Whoops, ya caught me

So apparently Germany is pretty pissed, but can one really blame them? I mean think about it, what if your supposed "friend" had records of your conversations with your other friends? It wouldn't really seem like they trust you now would they. And if they don't trust you, how could you trust them?

So why would one do it? Was it out of paranoia that we thought Germany was up to something? Was it that we thought they knew something that we didn't and we couldn't hold our curiosity? Why is every sentence I write down a question?

To me it seems that there was perhaps a bit of paranoia mixed with just a more simple thought that we just wanted to run a check up on our allies to make sure that they were truly our allies. The real problem is how far did we go exactly. It would have been one thing to run spy operations on their military capabilities. However a leader's personal phone calls does seem a bit far. I mean for all we know Merkel could have been on the phone with her husband talking about all the things they were going to do that night. Now imagine if THAT tape got out...............we'd be in serious trouble then.

Racism, prejudice, and other bad words

So I think it's safe to say that racism exists pretty much anywhere in the globe, and that not everyone has the same definition of it or views it in the same way. For example, I myself view racism as a belief of personal superiority over someone else simply based on one's race or religion. Others might view it in terms of nationality, or they might sometimes combine prejudice and racism into one.

In Russia we see a form of racism, or at leas prejudice occurring between ethnic Russians and immigrants from the Caucasus region. In 'Merica we like to often think of segregation as our example of racism. Or in Africa you often find racism between groups along cultural or ancestral lines. But where does this unprovoked hatred come from?

One idea that I've always had on this is just human competition. You see, as we compete with one another we like to think in our heads of ways of getting ahead of one another. We often do this by grouping ourselves by similarities and like to exclude those who think differently as a means of using teamwork to gain the upper hand against those that we marginalize or other competing groups. So therefore people often try to look for differences among one another.

However bad this may sound, I'd like to give a high five to society for teaching us to be able to look beyond surface things (like skin color), or at least starting to. Granted we have a long way to go before we eradicate   racism but I think we have the ball rolling at least. 

TV will turn your brain into tapioca

So when I think of the so called "Golden Age of Television" I tend to think of the old school show M*A*S*H. It was hilariously witty, had heartfelt moments, and always seemed to have a subtle message at the end of every episode. Today you hear a lot of older generations say "Television isn't what it used to be", or "tv today is a bunch of nonsense". I hear it now from my generation with comments like "Disney Channel movies and shows suck compared to what we had", or "I miss the old Nickelodeon".  To them I give a splendid FU.

Now while it is true that there are times when television could expand beyond its superficial topics you have to remember the original purpose of it, and that is to give a form of entertainment for someone who is probably just coming home from a long day of work and could care less for having even more complexities thrown at them. I also want to thank the television industry for picking up the slack in this sector actually. While the mainstream shows may be pretty stupid, you can go out and find the shows of "a woman struggling in the workplace", the bad part is that they are not mainstream and you have to dig for them. This however should not be blamed on the industry and rather on society. Why? Because we demand it.

Let's face it, the majority of television viewers is not a college student looking for a more intellectual for of entertainment. Mainstream often has to make itself palatable to the masses in order to survive in a capitalist society. But with the rise of television came the opportunity for the creation of more specialized shows and even networks to feed the hunger of an audience looking for something more than just the average soap opera. So if you think that your show "deserves more attention because it touches a serious topic", or "it goes beyond the normal TV bullshit" then welcome to our society. I feel the same way about Surviving the Cut, Inside Combat Rescue, or even the original British version of The Inbetweeners. So if people want to have better quality and more meaningful entertainment the society as a whole has to demand under our system. Until then, you're going to have to dig for your shows and then share among friends in hopes that they will see the meaning too.

But let me just say that even I don't mind a little of this to take my mind of things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4lWGGx6g1E

In the trenches

So people have been complaining lately about the government. Particularly the shutdown and the debt ceiling. People often say that they want Congress to come together compromise, talk, make deals and get things done. As if it were that easy.

People often forget that all members of Congress are democratically elected. Therefore, they were chosen to be in that position because they reflected the views and ideals of the majority of their respective constituencies. So therefore, isn't Congress simply reflecting the way we behave toward each other's ideals in today's society? I mean we are quick to say that we want them to make a deal, but if you go a little farther into that conversation then people will often propose a deal that is biased toward their ideals and would require the other side to lose more than they gain.

So that's where I believe we are now. We can all live together and be friends just fine. But when it comes to decisions we have become so entrenched in or views that we ourselves will refuse to give ground and instead want the other side to give up theirs. So here I say that the only true solution to these issues would be on a grassroots level where people actually talk "politics" to each other and sort things out themselves. It is much easier for common people to compromise and make unified plans based on the outcome of their debates, than it is for an elected official to do so with worries that they might lose their job if they give away too much if any.

So I want all you gun -totin', Bible-pundin', closed minded, oil-hungry, corporate-greedin',  conservative Murican's to sit down with the Marxist, Islamic, welfare-bumin', tree-huggin', Big-gummint liberals. Have a chat on the questions that you've been avoiding. Get all your anger out at each other. Maybe have a drink or ten. And talk about finding a middle lane to hop on, then elect people who will do the same.

Is the Joker real?

Does everyone remember that phenomenal performance by Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight?" Well if you do then in that case you saw how he portrayed the Joker as a truly evil man that had no regard for human life. This really hit me as I read the accounts from the Nairobi survivors. Then I thought of an idea pitched to me by Dr. Herron on my last post about "disinterested malice." Where supposedly Francis Hutcheson believed that there were actually people out there who killed for their own delight.

So my thought there is "were these attackers killing for an idea or pure delight?" There had to obviously be a loss of humanity in these people to be able to cause pain t helpless human beings. So were they getting pleasure out of it? Were their own minds so twisted that in their heads they were happy to do this because they honestly thought they were supposed to? Not that this would justify their actions, but all I'm saying is that these creatures to me seem that they've had their minds so distorted that they are no longer human but rather some more demonic beings.

And let's not forget the other side of the spectrum. Let's not forget that there were good people there too. From the helpless people themselves who helped each other get out. The security forces who braved the demons, who ran towards the sounds of chaos to help their fellow man. They knew that they faced true evil here and yet they charged into the fray knowing that there were humans in the hands of demons that needed to be freed. So I want to leave you with the thought that while there may be pure evil in this world, there seems to also be as pure good in men out there. I'm not a religious person so I don't intend to use this quote in any such way, but I do see it fitting to this situation "greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for a friend" John 15:13