Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
On 9/11
Lets all take a minute, and remember the tragedy that took place on that fateful day. lets all take a minute and think about its impact on the world. lets all take a minute and think about all the people who were murdered. lets all take a minute and think about the murderers. lets all take a minute, a moment of silence if you will, and stand in reverence for those lost.
lets all take a minute and take a minute and remember the past
lets all take a minute and prevent that past from becoming present once more.
lets all take a minute and turn our cheeks from others
lets all take a minute and cause death to our brothers
lets all take a minute and focus on what divides us, for it is our differences that prevail
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute to see virtue in bigotry
lets all take a minute and allow our ideals to veil reason
lets all take a minute and let pain conquer love
lets all take a minute and lose our humanity.
lets all take a minute and seek vengeance for our families
lets all take a minute and take the lives of the life takers
its time we moved on from remembrance and reverence in regards to great tragedies. they should not cause us to move in the direction of hate and revenge as they already do. we must rise above ourselves. we always hear how those who dont remember the past, are doomed to repeat its mistakes. world leaders, everyone for that matter, remembers the past. it has not brought us any closer to brotherhood. its our remembrance of our conflicts, the anger held by those with fallen family, and the vengeance which stems from not letting the past be the past that causes future strife. palestine and israel may be less angry with each other if they could forgive and forget the past conflicts. maybe relations between u.s.a and iran would be better too. to those who say that its not that easy...why cant it be? seriously. are we just making this more difficult than it has to be?
lets all take a minute to forgive
lets all take a minute to forget
lets all take a minute and take a minute and remember the past
lets all take a minute and prevent that past from becoming present once more.
lets all take a minute and turn our cheeks from others
lets all take a minute and cause death to our brothers
lets all take a minute and focus on what divides us, for it is our differences that prevail
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute and seek justice for the fallen
lets all take a minute to see virtue in bigotry
lets all take a minute and allow our ideals to veil reason
lets all take a minute and let pain conquer love
lets all take a minute and lose our humanity.
lets all take a minute and seek vengeance for our families
lets all take a minute and take the lives of the life takers
its time we moved on from remembrance and reverence in regards to great tragedies. they should not cause us to move in the direction of hate and revenge as they already do. we must rise above ourselves. we always hear how those who dont remember the past, are doomed to repeat its mistakes. world leaders, everyone for that matter, remembers the past. it has not brought us any closer to brotherhood. its our remembrance of our conflicts, the anger held by those with fallen family, and the vengeance which stems from not letting the past be the past that causes future strife. palestine and israel may be less angry with each other if they could forgive and forget the past conflicts. maybe relations between u.s.a and iran would be better too. to those who say that its not that easy...why cant it be? seriously. are we just making this more difficult than it has to be?
lets all take a minute to forgive
lets all take a minute to forget
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
On Music as an Artform
You know, ever think about music? i mean...really...think about music. what is music? why is music? 5 double-yous music? so why is a collection of noises pleasing, but another isnt? why does music evoke such powerful emotions in us? i mean, the shit can move you to tears faster than a kick to the sack. why is this?
cause music is a language. music IS the universal language. and it appeals to everyone cause whether they know it or not, the music is being processed in that part of the brain. when you hear the times they are a-changing and you get this.....feeling in your stomach, that things are moving forward, triumph. but at the same time brings you feelings of loss and sadness. it isnt just the lyrics, if bob just moaned the song (which hes done before) itd still move you. a song, can evoke such a complex emotion that i had to use 4 adjectives just to describe it POORLY. music surely is a gift.
and what have we done with this gift? we shat on it. no one creates music for anything than a fuck, a jump around and a holla!!!! those arent the only emotions humans are capable of so why is it thats the only music that gets pumped through the airwaves. i could make this a screed on the evils of industry, but fuck that i just wanna tlak about music. and how much i love it.
music can be used for so much. music can change the world, indicate the change has taken place, it can heal, and it can hurt. lets stop pumping out crap for the sake of music in it of itself. how can we insult all the great music that has been released in the past, released today, and to be released on the morrow with crap? how can we insult one of the few universal human things? music isnt meant to make money, its art, lets keep it that way.
cause music is a language. music IS the universal language. and it appeals to everyone cause whether they know it or not, the music is being processed in that part of the brain. when you hear the times they are a-changing and you get this.....feeling in your stomach, that things are moving forward, triumph. but at the same time brings you feelings of loss and sadness. it isnt just the lyrics, if bob just moaned the song (which hes done before) itd still move you. a song, can evoke such a complex emotion that i had to use 4 adjectives just to describe it POORLY. music surely is a gift.
and what have we done with this gift? we shat on it. no one creates music for anything than a fuck, a jump around and a holla!!!! those arent the only emotions humans are capable of so why is it thats the only music that gets pumped through the airwaves. i could make this a screed on the evils of industry, but fuck that i just wanna tlak about music. and how much i love it.
music can be used for so much. music can change the world, indicate the change has taken place, it can heal, and it can hurt. lets stop pumping out crap for the sake of music in it of itself. how can we insult all the great music that has been released in the past, released today, and to be released on the morrow with crap? how can we insult one of the few universal human things? music isnt meant to make money, its art, lets keep it that way.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
On Humanity
What makes us human? Really think about it. Is it our appearance? Is it the way humans communicate with a sort of grammar as opposed to how other animals do? Is it simple speciation as in how we cant breed with non humans and we therefor, are a species? What is it? There are so many different ways we can define ourselves and still call ourselves human, but what is it truely? I submit to you that it cannot be any of these. It cant be that humans have language and animals dont, because testing to see if theres syntax in chimp speak is almost impossible. For example, there is the english word, "she" and the mandarin or cantonese (i dunno which one, some kinda chinese) word "chi". now, it is very hard to accurately, and regularly hear the differences when its being said alternatively. adults fail miserably at this test, but babies can do it 100% accurately...think about why that is.
So this test was done on english speaking people, so they have had their whole lives using English, one fo the languages one of the two words belongs to. But what if we used people who could only speak swahili? Would their test scores be even lower? Well based on how babies did much better because they have yet to program any language and sound bias into their head, it wouldnt be too much of a leap to think that yes, swahili speakers would score lower because their brains are programed to hear swahili sounds over anything else, just as we english speakers hear she more often than chi, and the chinese hear chi more often than she.
so if we can barely analyze our own languages, how can we then pick up chimp speak, and see if it has grammar? we cant even tell them apart physically because our brains are programed to recognize the differences in human facial patterns, not chimp. In conclusion, one one of the most human things, grammar, is not what makes us human because other animals may have grammar, but due to the species gap, we cant tell. grammar for a species may just be a matter of perspective.
So what does make us human? If not language, how about our appearance? Well i say to you, what about how different we all look, are chinese people less human because of the extra fold of skin on the eyes? are black people more human because they have huge dicks? are bengalis the master race because they are in between all races? Within our appearances there is such great variation, that we cannot take appearance as a definition for humanity. If we did we'd be excluding some, and including others, and we all know that we identify blacks, jews, indians, orientals and whites as humans.
I submit to you, the reader, for your own questioning and evalutation that it is the seeking of ultimate truth that makes us human. to our knowlege, ants, elephants and sharks dont concern themselves with the answers to life, the universe and everything (if they did they'd know its 42)
. But we as humans do. The method through which we seek truth is irrelvant, be it science or religion. Both have different routes to the same goal. Both seek to answer the ultimate questions in life.
However, with that said, there are a lot of people, who are biologically human, but arent truely human if we accept that definition of humanity. Does this mean the definition is wrong? In my opinion, no. This is my argument, not a statement of fact because really, how can one state facts about such an abstract issue: Humans have a physical birth, just like every other creature on this planet; we go through life carrying out the functions of biological needs such as getting food, shelter, and making babies. What makes you think that going to university, learning so you can get a good job, so you can buy a nice house, get a nice wife and have kids is any different from a robin who gets up in the morning, flies around all day collecting the best twigs to build his nest, finding a partner, making babies and seeking food for them. In the end the two are pretty much the same thing. The same acts coloured differently.
It is when a person has their "spiritual" birth do they become a human. Its when they start questioning, pondering, THINKING do they shed the title of beast and assume the role of man. It is when the undergrad starts to think, why is everything, the way it is? It is when the Yogi looks within himself and asks, why does life flow so perfectly like a symphony? Why is a dead body different from a live one? All of these sorts of questions, are what makes us human. Dont shit yourself in thinking that you are a man or a woman if you only carry out biology. How can you say you have humanity when you are only carrying out the functions as stated by your DNA?
In closing, it is when a person starts to think are they born again as a human. I submit to you a challenge. Be a man. Think. Question. Wonder.
So this test was done on english speaking people, so they have had their whole lives using English, one fo the languages one of the two words belongs to. But what if we used people who could only speak swahili? Would their test scores be even lower? Well based on how babies did much better because they have yet to program any language and sound bias into their head, it wouldnt be too much of a leap to think that yes, swahili speakers would score lower because their brains are programed to hear swahili sounds over anything else, just as we english speakers hear she more often than chi, and the chinese hear chi more often than she.
so if we can barely analyze our own languages, how can we then pick up chimp speak, and see if it has grammar? we cant even tell them apart physically because our brains are programed to recognize the differences in human facial patterns, not chimp. In conclusion, one one of the most human things, grammar, is not what makes us human because other animals may have grammar, but due to the species gap, we cant tell. grammar for a species may just be a matter of perspective.
So what does make us human? If not language, how about our appearance? Well i say to you, what about how different we all look, are chinese people less human because of the extra fold of skin on the eyes? are black people more human because they have huge dicks? are bengalis the master race because they are in between all races? Within our appearances there is such great variation, that we cannot take appearance as a definition for humanity. If we did we'd be excluding some, and including others, and we all know that we identify blacks, jews, indians, orientals and whites as humans.
I submit to you, the reader, for your own questioning and evalutation that it is the seeking of ultimate truth that makes us human. to our knowlege, ants, elephants and sharks dont concern themselves with the answers to life, the universe and everything (if they did they'd know its 42)
. But we as humans do. The method through which we seek truth is irrelvant, be it science or religion. Both have different routes to the same goal. Both seek to answer the ultimate questions in life.
However, with that said, there are a lot of people, who are biologically human, but arent truely human if we accept that definition of humanity. Does this mean the definition is wrong? In my opinion, no. This is my argument, not a statement of fact because really, how can one state facts about such an abstract issue: Humans have a physical birth, just like every other creature on this planet; we go through life carrying out the functions of biological needs such as getting food, shelter, and making babies. What makes you think that going to university, learning so you can get a good job, so you can buy a nice house, get a nice wife and have kids is any different from a robin who gets up in the morning, flies around all day collecting the best twigs to build his nest, finding a partner, making babies and seeking food for them. In the end the two are pretty much the same thing. The same acts coloured differently.
It is when a person has their "spiritual" birth do they become a human. Its when they start questioning, pondering, THINKING do they shed the title of beast and assume the role of man. It is when the undergrad starts to think, why is everything, the way it is? It is when the Yogi looks within himself and asks, why does life flow so perfectly like a symphony? Why is a dead body different from a live one? All of these sorts of questions, are what makes us human. Dont shit yourself in thinking that you are a man or a woman if you only carry out biology. How can you say you have humanity when you are only carrying out the functions as stated by your DNA?
In closing, it is when a person starts to think are they born again as a human. I submit to you a challenge. Be a man. Think. Question. Wonder.
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