Have you noticed the word like making its irritating permanence in our vocabulary? It is almost completely synonymous with said. Everybody sounds like a valley girl when they talk. And this bugs the hell out of me.

Among other uses, like can be used informally to indicate dialogue as reported speech, which indicates uncertainty. For example: when Angela says, “Jordan Catalano was like, ‘whatever.’ ” In this sense, we don’t really know what Jordan actually said, but it may have been “whatever.” We don’t know for sure because it’s an indefinite quote. Even if the words are actually correct, using like compromises its authenticity.

In our culture’s ongoing war over the human mind, we are continually losing these seemingly insignificant battles. Information comes from everywhere and there is so much to filter out that we often don’t. We remember what we must and store the rest as vague memory. It’s a stretch to imply that a simple misuse of a single word is the source of all our society’s crises, so naturally I’m not implying this at all. I’m identifying a symptom of an overall problem: spreading the resemblance of information is not the same as spreading information. This minor subconscious gaffe is not a source; it is an indicator. One of many. And it seeps into our society only to soften our foundation of knowledge.

The problem that conspiracy theories have isn’t their substance, it’s their context. That’s what people find ridiculous.

First, you have to agree with a few general statements: human beings have freedom of thought, freedom of action, and instinct to survive. This means that although you don’t think a certain way, that although you wouldn’t personally do something, you acknowledge that someone else might in order to survive.

Throughout history, there have been trillions of people that have all tried to survive. But the thing is, surviving is hard. Thinking is hard. Most people don’t want to have to focus on all of this at once, which is why we so easily submit to control. Since society began, we have gone through transitions of people having less to focus on. The first forms of government made it easier for people to live. They had food, laws, and protection in exchange for taxes and labour. Next came the tools that made our labour easier, and we didn’t have to do as much. Continued…

I went for drinks tonight with a friend that was raised largely in Africa by Israeli parents. We experienced a discussion where I argued that the basis for hatred was a learned behaviour. She argued the counterpoint, that humans are
predicated towards hatred, that it is our instinct to judge based on differences. What struck me most in this contrast of opinion wasn’t so much our perspectives, but the background of those perspectives. Continued…

Picture me yawning, stretching, and finally being awake. On ordinary Sundays, I would be at work right now, but due to this whole economic fiasco, my hours have been cut back. So today I slept in, catching up on what I didn’t manage to do Friday night or Saturday morning. And in the period between waking up and making it out of bed, I finished the last few segments of a documentary called the Ring of Power.

As we wake up in the morning, there is a process that our mind takes. We move from being asleep to being fully aware through slow perceptions of reality. First, you may wonder whether or not your dream actually happened. You may wonder where you are, why you’re so far on one side of the bed, why it’s so cold in the room.

The world is asleep. There are mechanisms in place to keep it asleep. Continued…

In the past, religion served two functions: to explain life and to provide order. Our species has evolved enough to execute these functions with rational means. We can explain the development of our complicated world without simple answers. We have a system of statutes and social expectations that provide peaceful boundaries. Our empirical understanding of the universe has progressed to a level that no longer requires a Creator that must be followed by penalty of damnation. Continued…

(Contains movie spoilers for a movie that you probably won’t see anyway.)

I just finished watching Quid Pro Quo. It’s about a paralyzed reporter who investigates a subculture group of able-bodied people who want to be disabled themselves. Some people in the group have gone to some lengths to try and become disabled, like paying doctors to amputate healthy legs. This shock element was used up in the first four minutes of the movie and then never developed. There were some twists near the end, like the main character regaining the ability to walk; but while the twists weren’t expected, they also weren’t interesting, especially the ending, how it explained something I wasn’t concerned with at all. It was a poor everything.

Just my opinion, of course.

A few years ago, I received an e-mail. It was forwarded to me probably with the intention of humour, although I seriously question the mental state of someone who would actually think it were funny. Strictly for context purposes, this is a condensation of what it read:

“Everyone seems to be wondering why Muslim terrorists are so quick to commit suicide. Let’s see now; no Jesus, no Christmas, no television, no cheerleaders, no hot dogs, no beer, no tailgate parties, no Wal-Mart, rags for clothes, towels for hats, your wives can’t shave, you can’t shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung, and women wear baggy dresses and veils and smell like your donkey. Then they tell you that when you die it all gets better! Is there a mystery here?” Continued…