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Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Viscous Vortex of Vengeance

Revenge, as it seems, is a risky and viscous, yet understandable action to take in the face of wrongdoing.

Take the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility for example; it was built on the grounds that 'they hit us first, and as such, we're going to hit back... 10 times harder.'
In the end, the facility only created more problems and helped the viscous wheel of vengeance to turn at a much faster rate. How did it do this, exactly? Allow me to explain:
Following 9/11, an American-led NATO Coalition Force invaded Afghanistan on the grounds that they were sheltering the top terrorist (who claimed to have planned and assisted in carrying out the 9/11 attacks, which in themselves are most likely an American conspiracy) Osama Bin Laden.

He was never found, as hard as the Americans seemed to be searching for him.
As a result, Bin Laden has become the icon of evil for the 21st century, just as Hitler was for the 20th.
Anyways, back on the topic of Guantanamo's detriments, following 9/11 a stigma was placed directly on the heads of the Muslims of the world. Anyone who simply even looked Muslim was discriminated against to some extent, especially in the States.

Following the creation of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, the right to Habeas Corpus (the right to know why one is being detained, and the right of the detainee to seek out a court hearing) was suspended indefinitely, meaning that U.S. authorities could arrest whoever they like for whatever reason, and didn't have to inform the arrested person why they have been taken prisoner, as well as keep them from going to court.
This, as is apparent, was not an act that was exclusive to the geographic United States, as it was used to a greater extent in both American-occupied Afghanistan, as well as Iraq.
In this process of taking prisoners from foreign soil without doing any investigations as to make sure they had the right person, they naturally ended up with alot of innocent bystanders.

These bystanders were put in the isolated detention facility of Guantanamo alongside truly guilty members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
After a few years, some of these people were discovered to be innocent, and as such, were released back to their home countries. Some, angry with what had happened to them, joined anti-American Jihadist groups across the Middle East as to get revenge, when in an alternate reality that they were never wrongly imprisoned, they never would have even considered committing terrorist acts against the United States.

An eye for an eye (for an eye) rings very true when these former bystanders end there lives by blowing themselves up in a bomb-laden car, effectively killing not only American soldiers, but also innocent bystanders.
American soldiers, even angrier at/ more paranoid towards Muslims, see there reasoning for imprisoning Muslim suspects without evidence as completely justified considering the circumstances.

As such, that viscous circle continues to play out, and will always continue to play out until one side finally decides to be the bigger man and realize that this constant revenge isn't getting anybody anywhere.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Katvolver versus Yeahbuddy2

The following is a debate that took place between August 13th and 18th 2009 via YouTube channel comments between myself (Kyran Paterson-King alias Katvolver) and Austin (whos last name is unknown, alias Yeahbuddy2).

For more information on my YouTube profile visit:
www.youtube.com/katvolver
For more information on Yeahbuddy2's YouTube profile visit: www.youtube.com/yeahbuddy2

***
The original comment, which provoked yeahbuddy2's response, was posted on YouTube user Catholirick's channel. The comment is as follows:

"Haha i do believe in Obama.. when I said that America had been leaning towards fascist policies lately I meant the Bush regime. Obama is still experiencing serious recoil due to the greed and idiocy of the previous administration.
Obama is doing the best he can with all that left over red tape in his way."

Yeahbuddy2 responded to that comment, and as such, the following debate ensued:

Yeahbuddy2:
"Saw your comment on Catholicrik's profile, and I must say, I was quite disturbed by what I read. Did Bush have his problems? Hell yes. But at least he didn't put the United States into deeper debt than ALL PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED! Obama did that. And Obama's Cash for Clunkers plan, or what ever it was called, was supposed to last for 30 days but he ran out of money for it in 3. The man is woefully inept and ill prepared to rule a country. But hey, what better can one expect from a government that lets popularity decide who should rule?"

Katvolver:
"Obama put America in debt? Are you serious?? No he didn't. He's been tossed into the debt laden mess that Bush and Cheney have created by starting two wars aimed at imperial expansion, as well as the war meant to manipulate it's own populace to unquestioningly stand behind there failing government: the war on terror. Obama may not be fixing it, but he's doing the best he can. I can tell your opinions stem from racial biases, or else you would have given evidence to back up your claims."

"Oh, by the way, anyone who follows the lies of the bible as strictly as you do is certainly wrong. When one person suffers from dillusion, it's called insanity; when many people suffer from dillusion, it's called religion. Heavy conservative right wings like you have alot you need to learn."

Yeahbuddy2:
"Racial bias? You are blind sir. Blind as can be. Your own hatred blinds you. Your own ignorance blinds you. I pity you, sir. I really do. I honestly don't give a damn whether Obama is white, black, yellow, or red. He can be a mutt for all I care. The man is incompetant, woefully inept, and completely unprepared. Welcome to reality. It's not the blissful ignorance of your fanciful bubble, but it's the way the world is."

Katvolver:
"Blinded by my own hatred? Sir, I hate very little in this world. Very very little. I don't hate you; I respect your views as a human being, even if I stand against almost all of them.
For example; I am entirely against your view that democracy is wrong and a monarchy is right; sure, democracy has its flaws, as does every other political system that has ever existed.
No single person should ever have control of an entire country and everything that country has at its disposal. Especially now in the nuclear age; image a King gone mad with power, who seems to think his power comes from God, clicking a big red button, and all of a sudden there's no New York City or Chicago; no more London, or, at worst, no more anything."

"Also, I'm an agnostic atheist, which means I believe there could be a God, but it's just as likely that that same God happens to be Ronald McDonald or Chuck Norris. Or maybe even an inanimate object such as a chair; who knows? Certainly not you, so stop pretending like you do.
As such, probability tells me there is no God.
I also believe that all faith is blind; even the faith you put in your friends to do the right thing in a wrong situation; although this is more likely to be correct due to the fact that there physical and mental existence can be easily proven, unlike any almighty deity.

So, I advise not only you, but everyone else in the world, to give everything the benefit of the doubt, and never ever put definitive blind faith in anything."

Yeahbuddy2:
"Your argument against monarchy is that you fear what a King would do with nuclear power? Remind me again, who is the only country in the world to have actually NUKED a human city? And just what system of government did that country have? My memory must be failing, because I was unaware that Harry S Truman was the King of the Kingdom of America. I was certain he was the President of the United States of America, a democratic state. How silly of me! No democracy would EVER use nuclear weapons against innocent life! Wake up to the facts, boy! Democracies have killed more people in the name of ''freedom'' in the last century than any monarchy ever slew."

"And your lack of faith is your own blindness. For the very heavens declare the glory of the Lord! And the fool hath said in his heart, ''there is no God''. I am saddened for you, because you know not what the Love of Christ feels like. For me, there is no greater comfort than knowing that my sins are forgiven. No greater comfort than knowing that a poor, worthless wretch like me, was worth dying for! Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found! Was blind but now I see!"

Katvolver:
"How frighteningly poetic.
If you can prove to me the existence of a God (which doesn't mean tell me to look around, and I'll see all the proof I need, because that's faith, not proof), I'd happily bow down to him in the hopes that he'll do me a little favor now and then.

Oh, also note, America is not only the only democracy to ever bomb a human city with a nuke, it's the only country to ever do such as thing. So what you said is hardly about democracy; it's about America.
And no, not true. If you leave America out of the equation, democracy is entirely harmless.
Monarchies, fascists, and communists have each killed more people then democracy has."

Yeahbuddy2:
"Proving God's existence wouldn't make you love Him. For Pete's sake, even Alexander the Great acknowledged Adonai's existence, but he never worshipped or loved Him. God's not looking for your approval or acknowledgement.

And the fact that America is the only country to ever do such a thing only adds to my statement. And if you think all other democracies are harmless, then you forget the French Revolution, or Cromwell's Commonwealth, or the democratically elected Adolf Hitler, or the IRA (who just so happen to be defending an Irish REPUBLIC)."

"And what about the fact that the usurper government which has ruled the Isles since 1688 to this day restricts the rights of some people solely on account of religion? Where's the fraternity and equality there? Why must Catholics renounce their doctrines in order to hold public office? King James II (VII) believed in religious tolerance, but I suppose that since he was an absolutist, that must mean religious tolerance is one of those bad, tyrannical ideals that freedom loving people everywhere should hate."

Katvolver:
"You seem to be arguing in a manner that suggests that you believe I see things quite narrowly.
Look, I never said all democratically elected governments are good. Some are pure evil.
And I never said that all Kings and Queens are bad people; just that the amount of power at there disposal should never be wielded by any single person, and certainly not without restraints.

I'm certainly not going to defend the government that rules the Isles, because it sounds like they're very discriminatory. But, as long as it's democratic, I defend the form of government."

The debate ends there. It has been 2 days since his last reply. If enough new content appears, I will post a second part.

A Shrunken World

I find it strange how, when you work at a job site (or even on a school campus), the world seems so much smaller and concentrated in one area (most notably when there's very little going on, and very few people actually on-site).

That's not to say it isn't worth it in most cases, but it always seems to leave you with an empty, bored feeling right up until the moment you're given the exact amount you worked for.
It makes me wonder, though, why we waste those precious moments of our life earning paper and metal that only really has any meaning to us, so we can spend it all on the things we need to remain in the exact same circumstance we're already in; and then we complain that our lives are unsatisfying and incomplete.

I say, break out of that viscous circle. I'm not saying that you shouldn't work at all, I'm saying improvise and spice it up as much as your heart desires.
For me, it'd be working somewhere for awhile, buy only the bare-essentials, and save up to travel around different parts of the world. As soon as I'd decided I'd made enough, I would plan and prepare for a week or two. As soon as my last payday comes around following the planning stage, I'd quit the job and go to whichever country (or part of the country I'm already in) and explore around there. If I really liked the place, I might decide I want to move there, or at least live there for awhile. As such, I'd find a temporary place there, make moving arrangements, and get my belongings shipped to wherever it is that I happen to be.
While they're in transit, I'd start looking for a job.

See? That's only an idea, but it's certainly feasible.
Think about doing things like that. There's no need to be trapped in the same old situation day-in and day-out.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Cuban Revolution Means Something to Jupiter

Sorry about my long absence (aside from altering song picks each week), I've been either busy, or have felt unmotivated to actually write a new post.
For the most part, I've been busy in my mind as opposed to physically (although... I have started working out).

I thought I'd just give everyone a quick update on how I've been doing and what I've been up to lately; one big thing is that I've finished writing my song The Stars Mean Something To Everyone, although I'm not entirely happy with it, I think it's still a satisfactory beginning to continued songwriting.
Another big thing (at least to me) is that I've not only learned how to strum and sing at the same time, I've created my own modified version of the popular Train song Drops of Jupiter. Quite an incredible song, if I may say so myself.
Also, I believe I've increased my upper body strength; not to any serious extent, but enough to be noticeable.

As for psychologically, I've been up and down this past week. Mostly due to girl troubles I'll share in moderate detail when it either works out, or doesn't.
I also watched the movies Che: Part 1: The Argentine and Che: Part 2: The Guerrilla, which are both excellently done movies, although I wouldn't recommend them to anyone who likes run-of-the-mill action movies, because these movies are very true to there source material: the life of the legendary guerrilla revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, and as such, show the dragging reality of the long walks and waits, as well as the intense, realistic firefights and the tough moral decisions and tremendous human cost of war, justified or not.

Well, as YouTube phenomenon sXephil would say, this is all I have to say on this Thursday, August 13th 2009. Have a great week, everyone. :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Not as 'in-your-face' as you'd think.

Something I've noticed recently, at least here in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, is that technology and corporate influence don't play a comparatively big role in day to day life as it would in some places like the American east coast or even Europe.

Don't get me wrong, I love to text away most of the day on a basic LG phone... it gives me something preoccupying to do; and I love listening to music on my Apple iPod Touch; I don't think I could survive an entire family trip without it, especially with my tendency to let things I thought I'd dropped long ago to promiscuously return to my mind.

I don't know what it is; maybe it's the lack of Sears billboards when your driving along a highway on Vancouver Island, or the lack of advertisement leading up to the sudden appearance of a suburban strip mall, but not alot aside from the coastal mountain range in the distance really catches my eye. Maybe I've numbed myself to advertisement and as such tend not to notice it, but either way it doesn't seem like the iron fisticuffs of the corporate world have done much to beat this part of the world into the shape of their liking.

There are a few different things that may contribute to this: one, the population in this part of the world seems to be much more aware of what super and/or artificial things suddenly appear in their world due to the abundance of unprohibited nature that surrounds them on a daily basis; two, the municipal governments in this area of the world are indifferent to corporate influence, but keep it to quite a minimum due to the latter reason; and three, global warming has been heavily related to the wrongdoings of corporations, strengthening the previous two reasons to quite a degree in the minds of British Columbians and creating a seemingly unbreakable stigma which is quite hostile to both urban and corporate expansion.
For example: the city of Vancouver, as commercialised as it is, enjoys its view of the seemingly endless mountain ranges to the north, east, and south, as well as its view of the shimmering Strait of Georgia to the west. If any of these where to be significantly transformed by the molding hands of greedy corporate CEO's, Vancouver would notice, and Vancouver would quickly take action.

Before any sort of corporate expansion can legally take place, its almost always run by the people of British Columbia prior to it actually commencing. If not, it may go unnoticed for a couple of years, but eventually there'd be uncomfortable squirming, which would eventually transform into quite a piercing scream as someone fully comprehends what's occurring.
It's happened more than once, and when it does occur, that unsolicited expansion is met in an automatically hostile context. Corporations have now learned, for the most part, and have decided it safer to simply run it past the people prior to actually carrying it out.
They're always met with a slight suspicion, but no one is outright hostile when they're notified unless they're given no choice in the matter.

That's my thoughts of the day (ok, week... I've been working on this for the past 2 or so days), and I hope I've given everyone something to think about. If I haven't, I hope I've at least stirred something up within you... something that will inspire you to look a bit deeper, and to look to a more critical extent.

Hope everyone has a great summer, or at least what's left of it.

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The world is meaningless,

there is no God or gods, there are no morals, the universe is not moving inexorably towards any higher purpose.
All meaning is man-made, so make your own, and make it well.
Do not treat life as a way to pass the time until you die.
Do not try to "find yourself", you must make yourself.
Choose what you want to find meaningful and live, create, love, hate, cry, destroy, fight and die for it.
Do not let your life and your values and your actions slip easily into any mold, other that that which you create for yourself, and say with conviction, "This is who I make myself".
Do not give in to hope.
Remember that nothing you do has any significance beyond that with which you imbue it.
Whatever you do, do it for its own sake.
When the universe looks on with indifference, laugh, and shout back, "Fuck You!".
Rembember that to fight meaninglessness is futile, but fight anyway, in spite of and because of its futility.
The world may be empty of meaning, but it is a blank canvas on which to paint meanings of your own.
Live deliberately. You are free.