Real Men - SCN

I could listen to this song all night long. Especially after everything I've read this evening.

Real Men by Joe Jackson

take your mind back
i don't know when
sometime when it always seemed to be just us and them

girls that wore pink
and boys that wore blue
boys that always grew up better men
than me and you
what's a man now
what's a man mean
is he rough or is he rugged
cultural and clean
now it's all changed
it's got to change more
we think it's getting better
but nobody's really sure

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

see the nice boys
dancing in pairs
golden earring, golden tan
blow-wave in the hair
sure they're all straight, straight as a line
all the guys are macho
see their leather shine

you don't want to sound dumb
don't want to offend
so don't call me a faggot
not unless you are a friend
then if you're tall
and handsome and strong
you can wear the uniform and i could play along

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

time to get scared
time to change plan
don't know how to treat a lady
don't know how to be a man
time to admit
what you call defeat
'cause there's women running past you now
and you just drag your feet

man makes a gun
man goes to war
man can kill and man can drink
and man can take a whore
kill all the blacks
kill all the reds
if there's war between the sexes
then there'll be no people left

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are
and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are
and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

Public Service Announcement - SCN

Okay, when something REALLY pisses me off it is tradition for me to write a public service announcement. Actually I've only written ONE thus far. It was about Clark. Who else, right? But anyway, I've read so many journals tonight and heard so many fucking sob stories and remembered so many of my own experiences that I think I have finally found another subject worthy of my rant-itude.

PEOPLE, LISTEN TO SOMEONE WHO KNOWS,

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE OVER THE INTERNET!!!!

IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!

And, I'll tell you why. Because even if you talk to someone everyday on IM, speak to them everyday on the phone, write the long in depth emails, they still do not know you in real life.

And why does that matter you ask? Because it is your actions and reaction in everyday situations that truly define who you are. The internet is a structured and anonymous environment that is very conducive to, I don't want to say lies...more like...illusion. The way you act on here, or on the phone is not who you are in real life. Therefore no one can truly love you nor can you truly love another strictly online.

Now I have no doubt that one can grow to CARE about someone over the internet. If you share common interests, have lively conversations, understand each others sense of humor, all that good stuff, it is quite possible to disclose more personal information that will lead to a deeper understanding and friendship. But many people mistake that care for love.

Nor do I doubt that relationships that begin on the internet but then become real life relationships can work. It doesn't matter where a relationship originates, as long as the two people involved learn that they can deal with each other on a day to day basis. That they can be in each others space and occupy it comfortably.

Please kids, take it from me, I am a long distance relationship VETERAN!!! Lets see, I've had long distance shit with guys in Texas, Vermont, even Canada. Many of these relationships lasted for YEARS!!! And they crumbled due to the final realization that one or the other of us simply could not deal with the other on a daily basis. Over the phone, or the internet or the mail everything was peachy. But in real life...zip.

People are different in real life. Take my word for it, YOU CANNOT REALLY KNOW SOMEONE THROUGH A MONITER OR EVEN A PHONE CORD!!!!

Do yourselves a HUGE favor and do not think that any feelings you may have for someone over the internet are genuine. They are simply the response to a very well crafted image. You are not loving the person, only what you imagine the person to be.

Thank you.

*rips out keyboard and throws it out the window*