Paranoia

I've always been fascinated by the subject of paranoia. Maybe because I think Sheltons are inherently paranoid. But it is hardly surprising that mankind seems to frequently be paranoid of the wrong things. Let me share three examples I noticed recently.

1. Recently the Virginia House of Delegates voted to make it illegal to implant microchips in people without their permission. One representative said microchips might be used as the "mark of the beast" as described in the book of Revelations. Georgia recently installed similar legislation. Really?! Seriously?! Is this really a problem?! I don't know why but I couldn't stop giggling when I read about this good use of state time and money.

2. In a much more serious example a "patriotic" nut job recently flew his small plane into the IRS building in Austin killing himself and one other man (a long time African-American IRS employee that served two tours in Vietnam). We know the nut job was a nut job because before he went on his terrorist suicide mission he posted online a 3,200 rant against the government.

His qualms included snippets about "American zombies" needing to "wake up and revolt," violence "is the only answer," "take my pound of flesh," as well as diatribes condemning George W. Bush, insurance companies, the Catholic Church, and "corporate thugs and plunderers." Clearly the guy was mentally ill and that is sad but as one journalist noted, "When the fires of anti-federal government anger are stoked, it can ignite the unstable among us."

3. Finally, I spotted a statistic in Time. 64.2 million women are now employed on nonfarm payrolls passing men (63.4 million) for the first time. It has been several years since more women have graduated from college than men so this number should not be a surprise.

I find this interesting because in the late '70s and early '80s there was a lot of noise about the Equal Rights Ammendment. The paranoid were conviced that this bill would destroy the American family by removing women from their needed places in the home. The bill argued for "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

The ERA did not pass saving the American family, right? I think it just goes to show the hits the family is taking today can't be blamed on the government, television, or even gay marriage but like always it comes down to money. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm fine with women working but I just find it funny that the paranoia surrounding the ERA was to keep women in traditional roles and out of the work place and clearly that is not what happened.

I know, I know, I just need to stop talking about something that most people find incredibly boring.