Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

I work for a Japanese company.  In America (Detroit area) but it's a Japanese firm.  And one of the things I've learned about the Japanese from working there is that is you ask them ANYTHING or ask them FOR ANYTHING, the will ALWAYS ask you, "Why?"

Now, in the West, "Why?" is a very confrontational question.  Every time I hear "Why?" my minds follows it up with "...the hell do need [or need to know] that?!" I don't know if everyone feels that strongly about it, but I think you'll agree that if you ask me a simple, strait forward question and I answer why "Why?" it kind of puts you on the defensive, no? (Truth be told, in my experience, it really pisses most people off!)

Well... Anyway, they don't do it to be difficult pricks. (Although there's no shortage of people that seem to think that they do! LOL)  They do it because they genuinely want to give you the best possible, most complete answer / information the first time so you will not be misled, and they will not waste your time. (And possibly so you won't come back and bother them again! LOL) And really, although it takes some getting used to when you hear it every. fucking. time, it's really not a bad philosophy. Really? When you think about it, it's almost always the PERFECT question to ask!

Now I mention that, because as part of my work (as an engineer) we often have to solve problems.  And one of the Japanese methods (which I'm sure has been adopted  in the west in some places or companies as well) of problem solving is called the FIVE WHY'S.  It is believed that to get to the real root cause of any problem, you have to ask "Why?" at least FIVE TIMES.

Now... Take, for example: The Mortgage Meltdown of 2008.  (Although extremely racist, this exercise is a lot more fun if you read the following questions with a Japanese accent.) (And, yes, I know that I'm going to hell for that.)

WHY did the economy tank?

   (1) A lot of people were losing money on mortgage backed securities and the real estate bubble.

WHY were so many affected? (Or Why a was there bubble?)

   (2) A lot of bad and risky loans were being written by the banks.

WHY were the banks writing these loans?

   (3) They were making money from them. They were a huge source of revenue.

WHY were they making money off of them? (That's more of a HOW question, but it still works.)

   (4) The were combining them with other loans into securities and were able to break up and sell the resulting product at a higher rate than it was truly worth.

WHY were they able to sell them as more than they were worth?

   (5) Because the Bond Ratings Agencies were giving them AAA / Investment grade ratings even though they were hard too value, and no one knew what was really IN them.

Now...

Did you notice how I was able to go five layers deep without any real politics or opinion or partisan judgement coming into play? Of course, I can't go any farther without interjecting my own political "bias" (notice the "quotes" - I know that's just the bias of reality!) interfering with the analysis.  But there you go: Five "why's" got us down to a pretty good route cause, with statements that (1) Even the most blatant partisan could not really argue the veracity of (though some of the dumber ones will try) and (2) has no judgement, no liberal-this or progressive-that necessary to reach this route cause.  The mortgage meltdown happened because the ratings agencies inflated the grades of and overvalued these inherently risky assets. (If you're buying something and you don't know what it's worth or even what it really is? THAT'S RISKY. PERIOD!)

So I found it interesting, and I had to kick myself for not thinking of this myself the other day in my downgrade post, to read MMFA's take on the U.S. downgrade:

Attention Media: S&P Lacks Credibility

And it hit me like a thunderbolt!  Of course! These are the same clowns who basically, single handedly tanked the U.S. economy, into a deep recession that, while it ended, at leats officially, we are still reeling from the effects of, and are now heading into another one... THANKS TO THE VERY SAME PEOPLE!  They ruined Bush (not that he needed much help) and now they're ruining Obama (again, not that he needs much help!)

And yet the reaction by the Conservative media is all over the map!

CNN's Erickson Giddy About Downgrade Of U.S. Credit Rating

(what a rooting for failure scumbag!)

After Cheering Default, Bolling Laments Potential Effects Of Downgrade

Make up your fucking mind, you "Party of Personal Responsibility" HYPOCRITE!

Limbaugh Accuses Obama Of Orchestrating Decline Of America

Ok... I have to stop here, because this is just bat-shit fucking psychotic on multiple levels.  First of all... "Yeah... because nothing gets a President re-elected like a really shitty economy, huh Rush?" And second of all, in the plane of prime material reality, on the planet EARTH, there is not one scrap of evidence to suggest that this was orchestrated by ANYONE other than CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS simply because they knew their Corporate Media would the the "right" story / Right's story and people would blame Obama. Not that they'd really needed the propaganda machine here anyway: Blaming the President for a shitty economy is practically the American Past time!

Nostradumbass Uses Downgrade To Claim Vindication Of His Conspiracy Theories

Well, whoopdie-do for your crystal ball, Glenn!  The Republicans have been trying to prevent recovery and orchestrate a full blown collapse since Obama took office!  The only risk you were taking in that bet was whether or not they would succeed!  (And we've know they would for some time, because Obama has all the spine of an invertebrate!)  Of course... given you infinite wisdom into these matters... why are you consistently wrong on who RESPONSIBLE for it? Who's REALLY destroying this country, Glenn?!  And what REALLY caused it Glenn?  What POLICIES? (I'll give you a hint: The start with "Aw" and rhyme with "Posterity.")

Yeesh. 

Yeah, it was a good "Media Matters Day" for me.  On my lunch break, of course. ;)

I also finished Chapter 11 (ironically, LOL) of Utopia today over lunch as well.  That puts me two Chapters ahead of what's posted so far, I just need to figure out how far to space out posting them. In any case, it's days like today that are my inspiration for writing it. Listening to these liars is one thing - makes me throw up in my mouth a little - but knowing how many glassy-eyed, brain-dead zombies there out there LISTENING to these frauds, and BELIEVING them...  It just drives me fucking crazy.  And Edward serves as an indulgence of those feeligns.  Days like today make writing that - especially knowing what's to come - really, really fun.

Evil, yes. (And if you don't see it yet, you will.)

But F-U-N!

What the hell is wrong with people?

I saw a story today that, I have to admit, at least at first, caught my eye just do to the strange title:

Google Blogger Accuses Twitter Engineer of Sex Attack

Just for a moment take all of the actual human beings out of that story, and you've got to admit: That's a pretty funny headline.  Now... put all the human beings back INTO it, and read it.  If you want a fuller account of the incident, you can read her blog.

Now... Right up front, I want to say that I have no idea about, nor do I care to  speculate on, the veracity of the accusation.  I have not heard his side, I wasn't there and in any case it's not really relevant to what I want to talk about.  I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I'm also willing to give the other his day in court before crucifying him.  All that being said, I was appalled, for several reasons, at some of the comments being left under the article.

MrMikeBeezy left the following:

I DO NOT agree with her statement that it's not her responsibility to protect herself from such things. I guess if she likes waiting for the rest of the world to give a shit about her safety then, by all means, allow it to happen.

This was, presumably, in response to her statement, "It is not my job to avoid getting assaulted. It is everyone else’s job to avoid assaulting me."

And to Mr. Beezy, all I can say is, "Blame the victim much?"

I guess you shouldn't have bought such a nice car, if you didn't want it stolen.  I guess you shouldn't have put glass in the walls of your house, if you didn't want your windows broken.  I guess you shouldn't have gotten married, if you didn't want to be cheated on.  I guess you shouldn't have had children if you didn't want them kidnapped.

WTF?!

There is basically no other crime that we, as a partially brain-damaged society, are so quick to apply that logic to.  Why is it that every time we hear about an example of  MEN BEHAVING BADLY, there is always an element of the audience that will say, "Well, she should have been more careful!"

WTF?!

That's fucking insane!  It is not up to the woman to protect herself, with no expectation that her professional colleagues will not conduct themselves within the boundaries of the FUCKING LAW!  She wasn't hooking downtown for Christ's sake, she was at a fucking TECH CONVENTION!

And the dude in question can talk about "mixed signals" all he wants.  I've known a lot of women.  And every  single one of them has totally confused the shit out of me at some point.  But I've never received ANY signal that could have been mistaken for "stick your hand in my pants." And that includes from every single one who's pants I've ever had my hand in!

Newsflash: BLAMING THE VICTIM = TOLERATING THE CRIME.  And I defy ANYONE to find me any other crime where we find it so easy to do this.  It's barbaric.

Now...  Let the guy have his day in court, as applicable, of course. If he's falsely accused, than that's almost as bad as the attempted/actual rape since (1) being falsely accused of sexual assault is about the worst thing that can happen to you, legally speaking and (2) false accusations, once exposed, enable the very attitude I'm describing.  They cast suspicion on every other woman's legitimate accusation.  So, yeah, let him have his say.

But for FUCK'S SAKE don't blame the VICTIM! The expectation that one will not be sexually assaulted at random is no less reasonable that the assumption that one will not be shot or mugged at random in such a place.  IOW: It's PERFECTLY REASONABLE! And we should show no more sympathy to the perp, or less sympathy to the victim, in that case than we would for a robbery or a homicide. PERIOD!

Christ, what the hell is wrong with people?!

Then "God's gift to women everywhere," Daniel, posted this steaming pile of horseshit "gem:"

You'd figure he could have assaulted someone better looking. Come on, man. Have some standards.

Nice. 

This is just disgusting on so many levels.  I'd love for his mother to know he said that.  Or his wife/girlfriend.  Actually, I'd like to just  see him hit in the head with a brick, only to have someone ask, "Why were you walking under that falling brick, dumbass?!"

And before anyone tells me that, "Oh. it's just the Internet, people say all kinds of crazy shit." No.  Fuck that. Fuck it right now, because I've heard the exact same thing, said over a few beers at the bar, face to fucking face with people.  And I've heard it MANY TIMES.  So this is hardly the sentiment of a lone provocateur on some Internet blog.  This kind of misogyny is every bit as alive and well as the "blaming the victim kind."  (Though I've met some of the most interesting and coolest women in it, Automotive is still, very much, one of the "good old boy:" industries. So i hear this sort of thing a LOT.)

Now... As if blaming the victim for the rape wasn't enough, now the victim's physical appearance is somehow relevant?  I suppose if she conformed more to the "Barbie Doll" asthetic, she'd somehow make a more sympathetic victim? (Actually, in that case, the opposite might even be true!)  And whether or not that's even true, does that make it RIGHT?!

Putting that aside, for the moment, because it's so despicable as not not even need a comment, I have a newsflash for Daniel:

ALL WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL.

And I, pretty much, truly mean that.  All women are beautiful and the world is a more beautiful place for having all those women IN IT.  Take out the women (and the Homosexual men) and what would the world look like?  It would look like a pissed-on shit-pile, that's what! 

What the fuck is with people who (1) Use a Barbie Doll like a checklist:

Long Blond Hair? Check
Blue Eyes? Check
5'10"? Check
C-Cup? Check
36-24-26? Check
etc...

(Which I think would leave with pretty much just Pamela Anderson - who's a skank) And then (2) feel the need to ridicule anyone who doesn't fit the bill? 

What the fuck is wrong with these people?  Are they dating Pamela Anderson?  (And if they are? They can fucking have her!) And if they aren't?  Then who the fuck are they to talk?!

And that list?  The "barbie doll" asthetic? Fuck that.  Where does that leave a beautiful black woman? Or an beautiful Indian woman? Or a beautiful Japanese woman?  (You ever see blond hair on a Japanese woman? It looks RIDICULOUS!)  And why are we even TALKING ABOUT THAT?!

The sexiest part of a woman's body is BETWEEN HER EARS.  Yes, I'm actually physically attracted by a woman's intelligence.  That's make me a bit unusual, statistically speaking, but what can I say? Men of real quality are not easy to find.  And I'm also far more concerned with what's BEHIND a woman's ribcage that what IN FRONT of it.

Now... I don't know Noirin personally. I've never met her. I don't know if she's nice, and I don't know if she's smart.  I've read a bit of her blog... Not really my thing, but she certainly seems failry intelligent.  (Check.)  And given her quirky sense of humor (check) and the fact that she seems nice enough (check) I'm certainly already finding her far more interesting than your average "Pamela Anderson" type. And there's really not much more that you really need to know!

But then...

Red Hair? (check!)
Tech savy? (omg! check!)
Glasses? (...drool...)

(Yeah, seriously, I have such a thing for chicks in glasses. It borders on sickness. Seriously.)

I'm sorry, where was I?

Oh yeah...

Daniel? MrMikeBeezy?  You guys are fucking douchebags.

And, in the future, if you don't have anything nice - or relevant - to say, then just SHUT THE FUCK UP!

---------------------------------

Oh, and BTW... Should anyone find an inconsistancy in my proceeding to trash Pamela Anderson, right after saying that "all women are beautiful," let me clarify: Women are beautiful the way GOD made them.  Pamela's appearance is what what MAN'S EFFORT looks like.  It's the cheap, plastic result of trying to appease the prejudices of lesser men.  And it's really rather tragic.

---------------------------------

Oh and I uh... kind of apologize for that "really creepy guy" bit at the end there.  It was kind of tongue in cheek (and almost disgustingly over the top) though personally she does strike me, at least initially, as exactly the kind of person I'd usually be attracted to.  Kind of like...

Oh, I am so fucking there!

(The one with the beard is a guy though, right?)