Isn’t it strange when Biologists are the poets of the modern age?
Category: Pondering Infinity
A Taste of my mind. Anything from Sociopolitics to Religion to Philosophy in general goes.
Sicko
Just saw it and I must admit that I was seriously impressed. I honestly believe that this is one of the most important film for this year, to say the least. If it manages to improve things over at the other side of the Atlantic then that can only be for the best.
I especially liked the fact that Moore did not put so much personal opinion on the film (other than the dramatic music at key points) but rather let the facts speak for themselves. The way the it showed the top executives of health care companies fighting tooth and nail to stop a “socialistic” health care system and then immediately showing propagandistic clips against communism/socialism. How many of the people in the committee and the chief congressman that served pass a “better” bill for old people got new jobs in health care companies. All this little facts, they served better than any monologue Moore might have made to make the point.It was especially touching when the Americans received free medical care in “evil” Cuba. The way they could just not believe their ears and how they were reacting was brilliant. I do not know how set-up this whole thing was but, seriously, it didn’t seem fake.
After this plays in the U.S. I am pretty much convinced that Moore will be labeled as totally unpatriotic and a Communist – since this seems to be an lethal branding in that part of the world – by, of course, people with a vested interest in health care profits.
The only note I want to make, is that even the first world countries (Canada, UK and France) that he went to get examples of “communistic” health care systems were an appropriate way to compare to US, it bears to notice that they are pretty much the cream of the crop for human treatment. They would no be able to afford all that if they did not have some other nation to abuse.
All in all, this film perfect exemplified the major problem with Capitalism, especially in America. It marks the big difference between Positive and Negative Freedom. You mighthave the most liberal government in the world but it will not make an ounce of difference to be allowed to do something if you are no able to do it because you are, say, a lowly wage slave.
How much more until people wake up do something about things like that I honestly do not know? How can they suffer being played for such fools by their own government is beyond me.
UPDATE: I just discovered this webpage when reading the comments on a diggpost about how the healthcare and pharma companies are getting ready to attack Moore. It seems that Moore was treated to one of those hospitals for tourists that are pretty amazing. It’s a good thing to get the other opinion on this and try to find the answer that lies in the middle.
Canada becomes Hollywood's bitch
It’s been building up for quite while now and it’s almost over. Canada has submitted to the will of hollywood studios and is passing the appropriate laws.
Ok, let me say that again.
A Sovereign nation has made a modification to their legal system in order to comply with the wishes of movie producers in another country!
Am I the only one who think this is starting to get out of hand? Certainly not, from seeing the reactions of other bloggers, but I do not see any reaction from the people of Canada itself. How can they stand by and let their own politicians and legal body be bullied by some lobbyists in the USA? Why are they not up in arms throwing rotten tomatoes on those sellouts that say they represent the people?
Something similar happened in Sweden not so far back before when the MPAA lobbied the US goverment to pressure the Swedish goverment to force the police force to perform an illegal raid on the Piracy Bay.
What happened? 3 days later the Piracy Bay was back up and because of the nature of the raid and who was behind it, the Pirate party became that more popular. The Swedes obviously did not see favorably the fact that their goverment was being shoved in the direction the entertainment cartel wanted.
Canadians, on the other hand, just sit and take the pimp slaps of the Motion Pictures Ass. of America.
So what if they take away the previews? So what if push back the releases? They’re only shooting their own foot by forcing people to download if they want to watch the new releases.
It was just a scare tactic. It is not in their best interest to lose the box office revenue of entire Canada.
So they bluffed and forced a whole country to change their laws in a knee-jerk reaction.
Is this how things are going to be from now on? Whenever Holywood says “Jump” we’re going to be asking “How high?“? I am aware that many goverment bodies, especially the US one, work mostly for the benefit of the corporations and hide behind rhetoric for the people. However I’ve never before seen such a blatant display of power from the true beneficiaries of recent copyright laws.
When are people finally going to realize that it’s not us who needs hollywood and movies, it is them who need our wallets so that they can continue to pay the extravagant salaries of their movie “stars” and studio execs.
Canada, wake up and smell the bullshit! You are being 0wned!
Trendy
Every time I end up in a trendy or “in” place, the experience solidifies my distaste for the whole scene.
On Friday a few colleagues from the [tag]ECB[/tag] had arranged a birthday party at a pizza place on the east side of Frankfurt. As one of them was Greek, I received an invitation as well along with a few others.
I was hoping to meet some people on the way there but everyone went there early and although I happened to enter the same Train as one of the birthday people, Reka, I did not recognise her in order to sit with them. Fortunately finding the place was not difficult.
Most people were having pizza (some with spinach…ugh) while I was busy either annoying them with my new shiny singing monkey balls (more on that soon) or taking videos of them while they were trying to talk. I must say that the aforementioned singing monkey balls were a great success among the participants, especially the two Greeks sitting close to me that were about to strangle me if I didn’t stop.
[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=674&.mp4[/coolplayer]
I also managed to convince Reka not to kill me for the time being.
After the pizza was finished we visited a night club on the back (I can’t even remember the name). The doorman almost did not let us in since we were not dressed for the occasion. I especially with my leather trenchcoat and long hair must have made him think twice. Fortunately he let us in (although in retrospect I might consider putting an “u” in front of the first word) and we paid 10 euros for that privilege after which I wasn’t in much mood to buy a drink.
The music inside was boring to tears. A monotone beat and some simple melody that changed slightly every 15 minutes or so. No passion, no melody, nothing. Just brain dead music that requires an equally brain-dead person to consider it worth 10 euros. Fortunately the rest of the group were pretty fun to be around and we ended up dancing for a few hours until everybody got sick of the place and decided to leave.
However it still does not fail to amaze me that these places are actually popular. What the hell do people find enjoyable there? The boring music or the look-alike people that inhabit them? Seriously the dress code is completely stupid. They force people to dress like everyone or they will not get in. As if we don’t have enough conformity in our lives that we need some more.
It is depressing to see so many people flock to these places just because the “beautiful girls” go there or whatever other excuse they find for themselves. Why are people so uncritical of this? When did pop music become so absolutely bland? How can people actually enjoy this and even pay dearly for the privilege is beyond me.
A thousand times better to go to a metal or rock place. Even Gothic music is leagues better than the stupid House and the people you meet or see in the former are certainly more interesting. At least now I know much better than to visit another such club in the near future.
Crimes of Atheism
Reading the comments on this story, I saw several people demonizing atheism, on the basis that people who declared themselves atheists – like many communist leaders – did so many atrocities. As examples of this, they usually mention Mao, Stalin and Hitler among others.
I will ignore the obvious error of Hitler being atheist, since Fascism and Nazism were not only movements with Religious roots but had also strong backing by the Church, even after their failure.
Here I will sidetrack a little to say this: Even if you compare Stalin’s and Mao’s to religious leaders like (this time correctly) Hitler, Mussolini, King Justinian and even Bush, you will see that were the first did what they did for the benefit of their country (albeit at a high cost of human lives within the same country they were benefiting) with tangible results (USSR become a superpower and China is on the same track right now), the later did their atrocities for no other specific reason than to follow demented (religious) ideals and/or satisfy their own (or, as in the case of Bush, the people that move their strings) lust for power.
But of course they base their whole argument on the opinions that have been spoon fed to them (Communism demonization) and hope the emotional baggage is enough to make a point.
Back on topic now. These people seem to ignore that with this kind of argument (“atheism is bad because Stalin was bad”) they open a whole new avenue of attack against religion.
I usually do not open this subject because I have come to realize that you should not attack an idea itself based on the actions that self-labeled “upholders” of that idea take. When I make an argument about a religion. I do not begin by enumerating all the bad things leaders of that religion has taken. All proponents will do to defend against this, is to just say that they (the religious leaders) were never true believers but liars instead.
However when that said proponent is the first to accuse atheism (of all things) of being one of the causes for, say, Stalin’s atrocities, I cannot help but wonder on how hypocritical that is coming from the mouth of a religious person.
Crusades, Inquisition, War, Fascism, Genocides, Destroyed woman rights ,Destroyed Human rights, Racism, War, Perpetuation of Epidemics, Anti-Knowledge, Terrorism, Abuse, Hatred and War-fucking-WAR!
These are the fruits of religion, if we take as examples the religious leaders of history.
Trust me Christian, you do not want to open this can of worms.
And just think, for every bad representative of atheism you can think of, it has hundreds of good examples. Scientists like Einstein, Philosophers like Marx, Spiritualists like Buddha and much more. Tell me how many good things religion has done? (And don’t bring examples like Mother Teresa or I will laugh bitterly)
Furthermore, just because a person is an atheist, it does not have anything to do with the way he acts in life. Unlike religion which tries to set moral guidelines (and such good guidelines they are), being an atheist is just that, the absence of belief in one or more supernatural beings and nothing more. It is not a religion as some would try to convince you (There is not Church of Atheism and no two atheists believe the same thing) and as such, it does not have a moral guideline that comes packaged.
However, as funny as it seems, as a rule, atheists tend to be quite more altruistic (or “good”) than most religious people, any way you look at it. The only immoral thing about an atheist is that he doesn’t follow the demented morality of other religions. He will not beat his wife because she was raped, he will not become a builder because he happened to be born as one and he will not sacrifice a human because “his god requires it”.
To paraphrase: Every religious person is immoral to the eyes of every other religion. An Atheist is just immoral for one more religion than everyone else.
If nothing else, he may actually take the best ideas from every religion and if after adequate criticism they stand up to his morality and further his way of life, he will absorb them, discarding any theological garbage.
I ask you, would a devout religious person do the same?
EDIT: Fixed Mother Teresa and Beating links
The Money Masters
I have just seen an amazing documentary. It is called The Money Masters and although it deals mostly in US economic, it carefully explains how the game is played from the inside. How wars are created in the name of wealth and which purpose they serve. How economic depressions come about what solutions we can pursue.
I really must admit that I have never even thought of these things before and I’m pretty much stunned by the enormity of it all. It’s almost depressing to think the kind of power that will be made to bear on any opposition to the International Banking Cartel.
It truly exemplifies how absolutely screwed we’ll all be if we don’t start to act sooner than later. It is not a wild conspiracy theories as there opinions from nobel prize economists as well as quotes from some quite important people inside.
Please, watch it for yourself. It’s 3.5 hours in two parts but it is totally worth it.
Μιλιταριστής Χριστιανός
Ό,τι νάναι. Αυτή τη Παρασκευή έτυχε να βγω για μερικές μπύρες με ένα γείτονα από το κτίριο μου.Γνωριστήκαμε επεισοδιακά (Πήγε να με δείρει) αλλά τελικά καταντήσαμε να τα πίνουμε μαζί.
Φαίνεται καλό παλίκάρι, λίγο πιο μπεκρής απ’ότι θα ήθελα – αλλά αυτό είναι δικό του πρόβλημα – μεταλλάς, μακρυμάλλης και παρτάκιας. Αρχίσαμε να μιλάμε για διάφορα και σύντομα ανακάλυψα οτι έχει μερικές πολύ περίεργες ιδέες.
Αρχικά η συζήτηση κόλλησε στο εαν θα επέτρεπες σε ένα καλό σου φίλο να κάνει σχέση με την αδελφή σου. Κυρίως μιλούσαμε θεωρητικά, μιας και αυτός δεν έχει αδελφή, αλλά φάνηκε καθαρά οτι διαφωνούσαμε ριζικά. Αυτός πιστεύει οτι η αδελφή είναι κάτι ιερό και οι φίλοι δεν θα πρέπει να την αγγίζουν, κάτι το οποίο δεν συμμερίζομαι. Ο μόνος λόγος για να έχεις μια τέτοια προκατάληψη για τους φίλους σου, είναι εαν αυτοί οι φίλοι είναι ψιλο-χοντρό-καθαρματάκια με της γυναίκες (κοινώς φέρονται γουρουνοειδώς). Εαν το κοινό σημείο συζήτησης με τους φίλους σου είναι το να γελάς με το πόσες πουτάνες γαμήσατε παρέα και το πως απέφυγες την γκομενά σου για να γαμήσεις την φίλη της κλπ, ε είναι λογικό να μην θέλεις ένα ανάλογο άτομο να κάνει τα ίδια στην αδελφή σου – Άσχετα με πόσο υποκριτική είναι η όλη άποψη.
Απο την άλλη, ο τρόπος που το βλέπω εγω είναι οτι εφόσον οι φίλοι σου είναι καλοί χαρακτήρες, δεν υπάρχει λόγος να μην θέλεις να ασχοληθούν με την αδελφή σου. Ακόμα καλύτερα μάλιστα, μιας και θα ξέρεις ότι αξίζουν από πρώτο χέρι. Ακόμα και να μην δουλέψει μια τέτοια σχέση, θα ξέρεις οτι δεν θα φερθούν σαν μαλάκες αλλά αντιθέτως, είναι πολύ πιθανόν να παραμέινουν φίλοι όταν χωρίσουν.
Όχι όμως. Αυτός επέμενε οτί είναι απλά η ηθική που έχει συνηθίσει στην Κροατία. Μια ηθική που, παραδόξως, είναι πολύ όμοια με την Ελληνική και την οποία, επίσης παραδόξως, δεν ασπάζομαι. Το να ακολουθείς μια ηθική του στυλ “Μου γαμάς την αδελφή και σε γαμάω στο ξύλο” χωρίς να έχεις μια βάση είναι απλά κλειστόμυαλο και προέρχεται/δείχνει μεγαλύτερα κολλήματα.
Η όλη συζήτηση μου θύμησε όταν ο καλύτερος μου φίλος έτυχε να κάνει κάνει το “τέρας με τα δύο κεφάλια” με την δικιά μου αδελφή. Ο κακομοίρης, έχοντας έχει συνηθίσει στην Ελληνική νοοτροπία, είχε τρομοκρατηθεί για τις συνέπειες, ακόμα και όταν δεν είχε κάνει τίποτα κακό (Είναι δύσκολο να αντισταθείς στην αδελφή μου) και την είχε βάλει να ορκιστεί να μην μου πει τίποτα.
Άσχετα οτι το ανακάλυψα μόνος μου (Α ρε αδέλφι πότε θα μάθεις να μην αφήνεις ανοιχτά ημερολόγια εδω και εκεί;) αλλά και η ίδια η αδελφή μου δεν μπόρεσε να μου το κρύψει. Προσπάθησε να μου το φέρει πλαγίως πλαγίως (“Αν σου πώ κάτι ορκίσου να μην θυμώσεις” κλπ) γιατι δεν ήξερε πως θα το έπαιρνα. Ξαφνιάστηκε λίγο όταν άρχισα να γελάω και να την συγχαίρω για την καλή επιλογή της 🙂
Ο κολλητός είχε ακόμα πιο κομικοτραγική αντίδραση όταν αποφάσισα να τον ψήσω λιγάκι:
(Απο το τηλέφωνο)
“Έλα ρε κάθαρμα.” του λέω
“Έλα ρε.”
“Τι κάνεις; Καλά;”
“Μια χαρά, εσύ;”
“Καλά. Λοιπόν, μήπως πρέπει να μου πεις κάτι;”
“Τι δηλαδη;”
“Έλα τώρα, μην κάνεις οτι δεν ξέρεις.”
“Τι ρε μαλάκα, δεν καταλαβαίνω.”
“Άσε ρε τα ψώφια. Τα ξέρω όλα!”
“Τι; Τι ξέρεις δηλαδή”
“Τυρί! Ξέρω ρε τι έκανες!”
“…”
“Και τώρα πρέπει να την παντρευτείς!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Ρε! Είσαι ακόμα εδώ;”
“…”
“Έλα ξεκόλα, πλάκα σου έκανα. Δεν υπάρχει πρόβλημα”
“Ρε μαλακά…συγνώμη ρε συ, δεν το έκανα επίτηδες. Να ανοίξει η γη να με καταπιεί”
“Δεν πειράζει ρε σου λέω…”
κλπ. Μετά απο πολλά παρακάλια και συγνώμες, κατάφερα να του εξηγήσω οτι δεν με πειράζει καθόλου και στην τελική δεν μου πέφτει λόγος για τις επιλογές της αδελφής μου.
Πραγματικά, στην τελική, εαν η αδελφή σου δεν είναι κανένα καθυστερημένο, από που και ως που πρέπει εσυ να βάλεις φρένο. Εαν τώρα ξέρεις οτι οι φίλοι σου είναι γουρουνοειδής καθαρματάκια, γιατί στο διάολο είναι ακόμα φίλοι σου; Μήπως πρέπει να ξαναεξετάσεις τον ίδιο σου τον εαυτό; Η κλασσική παροιμία “Δείξε μου τον φίλο σου, να σου πω ποιός είσαι” δεν είναι τυχαία.
Τέλος πάντων, πίσω στο αρχικό μου θέμα.
Τα κολλήματα της νέας μου γνωριμίας λοιπόν, δεν άργησαν να έρθουν στο προσκήνιο.
Σε μια φάση, πρόσεξα οτι έκανε τον σταυρό του (όταν το δευτερο εστιατόριο που επισκευτήκαμε είχε κλείσει την κουζίνα του στις 11μμ). Μου φάνηκε περίεργο διότι μετά από αυτά που μου είχε πει για τον τρόπο ζωής του, μόνο για Χριστιανό δεν τον έκανα. Με περιέργεια τον ρώτησα εαν είναι.
“Χριστιανός Μιλιταριστής” μου είπε
Τι είναι αυτό; Με λίγα λόγια, Ναζί (ναι, το παραδέχτηκε στο τέλος). Θέλει να εξαφανήσει όλους τους Εβραίους και τους Μουσουλμάνους για εκδίκηση. Επειδή κάποιοι Μουσουλμάνοι σκοτώσαν κάποιους χριστιανούς, πιστεύει οτι πρέπει να κάνει το ίδιο εναντίων τους. Και μάλιστα να το κάνει πρώτος (ίσως για να μείνουν μονο οι επίλεκτοι). Επίσης πρώτο πρώτο θέλει να καθαρίσει τον Πάπα γιατί δεν βοηθάει τα παιδάκια στην Αφρική.
Δεν υπήρχε περίπτωση να το κάνω να ξανασκεφτεί τις απόψεις του. Δεν υπήρχε περίπτωση να σκεφτεί οτι δεν είναι όλα τα άτομα της ίδιας θρησκείας το ίδιο, ή οτι όταν τελειώσουν οι εξωτερικοί εχθροί θα υπάρχουν πάντα δόγματα και αιρέσεις. Αντίθετα, όσο προσπαθουσα να του μιλήσω, τόσο περισσότερο εκνευριζόταν διότι δεν μπορούσε να συντηρήσει τις απόψεις του. Στο τέλος είχε καταντήσει να μου λέει οτι εαν δεν συμφωνώ μαζί του μπορώ να φύγω (θα μου πλήρωνε και το ταξί) και αυτός δεν υπάρχει περίπτωση να αλλάξει άποψη.
“Μα αυτό είναι δογματικό” του λέω “Δεν μπορώ να πιστέψω οτι πραγματικά δεν θα αλλάξεις άποψη ότι αντίθεση και να σου φέρω”
“Ναι” μου απαντάει “Έχω δόγμα. Είμαι Ναζιστής” 😮
Ομολογώ οτι είμουν περισσότερο ξαφνιασμένος παρά οτιδήποτε άλλο. Δεν περίμενα οτί θα γνώριζα στην ζωή μου ναζιστή, αλα η ζωή μου την έφερε μπαμπέσικα. Η μαλακία είναι οτί τον είχα συμπαθήσει ήδη μέχρι εκείνη την στιγμή οπότε μου ήταν πολύ δύσκολο να σηκωθώ και να φύγω. Όταν τον ρώτησα τι θα έκανε εαν του έλεγα οτι είμουν Εβραίος σιώπησε επικύνδυνα…σε σημείο που άρχισα να φοβάμαι μην μου ορμήξει. Τον καθυσήχασα όταν του είπα ότι είμαι αγνωστικιστής αλλά και πάλι…
Τώρα δεν ξέρω εαν πρέπει να τον κάνω παρέα. Πιστεύω οτι είναι περισσότερο μπερδεμένος παρά σοβαρός με αυτά που λέει. Απλά έχει τραβήξει λίγο περισσότερη προπαγάνδα απ’ότι είναι υγιηνό.
Δεν είμαι σίγουρος εαν θα πρέπει να συνεχίσω να τον κάνω παρέα – με την ελπίδα οτί σιγά σιγά μπορεί να πάρει καμία διαφορετική ιδέα από ‘μένα – ή να τον αποφύγω/σνομπάρω για τις καφρο-ιδέες του.
Μιλιταριστής Χριστιανός λοιπόν, μια άλλη έκφραση για το Ναζιστής. Λογικό.
Ατσάλινα "Αρχίδια"!
…πρέπει να έχει η Προμηθέα για να μιλήσει με τόσο θάρρος μπροστά σε άπειρα κολλημένα άτομα εκεί μέσα.
Γαμωτω, να μην είμαι απο καμία γωνία να μπορέσω να χειροκροτήσω να πάρει λίγο θάρρος. Θα με λυντσάρανε φυσικά αλλά θα άξιζε τον κόπο. Αλλα σιγά μην πήγαινα ποτέ σε αυτή την αηδία συγκέντρωση.
Προμηθέα, οπου και εαν είσαι. Εύγε! Μην μασάς!
Ελπίζω να έχουμε περισσότερα τέτοια στο μέλλον.
Thoughts overload
This is one of the most thought-provoking, interesting and just fucking lengthy threads I have ever set eyes upon. I found it within a Last.fm group which is another reason why you should take another look at this service.
I am warning you that this is quite a lengthy thread, not because of the number of replies (it’s just 2 pages long currently), but because every fucking reply is a gawd damn Thesis!
Anyway, hop on to it y’all. I’ve already replied and I’m quite eager to see some more responses.
Generalities
I don’t know why, but many times until now, when I talk about a person to someone, I tend to give some description that in hindsight was not needed.
For example, if something happens to me on the road, involving a black skinned person, when I will talk about it, I will feel the tendency to bring in the fact that he or she, was black. Same thing will happen if they are Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, or whatever.
Lately, I have actively began to suppress that feeling because I do not feel that it is important, for example, to bring into the conversation the skin of my house agent.
Why I have this tendency, I don’t know. Maybe it is because in Greece there are very few non-white skinned people and any difference tends come up in a conversation. Maybe I’m just not used to the idea of so many races living together. I hope to learn to not give any notice to the fact that people skins differs from mine and use that as some kind of noteworthy event.
Strangely enough, same thing happened when I was talking about some of my friends that were anarchist or communist. I just could not avoid bringing up the fact that they belonged to those political beliefs when I talked about them. Maybe I was looking for a conversation hook. I honestly do not know.
Obviously, same thing does not happen when the target is a more common sample of the population. I would never consider noteworthy the fact that someone was a Christian or white.
I wonder how many other people have the same reaction.
Say, you were robbed by someone. Would you bring in the fact that he was black. Would you do the same if he was white?