It’s Not Plastic v Paper that’s the Problem. It’s People
In the opening scenes of the movie “Independence Day”, Jeff Goldblum’s character was furiously taking soda cans out of the general trash and putting them in the recycle bin complaining to no one listening about how pollution was going to destroy our planet.
All the while the aliens were on their way to do that very thing and no amount of recycling was going to save the planet or anyone living on it.
Flash forward some 23 years. Cities across the country are passing laws that ban plastic straws! Plastic straws are now the “enemy” we have to destroy before they destroy our planet.
Really?
You don’t have to be a “MIT-educated technological expert” to know it’s not the material that’s the problem, it’s the people. People create garbage and people, in general, don’t care about the environment.
While it might make a few, very few, people feel good that they are using paper instead of plastic to improve our environment, the fact is that’s not necessary true.
See: Paper vs. Plastic Straws: Is Paper Really Better for the Environment?
What these paper v plastic laws do, in fact, is create a new revenue stream for the government with fines ranging from $100 to as much as $1,000 depending on how the ordinance is written.
Why stop at straws? Let’s make a law to get rid of ALL disposable plastics including diapers, water bottles, and the garbage bags we put our garbage IN!
Let’s not stop at being forced to sip our soda from a disintegrating straw. If we’re going to be serious about our disposable plastic problem, then let’s make a law to force of us to bring our own reusable containers to a restaurant to avoid having to throw out non-disposable plastic containers. Or be charged extra to request them, like the straws.
Better still. Let’s fine every single person who leaves a restaurant with their take-out in a plastic bag, including fast-food drive ins. Can you imagine the amount of money the government would make just by staking out one local McDonalds?
When are we, as concerned citizens, going to take personal responsibility and voluntarily act to change without having the government force us to with laws that only serve to increase their revenue?
Apparently, not anytime soon.
You Can’t Plan Spontaneity – Why the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock Failed
I was not all that surprised the 50th anniversary of Woodstock concert was cancelled.
The “reunion” failed in 1994 and again in 1999. The HuffPost covered this in “The Day the Music Died” (apologies to Don McClean)
In 1969, what is now known as Woodstock, was originally billed as an “Aquarian Expo” (as noted in my diary entry). This was a party. It was a celebration of peace and love at a time when there was nothing but war and hate on the nightly news. This music festival was going to unite us and bring us hope that our generation was going to change the world… for the better.
Thousands of people came together. There were only 3 accidental deaths, no fights, no shootings, no violence at all! Thousands of people listened to great music, got stoned and drenched, loved openly and experienced joy and freedom unlike any other event before or after.
Woodstock was a spontaneous celebration of humanity and all that we are and could become. You can’t plan spontaneity – it happens only once in a lifetime.
We came away from the weekend with hope that anything was possible. That somehow, the thousands that came together for one wet weekend would stay together and bring that feeling of peace and love to the entire world, or at the very least to our entire country.
It didn’t happen.
The next entry in my diary was the same as it had been before the festival. In fact, I didn’t write anything at all until December of that year, the week I turned 16 and could drive.
We all went back to our “regularly scheduled lives” and days later, we pretty much forgot all about Woodstock. So, is it any surprise that a 50th reunion was going to fail in today’s world? We accomplished nothing. We learned nothing.
Vietnam became Afghanistan and Iraq. Violence against the Black community is now violence against the immigrant community. The glass ceiling has been reinforced with concrete in many sectors, including pay and the right to choose what we put into, or have come out of own bodies. Politicians are corrupt. Those in the entertainment, sports industry and religious communities are exposed as sexual predators. Mass shootings and violence against the “other” is being reported on the 24-hour news networks.
We blame the rich for not giving more to the poor. We blame the poor for taking everything from the rich.
And everyone still hates the Jews.
For anyone to think, for one second, that the hopes and dreams of the Peace and Love generation could be re-lived, even for one day let alone an entire weekend is living in a fantasy.
Woodstock 50 was destined to fail, because many who attended Woodstock, or were even a small part of that weekend 50 years ago became the very establishment we were fighting against!
If anything positive came out of that time, it’s the legalization of recreational marijuana. Everyone should get high. It’s very difficult to fire a MK-47 assault rifle when you’re stoned. It’s nearly impossible to be angry at anyone for anything when you’re laughing at EVERYTHING!
And 2019 is not, nor will it ever be 1969.
Who knows, with a little luck and a whole lot of hope, not to mention peace and love, and hard work in another 50 years, Woodstock 2069 will be a success.
Peace!
*Note – there WILL be a 50th Anniversary celebration on the site of the Original Woodstock festival, but no matter, it still won’t be the same!
Author Raven West 
Bill Maher is Right! Obesity is Disgusting!
Raven West ♦ October 15, 2019 ♦ Leave a comment
Maher is not the only person stating the obvious: Dear Fat People by Nicole Arbour.
As expected, the response from the “feel good” media has been viciously one-sided in support of fatties like James Cordon and the ladies on The View,
You would think that living in sunny Southern California, land of beach bums and bikinis, the ability to take a walk or a hike any day of the week mostly every day of the year we would be the healthiest people in the county.
How horribly wrong that picture is.
Maher is right – we can get away with criticizing – and/or making fun of people who smoke, it’s an unhealthy habit to be sure, and we can get away with insulting the very few who still wear real animal fur, myself included, but make a comment to an obese person and you’re liable to be sued for “hurting their feelings.” People, the TRUTH hurts, so why not DO something about it?
Shall I not say that looking at you taking up three seats, sucking four times the oxygen out of the room doesn’t offend ME?
Commercial industries don’t want us to be thin or healthy…there’s no profit in a healthy society. Quite the opposite. As early as 2012, businesses jumped on the “Fat wagon” Fat profits: Business embraces big people!
The clothing industry now has “plus-size” models, there are more 14-21 plus size clothes racks than 8-12, The giant warehouse stores even supply motorized carts so these fatties don’t even have to get any exercise, they just drive their carts from food station to food station stuffing their mouths with free samples and loading their carts with processed food that’s full of fat, sodium, cholesterol and sugar.
Don’t they have mirrors? Or are the mirrors in their homes distorted ones like those in the fun houses? These obese slobs don’t even bother to hide their rolls of fat in public. It’s almost as if they’re proud to show off their huge size by wearing tight fitting shirts in neon colors, or pants that show their underwear line up their butt crack! What they should wear is a huge sign on their ass “OVERSIZE LOAD” in bright neon!
What’s so depressing is that their children are just as fat – parents should be charged with child abuse – years from now these same kids are going to be a drain on the already suffering health care industry with high blood pressure and early onset diabetes that we’re ALL going to have to pay for one way or the other.
I will agree that in some circumstances there are generic traits that regulate some to be more prone to weight gain than others. While we’re not necessarily “born fat” our tastes and eating habits are formed at a very early age and if the adults serve meals loaded with fat and sugar, that’s what their children will also crave as they get older – so then they can blame their parents as why they can’t fit into a normal size theater seat.
Not a subjective observation. Growing up in the 50’s my mother knew nothing about healthy eating. Everything she served was fried. Vegetables consisted of corn, peas or potatoes. There was more starch on the dinner table than in my dad’s dress shirts.
Her weight loss method consisted of yelling at me, embarrassing me in front of my friends and forcing diet pills down my throat.
None of these worked. It wasn’t until I joined Weight Watchers, at the age of 16 that I learned about good eating habits and received the encouragement of a group of adults who also wanted to learn to make healthy food choices and healthier cooking methods.
After my first child was born, I went back to WW, lost 36 pounds in 16 weeks, went to work for the company and kept off the weight until daughter #3 was born. Over the next few years 25 pounds came creeping back, and when the scale went over the 150 mark, I ran back to WW, dropped the 25 pounds, ran a half-marathon and am now, once again a comfortable 137.
This isn’t an ad for Weight Watchers – it’s only a testimonial from one person who knows being overweight isn’t a “disease”, it’s not (in most cases) a hereditary malady….it’s a choice.
We’ve put “no smoking” signs in every public area to keep smokers away from non-smokers. Why can’t we also put a “no fatties” zone so the rest of us don’t have to be subjected to being disgusted by these slobs?
Why do the rest of us who worked hard to lose weight and live a healthy life style be subject to these disgusting fatties – sitting next to us on a plane – taking up two seats at a movie theater – waddling down the grocery aisle while stuffing free food into their mouths every step of the way?
And we’re not permitted to say anything because we can’t “hurt their feelings?”
GET OVER IT!
We’ve all heard the lame excuses: fatties can’t help themselves, fatties are born that way, and obesity is a DISEASE. Really?
You have control over your hand, over your arm, over your lips. It’s NOT a disease if you have the power NOT to put something that’s going to KILL you in your body, no matter what that toxic item is.
But, as long as we coddle to and cater and reward these hippos with huge acting and modeling contracts, listen to their “accept yourself as you are” bullshit and offer giant sized food portions and unlimited “all you can eat” buffets and don’t make them face the reality of what they’re doing to their bodies, their children’s future health and the rest of us who have to suffer living with them, Americans are going to get fatter while the rest of us will have to suffer in silence!
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