You can't have Liberty wihout Liberation

Liberty, a word constantly repeated by our so called “Democracy”, a government supposedly by the people. But what is really liberty, is it just a word used to manipulate the masses, or does it mean something that is supposed to be about freedom and individuality? It would seem as if the answer is both. The Wikipedia definition of liberty is the concept of ideological and political philosophy that identifies the condition to which an individual has the right to behave according to one's own personal responsibility and free will. So does America truly have liberty? How can a nation profess liberty with such little rights and such little responsibility and free will? In a sense, liberty does indeed seem to just be another word, a word thrown around by judges, politicians, and police, to give people a sense of freedom. The same sense of freedom that telling people they have “rights” and giving people the ability to vote does.

What is liberty without individuality, what is liberty without personal responsibility, what is liberty without FREE WILL? It's nonexistent. It does seem funny, that a nation that professes liberty so much has so little free will. Where does this “free will” go when rioting, journalism, political prisoners, radicalism, conspiracies, political activism, anti-authority writing, drug use, liberation groups, and anarchist/primitive societies come into play? Where is our free will, our individuality, our freedom then? Look around, and see if free will exists in America. Liberty, does however, mean something, regardless of how little liberty Americans actually have. As stated above, it means the rights of man, the individual’s ability to take care of his or her own personal responsibility, and of course, free will.

It seems as if, one would make the connection that liberty can only be achieved by the individual directly taking control of his or her own life. For doesn’t it seem quite contradictory that the state, which is meant to hold laws and authority over people, is the one preaching about liberty? How can an organization preach about liberties, which in definition means free will, also at the same time hold authority over the people that it preaches free will to? This would seem hypocritical. It is in fact the state that takes away, not grants, people's liberty.

The only way to truly obtain liberty is by the individual taking direct control over their life, and the only way for the individual to take direct control of their own life is through liberation. The dictionary definition of liberation is the act or process of trying to achieve equal rights and status. You can’t have liberty without liberation. Of course, since the one thing that is stopping individuals from practicing their liberty is the state, this would mean liberation from the state itself. Only when a person is truly free, which is the ability for that person to take direct control of his or her own life, without any interference by government, police, politician, or judge, can that person then practice liberty. Liberation can only be obtained by the people, the citizens, or an organized group working together against the elite. Liberation is the start to liberty, to freedom, to free will, to man’s ability to directly take control of his or her own life, but it has to start with a rebellion from the people, people willing to take a stand against authority, a people who truly want to be free individuals, and a people who truly want liberty. It all starts with liberation.

3 verses

Here's some inspirational nihilist poetry for you:

1:
Show your face around my hood
I'll stomp your head in with my boot
What makes you think what you've been through is any excuse for failure?
Sorry to lash out
But I've got no time for you to spread your ill ways to my tribe...
BANISHED FROM EXISTENCE!

2:
You hate yourself, you hate it all
You think that you were born to fail
Fuck that shit!
We're made of stars!
Don't let anyone beat you down
Grow endlessly
Our reality, defined by purpose
That is up to us to choose
Only from chance can we lose
Only chance...

3:
Like a hammer to my balls
the Earth, smashed the fuck up
Be it an asteroid or a nuclear Armageddon
it doesn't matter
No survivors
No trace of our existence
Only remnants of civilization
satellites and radio waves
torturing distanct civilizations with pepsi jingles and sports statistics
what a legacy

A Little Lesson in Genetics

Have you ever heard the saying that vegans and vegetarians make, “Look at what Chimpanzees eat, they only eat plants, this means humans weren’t made to eat meat!” People, this is why it’s good to have a basic understanding in genetics and evolution, and from that, you can learn a little something about one of my passions, nutrition. Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees; they are our cousins, not our ancestors. So what does this mean? This means our diet should NOT be similar to chimpanzees. However, our diet should be similar to our ancestors, in short, the people we actually evolved from.

What did our ancestors eat? They ate lots and lots of meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Certain other foods are good as well, such as olive oil, hemp oil, and fish oil. Our ancestors didn’t drink milk, and more and more modern research is showing that humans are not made to consume dairy. Other things that humans are not evolved to eat are grains, breads, starches, potatoes, or any carbohydrate/sugar source in high amounts. Mostly we should be eating things like greens when it comes to carbohydrate sources. This is called the Paleolithic Diet. This diet is specifically built around how our ancestors used to eat before modern civilization, and our genetic material is still mostly the same than even 40,000 years ago, we haven’t changed, and neither should our diets.

One of the main arguments I hear people say when trying to prove that humans are not made to eat meats is that we don’t have the digestive ability. However, all this “proves” as that they are not taking in enough fiber, which most Americans are low in. I am personally currently taking in 3 lbs of meat, 6 eggs, 12-16 ounces of greens, 4 ounces of nuts, 2 ounces of seeds, about 16 ounces of LOW GI fruit, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and 16 grams of fish oil (keep in mind that part of the reason I eat like this is because I powerlift and recently started working long hours in a metal shop). How can I digest all this food, especially with such a large amount of meat and eggs? It’s simple; I eat a lot of fiber, most of it coming from greens. There are people out there who eat a lot more meat than me, most professional bodybuilders eat around 10 lbs of meat (these are people with amazing genetic digestion ability). And although this is also largely due to genetic ability, I believe most people would have absolutely no trouble taking in 2 lbs of meat daily, but the simple fact is people have bad digestion because of their poor dieting skills. So the answer shouldn’t in turn be that we, humans, aren’t made to eat meat, but the answer is, eat more fiber. I have TWO bowel movements every day. A healthy tip for you, if you don’t have at least one bowel movement daily, you have bad digestion, plain and simple.

MEAT, it’s the staple of the human diet, EAT IT! (And by that I don’t mean burgers and hotdogs, but steak, chicken, beef, fish, turkey, ham, you know, the real stuff). Also, drink your water people, fuck soft drinks!

Blind Addiction

*I'm not straight edge, but this is how I really feel, I constantly see people using excuses for the reasons why they use drugs, rather than admitting that drug abuse is a way of covering up sadness/depression/boredom. I haven't really wrote much poetic/lyric stuff either, so who knows how good this is.*

Blind Addiction

You tell yourself it’s ok
You say you smoke weed every day
Because it’s harmless
You say you smoke tobacco
Because it relieves stress
You drink on the weekends
With the excuse that
You hang out with friends
You drink coffee in the morning
Because you can’t sleep at night
Stop lying to yourself
You know it’s just a crutch
You use these drugs
Because you can’t fucking deal with life
Going through day to day
Because you can’t handle the pain
Your life sucks

Random Stand Up Material I'm Working On

*I don't know why the bottom ones are in black lettering, but I can't seem to change the print color, sorry*

Cartoons and Immortality

I think I’ve figured out how to live forever. Everyone knows Mickey Mouse right? Well Mickey Mouse was made in what, the 1920s? I bet you the people who created Mickey Mouse are dead now. Hell, maybe even their kids are dead. And now 90 years later you and I still know who Mickey Mouse is, but we don’t know nor do we give a shit who created Mickey Mouse. One day you and I will be dead, and our kids will know who Mickey Mouse is, and one day our kids will be dead too. One hundred years from now everyone will remember Mickey Mouse but no one is going to remember or care about you, your kids, or your grand children, but they sure will remember who Mickey Mouse. That’s why I’m creating a cartoon character of myself, that way everyone will always remember and love me, but they won’t give a shit about you.

God is using you

You know how Christians always use someone who used to be a drug addict, and is now a saved ex-drug addict who gives other Christians or unsaved people advice about drug problems, as an example of being someone who is somehow being used by God as some sort of prophet to help others? Well what about those people that never get saved? What about people that never get off drugs? What about those people that die sinners and burn in hell? What about those people that die drug addicts? What about those people that die unsaved sinner drug addicts who burn in hell? I guess God just doesn’t care about everyone equally, OR maybe it’s just that your particular situation of drug addiction is nothing special, and you yourself are nothing special.

Music

Why do people think you care when they are singing the lyrics to a song? You know, when they are doing that shitty club dance move, looking dead into your eyes with that big stupid smile on their face, singing along with some shitty catchy song. Do they think that anyone actually cares that they know the words to some lame song? It’s bad enough that I have to sit around and listen to that fucking horrible song, it’s even worse when I have to listen to someone else sing along with that shitty song on the radio and then sit there and pretend like I’m slightly amused with a half assed grin on my face while thinking, “Shut the fuck up!”.

Politicians Are Celebrities

In my opinion I like Sarah Palin. If you think about it, politicians are nothing but celebrities. They go on stage and give people some sort of false hope that they are on your side by feeding into stereotypical beliefs. And at the end of the day when you're tired of watching the puppet show, at least Palin is good to look at.

Praying for Materialism

A Christian once came up to me and said, “If you just pray and worship god he will give you anything you want. If you need a car, he’ll give you a car; all you have to do is worship him.” And so I told him, “Well I don’t want possessions and I don’t want to worship god, so what can god do for me? I guess I’m just shit out of luck.”

Suicide

I hate when people say, "How selfish could he be to kill himself and not keep his loved ones in mind." Well obviously he didn't, because he uh, killed himself. I doubt his last few moments before death were, "geez, what about my mom and dad." It was probably more along the lines of, "Fuck life."

Blacks and Christianity

Don't you think it's a bit ironic when blacks are Christians? You know what I mean? I mean seriously, white man came to America with Christianity, killed the reds, killed the browns, enslaved the blacks, and bombed the yellows. And in a sense, Christianity is responsible for slavery, and because of slavery, there are a lot of blacks mixed in with the whites, and now all the blacks in America are Christians too. Isn’t that just a bit ironic? Well if you’re a little slow and don’t get my point, then look at it this way, if whites didn't take over the world; Christianity wouldn't be the number one religion. What if Muslims took over America? And Muslims then enslaved the whites. Then eventually the Muslims said, “Hey this slavery thing isn't such a good idea, maybe we should free the whites.” So now the whites are free, and 200 years later all the whites are now Muslims. What I’m actually trying to say is, how free are you really?

Fucking

If you want to fuck then go fuck and don't give a flying fuck what the fuck other people think about you… FUCK!

Sex Addiction

The worst possible addiction is sex. You can always kick things like heroin and tobacco. But you can't get rid of sex; you'll always be thinking about it and produce hormones that cause sexual arousal... unless you're a Christian.

Political Vegans/Vegetarians Rioting Factory Farms?

Some people are vegans/vegetarians for moral reasons, and although I disagree with that viewpoint, that audience is not what this essay is directed to. The people that this essay is directed to are the vegans/vegetarians who don’t eat meat because of the way factory farms treat animals. Now, although I do agree with the notion that factory farms mistreat animals, the question from that point shouldn’t be do we now not eat meat, but how do we stop factory farms from mistreating animals? It is indeed sad to say that just by not eating meat you are not changing anything, sorry, but that is reality. And before anyone gets angered by this statement, would you not rather look for a better alternative that actually does change how factory farms mistreat animals? Regardless of rather a few people in the world don’t eat meat for dinner; millions of others are still eating meat from factory farms and factory farms are still mistreating and being cruel to animals.

On a logical level I would simply ask people, what does not eating meat have to do with animal cruelty? This is the number one reason why it annoys when people say I would not eat meat if I knew how factory farms treated animals. No, if I knew how factory farms treated animals then I would try to shut down factory farms and make a better living arrangement for the animals. This is simply an illogical excuse for vegans/vegetarians to try and push their beliefs down other people’s throat.

So what’s the alternative? The alternative would be to take direct action. Direct action would be by doing things such as rioting factory farms, or maybe causing property damage to factory farms, or even by invading factory farms and releasing animals. Direct action is what changes things in the world, not sitting on your couch smoking a blunt and telling your friends not to eat meat because it’s immoral, that doesn’t change anything. I’m sure there are thousands and thousands of vegans/vegetarians in the world today, imagine if through networking all these people got together and started to riot factory farms, start trouble for the people who are mistreating animals. I am sure then you could get something done. And if you are vegan/vegetarian truly because you think it is morally wrong the way factory farms mistreat animals, and you are not a vegan/vegetarian simply for egotistic purposes, then I ask, would you not actually want to change something? DIRECT ACTION!

If this was the case and a vegan/vegetarian, instead of preaching to me why not to eat meat, instead said, “We’re going to go riot some factory farms”, then I would without hesitation fully support their effort. This statement is the statement of someone who is actually trying to change how something, a life, is being mistreated, instead of just trying to give me a worthless moral speech. Imagine if people said they were going to stop having sex to take a stance against rape, is that really going to change anything, or is actually punishing the rapist directly going to change the situation? I think you know the answer to this riddle. We as people need to rethink how we approach and how we think about factory farms, so I ask, are we going to simple sit at home and do the passive action of not eating meat (which is just about as meaningful as voting) or are we actually going to change something directly, with our words and our actions? People united can change something so inhumane, all it takes is a little effort, all it takes is a collective group working together to change what we all know is inhumane to a certain degree, and then and only then, will something actually be done about factory farms torturing animals.

A Quick Rap

“We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is” - Charles Evans Hughes

This quote certainly holds true for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has constantly been punished for the horrible crime of writing. Is not writing supposed to be a right given to us by our state? Of course, in people like Mumia Abu-Jamal's case, the fact that he wrote, or made his thoughts heard, has nothing to do with the fact of writing itself. Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political activist, and he has a poetic way of reaching into the soul of man with his speeches, he constantly questions the role of authority in a way the people sympathize with, and this, and only this, is the reason why the state tries so hard to silence this man's words. And to this I say, rather or not Mumia Abu-Jamal will ever be killed by the state, or no matter how unlikely it is that he will be given back his freedom one day, one thing the state cannot do is silence a man's words. Mumia, in this respect has my ultimate respect, no matter how hard they try, they will never be able to silence his words, and if you think it is all pointless, regardless of rather they kill this man or not, his words will live on forever, effecting if not thousands but millions of people for generations to come. To this I would echo to any authority figure, you can kill a man, but his mind, his mind you cannot kill.

I know that forever Mumia's words will be in my mind.

Why all Cops are Corrupt Cops

It seems as if every time I’m confronted with this discussion, no matter how much I repetitively explain what I’m trying to say, people still go back to the point of, “Well not all cops are corrupt, some of them want to do good”. This is exactly what I’m NOT trying to point out. I understand that people in power will misuse power, so is that not one of many reasons why not to have power in the first place? Or in other words, do people really need to be told what to do by other people? And if so, who tells the people in power what to do? People with authority are not gods, they are human too, and need to be kept in check. By whom you might ask, by none other than the people, that’s who. People themselves have the ability to regulate their own lives. And this is exactly my point that people never seem to grasp. I’m not saying all cops are horrible people because they are out dealing drugs with criminals, or raping and killing people. That’s not the point. The point is that all cops are corrupt because of the very fact that they hold authority over citizens.

What makes this worse is the very fact that most cops are extremely manipulated and have this power hungry, patriotic mindset that our government ingrains in their head. Look back through history if you don’t believe this. Look at our current drug laws. Do you believe that any officer is doing justice by putting someone in jail for putting something in their body? To me, this is nothing short of being a police state. And the point is most of these guys think they are doing their country good by putting more and more citizens in prison for almost nothing, this is nothing short of corruption. The way our country is going is scary, and is exactly why we shouldn’t have authority figures running peoples lives, rather it be cops, politicians, judges, or presidents, but by the people themselves.

And just to further the point of a lot of cops being blind patriotic zombies to do the governments dirty work, go ask any political prisoner how they were treated by the police force, ask how many of these people are being treated like dogs in prisons and especially on death row, being stripped of their humanity, ask any political prisoner how abused they were physically when being arrested, for doing something positive that shouldn’t even be considered a crime in the first place. But back to the point, look at any feminist, anarchist, and black pride movements. These people were subjected to cruelty simply because they weren’t obeying the law, because they were trying to question authority, and to overthrow authority. This is exactly why we have a police force, to keep people in check, they are not here to “protect and serve” if only by that you mean to protect and serve those in power, then yes, that may be true. The reason however, that we should be against police authority is because of the very fact that they have that authority over people; people can run their own lives without being subjected to police brutality, police brutality that seeks to only subject people who want to do good and run their own lives without government interference.

In closing, if you think we need police officers, then go to any prison system and see how many people in there are cold blooded serial killers. I think you may be surprised at the outcome, and then ask yourself another question, can people regulate crime? I think so, and I certainly don’t think that a 15 year old kid who “attempted” to rob a gas station with a pellet gun deserves to be tried as an adult and spend the next 15 years of his life in prison. This is the kind of “no tolerance” bullshit that our government and police force is enforcing, don’t break the rules or we’ll fuck you over. For me personally, I don’t see the point in ruining a kids life over something so minor, I’d rather see the store clerk manage the situation himself, by maybe making him do some work, teach him a lesson, not turn him into a better criminal by making him spend half his life in prison. People can manage, people can make rules, they can manage, and they don’t need to be told what to do and how to live.

To drive the point home if you didn’t get it, all cops are corrupt because of the very fact that they are cops. Simply by being a cop they have authority, and having the authority over people is what I’m against. They have authority and obviously, they use it, it is their job after all. Now, it would amazing if almost every cop in the nation realized that they had no right holding pointless laws over people, and rebelled against government and sided with the people. But is this happening? Of course not, cops are merely another pawn in the game, and thus, it is up to the people directly to overthrow their authority, just like anarchists did, just like black panthers did, just like feminists did. It’s the ability of these groups that pushed forward the thinking of modern people, simply by trying to overthrow corruption. We should do the same, by overthrowing authority, and by that I mean, all authority, meaning cops, politicians, judges, or anyone in an authority position. After all, it is these authority figures who keep people in a submissive role and it is up to the people directly to take charge of their own lives. I believe the next rebellion won’t come from just hippies, punks, blacks, or women, but by the people as a collective, and that will be a glorious day.

Altered Course...

Preface;
This was a series of responses to a facebook rant from Dec. 2008. My life was in utter dissaray, I had just started poking my conciousness out of the deepest depression I'd ever experienced. It seemed that the world was mirroring my inner feelings. (No surprise there, because that's how reality is structured... More on that in future posts) I had made some observations about the O-Man and how he was just another typical con-man politician... And a friend of mine said "Shut up, you didn't vote, yer just a nay sayer... Where are your practical solutions?" or something to that effect... And Here is what I proposed...

*NOTE
(words in '---' are not my words)

----------------------

1. America needs a high speed train systems, windmills, solar panels, sustainable energy to reduce dependency on oil (not just foreign oil, ALL OIL) and to provide more jobs. And regardless of economic growth or any of the things capitalists ensure us, are very important, these sources of energy are generally sustainable and have little to no impact on the ecosystem other than their initial construction... Granted, there will be deep ecologists and primitivists that disagree with this course of action, because constructing these technologies calls for removal of resources... But the way I see it is, it's already happening, so we must as well get in on it so we don't have to keep relying on giant corporate entities putting out shitty products every year that we mindlessly consume. We need sustainability, not consumability.

2. Functioning democracy demands honesty; policy making must be transparent to the people who are affected by said policies. This is pretty self explanatory... How are people supposed to make a proper decision if they are so confused by differing stories and biased news?

3. Fuck "lobbyists". The people in the streets are the lobbyists. Lobbying is vote buying; plain and simple. It has no place in a democracy, and especially not in a democracy that has any kind of social standards...

4. Democracy as we know it is nothing more than a symbolic gesture. Going to the polls once every four years is out of the picture; how about once every month? Once every week? How about we just all make our own decisions until the need for voting comes up... We vote on situations rather than issues. Then you can call on outside council or mediators to clear up any social qualms, rather than having an institutionalized court, justice, and law system...

5. If a politician fucks up they're out. Fuck the impeachment process; if a politician loses the public trust they should be immediately removed and a new politician should be voted in. (Ie: Blogoyavich, why wasn't he instantly removed from office? He doesn't deserve a trial! The facts are all there, he lied, cheated, and betrayed the public trust! He should be out, there's no reason to waste energy on fucks like him) If I steal a loaf of bread, they aren't gonna say 'Maybe we should think about giving this guy a trial, and then maybe get rid of him...'. Fuck no! You cheat your employers (in this case the PUBLIC) then you're out... Plain and simple.

6. Fuck war. The public hasn't fully supported a war in decades. No one benefits from it besides a minute percentage of society. War is big business... And all we're seeing now is business as usual. And the poor pay the price for the wars... Through our taxes, and more importantly through blood, sweat, and tears... (This applies to both sides of any war)

7. Get rid of the public relations industry. Let the public decide for themselves what we think about the issues. We're smart enough. Remember that saying, "Actions speak louder than words."? Well that rings true almost 100% of the time in politics... Ignore the double speak; we can see what they're up to clear as day.

8. Tell the public the truth. Our way of living isn't sustainable is causing rapidly increasing damage to the ecosystem and our psychology. Sustainability v. Profit... What do we really need? We've been removed from the way that we lived for hundreds of thousands of years... Living at odds with nature is destroying us internally and externally at an astounding rate. Look around you.

9. Gay rights. NOW. Any person with any kind of functioning moral compass will agree with this... No surprise that politicians can't get this non-issue out of the political arena... Waste of tax dollars to keep oppressing these people, and a waste of time for this to keep coming up in discussions. They are people, they want to be able to get married or whatever... Whats the big fucking deal? Fuck your religious dogma. Fuck your moral high horse. That's it. It's bigotry at it's finest.

10. Abortion rights forever. Anyone with half a brain can tell you anti-abortion laws are anti-women... Religious laws out.

'Some of those ideas are pretty good but how does one go about implementing them without voting? That's why I wrote 'practical solutions'. Think of all the people you've ever met in your life and then imagine those people caring enough to put down their bag of chips and vote every week on issues they hardly understand. I can think of two countries that practice 'direct democracy' (folk votes) and the population that shows up in droves are consistently the far right conservatives. They're organized and have a fundamental belief that the system was made for them. Not a lot of apathy in that bunch...we could learn something from how they hold camp.'

The point is that most American's think they voted for clean energy, gay rights, and an end to unpopular wars and all that stuff when they voted for Obama. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn't going to happen. (And now, two years later, we see this as a clear fact.) I don't know about 'practical solutions' because the way the system is set up is impractical for the people on the bottom. Even if the people were mobilized (which they were in 08' a bit more than in other recent elections) I still don't see things changing within this set up under any circumstances.

As for 'direct democracy', I could actually see it work very well in America. Sure there are the fair share of neo con scum bags, but there are just as many filthy left wingers as well. But I would say Americans are generally socially left wing when you talk to them. People just want to do what they do with out being bothered, be we have to unlearn a LOT of things.

My biggest concern is surviving the end of the oil age with out the whole continent turning into Thunderdome. (Everyone thinks, oh electric cars will come around, solar power, peace flowers free sex gah gah gah... But they don't realize POOR FOLK aren't gonna have access to that technology and there is gonna be an over lap period where oil is in extreme shortage and new technology isn't there yet) People gotta start now or it's gonna be too late.

Do like the Cubans; they are a great example of post industrial society should look like. (Granted it's not glamorous, it is sustainable) Everyone grows a garden, even from apartments. Solar panels are all over place... They don't have gas to ship all that stuff around all super conveniently, and that will be the case in the states. Just make it 2000x more extreme. We need solar power, windmills, hydro power; we just have to make that first move... Get it going.

What I'm getting at is we can change society out side of the political sense. Decrease dependence on an unsustainable market and totally change peoples perception of their place in the world. It could empower so many people so much more than voting ever could.


peace

Deconstructing the Ego

What is an ego? An ego is how one builds his character up. The world is full ego, but not much feeling. Our egos are us thinking things that the world deems important but really has nothing to do with the spiritually and growth of the individual itself. An ego can be anything, but what I find to be most shocking is everyone in the world is concerned with one area in particular, and that is job, status, and money. Of course, these things don’t mean anything, but we, only being human beings, are easily manipulated my media. Of course, our owners want us to think these things mean something as it keeps us, the working class, in a state of wage slavery. That is, we are still slaves, but we get paid money that’s not even enough to keep us living, and half of that money is taxed so some politician can get rich while he makes rules for everyone to follow. State ownership, isn’t it a bitch? Anyway, the way the media gets us thinking that these things are important is through media control (obviously purposely, otherwise known as propaganda). We are told that having a full time meaningless job that does nothing for us whatsoever spiritually is meaningful; we are told that by working we are giving back to our society. I don’t know about you, but I can do without that patriotic bullshit. It’s the same lies we are told about wars. Our owners tell us it’s about terrorism, so we go and invade countries that are no threat to us whatsoever and kill foreign citizens, mostly people in poverty that no one gives a shit about. Who are the real terrorists?

Back to the point, another way we are told these things are important is more directly, by making us feel it’s worth while, when we talk about people who have a high status, lots of money, someone who “worked hard” for it, we say things just like that, they “worked hard” as if that’s supposed to mean anything, or it’s “inspirational”. People, I have another term for calling earning lots of money and working hard, it’s not inspirational, it’s corporate propaganda. Obviously people that own everything and have lots of power want us to think these things are inspirational and are meaningful, but do I have to really tell you why they aren’t? Well okay then, because it doesn’t mean anything. So every time people get tears flowing in their eyes from watching an “inspirational” movie, what I’m thinking is, “Are you fucking kidding me?”. This sort of manipulation is what creates peoples ego, they are constantly bombarded from birth that they need to have high success, make lots of money, and have a great job. These things are of no importance whatsoever, man was not created with the intention to work and make money. If you think we are, then tell me why? People worry too much; they worry about things they have to pay for that they don’t need. Materialism, obviously another tool of creating an ego, it creates the illusion of thinking we need to have things to show our success and the money we own, which again, doesn’t matter.

How to let go of the ego? This past couple of years has been a dramatic change for me. I had lost myself, my spirituality, and what meant a lot to me. I got in a rhythm of thinking things mattered. I stopped reading, I stopped listening to music, and most importantly, I stopped thinking, and I don’t mean basic thinking, but really thinking about myself and my life. Like I said, I had gotten into a rhythm of thinking things mattered, I was obsessed with school, always studying every second of the day, and was obsessed with exercise, so when I finished studying, I began working out every single evening. I was determined to make something of myself, I was determined to get a “good” job, and I was determined to get a job that made me lots of money. But I ask myself, why? What I realize now is that none of these things mattered to me at all. Of course, I didn’t realize it at the time, I was acting on robotic impulses, no feeling, just doing, but now I realize I don’t care about these things. And let me tell you, it is completely refreshing to let go of those impulses, because of course, it did nothing for me as a person.

I believe in what Terence McKenna calls the Archaic Revival, in which man will let go of these things that are unimportant to his mind, and grab back on to what our ancestors explored, before modern civilization, and that is exploring the mind of course, and using art and psychedelics to do so. What I have grasped back onto is just that, the greatness of exploring my mind in the psychedelic sense, the greatness of just sitting around by yourself thinking, the greatness of art, rather it be comedy, writing, reading, or music. These are the expressions of man’s emotion that are hard to communicate merely through words, it’s psychedelic, it’s spiritual. So how do we get rid of our ego? We realize that what the world has taught us to be important really is not, that can be anything, rather it be a job, money, status, materialism, etc. Our egos can even be things that most people consider important such as marriage, religion, sex, or friends. And this is not an easy process, because you start to realize everything you’ve worked for that you think is important, is no longer important, at all. So it will be a rough journey, but once you get through it, you will feel enlightened. You break through this meaningless ego mindset and grasp onto what is really important, yourself, exploring your mind, your experience, your spirituality.

A War on Drugs or A War on Personal Freedom?

(NOTE: I wrote this when I was 19 and if I would re-write it now I'd probably do it differently since I feel I am a much better writer now. Although I won't change it because I think the points are still there, it's just not as engaging as I'd like it to be as it's a little too overly technical as this was for a college course. - I've also since quit college because it is useless and I prefer not to lose myself in order to bow down to my corporate masters, LOL. One thing I will say about this is the final paragraph where I talk about laws. Although it may true that the drug war is based on unjust laws, I totally disagree with the idea of making laws in the first place, especially law that is forced by the state and not regulated directly by the people! So, the final paragraph is the only thing in this that I would say I now disagree with, FUCK LAW! Law is the state trying to keep people in check, we don't need that shit, so obviously, drug laws are unjust either way. Although, I guess the point of this was to be a persuasive essay and not simply my opinion on the philosophy of how the state functions, so it still nails down the point regardless.)

The war on drugs is a war based on the theory that attacking the consumption, distribution, and production of drugs will decrease the overall usage and sales of drugs. However, in over forty years of pushing hard on the drug war, it has not stopped people from using drugs, nor has it decreased the usage of them, and in return, gives more power to dangerous criminals and the black market. The war on drugs creates much more harm than good, and in return, legalization seems like a better alternative than prohibition.

            One example often used to contrast why prohibition does not work is the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. In that period when alcohol was prohibited and an uncontrolled substance, the prohibition of alcohol did not actually lower the usage of alcohol at all during that period, and people continued to drink alcohol regardless of the laws. What prohibition led to was the rise of criminals such as the infamous Al Capone. Prohibition caused people like Al Capone to gain a lot of power and a lot of money. It caused crimes such as murder to escalate, and gave a rise to gangs that dealt with the distribution of alcohol. The reverse affect of prohibition in that time would have been legalization, as we know it today with the age limit of twenty-one. Legalization puts the sale and distribution of alcohol in the hands of the government and completely takes away power from criminals. Legalization lowers crime rates, destroys the productivity of gangs who distributed alcohol, and most importantly, stops the police force from putting ordinary people in jail for simple possessions. The government profits from the sale of alcohol and it keeps people who want alcohol out of trouble, out of jail, and out of harms way from being potentially hurt from gang members, criminals, and drug dealers.

            Much like the prohibition did not actually lower the usage of alcohol from 1920 to 1933; the war on drugs today does not have an impact on lowering the usage of illegal drugs. In fact, “A British Crime Survey shows that when cannabis was decriminalized from Class A to Class C, the use of cannabis from ages sixteen to twenty-four dropped from 28% to 21%.” (Travis) Is it not ironic how being less harsh on drug laws actually proves through evidence and research to lower drug use even among teenagers? Also, interestingly a “University of Illinois study tracked hundreds of school children who took the DARE course in the fifth grade. The study found that the program generally had no effect on later drugs use, except in certain instances. Surprisingly, suburban students who took the DARE course were more likely to use drugs than their counterparts who didn't.” (Greer) As the above survey proved, the prohibition of drugs does not actually cause drug use to lower. Ask any high school kid, and nine out of ten of them can probably obtain cannabis without a problem, what does this show about our drug laws? It shows that they don’t work. Another reason that prohibition does not work is because a fifteen year old doesn’t have to look old, that person doesn’t need identification, a drug dealer doesn’t care about that person or their age, a drug dealer just wants their money, making it easy even for a young child to obtain illegal drugs. However, if you look at controlled substances such as alcohol, even a twenty-five year old still has to walk into a store, where even they will have to have identification of age and will definitely be checked for buying alcohol or even tobacco; this process makes it extremely harder for underage people to obtain legal substances.

            Prohibitionists and people who support the drug war also state the drug war is meant to protect our children, and that if we legalize drugs we will be sending the wrong message to the youth. However, this also ties into the study above the proves that prohibition does not lower drug use and decriminalization actually does lower drug use, imagine how much more controlled we could keep drug use out of children’s hands if we were to completely legalize drugs, the government would have complete control of drugs much like alcohol and tobacco, making it harder for the youth to obtain drugs. Also, how are we protecting our youth by letting them deal with gangs and drug dealers? Are we protecting our children by putting them in jail for a long period of time, ripping them away from their families, losing scholarships, being kicked out of college, and losing their jobs for small possessions? That sounds more like destroying our youth to me, not protecting them. People are sometimes killed in undercover raids by police, and people are even given an option of dealing undercover with bigger drug dealers and more serious drugs to avoid a heavy jail sentence, and are sometimes killed in result. This is just another fact that shows it is in many cases not the actual drug use that destroys lives, but the prohibition of drugs and drug war that ruin lives.

            Furthermore, lying to our youth about the dangers of drugs causes several problems. For one, it is often a tactic by “drug educators” to tell kids that cannabis is just as dangerous as harder drugs. When these children grow to their early teen years and begin using cannabis (as most do, about one out of every three), many of them realize that they have been misguided with information, and sometimes think that if cannabis is not bad, why not try something else? Sadly, a person not being well informed about hard drugs, especially a young teenager, can often lead to addiction when abused. If we are going to educate children about drugs, we need to truly educate them about drugs, talk to them like adults, and not lie to them. Lying only leads to them not taking the use of drugs seriously, and often they will not trust authority figures in result of propaganda.

            When people say we are sending the wrong message to our children if we legalize drugs, then what kind of message are we sending to our children with the legalization of alcohol and tobacco? Both of which are widely commercialized. Tobacco and alcohol kill more people yearly than all illegal drugs combined, they are the most dangerous drugs, yet they are the ones that are legal. Where is the logic in saying that drugs should be illegal because they are harmful with that kind of information? “Tobacco is the top killer at 435,000 deaths, poor diet and physical inactivity at 365,000 deaths, alcohol at 85,000 deaths, prescription drugs at 32,000 deaths, Aspirin at 7,600 deaths, and cannabis at zero deaths.” (Heron) If an argument is really that drugs should stay illegal because they are unhealthy and potentially dangerous, then it should proposed that all fast food and processed food should be banned, we should start taking better care of our water and soil, we should start making it mandatory to exercise and grow fresh organic farm raised foods, failure to do the following should result in a jail sentence, considering that diet and lack of exercise is the second biggest killer. Of course, that is crazy, because it is not anyone’s job to decide the health consequences of another person (however this is exactly what our government is currently doing with the drug war), which is entirely up to that particular individual.

            Most likely the biggest fault that the war on drugs has is the effect on every day citizens. “872,721 Americans were arrested for cannabis in 2007, and of those arrests, 89% or 775,138 were arrests for simple possession - not buying, selling, trafficking, or manufacture (growing).” (Belville) That was just for cannabis alone, not for all illegal drugs, all other illegal drugs combined totaled to over one-million arrests. Cannabis counts for a big majority of those arrests, and that research was taken from two years ago, every year the arrests increase, and last year in 2008, it increased to nearly 900,000 arrests for cannabis alone, not counting all other illegal drugs. Take all those people into consideration, most of them not drug addicts, not distributors, just ordinary people caught for a small possession. Those lives can be potentially ruined, not just from loosing their job, being kicked out of school, having their kids taken away, not just simply because they peed dirty in a drug test, but also because they can be killed or raped in jail. It takes away valuable police resources, time, and money that we could use on real potential criminals, not occasional drug users, but rapists and murderers, criminals who harm people in a physical way; these are the true people who deserve to be in jail, non-violent drug users do not deserve to be in jail.

            Finally, when you arrest someone based on the principle that it is wrong, you are stating that something should be illegal because it disagrees with your personal morality. Imagine if everyone in America wanted to make laws based on their own personal morality, America would be in total chaos, much like the current war on drugs is in total chaos. People should have the right to try an illegal drug just as much as they have to try a legal drug, without fear of being imprisoned for putting something in their body. Laws should be based on the productiveness of a country as a whole, personal freedom, and keeping the citizens from potential harm. The drug war does the complete opposite of all of this.

Works Cited Page:

Travis, Alan (2007-10-26). Cannabis Use down since Legal Change, http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/26/drugsandalcohol.homeaffairs

Greer, Mark, What the Prohibitionists Say - And the Answers, http://www.mapinc.org/soundbites.htm

Heron, Melonie P., PhD, Smith, Betty L., BsED, Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Leading Causes for 2003," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 55, No. 10 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, March 15, 2007), p. 10, Table E, and p. 12, Table F. http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

Belville, Russ, September 15th, 2008, 872,721
Marijuana Arrests in 2007, up 5.2% from 2006. http://blog.norml.org/2008/09/15/872721-marijuana-arrests-in-2007-up-52-from-2006/

You think we're ready?

I think it's funny when Libertarians, whom I otherwise have no beef with what so ever, start talking about how 'taxation is theft'... Which I actually do agree with on a certain level. In an ideal world where everyone was 100% courteous and generous, and no one went with out, and everyone organized their own schools, and libraries, and took care of the streets, and cleaned their own water, and regulated the wellness of the food, then yea, it would be rad to have no taxes... But these libertarians are just silly; because the first (and usually the only) issue they they mention extensively when arguing 'Taxation is theft' is WELFARE.

To me, this shows that we are absolutely not ready for the tax-less Utopia that the capitalist libertarians dream of... They say that charities, which of course, would be more plentiful in a post-taxation, regulation free capitalist system, would take care of the needy. C'mon. If that was really the case, your first beef with taxation would be THE WAR MACHINE. This was the first cause that called for taxation in the New World... And every year it takes more and more to fund the bombing of poor brown people who don't speak our language or talk to the same imaginary friends before they go to bed...

Another thing you'll rarely hear these compassion-less bloodsuckers talk about is the prison industrial complex or the war on drugs... Two of the hugest drains on our budget. These two operations (which are so tightly interwoven, that it's hard to distinguish one from the other) are firstly, a huge cost on our society, in the most base of ways... Tearing families apart, mistreating sick people (yes addiction is a legitimate illness, go snort oxy contin for a month and tell me how yer gonna make it through the next week), and a basics distortion of justice. (You can't sell a bag of harmless grass, but you can drink a gallon of whiskey a day for your whole life if you like, and we can give our kids all the speed in the world and our elderly can get as many opiates as they need to make it through their dredge of an existence) And, I am under the belief that the war on drugs is still implemented today, because without it, we'd lose a huge secret slave work force... They have these dudes in prison, making like 2$ a day, to sew up designer jean and shit... Even though, it's pretty much common knowledge by now that the drug war is big fucking joke.

So basically, whet I'm saying is; you silly libertarian capitalist dudes... Go ahead get rid of taxes; you'll just be at the mercy of the banks and corporations, and crime will increase, sickness will increase, all that stuff... That's what you advocate when you say you want a regulation free capitalist system... You advocate utter despair and injustice.

If you want to decrease taxes, which I think everyone on either side of the fence will say is necessary at this point in history... Then we need to halt the war on drugs... Stop imprisoning sick people, and start treating them... Stop locking up the homeless and political prisoners. Stop locking up small time drug dealers. Billions could be saved. End the imperialist wars... We all know we haven't fought a necesary war in over 65 years, stop the fucking joke. We could be so much better...

-'The kind of capitalism advocated by most libertarians is just as scary to me as the pseudo socialism preached by the "other side..."'

There's good and bad at the extremes of each spectrum. Our generation has to hybridize the good elements of collectivism and free market systems... We need to socially be more collectivist, but I don't think that with the population so high that some kind of market economics could ever cease to exist, even if it was based only on bartering... The market is here to stay, but capitalism? Probably not.

-Mike Heinous

(A)/666/420

Misconceptions about Feminism

The mainstream media, like they always do, make groups that are meant to be positive, such as feminists or black pride groups, look dumb and crazy. Everyone always talks about how feminists want to be superior or bitch over stupid things, because that's how the media makes them look. What about the woman that talks about her right to be sexually liberal, without being subjected to social hatred, or that fact that most rapes go unreported? Or the poor black man that's shot in cold blooded murder by a white middle class cop, but the cop only gets second degree manslaughter, while a black poor man defends himself against a cop and kills the cop in self defense, and gets life in prison with a death sentence? No, instead of telling you about these viewpoints in the media, they tell you about how some extremist is bitching about not being treated as a queen at her job place, or a black man complaining simply because someone jokingly said the word negro, and thus they create a negative stereotype of a group that actually has something positive to offer to society. This type of attitude isn't feminism, it's just stupidity. Feminism is like any other radical movement, it is meant to be a movement that supports freedom, individuality, and liberty of a particular group. Then I ask you, who is really a feminist, the one preaching about her right to be sexually liberal, or the "feminist" that states in some sort of fact that it is demeaning to women to be sexually active? This to me, seems nothing short of good old religious sexism, and has nothing to do with either individuality or personal freedom, and thus, is not feminism.