Give Any One Species Too Much Rope And They'll Fuck It Up

Well, I've been active haven't I? Absolutely loads has happened , and I've been dying to post it, and -

Yes, ok, that's bullshit. What has happened? Nothing out of the norm; death, arguments, Fidel Castro stepping down (ok - not quite within the norm, but it deserved a mention nonetheless), no news of a Pink Floyd reunion.

However, the first point on the list, "death", unfortunately is the most common. The media is reporting that 17 teenagers have commit suicide in 13 months in a town near me, Bridgend. Admittedly, I don't think I've ever actually been there, but that's not the point - I haven't been to the Middle East either.

But it lets me talk about suicide - what a delightful subject - and its stupidity. In what way does suicide solve any problems? Am I missing something, or does it only make things worse? Oh no, I'm really sad, things aren't going my way - let's be really stupid and kick the bucket! I'll pass all the sadness on to others and waste my life. This isn't a video game; game over really is, game over.

Not to mention the selfishness of it. What a wonderfully nice thing to do - fill your friends and family with grief. Well done - not only have you wasted your won life, you've ruined someone else's as well. Aren't you going to popular in heaven.

Oh, wait. There is no heaven. Too many religions, too many different ideas, the chances that one idea is right are so slim you might as well give up trying to say what comes next. So when you've got the rope out, tied yourself nice and tight, rest assured that the bacteria can have a nice meal. And death is supposed to be making things better?

How many planets have we found? How many stellar systems? And how many have life? Let's not waste this opportunity - by the most improbable of chances, it is this set of people that have survived this long. Everyone who's (not) reading this has won one race already - and there are no races harder to win that that one. And consider the chances when you add the probability for your parents to turn out exactly like that, you realise that this life - however crap it may seem - is rare. Incomprehensibly rare.

I thought people liked preserving rare things?

The bleeding hearts and the artists make their stand.

Well, it's been a long time since the last post (happy new year, and all that crap to you). I wish I could say that I've been busy, but the truth is that I've been playing Shine On You Crazy Diamond on guitar just about every day. Yeah, it's a pathetic excuse, but at least it's true. Anyway, I broke my top E string earlier, which brings me here, with a rather different tone to the other posts.

This came up last Tuesday in a Biology class. We started a new unit, and we began with the heart and blood. All very well, four chambers of the heart, blood carries oxygen and food etc. around the body - nothing particularly mind-taxing. Then my teacher puts on some video to end the lesson. It was one of those "real life" stories, that are supposed to explain science at the same time. Anyway, the story was about some kid who had a genetic disease that wrecks the muscle tissue that he had got off his father. Then we were told how his father had died from the disease - his aorta (largest artery in the body) had split. Upon hearing this (and the lead up in the video), I go from a relatively healthy state to feeling extremely faint, and spend the break which followed the lesson trying to cool down.

This didn't bother me too much, my cynical nature could discount it as a coincidence. However during the next lesson on the Thursday, my teacher brought out a pig's heart, and dissected it. I thought nothing of it beforehand, I'd seen blood and gore before without any ill-effects. Yet again, however, I felt faint. I did a bit of research that night, and apparently this is a symptom of haemophobia.

Except I'm not afraid of blood.

I can write this blog without any ill-effects. I feel fine, despite the fact I'm picturing both events in my mind, empathising the blood element to try and provoke a reaction. Even when I feel feint, I can still comprehend what's happening, and realise that it is, as a "phobia" states - irrational to fear it. As I saw the heart come out (until I had to stop watching because I would feint had I stayed any longer), I was not afraid, and to be honest, I was looking forward to seeing it get opened up and seeing the different parts interacting. But some unconscious part of my mind decides I'm not allowed to do this.

What puzzles me most, however, is how can someone whose whole belief begins at rational thought, develop something so irrational sub-consciously? I'm no psychiatrist (and far from it), but it seems to me that there is something more going on in my head than I had previously thought.

I know I'm probably stating the obvious, but this really has been a bit of a wake up call for me. How much control do we really have over our minds? Is there anyway the conscious part of the brain defeat the sub-conscious in determine how we act and react?

Can we change?

You'd Better Watch Out, There May Be Dogs About!

Isn't religion retarded?

Why spend so much time praising some guy, naming a load of people after him, and then lock someone up for naming a stuffed toy, which just happens to have the same name? I mean in no way to be disrespectful, but something tells me that there is a flaw in the logic here...

I don't want to criticise what anyone believes; you can think what you want, who am I to stop you? But if you do chose to believe something, you have to also accept that not everyone will agree with you. Also, you should accept that sometimes you have to waken up. We are not, contrary to certain belief, living in ancient times. One of the many aspects of society is that is changes. And, if religion is to be a part of society, iit too must change.

Ah, but that would be too easy.

I don't have a problem with traditions and being "old-fashioned". I couldn't be patriotic if I did. I do, however, have a problem when people start punishing others for not following a particular tradition.

People today are too wound up in their own beliefs. Everything is taken so seriously, no wonder anything like Monty Python's Life of Brian is such a nice relief. Utopia will probably never be reached, but that is no reason not to strive for it. And a vital part in that is recognising that a certain cliché is true:

Everyone is different.

Yes, we've heard it all before. Pity no one thinks about it. If people would just accept that without definite proof, everyone will have their own theories as to why the universe is how it is. No need - nor reason - to shove your own theory down our throats. And I don't want to blame one religion in particular, nor accuse them all, but most are guilty is one way or another.

Are we such sheep that we allow these evangelists to brainwash us? Wasn't the most powerful country on Earth supposedly set up on freedom and liberty?

Then prove it.

And I shall be free.

Whoa, long break since the last post. What an exciting life I lead...

I guess it's time to comment on the complete fuck up by the government. Or not, to be honest, I don't really know what to add that hasn't been said already - what the hell was the government doing when they sent them by disc? Is e-mail to "modern" for them?

Ok, I know, you've heard it all before. Government department makes a mistake, public outcry, another mistake is made and everyone forgets about the first one. Isn't mass-media wonderful?

I'll stop there since I'm not really in a position to comment on it, since I couldn't really be arsed to listen to all their propaganda. Either way, it probes questions about the government, not so much in its members, but more in its setup.

We all know that countries are too big. How the hell does one president expect to rule a country as big and powerful as America properly? Society functions best when everyone knows each other, and can see the old cliché of "strengths" and "weaknesses" in each other. Yet how small do we want this to get? It's obvious to see that lots of smaller communities will lead to more rivalry, and therefore more war. Yet a larger community will lead to each person's view counting less and less.

I'm all for free speech and democracy, but I can't help feeling that at the moment, one person's view count for less and less. How many people actually read this blog other than myself? Very few, if any I'd imagine. And I know that this is hardly the best place to make a political standpoint, but without a vote (I'm "too young" apparently, despite the fact that I obviously have strong views, and want them heard) I have no other way to express myself. I can think of plenty of ways to rectify this (the most obvious being having anyone who wants to vote younger make a claim to the school, which decides whether the person is mature enough to be able to make his/her own decisions) but that isn't the focus of this post.

So what is the focus of the post? To prove that mankind is hopeless. No matter who we put in charge, we will feel oppressed by this person. What is "freedom"? Whatever it is, we don't have it. We may never have it. Unless of course, we're in charge. Even then, we feel limited.

Why is it that people can't be satisfied with what we have? Why can't we be happy with our current state? I probably sound like I have manic depression, but I can assure you I haven't. However, it's not hard to see that we are stuck in cages, and no one will be freed. Everyone's views are different - if everyone on Earth were to somehow read all of my posts, not a single person would agree with me. And the same goes for everyone else's views.

Still wondering why there's so much war?

Er Gwaethaf Pawb a Phopeth

I don't think I've been patriotic enough in these writings, so I guess it's time for a Nationalistic rant.

Oh no, not that type of Nationalism. The second word of the title says "Socialism", not "Nazism". I'm not going to kill anyone for my country, nor would I die for it. That's just stupid. However, I wont let the culture of Wales, its history and language die on my watch.

Wales, for those who don't know, is a country bordering England, and has been oppressed by them for hundreds of years. To such an extend that in the 60s, Welsh - widely cited as the oldest living language in Europe - could die out. This sparked a wide campaign - led by people such as Dafydd Iwan and Saunders Lewis - to save the language. However, despite the fact that it is now growing again, Wales is still to shake of the shackles of this oppression.

Until a few years ago, Wales did not have its parliament. This, from a country that supposedly believes in Democracy. People complain about the break up of Britain. Well sorry but as far as I'm concerned, Britain doesn't even exist any more. When the "good old Empire" broke up, so did Britain. And all these people wave flags as some old person drives by, struggling to hold a hand up. Oh, they'll sing "God Save the Queen" all day without realises that the monarchy does fuck all today. They're just an in-bred family, that happened to be descended from some guy who came to Britain and won a battle.

These same people are the same deluded ones who, for the most part, tried to kill off anyone different. Just look what the xenophobes did in India, Africa, China and - although unnoticed by many - Wales. It's not that long ago when if a child was caught speaking Welsh in school, they would be given a piece of wood with the letters "W N" ("Welsh Not") engraved on it, and the last person wearing it at the end of the day was caned. What a great way to make yourself look good.

I'm not saying that everyone was like this, but something must have gone wrong when the people with these opinions were put in charge. Or is it just coming down to the fact that "Power Corrupts"? Either way, once again, the words of Dafydd Iwan sum it up best:

Er gwaethaf pawb a phopeth,
Ry'n ni yma o hyd.

Despite everyone and everything,
We're still here.

Amused to Death

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.

Don't give me all that shit.

What exactly is being celebrated tonight? On the one hand, you have religious bigotry on a grand scale, on the other, you have people celebrating a failure. And, on the basis that the latter is such a stupid reason, no one (even in today's society) could celebrate it, I'll focus on the first.

I'm cynical, but not cynical enough to suggest that everyone realises what they're doing. The gunpowder plot was a very religious plot, deriving from the usual Catholic/Protestant rivalry. How many people realise that they're actually celebrating a state murder for believing a religion that's exactly the same as the state religion? I may not be very religious, but that doesn't stop me from respecting other people's views. I won't celebrate any murder, let alone one where the intentions were to oppress other religions.


It's just showing how people don't understand history, don't understand the importance of why we are in the current state. Think, say, 200 years in the future today. Fireworks are going off, as per usual, but do people actually know why? I doubt people do know, let alone in the future. And you don't need to be a history buff, surely natural curiosity forces you to find out more? Obviously not.

In the words of Roger Waters, we are "Amused to death", that is, we have reached such a state where everything is given to us, we don't think any more. Yes, computers are a form of this, but to be honest, I think there are enough resources on computers to redeem it. But television? There is no one who can tell me that reality TV is thought-provoking (or entertainment, for that matter...).

But if we use history, and scan back through civilisation, you notice that the "slaves", "serfs", "proles", whatever you want to call them very rarely do anything about their state, allowing themselves to be oppressed. By now, we even have easy access to the information that would free us from this monotonous life, yet we refuse to seek it.

And even if you are somehow reading this, will you make any changes, or allow yourself to be "Amused to death"? I know that everyone allows this - do you?

A Fleeting Glimpse

Sorry for the gap in posts, but real life got in the way. I'd like to say how I was bogged down with GCSE work, spending hours every night perfecting it, but the truth is that I've simply been addicted to some game on Facebook. Productive, isn't it?

Either way, it shows how easy it is to get sucked into these things. I like to think I've got a fairly strong willpower - I am certainly determined not to get sucked into that Black Hole called "Fashion". Yet after a couple of hours of joining Facebook - enforced due to a National Welsh Youth Organisation I belong to - I've already been hooked to some game recommended by some of my friends. And ok, "addicted" may be too strong a word, but it was definitely playable, even for someone who has a lot of much more power-demanding computer games. And judging by some of the scores on the Global High Score list, there are people who have played this game non-stop.

This may not seem very dramatic compared to the global problems at the moment, but let's take a moment to look at a much bigger picture. If we look at the absolute extreme example of a tyrants regime - an Orwellian society - we see that technology plays a vital part. Would the Thought Police ever have caught Winston Smith without all those cameras and microphones? And is this growing dependence on technology bringing us further to that state?

Before you get any ideas, I'll be the first to admit that this is all a bit far-fetched. Robots aren't going to take over, and Artificial Intelligence is a load of crap. Yet... what if we get a virus?

Technology is undoubted a good thing, and I'm not here to preach any "be careful" cliché that's already been rammed down your throats. But it is certainly easy to be hooked into that state of "bliss" - you just don't give a damn, because what's happening on your small box is good. And it is good. The only danger is whether we let this state build a wall around us.