Thoughts and Experiences of a 20 something year old

The United States is not Perfect

2010-10-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

And I am not Anti-American for saying that. Apparently the definition of Patriotism has evolved to include ignorantly proclaimed allegiance to your country without questioning your public figures.

If anything, a true patriot questions everything and evaluates it intellectually. Just like the people that remained intellectual when they tried to pass the Patriot Act indeed voted against it, but everyone that was on the emotionally reactive war path supported it whole heartedly.

The same intellectuals that did not blindly follow the war path continued to oppose the war in general and voted against it. Ron Paul was one of these leaders.

But the irony is that the US armed the Taliban in the first place to fight against a conflicting political ideal (communism). And that is only one of the major mistakes the US has made in the last 50 years.

To name a few others:

-The engineering of Haitis poverty by taking advantage of ignorant and corrupt politicians and convincing them to end their internal rice industry and import our less expensive rice (then after rice prices went up from imports they had no industry locally and sold off all of their resources and slash/burned their farm land).
-The testing of STDs on Guatemalan prisoners and the mentally ill without knowledge of the side effects
-The testing of birth control on Puerto Rican prostitutes without knowledge of the side effects
-The use of torture on prisoners to get information (proven not to work and taking our morality to the lowest point possible)
-The creation of the patriot act

The list goes on and on. As citizens it is our responsibility to know what our government is doing and put a stop to it.

You are beautiful

2010-02-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

You are unique. There is no other you in the world. There has never been and will never be another you. And you are beautiful for it.

You don't need to improve yourself, you are perfect the way you are. You don't need make up or plastic surgery to get closer to some totally random standard of beauty that has developed in main stream society. If history would have went slightly differently who would be considered beautiful and who not? Incidentally there is a nice Twilight zone episode about that.

Don't listen to the advertisements in magazines, on billboards or on television. They are all just trying to sell you a product. They want you to think you need to improve yourself. They want this so they can take your money. Most of these people don't even believe in the standards they create, they just know that it works.

What is worse is that these advertisements are completely doctored and artificial. They aren't even people anymore, just a collection of reanimated pixels.

Real beauty is happening everywhere all the time.

I strongly recommend checking out America The Beautiful for a great change in perspective on the topic of beauty.

Please, parents, raise your children to love who they are and to love their bodies. Do this by example by learning to love your own body too, after all they will take their cues from you.

The Hypocrisy of Raising Money or Proclaiming Interest for The Haiti Disaster

2010-01-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Nigerian Muse had an interesting take on the Haiti Disaster. I give them credit for pointing out the hypocrisy of one of the upper classes. However I believe it extends to everyone who claims they have an interest in the disaster without actually having one.

The only true humanitarian is one that recognizes that the state of anything can only be changed from the inside out. People must have the will to change internally in order for it to happen. You can perhaps provide them with the tools and knowledge, but if they do truly seek change they will seek these tools and knowledge from you without your having to initiate it. You should, however, make them available should they be sought.

Since larger society has abandoned this approach, when we are hit with devastation of a higher than normal nature, the reaction although useful to stem the immediate death does nothing for the long term sustainability of life. After the international spotlight leaves Haiti, it will be forgotten in the unfortunate squalor it has already endured for generations. Perhaps a native Haitian will soar above to lead their country without the strings of corruption restraining their flight, but then even the "superior" nations are corrupt themselves having only attained their superiority by the exploitation of their people's and other lesser nations like Haiti (and also the environment, another resource we feel capable of regulating for other less fortunate nations). Of exploitation, I am reminded of a certain trade agreement struck between the US and Haiti that allowed US rice farmers to sell their crops to Haitians at lower prices than the Haitian farmers. Ultimately the Haitian farmers were eliminated and the price of rice increased without any competition; all for some extra tax revenue and some generous donations to the officials that supported this agreement by the industry that benefitted.

But the hypocrisy of the wealthy elite (although the most obvious in main stream society due to the indoctrination of the media in every home and the idol worship that occurs through it) extends also to the rest of the classes that pronounce their concern for this foreign crisis. In the day to day shuffle of the lower and middle classes, how many have time to reflect on such international concerns as Haiti? Certainly very few were bothered about their previous status of worst place to live in the world. But I forget that many of these people simply regurgitate what they hear through the popular news outlets on cable anyway and rarely take a moment to reflect on the status of their existence.

One thing I would call to question in your article is the presence of the word mysticism. I hope that you do not stand on a soap box of superiority because the form of mysticism of who’s primary text you choose to quote involving a trinity of deities and a magical birth is no more valid or reasonable than that of Voodoo or Oprah-ism.

Jesus was a horse thief

2010-01-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

There is an amusing biblical reference that, I don't care if you are a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Pagan, Atheist, whatever. As an objective reader, there is no getting around the truth that indeed, Jesus was a horse thief.

http://www.flamewarrior.com/horsethief.htm

I would take this a step further, however, and point out that majority of the population had no education and were extremely susceptible to snake oil salesman and the like. The Roman Empire, wanting to maintain control over its people through government, made it their duty to eliminate and discredit these grass roots religions. Out of the thousands that developed, one happened to create a larger following than most. Does that mean it was the one "true" religion? Or just a more successful hoax.

I would go so far as to argue that the Roman leaders were trying to save the masses from these leeches on society by destroying them. Unfortunately they did not account for the martyr effect that this often produces. They should have, instead of killing them (wholly unnecessary in my opinion) simply required them to prove their powers in front of a live audience without the aid of any tools or people.

In modern society this would never fly. If some guy hot wired a car and was caught and sincerely believed that some deity told him to do it, he would either be judged as insane or put in jail anyway. That is exactly what happened 2000ish years ago but there was no GPS unit on the horse to catch the perp.

TV is Fucking Crazy

2009-11-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

Okay so I've been trying to watch less TV and do other things, ya know, like live. Not that I'm hating on TV shows, but I don't see the point of scheduling my life around this entertainment device. Especially when you actually have to pay a monthly subscription for the privilege. You can always buy a season of a TV series if you really like it or in many cases check it out from a library. But I digress...

Maybe I've just been out of the TV loop or something, but I was at my parent's house and they had the tube on. Family Guy was on and it was like the show and the commercials were all on speed. The commercials were loud, flashy, and fast paced. Talk about media overload! The show itself, which can be funny, was full of repetitive fart jokes and negative humor mocking or insulting someone (usually a famous person). I don't particularly care about famous people, but making fun of someone is rarely funny because it is rarely clever. In my opinion the only people that find that humor funny are those that lack the capacity for anything else.

Perhaps my concern is that people are thinking less and less and it now requires a machine gun of colors and noise to make them think anything.

There is also the possibility that there just happen to be a lot of people that are like this, and these shows target that demographic, in which case we're already fucked!

No one cares... unless you have money

2009-11-06T19:28:00.001-08:00

You literally don't matter unless you happen to have tremendous buying power. This can be said for businesses and individuals alike. Money is directly related to influence. Fame can give you a path towards wealth, which then gives you more influence.

Does it matter if you write your congressmen? No, unless of course you are writing from an organization with a lot of lobbying power.

Existential Funk Post

2009-11-01T20:56:00.001-08:00

Someone beat me to creating an Existential Funk blog. So I decided to post on their blog my feelings on their post:

http://existentialfunk.blogspot.com/2005/09/why-hell-are-we-here.html

Here is the content of my post:

I just wanted to point out that you beat me to creating this blog, apparently I am somewhat behind in my existential funk. Which, by the way, would be a great name for a band.

I would like to say that our moral sense of right and wrong is a somewhat internal realization that is reflected in others (despite multiple organizations claiming derivation from a higher power). Meaning, if we are conscious beings then we want to remain conscious. Which means we would resist death and hence view murder as "bad" (generally).

This also explains the desire to find answers in religion; if a higher power exists, then there is a chance (and in the case of many religions a specific afterlife) that our consciousness may continue to exist after death.

I've heard people say that it is a somewhat human characteristic to want to create. But that most of us don't know what we want to create and most of us don't take the time to find out. This would mean we end up doing something we hate because we aren't creating. Creation, in whatever form, is purpose for many people.

I know some Biologists and Physicists that would say the reason is simply chance. Meaning out of all of the chemical reactions happening in the universe all the time, one was bound to create life (as we know it). And of those that begin, one was bound to come as far as we have without being destroyed by whatever event.

Chance is indeed everywhere. The fact that you were born, meaning that specific version of the seed of your mother and father out of the billions of potential combination (not just the sperm that one time out of the millions of alternatives, but also any other time they could have had sex or masturbated or had a period, etc). Now throw the fact that your parents were the result of the same statistical cluster fuck, and their parents as far back as who knows? Now you are talking about incalculable odds that you are here. Is it so hard to believe that the same thing happened with our planet and solar system?

Or maybe there is a God, oversoul, etc that created the universe and is completely indifferent to us and our ideas of good vs. bad because it operates at an infinitely higher and incomprehensible level. Maybe existence itself is all that matters to this "being"? Maybe the evolution of the ENTIRE universe is what matters (whatever that could be) and the part we play is irrelevant? I certainly find that more believable than any specific deity that our most popular religions have come up with.

Another post, its only been months

2009-07-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this just means I am ADD or just go through cycles of cynicism, hope, productivity and existentialism, but why can't I seem to consistently post things here?

I just watched About Schmidt and am currently reading Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. I think it helps when fictional books have a more fantastic plot because it keeps you entertained and doesn't give you as much time to... think? Thinking seems to be a curse nowadays, especially when most people are either constantly working or watching television.

Sometimes I get self-righteous and brag that I don't have cable and that cable is a waste of time and unproductive, but then I realize I am just in one of my productive moods and if I wait long enough I will give a rats ass about television, or other people watching it. Unless of course I can rally behind another self-righteous idea, like that of people being blindly mislead by the media, or by the subtle influences of a sitcom.

And even after reading and not watching TV, why do I still misspell subtle on my first attempt as "suddle".

And tomorrow I am going to go to work and pretend everything is okay and deal with the regular bull-shit. What is stopping me.... us all? From just walking out on our responsibilities? Is it that we are holding the fabric of our society together? Wouldn't our society just evolve into something different if we all decided to pursue what we enjoyed? Although I don't think anyone enjoys cleaning out sewers or picking up trash.

A lot of people are walking away from their foreclosed homes and everyone is pissed about it because it screws other people over, but don't those other people also have the freedom to walk away (and face the inevitable consequences of having your credit destroyed).

Assuage your guilt, sponsor a child

2009-03-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

There is nothing lazier and less helpful you can do to a cause than just cut them a blind check every month. But for some people, cutting that check isn't enough. They need to be told and reassured that they are doing the right thing. They need letters, pictures and grade reports for that extra sense of accomplishment.

If people thought about the additional cost required to compile and translate all of the information, they would realize their money could go much further.

If they actually targeted the true causes of poverty like war, disease, political problems, lack of access to education and the imbalanced trade rules they would actually accomplish something. But that would require them questioning their own position in the world.

Would the suburbanite really want to lose half their income (and half their lifestyle) so that another country manufacturing their goods could live above the poverty level? I doubt it, because people COULD give away half of their income and make a much more strategic attack on these issues.

But the truth is they don't really care, and that is what bothers me. If you don't care, don't pretend like you do, okay?

Left Hand of Darkness

2009-03-14T21:28:00.001-07:00

It is an excellent exercise in open-mindedness to remove sexual preference as an issue we live with on a day to day basis. Ursula K. Le Guin accomplishes this in such a passive way, you come to accept the alien race as creatures not plagued by the same potential for sexual scrutiny without a second thought.

And with any good story, it should cause you to reflect on how that effects your own life. It would do a lot of close-minded people good to consider if just that one thing were different, how your entire perspective of the world would change.

Late Night Ramblings

2009-03-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Whether you believe it or not, whether you are a patriot or not, whether you are loyal to some God, company, organization, family, science or belief. Whether you fear, hate, like or love other people on this planet. You are a small contributor to the continuation and evolution of the human species. I avoid the term "race" because of the complications and divisive effects of using it.

Sexual preference is irrelevant. Traditional procreation can only occur between a sperm and an egg. Sexual preference, whether by genetics or by choice doesn’t change that. A provider is simply the caretaker of the next generation. Most individual preferences are irrelevant when looking at the continuation of our society. As long as they enable the survival of the next generation, why does it matter what they “prefer”? Some people like reading, others like exercise. I would prefer an educated homosexual over a heterosexual TV addict raising the children of the next generation. Education is more valuable in an evolving society as it spurs innovation technologically and scientifically.

Gender roles are irrelevant as long as the tasks are completed. Does it matter if a man or a woman cooks the food for the children of the next generation? No. It matters that the food is cooked. Does it matter who provides the income for the food, shelter, etc to be purchased? No.

There are outliers and individuals that slow the process. Genocide and war seem like complete waste of potential life and creativity. But perhaps these spark different types of innovation? War has advanced technology more than anything throughout time. It has also advanced medical science.

But even if an individual or group of individuals think they are resisting the general forward movement they may still be contributing. If a group does not believe human’s have a priority on the planet and chose to stop procreating, they prevent their ideas from being spread except for by influence. If this is a genetic defect or if there is a genetic disposition, it will be weeded out over time as well.

The family unit and the small community unit are survival strategies designed to efficiently ensure the survival of the species. The small community is a unit of families and allows for support from one family to another. Each family is still responsible for its own unit, but it is not completely isolated.

Purpose

2009-03-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am not a scientist, I’m not a philosopher and I’m really not that great at putting words together. But these are the thoughts I have nonetheless. Maybe they will mean something in the grand scheme of things, but probably not.

Change I can't believe in

2009-02-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

This is a delayed reaction or maybe just a culmination of the bull shit of politics. And also the sheep like behavior of the masses.

Politics is the new religion and Obama has been the most successful televangelist to date. People are starting to realize now that he is in office that he is exactly the same as every other high level politician. Regardless of his race, he is an upper echelon of society and none of them really care about the people they "represent".

Why do we pay their health insurance (with no co pays or premiums) when we have to pay so much out of pocket for our own?

Why are they paid salaries upwards of $150,000 when most are already independently wealthy?

Obama has already demonstrated his support of policies supported by Bush. He isn't going to decrease the war effort, but rather redirect it to Afghanistan and who knows where else?

And to all of the Midwesterners that talk about how "God" will save this country, which version of God are you talking about? Because I'm pretty sure religion is a divisive institution. How can everyone claim to know what is right and what is wrong and remain tolerant of each other? Remember the church opposed interracial marriage? Remember they opposed women's lib? Ahh yes, but we have had time to perfect right and wrong. We are sure now (just like we were then) that abortion and gay marriage is wrong. Because we actually believe we know what a Deity, which is beyond our ability to comprehend or understand thinks defines good and bad.

Actually politicians and other religious figures (aren't they one and the same?) just use your blind following to garner more power and wealth for themselves.

Have faith... in independent thought!

Goals/Priorities/Purpose and Indifference/Apathy

2009-01-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

I find myself constantly torn between having a unique sense of purpose that drives me to accomplish things and utter indifference to everything.

Nothing pumps you up like reading some inspirational stuff about people starting businesses, writing books, etc. You think "I can have that too!". But then apathy creeps up on you and questions the meaning of any of "that". How is having all of that any better than having nothing? Does it really make your life more fulfilling? Or is it just the illusion that it is more fulfilling.

Even if 10 or 100 million people think you are "accomplished" or have done "a good job" does that really mean anything? I think it is just a more glorious illusion, but an illusion all the same.

The same can be said of setting goals and priorities in your life. But I guess if you stay convicted about those goals you won't falter in your beliefs.

So instead of ending on a negative note, let me say that if you find that doing something makes you happy, pursue that above all else.

Example: Working a 9-5 Job and really want to paint all day? Quit now! Screw the consequences! If painting is your priority, not paying your bills, then quit and move around. You will improve at your "craft" (whatever that is) if you spend more time doing it (and critiquing it).

Phillip K. Dick: Philosopher and Crazy Person

2008-12-19T23:12:00.000-08:00

I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks that in his philosophical rants he can be spot on but also borderline insane? Sometimes when I reflect on his theories I have a clear standpoint of agreeing or disagreeing but sometimes I just don't know what the hell he is talking about. And then the more I think about it the more I feel part of my sanity slipping away.

I really enjoy most of his fictional work because they have a good balance between characters, plot and philosophy but I'm about half way through the first book in his Valis trilogy and I find myself wondering if I should just ignore some of the rants entirely instead of reflecting on them. Two things to note about that book, there are many rants and they are very long. The whole premise is that Dick was possessed by some all-knowing entity and just scribed what he felt through that entity. Maybe he had aspirations of spawning a new Bible or something? Claiming he was divinely inspired.

I am particularly a fan of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Ubik. Androids because he questions the meaning and definition of life while exploring the possibility that everything is pointless or a lie and despite the knowledge of that people continuing theirs lives anyway. Ubik because it has an exciting plot but delves into his typical fair of questioning reality as a whole.

But this Valis series has very few plot elements and a lot of philosophy or what I like to call bullshit :D. Part of what probably drove Dick insane was that by pointing out the various dimensions of our existence it didn't necessarily accomplish anything. People still have to get up the next morning and go about their business.

Optimist, Pessimist, Realist

2008-12-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

I was having a debate with a friend the other day about whether I was a pessimist or a realist. At the time they were telling me I was a downer and hence a pessimist but I thought there was more to it than that. I argued that the fact that I would rather be a realist instead of a pessimist showed that I cared to some degree and that cleared me from the label of pessimist. They responded by telling me I was just afraid of commitment, which my ex-girlfriend would probably agree with.

But realists can often seem like pessimists, especially when in the company of optimists (better known as naive fools, that is more realism based on experience). But never tell an optimist that unless you want to piss them off, in which case you can proceed that they should be more optimistic about your pessimism. This will quickly escalate the conversation into a primal affair and will render all intellectual conversation moot in exchange for a verbal pissing contest. Which is probably (subconsciously) the real reason anyone brought the topic up. Because one of you were probably just pissed about something unrelated and wanted to release your emotions in the most indirect and pointless way possible. Or you enjoy the emotional conflict because of some primal spirit, the spirit of debate or just plain boredom.

I guess optimists are setting themselves up for failure while living happily day to day. Pessimists are setting themselves up for success while living sadly day to day. Realists are just lingering between wasting away and blogging their thoughts, hoping someone important or some internet deity will object to or confirm what they are saying.

Stream of Consciousness

2008-12-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

I doubt this is ground-breaking stuff, probably naive and inarticulate but what are you gonna do....

We have no free will. Choice is an illusion. We are all the direct result of our society. The choices we make are also influenced by the society. We attempt to identify ourselves and come to an understanding of who we are yet even this self-discovery is an illusion. Since a society can exist in a variety of contexts, one may have the influence of one or more societies in ones life. One may redefine their life entirely and "switch" societies. But most of us are some combination of macro and micro societies. The illusion of free will and choice are such that your choice will be a direct result of the various influences of your life. Your "choice" is simply the result of the strongest imprint left by the various influences. You take a "stand" on a certain issue. Dedicate your life to a certain purpose. But this purpose is merely a result of your influences and experiences. Does this make your purpose less valid? Not in the eyes of your peers. Perhaps in the eyes of some deity. But if your purpose is not valid to a deity, they are indifferent to it either way, and would take no offense to your direction.

Opposing an influencing society in your life is not abnormal because you must do this in order to accept another. Since we are finite and cannot be universally accepting of all societies (although we can probably at least be tolerant of them) it is natural to reject certain aspects or influences entirely. Our rationale for this task is most likely the culmination of our influences and experience. If you were raised without money and were taught to value it then your purpose may be stability or to a greater extent abundance. But if at some point you develop a disease that dictates your life you may switch your focus.

Natural instincts surely play a roll as by our biological clocks we may desire to procreate and extend our line. But that too is not truly a choice; merely a primordial societal impulse. The most generic and simplistic society is that of the human species. We all desire (to some extent) to live. We evolve, progress and continue our species because it is the ultimate purpose. As we split into smaller societies defined by religion and geography (and therefore skin color and culture) we still desire progress but have a priority shift to accommodate for these other influences. We want to live, but only in the fashion defined by our religion, which we believe should be the same for all others. All those who oppose will convert their views or die. Those that are alienated from their culture may convert. Those that prioritize survival may convert. Those that are alienated from that culture may resist. Those that believe they have a better chance of survival on either side will choose so accordingly.

Thanks Mom and Dad! (sarcasm)

2008-07-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

As a child raised in a relatively traditional "Christian" household I was fortunate that my parents didn't force their beliefs on me.... well not directly.

It was more of the, hey I'm not going to tell you what you believe, but assume that you agree with me because it is the "right" thing to believe. And if you don't I'm going to passively aggressively manipulate and guilt you into doing what I want anyway.

I wouldn't really call my parents mean or manipulative, I honestly think to some extent they aren't really aware of their own behavior. What can a parent do but raise their children the way they know best? I guess they can try to find other "better" ways, but that has its limits. Obviously there are some flat out wrong behaviors that I don't feel the need to even mention, but even things like spanking a child are up for debate.

I still think "spare the rod, spoil the child" was thrown in by some religious person that was also an advocate for self-flagellation.

With that said, I still care about them a great deal, because we have shared many positive and negative experiences that have brought us together. I just wish they didn't fear the process of questioning ones beliefs.

Hopefully I keep this up

2008-07-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

As a 20 something year old I seem to have this urge to try to new things randomly. I don't always follow through with them, but I try to. I still can't manage to exercise on a regular basis.

This blog is serving as the most recent addition attempt for me to do something new. Although I am doing this as a release for my thoughts and feelings, it would be great if people could learn things from my experiences (or vice versa). I haven't figured out if this is a backup to my journal or something that is going to function with it or in replacement of it, I guess there isn't any pre-defined set of rules to follow so we will see.

Let's get it on!