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.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
You are beautiful
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.
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.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Hypocrisy of Raising Money or Proclaiming Interest for The Haiti Disaster
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Jesus was a horse thief
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.
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.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
TV is Fucking Crazy
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!
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!
Friday, November 6, 2009
No one cares... unless you have money
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.
Does it matter if you write your congressmen? No, unless of course you are writing from an organization with a lot of lobbying power.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Existential Funk Post
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.
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.
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