Sheep

I've been thinking about free will. Not the grand metaphysical kind. I don't really care about that. There's nothing I can do to change that. Whether all of my actions are determined by fate or whether I can choose my own destiny, either way there's nothing I can do that will make it the other way. No the free will that I have been considering is on a much more intimate scale. I'm talking about manipulation. There is a interesting trend in our society, at least it seems to me, to praise free thought and open discourse. And even to pretend that we have those things. But just because you think you are assessing the facts yourself, coming up with your own analysis of them, and making your own opinions does not mean that you are. I would argue the exact opposite. The more you think you are doing these things the less likely it is that you really are. It is very difficult, in a society like ours, where the money flows freely, to really get all of the facts. Now I'm not saying it's any easier in any other type of society. I haven't lived in any other type of society, so I really can't judge anything other than what we have. But just think on this: in order for any type of research study to be done it has to get funding. Where does this funding come from? It comes from people who are interesting in knowing the results of the study. And why are they interested? It tends to be the case that those interested in the results also have a vested interest in a specific conclusion being reached. Now it doesn't really matter how unbiased the scientists are. The scientists doing the research can have absolutely no bias, but the study will still be biased. This is because the people funding the research will pick and choose researchers who happen to be finding evidence to support the interested party's conclusion. The end consumer never gets all of the facts. It would be impossible to relay all of them. That is why we rely on intermediaries, the media, to pick and choose the important facts. The problem comes when we delude ourselves into thinking that we are the ones making informed decisions. It is not possible to make a truly informed decision when you do not have all of the facts. So what should we do you might ask? Most people do not have the time and/or knowledge to research all of the facts for every decision they might have to make or every conclusion they may have to come to. But some people do. That is why the media was created in the first place. What we need to do is accept the media and allow it to fulfill its purpose. In this modern age of the internet and all that stuff, everyone wants to think that just because they can write out an opinion means that they can make a truly informed decision. That is what I am protesting in this essay. I think the only truly informed decision to make in this day and age is to not try and make your own decisions. There are people out there who spend all of their time studying and researching things in order to make informed opinions, and they are perfectly willing to share those opinions. Find someone who you trust to make truly informed opinions, and then trust them. To use a metaphor, the majority of our society are sheep, who have been suckered into believing that they are shepherds by the real shepherds who have found that it is easier to control the sheep by creating this illusion. But there really are some good shepherds out there. So I have decided to accept that I am a sheep. I don't want the responsibility of being a shepherd. I can accept the fact that I just don't have the initiative to make truly informed decisions for myself. So I have made what seems to me the only logical decision. I have decided to consciously be a 'sheep' and have found a 'shepherd' that I trust to make informed conclusions and I will be relying on her judgments from now on. This shepherd is Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now. Of course I reserve the right to decide later that this was a bad idea, but for now it seems like the right course of action. I must point out that this is mainly in regards to politics, the economy, and other things related to those. I will still be making my own opinions regarding personal matters like music, food, etc because I feel that I can make informed decisions about those things on my own. So I guess this is sort of a call to action. Wake up from your delusions and either start making truly informed decision, opinions, and conclusions, or find someone you trust to make them for you. Stop pretending that you can keep yourself truly informed in your spare time. You can't. Staying informed is a full time job, and even then some people can't do it. Ok, that is all.

Book Review

I just finished reading a very interesting book. It is written by one of my close friends, but never fear, my assessment of the quality has only been slightly biased. It really is a good book. I stand by that statement 100%. It's a fun, easy to read book. Its taken me a while to finish it, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. I've just had a lot of other shit going on to distract me. Every time that I had a chance to sit down and read some of it, I found it very engrossing. Definitely the type of book that you don't want to set down. It's a very cool take on a thriller. The reason that it's so engrossing really doesn't have much to do with the real world plot. It's a metaphysical thriller. You could say that the plot is about a fight for control of earth, but despite being the source of most of the action, that is really only a side plot. The true plot takes place in other dimensions and other planes of existence and I would say in the mind of the reader. A lot of the plot is what I would call forced thought. It doesn't actually happen on the page, but rather what happens on the page forces your mind to consider things that are the content of the real plot. This is really cool in my opinion. So anyway the book is called AlphaBetaPocalypse by Sam Sobelman. It's for sale on Amazon or Lulu.

Monotony

I think I need a change of pace. Monotony grows dull. The mind grows dull. See, proof that my mind is growing dull. I can't even write two sentences without using hte same phrase. I need some excitement. I think I might try polyphasic sleep. My biggest problem is the cold. Being up at night is only interesting if you get out and about. Seeing everything deserted is half the fun of it. Maybe going out in the cold will be good. But it's essential to bundle up. Sometimes I get the shivers because I ignore the fact that I'm cold. Sometimes I'm so absorbed in other things that I don't consciously ignore it, I just don't even realize it. But there's a sure cure for them. Get a couple thick blankets and curl up in a ball on the bed with them snugly wrapped around you. After a couple minutes its nice and cozy, but then its really tempting to fall asleep. That's why I'm concerned about trying the polyphasic thing in the winter. But I guess it would be better to start now and if I can't do it give up. That way I wouldn't have to adjust twice if I can do it in the summer but then have to switch back in the winter. Of course if I get a real job I probably won't be able to do it. I don't really want a normal job. I can't stand having so much monotony. I like to be able to just up an do things when I feel like it. But of course right now I'm at the other end of the monotony problem. I have so few set things to do that I end up just lazing about and getting bored. I want to travel. I love traveling. When I'm traveling I'm never bored. Even on long bus, plane, or train rides. I love being around new people. It's so interesting to see how different people behave, to hear how they talk. That's one of my favorite parts of traveling. I'm always picking new and interesting expressions of speech from people that I meet. I love words. There are so many ways to put them together. And especially with English there are so many uses for each one. I'm always my most creative when I'm traveling. There's always something new to inspire me. It could be something someone says, or a tree that I see, or an event that I witness. Of course it is possible to treat the everyday in this manner as well, but that takes so much more effort. It is so easy to just fall back into monotony, and lose track of all of the interesting things that go on wherever you are. That's what's so great about traveling. It forces that excitement on you. You can't ignore it. As a very lazy person that is very nice. When I stay in one place for too long I become complacent, I forget to see all of the wonderful chaos that is everywhere. It's a constant struggle to avoid falling into a monotonous order that makes life so boring. And all too frequently I fail in that struggle. But at least I know where my failings are. Accepting the problem is the first step in fixing it. I'm just not sure where to go from there. Oh well. I'm sure I'll figure it out.