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Because a lot of things recently, both at home and out there in the big, bad world, have been forcing me to think about things. Because I am the kind of person who is prone to trying to figure out the meta-plot driving the world. Basically, because I'm a terminally curious and opinionated so'n'so. Musings about the world.
Don't read unless you really want to. Because it really is just me being stubborn and opinionated.
Caveat - take these for what they are, the musings of a fundamentally selfish and arrogant person. These are probably objectionable views. I don't care. They're my views, and people can argue with them to their heart's content. I never expect anyone to share an opinion that I probably won't even hold myself a few years down the line.
Regarding globalisation:
Or, regarding the whole big panic that the world is becoming a homogenous stew devoid of individuality, resulting from the destruction of original cultures and the borg-ifying of the planet. Hive-mind humanity, here we come.
You know, I find that funny. I really do. Because if you believe the Bible, there were four people on the planet, and already we had our first dispute. Humanity is never going to be homogenous. Humanity is never going to think as one. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, I'm not yet sure. It'd be nice to have one culture that had no-one to fight with, maybe. It'd be nicer to have lots of different, individual cultures that didn't feel the need to fight each other. But individuality is something we cling to, as long as we can, even if sometimes we wonder if maybe the other options are better. Safer. Maybe if one mind made all the decisions, we wouldn't have to. Maybe one mind made up of all minds would work, would manage democracy and everything else. Maybe it would be better.
But I'm selfish. I like being me. And I think there are too many other people like me for globalisation as the panic-press presents it to ever really become an option. Maybe that's a bad thing, too.
The one thing I do genuinely worry about in this regard is the whole guilt-complex everyone seems to be building up as a result of things like global media. I can't remember who said it, but I think they're right. There is a certain level of guilt becoming attached to just being alive in this day and age. And I don't like it.
I don't like being made to feel guilty over things I can't change. I don't like the ads on TV telling me that nine tenths of the world are suffering and in pain, and that I must feel sorry for them. Keep in mind that I am a selfish, selfish person. But more than that. One person cannot care about the whole world. One person cannot care about everything the global media tells you you should care about. To make it count, to actually care for people the way they should be cared about, to make it more than empty gestures, you'd have to care for them as people. As individuals. And I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Not for over six billion people.
If I can help, I will. But please, please stop trying to make me feel guilty for not being able to care about them the way I should. Please, stop telling me I have to care, that I'm evil if I don't. Because I can't, and I don't believe I'm evil for that.
And also, because I think it's dangerous. Because asking people to do something they cannot do, and making them feel guilty for not being able to, just means you're asking people to live their lives in guilt. And people can't cope with that. Sooner or later, purely to save sanity, people become inured to guilt.
And that would be a terrifying thing.
Regarding politics, of any sort:
I despise them. All of them. The whole game. I hate the ranting in circles over issues that are never going to be solved. I hate the flare-ups that accidentally rend countries in two, that set people against each other for the stupidest of reasons. And most of all, I think I hate the fact that these things are nonetheless necessary. That unless we want to go towards fascism, we're going to have to put up with the pointless arguing, and the stupid mistakes, and the hatreds that have no real cause if people only had time to think about it ... Because people are people. Because some follow, and some lead, and some stand aside. Because sometimes, sometimes ... they get it right. And no matter how much crap you have to endure in between ... sometimes they do get it right. And you've gotta hold on to the hope, do what you can to send things the right way, and endure everything that gets thrown at you instead, just so you can get to that one right thing.
You know what? It better be damn worth it!
And I'm the biggest optimistic idiot in the world, for hoping despite it all that it will.
Regarding religion:
I am not an atheist, however you spell that. I believe in ... something. I'm not sure what, yet. I will probably never be sure, until I actually meet whoever or whatever it is. I entertain thousands of notions in the meantime, trying to see what fits, but in the end, I doubt I'll ever fully decide what it is I believe. I don't see a reason to. I don't see a reason to try and fit a lid of certainty over what is fundamentally a question without an answer, and a fascinating one at that. So. I'm not an atheist. I just haven't defined what I believe, and am probably never going to.
That's as far as the divine goes, anyway. As regards other people, and how I deal with them, and how I feel they should deal with each other, I have very defined beliefs.
And one of those beliefs is that no-one, and I mean no-one, should ever look down on someone else for what they believe. There is no such thing as a superior belief, no matter what it is compared to. That doesn't mean I have to share that belief. It doesn't mean I have to agree with it, or in any way acknowledge that it is right. It might be. It might not. That's not the issue. What is the issue is that no person should ever be hurt or made to be afraid for holding a particular belief. And no-one should try to force a belief on anyone, either.
As far as I am concerned, given that nobody has a damned clue what the divine is, anyone could be right. We all could be dead wrong, too. I'm not sure I'd trust humanity to adequately translate divinity into something it could understand. I'm not sure divinity really trusts us for that either. Humans have a terrible tendancy to interpret things badly. And end up killing each other because of it.
But. This doesn't mean that because you might be right, that you can act with impunity. This doesn't mean I won't fight you if I'm pushed. Your belief system may tell you that you've a direct line to God, that you are his weapon on earth, and that I deserve to die. Well, honey, maybe you're right. Maybe you do have a direct line upstairs. Maybe I do deserve to die. Maybe anybody who doesn't believe genuinely deserves to die, according to the divine. But I ain't got any proof of that, except your word, and you know what? That ain't gonna be enough to make me lay down and die. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm going to hell, or whatever version you believe in, fine. I'll deal with that when it happens. But you don't get to decide when I get to go there. You don't get to decide for me what I believe, or dictate the consequences of my not doing so.
You can believe anything you want. But if your beliefs come into conflict with mine, if you do something I think is wrong, I will fight you. And maybe I'm wrong to do so. Maybe it's a sin, or a crime, or whatever you call it. Maybe it really is. Maybe you're right, and I'm wrong. I don't care. I'll still fight you, fight for what I believe. Because I'm that arrogant. Because if I've gotta go to hell, or wherever else, for doing so, fine. I can accept being wrong, if you can prove it to me. But I won't accept not being me. I won't accept hypocrisy.
If I'm wrong, if I'm damned, then I'm damn well gonna be damned for being me.
Just needed to get that lot off my chest. Take the whole thing with the proverbial pinch of salt. After all, I *could* be wrong. I more than likely am. But I felt like saying it.
Don't read unless you really want to. Because it really is just me being stubborn and opinionated.
Caveat - take these for what they are, the musings of a fundamentally selfish and arrogant person. These are probably objectionable views. I don't care. They're my views, and people can argue with them to their heart's content. I never expect anyone to share an opinion that I probably won't even hold myself a few years down the line.
Regarding globalisation:
Or, regarding the whole big panic that the world is becoming a homogenous stew devoid of individuality, resulting from the destruction of original cultures and the borg-ifying of the planet. Hive-mind humanity, here we come.
You know, I find that funny. I really do. Because if you believe the Bible, there were four people on the planet, and already we had our first dispute. Humanity is never going to be homogenous. Humanity is never going to think as one. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, I'm not yet sure. It'd be nice to have one culture that had no-one to fight with, maybe. It'd be nicer to have lots of different, individual cultures that didn't feel the need to fight each other. But individuality is something we cling to, as long as we can, even if sometimes we wonder if maybe the other options are better. Safer. Maybe if one mind made all the decisions, we wouldn't have to. Maybe one mind made up of all minds would work, would manage democracy and everything else. Maybe it would be better.
But I'm selfish. I like being me. And I think there are too many other people like me for globalisation as the panic-press presents it to ever really become an option. Maybe that's a bad thing, too.
The one thing I do genuinely worry about in this regard is the whole guilt-complex everyone seems to be building up as a result of things like global media. I can't remember who said it, but I think they're right. There is a certain level of guilt becoming attached to just being alive in this day and age. And I don't like it.
I don't like being made to feel guilty over things I can't change. I don't like the ads on TV telling me that nine tenths of the world are suffering and in pain, and that I must feel sorry for them. Keep in mind that I am a selfish, selfish person. But more than that. One person cannot care about the whole world. One person cannot care about everything the global media tells you you should care about. To make it count, to actually care for people the way they should be cared about, to make it more than empty gestures, you'd have to care for them as people. As individuals. And I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Not for over six billion people.
If I can help, I will. But please, please stop trying to make me feel guilty for not being able to care about them the way I should. Please, stop telling me I have to care, that I'm evil if I don't. Because I can't, and I don't believe I'm evil for that.
And also, because I think it's dangerous. Because asking people to do something they cannot do, and making them feel guilty for not being able to, just means you're asking people to live their lives in guilt. And people can't cope with that. Sooner or later, purely to save sanity, people become inured to guilt.
And that would be a terrifying thing.
Regarding politics, of any sort:
I despise them. All of them. The whole game. I hate the ranting in circles over issues that are never going to be solved. I hate the flare-ups that accidentally rend countries in two, that set people against each other for the stupidest of reasons. And most of all, I think I hate the fact that these things are nonetheless necessary. That unless we want to go towards fascism, we're going to have to put up with the pointless arguing, and the stupid mistakes, and the hatreds that have no real cause if people only had time to think about it ... Because people are people. Because some follow, and some lead, and some stand aside. Because sometimes, sometimes ... they get it right. And no matter how much crap you have to endure in between ... sometimes they do get it right. And you've gotta hold on to the hope, do what you can to send things the right way, and endure everything that gets thrown at you instead, just so you can get to that one right thing.
You know what? It better be damn worth it!
And I'm the biggest optimistic idiot in the world, for hoping despite it all that it will.
Regarding religion:
I am not an atheist, however you spell that. I believe in ... something. I'm not sure what, yet. I will probably never be sure, until I actually meet whoever or whatever it is. I entertain thousands of notions in the meantime, trying to see what fits, but in the end, I doubt I'll ever fully decide what it is I believe. I don't see a reason to. I don't see a reason to try and fit a lid of certainty over what is fundamentally a question without an answer, and a fascinating one at that. So. I'm not an atheist. I just haven't defined what I believe, and am probably never going to.
That's as far as the divine goes, anyway. As regards other people, and how I deal with them, and how I feel they should deal with each other, I have very defined beliefs.
And one of those beliefs is that no-one, and I mean no-one, should ever look down on someone else for what they believe. There is no such thing as a superior belief, no matter what it is compared to. That doesn't mean I have to share that belief. It doesn't mean I have to agree with it, or in any way acknowledge that it is right. It might be. It might not. That's not the issue. What is the issue is that no person should ever be hurt or made to be afraid for holding a particular belief. And no-one should try to force a belief on anyone, either.
As far as I am concerned, given that nobody has a damned clue what the divine is, anyone could be right. We all could be dead wrong, too. I'm not sure I'd trust humanity to adequately translate divinity into something it could understand. I'm not sure divinity really trusts us for that either. Humans have a terrible tendancy to interpret things badly. And end up killing each other because of it.
But. This doesn't mean that because you might be right, that you can act with impunity. This doesn't mean I won't fight you if I'm pushed. Your belief system may tell you that you've a direct line to God, that you are his weapon on earth, and that I deserve to die. Well, honey, maybe you're right. Maybe you do have a direct line upstairs. Maybe I do deserve to die. Maybe anybody who doesn't believe genuinely deserves to die, according to the divine. But I ain't got any proof of that, except your word, and you know what? That ain't gonna be enough to make me lay down and die. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm going to hell, or whatever version you believe in, fine. I'll deal with that when it happens. But you don't get to decide when I get to go there. You don't get to decide for me what I believe, or dictate the consequences of my not doing so.
You can believe anything you want. But if your beliefs come into conflict with mine, if you do something I think is wrong, I will fight you. And maybe I'm wrong to do so. Maybe it's a sin, or a crime, or whatever you call it. Maybe it really is. Maybe you're right, and I'm wrong. I don't care. I'll still fight you, fight for what I believe. Because I'm that arrogant. Because if I've gotta go to hell, or wherever else, for doing so, fine. I can accept being wrong, if you can prove it to me. But I won't accept not being me. I won't accept hypocrisy.
If I'm wrong, if I'm damned, then I'm damn well gonna be damned for being me.
Just needed to get that lot off my chest. Take the whole thing with the proverbial pinch of salt. After all, I *could* be wrong. I more than likely am. But I felt like saying it.
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