Category: thoughts

A Manifesto For A New Environmentalism

By way of the Survival Acres Blog:

“Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, like Silent Spring, was considered powerful because it marshaled the facts into an effective (read: apocalyptic) story. But, ironically, for more than seven years, research that environmentalists have privately conducted on attitudes toward global warming has found the opposite: Cautionary tales and narratives of eco-apocalypse tend to provoke fatalism, conservatism, and survivalism among voters–not the rational embrace of environmental policies. This research is consistent with extensive social-science research that strongly correlates fear, rising insecurity, and pessimism about the future with resistance to change.

In promoting the inconvenient truth that humans must limit their consumption and sacrifice their way of life to prevent the world from ending, environmentalists are not only promoting a solution that won’t work, they’ve discouraged Americans from seeing the big solutions at all. For Americans to be future-oriented, generous, and expansive in their thinking, they must feel secure, wealthy, and strong.” (more…)

September 26, 2007
So about Ahmadinejad…

If I could think of one word by which I could express all the thoughts and feelings about Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University… I would probably not speak it, since I’d be too busy explaining people the meaning of life.

It’s just a bit overwhelming really… Let’s just take some of the things we’ve seen in the last 2 days or so.

– “Evil has landed“, very coloured headlines from US media, simply indicating how ‘balanced’ US media is;
– The awfully unprofessional and disrespectful introduction given by the Dean;
– Ahmadinejad reversing the terrorist issue, which I must say was a good point, but a half truth;
– Ahmadinejad actually making good points, such as calling for a referendum and explaining why Iran opposes the US (he did not deny that the Iran was aiding “terrorists” (defined by the US, NATO & a group of UN countries));
– The opportunity of hearing the opinion and views of a majority of the people in the Middle East when it comes to international affairs, and the way American and a lot of other international media simply refused to listen to this opinion;
– The threat of cutting public funding to Columbia University for letting this man speak.. I have nothing to say about this;

It just shows how caught up and fueled we are by propaganda and double-standards. The following is from an article of the Columbia Journalist: “Ahmadinejad made a mockery of the freedom of expression,” said Ari Gardner, a 22-year old student. “He took every single accusation against Iran and lodged it against the U.S. and the western world.”

Of course, dipshit. Has Iran attacked the U.S. before? No. Has the U.S. attacked Iran before? Yes. They have a very different view about current affairs than we do. By turning this around, he points it out, but by being so caught up in this whole “War on Terror” (what happened to “ism”?) you refuse to see the point. Actually, the “war on terror” is a perfect example of Orwellian psychology. Doesn’t war cause terror? Isn’t terror part of war? How can you fight against fighting?

The U.S. is the biggest defender of democracy and freedom, yet in the country itself, laws like the Patriot Act or other terrorism-related laws are breaking down freedom bit by bit from all sides possible. And democracy… Don’t start. The UN should have stepped in during the previous elections, because some strange things were going down. Exactly the type of things the international community sends UN observers to developing countries or former dictatorships for. U.S. democracy is run by money, friends and networks. The U.S. democracy is no better than Iran’s and I’m sure that if they could, these self-righteous, conservative, let’s-use-Jesus-as-an-excuse Republicans would love to execute homosexuals. I bet they envy Ahmadinejad.

So now I’m probably ‘abusing’ or ‘making a mockery’ out of freedom of speech, because I speak my mind freely, which is not what some people want. It seems like freedom of speech is only extended to those that have the least necessity for it. If there was no freedom of speech, they would be the only ones speaking.

It’s time for a change. Not through violence, but through courage and non-violence. Just look at the Burmese monks. Civil disobedience. Just stop taking the crap, just refuse. Don’t fight.

Holy shit, two police officers just came into my office… No idea what they were saying, it was in Bulgarian.. Something about “preventive” and “computers”. Maybe reading 1984 spooked me, but damn that’s scary when you’re typing a post like this. Wooh! Adrenaline rush, haha. I don’t know where I was going with the post, but I guess this is a good ending.

September 25, 2007
A tip for WordPress marketing

Notice that on the right-side of the frontpage you can see a list of tags. Next to this tag it says “more”, which will lead you to “Hot Topics” on WordPress. Use these as categories! If one of your categories is “Showbizz” for instance, see if there is a synonym that ranks higher, such as “Entertainment”. Use this instead. It will get you more page hits through category-tags. Especially with the addition/separation of categories and tags. Use the tags to be specific, use the categories to attract a broader group.

Specific: more likely to be a smaller group of visitors, but you can expect these visitors to be interested in the content.
Broad: more likely to be a bigger group of visitors, but expect a lot of them to not pay attention to the content so much.

Use both ways, especially if it’s this easy.

September 24, 2007
Compulsion

I might have a ‘problem’. I’m going to spill the beans to some people here, but in Holland I was smoking too much probably and I’m not talking about cigarettes. However, I have a rather responsible personality, so I decided going to Bulgaria would be a good opportunity to stop. So I left that behind. Days got more hours, time was better spent, energy was restored.

Besides this, there was something else. Besides having a responsible personality, I also have a rather lazy (I say: effective) personality. I do what must absolutely be done and then I go back to doing nothing. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’ve always been getting good results for this (hence me dubbing it “effective”). Anyway, I didn’t have my placement secured just before the summer, so in the summer, and especially the two weeks before leaving, I had to do a lot. It was a moment-to-moment rush and when I came to Bulgaria I was still in that rush, minus the cannabis to calm me (and my mind) down. So I started doing a lot, arranging everything very fast and within no time I was settled.

Here comes the problem though… When I sit at home, I can’t relax. I have to do something. I realize now that this sounds similar to nicotine withdrawal (I think, anyway), which would also be it, because I didn’t smoke cigarettes, but I smoked enough to get myself a nicotine addiction. In Holland I got rather used to not doing what I had to do, so there was always something I should be doing instead of relaxing. I have the same feeling here, but there are only a handful of things I have to do:
– Go to the bank where I opened an account, to get my card and settle some mistakes I made;
– Call my landlord to get internet at my place (I’m in a restaurant again now);
– Call an institute for languages to learn Bulgarian;
– Buy a coat, scarf and candles.
But the last thing is not so pressing, I suppose.

Maybe it’s stress, yet I don’t feel stressed now, I feel very calm. It’s only when I sit around the house that I get the feeling I have to do something. Ahh well, I’ll just fix the things on the list and see how I feel then. My prediction: the same.

A sidenote: why is it that I can’t go anywhere without getting a card… They’re coming from all directions and closing in fast captain! Just now, while typing this post, someone struck up a conversation and added another card to my collection. This contact might actually be useful though. I hate it when people give you cards directly after you’ve introducd yourselves to each other. I will not call or email you if I don’t know you. I guess that’s a lesson for me. Don’t let it get to my head when I get my own card, haha.

September 24, 2007
Bon appetit!

Anyone else have the feeling that society’s crumbling?

Dollar hits new low against euro (BBC)
The US dollar hit a new record low against the euro as investors sold the currency after the Federal Reserve’s hefty interest rate cut.

Soaring prices add to Afghan misery (BBC)
As the residents of Kabul prepare to break their fast at the end of the day, the street markets in the centre of the city are as busy as ever. But this year, during the holy month of Ramadan, there is a real struggle to make ends meet.

The price of basic food and fuel has soared in recent months, putting enormous strain on consumers.

Burmese monks in pagoda protest (BBC)
On Wednesday, hundreds of monks marched through Sittwe, Mandalay and Rangoon. They want a government apology for the violent break-up of a recent rally, triggered by protests over price rises. There have been persistent protests across Burma since shock fuel price rises last month, which have led to a sharp rise in the price of consumer goods.

Gazans stock up after Israel decides on sanctions (AFP)
Gazans stocked up on food and fuel on Thursday as Israel faced a barrage of criticism over its decision to brand Hamas-run Gaza a “hostile entity” and possibly cut its basic supplies.

September 20, 2007
My favourite mindhack

I’m quite sure a lot of people will think I’m crazy after reading this, but I’m very sure that even more of you already think I’m crazy, so I’m going to go ahead and say it. I’m not going to go into the details of what the definition of a mindhack is (just click the word and learn), but I’ll tell you a trick of mine I use.

Understand that you’re lucky if you’re reading this. You have access to internet, which is an indicator of at least a basic level of wealth. You have no reason to feel sad, because people who do with less sometimes feel happier than you. This is part of my philosophy and I understand that happiness exists within and has no direct relation with any external reality.

Whenever I feel a bit down, I often wonder why this is. Why am I feeling bad? Is there a good reason? No. Whatever the reason is you’re feeling bad, you should not let that thing make you feel bad. Whether it was someone who was rude to you, nasty traffic or some bad luck… Don’t let it be worse than it is, by holding on to it and feeling bad.

So basically, I decided there is never a good reason to feel down. It never helps. So what I do is the following… The first step is that I basically think of BUNNIES! White bunnies! And it’s good to think of this word in a playful way while you visualize it… bunniiiieesssss! Then you can take these bunnieesssss and make them do something… Like dance to an AC/DC song. Make it ridiculous! The more ridiculous, the better!

Call me crazy, but it works. I usually laugh about how crazy it is to walk the streets and be thinking about white bunnies dancing to AC/DC. I fantasize about “what if other people knew I was thinking this, it’s so ridiculous”. Thinking about it now makes me laugh out loud. I have no idea where this thing came from, must have been under the influence of alcohol or something.

However, it still works. Maybe some of you have seen the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy” or saw Discovery Channel documentaries on the Kalahari Bushmen. Some of them live in harsh conditions now and the picture presented in the movie is a bit idealistic, but there are some that live the lifestyle presented in the film. I read a book called “Bushman Shaman: Awakening the Spirit through Ecstatic Dance” by Bradford Keeney. He goes into the details of their spirituality, which is arguably the oldest form of spirituality on our planet, and he says that one big part of their spirituality is that they ridicule everything. Nothing is holy to them, which is good. Their spirituality is ever-changing, like the energies of life itself.

The concept of ridiculing everything attracted me and led me to develop this technique. It works for me, don’t know about others. If it doesn’t work, find something ridiculous that works for you.

September 19, 2007
Why don’t you riot

… and protect your liberties.

Below are two videos of a student being tasered at a question & answer session with John Kerry. It’s ridiculous how everyone just stands by and does nothing… Seeing this makes my blood boil, I must say. Even though the kid’s an Alex Jones wannabe, who’s not a good idol to want to be.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag]

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw]

This is why I don’t want to set foot on American soil.

September 18, 2007

Babel

We are all familiar with the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. As I was walking the street, I suddenly realized that the interpretation of the metaphor, as it has been explained to me, is still too simplistic. For the people who are not very familiar with the story, I’ll give a short recap. The purpose of this recap is also to help you understand my thoughts, because I’m not very sure I know the Babel story perfectly.

So basically, once upon a time in the old world, all people speak the same language. This makes it easy to cooperate. So they decide to build a tower into the skies and go have a cup of tea with God. After a while (they get pretty high, I guess) God decides he prefers the dead to the living and will have none of these people in his kingdom. So what does he do? He magically makes people speak in different languages (that’s right, languages haven’t evolved over thousands of years either, God made them). So now, these people can’t cooperate anymore and they abandon the tower and spread throughout the world. That’s the story.

I believe this is a spiritual warning. We must not try to ‘be’ with God through material pursuit. This is exactly what we are doing; we’re creating a new Babel. The biggest group of people who speak English live in… China. We’re all adapting to the Latin alphabet and the English language and are cooperating to redesign the world to make it fit our needs. For me, the metaphor of ‘God’ means the sum of everything, all life, nature, matter, energy, ecologies et cetera. So we use our intelligence and capacities to act out of harmony with ‘God’ which I interpret as the all-encompassing ecology. The more we act out of harmony, the harder it will strike back. Maybe next time ‘God’ won’t divide us, but destroy us. The warning is there in the story of the Tower of Babel.

So how do we avoid this destruction? Simple. Get down from the fucking tower and let’s stop acting like Gods. Some people say that we can rape this planet, because “God created man in his own image”, unlike animals or other life. So we get to make the decisions about other life, like God does. Well, let’s turn this one around now and get more philosophical. I hate antitheism, because I dislike angry, arrogant atheists, they are just as bad as any other fundamentalists – because that’s what they are; fundamentalist atheists. However, I believe that “man created God in his own image”, because we have very limited minds, we cannot understand infinity. We don’t know what it’s like to be more intelligent than we are, because you’d have to be more intelligent to understand this in the first place. So God’s depicted as human, because that’s what WE are. We think we are gods, because we depict God as a man.

Let’s make a list of the elements I know from the story of the Tower of Babel and compare them to current society.

Babel	Modern day society
One language	Moving towards one language (English / Chinese)
The Tower	Our quest to create our own world
Splitting up in different languages	Ecological disaster, scarcity, famine, war (sorry)
Motivators: greed, vanity, dissatisfaction with what we are given.	Greed, vanity, dissatisfaction with what we are given.
Mass cooperation	Globalism

I bet there’s a lot more. I think I’ll read the story, because biblical stories or fairy tales are good vehicles for philosophy. Have a look at the work of Daniel Quinn for instance, he writes stories to educate about ecology.

The art depicting this story always shows that they got pretty far with building the tower, so either God is slow and didn’t understand what was going on until they got pretty close, or he’s a sadist. Or maybe God’s not a man… Maybe God is the force of the universe, or the force of nature to be more context-specific. If we pollute, there is no immediate repercussion. However, the more we pollute and the more ‘advanced’ (in our eyes) we become, the harder nature will strike back in the future. I think this is what the tower symbolizes. It shows what happens if we live in disharmony with all that around us, because of vain and greedy mindlessness.

I don’t propose to tear this tower down right now. That would be crazy. We have a long way down first, so let’s start walking. Downstairs we can live in peace, together, in one united world.

Check out all the other religious traditions with the same metaphor.

September 9, 2007