My Millionth Masterpiece

I thought it was time to share this... My Masterpiece.

I may change it in the future, so check back ^_^

Good Point

This pseudo interview was published about two weeks after 9-11, but I think it still makes a good point.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28151

So if anybody ever happens to blink in my direction in their wondrous Web 2.0 experience, I'll be able to shed a little light on this amazing piece.

Are we the American Terrorists?

I was recently scouting through Yahoo! Answers, when I came across a question that I found severely interesting in its concept. It was a question about the war, and though badly written, it was good food for thought.

To quote him/her exactly the question was;
Are all the Americans terrorists because Bush is killing people in Iraq and Afganistan?

He continued on in is not-so-clear-clarification to say:
Is it fair to consider the whole as terrorists because one has committed some crime ?

At first, I took the question to mean something a little bit different than what it did. What I understand now is that this was probably an Afghani who was trying to make the point that its not fair to say that people from Afghanistan are terrorists because of a few peoples actions.

When I went to click answer, I hadn't yet realized this and I took it at face value.

I went to answer something along the lines of:
Are both President Bush and U.S. Troops terrorist because they are killing people in Iraq?

My answer is as follows. Please read it, and tell me what you think.

Asking if the U.S. soldiers are terrorists is obviously going to spark some excitement. As you have seem from some of your responses you have already received, I think you would agree.

Had you been just a little clearer in your questioning I think you would have gotten more thought out answers, but whats done is done.

Here is mine.

Answering this question requires that we hash out first what a terrorist is. Resorting back to the old fashioned 'what does the dictionary say' technique, I've taken this from dictionary.com

ter·ror·ism [ter-uh-riz-uhm]
–noun
1.the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

a terrorist, obviously being a person who commits acts of terrorism would thus be:

A person who uses violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp for political purposes.

A man or woman who is taking a weapon to another human being is being violent, and if one is being violent in a war, they are I presume attempting to win the war.

The idea of wining a war is no doubt getting the other side to give up. To stop fighting the war. However, it is human nature to not give up if we don't have to. Not to give up if we think we have a chance. In order to make one side give up, the winning side has to make themselves - prove themselves to be more powerful. They must intimidate the opposing side.

My last point is, what is more political than war?

So, as the U.S. occupying Iraq, we ARE using violence, AND threats to intimidate or coerce the opposing side to give up the political issue over which we are disputing.

Simple answer: War is terrorism.

Longer answer: Every man or woman who participates in war is a terrorist, but I think the blame extends farther than that.

The Declaration of Independence states:

"...governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it ."

This paragraph says, that governments get their power only from the people they govern. It is the right of the people to alter their government. It is this phrase in the Declaration on which our institution of Democracy arguably stands, and it is this democracy that has given power to the officials of our government that has started this war. The consent that we have given them.

I will go so far as to say that not only are any of the U.S. troops currently fighting in this war terrorists, but consequently and without denial so is the establishment that sent them there.
Just as inarguably I will say that WE, the Citizens of the United States of America ARE TERRORISTS.

We are terrorists, but this does not make us sinners in the eye of man. This "sin" will forever lay in the purely subjective question of justification.

Are we justified in our terrorism? Thats not this question. That is not my answer.

Intellectual Genius

One of the classes I always wanted to take from the day I heard of it was AP Psychology. I was intruiged from day one, I even at one point set out to convince the teacher to let me take it before my Junior year, the lowest grade it is available to.

Well, I'm in it now, and lately we have been talking about intelligence, and specifically, intelligence tests. I came across an add for an online IQ test, and to satisfy curiosity, I took it.

It gave me the result you see above. I'd be giggling with pleasure if I thought the source was perfectly trustworthy, but seeing what I pasted above come hand in hand with a picture of a woman in her underwear on the same web page doesn't exactly convince me.

Someday I'd like to take an actual IQ test... see ho it compares.

The idea we built arround an absence.

I have decided that Life is fickle.
It likes to make you think, stop, choose, make a deduction, and then let you know you are wrong.
It happens all the time. You find out what is the best way to act in a certain type of situation, but then life points out that other people have other opinions, and different points of view.
One may be thinking that they have a really awesome friend. The two are really close, but then the next thing s/he knows, the friend only seems irritated at his/her presence.
Sometimes a person thinks they know someone...then they are floored when the person they where positive they know does something they never would have expected. Sometime something that hurts them.

Maybe fickle isn't the right word...Life is cruel or malicious. Unfair, "a bitch", devious... maybe I simply waste my time trying to find a word. Maybe none of the words work because rather than providing a definition, they place boundaries.
Providing a word as the walls that confine what it can be. It can't be anything else, because I gave it those boundaries. I used that word, I said it, I can't take it back.
Its like the meaning of life. No matter who suggests what the meaning of life may be...none of them seem to be correct. No matter how much logic is put into explaining it.
This is because its missing something, any definition to the meaning of life gives us a claustrophobic feeling...It doesn't touch us in that space that seems to be empty. Empty because we are devoid of meaning. Empty because we have created the idea of the meaning of life. Or rather, the hole where the meaning of life should be.
If we keep that hole close to us, we feel its emptiness. We long to fill it, and give ourselves a purpose.
Yet if we keep the hole far from us...push it away or brush it off, we aren't bothered. Those who do not dwell on the meaning of life, do
not worry about the meaning of life, and do not despair.
Does this make them ignorant? Even purposefully so? Is it a fear that keeps them from even touching the subject that weighs so heavily on our mind?
Or is it a wise choice? They keep themselves safe. They stay away from the pain.
Life is Fickle...I guess that is the right word. Not the only word - not a boundary - but an ingredient. An ingredient to which I now...seem to be havening a bad reaction.

I wrote this, in actuality, over a year and a half ago. I've put it one other place on the internet, but I thought it belonged here... so here it is.

In The New Theme of Things

Its rather disappointing for me to find that I had, for however long it was, someone who was actually paying attention to the things I said here...

Its rather unfortunate that they posted anonymously, as there is now no way for me to tell them I have returned... but I was having difficulty in understanding the point of my blog, when hardly anyone would read it. For the first time today I came around again and found I had a reader.

People who find themselves gravitating toward me, even if it is by way of the internet, are people who I want to keep with me - again, even if it by way of the internet.

So this is to you anonymous. Tell me when you come back. And find a way to identify yourself, find a way to let me refer to you.

and thank you.