http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/aug/28/rachel-corrie-israel-human-rights-video

This isn't really a debate, i just thought I'd share a bob dylan poem I hadn't heard in years, johnbonham32's debate on his grandson's music reminded me of it, and I think its worth sharing for those who may not have heard it, maybe they'll have something say, I know it inspired me to write a lot.

  Can we “make it” in this world on our own, in the absence of any positive influences, is a man doomed to failure? Can a man find "the way" on his own? Can any man be an island or a light onto himself?  

From the moment we leave the womb our actions on this earth are accounted for, it seems to me that real individualism is dying, and our society is the judge, jury, and executioner. Nobody notices or cares however, because most people are far too busy gratifying themselves or making money, our modern society has been sown on the seeds of over indulgence. In our age of advanced technology, spiritual destruction has never been more prevalent. Our cultural life (the cultural life of the masses), and its internal dialogue and discourse have dissolved into nothing more than a series of perpetual platitudes. The real irony of this disgusting display is the fact that people believe the opposite to be the case, everyone thinks they are real individuals, everyone thinks they're free. We're free alright, we're free to feed at the trough of cultural mediocrity, and free to drown in a sea of worthless amusements. Orwell was wrong, Huxley was right, we will not be deprived of the necessary informantion, rather, we will be flooded with so much vacuous drivvle or cultural garbage that we won't notice or care what the necessary information has to say. We won't be locked in some Soviet style Gulag, or taken to the ministry of truth to be re-educated, we will be made to like and enjoy our cages, we will be made content with our servitude, we will be fed an endless supply of worthless information in the form of entertainment (like the Soma of Huxley's brave new world, if you will), and anyone who feel's a little uneasy can easily medicate themselves with Prozac  (actual Soma of Huxley's brave new world, if you will), all this will be done to titillate and tantalise us into passivity. In case some of you are thinking this sounds like some conspiracy theory involving a big evil group of elites with a coherent ideology designed to appeal to our worse tendencies, think again, this is no conspiracy theory, this is the reality of what has become of western culture in the modern day, and we have only ourselves to blame. You may consider this a complete over dramatisation, or a form of gradiose hyperbole; you may view it as overly pessimistic, or you may think it is unnecessary whining, and there may be some truth to those positions, but you can't deny that our world is headed in this direction. Huxley wrote "a brave new world" in 1932, and he wote an article entitled "a brave new world revisted" in 1958 in order to document how his vision for society was progressing. He concluded that the world was becoming like "Brave New World" much faster than he originally thought. While its impossible to say what the future holds, the signs are certainly ominus, also, this is in no way an attempt to demonise technology. Technology could (and is in some sectors of society) be used to make our culture and discourse more vibrant, conscientious, and novel than any that has ever existed.  

Julian Assange's long awaited t.v. show "The World Tomorrow"will be launched this Tuesday the 17th of April on Russia Today. Many within global media have speculated as to why Assange chose RT, he explained by saying: "A lot of the things that we have been trying to report have not been carried accurately in the mainstream press. There are many, many fine exceptions but when we look at international networks there’s really only two that are worth speaking about, and that’s RT and Al Jazeera." A spokesperson for RT had the following to say: "RT is rallying a global audience of open-minded people who question what they see in mainstream media and we are proud to premiere Julian Assange's new project," Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement on the television network's website. "We provided Julian a platform to reach the world and gave him total editorial freedom. He is absolutely the right person to bring alternative opinions to our viewers around the globe." At the very least the show promises to be provocative, and probably very revealing. In my opinion this is a definite must see for anyone who likes their news to be truthful, and not simply pander to their primitive predjudices, or reinforce their small minded views on how the world works.

Our existence is bound by custom and tradition, they give our existence structure and meaning, a sense of staving off the dreaded  irrational mind, the need to imbue ourselves with a form of life nourished by routine, we are the forces we cannot control, this is how they mold and shape us like ameoba engulfing plankton.

Watch the following and weep for the beauty and grace in the agony of a race who have suffered more than all others:

We've heard of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic warming, some of us may not beleive it (due primarily to corporate propaganda) , but it is a reality, now, concensus doesn't mean 100% agreement, it may imply it, but since a general agreement has been reached, there exists a scientific consensus. However, science should be concerned with probabilties, not certainties, and definitely not consensual agreement. Reaching a consensus is a method of solving human differences, and although climate change, or global/anthropogenic warming may well have been created by man, if we are to understand our earth, and learn how to tackle this problem that threatens the existence of our species (and many others), then the welfare of mankind needs to be secondary priority.       Note: Consensus implies that the dissenting vioces can live with the judgement, whilst I acknowledge this criterion has not been universally met, I feel the number of dissenting scientists is not large enough to reduce sufficiently the accuracy of its meaning, and thereby make its use invalid.

I think the title/proposition is  clear, I assert that because thiest's (the main one's anyway i.e. Christians, Jews, and Muslims) utilise the authority of their own individual tradition as a basis for the position's they hold on the nature of reality they will never convince anyone who doe not subscribe to that tradition, they may convert someone to their faith, and thus convince them, but as long as that person refuses to subscribe to the faith in question, they will never be swayed by it's arguments.  

Is competition really as invauable to a society as many people claim? Most societies founded on communistic and socialistic ideals would seek to abolish competition in favour of cooperation, is this an inherent weakness or an inherent strength? Many anarchist societies would probably seek to do likewise, or at the very least, would compromise and meet somewhere in the middle. So, is competition as indispenable as so many people seem to think? Is it as necessary for the continued prosperity and productivity of a society (big or small) as we are led to beleive it is? Is it really necessary for a society to continually advance and progress? When I use these words I mean them in the most general sense possible as everybody has different ideas or conceptions about exactly what constitutes progress, advancement and prosperity, some may view the advancement of science and technology as the ultimate goal, but scientific advancement doesn't necessarily imply moral and ethical advancement, so, without going into too much detail on my own views, what do you think?

The last bastion of freech speech (i.e. the world wide web) is being subjected to a scurrilous attack from the US government in an attempt to censor it. SOPA and PIPA give the US government the right to attack someone legally for simply downloading or streaming a copyright protected movie, this carries a maximum penalty of up to 5 years in federal prison. The holywood copyright cartel are using the old copyright infringement excuse to impose these draconian measures.   I don't need to tell anyone reading this the importance of keeping the internet free and open, this is first step towards serious internet censorship, the internet has long been the scourge of  tyranny due its incorruptibility as a source of information. All other sources have been manipulated to great effect, even in the supposedly free world information from any major media outlet must be met with scepticism and suspicion, and nowhere is this more true than in the US, but even in Europe very few media outlets can be trusted (that includes the BBC).  Today Wikipedia, Reddit, BoingBoing, Wordpress, MoveOn.org and Mozilla, creators of the Firefox Web browser have shut down in protest against these proposed laws, you'll notice this if you log onto to any of these sites today.   

Watch the  video (at 3:35). It is hiliarious, they get a Ron Paul supporter from the military to come on and say why he voted for Paul, the presenter immediately notices the tattoo of the twin towers on his neck (obviously hoping to evoke sympathy), she thinks this guy is a red neck, then he starts talking and they quickly realise he isn't a pre-programmed drone, he actually has a mind of his own, and he's about to make the truth known, fortunately a technical error comes to the rescue. This from CNN, one of the more respectable mainstream media organisations in the US. European news media is jammed full of propaganda and bias as well, but you wouldn't see this happen on a major European news network. America is drowning in a sea of lies and propaganda. Also, I can't wait for the Pyg to come along and tell me that it was a simple coincidence that the feed cut out just as he was about to start talking about Isreal, pffftt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the last convoy of US soldier leaving Iraq today i thought it prudent to create a debate on the topic. This event has been made intentionally low key, the issue has long since left the minds of most americans currently more concerned with their domestic economy. With the most reliable estimates putting the number of casualities at 1.2 million, what was it all for? I found this video which really summed up my thoughts on the matter. Please give me yours.

Please listen and tell me you if you agree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36MT5lAMrc&feature=related