it. This is a VERY big hunting community. EVERYONE hunts. Except me of course. I don't really believe in hunting. Yeah, yeah, yeah... "Over population." Sorry to break it to you people! Look at us humans. You think this Earth was meant to hold 6,890,900,959 people? I don't! So should we start hunting humans? Exactly. 


As a closing, I would just like to say thank you for actually taking the time to read this. Ignore the typos and grammar mistakes, for I typed this very quickly, displaying my anger on the keyboard. One last thing though. WE passed the bill. The people spoke. Will you listen? 
                           
-Paparazzo

What does one do over a long break?

Dang! Sorry to break it to you Writer Girl, but I doubt anyone really cares about your little comic dilemma ;) Maybe a few people out there :P

Anyway! What's new in the world of Paparazzo? Well, absolutely nothing! Christmas break is strangely boring, but thankfully, I have a few good books to satisfy my boredom.



The first being Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. If you want a really long book for a really long occasion (like Christmas break) I would recommend it! It takes FOREVER to really get going, but once it does, it's quite good.



Now I'm reading The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. And just like his last series, (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), I can't seem to put it down... I love reading about Greek mythology, and his plots are quite epic.
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As you can probably tell, Writer Girl has gone through and edited this post. (Note the pictures and all the correct spelling.)

Well, that's about all that's new with me! Now I'm just getting prepared for the new year :\

-Paparazzo