Well I see April has found an interesting questionnaire. I sometimes get in the mood to answer questions so here I go. And Bema has decided to chime in on them so why not?
1). Do you believe in God?/What religion are you?
Do I believe in God? I do believe that there is a higher power running things (and I think they are not doing that great of a job by the way) however in my opinion there has not been enough evidence to prove conclusively just who or what that higher power is. It could very well be God but I'm not so sure it is. So if you ever hear me say anything like "Oh god!" or any other references believe me when I say that those are cultural influences speaking, not religious beliefs. As for my religion I'm agnostic.
2). Do you believe in an afterlife? What do you believe happens when you die?
I'm not sure on the afterlife thing. At best I can say that its possible that there is one. I can't say one way or another since there's not enough proof to call it. I think what happens when you die is going to depend heavily on whether or not there is a higher power and who that higher power is. You might end up in heaven/hell, tartarus/elysium/limbo, reincarnated, ???
3). Are you proud to be from whatever country you are from?
Yes I do feel the knee jerk call to loyalty to one's nation but at the same time there is quite a bit I'm not proud of as well.
4). What is your view on gay marriage? Homosexuality in general?
Gays have just as much right to the ups, downs, pleasures, pains, benefits, and penalties of marriage as any straight person. As for homosexuality I have no problem with any sexuality as long as its limited to consenting adults.
5). Do you think sex before marriage is okay?
Doesn't matter to me one way or the other. If they want to let them do it, if they don't then let them wait.
6). How do you feel that sex education should be handled in schools?
Actually teaching it to them. Terminology, safe sex practices, genital hygiene, pregnancy, STDs/STIs, etc... History has shown that just avoiding sex doesn't really stop folks from doing it so you might as well arm them with the knowledge to do it wisely.
7). Do you want to get married and/or have kids?
Not right now.
8). Do you think any drugs should be legalized? Do you think there should be an age for drinking?
I would like to say legalize marijuana but if that happens then more than likely it would be so highly regulated (and heavily taxed) that hardly any one would want to to use it. And plus I bet the legal stuff would be terrible. I'm iffy on the legal drinking age. I mean even though there is a legal age for it there are a lot of people who are of age and still get drunk and do stupid shit.
9). Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
While not having a uterus of my own and a small part of me thinking its wrong I ultimately agree with "her body, her choice".
10). Have any opinions about year-round schooling?
It seems pretty sound if for no other reason it doesn't let the kids linger in 3-4 months of downtime each year.
11). What do you think about prostitution? Should it be legal?
I have no problem with the idea of prostitution (remember what I said about homosexuality back in no. 4?). Now if it were to be legalized I'm sure there was be plenty to complain about like with the legalizing of marijuana however there is one big difference here. Marijuana is a drug prostitutes and their customers are people and I think regulations and other things that would come up in legal prostitution would do a lot of good in regards to protecting the lives of the people who engage in it.
12). Do you think men today are too “wimpy” and need to “man up”? How do you feel about gender roles as a whole?
How about you "man up" these, okay?
13). Do you think there should be an age to get tattoos/piercings without the consent of a parent?
While the whole 18 thing may be arbitrary I do agree that there should be some point below which a kid shouldn't be able to something as major as a tattoo or piercing, especially with the care required for a tattoo.
14). Do you believe in aliens?
Just the higher power thing I believe its possible. In fact I find it hard to believe that for as vast as the space beyond what we as humans know about that there are no other life forms out there.
15). Do you believe in regrets? Do you have any terrible ones?
Regrets are real and we all have them. I have some that I would do differently if I could but none that I'd call terrible.
16). What do you want to happen to your body when you die?
Let organ recipients take what they need and just the leftovers to rest. Nothing fancy though.
17). How about that cloning stuff?
While I am amazed by the prospect from a scientific perspective I do think there there are a lot of legal and moral implications that need to be addressed. Did you know that in the Ghost in Shell (an anime series) universe it is illegal for cloned people to inherit property?
18). What is your take on people who self harm (cutting, burning, scratching etc etc.)
More than likely there is some underlying cause that needs to be addressed with those who do this.
19). Do you think high schools should give out free contraceptives?
Yep. It should be a part of that sex education you asked about above.
20). What do you think about plastic surgery?
While I ultimately think there are valid reasons to have it done I think that plastic surgery is another one those things that some people engage in in order to appear as something they are not.
21). What do you think about the death penalty?
I've been on the fence about that one for a while. I can understand the feeling of an eye for an eye and punishment for particularly horrible crimes (not always murder either) but at the same time like April says the possibility of executing the wrong person is too great (because what good is a post mortem exoneration to an executed person and their surviving family?) and for the state to decide when another should die isn't much better than a murderer doing the same to their victim. In fact you could say worse since it would come off as, "You don't have the right to decide when someone else should die and we are going to punish you by deciding that you should die."
22). Do you say your country’s national anthem/pledge of allegiance when it is said/listened to?
I kind of like the National Anthem, but think that reciting a pledge of allegiance is a gross display of blind nationalism. Requiring it of school children is especially gross.
23). What do you think about thinspo?
After looking it up it worries me a bit. If I'm understanding it correctly its inspiring people to be engage in anorexia and bulimia in order to lose weight (like I said I just looked it up so its not like I have a total understanding of it)?
24). Euthanasia – Your thoughts?
It weirds me out a bit but ultimately if they are of sound mind and body I say let them do it.
25). Do you think violent video games should be banned?
Not until someone can give some solid proof that violent video games are the cause of real world violence at the very least.
26). Which do you think should be taught in schools: Evolution or creationism?
That's a tough one. Creationlism is harder to teach in a school environment but I don't think it should just be discounted altogether.
27). “Illegal” downloading – Yay or nay?
Another tough one. Yes I do "obtain" several things by "certain" means but at the same time I just think the way such things are sold or in many cases not sold it kinda drives people to engage in that behavior. For instance I can recall back when you bought an album of 15 or so songs you were almost certain to get about 12 or 13 songs of goodness and 2 or 3 so so songs. These days you're lucky if you get 2 or 3 songs of goodness on an album. Look at ebooks where if you aren't careful you could actually end up paying MORE for an electronic book which costs a whole lot less to produce and distribute. Its basically the difference between paying for the physical shelf space for a paper book plus the cost of making the paper book plus delivering that paper book versus paying to download a copy of a file from a server. And movies? Every time you turn around the major studios are coming up with some new way to limit access to content for the sole purpose of charging more money for it. Face it middlemen/women are the worst thing to happen to the distribution of those things. They are desperately trying to continue making money like they did in the old days when limited technology pretty much gave them the lock on distribution. And looking at the posts over at TechDirt its pretty clear these folks are willing to fight dirty.
Which is sad. If those companies had just taken advantage of and made good use of the technologies as they emerged rather than ignore them then switching to paying the government to try to limit them they would be a whole lot better off now.
28). Do you think zero tolerance policies are effective in achieving their objectives?
No. They usually end up going overboard. Like the boy in elementary school that was suspended for sexual harassment for kissing a girl on the cheek. Maybe he should have gotten a lesson in boundaries but suspension? On the real?
29). Do you feel as though women should be able to walk around topless like men? Why or why not?
Why not? Yeah there are a lot of folks out there that aren't able to handle the idea but they'll live. I'll admit I would look but frankly after a while it would no longer be a big deal. And besides I hear breasts can build up a lot of heat in the chest area in the summer heat.
30). Do you think the internet should be censored?
Not no but HELL NO!
