The Alias:From KPK to KAT

For the Greater Good: A Short Story

This wasn't another one of those days. Not for Andrei, anyways.
Andrei was tired of life in Zanzari. He was sure life wasn't meant to be lived like it was in a place of this nature; it was of no true value. Everything and everyone were expendable to what the many bureaucratic 'Higher Administrations' of the Zanzari government deemed to be 'the Greater Good.'

He had been planning something beyond the scope of any originality he had ever seen come forth from the sprawling, conformed megalopolis. He was not only going to escape; he was going to show Zanzari what this freedom was, and what this freedom meant to the uncolored, unforgiving, irreversibly single-minded hordes who systematically roamed the streets of Zanzari in the early morning hours, every single day of the week. There was no such thing as life. There was only existence.

He had been working on something in secret for several years; something that had come to mind through the nature of his job as a member of an elite research team.
For 25 years, Andrei had been the lead researcher in the Z.R.P.S.E.* Project, and as such, had gained knowledge beyond any to which was obtainable by any other citizen. Through such thought process, he had realized, this was not what humanity really was, or what it had used to be.
The checks-and-balances placed upon others thought-processes to whom were below him, such as the PI*, SMP*, and BA* techniques, did not apply to him as an Elite, as he was, as the Office of Internal Affairs had coined, a 'harvester.'
Through this granted lenience, Andrei had also become avidly interested in creative drawing, as well as painting, being one of the few granted the right to sketch due to the necessity of drawing for the purpose of research. To paint, he used only black and blue, which were the only permitted colors for industrial paints, traditionally used to give coating to ships of the Zanzari 'Upper Defense Forces.' Exactly what they were defending the city from had always been beyond him.

Andrei was only a couple of days away from completing his very own ship; the first to ever be powered by quantum fission, a discovery he had made 2 years ago, yet had kept it from his research as to apply it to his own interpretation of 'the Greater Good.' It was a rusty scrap in looks compared to the ships of the Zanzari Military, but it was faster and much more maneuverable. He was aware of the effective weapons on the Zanzari ships, but was short of any way to build weapons of such efficiency. As such, he had built a concussive atomic bomb as his one and only line of defense, to which would be released from the reverse-side of his ship if need-be.
The bomb itself was designed to go-off a minute and a half after being released, with a trigger being pulled as it detached itself from between the ships two large, cylindrical, and open-engined quantum-drive motors. With such an added dimension, there was a 50/50 chance that one of the quantum-drives would be torn off from the cockpit during the bombs detachment, which would inevitably lead to the ship spinning out of control, and in all likelihood ending Andrei's journey within moments of the bombs detonation. Andrei, aware of this risk, thought it better to die in such a manner than continue as a tool to the Higher Administration's Greater Good.
This, however, was not the only dimension of his plan.
In the same manner as he had snuck the materials to build his ship, as well as his bomb, he had also snuck just over a thousand sheets of blank-paper and industrial paint, and had been working on a large panoramic painting which he had been piecing together along the length of the apartment block in which he lived; placing then in-order against not only his walls, but the walls of the entire skyscraper over the course of the past seven years.
When he was instead meant to be sleeping, Andrei would simply knock on the doors of 2 places of residence each night, being permitted automatic and unquestioned entry by those inside due to his status as an Elite, and placing each piece of his large painting face-down on the windowless brick-walls in order of the coded-numbering he had placed on the back of each piece of paper, gluing each together from behind using an industrial adhesive. He was completely aware of the different appearance each rooms wall would take on following the completion of each night's work, and that this would be noticed by the Officers of the Peace doing their daily rounds while each citizen was off at their specified locales of labor, but Andrei was a step ahead of them when he over-rided their authority with a secret symbol of the Elite which he would enigmatically place on the back of every piece of paper at the center of the wall, aware that the symbol would automatically trigger the Officer's to disregard such an obvious difference, due to a enzyme that was part of a mind-controlling drug that each Officer was instructed to consume with their morning meal. Due to the blind-nature of the drug, Andrei was one of the few who knew that such symbolism triggered such a psychological response in the absent-minds of the Peace Officers. As such, his work would never be touched, nor discovered by those who may take concern, as no one of any right-minded authority ever entered civilian housing, but instead left it to their absent-minded drones.

It was their loss.

After a night of sleepless final preparations, Andrei did one final inspection to make sure everything on the ship was in the right shape and ready for launch within the next 4 hours, when he would take-off at precisely 5:45 AM, when the citizens of Zanzari were just on their way to work. Double-checking the shatter-explosives placed on the brick-wall he was going to launch through, as to make sure his launch would not be interrupted by damage caused when exiting the building, nor that his launch would endanger the structural integrity of the apartment block, for the sake of its residents, as well as the painting he was going to reveal using the same such shatter-explosives, Andrei finally sat down, and simply waited.

It was 5:30 AM when Andrei finally climbed into the ships cockpit and began the launch-procedures; this time being the first and only time he had ever done so outside of the theory which he would recite in his head, night after night. Flipping the quantum pre-drive designation switch, he felt the ship begin to vibrate as a blue flame ignited from the rear of the quantum-drivers. He knew he would be garnering the attention of others in the building now, as the vibrations grew stronger and much more prominent; so strong and prominent, in fact, that Andrei only noticed the smashing at his door just in time to draw his hand away from the ships controls and turn his palm towards the heavily-armed Peace Officers who had just forcefully entered his home, flashing the palm-tattoo of the secret Elite symbol at the Officers, causing them to stop dead in their tracks, relaxing their hold on their weapons as they simply gawked in brainwashed ignorance.

Finally, the final phase of lift-off was set in motion when Andrei hit the final switch, which sent an electromagnetic wave forward to detonate the shatter-explosives just in-time for the brick wall to fall to pieces and grant Andrei and his ship free-passage.
Andrei felt the force of the take-off push him backwards towards his seat as he maneuvered slightly upwards, looking down in awe at the Zanzari skyline in the light of early morning, and watching the people down below move like ants from building to building, street to street.
Flipping another switch, he sent another electromagnetic pulse through the air, and listened as the walls of his former apartment block shattered to reveal his grand work of art in its entirety.
Maneuvering to the left only slightly, Andrei marveled, for the first and only time, at his one and only triumph, which showcased the silhouettes of a large crowd of people following close behind the silhouettes of several slightly larger people, each holding a sheet of white into the air with a letter on it, coming together to spell the word: "Freedom." It was the first time Andrei had ever smiled, as well as the first time he had ever cried. Glancing downwards, towards the street, Andrei watched as those distant ants all became still, and watched as they turned to face his work of art. What they were thinking, he couldn't tell, and would probably never know. At this point in time, with a grin reaching from ear to ear, he maneuvered upwards, towards the sky, pushing forward on his joystick and increasing his speed. He didn't know exactly where he was going; he had never thought that part of his plan through. In all honesty, this plan had never been designed with him in mind. Before he could finish that thought, he heard the wine of something, persuing him from behind, and, before he knew exactly what was happening, there were plasma-bolts flashing past his ship, one making contact with the rear of his cockpit as he began his evasive maneuvers. Twisting the ship in every direction possible, Andrei finally peaked behind him and saw what looked like an armada of military fighters not very far behind him, and to add to this dilemma, he took prominent notice of a Zanzari capital ship in the background of the shroud created by his many pursuers. The capital ship was large enough from this distance to block out most of the city, and Andrei knew exactly what he needed to do.

After taking a couple more hits from plasma-bolts, he daringly flipped the only switch left untouched, and heard the hiss of the detachment tubes as they unhitched themselves from the rear of the nuclear bomb. Attempting to keep the ship under control, Andrei felt the blood rush to his head as his whole world turned upside down in response to the bombs pull as it tore away from the ship; he was ready for anything that could possibly happen at this point.
Finally, realizing the pull was no longer in effect, Andrei maneuvered the ship out of its short free-fall and quickly pushed the quantum engines into overdrive in the direction of where he had been told outer-space was located.
In his mind, he did a mental countdown to when he expected the bomb to detonate if all went as according to plan. All of a sudden, he noticed the sky was not only getting closer, but the clouds were becoming less and less realistic and more pixelated. Confused, Andrei considered turning back but realized that was now impossible, and continued on his crash course into.. whatever it was he was looking at.
With ten seconds on the clock, Andrei knew he was on the border of life-and-death. He had no idea what was about to occur.
Five seconds on the clock, and Andrei closed his eyes as what now seemed more like a very large computer screen came closer and closer, as if what he thought had been life was about to kill him. Two seconds and-
He looked behind him and saw the epicenter of the explosion first crush in upon itself, pulling hundreds of the closest fighters inwards, immediately decimating their numbers, and then-
Andrei felt his ship boost forwards through the sheer force of the explosion behind him as the epicenter spread outwards in an incredible force of energy, destroying every ship in orbit just above the streets of Zanzari, and immediately tearing the capital ship into bits of molten iron.

Out of what seemed like nowhere, the pixelated clouds disappeared entirely, revealing instead specs of light in the distance; stars, he assumed. He had learned about them during his training as an Elite... but the Administration had told them all they were simply a myth created by the civilization of liars and bigots whom preceded the Zanzari utopia. Andrei didn't know exactly what to think at this point in time as he finally entered the domain of outer space.

All of a sudden, Andrei was gasping for breath, and just as more and more stars became entirely visible in the backdrop of this newly discovered empty void, he took his final breath, and realized Zanzari had lied to everyone; even the so-called Elites.

He hadn't been aware that their was no oxygen in space.

Inexplicably, he smiled once again from cheek to cheek as he felt the veins all across his body begin to swell-up; in his last thirty-seconds alive, Andrei opened the cockpit, undoing his safety-belt and simply let himself float forwards into the never-ending.

He watched as the stars faded; or, perhaps, as he faded, from what truly is.

He simply let infinity take him. It was never the end.

*Z.R.P.S.E.: Zanzari Rocket Propulsion and Spacial Exploitation Project
*PI: Partial Information Technique
*SMP: Selective Memory Prevention Technique
*BA: Brain Alteration Technique

As If To Move Forward

Oh, Sister Abbot,
How I disagree;
Your thoughts of the omnipresent,
No, they're not for me.

But the peace that you sponsor,
Through word of mouth as cause,
Please know that you are human,
And your kind have broke the laws.

If thou shalt never kill a man,
Then why have we stolen Afghanistan,
From others who believe the same,
Simply in a different frame?

If thou shalt never kill ones spirit,
Then why do we look to others,
And fear it?

It's not the same as ours and so,
Their kind, how violent!
They must go.

This has been said so many times,
Through song and lyric, rhythm, rhyme,
Yet all we ever do is nod,
Say, "Yes, how right! Our kind must drop the rod;"
Yet we sit back, watch the news and say,
"Finally, it's the wrongdoers day!
Our men will take them down, you see,
At the expense of privacy,
But that, it's nothing to this cause,
We will return that countries law's;
Shape them just as we see fit,
No longer will we take their shit."

I guess at some point you looked around,
Sighed, and frowned a hefty frown,
Said, "Son, you want to be a man?
Why don't you check Iraq,
Or yes, Afghanistan?"

Someday, your son will look at you,
His eyes so deep, so dark, so blue,
And say, "We made this mistake once,
We don't deserve a second chance."

"Your arrogance has blinded you,
To what is really strong and true,
And father, please, open your eyes!
When this happens, someone out there dies!"

"You take the life of someone whom,
Has a life, a friend, a room,
They joke and laugh,
Sweep dirt with broom,
Just like you and I both do."

"It's time, for once,
To lay down arms,
Instead use laughter,
And our charms,
To fix mankind and all its flaws,
Rescue it from evils jaws,
And start thinking of more human laws."

"I really think, it's time to pause."

The Wonders of Eternal Infinity.

To say the least, we are incredibly tiny in this universe. We are, as illustrated in the above presentation, but specs of sand on a larger spec of sand, and the sheer size of the universe in its entirety is almost enough for me to contemplate the idea that humanity is almost entirely meaningless, and with ample cause.
These words would seem hollow and empty of any literal realism if it weren't for my posting of the above video, I myself being aware of the generalized workings of the human mind, especially when it comes to the attempt to perceive things as large and incredibly infinite as the existence in which we, well, exist, which I'll admit, deep thought on the subject has kept me up and night, and sometimes I have even found myself fearful of this endless infinity, almost coming to a point of understanding with people who are automatic to believe in a God, which by default gives them a sense of reason for their being, which on occasion I find myself questioning in regards to my being, which, once again, can frighten me on occasion when I realize that, even if I am remembered by generations of human minds to come (a big 'if,' just for those who might take that as an ego-maniacal remark, when in fact I'm simply using it to measure scale), the universe, not to mention the galaxy and our solar system, will see absolutely no significance in what I have done, what I am doing, and what I will do over the duration of my time on this planet of ours, and that goes for anyone and everyone that has existed, does exist, and will exist, no matter how big or small they did, do, or will perceive themselves to be. Here's the ugly truth everyone: you are nothing to the bigger picture. You may be something to the Earth, but in all truthfulness, the Earth is nothing to the entire universe; infinity could care less whether Earth or any other life exists/existed.

Your existence is biological. Whether there is an everlasting soul or the likes is not mine to say, because I truly don't know... but if there is an everlasting soul, it exists within every living thing in infinities entirety; it wouldn't apply only to humans, as some religions would like us to believe.
There is no real reason to fear death, despite the fact that all of us are likely to at some point in our lives, as death is exactly what it was like before you were born, and I doubt anyone suffered any inconvenience from that.

In all honesty, what makes up our physical being will exist forever in different forms. For example: say that when you die, your remains are buried in a cemetery under six feet of dirt. Eventually, those remains will decompose, with everything but your bones dispersing into the earth (usually prior to the coffin, in which the decomposition of the muscle and tissue being degraded to the extent that they are able to slip through the wood of the coffin).
After many more years (which can be thousands upon thousands of years, depending), the bones will eventually decompose as well, or break up and disperse.
If you haven't yet heard, there will come a time when life on Earth will end, due to complications presented by the sun (but don't worry, this won't be for another few billion years from now, as scientific estimates tell us), and eventually, the Earth will be swallowed-up by a sun in its final catastrophic breaths of existence, to be lost forever as dust, dirt, and rocks condemned to eternally float throughout the empty, infinite void of outer space.
As such, what's physically left of what you were once made out of will be a part of this dispersing dust of what was once the home of humankind, as well as all known life in our solar system.
This ultimate reality goes for the physical remains of every living thing on this planet, not just humans, for those of you who may have gotten stuck in the frame of thought pertaining to only humanity. It's really something to think about... The irrefutable truth that, technically, what we once used to roam this planet will exist forever in one way, shape, or form. Whether a soul truly leaves our body to enter another, or enter a realm of eternity, is an entirely different discussion within itself, and I don't claim to know whether the soul is real or not. It's not mine to say.

I, just as you and everyone else, will discover the truth someday.

Alone, but not lonely.

Well I'm willing to admit it, I guess, and it's not necessarily a bad thing by any means: right now, at this point in my life, I'm somewhat of a loner.
That's not to say that I've always been like this, or that I'll always be like this.. and that's certainly not to say I'm the stereotypical sort of loner, I'm just one of those people who doesn't seem to take alot of effort in trying to constantly spend time with people.
Once again, that's not to say I don't spend time with people, because I do... but it's usually just a select couple of people that I really do hang out with on a regular basis, with that regular basis being maybe once or twice a week for, at most, 5 or 6 hours each time, sometimes more or less, depending on what the other person may wish or need to do.

There was a time in my life when I was, for a couple of years, almost entirely a loner. I was shy, didn't talk much in class, and paced back and forth across the schools field, usually daydreaming about different things. At first, they thought it might be some sort of mental issue, and thinking back, it does make sense considering my behavior. After chatting with me and seeing I was just as uniquely normal as anyone else, and was by no means truly anti-social, they stopped worrying about it. Back then I wasn't lonely very often, despite being alone; and in this day and age, I am alone much more than my recent, quite social past would have suggested; and once again, I'm not usually lonely, although I will admit that if I don't get out at least once a week, I start feeling slightly lonely and find myself wishing I had more friends to spend time with, only to come to the inevitable conclusion that I have many friends, I just don't often seek to spend time with them, but that the opportunity is open any time I would like, I just don't seem to take it as much as my subconscious would probably like me to. Why I don't, exactly, isn't entirely clear to me.

I am, by no means, anti-social in any respect; I'm incredibly social, although if I'm practically non-stop social for roughly a week and a half, I find that I can get socially exhausted and become partial in my responses to others. Like Kid Cudi said "I stay home alot, no TV, just my thoughts (and a heap of good weed)," minus that last part in brackets. (That's not to say that I have any objection to weed... it's just that I don't really seek it out; but I will, and have, smoked it when/if given the opportunity).
I'm more of the kind of person who values both alone time, as well as time with friends and/or family equally, and no, I'm not afraid to admit it like some would, usually fearing the negative opinion of others. Why they would care is truly beyond me.

When I am alone, I do, I guess, literally sit on my ass... but I'm not being unproductive.
My alone time is when I write my poems/songs, as well as stories, and blog posts such as this one; it's also the time when I practice my songs, or adapt my poems into songs, or record my songs to post on the net, etc. I also use this time to do research on different things that interest me, which ranges from different historical occurrences, to human psychology, to existentialist philosophy.

So, in a nutshell, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not afraid to be alone. The only possible way I would be afraid, is if I was condemned to be alone for the rest of my life, which I'm 100% sure will never happen unless everyone on this planet is wiped out, except for me.
Even then, there would.. probably.. be cats or dogs to keep me company... just like Will Smith in I Am Legend! So, it's really nothing anyone should worry about.

The Root of All Evil

Is, as is typical, seen to be money by the wide majority; and all I can honestly say in response to such an allegation is: no, it's not. People like you and I are.
It's a strange statement to make, when one decides that it was instead the fault of money that forced them to steal from others retirement funds, or that it is the fault of money that they were forced to rob a corner store to feed their family, taking the life of a counter-clerk in the process.
No, it's not the fault of money by any means; it's the fault of the thief, for deciding to recognize that money has a value; and it is the fault of society at large for forcing this thief into accepting such symbolism, and thus, as a member of that larger society, it is the fault of both you and I that this man robbed this particular corner store, and it is the fault of you and I that this counter-clerks family will never again have the ability to interact with their deceased kin.
How is it my fault? How is it yours? Because, just like you, I have also bought into the popular belief that this paper has a value. Not necessarily because I would like it to have a value, but because the foundations for such symbolism were laid long before I was born, and as such, had time to sink into the greater human consciousness long before you or I were able to mutter a word of opposition, let alone do anything else on this planet of ours.

No, I'm not a radical here to endorse radical action on your part regarding the use of human currency; I'm instead a 16 year old boy who didn't even try to pass his Spanish class in the previous semester, and did little in regards to trying when it came to mathematics, and in all likelihood barely scraped by. Why did I tell you this? Because, if your one to judge a person based on academic accomplishment, I'm giving you the chance to leave now.
I'm instead a 16 year old boy, who would like to instill within you, thoughts on the subject at hand, and I would like to ask you: why do you decide to place value in money? Is it because the majority, to whom you see as impossible to change, accept money's value, and as such, you perceive that if you are going to survive in the world of today, you need to accept this symbolism as truth? Or is it because you believe in the fundamentals of global economics in which labor is rewarded?
I, personally, accept the idea of currency due to the latter question, not the former, because if the choice was all mine to make and their was no serious ramification of any sort as such, I would choose to abolish money, as it is the destination of dead morals, personal gain, and, above all else, evil. But it's not as simple as I would like it to be, which forces me to come to the obvious conclusion, that in it's raw state under raw intentions, money is a social requirement; but like many other features of today's society, it is something that has been taken advantage of, and something that is in dire need of serious change.

Also consider the fact that, regardless of social necessity, money is slave labor, as what is made is always spent at some point or another, leading me to ask the question: is society not a circle of slave-labor? A denial of freedom?

Globality: A Global Reality.

There are people in this world that suffer unimaginable loss.

There are people in this world that suffer unimaginable pain.

There are people in this world that die under unimaginable circumstances.

There are people in this world that really do care,
And there are people in this world that really don't.

There are people in this world that look beneath the surface,
For hidden meaning that, under all imaginable circumstance,
They truly believe is there.

There are people in this world that sit on a computer until four in the morning.

There are people in this world that are, at this moment, fast asleep.

There are people in this world, that don't sleep at all.

There are people in this world that kill for the fun of it.

There are people in this world that kill due to perceived necessity.

There are people in this world who refuse to kill, regardless of circumstance.

There are people in this world that really do want to know how your day was,
And there are people in this world that would truly love to come home to you everyday,
And there are people in this world who do love you,
And others who will love you someday.

There are people in this world that do dislike you,
And there are people in this world that will dislike you.

There are people in this world who truly are assholes,
And who are much happier making you hurt.

There are people in this world that will never abandon you,
And there are people in this world who would abandon you at the next possible opportunity.

Never give in to loneliness.
Never give into hope.
Learn to listen and learn from cliches, as cliche as they might be.

And never, ever forget, that there are people in this world.

You're only lonely, if you choose to be.

An Anti-Anti-Gay Marriage Argument

Well, alright, I assume it's more of a counterargument. Call it what you will, I could really care less.
Anyways, I would like to write to you, oh humble individual to whom has taken the sweet time to read this (thank you for the support), a few arguments from www.nogaymarriage.com and counter them, on the spot, to the best of my ability. I hope you enjoy.

"The implications for children in a world of decaying families are profound. A recent article in the Weekly Standard described how the advent of legally sanctioned gay unions in Scandinavian countries has already destroyed the institution of marriage, where half of today's children are born out of wedlock."
First of all, I'd like to state how marriage is an institution created by humans. Yes, initially to ensure the continuation of the human race, as to guarantee the existence of a future generation, and to promote family values and bondage, but in this day and age, it's moved passed that whole 'human guarantee' to a point where it's obvious enough that, married or not, humans are going to breed with each other. The human race is going nowhere for a very, very long time, so the right-wingers and conservative Christians should really have no worries in any regard save maybe their precious Jesus apparently stating that being gay is bad somewhere in the Bible (which, by the way, I'd like pointed out to me, because although I haven't looked, I believe that, during the days of underlying white-supremacy in the South, plenty of Southerners stated that the Bible said blacks were bad, or at the least inferior; and as far as I know, nowhere in the Bible does it say anything of such nature, leading me to discredit the existence of such an anti-gay statement anywhere throughout the Christian Holy Book).
Humanity has gone far past a point in our population figures that we need any surefire guarantee to keep our species alive, and, as I said prior, married or not, people are going to have sex, and they are going to have children. So, yes God, that ones covered. Our existence is all fine and dandy, so there's really nothing to worry about.
As for the 'family values,' the only family values that are dying are the family values which tied a woman to the home all day, while the man went out and ensured the family had enough income to survive off of. Gay people would like to be able to adopt children too, if you right-wingers weren't listening; so it's not like children are at a lack for love.
"the Weekly Standard described how the advent of legally sanctioned gay unions in Scandinavian countries has already destroyed the institution of marriage, where half of today's children are born out of wedlock"-- wait a second. Say that again? 'where half of today's children are born out of wedlock,' only half? So, it's not like you can be arguing that, somehow, gays are able to produce offspring, let alone when they're not yet married, because that's, well, impossible. That brings me to the only logical conclusion, that the other 50% are born to unmarried straight couples. Hm. Well, that hardly seems as if it's the gays destroying your 'institution of marriage,' so much as it is your straights who don't seem to want to be wed. I don't understand what the gays have to do with this argument at all, actually.

"It is predicted now, based on demographic trends in this country, that more than half of the babies born in the 1990s will spend at least part of their childhood in single-parent homes."
Yea, that doesn't sound to me like it's the gays fault. I'd talk to the straighties before I started pinning it on the homos, if I were you.

"Social scientists have been surprisingly consistent in warning against this fractured family. If it continues, almost every child will have several "moms" and "dads," perhaps six or eight "grandparents," and dozens of half-siblings. It will be a world where little boys and girls are shuffled from pillar to post in an ever-changing pattern of living arrangements-where huge numbers of them will be raised in foster-care homes or living on the street (as millions do in other countries all over the world today). Imagine an environment where nothing is stable and where people think primarily about themselves and their own self-preservation."
Once again, that would be the fault of the straight couples refusing to get married, or at the least, refusing to follow the whole 'until death do us part' section of the life-long agreement; and once again, this has nothing to do with the gays. It has more to do with a changing global society.
"where huge numbers of them will be raised in foster-care homes or living on the street (as millions do in other countries all over the world today)." Ok, last time I checked, the reason people are on the streets, and/or in foster homes worldwide, once again, has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GAYS. Unless you are somehow stating that the gays are at fault for the Somalian governments lack of public funding, or that they're somehow at fault for the perpetual state of war suffered throughout the Congo, or for that matter, the earthquake in Haiti; and also, last time I checked, as far as I'm aware, none of the above listed countries support gay marriage, or even gay relationships in general, so if they were working on anyone's side, it would be on the side of the right-wingers. Once again, you can hardly blame that on the gays, as they'd like it to be the other way around.

"The apostle Paul described a similar society in Romans 1, which addressed the epidemic of homosexuality that was rampant in the ancient world and especially in Rome at that time. He wrote, "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (v. 29-31, NIV)."
Well, despite all of Rome's apparent 'checks-and-balances' against their 'gay menace,' the Roman Empire still fell; and I don't recall the history books telling me that it was some gay rebellion that caused it. I believe it was a successive series of barbarian invasions from practically every angle imaginable that led to the Empires fall. So, once again, I don't see why you would blame it on the gays.
Oh! Right, did I forget? How silly of me! He's an apostle! Obviously a voice to be heard! A voice of notoriety!
Honestly. The only thing a guy like him has to do to become any sort of credible voice to the religious right, is to make a stupid statement like that. He doesn't need a set of credible prerequisites, because that's what the religious right does. After years of unsuccessfully making it's argument against the gays, an authority-figure amongst their ranks stands up and says this sort of thing to a crowd, and the right is quick to turn on its heel to face the indifferents and left-wingers of the world and say, "Yeah, what he said."

"It appears likely now that the demise of families will accelerate this type of decline dramatically, resulting in a chaotic culture that will be devastating to children."

Yeah, ok, whatever.

Mind Over Matter: A Short Story

To say the least, Harold lived in a strange world. A backwards world.
He had no real words to describe it, as it was, in all honesty, indescribable.
It was a world of fear, hate, backstabbing, lying, and just all-around human evil, but Harold couldn't tell. He had lived with this all his life; as far as he was concerned, this was the way the world was meant to be.

For a majority of a given year, men and women alike wake up at precisely 5 AM, jump into a shower, throw on a clean set of clothes, and exit there humble yet no-so private abodes and head to their locales of profession, as to spend 9 hours working as thoroughly as they can on a weekly project assigned to them by a Sector Administrator. They are not paid for their labor; at least, not in the traditional sense, no. Instead, as citizens of Zanzari, they work for the right to live in the homes provided to them by the grand and noble Zanzari Administrative Office of Internal Affairs.
In the event that they are unable to keep up with the assigned projects, they are given only a single chance to bring themselves back up to par, or the 'working standards' as defined by the Zanzari Labor Command, Sector 1 of 3, all three of which are branches of the higher commanding authority of the Zanzari Administrative Office of Internal Affairs, which unto itself is overshadowed by several other Administrative Offices, which are in-turn overshadowed by hundreds of smaller offices, and so on until finally it reaches the Zanzari Grand Council of Supreme Administrative Authority, with a figurehead Council Commander-in-Chief elected biannually, will arrest them and send them to a fate which is feared above all else, known as the Zanzari Assessments.

Harold, just as every other Zanzari, had learned the intricate details of the inner workings of the Zanzari Governmental Body during his senior Grade Academy years, also in which his life-long profession was judged, as per usual, by the Academy President, to be a 'Governmental Document Verificationist.' Not quite as exciting as it sounds, Harold notes as he recalls in his mind the many hours of his life spent virtua-stamping seemingly endless and unnecessary government 'Verification Documents,' in which Harold is instructed whether or not to stamp Permitted or Denied on the requested menial action, of which includes things such as permission to leave a Citizen's Abode past labor hours to take a stroll, most of which are stamped in bright-red letters: Denied across the diagonal length of the page.

It wasn't until one day, quite a dreary day as Harold remembers it, that Harold became wordlessly tired of his job, and simply got up and walked out. Observing his actions, several others followed suite, until finally, by the time Harold had reached the elevator, he had gained a total of 23 followers, all of whom hadn't said a single word to each other.

As they stepped out of the elevator and onto the crowded street, several Peace Officers carrying heavy chain-loaded fully-automatic weapons stalled the entourage in its tracks.
"Halt, citizen!" The lead man boasts.
Harold does so, his eyes level with the leading Peace Officer, creased in a sense of bewildered and angry, yet curious authority.
"You have left your Administrated Locale of Labor 4 hours prior to the permitted time. Explain, or we will open fire."

Harold reached down and grabbed his left wrist in his right hand, and said, "I can feel a pulse."
The leading officers look transforms only slightly, to a look of angry confusion. After only a split-second pause, he lifts his hand into the air, the fully-automatic weapons of his comrades following, almost magnetically, to point directly at Harold and his entourage.

"Every night I would feel my wrist, to check for a pulse." Harold said.

"Every night, I would make sure I was still alive."
The leading Peace Officer simply remained as he was, listening indifferently.

"My wrist told me I was alive. But I didn't feel alive. I have never felt alive."

"Ready, arms!" The Peace Officer cries. The men behind him each cock-back their trigger springs simultaneously.

"Today, I realized my life isn't truly living. Today, I realized I was nothing more than worthless and replaceable."

"Your sentiment is corrupting, citizen." The Peace Officer said, in what was almost a whisper.

"Oblige me." Harold replied.

The Facebook Analysis

I've been meaning to create an essay of this nature, regarding Facebook, for quite a long time.
Finally, with a sick-day, I have the time, energy, and conviction to do so... and some of the ugly truths I've discovered about the creation of Facebook are quite shocking, albeit unhidden.
The facts I'm about to present and analyze have never been hidden from the general public, but I assume most that waste away plenty of time on Facebook, never really take the time to look; therefore, lets hope you at least give this article a quick boo.

PART 1: THE UGLY BEGINNING
And that's to say the least. For whatever it may be used for now, whether it's used for good or bad, you have to know something: Facebook is an ugly product of the spite and anger of creator Mark Zuckerberg following a sudden break-up. Regardless of his his true intentions later in Facebook's evolution, the original, known as Facemash, was a direct breach of personal privacy and a shallow attempt at comparing peoples physical features with, you guessed it, barn animals.
A short time after the break-up, Mark posted this to Facemash, which showcased his anger and shock at the events which transpired, and is probably used as justification for what he did that night from his Harvard dorm-room:

"I'm a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it's not even 10 p.m. and it's a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland [dorm] facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive." —9:48 pm

Obviously, this really conveys the bitterness that was most likely to be pulsing through his (possibly temporarily) arrogant head. Instead of venting it somewhere it belonged, he instead vented it to his 'Facemash,' a trend that is still observed today by disgruntled individuals via modern Facebook. Well, that definitely goes to show: it wasn't created as a simple social networking website; no, from the very get-go it was a spreader of drama and hurt-feelings.
As was stated in the previous quote, "I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive," using his computer-savvy skills, he actually created it, and was quite (arrogantly) happy with the results:

"Yea, it's on. I'm not exactly sure how the farm animals are going to fit into this whole thing (you can't really ever be sure with farm animals...), but I like the idea of comparing two people together." —11:09 pm

This quote really conveys the shallowness in which Facebook still basks in to this day. Although much more complex now than it was in its 'humble' beginnings, it all really comes down to one thing: social boundaries. Whether these boundaries are cultural, related to popularity, or both, it seems Facebook was created in emphasis of physical attractiveness over anything else, and may be responsible for the social boundaries created outside of cyberspace, leaving nothing to the imagination in terms of a persons personality which is skewered all across Facebook's section of the internet world, and in some sense really molds how an individual will be met by other peers.

According to the Harvard Crimson, Facemash "used photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine [Harvard] Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the 'hotter' person." To rewind just a little, let me explain exactly what a 'facebook' was back in 2003: It was a reference book or electronic directory made up of individuals’ photographs and names; A college publication distributed at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students get to know each other better.
So, despite the shallowness in which Mark Zuckerberg's rendition of a global facebook came to be, it seems that when you replace 'Facemash' with 'Facebook,' it does indeed have a humbler, much more innocent beginning, with golden intentions as opposed to deciding which of two people are more physically attractive. Regardless, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook origins still stand, and will remain the ugly truth. The original 'facebook's' are better to be considered where the modern name is derived from, as opposed to the websites actual origins and/or intentions.

To accomplish the creation of his 'who's hotter' application, Mark hacked into the protected areas of Harvard's computer network, and copied the houses' private ID images. Now that's just cold, Mark.
To continue his seemingly endless streak of uncontrollable cold arrogance, Zuckerberg wrote on his personal blog: "Perhaps Harvard will squelch it for legal reasons without realizing its value as a venture that could possibly be expanded to other schools (maybe even ones with good-looking people...), But one thing is certain, and it’s that I’m a jerk for making this site. Oh well. Someone had to do it eventually..."
Well, what do I do now, Mark? Do I give you the benefit of the doubt because you at least (partially) acknowledged your arrogant assholery? Do I justify what you did by stating, 'leave the poor guy alone, he's only doing all of this out of anger because his bitch of an ex-girlfriend couldn't find it in her heart to stay with him'? No. Because I think I can see why she broke up with you in the first place; I can certainly see why if this kind of attitude is simply part of your personality, as opposed to an angry side-effect created by an undesirable situation.

The website was forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but soon after, just as Zuckerberg had correctly predicted, it was shut down by the Harvard administration, and Mark was charged with breach of security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy, and he now faced expulsion from the university. Despite all this, the charges were ultimately dropped.

Quickly following the Facemash incident, Mark quickly changed his aims, and during the same semester he created a social study tool for an art history final exam, uploading 500 Augustan images to a website with one image per page, and a comment section below. He opened this website up to his fellow classmates, and people began sharing their notes on the subject.
In an interview with technology news-network TechCrunch, Zuckerberg stated: "The professor said it had the best grades of any final he’d ever given. This was my first social hack. With Facebook, I wanted to make something that would make Harvard more open."
Touche, Mr. Zuckerberg. Either you've had a serious change in personality, or your just in a better mood.

PART 2: 'THEFACEBOOK'
The following semester, after managing to avoid expulsion from Harvard, Mark began writing code for a brand new website in January 2004, stating that he was inspired by the editorial in the Harvard Crimson regarding the whole Facemash incident.
"It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available," the Crimson observed. "The benefits are many."

On February 4th, 2004, Zuckerberg launched 'Thefacebook,' which was originally located at www.thefacebook.com.
"Everyone’s been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard," Zuckerberg told the Harvard Crimson. "I think it’s kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week."
His roommate at the time, Dustin Moskovitz, who was present at the time of Thefacebook's creation, stated: "When Mark finished the site, he told a couple of friends. And then one of them suggested putting it on the Kirkland House online mailing list, which was, like, three hundred people, and, once they did that, several dozen people joined, and then they were telling people at the other houses. By the end of the night, we were, like, actively watching the registration process. Within twenty-four hours, we had somewhere between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred registrants." As we can see, Zuckerberg's soon-to-be drama machine was spreading in popularity, but at this time with better reason than Zuckerberg had intended a semester ago from inside his lonely dorm-room. At this time, it was used only to get to know people better.
Initially, membership was restricted to Harvard students, and by the end of the first month, more than half of the undergraduate population at the University was registered to the service.
There was Eduardo Saverin, in charge of business aspects, Dustin Moskovitz, in charge of programming, and Andrew McCollum, in charge of graphic artistry, all of whom joined Zuckerberg in promoting the website. In March 2004, Thefacebook expanded to the Standford, Columbia, and Yale Universities, with expansion continuing when the website opened to all Ivy League and Boston area schools, and eventually most Universities in Canada and the United States. Facebook, as was obvious, was a universe of its own, destined to continually expand, as it continues to do to this day.

Facebook officially became a corporate enterprise in the summer of 2004, and entrepreneur Sean Parker, who had been informally advising Mark on different business aspects of the website, became the company's President. In June 2004, Facebook moved its headquarters to Palo Alto, California, and in 2005, it dropped The from its name after purchasing the domain name 'facebook.com' for $200,000.
After launching a high school version of Facebook in September 2005, the company not only widened member eligibility to Apple and Microsoft employees, but also to everyone ages 13 and up with a valid email address in September 2006, and announced it was opening its official international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland in October 2008.

But blah blah blah... you probably fell asleep during that whole last part, especially if your one of Facebook's many users who needs to get back and see if anyone's commented on your latest status yet, and could care less that Mr. Zuckerberg is now a very rich man because of people like you, which is why I've chosen to leave the remainder of Facebook's history out of the mix, as it's simply corporate jibberjaber; stocks being exchanged, different corporations expressing interest in investing in Zuckerberg's enterprise, etc. And I know, if your anything of a typical teenager, you really don't wanna hear it. You already did math today, and you'd rather not listen to more. I can relate, and therefore, you won't have to listen to Zuckerberg's numbers, new and old. If you happen to be someone who's abit more interested in Facebook's later history, I suggest that you check out Facebook on Wikipedia, and read from the 'Financials' section onwards.

PART 3: THE MODERN IMPLICATIONS OF FACEBOOK
To say the least, issues involving present-day Facebook are numerous; but only a slight percentage of them have been influenced and/or created by Facebook itself.
Usually pointless drama is constantly created and sustained via Facebook's cyberspace, which can lead to social ramification (ex: loss of friends, pointless fights, the subconscious drawing, or redrawing of social boundaries), and just as a friend of mine said, whether an original quote of his or not: "Facebook sells drama." And I'm sure plenty of us couldn't agree more.

Another issue involving the prominent social networking site is an obvious one: the broadcast of physical fights via cameras, camcorders, and camera phones to the entire world, which seems to scream out: "Not only is it ok to do this, it'll make you incredibly popular among your peers!" which isn't entirely true. Although it usually does increase one of the combatants popularity, it can completely discredit the other, causing them to become a social outcast as well as seriously injured in a worst-case scenario.
The very fact that most of these videos existences are sustained on Facebook shows a lack of responsibility on the part of the administrators.

To counter the latter point, I will admit that one of Facebook's definite upsides is the fact that it allows content to be shared on a wide-scale; for example, sometimes I will record myself doing either an original, or a cover song, and publish it to Facebook as to receive some feedback, or just to simply share it. In the case of my latest video, one in which I perform my latest original song, Be If This Were, I have yet to receive any feedback on the scale of my last video, which was a cover of Blink 182's I Miss You, leading me to conclude that my lyrics are only popular among a select few, which is actually alright with me. Either that, or I just wasn't singing and/or playing my best that day; I really don't know.
Facebook also allows me to broaden the horizons of my blog, in which it automatically publishes all my articles in note-format to the social networking site, allowing it to be viewed by my Facebook friends without them being required to actually go to my blog. What I'm hoping it does, however, is provide my Facebook friends with the option of reading it while they're busy on Facebook, and if they like the article, they may wish to visit my blog more often.

Facebook has also allowed me to create a fan-page of myself and my blog, in the hopes that when people become fans of either, two things will happen: one, they themselves will visit my blog more often, and two, when their Facebook contacts notice that they have become a fan of 'Kyran Paterson-King' or 'It's a Friendly Inferno!,' they will follow the link in curiosity, and will ultimately end up on my blog. A pretty lame way to advertise, I know, but it's the only advertising I can afford at this point in my life. Because it's free.

Well, I don't really wish to drag this on longer than it needs to be, or any longer then I have time for, but one last thing I'd like to point out are fan-pages: in a single day, I've seen people become fans of over 200 different pages, such as 'I can't believe Megan Fox looked like this!,' in which you must become a fan to actually see what Megan Fox looked like, and on some occasions, it won't even show you, and instead attempts to force you into doing an online survey, claiming that you will get to see the picture as soon as you're done. Really? I don't even care enough most of the time to become a fan, let alone earn the right to see the picture by wasting 20 minutes of my life doing some survey for some company I've never heard of.

Well, I may or may not update this article if I've realized I left something important out of the mix, but otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this in-depth analysis.
Have a great week, blue planet.