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!

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.

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.

Another post, its only been months

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).