Oil Rig Destruction

Ben Affleck is a Showcase of What's Wrong with Liberals

For fans of Bill Maher's Real Time, the latest episode had guests Ben Affleck and Sam Harries going back and forth of the ill concieve and idotic politcal correct scourge islamophibia. This has been the battle cry of the I'm hip and cool crowd who don't understand what they are actually talking about. Political correctness is a concept that goes against the concepts of western civilization. This is an easy cop out for anyone who doesn't want to have a debate over a dangerous mind set.

Part of being able to live in a free society is the ability to critize theories and ideas. Proir to the American Revoltion which was not only one of the few successful revolutions but also started the trend of monarchies getting overthrown, being able to speak your mind was something that very well could have gotton you exuctued. The concept of Islamophibia is a step back into these old dark days. Relgious theocracies are a form of facism and like many other similar movements, religon and twisted authoritarian ideologies are woven into this mind set.

When you look at the landscape of the world right now you can see a trend swaying. In the United States, while we don't have the same type of violence you see in other parts of the world you can see the ground work being laid for this. Granted it's not everyone of faith who falls into this category but the same can be said of the rise of Nazism or Satlinism. At first people tend to not criticize movements or ideology until it is too late.

When you look at what Ben Affleck did on that show, it wasn't the behavoir of a well educted enlightened person, it was that of a propaganda hound. The free exchange of ideas which is what the first amendment of the consition is all about means letting the other side state their points. I myself find many of the ideas put forth by the more conservitive factions to be juevilline and ill concieved, but I don't think they should change their views based on the way I think.

When you look at the pratices of these parts of the world it shouldn't take much to understand that we are not on the same page and are in fact at odds with their system. When someone in western culuture writes an offensive book or makes an offensive movie we don't issue hits against them or lynch them in the street. We don't require our woman to be nothing more than servants. We don't put homosexuals to death because they chose to love somone or be with someone they care about. Western society is based on the concepts of the enlightenment. The last time the Muslim world was in a golden age was centuries ago. Since than it has been brutal dictor or ruler who governs his people with an iron fist.

Even tho the vast majority of Muslims are not in the grouping, why should we keep quite on these crimes against humanity? If you have a holy cleric issuing a hit against an author and he is siting a holy book shouldn't we than take a look at that book to understand where he is coming from? I opposed the war in Iraq not because I believed the fairy tale Michael Moore and other liberals but forth of Saddam being this great leader but because I didn't trust Bush and the group of criminals that made up his cabinet. You can not destroy fascism by using fascist methods, you only breed more of it. 

With Ben Affleck, for someone who claims to be a liberal he doesn't show that he stands for liberal princaples. It's not enough to say you support equal rights for women, workers, and religous beliefs. You have to be willing to take a stand agaainst those seeking to erode those principles. When you see a state rising regarless of the belief that stands against those you should be obliged to speak out against it. Every holy book has parts in them that goes against liberal beliefs, the difference is at the moment the enemy of this happens to fall into the Islamic Facist category. In the future it very well could change but having that mentality is going to do anything against this dangerous idealogy. Yes the vast majority of muslims just want to be able to live a good life, but like with christanity the belief system not only gives the right away for opression but has lead to numerous fatilites through out the world.

The easiest way to explain this is to look at how Stalin took over Russia. Before the rise of communism there existed two different belief systems in the country. The first was the Orthodox church, the second was the cult of the Tsar or the Monarchy religion. Kings and rulers held their power because of the belief that they where descendants of a higher power. People basically trusted and worshiped their leaders because of this. While the ruler may not of been a full replacement of "god" they where held in the same category. Stalin took these current standing beliefs and re-branded them with communism. In the Islamic world you can see the same thing playing out now. IS (Islamic State) started an Islamic caliph where these fighters see their leader in the same light that catholics see the Pope. There is a culture of servitude built into these belief systems and if coexistence is ever going to be a reality we have to be able to recognize this and do away with this archaic mentality. The notion of the vast majority don't believe this doesn't make anyone safer and doesn't spread the ideas of equality. September 11 which started two wars and killed a large number of civilians was done by a small number of people. The fact that the vast majority didn't agree with them didn't stop them from attacking. For the fear of offending someone should we allow this kind of crimes to continue?

Ben Affleck while he may have good intentions, he isn't representing the notions of free speech and one could argue he is indirectly showing support for these oppressive governmental systems. Islamaphobia is a term used by people who prefer to walk on egg shells instead of being honest. While we may live on the same planet we do not live in the same world as these fascist do. Spend five minutes listening to what these holy men say and they will put down their goals in simple terms. To ignore their own words is foolish. They do not hold the same values that we do and many of these extreme groups are not like the Taliban in the sense that they are only concerned with their own part of the world. If we stop criticizing these minority groups they will continue to grow in power. Most of the extremist fighters out there are illiterate and uneducated, the follow these corrupt people because there is very few people willing to say that they are full of shit. What Sam Harries was trying to say was not only true but it was an exercise in free speech. Affleck while trying to play the role of savior of multiculturalism in reality, was really playing the role of Joesph Gobbels. He was using half truths and the smoke screen of political correctness to deny someone the right to dissent and took what could have and should have been a good debate into another show you find on Fox News.

Rick Perry, Surprise, Surprise

Is it really that surprising that Governor Rick Perry is in the news again? It seems the right wing of this country is full of people that should in theory make an intelligent person scratch their head as to why there is any real support left for this faction. Let alone the scamfest that is the Tea Party making a mockery of democratic systems, this time it seems that Governor Perry's management skills let a few things, shall we say, fall through the cracks?

This whole side of the debate is ripe with corporate lackeys and A moral business men. Why is it when you read up on the story he sites that the weak regulation was the problem? Isn't that half of the argument the right wing uses to sway voters into voting against their own interests? Being the governor of Texas you would think he would be looking out for the good of his "sovereign state" and try to boost up the well being of the people living. So far it is very hard to find very many people on either side of the spectrum that have an overly positive review of this charlatan.

What he is however, is the full embodiment of everything that is wrong with the right wingers in this country. Sure there are sketchy dealings on the left as well. One could argue that Bill Clinton was a war criminal just not in the same light as Bush or Cheney are. The problem with pointing figures at the left is this, the left is barely alive in the United States. Obama, for all his accomplishments, in reality is nothing more than a central conservative. The health care reform he passed that was deemed "too socialist" is nothing more than a capitalist plan enacted on a national instead of state level. If he was a true leftist the health care reform would have been single payer. So what if insurance companies get put under? How much of the percentage of the population, in regrades to employment do they really hold? Why is it that health insurance salesman can't migrate to a different field, but I digress.

In the United States the last decade or so there has been this surge of false patriotism and many Americans have taken to this with open arms. It's not enough that we are not willing to admit the different areas we need improvement but we are also hurting ourselves by keeping people with the same mentality as good old Governor Perry here. The right wing in this country are boarder line extremists (and in some cases full extremists). They are blind to the agenda that many of them are pushing forward.

Police are in Need of a Muzzle

Image: fivethirtyeight.com

The last few months have been some that have a tremendous amount of cases coming out about police brutality. In the United States compare to some other places *cough China*, the country as a whole has had a pretty easy time of being able to speak their mind. There where times where this whole notion was challenged and at times took the lives of people exercising their rights. What we are seeing now is not only a resurgence of this former culture war, but we are seeing a much uglier face on it this time around.

The vast majority of police departments in America are trained (in theory) to act as mediators more so that say Black Water. In the great plan set forth by the Neo-Cons in the early 2000s, much like on of the issues with gun control, untrained irresponsible parties where able to get their hands on weapons that are extremely dangerous. The crime in the nation has been dropping, yet the amount of tactical and surplus gear being sold and in some cases given to police departments is on the rise. So more or less we are now giving that ass clown who treated every one like shit new toys that will make feel even more superior than he really is.

While watching not just the case in Ferguson unfold but as well as the sheer volume of brutality cases on the rise it makes me wonder if humans as a whole are really that rational of a life form. We have allowed for a system to be put into place that is the perfect breeding ground for this kind of immoral and unethical behavior. In the fall of 1971 an experiment was conducted that was lead by Professor Philip Zimbardo. In this two random groups of people where given two parts to play; the prison guards or the prisoners. The space that was used was modeled after the current standard prison system. After only a few days those who where guards began abusing the subjects who where prisoners. This effect was so powerful that even Professor Zimbardo got sucked in and assumed the persona of the warden. When he came to this realization he ended the experiment determined that the environment one is in can have a great impact on the behavior they will use.

So what does this have to do with the current state of the police? Well they where given equipment that is used when people tend to say invade a small country. Even the tactical response gear is made to be used in an environment when combat is going on. A gun battle and a protest are not remotely the same thing and require different tools and methods to go about handling both. America is a country that hasn't had to deal with a full on enemy attack on it's soil for some time. Before some one says 9/11 I will explain, terrorism is a business nothing more. Al Qaeda and groups that are similar need conflict to stay in business. If the US loses or their side loses the business is lost.

Now when ever something like this happens the darker side of our culture come out. Fox News which is really nothing more than a pack of lap dogs for the far right have been using this term race baiting as an excuse as to why this tragic list of events unfold. Race baiting is really a bull shit way of trying to win an argument. It's one thing when you have only one or two random cases but when a clear pattern is literally kicking in your door armed to the teeth than it is something a little bit more. When people use this term what it ends up doing is holding off on people have a real debate about race. While some may claim this is gone the truth is it still exists. After all Mississippi did just recently out law slavery. 

Now besides the whole bull shit race baiting argument another trend that might be more disturbing made itself know. That trend is the people who are defending the police. Social media sites which really are just use less pits full of all the stupidity the human race can master, have been filling with false equivalencies and hipster doucebaggery. For example, "I've been pulled over before and nothing bad happened!". Well good for fucking you. Was this in the context of before or after they become a group of cocaine addict cowboys playing GI Joe?

When you are an over privileged little Pratt it is easy to not understand what is going on. You can not dress people up like soldiers and tell them to protect their own lives at all costs. A person who is armed with a knife doesn't need to have 30 rounds pumped into his chest let alone even pointing a gun at an unarmed person. By backing the current state of the police you are saying that it is ok for some one who is a "trained professional" to decide when the proper time to execute a citizen is. When an old racists scumbag was stiffing his bill redknecks from all parts of god's country came out to back him. Yet when a group of unarmed citizens are being viciously attacked by thugs dress up like Rambo they jump to race baiting? The thing you should keep in mind is when it comes to the right wing there is a history of violence that comes from them. You can see this not just in the United States but a look at world history will show you what happens when it's ok for cops to attack citizens with no punishment.

The country does not have a logical mind. It is filled with pseudo intellectuals who at their very core of understanding lack the ability to examine the information they are receiving. Right wing activists tend to showcase this more so than other groups. The lack of real conservative ideology they showcase should be a strong hint that propaganda is the real main talking point. When a group like the Tea Party makes more of a deal about keeping Jesus in public schools but doesn't speak up against a police force that's growing more into a foreign occupation force it shouldn't be difficult to see the true rise off a sim going on. The truth is racism is still well alive and corporate interests are taking over while building a private army to keep what this ideology, a feudal system growing.

I would rather die than think!

Humans as a species have the odds stacked against them more so than any other creature. When it comes to survival, our bodies are on the fairly weak side of the tracks.  To add to this we have also become accustomed more to a manipulated form of the environment which has lead to an almost complete stopping of our physical evolution.

“[Al] Gore wants us to clean up our factories…when China and other countries couldn't care less. China, Japan, and India are laughing at America’s stupidity.” - Donald Trump, ranting to a crowd at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, New York, February 2010.

Which leaves us with our "intelligence" to ensure our survival. So far this has served us well.If it's winter we need to make a coat, we want to study volcanoes we build a suit to withstand the harsh environment. The reason behind these and many other inventions is for the simple fact we simply didn't want to die in nature.

As we began to really understand the natural world and the complex systems that operate within their own unique set of laws, that some smart guy decided to label as natural laws. Almost every aspect of our reality is affected by these because these set of laws. They also could really give two shits less about anything surviving or freedom, or anything else arm chair busy bodies pride themselves as being "experts" on . This isn't the same league as what groups of rich assholes in fancy suites with mildly retarded and violent henchmen make for society.

“[Nancy Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said she’s just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that.” - Senator Michele Bachmann, telling OneNewsNow that the US doesn't need environmental advocates because Jesus already has got that covered, August 2008.

Most people are solely driven by profit as well as the need to boost up their own ego. Hipsters of many different colors in all reality. Reason, logic and common sense are things that play very little use when it comes to this counter-intuitive mind set. The use of social media has not only been a blessing in one sense but on the other it has been a driving force for this dangerous line of thinking.

The issue of global warming is a shinning example of self for-filling prophecy of doom that is lead by a confused consensus of people who might be suffering from a form of mass delusion or denial. The need to be different and the need to stand out for the means of profit and those wonderful feel good hollow gestures could very well prove to be a factor in a very dire turn of events.

If you are a denier of climate change or global warming (which ever makes you feel better the end game will still be the same) you are missing a bigger and much simpler issue. We are all stuck on a giant rock that is floating in a dangerous and extremely hostile sea that shows less mercy than a boarder patrol officer on an illegal Mexican. We also have no back up plan and no outer space bearded man to save us should worse case scenario happen.

If you where on a boat and a couple of people tried telling you that they where going to drill holes in your boat so they could look for treasure easier, and than denied your claims that holes in the boat would surely sink it would you still allow that person to go on with that behavior? Our entire life support system the whole reason we are able to call each other idiots and act shady is because of the planet we are stuck on. Do we really want to play games with something that important?

There are a lot of reasons why most people (by most people I mean Americans) don't want to accept the possibility that we're going to have to buckle down and patch up the environment more. Most of this boils down to one thing however and that is money. It's not hard to see why so many big companies are against any form of regulation of their industries. For them its more cost effective to pollute and use outdated technology. The less accountability for them the more of a profit margin they can increase.

The trail of corruption while it is on a global scale is not one that is to hard to miss. When you look at the groups who are overly out spoken on the subject there is a common thread that runs between all of them. That thread is business people like the Koch Brothers. This kind of mentality that is a common trend that people  within the business world, have been using grassroots movements to help further their agenda. In democracies grassroots movements are one of the most effective methods used to bring about political change. This is a double edge sword and not everyone shares the same values.

These people talk extremely crafty and know how to not just appeal to but also to bring out a narcissistic ego that is very easy to manipulate (think Sith tactics). When you are given a new idea you have to get past the people trying to talk you to join their team. First look at the big picture and the risks that are involved with that. If the end result isn't life threatening than you shouldn't worry about it. With the case with global warming it's not an issue of whose right and whose wrong its about keeping our life support up and running.  You shouldn't be joining the against side because being a "free thinker" is cool and sexy and ladies love a rebel. You should be more on the side of not letting rich unethical douchebags tamper with our air, climate and overall lives. If the weather gets to hostile or too toxic you're going to find yourself stuck in a world that will be close to that film from the 90s Water World. Who really wants to be the last people on Earth and be stuck with Kevin Costner til Jaws or a Kracken eat both of you? The Toxic Avenger was  a masterpiece but I find myself not wanting to live in Tramuaville for some strange and odd reason.

To kill an infidel is the path to heaven!

Image: http://www.mark-shea.com/

In these day and age religion has become something that is something like a run away train. While most people can't seem to understand a connection with violence to certain belief systems the correlation that exists is pretty outstanding. While the Muslims protest over cartoons, Christians in the United States have become to behave in a similar manner. Many people may have seen the meme that went around showing an american Christian holding the bible and rifle and along side it a picture of a Muslim woman doing the same. How if religions are meant to drive goodness and morality could such an image such as this come in in this fashion?

If you're a religious person and you don't bother any one than that's a good thing and you deserve a very special reward. How ever the cases of extremism we have been seeing recently could come from a fact that has largely gone ignored. That is the turning of religion into a weapon.

Before the war on terror we got ourselves stuck in a different kind of mess; the Cold War. This brilliant move on the part of the superpowers not only lead to a dollar being put onto everything in existence but it also created a brand new industry. Today there is nothing that can compare to the amount of profits made from this line of work.

When the Soviets decided to expand into smaller countries who by no means can compare to the might of an industrialized nation a new weapon was used to counter this progress. The holy warrior which at one point was a cultural norm faded out with the progression of classes in society. It was brought back and twisted into a machine of destruction.

Resources and geopolitics play a huge role in this new found evil, however a quick look into the histories of the nations that have turned into the breeding ground for these views it's not hard to trace the roots back to the great blunder of the 20th century.

With this issue growing more and more by the day it's kind of hard to gauge what the landscape is going to look. Religious and political movements the world over are becoming more and more extreme. The peaceful religion of Buddhism as many may think it is, has lead to great suffering in places like Burma and Sri Lanka. Many people would argue that being religious doesn't lead violent or anti-social behaviour. I personally see the evidence pointing towards a system that no matter the face that it wears more than likely gives an excuse for totalitarian regimes to take hold.

One argument that gets put out is that spirituality differs from religion. That a person who has a core belief in the metaphysical that differs from the major religions they are on some more high ground. This however makes little sense. The vast majority of new age belief systems in which you find in the category take and borrow from the already established religions in the world. While for many this may at face value seem different than the main stream the truth is it succumbs to the same pitfalls of the more popular superstitious systems. The same flaws that exist with major religions exist as well with the spirituality crowd, and very well go become as bad as the major religious crowd  on the aspects of rejecting logic and it's militancy to those on the outside of its circle.