To be or not to be...

....informed??

My life is all about self-exploration and discovery. I'm probably one of the least socialized people on the Earth, and I'm constantly evaluating the thinking patterns of others, looking for uniqueness. Unfortunately, most people don't think on their own today. I think its something that has to be developed in childhood, and for those who don't think on their own growing up and instead take life as its presented to them, they are doomed to become just another worker bee, subject to the whims of their superiors.

Anyway, after that diatribe, one question I've come across is this: is it better to be informed, or is it better to be ignorant?? I really don't have a choice in the matter; my curiosity forces me to be informed about anything and everything. But I've found that my happiest moments are when I've become engrossed in some meaningless venture, like watching football, or playing a video game. When I am informing myself and engaging in debate, I'm not happy, I'm angry, and my anger is often counterproductive.

So, many of you would probably say, thats normal, right?? When engaging in playtime, you are happier, and when in the real world, you aren't. It's not like that for me though. I get addicted to certain aspects of my life, and it really doesn't matter whether they are pointless pursuits or whether they are "real world activities." Even though I don't enjoy the anger that comes out of spirited political debate, I am addicted to it. I've been addicted, likewise, to exercise. I worked out every day for two years, hating every minute of it, but unable to stop. As I said, though, I'm also able to get addicted to meaningless crap, like World of Warcraft, for example.

Anyway, its a pointless train of thought I guess, since I have no control over it. But I wonder, if I had a choice, would I choose ignorance over knowledge?? Would I choose to live a meaningless existence over being a productive part of a capitalist society??

I don't know, but I have a hunch that I would choose ignorance.

Bohemian.... Rhapsody?? Not Quite.

If I told you that every year in the middle of summer, the world's elite, in terms of money and power, gather north of San Francisco deep in the Redwood forests, in secret, and have been doing so for over 120 years, would you believe me??

It's true. They all belong to the Bohemian Club. Leaders in politics (Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush 1 and 2, Kissinger, among many others), media (Cronkite, etc), and corporate America (oil tycoons, pharmaceutical industry moguls, and so on) all meet together once a year.
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What if I told you that at these meetings, at the Bohemian Club, important dealings, both financial and political, took place, in secret??

It's true. Apparently, the idea for the Manhattan project was launched in the mid-40s at one of these yearly meetings. Corporate mergers, presidential nominations, all sorts of big, important decisions take place at these yearly gatherings at the Bohemian Club.
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What if I told you that, in addition to making important decisions and socializing among the elite, that pagan rituals took place at these meetings?? Would you believe me?? And what if I told you that at these pagan rituals, they burned a body in effigy, at an altar of worship to a 45 foot tall owl god???

Believe it or not, this is true too. The world's elite gather to perform the "Cremation of Care" ritual, in which (now) a fake body is burned in trubute to the owl god, "Moloch", a god with biblical roots in the old testament that began being worship in ancient Babylon.
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Don't believe me?? Most wouldn't, so I provide you with a link showing you everything. An intrepid journalist named Alex Jones snuck a hidden camera into the top secret club, fake name and everything, and taped the ritual.

It's a very interesting movie, close to two hours long though, but I would encourage you to watch it. It is hard to believe, but he has it all on tape.

I've been watching a few of Jones' other tapes, and he certainly has some wild ideas. I don't agree with all of them, but a number really do have merit. If you are really looking for truth, and aren't just a Republican or Democratic idealogue looking to defend your party, you should check out some of his work. Keep in mind that, although many of his ideas seem outlandish at first, that that is because you haven't been exposed to them before. He backs them up pretty well.

Homecoming

Based on some good recommendations from people in the know, I watched a program tonight on Showtime entitled "Masters of Horror: Homecoming".

Apparently, Masters of Horror is a horror series on Showtime, and not every episode has as political a bent as this one did. I don't plan on watching other episodes, as I'm not really a fan of horror films, but boy, did I enjoy this episode.

The basic premise is this: A Republican media-man, when confronted by a Cindy Sheehan-like mother of a dead soldier, says that it would be his greatest wish if the dead soldiers killed in Iraq could come back to life. His saying comes off well, and the Republicans decide to feed it to their presidential candidate for use in his speech, which he does.

After this saying is used repeatedly, something sorta funny, sorta sad happens. The dead veterans actually come back to life, as zombies!! They crawl out of their graves, moaning, stumbling, like zombies tend to do. But they don't hurt anyone; instead, they go to advance polling places to vote (the movie takes place in 2008, with a fictional president and fictional members of the Republican news media, but its obvious who each character is meant to be).

Thats the general premise, but I won't spoil the rest of the story for you. If it gets enough publicity, it will undoubtedly be attacked by Faux News and other right-wing media as disrespecting the troops by portraying them as zombies. But, actually, the zombies come off rather favorably in this film compared to the Republicans.

This movie is a must see for anyone with a political bent. It is at times ridiculous, many times funny with ingenious one-liners, and also sad, even though it is, at its root, a horror movie. It is brilliant satire, and might be able to cause waves.

As some people at democratic underground put it, zombies are something joe sixpack can understand and relate to. So, it might work, but even if its doesn't, its still worth a look. Trust me.

Bush DID Lie!!

Conclusive proof offered here.

It isn't so much lying as an ends justifying the means sort of thing, but in the end he definitely had the goal of invading Iraq, and was willing to lie to accomplish it.

It's nice to finally have all the quotes and evidence put together in one document, makes for easy reference. So, for those arguing that calling the president a liar is unpatriotic and helps the enemy, well, he did!! So criticize him, why dontcha.

Can Democrats Ever Succeed??

If you look at recent history politically, it has been dominated by Republicans. Since Lyndon Johnson left office in 1968, we have had 10 presidential elections. 7 were won by Republicans (Nixon twice, Reagan twice, Bush 1, Bush 2 twice), 3 were won by Democrats (Carter, Clinton twice).

Looking further, though, it can be argued that only the Carter victory was a legitimate one, as Clinton was aided immeasurably in both '92 and '96 by Ross Perot, who garnered a significant percentage of voters, most of whom would have likely voted Republican. The Bush 2000 win can be categorized in a similar way because of Ralph Nader, so eliminating those 3 elections, the tally is 6 to 1 in elections where only candidates from the two major parties recieve significant votes. Looks bad for the Democrats.

This period is the media age, where information is available on demand in the format you desire. I've been doing some thinking, and I've come to believe that despite all the efforts of Democrat politicians and supporters, it may not be possible for them to win in the current environment.

Why you ask?? Unity. The key difference between Democrats and Republicans, it seems, is Republicans are much more trusting. They believe what their party leaders tell them. Despite evidence that Bush fabricated the reasons necessary for war in Iraq, that the whole WMD theory was more excuse than belief, most Republicans still trust the guy they elected. Despite connections evident between Dick Cheney and oil companies, despite bills like the Patriot Act that endanger their civil liberties, and ignoring an increasingly implausible rationale for continued troop deployment in Iraq, most Republicans still believe in their elected leaders.

And this is to be expected. Republicans are generally trusting people. They trust their pastors, they trust their teachers, they trust the view of the world they grew up with is correct, ignoring evidence to the contrary. For those that grew up believing the Bible literally, no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. Many Republicans still believe that we shoyuld not have abandoned the war in Vietnam, despite the mounds of evidence that the war was unwinnable.

Democrats are not this way, and are far less united. There are Christian Democrats, mainly Catholic. There are atheist Democrats, like myself. There are many Democrats who are rabidly pro-choice, but many of the Religious Democrats are pro-life. There are many rich Democrats who vote against their monetary interests, and there are many poor Democrats who vote because of their monetary interest.

What is very clear, though, is that Democrats walk to their own beat, while the Republicans are more in lockstep. One only has to look at the sucess of this "Christmas Controversy" to see how this works. It is a manufactured issue if there ever was one, with the right-wing media "outing" stores who say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." If any reasonable person took time to think about it, they would ask, "Who cares what greeting the store says?? Why is this an issue??" I agree with these people. But the religious right has created a frenzy among southern Christians, who won't shop at any store not using the appropriate greeting.

It is their right, of course, to shop wherever they want for whatever reasons they want to use. Furthermore, I really don't care what greeting stores use. This is just the most recent example, though, of an issue manufactured by the religious right and the right wing media to get their followers angry. The Swift Boat "controversy" is another example.

There is no equivalent to these factless frenzies on the left, and there never will be. I'm not calling all Republicans dumb, for there are certainly many smart, albeit misguided, Republicans out there. But they are definitely more trusting and less questioning than your average intelligent Democrat. Their natures lead them to their respective parties.

There is no way for the Democrats to become as united, and as a result, no way for them to force their political will like the Republican party can. The fact that a good portion of the Republican base doesn't understand the lies doesn't matter; the uninformed and the stupid have the same voting power as I do.

Does this mean the Democrats should stop trying?? Of course not. But it does mean that the battle may not be winnable, unless the state of the country is altered drastically. In today's media age, it is far too easy to control the minds of the easily impressionable, and the force of that control can never be equaled among thoughtful people.