A Much Needed Vacation

So, for the first time in a couple of years I'm on vacation. This time, like many before, that means heading West. To clarify, I live in Wisconsin of all places, so west means (generally speaking) South Dakota, Wyoming, and the like. In fact, I'm setting in a motel in Mitchel SD as I type this. It's rather nice, not a pricey or fancy place, but I like it. The Thunderbird Lodge in case you're wondering (if you know the area). Intending to try for Yellowstone, if things work out right.

Anyway, I've been largely silent for the past few months, with only a few half-snide allusions to spending too much time on World of Warcraft as explanation. While that is partly the truth, and I meant no offense to anyone with said allusions, the other half of the truth is that I'm burned out. I'm sick of discussing, debating, and arguing about religion and related matters. In some senses it's all become way too personal, and in many many others it has simply become far to frustrating. After all, it's not like there is any real, objective answers or evidence involved in religion and spirituality to begin with, and as a result it's rather difficult to debate a point to begin with but ultimately determining and discussing the truth of any religious or spiritual matter is essentially as fruitful and meaningful as discussing the flavors of ice cream available on Mars.

This doesn't mean that one cannot disprove things of a religious/spiritual nature - if an idea is internally inconsistent or simply logically untenable it's a pretty fair bet that concept is false. However, while proving this in debate/discussion is rather easy, convincing people to accept that such common sense is actually true can be a matter of Herculean proportions. Discussion only works as a means of learning if both parties are willing to learn and grow.

Anyway, enough babble. West has always been sort of a spiritual thing for me, and in addition to mundane fun I'm sort of looking forward to actually experiencing again rather than merely talking. But someone else wants to use the computer here, so off I go.

So This Is Christmas

The first year of World War One, the British and German troops in some places on the Western Front made their own peace - a bit of truce, a bit of humanity amidst the war. It started by singing songs, and (at least in one place) by one brave German risking his life to bring a Xmas tree to the British in the opposite trench.

Why am I talking about this on Christmas Eve? Because I wanna be that German. Any other time, I am, as you can tell gentle reader, something of an amateur culture warrior. I oppose both Christianity and Islam, and the expansion of either, and I am very much a liberal (generally speaking). All this culture war crap is necessary - vitally so in my opinion - because by debating such matters on the internet (and elsewhere) endlessly to the point of nausea we as a culture can hopefully keep the conflict on an intellectual level, and keep it from becoming something worse. Hopefully. But this is Christmas. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men, and all that. Regardless of our beliefs, for tonight and tomorrow let us have peace, let us make our own private truces. We can go back to the trenches in due time.

Peace, everyone. Please.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to all!

Daemons All About

I haven't seen the Golden Compass yet, but I definitely want to - all the moreso because of the uproar certain groups (you know who you are) are making over it. It must really suck, to be so afraid of new ideas (or old ones in this case) that you have to get your panties in a knot and scream and holler and write pamphlets and propaganda campaigns against something as simple as a fantasy movie. Heaven forbid people should see something you don't want them to see, hell, they might start thinking for themselves if they do right? Sucks to be so insecure doesn't it?

Now Without Comment Moderation

By popular demand. Plus Blogspot has been being a bitch regarding my log-ins for some time, so now at least I won't have to log in just to validate comments.

Evil Is As Evil Does

You Are 82% Evil

You're the most evil person you know. The devil is even a little scared of you!

How Evil Are You?

Found this test referenced on the blog of a theistic Satanist. Check out his score - I win! Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Friends and girlfriend might be, or then maybe not. Last line's pretty sweet though, or it would be if I believed in the Christian devil. Ah well, good fun - back to being lazy :D

Signs Of The Times

Practical cybernetics...more or less.

Nuff said!

Religion And Being A Jackass

Ran into this over on The Wild Hunt blog, and as such these jerks at Operation Destroy America get the honor of being the inspiration of tonight's blog. Apparently these bigoted little swine decided that it would be ok to try and cram their religious bias down the throats of the US Senate by shouting down and otherwise disrupting the prayer offered by a Hindu guest chaplain. Now, the folks at Wild Hunt covered the reaction to this by the Religious Reich and the political implications rather well I think, so I won't bother going into that aside from thanking the various pundits of religious bigotry for again showing their true colors and desires - that being namely a theocratic government to replace the present (if waning) republican system we have.

No, what I'm going to get into is a bit broader. What I'm going to ask, plain a simple, is what the bloody hell gives these idiots and millions like them the right to assume that they can force others to conform to their religious expectations? I'm not just talking about this incident, but rather about every Christian fanatic that has ever used any form of force to apply their religion to others. I'm talking about the brow beating, the group or public intimidation tactics, the "wolf pack" and tag team conversion attempts, the hard sell street evangelism, the counter conversion attempts, the ever-so-concerned warnings about the "dangers to our immortal souls", the unwarranted gagging of dissenting opinion, the constant lies and slander, and the apologetic deceit constantly shoveled out as "truth". Not to even bother mentioning the countless historic incidents of physical violence, forced conversion, genocide, etc.

Now to be fair, it's not only Christianity that does this (*cough* Islam *cough*) or has done this historically, but talking about here and now, and in the US fundamentalist Christians are the biggest offenders, so they are the treatment. Further, not every Christian is a jackass - many are rather nice. But even the nicest can have a religious arrogance of sorts about them. You know, the kinda thing that permits the kind of jackassery I was talking about about, or simply turns a blind eye and excuses it when a fellow Christian is doing it because, after all, it's a fellow Christian.

Often, Christians will offer one of two excuses for this sort of crap. The first of these is that it's their duty to God to see his will done (or whatever), and therefore they must obey him. That alone assumes a whole bloody lot though. Not only does it presuppose the existence of God as they see him, but it presumes that their religious views about this god are literally true in some sense. And guess what dear reader? There is zero objective proof to back up any of that in the least. None. So, in essence, shmucks of this type are justifying making other people's lives miserable (or more annoying at the least) because they believe their own opinions are the end all and be all of existence. That isn't religion, it's nothing more than arrogance, hubris of the sort was punished by divine vengeance in the Greek myths. Furthermore, if that's the case and the accepted standards of behavior, then what's wrong with returning the favor and giving them the same treatment? Pagan hardcore evangelism and high pressure conversions anyone? Some of the more nutcase Satanist wannabes or Islamic jihadists from going out and hunting Christians for sport maybe? Or maybe a revival of the old Aztec religion and daily human sacrifice? After all, any of the above could use the excuse that their god(s) told them to do it. Oh, but that isn't the One True Christian GodTM. Hubris, pure bloody hubris.

The second commonly used excuse is that of love. The line goes that the Christian so loves the individual (or the world or country or whatever) that they have to warn them of the horrendous dangers "to their immortal souls" that they face if they continue with their "sinful" ways. A lot time people will be placated by this line, and I am no exception as I have been in the past. But they shouldn't be, because it's not true. Why? Firstly because it presumes that the Christian knows what's good for the individual in question better then the individual does, which is really just the same argument as I noted above. Pure hubris, but perhaps slightly less so than the above example. But there's another reason that this excuse is simply so much bullshit.

If you love someone, truly love them, you love them as they are. You don't try to force your own ideas on them, or manipulate them into being someone they aren't. You simply accept them. And if that means letting them go their own way, that's what you do, regardless of how much it may hurt. If they have found a source of love or hope or peace or joy that you don't approve of but they aren't hurting themselves someone that truly loves the individual will deal with it and keep on accepting them. And no, Christians cannot say that non-Christians are hurting themselves, as they cannot prove this to be the case as noted above. They may believe it, but that does not matter in the final analysis.

Finally though, what all of these Christian types are forgetting is simply human decency. How would they feel if someone came into their homes or churches and tried to convince them that their religion was oh so evil? How would they feel if they were praying or simply holding a conversation about religious topics and some schmuck came up and started berating them for it? How would they feel if some guy on the street or one of their friends came up to them and tried to convert them through high stress or social pressure methods? How would they feel if their religion was demonized at every turn, or if they were made out to be evil incarnate because of their religious views? Wouldn't like it very much, would they? No, that would be horrible, the end of the world even! They wouldn't stand for that! They'd organize and fight back (*cough* Harry Potter *cough* The DeVinchi Code *cough*). But it's ok if they do that sort of thing, perfectly fine. Well, don't be surprised oh ye of the Religious Reich if others feel the same way, and decide they aren't going to take it anymore either.

May Nemesis's glory shine on you all.

This Site Is Dangerous!

Kittenwar
This site is dangerous people! Seriously! It sucks you in, consumes your mind, making you vote again and again and again... Warn everyone! The cuteness is too much!

Evolution And Such

"You will die, and be reborn. Reborn as a hero like those that roamed the Earth of old, before the pale religions of civilization infected the soul of humanity!" - David Banner, The Hulk

"You are a god amongst insects. Never let anyone tell you otherwise." - Magneto to Pyro, X-Men 2

I've been thinking a lot on the topic of evolution recently, both spiritual and physical (Darwinian or otherwise), and the implications of such an idea. Nothing really concrete, but more a bunch of random ideas. Reflecting this jumble of thoughts, this entry will likely be a bit less structured and more vague. But maybe that's nothing new.

I've always liked comics, particularly the X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Dr. Strange. I stopped reading back in the day but still love the concept. The new crop of Marvel movies (X-Men, Spiderman, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, The Hulk, etc) have all been rather good in my opinion - especially the X-Men and Ghost Rider. However, it is X-Men and the Hulk that have been the most realistic I think - not because of the subject matter but because of how the governments and normal people react to the superhumans depicted. Uniformly, they react with fear and hatred, attempting to destroy what they fear...because it's better than them. This I think is the normal state of humanity, to fear and try to destroy that which is different because difference is automatically perceived as threatening. But that's not the only reflection of our world these fictions hold.

It's been said that modern comics, sci fi and fantasy stories, etc fill the place the myths did in previous cultures, and to an extent I agree with this. What I think many fail to recognize is why this may be the case. I think, on a very fundamental level, we as human beings need stories of the superhuman. Not only do such stories provide role models and cautionary tales after a sense, they also provide the hope that we can be something more than what we are. Of course, no one takes such stories seriously these days - no one realistically thinks they're going to wake up one day an toss around semis with mentally generated magnetic fields. Indeed, it's entirely possible that no one in antiquity took stories such as the Iliad & the Odyssey absolutely literally either. It is our modern conceit to think that they must have because they were superstitious ancient people, but this does not make it so. No, it is my opinion that something in such stories speaks to a deep part of our minds, to a part that wants both more control and more involvement in the world we inhabit.

Originally myths of this nature were essentially religious stories - this must not be overlooked. As Christianity came along and relegated these stories to the dustbin of history humanity lost something of itself. All of these varied and differing myths were replaced in essence with the solitary myth of the gospels. A case could be made that the legends surrounding the various Catholic saints filled this void to an extend, but the character of them is fundamentally different than the old stories. In the saint legends, the formula is generally Saint SoAndSo was a pious guy, did a couple of cool things, then keeled over and went to heaven with God. Contrast this with the Greek myths, wherein the hero was often semi-divine to begin with (Heracles, Perseus, etc), did a bunch of cool stuff, died, and in the best of cases was lifted into the heavens and became a god in their own right. Not just hung out in heaven with God/the gods, but became a god.

For a long time, the superhuman was generally demonized by Western civilization. At first in reality with the various witch trials and later in fiction, which is the essence of the horror genre - the conflict between human and superhuman. After all, at it's core that is what stories like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the like are about. But with the advent of the 20th century we have something relatively new, the widespread rebirth of the heroic superhuman. This is not to say that heroic superhumans didn't exist in literature beforehand - Merlin for example. But in the 20th century the concept became, again, truly common in literature. True, most of these stories - comics, pulp magazines, etc - where "supposed" to be aimed at youth but that isn't really the case when you look at it. Especially in today's market, comic based sci fi and fantasy stories are big business.

The question remains though of why. These stories speak to the subconscious I think, to a need and desire within each of us to become something more than what we are, to transcend the tedious roll of everyday life and do something that actually means something for once. To transcend not just our physical limitations but our psychological and spiritual limits as well. In short, to grow, to evolve. In a sense these stories came back because we as a civilization wanted them to come back. Stagnation, after all, can only last so long before change occurs. We know, I think, on a subconscious level but as a civilization that now more than ever we must evolve beyond what we are or perish. Adapt or die. And so the old stories are new again.

What happens next is up to you.

You Might Think I'm Full Of It...

Because I'm going to talk about spiritual things from time to time on this blog. Non-physical magical things, spirits, auras, psychic feelings, stuff that goes bump in the night, and all sorts of jazz like that in general. Stuff that science and materialists in general say does not exist. I'm going to be talking about it like it's real. That's because, to me, they are. And no, I can't prove it - if I could everybody would know it. But I'm not asking anyone to believe me - I truly don't care whether you do or not. All that I'm saying is, if your a hardcore skeptic and you come around here demanding proof of my "claims" and spouting off that it's all bullshit and I'm a fake or whatever, know one thing - I don't care what you think.

I Hate Blogging

When I first heard of the concept of blogging, I recall thinking "what a stupid word". And it is really. Another pop culture abomination to add to the lexicon. I've also been of the opinion that blogging was in essence pointless narcissism - I mean, in essence it's a journal for the world to read, right? What could be more narcissistic? How stupid. I hate it. I'll never do something so stupid.

And here I am, starting my own blog. So, yeah. I guess I'm just a hypocritical narcissist. I can live with that.