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Entries in this blog

Can Men Be Beautiful?

[This is a Life Advice vent I wrote couple of years ago.  I wanted to save it in my blog for easier access.] I've had some stuff in my head for a long time that I need to organize and get down.  I'm male, hetero, almost 30, single.  I'm sick and tired of living in a society that perpetuates the unfair double standard that women are beautiful, and men are ugly, simian australopithacines that can be manipulated with sex.  All my life, I've wanted to be beautiful, and all my life, I've felt li

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Sex Issues: Living on Team "Villain"

Whether you were born in the most privileged part of the US, or the hellhole of Iraq, it seems to be a common sentiment that being a woman in this world is to be unlucky in some regard. Historical patriarchy has had its clear effects on women, which are still felt today. For the purpose of this essay, I'm disregarding the worst places in the world where women are truly denied the most basic of rights. Right here in my home of the US, it's commonly said that women have to fight and work twice as

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Religion's Biggest Plothole

This entry is sure to upset a few people, though it is not my intention to offend anyone.  I simply want to discuss reality as best I can. I spend a fair amount of time criticizing religion, and writing and arguing for reason and rationality.  I do this for many reasons.  There's no shortage of reasons to oppose religion.  Take your pick.  Dogma of any kind is antithetical to conversation, logic, rational thought, and progress.  Religion has caused a massive amount of senseless violence, de

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

A Message to All Conservatives

I no longer like to identify as any part of the political spectrum, mostly because I believe that identity politics is utterly toxic tribalism that prevents us from talking honestly about issues, but also because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to see anywhere on the spectrum that's a comfortable fit.  My views haven't changed much in the last decade, but the political sides sure have.  For my whole life, I have considered myself left/liberal, and I still have what I would describe as "cla

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Sexism & Video Games

Expanding on the recent theme of the last several entries... I've been meaning to tackle this issue for years, and am just now getting around to it.  If you're a gamer, and a regular denizen of the various interwebs, then you've probably heard the name Anita Sarkeesian at some point.  (In fact, you're probably sick of hearing that name.)  I'm not sure how relevant this issue still is, or if it's drifted away from the spotlight, but for some time, Sarkeesian was making quite a bit of noise a

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Why I Might Not See the Movie

I have been avoiding all movie spoilers with a meticulous level of dedication.  As soon as the first teaser was released, I began avoiding most pony content.  I stayed away from the forums for the most part, and I avoided watching anything pony related on youtube except for older things.  I was determined to be completely surprised.  I didn't want to know anything about the movie.  Absolutely nothing.  I wanted to walk into the theater completely blind and just be totally surprised.  But earlier

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Atheism - The Final Frontier

There's no question that we've made an enormous amount of social and scientific progress over the centuries, perhaps most of that progress being in the last half century or so.  Even though the current political landscape and discourse can make us feel the contrary, things are definitely the best and most evolved that they've ever been in the history of our species.  However, as I see it, there remains one major hurdle that desperately needs to be overcome in the near future: clearing up misconc

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Death to Deadlines!

I don't think I need to spend much time explaining the problem of horrendously overworked employees at triple-A game studios to anyone here.  Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade, I'm sure you're well aware of the so-called "crunch" times at big game studios where employees are forced to work 80 hours a week to meet deadlines.  The one that has probably gotten the most attention was Rockstar with RDR2. I think we're all on the same page here--I don't think a single one

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Transparent

Today I'd like to talk about transgender issues.  I want to try to unravel and dispel as much misinformation as possible because I see so much confusion and frustration surrounding this issue.  I also want to try to bridge some gaps and find some common ground between liberals and conservatives because there is a lot of hostility around this subject.  My goal is to try to have an honest discussion, get at the facts, and provide my opinions and perspective, all while remaining compassionate and s

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Justin_Case001

The Ethics of Life

During the 56th episode of his Making Sense podcast, entitled "Abusing Dolores", my favorite thinker and philosopher, Sam Harris, explained that it would be monstrously evil to create conscious, artificially intelligent machines that are capable of suffering.  To do so would be a highly unethical crime, and would create suffering where there was none before.  I completely agree, but I believe this begs a follow-up question--perhaps the most important question ever asked: if it's unethical to cre

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Justin_Case001

Supernatural

I regularly find it utterly bewildering, dismaying, and depressing that the majority of the world seems to believe in ghosts, spirits, and anything else that would fall under the umbrella of the "supernatural" or "paranormal".  I certainly do not, because I don't believe in anything on insufficient evidence, and neither should you.  Incidentally, this goes for things like astrology and psychics as well.  I was tempted to write a separate piece on this, but I don't think there's enough material t

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Justin_Case001

Gun

[EDIT 12/12/18) Before reading this essay, please read this preface, which I am writing about nine months later.  Of all of the blog entries I've written, this is the only one that I'm not quite certain I can still stand by 100%.  A lot of it is okay, but I would definitely change some things and make some revisions if I was to write about this topic today.  I'm not quite happy with some of the things I said, and some of the wording.  I'll be the first to admit that I am not a gun expert at

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Can You Keep a Secret?

Most of us have been asked this question by a friend at least once in our lives.  Seems like a simple yes or no, right?  Wrong.  Although it's astronomically unlikely that anyone would ever ask me this question again, if anyone actually asked me, "can you keep a secret?", my response would be, "that's complicated", and I would then explain to them what I'm about to explain to you. But before we get into it, I'd like to tell you about our new merch! Yeah right.  Lol.  Okay, so a

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Why are long eyelashes a feminine feature?

Long, thick, full eyelashes are so universally understood as being a feminine feature. When animators want to differentiate two otherwise identical cartoon characters, they add lashes to the female. If you see two identical characters, one with long lashes, and one without, there's no question which one is female. But why? Men don't have eyelashes now? In point of fact, many men have long, thick, full eyelashes. Me, for example. My hairdresser, who is female, is envious of my lashes and often co

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Rings, Proposals, and Double Standards

[This is a Life Advice vent I wrote couple of years ago.  I wanted to save it in my blog for easier access.] Hi, I'm Justin Case.  You may remember me from such vents as "Can Men Be Beautiful?".  Today, I want to talk about another double standard that really irritates me. I'm so sick of the continued double standard than men must always do the asking, the proposing, the buying of rings, etc.  Often times, women still tend to wait to be asked out and proposed to, and if nothing h

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

The A-Word

Abortion is a topic that I do not enjoy writing or thinking about.  It's something I prefer to avoid, because this debate always seems to end up unpleasant for all involved.  Yet, it is vitally important, so I will give my opinion and try my best to say something useful. I touched on abortion in The Ethics of Life, which I definitely recommend reading as a prerequisite to this, but I feel the topic warrants an entry all its own.  Incidentally, I apologize if I repeat things that I already s

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Some Things Never Change

I wrote this about six weeks ago.  Just been sitting on it until today. I've been enjoying a show on Netflix called Reign.  It's a historical drama about the royal French court in the middle ages.  I don't know how much of it is accurate and how much is made up.  It's certainly dramatized to be fun, but it's loosely based on real people and events.  I'd describe as being like Game of Thrones mixed with a soap opera.  It's kinda silly and melodramatic, but it's fun.  I like it. But ther

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Natural Sexuality

I live in a culture (The United States of America) which manages to be obsessed with physical beauty and sexuality, while at the same time demonizing it.  No easy feat.  It's also no secret where the vilification comes from--it's our religious and puritanical roots.  I'm told that not every culture has the bass-ackwards perspective on sex that we do, and that many of those cultures think we're completely bat-sh*t insane.  No surprise there.  And of course, there are cultures with far more unheal

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Use Glassware or Ceramic (A Cautionary Tale)

Today's blog will be a little different.  No philosophy, no show reviews.  Instead, a cautionary tale from my past, and a little helpful advice for a healthier life. So, I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Instant Breakfast.  It’s been “Carnation Breakfast Essentials” for some years now, but it will always be Instant Breakfast to me.  It’s a powered chocolate milk nutritional drink/meal replacement.  I started drinking it as a little kid because I was such a picky eater that it was

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(Not so) Crappy Disney Sequels

*Relatively spoiler-free* I absolutely love Disney movies, especially the animated classics of the Disney renaissance.  Beauty & the Beast is one of my favorite movies of any kind of all time, and The Little Mermaid also holds a special place in my metaphorical heart.  I'm also a person who loathes and despises half-assed, crappy, cash-grab sequels, unwelcome belated continuations, and basically any other poorly-executed, lore-damaging entries in franchises.  I often wish that movies/sh

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THE MOVIE

So, it's a funny thing--I've been a huge Pony fan for years now, and the franchise is extremely important to me, and yet, I find myself dreading most new episodes, as well as the movie.  I just...tend to expect the worst these days, and I'm not entirely sure why.  The show has proven that it still has the right stuff, but I guess it has been rockier the past couple of seasons, with more ups and downs.  A casual observer would think I'm nuts, and ask why the hell I stick around if I dread new epi

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

Mirickuless - Simply the Best

This is a spoiler-free discussion of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. It's been a long time since I posted in Stop & Talk.  Since they nerfed the forums, I haven't had anything interesting to say.  (I'm referring of course to the rules disallowing controversial content.)  I finally have something I feel like writing about. A couple months or so ago, I wrote a Grind My Gears post complaining about half-assed CGI.  I bemoaned the fact that for decades now, so many studios

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Red vs. Blue

I am young and do not know many things. I do not how to fix political problems, but this I know: we must stop claiming that our political opponents want to destroy our country. Since the election (and probably for my entire life if I had been paying attention), I have read and heard countless times things such as, "liberal progressives will do anything to destroy our country," and "republicans will stop at nothing to destroy our country." It is the same on both sides. The fact is that neither si

Justin_Case001

Justin_Case001

PSA: The Fireplace Delusion

Today's entry will not be an original work of my own.  Instead of writing one my usual essays, I'd like to share an important work of someone else: Sam Harris's The Fireplace Delusion.  I think that this essay is vitally important, and should be read by every single person living in a developed, first world country. You can either listen to the essay as read by a narrator on youtube (not Sam himself): Or, alternatively, you may read it on Sam's blog if you wish: https://samharri

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Justin_Case001

Conditional Love

It's a ubiquitous sentiment that love should always be unconditional, but I have never believed this to be true.  Moreover, I believe that love is always conditional, whether we admit it or not.  Contrary to what is sounds like, this is actually a good thing. Love always has certain, basic conditions, mostly being that there is still something recognizable to you in the person you love.  If a person changes so vastly that there is nothing left of the person you knew and loved, then it would

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Justin_Case001

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