Robot Assisted Suicide

So crazy story, I was reading Fark. com, my personal favorite news website and an article came up about an Australian man who committed suicide. Now when I say committed suicide, this guy was fully committed and succeeded. His family was worried about him because he was 81 and they wanted to put him in an assisted living home, but instead the man decided to build a robot and kill himself. His suicide note explained that after the "threat" to take him to a home, he researched for hours online looking for a way to kill himself. Now the thing that got me was he was killed by 4 gunshots which obviously means he had a gun to begin with. What was he doing researching how to off himself when he had the necessary tools already? He was obviously crazy and needed to be put in a home, but no he builds a highly mechanized robot...to shoot him four (4) times in the head in his driveway...so he could be found dead by next door neighbors. I don't know this guy's background or what he did for a job before retirement, but why couldn't he use his technical abilities for good instead of killing himself? If I could build or own a robot it certainly wouldn't be used to kill myself, (same with a chimp or monkey, which would also be fun to own), I would have it go get things for me or take over the world or something. What a waste of resources, that's like having a transformer car (bumble bee) and throwing yourself in front of it before enjoying it. I don't get it. Oh crazy people, you bring such awkward and unheard of situations to light in the sane world.

Societal Issues and My "Mtv Theory"

So this theory may not be perfect or completely thought out to be honest, but this will be a semi-quick jaunt into why I think society is semi-deteriorating and probably random ranting with little relevance to the main topic. Now I am sure every generation has people who have said society is falling apart (i.e., blaming rock and roll and such), but I am arguing the fraying of society and fraying of the things that hold it together. I call it the MTV theory, but that is not the sole reason for societal issues. I label this theory with MTV because it is the figurehead to me of moral decay in most circumstances. Now some will point out and I will agree with that there is a chicken and egg scenario going on, is MTV the cause or is it just a byproduct of the society we live in. Is it showing us a glimpse into what we want to see or what society has become or maybe a combination of both? I shall start with my central point that I can pretty much tie most if not all societal issues to; which is the decay of the nuclear family. The nuclear family may not be perfect and it certainly has flaws, but of all the family systems it the best and works the best. This family unit has been working for the past Milena's that humans have been alive. Before there were governments an tribes there were family units and most tribes were formed from family units. It is a source of stability and strength. My view is if it has been working and still does work then why change it? The nuclear family is being asked to step aside and make room for other inferior family types. Now I don't mean to offend or to say that single and mixed parent families don't' work because for some they do, but to me those family types aren't as strong as the nuclear family. This is a point I will never waver from or changed my mind on. Yet, not all nuclear families are amazing or perfect either there are always going to be issues, there are problems that arise in nuclear families like fighting and such. I don't enjoy that because, sadly, nuclear families are becoming less and less the norm that we are supposed to accept all family types as just as good or wonderful and they aren't. There is a reason that there are two parents in the family and not just to pro-create, but to provide, socialize, and educate. Now sometimes a single parent relationship can provide this, but I feel like that is not the norm or majority. There are numerous studies that show the negative effects due to divorce and single parent families, such as higher teen suicide rates and a more gradual progress in educational development. Now this may seem to not have anything to do with MTV or the rest of society, but that is incorrect. Families are the basis for the structure of society. With a deterioration of family soon follows that degradation of society.
MTV's part in this is showing certain activities as norms. These activities include promiscuous relationships and no real consequences. When there is a slackening of self-responsibility there will be trouble for society in general. By showing that relationships don't matter that much or that you should just drop something because it is difficult is teaching and breeding a lack of self-responsibility. It starts young, girls are dressing much older than their age when they are very young. When relationships aren't taken seriously then why should marriage be taken seriously, even forget the relifious church aspect because when you get married you are legally state government married as well. It is a very serious bond that isn't being taken seriously anymore. Just because you have a hissy fit over something doesn't warrant a divorce or because an idiosyncricy or habit your partner has bugs you doesn't warrant a divorce. When the main source of stability, the family, is eroded and cast aside it causes problems. With the sense of forward progress and political correctness the nuclear family is thought of as too old-fashioned or traditional. Which leads me to ask the question what is wrong with old-fashined or traditional? I am not saying bring back wives who weren't allowed to work or segregation I am talking about simple moral values. Progress and advancement has brought us a great many thing, but to me it has failed to fulfill the role of the nuclear family. It is necessary for a functional and orderly society. To me there is a narrow scope for divorce which would be abuse in any form or adultery, but other than that I cannot see much other reason. I understand so called loveless marriages, but I still don't know if I accept that. There used to be these nice little things called stigma and shame, but that has apparently been forgotten or not accepted in today's PC world where nobody's feelings can be hurt without fear of a law suit citing harrassment and degradation of character. Showing favor to one system of family is being unfair to those who aren't in one and you are thought of as close minded; maybe it is because I don't think the other paradigms of families are working well. I am sick of not being able to be exclusionary in society in general, I am not talking about yet again segregation or removing women's suffrage. If whites have a group for themselves its racist (barring the obvious assholes of the KKK), but if minorities and women do the same it is looked at as great progress for their group and excellent move to the future. I am just sick of a wek and uber-sensitive society. Shame has been neglected in turn for 15 minutes of fame on reality shows where people will air their dirtiest laundry without hesitation.
Drugs and violence are idolized through rap, movies, and video games. Now I will not be a hippocrit here because I do enjoy violent movies and video games, but I do see where the problem lies. I will not blame such media for the reason why kids shoot up schools and such. This media does desensitize people to such violence, but that is not an excuse for commiting such an act. This is also where the lack and lessening of self-responsibilty comes into play as well. I have spoken on this before, in that the lessening of self-responsibility leads to people who place the blame outward instead of inward. Oh, it isn't my fault I shot people because of angry music or because mommy and daddy didn't love me enough. Bullshit, you are weak and there is something mentally wrong with you. Don't blame other sources for your issues. I am not excluding the effect environment has on development, but to me it isn't always the main source. Sometimes I feel I should have been born in a different time period or era, but I do enjoy the comforts of today's world and society. Society can be tiring and very frustrating sometimes, but it has its redeeming qualities that mostly outweigh the bads. I would just like a return to the center, enough extremism and diviseness. We, as a society, shouldn't be so traditional as to be archaic, but not to be so advanced that humanity and traditionalism is forgotten.

Incorrect Pronunciation of Words and Names

Now, this topic has recently surfaced between a friend and I and it bothers me. I don't mind if people have accents that make words or names sound slightly different from the correct pronunciation, but recently a few names and words have come up for dispute. I will start with one that has been on my radar for a while; which is the name of my girlfriend Kerrie. For some reason people in general and not just my friend(s) get this name confused with Carrie. To me and to most of the world they are two different, yet similar names. Ke- and Ca- make two different sounds while the ending is the same even if you were to put a -y instead of -ie. You pronounce the name Carrie like the word carry and Kerrie like kerosene, but to my friends they are pronounced exactly the same. Another group of words that I used for example were caught and cot, to me again they are two different pronunciations. Caught is pronounced like taut or somewhat phoneticallyCawt and cot is like cahhht. Again my friend said it exactly the same. It has nothing to do with an accent it is just how he pronounces the words. That is a pet peeve of mine, I will admit that I may not pronounce words correctly all the time, but these are major differences that are being treated the same. I do realize that this is something small in the grand scheme of things, but I can't help but be perturbed by it. As Kevin James put it, "sweat the small stuff," which I do sometimes. It bothers me because I don't understand how the difference is missed, all of the examples are separate words and are not homophones.