What Is In A Word: Part Twenty-Nine Military Origins: Ever wonder where the acronym AWOL came from? Or how about “zero hour” or “roger that”? Through out the history of the English language, words have been invented by different groups for representation of one thing, that has later gone on to mainstream use and widespread understanding … perhaps in a very different way. Here are just a few examples of some from the world of the military… Deadline The origins of this word are said to be traced back to the American Civil War. At that time prisoners of war were kept incarcerated in makeshift facilities, often with little to no real overhead covering or bars/enclosing of any type (be they wood, stone, brick, steel, etc). The prison guards would therefore draw a line around the perimeter, instructing the prisoners that anyone who crossed the line would be shot on sight, making it the “dead line.” Today we use this word in many ways, most often meaning the time when something is due. Scuttlebutt On a ship, the crew took their drinking water from a cask called the “scuttlebutt,” and whenever a few men gathered to take a break, gossip and hearsay about the voyage/their mission and so forth would soon follow. Eventually, the word for the water barrel came to refer to the petty gossip itself, and while not widely used anymore, scuttlebutt still is recognized as meaning … mindless gossip… Bite the Bullet In the heat of combat, battlefield surgery is no laughing matter: unsanitary conditions, lack of supplies, lack of postoperative care. When soldiers were injured during a war and anesthetics like chloroform or whiskey had run out, doctors had no choice but to proceed with amputations, even if the patient was fully awake and cognizant. In such circumstances, the soldier was often given a bullet to bite down on to help him channel the pain and keep still. So today we use the term to refer to a person whom must “clamp down” and do something they most not necessarily want to do or find uncomfortable in some way. Heard It Through the Grapevine During the first days of telegraphy, the wires needed to send all the messages were strung all over the country in patterns that sometimes looked like grapevines. Instant communication made disseminating news easier, but it also made for increased inaccuracy and errors. Civil War soldiers called it “the grapevine” because of the way the wires twisted around the terrain, and because it reminded them of the way information wended its way through multiple parties. The term also insinuated that since grapevines were tended mainly by poor farmers, the information was not to be trusted. Today it is used in an offhand way to describe information we have heard through a number a parties that may or many not be true. Rumors and innuendo FUBAR This acronym, standing for “fouled (or f@#ked) up beyond all recognition” is said to have originated in the U.S. Army. Its first recorded use was in 1944, (although soldiers had probably been using this slang term for many years before then). Three Sheets to the Wind This naval phrase, describing someone who’s had too much to drink can be traced all the way back to the days of wooden ships. The drunkard’s clothes were usually in a state of disarray, with his shirttails flapping, and so he was compared to an untended ship whose sails were loose and blowing carelessly in the wind. Avant-Garde Used by armies all over the world, this term originally referred to the small party that was sent out in advance of the main body of troops in order to plot a course or chart a terrain. It was also sometimes called the advance guard or the vanguard. The French version of this word was appropriated by the arts-and-culture world to refer to anyone working at the forefront of creativity or experimentation. S.O.S. The invention of wireless telegraphy was a huge benefit to ships, which were now able to call for help when they were in distress. The code S.O.S. was first used by the Germans in 1905 and was eventually adopted by all nations for both commercial and military vessels. The code isn’t an acronym for “save our souls,” “send out supplies,” or another message; it actually doesn’t stand for anything. The letters were chosen because their Morse code transcription—dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot—is unmistakable Full Tilt In medieval times, the sport of jousting, in which two knights charged at each other, each trying to knock the other off his horse, was originally called tilting. To run at “full tilt” was to run at top speed, and so while the mane of the sport has changed, the idea of the word “going full tilt” still remains with us. With Flying Colours Flags flown at sea were subject to strict and complex rules; the only time a warship would lower its flag (also called its colours) would be to acknowledge the passing of a higher-ranked ship, or to announce surrender in battle. A ship proudly flying its flag after a battle would have been advertising victory. Today we use the term in such ways as “they passed that test with flying colours, indicating that they did very will on the test they just had.
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What Is In A Word: Part Twenty-Nine

Military Origins:

Ever wonder where the acronym AWOL came from? Or how about “zero hour” or “roger that”? Through out the history of the English language, words have been invented by different groups for representation of one thing, that has later gone on to mainstream use and widespread understanding … perhaps in a very different way. Here are just a few examples of some from the world of the military…

Deadline
The origins of this word are said to be traced back to the American Civil War. At that time prisoners of war were kept incarcerated in makeshift facilities, often with little to no real overhead covering or bars/enclosing of any type (be they wood, stone, brick, steel, etc). The prison guards would therefore draw a line around the perimeter, instructing the prisoners that anyone who crossed the line would be shot on sight, making it the “dead line.” Today we use this word in many ways, most often meaning the time when something is due.

Scuttlebutt
On a ship, the crew took their drinking water from a cask called the “scuttlebutt,” and whenever a few men gathered to take a break, gossip and hearsay about the voyage/their mission and so forth would soon follow. Eventually, the word for the water barrel came to refer to the petty gossip itself, and while not widely used anymore, scuttlebutt still is recognized as meaning … mindless gossip…

Bite the Bullet
In the heat of combat, battlefield surgery is no laughing matter: unsanitary conditions, lack of supplies, lack of postoperative care. When soldiers were injured during a war and anesthetics like chloroform or whiskey had run out, doctors had no choice but to proceed with amputations, even if the patient was fully awake and cognizant. In such circumstances, the soldier was often given a bullet to bite down on to help him channel the pain and keep still. So today we use the term to refer to a person whom must “clamp down” and do something they most not necessarily want to do or find uncomfortable in some way.

Heard It Through the Grapevine
During the first days of telegraphy, the wires needed to send all the messages were strung all over the country in patterns that sometimes looked like grapevines. Instant communication made disseminating news easier, but it also made for increased inaccuracy and errors. Civil War soldiers called it “the grapevine” because of the way the wires twisted around the terrain, and because it reminded them of the way information wended its way through multiple parties. The term also insinuated that since grapevines were tended mainly by poor farmers, the information was not to be trusted. Today it is used in an offhand way to describe information we have heard through a number a parties that may or many not be true. Rumors and innuendo

FUBAR
This acronym, standing for “fouled (or f@#ked) up beyond all recognition” is said to have originated in the U.S. Army. Its first recorded use was in 1944, (although soldiers had probably been using this slang term for many years before then).

Three Sheets to the Wind
This naval phrase, describing someone who’s had too much to drink can be traced all the way back to the days of wooden ships. The drunkard’s clothes were usually in a state of disarray, with his shirttails flapping, and so he was compared to an untended ship whose sails were loose and blowing carelessly in the wind.

Avant-Garde
Used by armies all over the world, this term originally referred to the small party that was sent out in advance of the main body of troops in order to plot a course or chart a terrain. It was also sometimes called the advance guard or the vanguard. The French version of this word was appropriated by the arts-and-culture world to refer to anyone working at the forefront of creativity or experimentation.

S.O.S.
The invention of wireless telegraphy was a huge benefit to ships, which were now able to call for help when they were in distress. The code S.O.S. was first used by the Germans in 1905 and was eventually adopted by all nations for both commercial and military vessels. The code isn’t an acronym for “save our souls,” “send out supplies,” or another message; it actually doesn’t stand for anything. The letters were chosen because their Morse code transcription—dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot—is unmistakable

Full Tilt
In medieval times, the sport of jousting, in which two knights charged at each other, each trying to knock the other off his horse, was originally called tilting. To run at “full tilt” was to run at top speed, and so while the mane of the sport has changed, the idea of the word “going full tilt” still remains with us.

With Flying Colours
Flags flown at sea were subject to strict and complex rules; the only time a warship would lower its flag (also called its colours) would be to acknowledge the passing of a higher-ranked ship, or to announce surrender in battle. A ship proudly flying its flag after a battle would have been advertising victory. Today we use the term in such ways as “they passed that test with flying colours, indicating that they did very will on the test they just had.

Snake Oil (sellers) Come In Many forms Part Two: Not to be hatin’, but the next time I hear an American tell me about propaganda in another country and NOT in theirs, I will politely direct them to this little jem of an “ad campaign” “The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro. Other global warming alarmists who may appear on future billboards include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010) What!!! you think climate change is real?!?! . So does Osama Bin Laden and Charles Manson!!!!. Do you REALLY want to have the same thinking as those two? ……Sometimes it is difficult for me to feel anything but absolute sadness at the state of our species.
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Snake Oil (sellers) Come In Many forms

Part Two:

Not to be hatin’, but the next time I hear an American tell me about propaganda in another country and NOT in theirs, I will politely direct them to this little jem of an “ad campaign”

“The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro. Other global warming alarmists who may appear on future billboards include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010)

What!!! you think climate change is real?!?! . So does Osama Bin Laden and Charles Manson!!!!. Do you REALLY want to have the same thinking as those two?

……Sometimes it is difficult for me to feel anything but absolute sadness at the state of our species.

What world do you live in?

You Are What You Eat….Children of the Corn You (may have) seen the movies. But did you know many of you are actually living the life? Carbon 13 (the carbon that is produced from corn), does not lie. Scientists, studying the growing amount of corn used in a staggering amount of products in western nations (most notably the United States, but as many of their product names are exported the world over, to vast numbers of nations now) have found the amounts of this carbon in the isotopes in the hair of Americans to be much higher than that of their neighbours to the south, the perceived, in many peoples eyes, corn culture diet. Why? Because American farmers, unlike their Mexican counterparts, use corn to feed their livestock more, not grass (Mexicans regard feeding livestock corn as something along the lines of a sacrilege), also much of their protein comes from legumes (Americans… corn), and they still sweeten their beverages with sugar cane (Americans… corn syrup). And so, in a nutshell, Americans (and more and more people the world over now whom buy many of the product names from the United States) are becoming walking, talking processed corn!!!!
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You Are What You Eat….Children of the Corn

You (may have) seen the movies. But did you know many of you are actually living the life?

Carbon 13 (the carbon that is produced from corn), does not lie. Scientists, studying the growing amount of corn used in a staggering amount of products in western nations (most notably the United States, but as many of their product names are exported the world over, to vast numbers of nations now) have found the amounts of this carbon in the isotopes in the hair of Americans to be much higher than that of their neighbours to the south, the perceived, in many peoples eyes, corn culture diet.

Why? Because American farmers, unlike their Mexican counterparts, use corn to feed their livestock more, not grass (Mexicans regard feeding livestock corn as something along the lines of a sacrilege), also much of their protein comes from legumes (Americans… corn), and they still sweeten their beverages with sugar cane (Americans… corn syrup).

And so, in a nutshell, Americans (and more and more people the world over now whom buy many of the product names from the United States) are becoming walking, talking processed corn!!!!

An untenable situation seems to be permeating the world…. Our world seems to be embroiled in a nuclear double standard in many ways… When one state (no matter the reason) has these type of weapons, and others do not, it creates, (like in many other ways in this world), a desire of others to have (the power), be (one of “the boys”), feel (included) and determine (one’s own future, not let others dictate it for them). In a world where the majority of the countries with these weapons are guided by the principles of “free market capitalism” and “allowing the markets to dictate the raise and fall of capitalistic ideas without the interference or regulation of government over business”, how can they use this type of moral relativism for one of their ideologies and not for another? Why is it anyone is surprised that there are countries outside of this realm that want in? We often hear it said that the places that want these weapons are places that should not have them, for their intentions for them are not upright and moral. When is it ever upright and moral to say that having these weapons is better for the world and that some countries are okay in having them because their moral compass is better and they are better equipt (morally) to help keep a peace for the entire planet? The world that now has these weapons (in my estimation and outlook on these countries): denies their existence (in their country.. which leads to a loss of credibitly in its own right), are run by (what many would define as) tyrannical leaders (whom are “freely” elected in their now “free market” economies), have trouble keeping them safeguarded, want to keep the boys club exclusive and thus can use them as a deterrent to keep others inline (to their own ideas of how things should be), and/or say others should not have such deadly weapons but then in turn they have, the selling of weapons to countries around the world as one of their leading industries. ….And even with all of these things staring us all in the face of our nuclear weapons possessing countries they still act as the moral compass and tell others what they should and should not have. ….and one wonders sometimes why we have so many problems in our world, when if you strip away all the rhetoric and double speak it is easy to see the hypocrisy of most of these nations. ….let us stop the madness and get rid of said weapons, in all states, in all places and really show we are seeking a real sane and just solution. This seems the only real geopolitical strategy that will show the whole world that anyone means what they really say.
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An untenable situation seems to be permeating the world….

Our world seems to be embroiled in a nuclear double standard in many ways… When one state (no matter the reason) has these type of weapons, and others do not, it creates, (like in many other ways in this world), a desire of others to have (the power), be (one of “the boys”), feel (included) and determine (one’s own future, not let others dictate it for them).

In a world where the majority of the countries with these weapons are guided by the principles of “free market capitalism” and “allowing the markets to dictate the raise and fall of capitalistic ideas without the interference or regulation of government over business”, how can they use this type of moral relativism for one of their ideologies and not for another? Why is it anyone is surprised that there are countries outside of this realm that want in?

We often hear it said that the places that want these weapons are places that should not have them, for their intentions for them are not upright and moral. When is it ever upright and moral to say that having these weapons is better for the world and that some countries are okay in having them because their moral compass is better and they are better equipt (morally) to help keep a peace for the entire planet?

The world that now has these weapons (in my estimation and outlook on these countries): denies their existence (in their country.. which leads to a loss of credibitly in its own right), are run by (what many would define as) tyrannical leaders (whom are “freely” elected in their now “free market” economies), have trouble keeping them safeguarded, want to keep the boys club exclusive and thus can use them as a deterrent to keep others inline (to their own ideas of how things should be), and/or say others should not have such deadly weapons but then in turn they have, the selling of weapons to countries around the world as one of their leading industries.

….And even with all of these things staring us all in the face of our nuclear weapons possessing countries they still act as the moral compass and tell others what they should and should not have.

….and one wonders sometimes why we have so many problems in our world, when if you strip away all the rhetoric and double speak it is easy to see the hypocrisy of most of these nations.

….let us stop the madness and get rid of said weapons, in all states, in all places and really show we are seeking a real sane and just solution. This seems the only real geopolitical strategy that will show the whole world that anyone means what they really say.

Cynical Notions of a Nihilistic Existence or…… Why I think There is Light at the End of the Tunnel (if only we can see the light)…. If one were to look at the world today and see what is happening with the populations of many countries, is it a stretch to say that as a species, we are entering (or more correctly have entered) the age of the perpetual cynical thought? Oh sure, people have said that time and time again down through history. Each generation has its galvanizing events, its watershed moments, its “fight the power” battle cry event to rally behind, but it seems over the past two to three years, every idea, every glimmer of hope, every statement made by an authority figure is to be questioned, dissected, ripped apart and then subsequently… dismissed with a scoff and a notion that “that person has no idea what they are talking about, how could anyone ever trust them”? The first decade of the new millennium was not a good one for the global collective. 911 threw the United States into a tailspin of paranoia, revenge and protectionist patriotic fever that echoed throughout the world and in some ways brought about (eventual) progress (the Arab Spring) but also paradox-ly decline (the patriot act of the United States, a growing resentment from many corners of the world to the seen notion of a world police, a me against them mentality that has festered throughout society as a whole, a war without end a faceless enemy and a fighting for something no one clearly really understands anymore). Climate change began to (more than ever before) really show us a future that (deny its existence as happening or not) could be very costly, bleak and deadly if we do not take a step back and really re-access how we interact with this planet. Economies collapsed, much of the western world came to the brink of economic implosion, and all the while in the back of many a mind was the thought of consolidating what was now a foreseeable (not in our lifetime, but more than ever before in a real understood reality) exhaustion of the non renewable resources we so diligently suck off the teet of at an every increasing rate. The East was on the rise, the west in decline. New power structures were coming into play. Governments it seemed no longer control or even run countries anymore, nor dictate policy. Public opinion poles and talking head TV are the new media with corporations and big business the new kingpin on the playground. The election of Barack Obama was seen as one of these watershed moments… this great hope and savior, not just for the United States, but a symbol for the rest of the world. Big shoes to fill indeed, and when things started to go from bad to worse (economically speaking) for many areas of the world, and the practices of the decade (plus) before him really came to show their true side effects (of the free market everything), his bumper sticker “change” slogan started to become more of a joke, a rally cry for those whom opposed him (or became disillusioned), and one of the greatest pimp tag lines to grace the airwaves since the“Where’s the Beef”Burger King ad of the 80’s. Issues laid dormant or bubbling at the surface began to rear their ugly heads and take over the collective consciousness…., racism, religious misunderstanding/intolerance, economic disparency, the eroding working class, a lost generation of youth… so many issues, but with no real answers (and fighting people from all sides of the spectrum), he became burden with so much aspirations by so many in such diverse regions of the world, was it too much to expect that all that everyone else wanted (and thought his election would bring about) would come to pass? If anything, the election of Barack Obama, at least in some quarters of the world gave them a scapegoat for their own problems and shortcomings, in short, Obama became the lighten-rod in the rainstorm… easily detectable and open to hits from all sides. Not “liberal”/ “conservative” enough, not black enough/not white enough, not religious enough/not scientific enough, not helping the poor, not releasing the rich to do what we are told they do for the rest of us. Not bringing about world peace (isn’t that what a Nobel peace prise is for now-a-days?), not speeding up the road to a more even playing ground for everyone. When the Change and Hope that was blasted (and rooted firmly in the human collective) did not come about in ways WE all wanted it to happen, the cynicism set in even deeper. Generation X and, even more so, the generation following it (those born 1984-2000) has grown up an extremely nihilistic generation. I do not mean nihilistic in the way The Big Lebowski means it (where they care about nothing), but instead in what I believe to be the mantra of nihilism: de omnibus dubitandum (“everything is to be doubted”). Many people associate this saying with Descartes, but I believe in many ways it is Nietzsche that understood the real impact of the term. In the beginning of Beyond Good and Evil Nietzsche uses this term and applies it to all previous Enlightenment thinkers, including Descartes. He argues that Descartes, Kant, Rousseau, and even Hume all took this mantra for granted by never questioning their own existence, their own thinking, their own absolutes, or in the case of Kant, his own synthetic a priori judgments and categorical imperatives. Nietzsche, instead, vehemently stood up for the idea that we should question everything AND that we may not come up with an answer to the question – we should simply question. It seems to me that logically if one were to only exhibit this type of thinking at all times it would (sooner or later) lead to cynicism, and while I do enjoy the writings of Nietzsche, and do think he has things to say on many idea of our thinking, I do believe it would be hard pressed for anyone to say that he does not suffer from at least a bit of a cynical nature. (at least that is what I have found in Nietzsche’s writing). Nietzsche is perhaps best summarized in his book The Antichrist in which he states that Buddhism is the best of all religions, because it ultimately believes in nothing. (this thought of his I do take issue with as if he was to believe in his own questioning then even the idea of … nothing… is the belief of …something… and Buddhism is a religion based on a large number of beliefs, but more a letting go of all of them to obtain this nothingness, but perhaps that in itself is a thought that comes from eastern thinking more than from western, but I digrees…) This attitude (the cynical, belief in “nothing”) has permeated American and many other Western cultures in recent years more than ever before (at least in my lifetime it seems) –and I dare say I don’t think we have seen it blossom fully, (but the stage is set for a full blooming). We are watching the rise of a generation of “know-nothings” and “care nots.” They are against war, not because they are pacifists, but because they believe there is nothing worth fighting for. They are against government, not because they don’t care about politics, but because they think no one tells them the truth anyway so why bother. They are against thinkers not because they disagree with what they say (per-say), but because they are not like them and they feel they talk down to them and see themselves as better. And more and more it seems they are against something not because they believe (or even understand the entire picture), but because they just… feel… it is not the right and it needs to be questioned… just because. They have lost an idea of what it means to be “human” so they attempt to fill this void with materialism, their jobs, money, or indulgences in whatever they see as “filling he void” This is a generation raised to question everything, and rightfully so – they have been lied to time and time again, and they have seen what it takes to make it in this world… power, money, money, corruption, a good lawyer, money, good lobbyist, money, good PR, money, a good catch phrase, the right look, the proper clothes, car, watch, shoes and………… money. Worse, however, is that the media/PR industry has manipulated this generation. They have been promised to “buy this,” “do that,” “say this,” “listen to that,” “enjoy this,” “reject that,” “act this way,” “be free,” and so on. They have been cheated by their own technologies, promising them greater access but delivering less substance. Yet, in all of this they have not found true fulfillment. Realizing that there is no fulfillment in these actions, they are cynical of anything that appears to be an illusion, and now a days it seems that most things are just that… an illusion for most. The French postmodernist, Jean Baudrillard claimed that America is Disneyland. At Disneyland all the employees are actors, trained to be happy all the time, always nice, always dressed a certain way, always acting a certain way. Baudrillard argued that the media has turned America into this atmosphere and that youth are now fed an illusion of what it is to be human (to use his term, “a simulacrum”). Thus, this nihilistic generation has grown tired of the facade that they’ve been fed and reject all things, believing them to be an illusion –They (Americans in particular) are told time and again that their country is number one , but when they look around them these days they can see how much many other areas of the world have passed them by in so many ways, but they still hold tight to their cynicism and blame… not only their own governments but the people of the other nations (for things they, those people of those nations… had no control over and in most instances are just people like the cynical, trying to etch out a life and existence, and trying to live in this new world of the globalized facade of the American dream… the thing that has long since passed most people by), Enter the Church/Mosque/Temple (whatever the place of worship may be) that, for all intents and purposes, is failing miserably to not only reach out, but to even understand the problem. The Church (specifically) is still stuck in this idea that everyone comes to the world through Judeo-Christian eyes and that if it can offer enough evidence that Christianity is true, or if it can rationally prove Christianity (in its own ideas of what rationally proving it would be), it will be enough. Other religions do the same with their own thoughts. Most (western/the big three) religions bluntly state they are the right one, and even eastern religions, while not overtly preaching they are THE ones like the west (it is all about cultural differences and imposing by not overtly doing so), they too talk about how one needs to let go of what one has to be a better person… to be something more than they are now. To obtain. Some go even further to think that if they just tell people to read the book of their faith, or if they just preach a sermon that addresses their Gospel, that will win the people over. Religion (believe in it or not… that is not the issue I am raising), in many ways has ended up being just another illusion. The worship band plays, the concert is neat, the programs are excellent, but a nihilistic generation sees through this pseudo-religion for what it really is; a spiritual social club. So what is this generation to do? Before answering that question, let us stop for a moment, as there seems to be one group missing from this “blame game” we are playing. The one that is most often left out when we discuss such broad issues of the world… oh yes, now I know, it is the biggest group of all. The group we are missing is… ourselves… The paradox of all this thinking is the fact that no matter what a person may say… they do believe in something, all persons do. It is inherently in us to believe. Be it science, religion, philosophy, astrology, alien-esq like thinking, humans are hard-drived to believe in something… and also it seems, to reject, fear, be wary of those whom do not see things in the same way. So it seems that in many ways it is Humans (not the media, not the religion, not the economics, the racism, the sexism, the homophobia… the list goes on and on and on), it is humans and their own thoughts, their own self-ego and conscious thought that is the problem and is the enemy of us all. Human beings are not logical thinkers. Not instinctively. We are guided more by emotions, intuition, the unknown, fear, hatred, (in) security and the like. We are guided by the most illogical side of our being more than by the logical. It makes for a strange bedfellow, for without this side of the self I believe it be safe to say that great works of art, great pieces of music, great volumes of books, great feats of architecture, great discoveries of mind… all the things that make us whom we are, may never had been discovered without this side (the one that fights us and our individualistic notions at every turn) So again, I have to ask… what is this generation to do? I am asking the question, not posing the answer, for I can’t, if I had them them I would be “God”, the thing Scientists quote, the thought thinkers would write about, the thing children would dream of being… But in a strange way, I am all of those things, as are you and everyone else. For it is WE, all of us that is this idea of the human collective, and like it or not if we were not all here, in some way something (no matter what you think of a person for their colour, race, sexual preference, religious thought, and the like) would be missing and something would not be… complete. Independence is a good thing, and being an individual is something I would always champion and instill as a definite necessity in life, but with that comes the understanding individuality is not the individuality I WANT. Humans, in some ways (be it fear, misunderstanding, a lack of direction of the world at the moment), have gone so far to the extreme (in trying to show how we are all different), we have lost the similarities of our species. We spend most of our lives fighting to be equal (in the eyes of everyone else), that we often forget that fundamentally we already are. An easy thing to say perhaps, but if we only look at equality in terms of labels, laws and legislation, I fail to see how we are actually equal at all. We are only equal in terms of what the labels (that restrict us) tell all of us we are equal in. The independence we so dearly long for, the equality we so passionately fight for has, in many ways made us more cynical than ever. I just hope some day we can all collectively say… STOP
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Cynical Notions of a Nihilistic Existence

or……

Why I think There is Light at the End of the Tunnel (if only we can see the light)….

If one were to look at the world today and see what is happening with the populations of many countries, is it a stretch to say that as a species, we are entering (or more correctly have entered) the age of the perpetual cynical thought?

Oh sure, people have said that time and time again down through history. Each generation has its galvanizing events, its watershed moments, its “fight the power” battle cry event to rally behind, but it seems over the past two to three years, every idea, every glimmer of hope, every statement made by an authority figure is to be questioned, dissected, ripped apart and then subsequently… dismissed with a scoff and a notion that “that person has no idea what they are talking about, how could anyone ever trust them”?

The first decade of the new millennium was not a good one for the global collective. 911 threw the United States into a tailspin of paranoia, revenge and protectionist patriotic fever that echoed throughout the world and in some ways brought about (eventual) progress (the Arab Spring) but also paradox-ly decline (the patriot act of the United States, a growing resentment from many corners of the world to the seen notion of a world police, a me against them mentality that has festered throughout society as a whole, a war without end a faceless enemy and a fighting for something no one clearly really understands anymore). Climate change began to (more than ever before) really show us a future that (deny its existence as happening or not) could be very costly, bleak and deadly if we do not take a step back and really re-access how we interact with this planet. Economies collapsed, much of the western world came to the brink of economic implosion, and all the while in the back of many a mind was the thought of consolidating what was now a foreseeable (not in our lifetime, but more than ever before in a real understood reality) exhaustion of the non renewable resources we so diligently suck off the teet of at an every increasing rate. The East was on the rise, the west in decline. New power structures were coming into play. Governments it seemed no longer control or even run countries anymore, nor dictate policy. Public opinion poles and talking head TV are the new media with corporations and big business the new kingpin on the playground.

The election of Barack Obama was seen as one of these watershed moments… this great hope and savior, not just for the United States, but a symbol for the rest of the world. Big shoes to fill indeed, and when things started to go from bad to worse (economically speaking) for many areas of the world, and the practices of the decade (plus) before him really came to show their true side effects (of the free market everything), his bumper sticker “change” slogan started to become more of a joke, a rally cry for those whom opposed him (or became disillusioned), and one of the greatest pimp tag lines to grace the airwaves since the“Where’s the Beef”Burger King ad of the 80’s.

Issues laid dormant or bubbling at the surface began to rear their ugly heads and take over the collective consciousness…., racism, religious misunderstanding/intolerance, economic disparency, the eroding working class, a lost generation of youth… so many issues, but with no real answers (and fighting people from all sides of the spectrum), he became burden with so much aspirations by so many in such diverse regions of the world, was it too much to expect that all that everyone else wanted (and thought his election would bring about) would come to pass? If anything, the election of Barack Obama, at least in some quarters of the world gave them a scapegoat for their own problems and shortcomings, in short, Obama became the lighten-rod in the rainstorm… easily detectable and open to hits from all sides. Not “liberal”/ “conservative” enough, not black enough/not white enough, not religious enough/not scientific enough, not helping the poor, not releasing the rich to do what we are told they do for the rest of us. Not bringing about world peace (isn’t that what a Nobel peace prise is for now-a-days?), not speeding up the road to a more even playing ground for everyone. When the Change and Hope that was blasted (and rooted firmly in the human collective) did not come about in ways WE all wanted it to happen, the cynicism set in even deeper.

Generation X and, even more so, the generation following it (those born 1984-2000) has grown up an extremely nihilistic generation. I do not mean nihilistic in the way The Big Lebowski means it (where they care about nothing), but instead in what I believe to be the mantra of nihilism: de omnibus dubitandum (“everything is to be doubted”). Many people associate this saying with Descartes, but I believe in many ways it is Nietzsche that understood the real impact of the term.

In the beginning of Beyond Good and Evil Nietzsche uses this term and applies it to all previous Enlightenment thinkers, including Descartes. He argues that Descartes, Kant, Rousseau, and even Hume all took this mantra for granted by never questioning their own existence, their own thinking, their own absolutes, or in the case of Kant, his own synthetic a priori judgments and categorical imperatives. Nietzsche, instead, vehemently stood up for the idea that we should question everything AND that we may not come up with an answer to the question – we should simply question.

It seems to me that logically if one were to only exhibit this type of thinking at all times it would (sooner or later) lead to cynicism, and while I do enjoy the writings of Nietzsche, and do think he has things to say on many idea of our thinking, I do believe it would be hard pressed for anyone to say that he does not suffer from at least a bit of a cynical nature. (at least that is what I have found in Nietzsche’s writing). Nietzsche is perhaps best summarized in his book The Antichrist in which he states that Buddhism is the best of all religions, because it ultimately believes in nothing. (this thought of his I do take issue with as if he was to believe in his own questioning then even the idea of … nothing… is the belief of …something… and Buddhism is a religion based on a large number of beliefs, but more a letting go of all of them to obtain this nothingness, but perhaps that in itself is a thought that comes from eastern thinking more than from western, but I digrees…)

This attitude (the cynical, belief in “nothing”) has permeated American and many other Western cultures in recent years more than ever before (at least in my lifetime it seems) –and I dare say I don’t think we have seen it blossom fully, (but the stage is set for a full blooming). We are watching the rise of a generation of “know-nothings” and “care nots.” They are against war, not because they are pacifists, but because they believe there is nothing worth fighting for. They are against government, not because they don’t care about politics, but because they think no one tells them the truth anyway so why bother. They are against thinkers not because they disagree with what they say (per-say), but because they are not like them and they feel they talk down to them and see themselves as better. And more and more it seems they are against something not because they believe (or even understand the entire picture), but because they just… feel… it is not the right and it needs to be questioned… just because.

They have lost an idea of what it means to be “human” so they attempt to fill this void with materialism, their jobs, money, or indulgences in whatever they see as “filling he void”

This is a generation raised to question everything, and rightfully so – they have been lied to time and time again, and they have seen what it takes to make it in this world… power, money, money, corruption, a good lawyer, money, good lobbyist, money, good PR, money, a good catch phrase, the right look, the proper clothes, car, watch, shoes and………… money.

Worse, however, is that the media/PR industry has manipulated this generation. They have been promised to “buy this,” “do that,” “say this,” “listen to that,” “enjoy this,” “reject that,” “act this way,” “be free,” and so on. They have been cheated by their own technologies, promising them greater access but delivering less substance. Yet, in all of this they have not found true fulfillment. Realizing that there is no fulfillment in these actions, they are cynical of anything that appears to be an illusion, and now a days it seems that most things are just that… an illusion for most.

The French postmodernist, Jean Baudrillard claimed that America is Disneyland. At Disneyland all the employees are actors, trained to be happy all the time, always nice, always dressed a certain way, always acting a certain way. Baudrillard argued that the media has turned America into this atmosphere and that youth are now fed an illusion of what it is to be human (to use his term, “a simulacrum”). Thus, this nihilistic generation has grown tired of the facade that they’ve been fed and reject all things, believing them to be an illusion –They (Americans in particular) are told time and again that their country is number one , but when they look around them these days they can see how much many other areas of the world have passed them by in so many ways, but they still hold tight to their cynicism and blame… not only their own governments but the people of the other nations (for things they, those people of those nations… had no control over and in most instances are just people like the cynical, trying to etch out a life and existence, and trying to live in this new world of the globalized facade of the American dream… the thing that has long since passed most people by),

Enter the Church/Mosque/Temple (whatever the place of worship may be) that, for all intents and purposes, is failing miserably to not only reach out, but to even understand the problem. The Church (specifically) is still stuck in this idea that everyone comes to the world through Judeo-Christian eyes and that if it can offer enough evidence that Christianity is true, or if it can rationally prove Christianity (in its own ideas of what rationally proving it would be), it will be enough. Other religions do the same with their own thoughts. Most (western/the big three) religions bluntly state they are the right one, and even eastern religions, while not overtly preaching they are THE ones like the west (it is all about cultural differences and imposing by not overtly doing so), they too talk about how one needs to let go of what one has to be a better person… to be something more than they are now. To obtain. Some go even further to think that if they just tell people to read the book of their faith, or if they just preach a sermon that addresses their Gospel, that will win the people over. Religion (believe in it or not… that is not the issue I am raising), in many ways has ended up being just another illusion. The worship band plays, the concert is neat, the programs are excellent, but a nihilistic generation sees through this pseudo-religion for what it really is; a spiritual social club.

So what is this generation to do?

Before answering that question, let us stop for a moment, as there seems to be one group missing from this “blame game” we are playing. The one that is most often left out when we discuss such broad issues of the world… oh yes, now I know, it is the biggest group of all.

The group we are missing is… ourselves…

The paradox of all this thinking is the fact that no matter what a person may say… they do believe in something, all persons do. It is inherently in us to believe. Be it science, religion, philosophy, astrology, alien-esq like thinking, humans are hard-drived to believe in something… and also it seems, to reject, fear, be wary of those whom do not see things in the same way. So it seems that in many ways it is Humans (not the media, not the religion, not the economics, the racism, the sexism, the homophobia… the list goes on and on and on), it is humans and their own thoughts, their own self-ego and conscious thought that is the problem and is the enemy of us all.

Human beings are not logical thinkers. Not instinctively. We are guided more by emotions, intuition, the unknown, fear, hatred, (in) security and the like. We are guided by the most illogical side of our being more than by the logical. It makes for a strange bedfellow, for without this side of the self I believe it be safe to say that great works of art, great pieces of music, great volumes of books, great feats of architecture, great discoveries of mind… all the things that make us whom we are, may never had been discovered without this side (the one that fights us and our individualistic notions at every turn)

So again, I have to ask… what is this generation to do? I am asking the question, not posing the answer, for I can’t, if I had them them I would be “God”, the thing Scientists quote, the thought thinkers would write about, the thing children would dream of being…

But in a strange way, I am all of those things, as are you and everyone else. For it is WE, all of us that is this idea of the human collective, and like it or not if we were not all here, in some way something (no matter what you think of a person for their colour, race, sexual preference, religious thought, and the like) would be missing and something would not be… complete.

Independence is a good thing, and being an individual is something I would always champion and instill as a definite necessity in life, but with that comes the understanding individuality is not the individuality I WANT.

Humans, in some ways (be it fear, misunderstanding, a lack of direction of the world at the moment), have gone so far to the extreme (in trying to show how we are all different), we have lost the similarities of our species. We spend most of our lives fighting to be equal (in the eyes of everyone else), that we often forget that fundamentally we already are. An easy thing to say perhaps, but if we only look at equality in terms of labels, laws and legislation, I fail to see how we are actually equal at all. We are only equal in terms of what the labels (that restrict us) tell all of us we are equal in.

The independence we so dearly long for, the equality we so passionately fight for has, in many ways made us more cynical than ever.

I just hope some day we can all collectively say… STOP

A Dose of Sanity… Part Nine When I watch the debate in the United States on their “taking heads” news shows about the issue of contraceptives and religious medical institutions having to provide them under their health care plan, and I see the leaders of religions (oddly enough it seems they are all men doing the talking for both sexes), equating it to the slippery slope of Nazi Germany, the persecution of the Church, and other such sensationalists ramblings I can’t help but think of that spoiled one-child-in-the-family-syndrome. Use to getting what they want in their own way in life, and when one thing does not go their way, they scream… “Persecution!!!!, why are you not listening to me”?. To say that the Catholic Church (and religion in general) in the United States is under attack is like saying the United States has an inferior military. In fact the two seem the perfect metaphor for each other. Both are larger, have more control, power, money and influence than the combined (for the church) thoughts (for the military) forces of the next fifteen (or more) behind them…. and both are constantly saying how much they never have enough and are always under attack. Is not crying about someone trying to push their values on you while you are using the exact same tatics in your argument against theirs (but saying yours is “different… because it is gods laws”) strange to only me? Silly, silly humans. For a country that is constantly on the guard and pointing out the zealots of other nations in their religious ideologies, it seems many a person there turn a blind eye to their own. ……Or maybe that is just the perception of a person whom does not live there and can see outside “the bubble”
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A Dose of Sanity… Part Nine

When I watch the debate in the United States on their “taking heads” news shows about the issue of contraceptives and religious medical institutions having to provide them under their health care plan, and I see the leaders of religions (oddly enough it seems they are all men doing the talking for both sexes), equating it to the slippery slope of Nazi Germany, the persecution of the Church, and other such sensationalists ramblings I can’t help but think of that spoiled one-child-in-the-family-syndrome. Use to getting what they want in their own way in life, and when one thing does not go their way, they scream… “Persecution!!!!, why are you not listening to me”?.

To say that the Catholic Church (and religion in general) in the United States is under attack is like saying the United States has an inferior military. In fact the two seem the perfect metaphor for each other. Both are larger, have more control, power, money and influence than the combined (for the church) thoughts (for the military) forces of the next fifteen (or more) behind them…. and both are constantly saying how much they never have enough and are always under attack.

Is not crying about someone trying to push their values on you while you are using the exact same tatics in your argument against theirs (but saying yours is “different… because it is gods laws”) strange to only me? Silly, silly humans.

For a country that is constantly on the guard and pointing out the zealots of other nations in their religious ideologies, it seems many a person there turn a blind eye to their own.

……Or maybe that is just the perception of a person whom does not live there and can see outside “the bubble”

Well, Isn’t it that ironic Part Three: …. and the home of the free….. The anthem seems to be a bit of a fallacy these days as the country whom spews the idea of the home of the free now has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world…. and has anyone ever stopped to REALLY ask why? And who says there are no job creators in the United States?!?!  (wait, do the 1% now own the jails… if so, I apologize… I guess you really DO create jobs)
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Well, Isn’t it that ironic

Part Three:

…. and the home of the free…..

The anthem seems to be a bit of a fallacy these days as the country whom spews the idea of the home of the free now has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world…. and has anyone ever stopped to REALLY ask why?

And who says there are no job creators in the United States?!?!  (wait, do the 1% now own the jails… if so, I apologize… I guess you really DO create jobs)

Sustainability also means paying the bills….  If I ran up a 14 billion plus credit card bill debt collectors would certainly be knocking at my door…
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Sustainability also means paying the bills….  If I ran up a 14 billion plus credit card bill debt collectors would certainly be knocking at my door…