The Media Matrix

I'll start off by saying I don't agree with this article on several points. That said, it makes a compelling argument that we're all programmed, not original, not individuals. We're fed what we are supposed to believe and think by not only our parents' upbringing, but every day we are blasted with programming by the media. Kupelian's argument is that we have neglected to have faith in our creator and thus have fallen prey to such programming.

This is a great article (long though it is). I don't see where god has anything to do with it, but the argument Kupelian makes is somewhat convincing. Maybe it's because the Matrix has my mind in a vice. I dunno. Anyways, this is worth reading to get a differing perspective on things. I'll snip the part about religion below:

1. "Everyone has heard a little bit about mass manipulation, mind control, brainwashing, suggestion, hypnosis and Pavlovian conditioning – the scary stuff of far-off communist operatives, religious cults and movie thrillers like "The Manchurian Candidate." It pops up in the news now and then, as when the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped and brainwashed Patricia ("I am Tanya") Hearst, or more recently in "Stockholm Syndrome" cases, where terrified hostages come to sympathize, and in some cases actually fall in love, with the very terrorists threatening their lives.

Nevertheless, we're never quite sure how much of this mind-control stuff is objectively real, and how much is just psychobabble or science fiction. Right?

Let me help you out here. It's not only real – it's the fabric of our lives.

To demonstrate the real-life matrix programming we consider our reality, let's momentarily set aside the news media and focus on one of the most stunning and audacious real-life matrix programs currently running. I'm referring to what we call "evolution."

In the days prior to the evolution matrix program – that is, from the beginning of human life until Darwin came along in the mid-19th century – human beings would step outside their homes and survey with their eyes and minds the wonders of nature. They'd see majestic 400-year-old redwood trees, hummingbirds that were able to hover, and honeybees that somehow knew how to do a special figure-eight dance that would communicate to all of the other worker bees the precise location of the dancer's newly discovered nectar source.

Looking in every direction, we humans beheld not only fantastic complexity, diversity and order, but also the supreme intelligence behind creation, as brashly evident as the noonday sun.

This ubiquitous natural wonderland caused man to acknowledge and honor the Creator of creation, as Copernicus did when he wrote, "[The world] has been built for us by the Best and Most Orderly Workman of all." Or as Galileo wrote, "God is known ... by Nature in His works and by doctrine in His revealed word." Or as Pasteur confessed, "The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator." Or Isaac Newton: "When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance."

Did not happen by chance?

Ever since Darwin and his successors succeeded in loading the evolution matrix program on mankind – a fantastic theory for which there is no proof, and many serious problems – when we now walk outside and look at the created universe, what do many of us see? Chance!

Although our eyes survey the same wonders of God's creation that inspired faith in our predecessors, in our minds today we see only the meaningless result of millions of years of random, chance mutation. That's what our minds "see" – the eternal dance of purposeless recombination of ever-more-complex forms, but all without meaning, without spirit, without love. And by direct implication we also "see" that man is not a fallen being needful of God's saving grace, but merely the cleverest, most evolved animal of all. Since evolution by definition always results in improvement and advancement, man and all of his violent and lustful and selfish drives are perfectly normal and natural and … advanced. There is no good and evil, no Heaven and Hell – and man, as a highly evolved monkey, has no sin and no guilt – as these are logical impossibilities from the evolutionary point of view."




Kupelian delves into abortion, the Arab-Israeli conflict, John Kerry's image, and 9/11 conspiracy theory in the same article (I told you it was a small novel!). Even if you don't agree with it, it makes an interesting read from somebody who's obviously on the far Right.

Maher: 'I'm spreading the anti-gospel'

"That's one of the things that really bugs me about religion. If you don't know the answer, just say, 'I don't know.' Don't make up stories and make people believe them, and then work backwards in everything in life from the dumb little story you made up, you know? We don't know. Be a good person just because it's the right thing to do. How 'bout that?"

"I believed all this stuff when I was young," Maher begins, smiling wryly. "I believed there was a virgin birth, I believed a man lived inside of a whale, and I believed that the Earth was 5,000 years old. But then something very important happened to me -- I graduated sixth grade."

"It's kind of cruel, I realize," he says of that last punch line, momentarily cringing. "It kind of sticks the knife in and makes people feel. ... But you know what? At a certain point, I just lost patience with the faithful and pretending, pretending that this was something that was OK, to retain childish thought patterns into adulthood."



I'm not usually that enamored with Bill Maher because of his politics, but he's got his head screwed on straight on the subject of religion. Tell 'em, Bill.

Alaska Measure Would Treat Pot Like Alcohol

As well it should be. Good for you, Alaska. I hope it goes better than the Nevada initiative that got put in the circular file a few years ago. If legalization isn't going to happen, SEVERE decriminalization should take place nationwide. It's no more harmful than alcohol and should be treated the same way, not to mention the plethora of medical uses that have been found through studies in the past 30 years.

Alaska, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Are we there yet?

I love watching the tightrope the political pundits are walking. It's a balancing act between:

A) Highlighting news stories that show your candidate is in the lead (positive reinforcement to your target audience, but not enough to make them complacent about voting on Election Day).

and

B) Highlighting news stories that show your candidate is losing (negative points to rally the troops without discouraging them).


Just an observation I thought was funny.

Quibble over Creationist Book on the Grand Canyon

How fucking stupid. Some crackpot author has "evidence" the Grand Canyon was created in Noah's flood, some thousands of years ago. Nevermind the fact geologists have concluded the Grand Canyon is MILLIONS of years old.

"The Grand Canyon was formed millions of years ago," said William Ausich, president of the Paleontological Society, according to Religion News Service. "It is the job of the National Park Service to present the best scientific information possible to the public, and the book is complete pseudoscience."

"Ruch, in representing public-employee geologists, says they are "outraged and humiliated" that the book is still in park stores.

"They see it as tantamount to having creationist texts in public schools," he said, saying selling the book at the Grand Canyon is no different than approving a book claiming Yellowstone's geysers are the work of Satan."


I'll reiterate: How dumb do you have to be?

Why should we care about the lazy idiot vote?

This is a great article I found on www.opinionjournal.com, which is the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page. It highly criticizes voter registration drives geared towards younger voters that generally know dick about what's going on except what MTV tells them. Worth reading twice.

It Only Took 5 Minutes...

of listening to National Public Radio to make me sick to my stomach. The topic was the death penalty for juvenile murderers. I'm not talking about the "I accidentally ran over a guy with my car" criminals, I'm talking about the "I tied an old lady up and threw her off a bridge" criminals (which is the specific example used in the news story). I don't get why this is so difficult for people to understand. They're COLD-BLOODED KILLERS, regardless of how "developed" or "mature" they are. I think we're totally screwing with natural laws if we DON'T eliminate them from society. Moreover, since they should never be let out of prison, why not get rid of them. Do you keep moldy pastrami sandwiches in your refrigerator because of a sentimental attachment?

It's like this: You have a dog. The dog goes apeshit one day and nearly bites somebody's arm off for no apparent reason. What conclusions can you come to?

1. The dog has some sort of behavioral/biological/neurological problem.
2. The dog doesn't realize that biting someone's arm off is inappropriate behavior.
3. The dog now has a history of biting people without provocation and will likely do it again (given probability and a normal life span).

So what do you do?

Any conscientious dog owner would have him put to sleep. Any responsible owners would do it themselves. Period. You can't have a loose cannon for a dog out in society, even if it's just your own society (your family, friends, etc.). It's dangerous and pointless to keep a dog that had the potential (and has shown its resolve to do so on one occasion already) to tear someone's arm off without provocation.

Why can't we apply this simple, natural logic to humans? Ok, let me backtrack...I'm not a tree-hugging Save-the-Spotted-Owl nutso animal rights ecoterrorist. I don't think humans on the same level as dogs. We rightfully hold dominion over animals. However, all humans are smart animals with opposable thumbs. That's it. We should live by the same natural laws. I see Darwinian "survival of the fittest" theory being scoffed at and threats to regular, law-abiding people being let back out into society only to kill again. Over 50% (can't find the link to the stat article) of violent offenders in prison make their way back there within a few years. Why should we believe a 15 or 16 year old would be any different? Do we really believe as a society that if they haven't learned what is right and wrong and what the consequences of killing someone are by then that we can teach it to them in the prison system, under the guise of "rehabilitation"? What a fuggin' crock.

By my reckoning, these teenagers have already shown the resolve (and many the remorselessness) to kill someone without provocation. We have a DUTY to the rest of society to make sure it never happens again, and what's the best way to do that?...eliminate the threat.

/rant off

It's like Ron White says in his comedy bit: [something to the effect of] "Here in Texas, if you kill somebody, we will kill you back."

And that's all I have to say about that. :)

Movin' On Up...

Well, my fiancee and I finally got moved into our house. I'm exhausted, as I've been working hard to get us moved over the last few days. I couldn't have done it without my buddies and my family. It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated over the years. I got my TV and Internet hooked back up today, thank goodness. I hate going unplugged for too long. I'm getting donations of furniture from family as well. Now I just have to buy a bed, hehe. Unfortunately my efforts in one area have put me behind in others...namely SLEEP and HOMEWORK. I'm going to try and get caught up and get back to regular blogging soon. Best wishes to all my electronic friends!

Al-Sadr Militia Pumping Up With Drugs

Awesome. If we can let these Al-Sadr fighters get hooked on amphetamines, in short order we'll be able to put down any resistance. Have you ever known a tweeker? Manic-depressive, irrational, jumpy, fidgety, impulsive, and generally disagreeable people on the whole. It's not somebody you'd LIKE to be fighting, but being cracked-out like that has got to open the floodgates for mistakes in resistance operations, and that's all we need them to do--slip up--and it's over. Look at how easily the British trounced the Chinese in the Opium Wars. It's hard to keep an army going when all they're concerned about is getting daily allowances of drugs.

Polygamy Laws Expose Our Own Hypocrisy

Jonathan Turley has got it right. I'm going to keep this short and sweet: What business is it of anyone's how someone else chooses to associate with other people?

This is a textbook example of an issue everybody needs to mind their own goddamn business about. Principle is more important than anyone's personal beliefs.