I don't know why I keep my television tuned to CNN for background 'music,' I really don't. I must be a masochist. One of my doctors certainly thinks I enjoy pain, so maybe this is par for the course.
I've been listening for half an hour while Wolf Shitzer/Blitzer/talking robot goes on and on and on with the other regular talking heads about the death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. When one child dies of starvation, the whole world should be talking about it, yet the world remains silent. When a Saudi King dies, Western 'allies' give it the time and energy that should be reserved for said starved kid or for someone truly deserving of respect and admiration.
Saudi King
Starving Child
Here are a few facts about Saudi Arabia:
1. The authoritarian regime ruling Saudi Arabia has one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights.[Wikipedia]
2. Saudi Arabia is one of approximately thirty countries in the world with judicial corporal punishment. In Saudi Arabia's case this includes amputations of hands and feet for robbery, and flogging for lesser crimes such as "sexual deviance" and drunkenness. In the 2000s, it was reported that women were sentenced to lashes for adultery; the women were actually victims of rape, but because they could not prove who the perpetrators were, they were deemed guilty of committing adultery.[4] The number of lashes is not clearly prescribed by law and is varied according to the discretion of judges, and ranges from dozens of lashes to several hundreds, usually applied over a period of weeks or months. In 2004, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under Sharia. The Saudi delegation responded defending "legal traditions" held since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago and rejected interference in its legal system. [Wikipedia]
3. Leaked video gives glimpse into Saudi beheadings:
4. Saudi judged sentences democratic activist Omar al-Saeed to 4 years in prison and 300 lashes. His crime: calling for a constitutional monarchy (a government that would likely outlaw such cruel and unusual punishment).
5. Slamming Syrian reform, but backing Saudi Arabia regime, US unmasks own hypocrisy. Close ties with “autocratic” Gulf States reveal the “hypocrisy” of US foreign policy, Guardian paper contributor, Neil Clark, told RT, adding that Washington raises the democracy banner only when it wants to topple an unwanted government. After his two-day trip to Egypt where opposition leaders refused to sit to the negotiation table with him, John Kerry, received a much more hospitable reception as he met up with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The US Secretary of the State held talks with the region's leaders in Saudi Arabia, before flying to the UAE and Qatar.
Journalist Neil Clark, who's written extensively on the Middle East, believes the protest movement in Bahrain or Qatar will never receive backing from the US, like it did in Syria. Clark says true American interests lie in the field of oil and arms trade, but not promoting democracy and human rights. [RT.com]
6. U.S. goods and services trade with Saudi Arabia totalled $81 billion in 2012 (latest data available). Exports totalled $25 billion; Imports totalled $56 billion (all of which was oil by the way). The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Saudi Arabia was $31 billion in 2012. [Office of the United States Trade Representative]
7. U.S. sells $29.5 billion in F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia in 2010.
8. Ahh, so nice, so nice...
Like one of my favorite childhood TV shows, I think 'Eight is Enough' for this piece. I'm too nauseated to continue any further. Why does this happened? You guessed it. Because your world cares more about oil and money than anything else on earth, literally.
Sometimes life gives you lemons. And you're supposed to make lemonade. Occasionally, life drops a skid-load of very dry lemons on top of your head. With those lemons, you can choose to either throw them aside and starve, or you can decide to live off the nasty rinds and be miserable.
Alternatively, life might just decide to pile-drive a frozen-deadly-poisonous lemon directly into your heart.
With that lemon, you have three choices: (1) Suck out all the poison immediately and just die; (2) Chip away at the poison and kill yourself slowly and softly; or (3) Embrace the frozen-deadly-poisonous lemon for what it is and thaw out alongside it. Or.......you might just be lucky enough to meet a lovely ballerina who makes that lemon a bit more palatable (yes, I just said that).
And, that's kinda what happened to me.
The ballerina is beautiful. In every possible way. She moves so gracefully and so naturally that sometimes I'm unaware of her presence until she's sitting right beside me -- this is a remarkable feat, due not only to the aforementioned beauty, but also the light-up-the-world smile on her light-up-the-world face which illuminates whatever darkness that might be lurking around the next corner. Sometimes, I AM the darkness lurking around the next corner...
And when we meet, I'm completely captivated by this exquisite, delicate, delightful, soulful muse... who dances through my mind every day and every night.
The ballerina is a silent dancer who expresses herself in the most amusing ways. A physical, insightful, intuitive muse. A most charming combination of character traits and attributes. It takes no more than a simple thought of the silent dancer to bring some much-needed warmth into my heart -- the same heart that must contend with those frozen-deadly-poisonous lemons from time to time. And, for now, I'm most grateful for the ballerina who has popped into my life in a most unusual way at a most unexpected time.
The ballerina has a soul that perfectly fits her body, yet has far outgrown her mind. Searching for something...dancing towards...something. Truth? Knowledge? Sense? Perfection? An unquenchable desire for...something...je ne sais quoi -- I can't define it. As it should be. A silent dancer shouldn't be defined by mere words...
I too have been searching for something undefinable for quite a long time. For now, I've found something in the ballerina who dances through my mind and my soul and close into my heart. Right into the center of my cold, dark heart...to light it up, give it some warmth, and make it love something once again.
Terror organisation al-Shabaab have claimed an attack that killed 28 ... It is believed they asked travellers to recite passages from the Koran, ...
*************************************************************************************************************Okay, how should I put this....hmmmmm. I think this kind of behaviour is borderline inappropriate (sarcasm heavily emphasized herein). Perhaps the leaders of the religion known as Islam should at the very least attempt to coordinate, on a large scale, some sort of 'reigning in' process. Are you feelin' me on this? This is ridiculous already. How many more must be slaughtered? How many more innocent, non-combative , non-Muslim civilians must be intentionally targeted for a most horrible death?
How long will our society let this behaviour go on before we put a stop to it? Because we CAN put a stop to it. It's not as complicated as people like to portray it. It's pretty simple. Here's the deal, to all you fundamentalist jihadi Islamist terrorists, I have this and only this to say: It is very, very, very uncool to chop the head off of an innocent human being because said human being does not believe in Allah. Very uncool. Also, you can't keep going around committing mass-murders just because people aren't up to speed with regard to memorizing the Koran. Not cool at all, man. I'm just saying. Tone it down a bit please. It's starting to affect my peace of mind. Assholes.
Here's a good example when one person tries to protect the feelings of those who deep down in their hearts would not do the same for us. Three pretty smart guys, whom I all admire for my own reasons try to get to the heart of the matter that does not have a heart...
At least these guys call it for what it is, with no political agenda or proactive goal at hand. Intellects discuss things likes this based on fact, evidence, logic and reason -- the only things we humans possess to do really anything at all. I know there are plenty of very successful, learned, devoted souls out there who also use the tools of fact, evidence, scientific method and such in order to study a myriad of wonderful and horrible things the world is presently beset with.. What boggles my mind, and what will continue to boggle my mind until I die, is that these otherwise brilliant human beings by every possible measure - well, at least some of them - believe in things like resurrection and revelations and gold-plated books that may or may have not been discovered in 'Deliverence'-country of late (see Mormon).
This is such a clearly confounding exception to all things rational and reasonable in our everyday lives, that even those who seek the highest political office tend to advocate for 'Faith..' But faith is a childish notion and everyone knows it. I mean, really, do you think that having faith in your religion might help the millions of starving kids in Africa who die due to malnourishment simply because their mothers don't have access to clean water and food? Does 'Faith' really exist at all? I mean, put in simple terms, 'faith' means the absence of thinking. It is the notion that one should believe in something that one has never seen, heard, touched, felt, smelled or experienced at all.
On a deeper level, we are told to have faith when we are children by the 'grown ups' If something doesn't make sense to a child, the child is told to have faith that it'll work out' or that 'Santa Claus' will leave you a present under the tree.
Now, we're all grown ups, so I'm going to talk to you in grown up terms. The crude reality, is that faith is nothing more than the absence of thinking. It's an exercise in muting the intellect in the hope that something may or may not come about. That's the rather boring value of faith.
Now, I'd like to introduce to you a concept I've long called the American Doctrine of 'Hurt Feelings'."
About five years ago, when I had the unique fortune (misfortune) of being a guest (inmate) within the very vast Texas Department of Criminal Justice (Prison), I was selected to work in the prison kitchen, slaving away most hours of the day, cleaning dishes, washing, processing and such. One day I was complaining to one of the guards that I was expected to do too many things at the same time and it wasn't fair. The guard actually went to a nearby desk drawer (true story) and pulled out a form. It was a very official looking form. The header of the form read as follows: "HURT FEELINGS REPORT"
Yes, I'm serious. The form offered one the ability to report a variety of 'hurt feelings' due to all kinds of incidents, issues or circumstances -- whatever the case may be. Now, obviously this was not an official prison administrative form. It was one of the many devices conjured up within the sordid, jaded, cynical, sadistic community of prison guards to amuse themselves at the expense of the inmates.
I use this example in order to demonstrate a very important fact of life on Planet Earth: feelings get hurt -- it's not against the law to offend or hurt someone's feelings. In any humane, civilized society it just tends to happen. One human being offends the sensibility of another. And this is exactly how it should be -- everywhere -- all the time, specifically in regards to any conceivable notion of a society that embraces such concepts of Free Speech, Separation of Church and State and/or any other fundamental moral tenets or ethical or legal creeds.
Now, unfortunately, hurt feelings can cause people to do really stupid things (see Lorena Bobbit). Whether it be betrayal, jealousy, fear, anxiety, depression, sociopathy, envy, avarice or anger -- any and all of these feelings and numerous others (see chart at right) --are capable of being a culpable contributor to all sorts of outrageous, unacceptable and completely inappropriate human behavior (see Rape, Murder, Assault ).
Some societies have adapted and even evolved. Some have devolved. Others, most notably the United States, for example, seem to take every possible extreme measure, ostensibly in the interest of political correctness, or, put another way -- hmmmm, how should I state this. Oh yes. The United States government has a theme that bubbles up quite often -- or, rather more than a theme -- an unofficial policy perhaps. The idea is that they are afraid of what might happen if a certain group of people might 'feel' offended as a result of something that another human being might have said, uttered, written, painted, built, created -- whatever -- the concept that one or more human beings merely feels insulted as a result of the free expression of another human being. The United States Government currently prioritizes FEELINGS ahead of things like REALITY and PUBLIC SAFETY and SECURITY. And TRUTH.
It's clear from the rhetoric of the large majority of U.S. politicians, that they are more concerned about whether or not a certain group of people 'feel' insulted about something than they are about actual current events going on, all around the world, all the fucking time, repeat. And, NOW, that we live in the connected/digital age of I-can-see-and-hear-everything-going-on-in-the-world-all-the-fucking-time, more and more examples of my premise -- the 'hurt feelings' stuff is rearing its ugly head day after day after day.
In order to lend some clarity to this matter, I'll provide some examples: President Obama declares that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, regardless of the fact that the first letter ('I') of the acronym he just enunciated stands for the word 'Islamic.' Why does the president say something so asinine. I mean, anyone with a reasonably functional (non-brainwashed) BRAIN and even a half-assed conceptualization of world affairs and current events knows, without mincing words, that ISIS has EVERYTHING to do with Islam. Christ, it's a defining component of, not only the actual name of the group itself, but also an inflammatory tool used to recruit young, uneducated Muslims from the broader Islamic world with the intention of creating the dark and dreaded Caliphate.
In some countries it is actually against the law to simply speak in a disagreeable way about religion. Why? Because it hurts the feelings of the idiots who run the country. In other words, a bunch of Islamic motherfuckers will try to kill you if you speak ill of Islam, or even if they merely think you believe ill of Islam. And in much of the Islamic world, they have absolutely no problem with this. That's right -- many, many millions of Islamic people all over the world actually believe that this behavior is appropriate. What else do they think is appropriate: Murder for converting to a religion other than Islam; Arranged child marriages; forced, female genital mutilation; 'Honor' killings (don't get me started on this one); And, in general, death to the rest of us.... the 'infidels.'
Basically, if you disagree with these people, then they might just want to chop your head off in a public setting with due haste. Yeah, that's right, beheadings, stonings, death, madness, propaganda and lies and darkness and bullshit. And the U.S.A does business with these countries......because of the oil. What a toxic relationship.
Those of you who know me know that I think ALL organized religion is based in bullshit and nonsense, but I think Islam wins the prize for the most archaic, barbaric, punitive, dishonest, ignorant, malintended, evil, fundamentalist, extreme, gross 'religion' of them all. Which is why I will even stoop so low to give it this much attention.
Put simply, in no uncertain terms, it's some evil shit. The writing is on the wall all over the fucking place. If it isn't one "Islamic Extremist Group" murdering and maiming and raping some unfortunate group of innocents, then it's another -- another "Islamic Extremist Group." How many times must we hear the term "Islamic Extremist Group" before the majority of 'civilized' people on our half of the planet pull their heads out of their asses and call it what it is -- call a spade a spade. Admit it. Islam is totally fucked up and that for the greater good of humanity, we must prioritize REALITY, TRUTH, and KNOWLEDGE ahead of hurt feelings on Planet Earth's 'To Do' list.
Now let me be very clear about the fact that this is NOT simply a case of a few 'bad apples' -- it's rather a very entrenched, complicated case of hundreds of millions of human beings who actually believe that their medieval-horror-movie-design-for-living-in-darkness way of existence is God's will. And there is nothing more powerful than God's will for a person who believes that he/she is literally a human manifestation of that very divine will itself.
Okay, enough about Islamic Extremists. I think much of the world is sick and tired of hearing about Islamic fucking extremists. Why does nothing change and why do things continue to devolve into a hell that makes 'Revelations' look like Mr. Roger's neighborhood? Why? Yep, you guessed it -- it's because the rest of the world is made up of those same extremists or those who condone -- through passivity, indifference and silent support --the extremists. Welcome to your nightmare.
Example #2: MAINSTREAM MEDIA.
Talk about the absurdity of network censorship in an age of 24-hour, unfiltered, unvarnished information from new media sources like VICE, Gawker, Tumblr -- whatever floats your boat. The decline of archaic, antiquated, old-fashioned 'network' and so-called 'mainstream media' outlets. The rise of new media like Netflix, VICE, Amazon and other outlets that aren't shackled by childish regulatory matters, censorship and such. These new media companies have BALLS, and they're producing some of the most captivating programming in (non)television. No holds barred. They use words like 'Fuck' and 'Asshole' and 'Shit' and other words that for some reason aren't allowed on 'network' television. In other words, the new media is media for adults who can handle adult language and adult situations. The powers at be in the network/regulatory/ratings/quasi-governmental bullshit nanny media like to treat the viewing public as children, plain and simple. The new media doesn't give a shit about any of that, and they shouldn't have to -- this is called progression...(for example, read this piece on VICE ).
This is the natural result of the past few generations of people in our society who either act like children, never grow up -- or, the by-product of generations of parents who think it's a good idea to hide the truth about the world from our children -- to keep them 'innocent.' These children then grow up to be adults in body, but still childlike in mind. We've consistently and persistently pulled the wool over the eyes of our children and ourselves for so long that we now have a society of babies. And the worst part about it is that the King-biggest-babies of them all tend to go into politics. A society of babies run by toddlers. A gigantic nanny state in which most of the 'nannies' are themselves stunted in the grown up department.
Why, in this day and age, can you not say 'Fuck' on network television? I mean, really, why? Answer: it might hurt somebody's feelings, we must not let the children hear such things, and on and on and on with this broken record already. Now, please allow me to introduce myself....
It is a natural consequence of life. It cannot possibly be avoided. And despite our best efforts, it is a nasty, dark business. Death. D-E-A-T-H. Everything that lives must die. We all know it. Some of us embrace it and try to live in the moment. Others avoid it and continue to dwell on events that have passed and worry about those things that have yet come to pass. In the end, we all die the same way. The heart stops beating, the blood stops pumping, the oxygen disappears and then we're dead. It can happen quickly or very slowly depending on the circumstances, but at the end of the day -- or, rather 'life,' so to speak -- we all meet the same fate. Death.
Now let's kick things up a notch. Rather than talk about the death of one thing or one person, I think it is important to start talking about the death of humanity -- as a whole. The extinction of a species on a planet that has seen the comings and goings of many different species over many different eras. We will be rather short-lived, relatively speaking, due to our unique ability to bring about our own demise. Unless we change everything very quickly.
Human-fucking-beings. As far as we know, no other species in the history of species has been burdened with such things as consciousness, cognitive/intellectual/emotional ability, etc. For example, this is why dinosaurs roamed the earth for millions of years without too many problems. They were a dominant species and they dominated, naturally, for a very, very, very long time, as they should have. But, as we all know, shit DOES happen, and a huge asteroid explosion/aftermath wiped out the dinosaurs. The important thing to note here is that the dinosaurs didn't do themselves in -- they wanted to LIVE...the poor bastards.
Human beings, on the other hand, were born with a leg-up in the 'intelligence' arena, and within a relatively-few thousand years we've made quite a mess of things with due haste. We sowed our own demise the moment OIL met MONEY. If you were to look at any accepted world population graph, charting the growth of humanity from day one through now, it looks something like the chart below.
The beginning of that GIGANTIC spike on the far right of the graph coincides with the discovery and refinement of oil around 1900. That's when oil became the basis for the global economy. We are an oil-based economy. And we live in a monetary society. Do the math and you end up with these charts.
Maybe I should explain. Along with the discovery of oil as a source of energy came the reality of oil as a source of money. Humanity is addicted to energy, obviously, as everything we need to survive in modern society comes from some source that -- if you follow the trail, eventually you'll find it -- relies on oil for energy. That's just the way it is now. We're stuck with it. The problem is that 'oil' is a finite resource on Planet Earth. Fast-forward quickly to modern day -- All of the big oil companies, and agencies (OPEC, etc.) and governments and academics and economists know how much we've got left. And, as diligent human beings addicted to energy and money, we've been sucking, extracting, fracking, and refining the shit out of oil for over a hundred years now. It's in EVERYTHING, and I mean everything. Go educate yourselves, because weird shit is going to start to happen (oh, wait a minute -- weird shit is happening all over the world).
All the craziness going on in the middle-east has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with oil and money. They've got the most oil over there and everybody wants it. Because, remember, it's a finite resource (see above). The ONLY reason the United States of American Idiots has any interest in anything in ANY of the 'Arab' countries is because of oil. We need it, and we need more and more of it, and it's running out. Quickly. So, if it seems like all kinds of crazy shit is happening all over the world at the same time, it's because IT IS. You can call it what you want, but it is simply the natural collapse of a world based on oil and money. More on this later. For now, watch this:
Robin Williams committing suicide, the be-heading of American journalists in Iraq, another racist NBA team-owner forced to sell his team, rampant deadly diseases. These things don't have much in common, other than the fact that these matters should be a wake-up call to the world. It's rather unfortunate that the world should even need a 'wake-up' call at all. I mean, I'mup, and I've been up for several years now. There's something about pain and suffering and living close to the border that separates life and death that 'wakes' a person up to the true state of affairs in the world around him/her.
I think it really says something when one of our brightest lights, one of our most beloved artists/entertainers/performers.....a man with a heart of gold, with a spirit and a soul too big to fit within the limited confines of the human body....that this man was so upset with the world around him that he decided to bow out. There is no clearer example that illustrates to all of us that our world is so broken, so fucked up, so absurd. Something Needs to Change.
And now we've got 'ISIS' to deal with. Christ, talk about a bunch of assholes. These guys are so medeival, barbaric and horrific, they make Al-Qaeda look like Sesame Street. They move with baffling speed. They are unbelievably well-funded. We really need to take a look at who's funding these guys. I mean REALLY. Because shining a light on the funding sources will certainly ruffle some feathers in the Western world.
For example, European countries are currently buying oil from ISIS-controlled oil fields in Iraq. And, even more disturbing, it has been pretty clear all along that groups within Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait are funding ISIS (see this article from the Daily Beast).
Think about this for a moment. The United States routinely does 'business' with countries who are funding ISIS. Call me a pessimist, but this seems a bit inappropriate (sarcasm emphasized heavily herein). Why? You guessed it......money. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. Money truly is involved in every evil act. Money. It makes the world go 'round. And it also causes western countries to buy oil from people who like to cut the heads off of innocent human beings.
I'm tired of listing all of the horrible things going on in the world around me. For some reason, the suffering of humanity affects me, profoundly. I hurt for the slaughter of innocents, for the hungry children, for the sick, for the impoverished. It pains me. As it should. And it pains a few others. But it's time for the rest of the civilized world to WAKE UP and lend a hand to the broken arc of humanity. We are a broken species. We need healing. And healing starts within.
There have been few individuals, so singularly talented, so extraordinarily gifted, so captivating as Robin Williams. This man was a divinely inspired bolt of comedic lightning. A man who lived only when he was performing for others. A man who understood that the present - that this moment - is all we have, and that it is not to be taken for granted.
It is a tragic paradox that so often the most gifted human beings are also the most tortured internally. Whether it be depression, addiction or numerous other 'mental' illnesses, it manifests in its most devastating form within the most creative, intelligent, energetic, compassionate human beings on the planet.
This has been a very sad year as we lost two of the entertainment industry's most beloved performers -- first, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and now Robin Williams. Addiction and depression obviously played very significant roles in these deaths. It is time to remove the stigmas associated with 'mental' illness and give it the attention it deserves.
The very term 'mental illness' doesn't even make any sense, if you think about it. Depression and addiction, for example, are categorized as 'Brain Diseases.' Last time I checked, the 'BRAIN' is a part of the physical body. So why are certain illnesses classified as 'mental?' The symptoms of mental illness often manifest behaviorally rather than physiologically, and these symptoms unfortunately affect other people in the form of families torn apart, suicides, crimes, etc. Hence, the stigma remains attached to these 'mental' illnesses.
