Book 66
INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION (35-45)
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
35. On Culture
In one of my favorite episodes of the American syndication of the show The Office, the office boss, Michael Scott, has invited the property manager for their building, Billy, to give a little talk in the conference room to all the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton branch. Billy has his own agenda as it relates to daily business for the office Park, however, the uncouth Michael highlights the fact that Billy is paraplegic and has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of four.
Billy makes an upbeat joke about “hopping into” his chair in the morning, but the unflinchingly ignorant Michael Scott scolds his co-workers for their friendly laughter. You see, Michael sees no cause for celebration in someone being paraplegic, and in his perpetual petulance Michael believes that the disability makes Billy lesser than others.
I have had reason to consider Micheal Scott’s cringeworthy attitude in times when activists scream bloody murder regarding “cultural appropriation”. In the recent past, online stores have been boycotted for selling Pocahontas Halloween costumes, as well as individuals being hounded and harassed on the street for donning the traditional garb of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos celebration.
What gives? My family fled Ireland during the Potato Famine, which killed over one million people while decimating a distinct culture, yet you don’t see me becoming irate during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and I certainly don’t run up to revelers aggressively while interrogating them as to whether they appreciate how the shamrock reflects historical traumas for my people. My lack of negative response is due to the fact that I recognize St. Patrick’s Day revelers as celebrating Irish culture.
Laughing at Billy’s joke was a friendly way to celebrate that he was living an inspired life through his unique physical condition. Pocahontas-styled costumes and Day of the Dead adornments celebrate the diversity of cultural expression. Perhaps, those who are offended are much like Michael Scott, and they see absolutely no reason to celebrate those foreign cultures just as Michael understood Billy’s culture of being in a wheelchair to be a shameful disability.
Ironically, the activists who rally against what they perceive to be problematic cultural appropriation are revealing their deep-seated prejudices regarding the status of exotic cultures and those exotic people as being disabled and lesser. Either that, or uncheerful activists are simply jealous that others know how to have fun and celebrate the diversity of life. Six of one, I suppose.
35. On Culture
In one of my favorite episodes of the American syndication of the show The Office, the office boss, Michael Scott, has invited the property manager for their building, Billy, to give a little talk in the conference room to all the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton branch. Billy has his own agenda as it relates to daily business for the office Park, however, the uncouth Michael highlights the fact that Billy is paraplegic and has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of four.
Billy makes an upbeat joke about “hopping into” his chair in the morning, but the unflinchingly ignorant Michael Scott scolds his co-workers for their friendly laughter. You see, Michael sees no cause for celebration in someone being paraplegic, and in his perpetual petulance Michael believes that the disability makes Billy lesser than others.
I have had reason to consider Micheal Scott’s cringeworthy attitude in times when activists scream bloody murder regarding “cultural appropriation”. In the recent past, online stores have been boycotted for selling Pocahontas Halloween costumes, as well as individuals being hounded and harassed on the street for donning the traditional garb of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos celebration.
What gives? My family fled Ireland during the Potato Famine, which killed over one million people while decimating a distinct culture, yet you don’t see me becoming irate during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and I certainly don’t run up to revelers aggressively while interrogating them as to whether they appreciate how the shamrock reflects historical traumas for my people. My lack of negative response is due to the fact that I recognize St. Patrick’s Day revelers as celebrating Irish culture.
Laughing at Billy’s joke was a friendly way to celebrate that he was living an inspired life through his unique physical condition. Pocahontas-styled costumes and Day of the Dead adornments celebrate the diversity of cultural expression. Perhaps, those who are offended are much like Michael Scott, and they see absolutely no reason to celebrate those foreign cultures just as Michael understood Billy’s culture of being in a wheelchair to be a shameful disability.
Ironically, the activists who rally against what they perceive to be problematic cultural appropriation are revealing their deep-seated prejudices regarding the status of exotic cultures and those exotic people as being disabled and lesser. Either that, or uncheerful activists are simply jealous that others know how to have fun and celebrate the diversity of life. Six of one, I suppose.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
36. On Preparation
The 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, was terrifying to watch. The shooter had put a GoPro camera on his helmet and recorded the massacre. However, mainstream media and Western governments banned the seventeen minutes of footage from being available to the public based on the hypothesis of a “contagion effect” from exposure to this kind of disturbing footage.
The contagion effect presupposes that video footage of atrocities can act as propaganda and encourage others who watch it to mimic the criminal acts. Scientists have noted a contagion effect as real, however, the effect is short-lasting. I was able to watch the Christchurch footage through alternative news sources, and it was highly informative and educational.
In fact, I determined that this kind of footage must be made available to the public once the contagion effect period of time has passed (usually, days). The reason that I want everyone to watch a homicidal maniac graphically murder dozens of defenseless people follows the principle that forewarned is forearmed.
In the Christchurch footage, many of the victims inside the mosque believed that they could “play dead” to save themselves. They hid under bodies and lay through doorways hoping they wouldn’t be noticed. However, we learned from the footage that this strategy developed through a naïve imagination is of no practical use. The shooter returned and checked his victims, then finishing off those who were playing possum.
Additionally, it became obvious from the footage that the only high percentage play for success when confronted with a single shooter is to mob them. I have watched footage of several domestic terrorist shooting massacres, and I can confidently claim that mobbing shooters would reduce the victim count by 500% or more. There is no doubt in my mind that some innocents would be killed through this strategy, but many others would be saved. Mobbing armed gunmen is not an intuitive thought unless you have observed the patterns through being exposed to footage of multiple instances of mass shootings.
Governments should consider being laxer on shunning and shadowbanning alternative news sources, and officials should become more willing to serve the best interests of citizens through encouraging education and planning for worst-case scenarios. That is my only real point here.
36. On Preparation
The 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, was terrifying to watch. The shooter had put a GoPro camera on his helmet and recorded the massacre. However, mainstream media and Western governments banned the seventeen minutes of footage from being available to the public based on the hypothesis of a “contagion effect” from exposure to this kind of disturbing footage.
The contagion effect presupposes that video footage of atrocities can act as propaganda and encourage others who watch it to mimic the criminal acts. Scientists have noted a contagion effect as real, however, the effect is short-lasting. I was able to watch the Christchurch footage through alternative news sources, and it was highly informative and educational.
In fact, I determined that this kind of footage must be made available to the public once the contagion effect period of time has passed (usually, days). The reason that I want everyone to watch a homicidal maniac graphically murder dozens of defenseless people follows the principle that forewarned is forearmed.
In the Christchurch footage, many of the victims inside the mosque believed that they could “play dead” to save themselves. They hid under bodies and lay through doorways hoping they wouldn’t be noticed. However, we learned from the footage that this strategy developed through a naïve imagination is of no practical use. The shooter returned and checked his victims, then finishing off those who were playing possum.
Additionally, it became obvious from the footage that the only high percentage play for success when confronted with a single shooter is to mob them. I have watched footage of several domestic terrorist shooting massacres, and I can confidently claim that mobbing shooters would reduce the victim count by 500% or more. There is no doubt in my mind that some innocents would be killed through this strategy, but many others would be saved. Mobbing armed gunmen is not an intuitive thought unless you have observed the patterns through being exposed to footage of multiple instances of mass shootings.
Governments should consider being laxer on shunning and shadowbanning alternative news sources, and officials should become more willing to serve the best interests of citizens through encouraging education and planning for worst-case scenarios. That is my only real point here.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
37. On Pets
Since the 2007 pet food recalls, pet owners and consumers have become increasingly aware of the nature of the pet retail business. Multinational conglomerate corporations have come under fire for the way their pet divisions have been irresponsibly sourcing and processing ingredients for dog and cat food formula. The move by pet owners toward greater conscientiousness in how they care for their pets has put a small dent in the reckless business practices of the multinationals.
However, diabetes is still one of the top killers of domestic cats and dogs (if not the number one, year to year) and it has nothing to do with the ancestral genetics of the animals. Cat and dogs are predisposed to diabetes only when they are being fed too many carbohydrates, and carbs are not part of their ancestral diet.
The pet divisions of multinationals have always privileged maximizing the conversion of by-product waste of manufacturing for human-based products to products for other markets, such as the pet market. In short, the multinational corporation’s pet food is glorified garbage.
How do they get away with it? There are many methods, including, providing specially-packaged pet food to vet clinics at razor-thin margins allowing the vet clinics to stay economically-viable. In turn, the vets stand by the food. However, multinational conglomerates and veterinarians are not conspiring against pet owners. Pet owners are largely complicit with the sordid affair.
The following contentious claim can be debated, but I will state it as follows: cats and dogs on the multinationals junk-food pet diets become underdeveloped mentally and physically resulting in placid natures where they are then easy to control.
Furthermore, pet owners would prefer a “retarded” pet over one that has the keen mind to judge their owner and then exhibit defiant wilfulness against their owner. Dogs on prepared raw diets have high-energy and sharp minds – these types of dogs have to respect their owners as people to exhibit obedience.
Thus, I would argue that overall pet owners implicitly license multinationals and veterinarians to manufacture and distribute poor formula not just because it is economically inviting, but mostly for the result of it quasi-lobotomizing pets and rendering them highly manageable. These are contentious claims that I would stand by until proven wrong through a variety of empirical-based studies.
37. On Pets
Since the 2007 pet food recalls, pet owners and consumers have become increasingly aware of the nature of the pet retail business. Multinational conglomerate corporations have come under fire for the way their pet divisions have been irresponsibly sourcing and processing ingredients for dog and cat food formula. The move by pet owners toward greater conscientiousness in how they care for their pets has put a small dent in the reckless business practices of the multinationals.
However, diabetes is still one of the top killers of domestic cats and dogs (if not the number one, year to year) and it has nothing to do with the ancestral genetics of the animals. Cat and dogs are predisposed to diabetes only when they are being fed too many carbohydrates, and carbs are not part of their ancestral diet.
The pet divisions of multinationals have always privileged maximizing the conversion of by-product waste of manufacturing for human-based products to products for other markets, such as the pet market. In short, the multinational corporation’s pet food is glorified garbage.
How do they get away with it? There are many methods, including, providing specially-packaged pet food to vet clinics at razor-thin margins allowing the vet clinics to stay economically-viable. In turn, the vets stand by the food. However, multinational conglomerates and veterinarians are not conspiring against pet owners. Pet owners are largely complicit with the sordid affair.
The following contentious claim can be debated, but I will state it as follows: cats and dogs on the multinationals junk-food pet diets become underdeveloped mentally and physically resulting in placid natures where they are then easy to control.
Furthermore, pet owners would prefer a “retarded” pet over one that has the keen mind to judge their owner and then exhibit defiant wilfulness against their owner. Dogs on prepared raw diets have high-energy and sharp minds – these types of dogs have to respect their owners as people to exhibit obedience.
Thus, I would argue that overall pet owners implicitly license multinationals and veterinarians to manufacture and distribute poor formula not just because it is economically inviting, but mostly for the result of it quasi-lobotomizing pets and rendering them highly manageable. These are contentious claims that I would stand by until proven wrong through a variety of empirical-based studies.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
38. On Yielding
After playing video games for over three decades, I have enjoyed the greater representation of women in games from generation to generation of video game consoles. Some of my favorite game characters of all time are female, including, Mission Vao in Star Wars KOTOR, Terra Branford in Final Fantasy VI, Kait Diaz in Gears 5, Diana Burnwood in the Hitman series, and Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil series. Additionally, when I am granted the opportunity to craft an original avatar for the game, sometimes I make mine a female, such as, in Sunset Overdrive, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and the Saints Row series.
However, I have noticed that it is only video games with the third-person perspective where I craft my female avatars, and I have reasoned that I do this because I am titillated by the visual display of an attractive, powerful woman. My female avatars are pretty and feminine – but they kick ass. I believe that my discrimination for only creating female avatars when I can gaze at them through third-person perspective is related to the fact that women are not objects in real life despite it being a heterosexual male fantasy that they could become that. For the first time in my life I am “controlling” a beautiful woman, and not the other way around. It is a temptation that cannot be denied.
The representation of female through the avatar is one that yields to my commands although I remain the one yielding to the beauty itself. I’m sure that I am not the only male who feels this way and I have noted recently in the mobile game, Street Fighter: Duel, that player spending skyrockets any time a new attractive female character is added to the game and made available to the community through premium purchases.
The ubiquity of this yielding effect has me pondering why feminists in game studies seem so determined to push the idea that men choose to play as females in video games because they are “exploring” their gender identification. I think that this hypothesis is the farthest from the truth and could only explain motivations for a sliver of male players. Still, the beating of that activist drum persists within the field of game studies. I wish it too would yield – to reality.
38. On Yielding
After playing video games for over three decades, I have enjoyed the greater representation of women in games from generation to generation of video game consoles. Some of my favorite game characters of all time are female, including, Mission Vao in Star Wars KOTOR, Terra Branford in Final Fantasy VI, Kait Diaz in Gears 5, Diana Burnwood in the Hitman series, and Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil series. Additionally, when I am granted the opportunity to craft an original avatar for the game, sometimes I make mine a female, such as, in Sunset Overdrive, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and the Saints Row series.
However, I have noticed that it is only video games with the third-person perspective where I craft my female avatars, and I have reasoned that I do this because I am titillated by the visual display of an attractive, powerful woman. My female avatars are pretty and feminine – but they kick ass. I believe that my discrimination for only creating female avatars when I can gaze at them through third-person perspective is related to the fact that women are not objects in real life despite it being a heterosexual male fantasy that they could become that. For the first time in my life I am “controlling” a beautiful woman, and not the other way around. It is a temptation that cannot be denied.
The representation of female through the avatar is one that yields to my commands although I remain the one yielding to the beauty itself. I’m sure that I am not the only male who feels this way and I have noted recently in the mobile game, Street Fighter: Duel, that player spending skyrockets any time a new attractive female character is added to the game and made available to the community through premium purchases.
The ubiquity of this yielding effect has me pondering why feminists in game studies seem so determined to push the idea that men choose to play as females in video games because they are “exploring” their gender identification. I think that this hypothesis is the farthest from the truth and could only explain motivations for a sliver of male players. Still, the beating of that activist drum persists within the field of game studies. I wish it too would yield – to reality.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
39. On Acronyms
The unwieldy LGBT acronym (currently, LGBTQQIP2SA, or 2SLGBTQI+) has a built-in pejorative connotation, semiotically. Firstly, the sprawling acronym is alienating to anyone who does not identify with the ideology by nature – it operates as a “GET OUT” warning sign, which is likely the opposite of what was intended. Young girls in school often develop a secret language of acronyms to keep parents, teachers, and boys “out” of their affairs and their world.
Don’t get me wrong though, because an acronym doesn’t have to have a smooth semantic reading for its interpreters. Not every acronym will form as an independent usable word, such as NATO. For example, USMC cannot be sounded out as a word unless you were a Czech poet. There are no rules on creating acronyms, and an acronym can read as a form of literal gibberish.
However, acronyms that assemble their individual symbolic letters into a usable word also foster a cultural-based recognition where people can understand the acronym holistically. The acronym, POTUS, has a sum which precedes the parts in meaning, and the sum becomes a metonym for what the parts signify when assembled as a statement – President of the United States.
The never-ending LGBT acronym denotes fragmentation – parts at odds with each other, resisting each other, and refusing each other. The parts do not neatly stand together to symbolize a whole. The parts shuffle around and alter their appearance, in short, the parts suggest untrustworthiness. The acronym is alien and references nothing else in language that is familiar.
Perhaps, the LGBT movement would be best served through adoption of a symbol in place of an acronym, much the same way that musician, Prince, substituted the modified Egyptian ankh for his name. At present, the LGBT acronym suggests that the only consolidated aspect of the movement is that it is defined through being oppositional, adversarial, and not fitting in.
We can imagine that this is all trivial and that the issue I have raised will sort itself out in time. A century from now the LGBT movement might have developed their own Esperanto-style language which sounds like gibberish to those who don’t identify with the ideology by nature – the LGBT acronym will just be another word in that new language. Still, “the movement formerly known as…” is as good as any other title, I suppose.
39. On Acronyms
The unwieldy LGBT acronym (currently, LGBTQQIP2SA, or 2SLGBTQI+) has a built-in pejorative connotation, semiotically. Firstly, the sprawling acronym is alienating to anyone who does not identify with the ideology by nature – it operates as a “GET OUT” warning sign, which is likely the opposite of what was intended. Young girls in school often develop a secret language of acronyms to keep parents, teachers, and boys “out” of their affairs and their world.
Don’t get me wrong though, because an acronym doesn’t have to have a smooth semantic reading for its interpreters. Not every acronym will form as an independent usable word, such as NATO. For example, USMC cannot be sounded out as a word unless you were a Czech poet. There are no rules on creating acronyms, and an acronym can read as a form of literal gibberish.
However, acronyms that assemble their individual symbolic letters into a usable word also foster a cultural-based recognition where people can understand the acronym holistically. The acronym, POTUS, has a sum which precedes the parts in meaning, and the sum becomes a metonym for what the parts signify when assembled as a statement – President of the United States.
The never-ending LGBT acronym denotes fragmentation – parts at odds with each other, resisting each other, and refusing each other. The parts do not neatly stand together to symbolize a whole. The parts shuffle around and alter their appearance, in short, the parts suggest untrustworthiness. The acronym is alien and references nothing else in language that is familiar.
Perhaps, the LGBT movement would be best served through adoption of a symbol in place of an acronym, much the same way that musician, Prince, substituted the modified Egyptian ankh for his name. At present, the LGBT acronym suggests that the only consolidated aspect of the movement is that it is defined through being oppositional, adversarial, and not fitting in.
We can imagine that this is all trivial and that the issue I have raised will sort itself out in time. A century from now the LGBT movement might have developed their own Esperanto-style language which sounds like gibberish to those who don’t identify with the ideology by nature – the LGBT acronym will just be another word in that new language. Still, “the movement formerly known as…” is as good as any other title, I suppose.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
40. On Liberalism
Politically, the world is ruled by false dichotomies. People set themselves up on linear spectra in order to define their political alignment. Although, these spectra have outliers (constituting a plane), the vast majority of people identify as either “right-wing” conservative, “left-wing” socialist, or “centrist” liberal.
The facile distribution belies the true issue that most people find that being politically enfranchised is tiresome and a bore. People want representative democracy, and they will tolerate a fair amount of corruption simply to avoid having to address political issues themselves. In fact, many Iraqis lament the end of Saddam Hussein’s totalitarian rule because the total lack of political enfranchisement for citizens also brought a certain stability that has not existed in their nation in over twenty years.
So, we can conclude that generally, people are lazy when it comes to politics – picking from three positions is sufficient in most cases. However, the liberals seek to occupy a position on the simple political spectrum that is a fulcrum for the teetering political system as a whole. Through economic or social shifts, it can become clear that there is political imbalance, and liberals shift either right or left to bring back some sense of equilibrium.
Recently, it seems that liberals have become full-fledged socialists. It feels problematic to many, but flame wars online will likely have little impact in making a necessary correction. If you are truly interested in bringing the liberal back to a central position, then it must be recognized that they shifted left politically to compensate for perceived imbalance to the right. Therefore, conservatives must change some of the radical aspects of the right-wing position to induce realignment for liberals.
One important step in the right direction is to recognize that capitalism is overall a workable system with many positive features consistent with human nature, however, laissez-faire capitalism privileges exploitation and sociopathy. We need the return of “trustbusters” like Teddy Roosevelt, instead of self-deprecating neurotics like Franklin D. Roosevelt who refused to put teeth back into the Sherman Anti-trust Act because he feared his political opponents, such as, Thomas Dewey, would convince Americans that FDR was an egomaniac.
The sooner we break up monopolies and duopolies, such as Disney in entertainment, or Marvel and DC in comic books and superhero movies, then the sooner we bring back balance to the political spectrum. No system can provide adequate conditions for progress when it is sundered internally. Currently, the world is a house divided politically.
40. On Liberalism
Politically, the world is ruled by false dichotomies. People set themselves up on linear spectra in order to define their political alignment. Although, these spectra have outliers (constituting a plane), the vast majority of people identify as either “right-wing” conservative, “left-wing” socialist, or “centrist” liberal.
The facile distribution belies the true issue that most people find that being politically enfranchised is tiresome and a bore. People want representative democracy, and they will tolerate a fair amount of corruption simply to avoid having to address political issues themselves. In fact, many Iraqis lament the end of Saddam Hussein’s totalitarian rule because the total lack of political enfranchisement for citizens also brought a certain stability that has not existed in their nation in over twenty years.
So, we can conclude that generally, people are lazy when it comes to politics – picking from three positions is sufficient in most cases. However, the liberals seek to occupy a position on the simple political spectrum that is a fulcrum for the teetering political system as a whole. Through economic or social shifts, it can become clear that there is political imbalance, and liberals shift either right or left to bring back some sense of equilibrium.
Recently, it seems that liberals have become full-fledged socialists. It feels problematic to many, but flame wars online will likely have little impact in making a necessary correction. If you are truly interested in bringing the liberal back to a central position, then it must be recognized that they shifted left politically to compensate for perceived imbalance to the right. Therefore, conservatives must change some of the radical aspects of the right-wing position to induce realignment for liberals.
One important step in the right direction is to recognize that capitalism is overall a workable system with many positive features consistent with human nature, however, laissez-faire capitalism privileges exploitation and sociopathy. We need the return of “trustbusters” like Teddy Roosevelt, instead of self-deprecating neurotics like Franklin D. Roosevelt who refused to put teeth back into the Sherman Anti-trust Act because he feared his political opponents, such as, Thomas Dewey, would convince Americans that FDR was an egomaniac.
The sooner we break up monopolies and duopolies, such as Disney in entertainment, or Marvel and DC in comic books and superhero movies, then the sooner we bring back balance to the political spectrum. No system can provide adequate conditions for progress when it is sundered internally. Currently, the world is a house divided politically.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
41. On Aliens
In 1974, the human race broadcasted the Arecibo message to the globular cluster Messier 13. The message carried a series of important information in binary code which functioned as an address stamp for planet Earth and our species. Later, in 1977, the Voyager spacecrafts carried the Voyager Golden Records which were phonograph records that contained sounds and images supposedly representative of life and culture on Earth. The intention of these kinds of interstellar messages has been varied, but one important goal has been communication with intelligent alien lifeforms.
The Voyager Golden Records included music sections by Mozart and Bach, as well as images from the written works of Isaac Newton. This strikes me as an odd way to introduce yourself to a new neighbor in the galaxy. Imagine for a moment, that the aliens picked up the message and headed toward our Sun to say hello. They might be expecting to meet a species populated with musical virtuosos and scientific geniuses.
Are we not misrepresenting ourselves? An intelligent alien species may feel that the dishonesty and vanity make it unsuitable for them to contact us and begin a cultural exchange. We kind of left out all the gritty details about Ted Bundy, Joseph Stalin, and Al Capone. We failed to warn the aliens that the human race has a major problem with rape and incest currently, and that our religious and educational institutions are riddled with sex abuse scandals. Some aliens might be quite shocked to learn the truth after discovering our flattering golden phonograph records and their aggrandizing claims on accomplishment.
Don’t get me wrong, because I would love to be invited to a dinner party with Galileo, Da Vinci, and Poe, however, if the “Monster of the Andes” Pedro Lopez was also present I might have to decline the invitation. This seems to be a reasonable rejection on my part, and I could imagine an alien species feeling similarly regarding involvement with human beings.
The reality of the human race is that Mozart and Newton are pretty alien themselves, in that they are so exceptional that they have become household names for centuries and for a population of billions. Fortunately, the notoriety of a Pedro Lopez is pretty exceptional as well.
A more reasonable approach to reaching out to the stars and introducing ourselves to galactic neighbors would be to privilege honesty and then represent our achievements through what is normative. Let us send out a series of children’s finger paintings, or perhaps, some love letters exchanged for an average romantic couple. Imagine that there are in fact advanced alien lifeforms available for cultural exchange, but they can’t justify contacting us when we are being dishonest with them, and with ourselves?
41. On Aliens
In 1974, the human race broadcasted the Arecibo message to the globular cluster Messier 13. The message carried a series of important information in binary code which functioned as an address stamp for planet Earth and our species. Later, in 1977, the Voyager spacecrafts carried the Voyager Golden Records which were phonograph records that contained sounds and images supposedly representative of life and culture on Earth. The intention of these kinds of interstellar messages has been varied, but one important goal has been communication with intelligent alien lifeforms.
The Voyager Golden Records included music sections by Mozart and Bach, as well as images from the written works of Isaac Newton. This strikes me as an odd way to introduce yourself to a new neighbor in the galaxy. Imagine for a moment, that the aliens picked up the message and headed toward our Sun to say hello. They might be expecting to meet a species populated with musical virtuosos and scientific geniuses.
Are we not misrepresenting ourselves? An intelligent alien species may feel that the dishonesty and vanity make it unsuitable for them to contact us and begin a cultural exchange. We kind of left out all the gritty details about Ted Bundy, Joseph Stalin, and Al Capone. We failed to warn the aliens that the human race has a major problem with rape and incest currently, and that our religious and educational institutions are riddled with sex abuse scandals. Some aliens might be quite shocked to learn the truth after discovering our flattering golden phonograph records and their aggrandizing claims on accomplishment.
Don’t get me wrong, because I would love to be invited to a dinner party with Galileo, Da Vinci, and Poe, however, if the “Monster of the Andes” Pedro Lopez was also present I might have to decline the invitation. This seems to be a reasonable rejection on my part, and I could imagine an alien species feeling similarly regarding involvement with human beings.
The reality of the human race is that Mozart and Newton are pretty alien themselves, in that they are so exceptional that they have become household names for centuries and for a population of billions. Fortunately, the notoriety of a Pedro Lopez is pretty exceptional as well.
A more reasonable approach to reaching out to the stars and introducing ourselves to galactic neighbors would be to privilege honesty and then represent our achievements through what is normative. Let us send out a series of children’s finger paintings, or perhaps, some love letters exchanged for an average romantic couple. Imagine that there are in fact advanced alien lifeforms available for cultural exchange, but they can’t justify contacting us when we are being dishonest with them, and with ourselves?
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
42. On Scripture
It is self-effacing that religious texts have zero association with God, unless one is willing to admit that God is a terrible personality. For example, the Ten Commandments is silent on explicitly condemning rape and sexual assault. Was God uncomfortable mentioning such things to his disciples? No, of course not, and we can clearly see that it is humans who feel shame and embarrassment around the topic of sex and sexuality.
So, did God believe that mentioning a prohibition on sex assault would embarrass humans, so he left it out of his miraculous proclamation to humans? This must be a terrible God then who would allow for ambiguity and vagueness on the issue of violating people sexually and ruining potentially the best part of life for them.
It is clear that religious scripture the world over has produced a tall tale about the nature of God, and it is one that only reflects the personal values of those who wrote those ancient texts. And what does it say about those guys if they thought it wasn’t appropriate to claim that God wanted rape illicit given how rampant and horrendous a crime it has been, historically? Someone like that – I wouldn’t believe a word they said about anything – clearly, they had ulterior motives.
42. On Scripture
It is self-effacing that religious texts have zero association with God, unless one is willing to admit that God is a terrible personality. For example, the Ten Commandments is silent on explicitly condemning rape and sexual assault. Was God uncomfortable mentioning such things to his disciples? No, of course not, and we can clearly see that it is humans who feel shame and embarrassment around the topic of sex and sexuality.
So, did God believe that mentioning a prohibition on sex assault would embarrass humans, so he left it out of his miraculous proclamation to humans? This must be a terrible God then who would allow for ambiguity and vagueness on the issue of violating people sexually and ruining potentially the best part of life for them.
It is clear that religious scripture the world over has produced a tall tale about the nature of God, and it is one that only reflects the personal values of those who wrote those ancient texts. And what does it say about those guys if they thought it wasn’t appropriate to claim that God wanted rape illicit given how rampant and horrendous a crime it has been, historically? Someone like that – I wouldn’t believe a word they said about anything – clearly, they had ulterior motives.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
43. On Quitting
They say, “quitters never win, and winners never quit”, but is it always true? In video game culture, “rage-quitting” is highlighted as an issue just as significant as cheating. However, is the rage-quitter stigma co-opted by cheaters to stigmatize those players who will not submit to having the enjoyment of their gaming experience stripped from them by selfish opportunists?
Cheating in video games has become sophisticated, and examples of ‘dark play’ can include, IP flooding, lag-switching, glitching-out, aim-bots, modding, and hacking. Why not quit if those kinds of cheats used against you are ruining the gaming experience? Perhaps, rage-quitting isn’t a problem at all, bur rather, it is a solution and holds the potential to pressure game developers to address cheating in their games and provide fixes or patches in order to stop exploitation by cheaters.
Therefore, the stigma of rage-quitter should be taken with a grain of salt, as it is likely applied by cheaters in order to discredit the quitter for exposing the cheating. To complain about quitting in the face of cheating would be equivalent to a juiced-up Mark McGuire or Barry Bonds complaining that baseball pitchers intentionally walk them. I would have enjoyed seeing pitchers refusing to pitch to McGuire and Bonds during those juiced-up years because it would have forced team owners to be more responsible when banning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in their sport.
However, the fans wanted those homerun derbies because baseball needed a facelift in the public’s imagination at that time. Can the same be said for the game industry at the moment? I would think that the game industry could afford to privilege fair play a bit more at present. Games are designed to be competitive, and play is to be equitable. Currently, many online gaming experiences are akin to chess tournaments if one of the two players was allowed two queens or could substitute rook for pawns. Arguably, the “uniqueness” of such a gaming experience does not substitute for the total lack of pleasure in playing with the opponent’s loaded dice.
I can imagine that one day the video game industry will be suffering the same issues that baseball endured in the late 1990s, and they too will need a facelift. The solution will probably come from generating more equitable play thus chasing off cheaters and fostering a community of skilled players that might even be labeled “rage-quitters” today.
43. On Quitting
They say, “quitters never win, and winners never quit”, but is it always true? In video game culture, “rage-quitting” is highlighted as an issue just as significant as cheating. However, is the rage-quitter stigma co-opted by cheaters to stigmatize those players who will not submit to having the enjoyment of their gaming experience stripped from them by selfish opportunists?
Cheating in video games has become sophisticated, and examples of ‘dark play’ can include, IP flooding, lag-switching, glitching-out, aim-bots, modding, and hacking. Why not quit if those kinds of cheats used against you are ruining the gaming experience? Perhaps, rage-quitting isn’t a problem at all, bur rather, it is a solution and holds the potential to pressure game developers to address cheating in their games and provide fixes or patches in order to stop exploitation by cheaters.
Therefore, the stigma of rage-quitter should be taken with a grain of salt, as it is likely applied by cheaters in order to discredit the quitter for exposing the cheating. To complain about quitting in the face of cheating would be equivalent to a juiced-up Mark McGuire or Barry Bonds complaining that baseball pitchers intentionally walk them. I would have enjoyed seeing pitchers refusing to pitch to McGuire and Bonds during those juiced-up years because it would have forced team owners to be more responsible when banning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in their sport.
However, the fans wanted those homerun derbies because baseball needed a facelift in the public’s imagination at that time. Can the same be said for the game industry at the moment? I would think that the game industry could afford to privilege fair play a bit more at present. Games are designed to be competitive, and play is to be equitable. Currently, many online gaming experiences are akin to chess tournaments if one of the two players was allowed two queens or could substitute rook for pawns. Arguably, the “uniqueness” of such a gaming experience does not substitute for the total lack of pleasure in playing with the opponent’s loaded dice.
I can imagine that one day the video game industry will be suffering the same issues that baseball endured in the late 1990s, and they too will need a facelift. The solution will probably come from generating more equitable play thus chasing off cheaters and fostering a community of skilled players that might even be labeled “rage-quitters” today.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
44. On Revision
History is written by the victors, and undoubtedly, we do not properly understand the reign of Alexander the Great, the purpose of the crusades, or the life of Galileo. We have mere glimpses of history through primary documents, yet not all textual evidence has survived. In the 20th century, our ability to distinguish historical myth from fact vastly improved and there was audiovisual evidence to ensure that tales didn’t get taller in the telling.
Having perused some primary documents during my studies, I have a different impression of some major historical events. Could it be that I have read between the lines but missed the point?
In 1918, Germany had suffered greatly at their hands of their enemies as the First World War concluded and the Treaty of Versailles was drafted as retributive such that it ensured a future confrontation between the “negotiating” parties. In 1919, the communists in Germany, coming off a successful revolution in Russia, made a strong bid for a socialist coup in disillusioned Germany.
The strong work ethic of the German people did not jibe with the bar-lowering and buck-passing tendencies of Marxists. The coup was suppressed. Arguably, German people became alert to the machinations of Marxist agitators, and likely the lumpenliberal mass shifted significantly to the right and toward conservatism. Later, the hardships of living during a global depression accompanied by the unfair conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, German people were ripe for plucking by a radical conservative organization – the Nazi party.
Without a real anxiety about German communism, would Adolf Hitler have become Chancellor in 1933? Additionally, France had its own problems with fascism and communism. France was so divided between supporting their own radical conservative party against the other parties, that the communist party of France approached Moscow for guidance. Through permission in Moscow, the French communists were allowed to team-up with the French liberals and they formed the Popular Front. France was divided down the middle, politically.
In fact, I have to question whether the vaunted Nazi blitzkrieg military attack was as awesome as the history books describe it, or whether many European nations were so exhausted from their internal political strife that the radical conservatives in those nations were somewhat inviting to Nazis suppressing the Marxists wherever they stormed.
Could it be that radical conservatives in France laid down their arms and fought half-assed against German invaders in 1940? Of course, this is all simply my interpretation of primary documents – a select collection at that – and I cannot support my hypotheses without the aid of well-informed historians. Still, in the least, it is fun to consider the alternative possibilities for what official history has coded as unassailable in their veracity to expound critical events.
44. On Revision
History is written by the victors, and undoubtedly, we do not properly understand the reign of Alexander the Great, the purpose of the crusades, or the life of Galileo. We have mere glimpses of history through primary documents, yet not all textual evidence has survived. In the 20th century, our ability to distinguish historical myth from fact vastly improved and there was audiovisual evidence to ensure that tales didn’t get taller in the telling.
Having perused some primary documents during my studies, I have a different impression of some major historical events. Could it be that I have read between the lines but missed the point?
In 1918, Germany had suffered greatly at their hands of their enemies as the First World War concluded and the Treaty of Versailles was drafted as retributive such that it ensured a future confrontation between the “negotiating” parties. In 1919, the communists in Germany, coming off a successful revolution in Russia, made a strong bid for a socialist coup in disillusioned Germany.
The strong work ethic of the German people did not jibe with the bar-lowering and buck-passing tendencies of Marxists. The coup was suppressed. Arguably, German people became alert to the machinations of Marxist agitators, and likely the lumpenliberal mass shifted significantly to the right and toward conservatism. Later, the hardships of living during a global depression accompanied by the unfair conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, German people were ripe for plucking by a radical conservative organization – the Nazi party.
Without a real anxiety about German communism, would Adolf Hitler have become Chancellor in 1933? Additionally, France had its own problems with fascism and communism. France was so divided between supporting their own radical conservative party against the other parties, that the communist party of France approached Moscow for guidance. Through permission in Moscow, the French communists were allowed to team-up with the French liberals and they formed the Popular Front. France was divided down the middle, politically.
In fact, I have to question whether the vaunted Nazi blitzkrieg military attack was as awesome as the history books describe it, or whether many European nations were so exhausted from their internal political strife that the radical conservatives in those nations were somewhat inviting to Nazis suppressing the Marxists wherever they stormed.
Could it be that radical conservatives in France laid down their arms and fought half-assed against German invaders in 1940? Of course, this is all simply my interpretation of primary documents – a select collection at that – and I cannot support my hypotheses without the aid of well-informed historians. Still, in the least, it is fun to consider the alternative possibilities for what official history has coded as unassailable in their veracity to expound critical events.
BOOK 66: INTENTION THROUGH MOTIVATION
45. On Consistency
There is a great speech by Mark Twain on the subject of consistency. He notes the ironic inconsistency in how society desires consistency from others. Twain remarks that when it comes to serving the interests of society or an institution then consistency is paramount, however, individual progress is defined as inconsistent by nature – we crawl, and then we are inconsistent in crawling because we learn to walk. Self-improvement defies consistency.
The issue of consistency has become important in recent years because of “cancel culture”. Malcontent agent provocateurs make a habit of drudging up old media posts so as to call-out, publicly shame, stigmatize, and ruin the lives of those they perceive to be their ideological enemies.
Disney has had a vexing relationship with director James Gunn because Gunn’s old social media posts were ferreted out by online trolls, and it was claimed that Gunn was a pedophile. As someone who has researched in the field of criminology, my analysis of the Gunn media posts indicated that he was a victim of child abuse and participating in a victim culture online. Nevertheless, Disney canned Gunn temporarily, and needless to say Gunn would have been going through an ordeal… again.
Yet, what do we make of Mr. Twain’s elucidation on the nature of (in)consistency? If James Gunn in 2010 was someone who made light of pedophilia (for whatever reason) then this is reprehensible, but by 2020 he had none of those old habits. He had developed his social skills online, and he had improved his character. This is commendable and he was practicing the kind of inconsistency which we all expect from each other as people grow-up. However, his past was inconsistent with present political agendas, especially those of his “woke” employer, Disney.
It seems that a society which would give credence to agitators who only seek to undermine the positive feature of inconsistency is also a society pandering to stagnation and flirting with ruin.
45. On Consistency
There is a great speech by Mark Twain on the subject of consistency. He notes the ironic inconsistency in how society desires consistency from others. Twain remarks that when it comes to serving the interests of society or an institution then consistency is paramount, however, individual progress is defined as inconsistent by nature – we crawl, and then we are inconsistent in crawling because we learn to walk. Self-improvement defies consistency.
The issue of consistency has become important in recent years because of “cancel culture”. Malcontent agent provocateurs make a habit of drudging up old media posts so as to call-out, publicly shame, stigmatize, and ruin the lives of those they perceive to be their ideological enemies.
Disney has had a vexing relationship with director James Gunn because Gunn’s old social media posts were ferreted out by online trolls, and it was claimed that Gunn was a pedophile. As someone who has researched in the field of criminology, my analysis of the Gunn media posts indicated that he was a victim of child abuse and participating in a victim culture online. Nevertheless, Disney canned Gunn temporarily, and needless to say Gunn would have been going through an ordeal… again.
Yet, what do we make of Mr. Twain’s elucidation on the nature of (in)consistency? If James Gunn in 2010 was someone who made light of pedophilia (for whatever reason) then this is reprehensible, but by 2020 he had none of those old habits. He had developed his social skills online, and he had improved his character. This is commendable and he was practicing the kind of inconsistency which we all expect from each other as people grow-up. However, his past was inconsistent with present political agendas, especially those of his “woke” employer, Disney.
It seems that a society which would give credence to agitators who only seek to undermine the positive feature of inconsistency is also a society pandering to stagnation and flirting with ruin.