Have you ever been in the company of people you don't like, and you want to never be invited to their social circle again? Here are 4 opinions, which may or may not be those of the author, that can save you from such a recurring nightmare!
1) Consumption is the Problem folks, not the Cure.
Common internet questions:
- What foods will make me smarter?
- What foods will reduce back-pain?
- What meat distributor is most environmentally friendly?
- What foods prevent cancer?
- How can I eat to maximize energy?
- What foods should I eat for my heart condition?
- Is it true that oysters are aphrodisiacs?
- What foods can I eat to burn fat?
Life sure would be easier if you could just eat your way out of any problem that arose. Cancer? Eat this. Obese? Chew on these. Retarded? Well, have I got the cereal for you! Environmental apocalypse threatening human extinction? You should be eating from this company.
That people look to food as a cure makes it clear to me that they're not really seeking a cure. They're seeking a way pacify their fears with food.
2) Freedom is a Bad Joke, we are the Punchline.
- A recent study charted the location of several people over the course of weeks. Nearly everybody--in an urban setting--went to only 4 to 6 places, which they visited regularly (83% of the time). Suburbanites are much more limited. Technology will set you free?
- By and large, Christians beget Christians, Muslims beget Muslims, Buddhist beget Buddhists, Hindus beget Hindus and atheists beget atheists. The pattern is predictable. And it is predictably influenced by the presence of missionaries. Is this our God-given free soul?
- About 33% of TV airtime is filled with commercials. If you watch 4 hours of TV per day (the N.American average), then you see almost 500 hours of commercials per year. Companies spend billions designing these to direct your behavior (subconsciously, in most cases) and have statistics that demonstrate it is an effective use of their money. How many name-brand consumables do you have? Still convinced you're free?
- Democrazy was supposed to give the people some leverage. One vote, this guy or that guy (both roughly the same). Is this the freedom that wars were fought over? Oh.
- Politicians tax (take) most of our money (after income takes, provincial and federal takes, property takes, and other BS takes). If you don't obediently hand over the money you earn, you will be punished. If you resist, there will be violence and great loss. So you work most of your waking life to earn enough to consume and then you hand the rest over to the gooberment. Much of this money is spent on wars to spread our "freedom".
- Everybody has roughly the same opinions & behaviors. Nobody these days tries to summon a god, start an anarchist revolution, reshape the parameters of their mind through ordeal or intoxication, live in a cave for a decade to find themselves, or use all this new technology for much other than Facebook and Youtube. And it's not because we're all busy doing more fulfilling, exciting things; we're all bored as hell. We watch 4 hours a day of TV! Except for a few people you occasionally see on that TV, we're all living the same life. And we're convinced that we freely live this pre-fabricated, template of a life. Freely.
Seems to me like we're enslaved by anything with more power than us, which is a lot (technology, ideology, religion, habits, government, corporate agendas,etc.).
3) We. do. not. care.
Scientists told us decades ago about global warming. Scientists, who work with science, do their research and, a while back predicted chaotic and violent weather, like we're seeing today. Politicians--often with personal investment in oil and no scientific training or research--assure us that, if the bogey-man of climate change really exists (which it probably doesn't), we didn't do it! And people seem confused about who to believe. Which is bullshit. They know who to believe--and in the event that they don't, a smidgen of intelligence would favor acting cautiously in the face of global disaster. If you care, I mean.
People are starting to care now. Natural disasters get worse and will continue that way. 42 millions were displaced by natural disasters in 2010. Glaciers melt. Tornadoes brood and earthquakes rattle. Yet the consumption of gas continues.
Like I said, we've known about the 'green house effect' for a long time; I heard about it when I was six. Yet, the debate at the school is this: Should we teach bible creationism alongside evolution? Is this a bunk issue? Seems like climate change might be a more pressing for education. If we cared. Never really comes up though.
To say it again: we've been hearing about climate change for a long time, knowing that our consumption is what's causing it--particularly burning oil. And the only complaints you hear about this is, "Gas is too expensive".
Stepping back, here is a substance, the burning of which is threatening to terminate human history and the general mood is grumpiness that we have to pay more money to burn it. Humans actually feel entitled to burn this substance at a fair price, regardless of the dangerous consequences or who is digging it up and refining it or what wars are fought to control it. Just give it, and give it cheap!
We.do.not.care.
Not about the future generations. Not enough to do anything.
The threat to our existence will not be recycled away or fixed with environmentally-friendly packaging. The green detergent you're using does nothing. You know this already. So let's quit patting ourselves on the back for our silly efforts because business as usual on the planet seems to be coming to an abrupt and violent end. Evidence points to us as the cause. Let's face our self-created destiny with a little more dignity, please.
4) We don't know a thing:
Most "sophisticated" folk, who claim to look at things from a reasonable and science-supported perspective, don't know how fast things fall from their hands if dropped, nor could they tell you why the periodic chart of chemicals assigns numbers to each chemical, nor could they clearly explain thermodynamics or any natural laws of gas or electricity.
And I don't blame people for their ignorance (or, I try not to); but how about giving up the appearance of knowing things. The behavior of molecular structures is far easier to understand than human behavior (a molecule is simpler than a brain), yet almost nobody can explain very well why ice melts but they're somehow perfectly convinced they know what why this politician did that and that guy murdered the other guy. Modern psychological research has been dumping mounds upon mounds of evidence that people do not know why they themselves do what they do. The reason why a person eats particular foods, wears particular clothes, stays with particular people, chooses particular opinions, etc. are unknown to that person. The reasons they give for their own behavior are very wrong and wildly, even hilariously, biased.
.
1) Consumption is the Problem folks, not the Cure.
Common internet questions:
- What foods will make me smarter?
- What foods will reduce back-pain?
- What meat distributor is most environmentally friendly?
- What foods prevent cancer?
- How can I eat to maximize energy?
- What foods should I eat for my heart condition?
- Is it true that oysters are aphrodisiacs?
- What foods can I eat to burn fat?
Life sure would be easier if you could just eat your way out of any problem that arose. Cancer? Eat this. Obese? Chew on these. Retarded? Well, have I got the cereal for you! Environmental apocalypse threatening human extinction? You should be eating from this company.
That people look to food as a cure makes it clear to me that they're not really seeking a cure. They're seeking a way pacify their fears with food.
2) Freedom is a Bad Joke, we are the Punchline.
- A recent study charted the location of several people over the course of weeks. Nearly everybody--in an urban setting--went to only 4 to 6 places, which they visited regularly (83% of the time). Suburbanites are much more limited. Technology will set you free?
- By and large, Christians beget Christians, Muslims beget Muslims, Buddhist beget Buddhists, Hindus beget Hindus and atheists beget atheists. The pattern is predictable. And it is predictably influenced by the presence of missionaries. Is this our God-given free soul?
- About 33% of TV airtime is filled with commercials. If you watch 4 hours of TV per day (the N.American average), then you see almost 500 hours of commercials per year. Companies spend billions designing these to direct your behavior (subconsciously, in most cases) and have statistics that demonstrate it is an effective use of their money. How many name-brand consumables do you have? Still convinced you're free?
- Democrazy was supposed to give the people some leverage. One vote, this guy or that guy (both roughly the same). Is this the freedom that wars were fought over? Oh.
- Politicians tax (take) most of our money (after income takes, provincial and federal takes, property takes, and other BS takes). If you don't obediently hand over the money you earn, you will be punished. If you resist, there will be violence and great loss. So you work most of your waking life to earn enough to consume and then you hand the rest over to the gooberment. Much of this money is spent on wars to spread our "freedom".
- Everybody has roughly the same opinions & behaviors. Nobody these days tries to summon a god, start an anarchist revolution, reshape the parameters of their mind through ordeal or intoxication, live in a cave for a decade to find themselves, or use all this new technology for much other than Facebook and Youtube. And it's not because we're all busy doing more fulfilling, exciting things; we're all bored as hell. We watch 4 hours a day of TV! Except for a few people you occasionally see on that TV, we're all living the same life. And we're convinced that we freely live this pre-fabricated, template of a life. Freely.
Seems to me like we're enslaved by anything with more power than us, which is a lot (technology, ideology, religion, habits, government, corporate agendas,etc.).
3) We. do. not. care.
Scientists told us decades ago about global warming. Scientists, who work with science, do their research and, a while back predicted chaotic and violent weather, like we're seeing today. Politicians--often with personal investment in oil and no scientific training or research--assure us that, if the bogey-man of climate change really exists (which it probably doesn't), we didn't do it! And people seem confused about who to believe. Which is bullshit. They know who to believe--and in the event that they don't, a smidgen of intelligence would favor acting cautiously in the face of global disaster. If you care, I mean.
People are starting to care now. Natural disasters get worse and will continue that way. 42 millions were displaced by natural disasters in 2010. Glaciers melt. Tornadoes brood and earthquakes rattle. Yet the consumption of gas continues.
Like I said, we've known about the 'green house effect' for a long time; I heard about it when I was six. Yet, the debate at the school is this: Should we teach bible creationism alongside evolution? Is this a bunk issue? Seems like climate change might be a more pressing for education. If we cared. Never really comes up though.
To say it again: we've been hearing about climate change for a long time, knowing that our consumption is what's causing it--particularly burning oil. And the only complaints you hear about this is, "Gas is too expensive".
Stepping back, here is a substance, the burning of which is threatening to terminate human history and the general mood is grumpiness that we have to pay more money to burn it. Humans actually feel entitled to burn this substance at a fair price, regardless of the dangerous consequences or who is digging it up and refining it or what wars are fought to control it. Just give it, and give it cheap!
We.do.not.care.
Not about the future generations. Not enough to do anything.
The threat to our existence will not be recycled away or fixed with environmentally-friendly packaging. The green detergent you're using does nothing. You know this already. So let's quit patting ourselves on the back for our silly efforts because business as usual on the planet seems to be coming to an abrupt and violent end. Evidence points to us as the cause. Let's face our self-created destiny with a little more dignity, please.
4) We don't know a thing:
Most "sophisticated" folk, who claim to look at things from a reasonable and science-supported perspective, don't know how fast things fall from their hands if dropped, nor could they tell you why the periodic chart of chemicals assigns numbers to each chemical, nor could they clearly explain thermodynamics or any natural laws of gas or electricity.
And I don't blame people for their ignorance (or, I try not to); but how about giving up the appearance of knowing things. The behavior of molecular structures is far easier to understand than human behavior (a molecule is simpler than a brain), yet almost nobody can explain very well why ice melts but they're somehow perfectly convinced they know what why this politician did that and that guy murdered the other guy. Modern psychological research has been dumping mounds upon mounds of evidence that people do not know why they themselves do what they do. The reason why a person eats particular foods, wears particular clothes, stays with particular people, chooses particular opinions, etc. are unknown to that person. The reasons they give for their own behavior are very wrong and wildly, even hilariously, biased.
.
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