Christian unless….

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Kirsty

I recently came across an article about people’s attitudes to homosexuality. I found it ironic that the bible teaches love thy neighbour etc, yet as soon as some extremely religious people are very caring towards others until they find out that they are gay and then the attitude changes. From my understanding of the religious teaching they are about tolerance and acceptance. So why is it people who claim to be Christian are fine with people until they find out that they are homosexual or anyone of a number of other options and then they treat them as though they are scum of the earth yet expect people to respect their lifestyle choices.

I am an agnostic and feel that religion is amongst the biggest sources of conflict in society today. You only have to look around and you will see people moving away from an Asian sat on a bus or train, yet they are not bothered by the teenager with the rucksack, the fighting in Ireland and Palestine. I think that lack of education,media, money, politics and religion are a lethal combination and that people shouldn’t fixate on one aspect of the person and get to know the person as a whole.

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What people search for?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Kirsty

As a marketing consultant I have clients saying that they want to be top of Google for various phrases but when you look at the phrases that they want to be top of Google for they are often phrases that no one looking to buy their product or service would use or they are phrases that have so much competition from much larger businesses or the term is too general.

One example of this was a client of mine asked to be top for “pedigree”. Several problems with this:

  • 2 major competitors – Marstons and Purina (makers of Pedigree dog food)
  • It is a term that refers to a pure breed animal

In this instance I managed to persuade the client that this wasn’t a realistic option considering their budget and the problems outlined above. This is why I can’t stress this enough – RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. There is no point especially in this economy to waste money on campaigns that will not work. Everyone knows you want the best for the lowest cost.

Once you have done the research then you are able to generate a keyword list of around 100 if not more and they will be more successful whether you are selling sunbeds, vintage chic or even holidays with care

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Disney Flops

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Kirsty

Disney is popular with people of all ages. However following the disappointing failure of their latest motion picture John Carter I thought now was as good a time as any to look at some of their other mistakes:

Pocahontas was Disney’s first attempt in the realms of true stories however the true story of 10 year old Pocahontas was deemed too boring so they aged her and added in a love story which angered historians. However, I fail to see the problem as the film does not claim to be based on a true story therefore whilst there may be parallels to the true story it is still a fictional tale so how historians can get angry about this I don’t know.

Another mistake is the accidental adult content, these include the word Sex in the night sky in The Lion King, various items resembling a penis in The Little Mermaid and a poster with a topless woman on in The Rescuers. I can’t comment on the The Rescuers as I haven’t seen it but the other two I only noticed after they had been pointed out and children don’t seem to notice, if they did I have no doubt that the films would have been recalled ages ago.

Song Lyrics have also attracted criticisms, whilst Aladdin and Lady and the Tramp have been mentioned the main 1 seems to be Peter Pan where there is a song called What makes the Red man red? Which attempts to explain the skin colour, they put it down to the sexual harassment of women which results in them always blushing. This is offensive to native Indians and is both racist and sexist so yes I see people’s point on this 1 although I would be interested to know which songs are being criticised from Aladdin and Lady and the Tramp

There are other criticisms relating to racism and sexism, for example there were comments raised that Walt Disney was against Jewish people yet he both was friends with and worked with Jewish people. There were issues raised about Song of the South which was never released due to it’s cheerful take on slavery and Fantasia where Sunflower, a black Centaur was edited out as it was deemed wrong for her to be depicted kneeling polishing the hooves of a white centaur.

Personally I think that if you analyse anything enough there will be things that could be deemed offensive in someway however at the end of the day these films are designed for entertainment and am fairly certain that they are not intentionally meant to cause offence.

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Dutch Catholic Church Castratrated boys in 1950s

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Kirsty

A newspaper investigation claims that up to 11 boys were castrated while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic church during the 1950s to rid them of homosexuality. In 1956 a young man was castrated after being telling the police that he was being abused by priests. Since 1945 thousands of children were found to have been sexually abused in Dutch Catholic institutions. Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten called the allegations “very serious and shocking” and said he would investigate the role of the Dutch government at the time.

This isn’t the first time the Catholic Church has been accused of sexual abuse. The question is why is this occurring? The first and most sinister option is that these allegations are true but are not as widespread as the media makes out and it is only a few priests who are abusing children. The other is that it is all lies which seems unlikely because there are very few people who would make something like that up.

Back to the case with Dutch Catholic Church I am surprised that the cases are only appearing now but it should be pretty easy to determine if there is any truth in these allegations as it is easy to prove castration however the issue proving that it was the Catholic Church who was involved. I can’t say that I am surprised that it was related to homosexuality because in the traditional Catholic teachings homosexuality is frowned upon.

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Is it ok for guys to go to strip clubs if they have a partner?

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Kirsty

The views on this topic seem to be split. There are those that argue that it is fine for men to go to strip clubs whether they are single or not because they accept that it is what guys do and they trust their partner on the other hand there are those who say that they shouldn’t be looking at other women when they have a partner and see it almost like a brothel. There are feminists who argue that this type of work just objectifies women, and that the work is degrading etc. As some women point out the women who work in strip clubs are generally not interested in the men there are simply trying to earn a living like the rest of us. I think that as long as he is honest about it then what is the problem?

Some women feel that their partners going to strip clubs is an indication that they are not satisfying their man. Whilst I accept that is some people’s opinion I personally don’t agree because they are not sleeping with the dancers, although from what I can gather it is the fact that the women take their clothes off that seems to be the main issue when some women object to them.

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Gay Marriages criticised

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Kirsty

The Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien has criticised the plans to redefine marriage as proposed by David Cameron calling it a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.

To be honest I think that the church needs to realise that homosexuality is widely accepted in society and that they are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples. The whole idea that they are depriving a child of a mother and father but when it comes down to it is the child really going to be bothered if it is well looked after and loved? Probably not. I know that the church says it is a sin for man to lie with man and woman to lie with woman, but they need to accept that times have changed since the bible was written. They use morality as the main basis of their argument, but it seems to me that they are afraid of change and so are living in the past.

I think that the bible contradicts itself as it claims that God loves all his children yet at the same time it also criticises people, fair enough criminals etc everyone acknowledges that they are in the wrong but why should someone be lumped with rapists, murderers etc because of who they love? Simple answer they shouldn’t there are a few sayings that confirm this: “love is blind”, “you can’t help who you fall in love with.”

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Nazis in anime

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Kirsty

I have recently watched Hellsing Ultimate and was surprised to find that the Nazis in the series the Millennium Group, a fictitious group featured in the plot, particularly when they are portrayed as the villains. The surprise stems from the fact that during the second World War Japan were allies with Germany, although given that the war was over 50 years ago I guess there are very few out there who still support Hitler and his ideas.

It is interesting that they combine the Nazis with the occult. It is loosely based around the Third Reich who are allegedly creating a battalion of vampires, it only gets explained in more detail in the 4th dvd. Ironically the leader of this group is crazy, this is interesting as it is believed that Hitler was mentally ill. They also make reference to the Vatican being allied with the Nazis.

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Gender Abortions

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Kirsty

Investigations are under way into clinics performing abortions based on the mother wanting a termination based on the fetuses’ gender which is claimed to be illegal and morally wrong. I agree that it is morally wrong but it doesn’t help that I am against abortion unless continuing with the pregnancy will cause severe damage to the mother or the baby or if the mother was raped. I fail to understand the logic of getting an abortion just because the baby isn’t the right sex or you didn’t take precautions as there are millions of people who are unable to have children so why not put the child up for adoption?

There are some that claim that gender abortions are inevitable due to the easy access to abortions. Therefore suggesting that it should be made harder to get an abortion. To an extent I agree however there is the possibility that it could backfire and lead to illegal backstreet abortions being carried out or mothers endangering themselves and others trying to induce a miscarriage.

I think that this is one of the issues where people will have strong opinions about and it is a controversial topic.

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Rescuing your pet

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Kirsty

With all the bad weather that we have had lately there have been warnings issued not to go onto ice on rivers and ponds because of the fact that it may look thick it may not be. So many condemned a man who stripped down to his underwear and crawled across the ice to rescue his dog whilst he was successful many called him foolish and irresponsible for the risk he took. Other instances where dogs have fallen into the ice have not had such a happy ending.

I guess it raises the issue of what would you do in that situation? I personally can’t answer that I as to be perfectly honest I don’t know what I would do, I suspect that I probably wouldn’t take the risk as I have to small children to look after. The advice says that a dog can survive a lot longer in the ice than a human and in most cases will make their own way out. If your dog becomes trapped phone the fire service who will advise you what to do.

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Stress

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Kirsty

At some point in your life you will have to deal with some form of stress whether it be mild or chronic. Whilst stress in the short term is unpleasant if becomes long term it can have a negative impact on your health, the symptoms of stress include:

  • irritability
  • feeling anxious
  • low in self-esteem
  • have a low mood
  • have racing thoughts
  • worry constantly
  • imaginine the worst
  • go over and over things
  • having temper outbursts
  • drinking more
  • smoking more
  • on the go all the time
  • talking more or faster
  • changing your eating habits
  • feeling unsociable
  • being forgetful or clumsy
  • being unreasonable
  • struggling to concentrate
  • headaches
  • muscle tension and pain
  • stomach problems
  • sweating
  • feeling dizzy
  • bowel or bladder problems
  • breathlessness
  • dry mouth
  • sexual problems

The list above was taken from the NHS website initially it is recommended that you try various self help techniques, this includes things like relaxation. It is important to recognise stress and address it because if left untreated stress can cause complications including insomnia, peptic ulcers, stroke, hypertension, aneurysm.

There is plenty of help and support out there if you are suffering with stress here are some useful websites that contain plenty of information and places you can go for support.

NHS Choices
Work Related Stress
The Stress Management Society

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