Hey, Harvard makes mistakes too! Kissinger taught there!
I was going to say, even Justin has surpassed me for updates of this bloody thing. Then I checked that, to make sure I didn't go and make an ass of myself. So, while yes, he has updated the same as me in the past month or so, and did so sooner, I don't think 'The Random Question Meme' and two sentences afterward is serious competetion for anyone.
That aside, I mentioned awhile back putting up a list of things I didn't believe in.. or radical extremist sort of thoughts.. or something. Actually, I think it was something along the lines of 'My most out-there thoughts,' give or take. Maybe I just thought about it and never told anyone, though. We all know reporters don't feel the need to check their facts, and dammit, I did it once already. That's good enough for.. I don't know. That isn't something anyone tends to advertise about themselves. Funny, that. Anyway, here's a list of my most extreme thoughts and views. Most people probably won't see a damn thing strange about a number of these, depending on your particular bend. However, I'd imagine that, probably all of them, strike at least one person as strange. Or maybe not.
- Love: I don't terribly believe love exists as commonly as it's generally agreed. Or at least, in the forms that are usually noticed. I think actual love is extremely uncommon, >95% of the time, to more likely, >99.9% of the time completely misinterpreted. That almost everyone that says they feel that way toward someone, is almost certainly actually feeling so toward their idealized view of the person. ..I'm probably going to lose everyone with how this is coming out, but what the hell. Also, the thought of being 'in love' with someone. I'm in serious doubt if that can actually be experienced, where you actually are in love with a person. It seems far more likely, that you're only in love with the anticipation of being with the person. And, if you've been through love yourself, and don't agree with me, obviously, you're quite wrong, and under some sort of hypnotic vision.
- Religion: I've heard, from the great Dave Foley, that religion is a gateway drug. While I'm not basing my mind on that, I find it funny. What I don't like about religion, probably stems from that I grew up playing with dinosaurs. Not giant prehistoric ones, mind you. Little plastic ones that you had to make roar yourself, and that you would pit in fights to the death with G.I. Joe. God, being a kid was great. Anyway! I've found, mythology and religion, are essentially the same thing, with one difference. One isn't believed anymore. Aside from that, they're pretty damn similar. And, for the amount of suffering that religion has brought upon the world, I don't think it's terribly worth it. While there are religious charities doing good for the world, I see their faith as a catalyst for why they do it, rather than any overarching principled reason. I really don't think your going to change someone that would never think about helping anyone else to a saint, simply because they believe in one god or another. They may change as such, but you can bet it wasn't anything you did that made them so. You can't change someone else. That, and I hate restrictive ideals. Don't try and limit what's good and what's bad. It just is, and nothing is so black and white. There are degrees of everything, and pretending all is the same regardless, unless you're talking metaphyiscs or quantom physics, is just plain stupid.
- God: I believe I am God. I mean that with 100% seriousness. I also believe, that you are God. Any big angry man in the sky that throws fire at you when he doesn't like you, that's pretty childish. Any omnipotent omniscient person, capable of doing anything and everything in ways we can't even begin to fathom or begin to grasp the tiniest part to, really wouldn't give a damn about one tiny person, on one tiny planet, in one tiny galaxy, in one universe of potentially infinite. To think that you could ever do anything that would impress, or upset such a figure is blasphemous! I don't believe in God, and I think that's blasphemous. That's insinuating that you can stand on equal footing as such a being. No fucking way. Now, however, I do believe that you can achieve that for yourself, and everything traditionally thought of as God, you can become, and indeed, already are. You just won't piss anyone off by saying that, other than someone who is far too high-strung, and deserves something more than a blowjob from a choirboy.
- Relationships: Well, here, I just don't believe they work well, at least the romantic variety. Yes, they can work, but I feel that generally, so many wires are crossed along the way, that the entire deck is stacked against you, and you'll have some serious odds to shoot in any romantic venture. It can be done, but once you throw in your own quirks and personality, you might as well buy that Lotto ticket.
"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs. "
- Communism/Socialism: Hey, it's been given a bad stigma. I think there's some serious potential in what is there, and the ideals and groundwork blow away what capitalism has going for it. Of course, in principle, it hasn't worked terribly well. But Russia after Lenin's rise to power, was, the most democratic nation in the world. That's something not too many people would own up to. =P
- Taboos: Nothing should be off limits. While there are certain things that are in poor taste, there should be nothing that is censored or restricted. It's all a matter of context. Hell, even rape can be funny. Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig is something that would be hard not to laugh at, portrayed properly. If you're finding offense in something, the problem more than likely is with you, and not with what is being said. ..Death is hilarious, by the way. For say, bestiality, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it shouldn't really be anyone's concern. If it hurts you and you aren't involved, you need to be slapped upside the head a few times, and told to mind your own life. It should never be your problem, of all things, who or what someone else is boning. That is meant more broadly, of course, than animal fucking.
- Cynicism: Personally, I think cynicism is awesome. It's a lovingly funny way of expresing yourself, that really shouldn't be that funny at all. It can touch on irony, and with the two, even the most horrible situations can become something to laugh at. Also, using cynicism as a way of keeping touch with reality, or your mind from being too accepting of the first thing someone tells you, and instead looking to yourself and your own experiences for truth, is a pretty nifty idea.
- Politics: All politicians are liars. The ones that get elected are the best liars. Generally it all becomes so damn bogged down with, excuse the pun, politics and the bureaucracy of things, that little is actually done. My feeling, is that it becomes more of a giant circle jerk, and anyone on the outside gets screwed. Again, no pun intended.
- America: Make no mistake, America isn't the end all to be all for either good, or evil in the world. It's a country, and it has it's fair share of corruption. So does the rest of the world and the rest of the world's governments. The problem, is that it has people. No matter how easy it may be to point to the head of a country (Or anything/one in power, really) and blame your lot in life on them, responsibility eventually comes down to you. America doesn't fuck the world over; the citizen in it does. And given I'm writing to a distinctly American audience, we're all bastards for it. The whole, global-warming-ice-caps-melting-rainforest-dying-monkeys-flying thing, we have a hand in it. And not 'America' as an entity unto itself, but every person in it. Of course, that goes for every last person on the planet. But, don't forget that you're a horrible person that is a drain on the world.
- People: I really don't like people, as a whole. Now, I like persons just fine. But that's because you get to know the individual people, and thus they become a person. As a majority, though, we're sort of a wretched species. Selfish assholes, really. Not that selfishness doesn't have it's place; it does. Where it's place is, though, is in ensuring yourself happiness and contentment, rather than hosing everyone else to get there. I firmly believe, that more than 99.99% of the acts done by anyone, are committed with selfishness in mind. Selfless acts are nigh impossible for most of us. And, I don't mean that buying someone dinner, or volunteering in a cause is selfless. It isn't. Anything you probably think qualifies, doesn't. To have no investment of yourself, and do something entirely for someone, or something else, is a foreign concept. In most situations it's almost impossible just to concieve how to do something without it benifitting you. Considering, all you have to get out of it is a smile, that makes it quite difficult. That whole, 'A good deed is it's own reward.' bit is true, but it's selfish. A good kind of selfishness, perhaps, but for the arguments sake, it's still selfish. If you meet someone who habitually does something for someone else, and does so selflessly, you may want to hold onto your head before it explodes. Also, as a serious question, does anyone know someone, or a story, or anything, of a purely selfless act? I've racked my brain, and not a lot has come up on the subject.
- Knowledge: To know something is nearly impossible, if not so. And to get so stuck on acquiring as much knowledge as you can, to become a repository of facts and data, if that was ever your goal, is a pretty stupid idea. On a more broader note, you really don't know a lot. I don't mean that as an attack, but it's the truth. There isn't a lot you can be sure of, as most of what we know is filtered down from some source or another. Maybe, don't even look so hard into some things. Just let them be what they are, without dissecting them mentally.
- Hope: If you have it, wonderful. If you don't, wonderful. It is what it is, and what it is it already is. Don't worry about it. Yes, it's good to have hope that things could be better, but the important thing there, is to make the effort yourself, and take the action to change your lot in life, or whatever is bothering you, than to be hoping for any change outside of yourself. There's a tie-in with religion and god here, and why they're not so healthy. Anything that tells you to look outside yourself for answers, is begging you to be miserable and invest heavily in therapy. You have all you'll ever need inside yourself, and you'll never find anything close to what you can conjure up in the world outside. For those that know it, or anything similar, that feeling of being in love, or bliss, as they're a very similar thing, can be reproduced entirely by yourself. Not that it's necessarily a good idea, but it can be done. And, I say that, because it's not the greatest idea to get too attached to any one feeling or state of being. They all just are. You'll be miserable some days, ecstatic others.. it's the attachments we bring to the table about them that make them what they are.
- Family: Anyone who ever watched Boy Meets World, may recall, Mr. Feeny was talking once to.. Eric, I believe, about his (Feeny's) family. And he was saying, family isn't who you're related to by blood, and it never was, but it's the people you meet in your life, who you'd stick with through thick and thin. You might come from entirely different places in your life, but if you connect well enough, and become close enough, you're family. Blood never had anything to do with it. And that's my stake in it, too. "Blood means you’re related. It doesn’t mean you’re family." I'm not sure who (on the show) said that, but it was the exact message he was going for. And what I'm going for, too. Don't treat your blood connections any special or different. They are what they are, and if you get along and are close enough, great. You're family. If not, they're just people in your life. Don't force family on you.. that's not what it should be.
- Life: "I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable."
"There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."
Life is miserable a lot of the time. So what? You're in it, and you could go learn to love the misery, wallow in it, or just kill yourself. It's beyond your control sometimes, so don't bother with it. Enjoy what you can, even if it is awful. Even if you're hauled off and put in a noveau concentration camp and horribly tortured and threatened with death, there can be beauty and joy in there too. Your circumstances don't have to define how you feel, or who you are. Control what you can, which is your own life, and for the rest of it, smile and be happy. You can't change it, so don't be bothered by it. Do what you can, and let the rest handle itself. It will regardless. Anyway, if your dog is happier than you, you're leading a pisspoor life. As for the meaning of life? I think someone's playing a cruel sort of joke, and the meaning is, that there isn't any.
That aside, I mentioned awhile back putting up a list of things I didn't believe in.. or radical extremist sort of thoughts.. or something. Actually, I think it was something along the lines of 'My most out-there thoughts,' give or take. Maybe I just thought about it and never told anyone, though. We all know reporters don't feel the need to check their facts, and dammit, I did it once already. That's good enough for.. I don't know. That isn't something anyone tends to advertise about themselves. Funny, that. Anyway, here's a list of my most extreme thoughts and views. Most people probably won't see a damn thing strange about a number of these, depending on your particular bend. However, I'd imagine that, probably all of them, strike at least one person as strange. Or maybe not.
- Love: I don't terribly believe love exists as commonly as it's generally agreed. Or at least, in the forms that are usually noticed. I think actual love is extremely uncommon, >95% of the time, to more likely, >99.9% of the time completely misinterpreted. That almost everyone that says they feel that way toward someone, is almost certainly actually feeling so toward their idealized view of the person. ..I'm probably going to lose everyone with how this is coming out, but what the hell. Also, the thought of being 'in love' with someone. I'm in serious doubt if that can actually be experienced, where you actually are in love with a person. It seems far more likely, that you're only in love with the anticipation of being with the person. And, if you've been through love yourself, and don't agree with me, obviously, you're quite wrong, and under some sort of hypnotic vision.
- Religion: I've heard, from the great Dave Foley, that religion is a gateway drug. While I'm not basing my mind on that, I find it funny. What I don't like about religion, probably stems from that I grew up playing with dinosaurs. Not giant prehistoric ones, mind you. Little plastic ones that you had to make roar yourself, and that you would pit in fights to the death with G.I. Joe. God, being a kid was great. Anyway! I've found, mythology and religion, are essentially the same thing, with one difference. One isn't believed anymore. Aside from that, they're pretty damn similar. And, for the amount of suffering that religion has brought upon the world, I don't think it's terribly worth it. While there are religious charities doing good for the world, I see their faith as a catalyst for why they do it, rather than any overarching principled reason. I really don't think your going to change someone that would never think about helping anyone else to a saint, simply because they believe in one god or another. They may change as such, but you can bet it wasn't anything you did that made them so. You can't change someone else. That, and I hate restrictive ideals. Don't try and limit what's good and what's bad. It just is, and nothing is so black and white. There are degrees of everything, and pretending all is the same regardless, unless you're talking metaphyiscs or quantom physics, is just plain stupid.
- God: I believe I am God. I mean that with 100% seriousness. I also believe, that you are God. Any big angry man in the sky that throws fire at you when he doesn't like you, that's pretty childish. Any omnipotent omniscient person, capable of doing anything and everything in ways we can't even begin to fathom or begin to grasp the tiniest part to, really wouldn't give a damn about one tiny person, on one tiny planet, in one tiny galaxy, in one universe of potentially infinite. To think that you could ever do anything that would impress, or upset such a figure is blasphemous! I don't believe in God, and I think that's blasphemous. That's insinuating that you can stand on equal footing as such a being. No fucking way. Now, however, I do believe that you can achieve that for yourself, and everything traditionally thought of as God, you can become, and indeed, already are. You just won't piss anyone off by saying that, other than someone who is far too high-strung, and deserves something more than a blowjob from a choirboy.
- Relationships: Well, here, I just don't believe they work well, at least the romantic variety. Yes, they can work, but I feel that generally, so many wires are crossed along the way, that the entire deck is stacked against you, and you'll have some serious odds to shoot in any romantic venture. It can be done, but once you throw in your own quirks and personality, you might as well buy that Lotto ticket.
"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs. "
- Communism/Socialism: Hey, it's been given a bad stigma. I think there's some serious potential in what is there, and the ideals and groundwork blow away what capitalism has going for it. Of course, in principle, it hasn't worked terribly well. But Russia after Lenin's rise to power, was, the most democratic nation in the world. That's something not too many people would own up to. =P
- Taboos: Nothing should be off limits. While there are certain things that are in poor taste, there should be nothing that is censored or restricted. It's all a matter of context. Hell, even rape can be funny. Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig is something that would be hard not to laugh at, portrayed properly. If you're finding offense in something, the problem more than likely is with you, and not with what is being said. ..Death is hilarious, by the way. For say, bestiality, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it shouldn't really be anyone's concern. If it hurts you and you aren't involved, you need to be slapped upside the head a few times, and told to mind your own life. It should never be your problem, of all things, who or what someone else is boning. That is meant more broadly, of course, than animal fucking.
- Cynicism: Personally, I think cynicism is awesome. It's a lovingly funny way of expresing yourself, that really shouldn't be that funny at all. It can touch on irony, and with the two, even the most horrible situations can become something to laugh at. Also, using cynicism as a way of keeping touch with reality, or your mind from being too accepting of the first thing someone tells you, and instead looking to yourself and your own experiences for truth, is a pretty nifty idea.
- Politics: All politicians are liars. The ones that get elected are the best liars. Generally it all becomes so damn bogged down with, excuse the pun, politics and the bureaucracy of things, that little is actually done. My feeling, is that it becomes more of a giant circle jerk, and anyone on the outside gets screwed. Again, no pun intended.
- America: Make no mistake, America isn't the end all to be all for either good, or evil in the world. It's a country, and it has it's fair share of corruption. So does the rest of the world and the rest of the world's governments. The problem, is that it has people. No matter how easy it may be to point to the head of a country (Or anything/one in power, really) and blame your lot in life on them, responsibility eventually comes down to you. America doesn't fuck the world over; the citizen in it does. And given I'm writing to a distinctly American audience, we're all bastards for it. The whole, global-warming-ice-caps-melting-rainforest-dying-monkeys-flying thing, we have a hand in it. And not 'America' as an entity unto itself, but every person in it. Of course, that goes for every last person on the planet. But, don't forget that you're a horrible person that is a drain on the world.
- People: I really don't like people, as a whole. Now, I like persons just fine. But that's because you get to know the individual people, and thus they become a person. As a majority, though, we're sort of a wretched species. Selfish assholes, really. Not that selfishness doesn't have it's place; it does. Where it's place is, though, is in ensuring yourself happiness and contentment, rather than hosing everyone else to get there. I firmly believe, that more than 99.99% of the acts done by anyone, are committed with selfishness in mind. Selfless acts are nigh impossible for most of us. And, I don't mean that buying someone dinner, or volunteering in a cause is selfless. It isn't. Anything you probably think qualifies, doesn't. To have no investment of yourself, and do something entirely for someone, or something else, is a foreign concept. In most situations it's almost impossible just to concieve how to do something without it benifitting you. Considering, all you have to get out of it is a smile, that makes it quite difficult. That whole, 'A good deed is it's own reward.' bit is true, but it's selfish. A good kind of selfishness, perhaps, but for the arguments sake, it's still selfish. If you meet someone who habitually does something for someone else, and does so selflessly, you may want to hold onto your head before it explodes. Also, as a serious question, does anyone know someone, or a story, or anything, of a purely selfless act? I've racked my brain, and not a lot has come up on the subject.
- Knowledge: To know something is nearly impossible, if not so. And to get so stuck on acquiring as much knowledge as you can, to become a repository of facts and data, if that was ever your goal, is a pretty stupid idea. On a more broader note, you really don't know a lot. I don't mean that as an attack, but it's the truth. There isn't a lot you can be sure of, as most of what we know is filtered down from some source or another. Maybe, don't even look so hard into some things. Just let them be what they are, without dissecting them mentally.
- Hope: If you have it, wonderful. If you don't, wonderful. It is what it is, and what it is it already is. Don't worry about it. Yes, it's good to have hope that things could be better, but the important thing there, is to make the effort yourself, and take the action to change your lot in life, or whatever is bothering you, than to be hoping for any change outside of yourself. There's a tie-in with religion and god here, and why they're not so healthy. Anything that tells you to look outside yourself for answers, is begging you to be miserable and invest heavily in therapy. You have all you'll ever need inside yourself, and you'll never find anything close to what you can conjure up in the world outside. For those that know it, or anything similar, that feeling of being in love, or bliss, as they're a very similar thing, can be reproduced entirely by yourself. Not that it's necessarily a good idea, but it can be done. And, I say that, because it's not the greatest idea to get too attached to any one feeling or state of being. They all just are. You'll be miserable some days, ecstatic others.. it's the attachments we bring to the table about them that make them what they are.
- Family: Anyone who ever watched Boy Meets World, may recall, Mr. Feeny was talking once to.. Eric, I believe, about his (Feeny's) family. And he was saying, family isn't who you're related to by blood, and it never was, but it's the people you meet in your life, who you'd stick with through thick and thin. You might come from entirely different places in your life, but if you connect well enough, and become close enough, you're family. Blood never had anything to do with it. And that's my stake in it, too. "Blood means you’re related. It doesn’t mean you’re family." I'm not sure who (on the show) said that, but it was the exact message he was going for. And what I'm going for, too. Don't treat your blood connections any special or different. They are what they are, and if you get along and are close enough, great. You're family. If not, they're just people in your life. Don't force family on you.. that's not what it should be.
- Life: "I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable."
"There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."
Life is miserable a lot of the time. So what? You're in it, and you could go learn to love the misery, wallow in it, or just kill yourself. It's beyond your control sometimes, so don't bother with it. Enjoy what you can, even if it is awful. Even if you're hauled off and put in a noveau concentration camp and horribly tortured and threatened with death, there can be beauty and joy in there too. Your circumstances don't have to define how you feel, or who you are. Control what you can, which is your own life, and for the rest of it, smile and be happy. You can't change it, so don't be bothered by it. Do what you can, and let the rest handle itself. It will regardless. Anyway, if your dog is happier than you, you're leading a pisspoor life. As for the meaning of life? I think someone's playing a cruel sort of joke, and the meaning is, that there isn't any.