Odracirys

Don't Worry, They'll Tell You. This is my version of the "How can you tell if someone is a vegan?" meme, which I've also seen with "atheist".  It might be funny to some people, but my real life experience from yesterday is but one illustration (out of many) of the perhaps 90+% of the time when it's the other way around.  It's only when the minority finally voices their marginalized opinions that the aggressors believe it is we who are rude and outspoken! In my non-internet life, I am extremely polite and non-confrontational.  I don't voice my opinions to pretty much anyone, even those close to me.  And to those I've never even met before, I am polite to the greatest degree possible.  Here is a story about what happened yesterday.  I will put it in the form of a dialog.  Of course, it was longer, and I can't remember everything, but I'll give you the gist.  My thoughts are in parentheses. Setting: I am out for a walk to exerc...

I was recently sickened to hear of the threat of complete destruction of the ancient ruins of Palmyra at the hands of the Islamic State. That threat is very real and has been publicized. However, over much of the past century and up to today, a much greater threat has successfully destroyed perhaps thousands of times more irreplaceable cultural treasures than ISIS ever will. And even when some architectural treasures have been protected, Modernists have ruined the neighborhood atmospheres by inserting their horrid ugly boxes into nearly every historic area they can find. Here is one of the more recent examples. In New York, the Drake Hotel (left) was built in 1926 and demolished in 2007 to make way for 432 Park Avenue (right). (Even in the picture on the left, you can see that the Drake's neighbors have long since been replaced by uninspiring Modernism.) In a shocking display of audacity, the stark 432 Park Avenue was even made taller than the Empire State Building. A major ...