Crovax The Cursed (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} evincar) wrote,@ 2009-01-11 02:04:00 |
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state of the union address
My dear Compatriots, it seems we have made it, however haphazardly and drunkenly stumbling along, through another year on Earth. Many things are still going as bad as they could, and it would be a deep exaggeration to say anything is looking up, let alone things, but some cautious optimism is not wholly unwarranted. The imminent death of the big North-American automakers and the further economic collapse it will bring is a very encouraging sign of things to come. People are buying fewer cars, and more importantly they are buying less of the badly made trucks and large-sized gas guzzling shitpiles the automotive industry in the United States is known for. Granted, those people are checking their car-buying habit against their will, namely because they are too poor to buy a new car every year like they used to, but at this point we shall take the victories we can get. Any dent in this infinitely wasteful industry is a positive.
May we live to see the day when what kind of automobile one drives no longer defines and illustrates one's status in society. May we live to see the day when cars are no longer viewed as a mythical symbol of freedom, but rightly as an ugly, self-centered waste of perfectly good raw materials.
I dream of free public transportation for all. I dream of clear, smogless skies over our cities. I dream of a weekday morning when the smell of car exhaust does not mar the sweet smell of the wind rustling the tree leaves. I dream of those self-same leaves, unstained by the grey ash of morning traffic and tire rubber. This economic crisis will pass, and we will endure as always, but with a little luck, it will bring a shift in the paradigm of the Automobile, however slight.
On the spiritual front, our world seems to be maintaining its careening pace towards global religious war. Out of the din of weapon fire and bombardment, out of the chaos, we must find meaning. We must discover the driving force of these crises, their goals, their methods, their purpose. It is clear that some actors of the present conflicts--and indeed, all conflicts--are driven by greed. That much is easy to divine. Greed may well be the underlying factor in all of it, but it is not at the forefront. What made Israel decide to bomb Gaza to the ground? What made Hamas foolishly pull the Middle-Eastern badger by the tail, like the Hezbollah had done before them, and why did they not learn from the Lebanese group's mistake?
Someone down the line is profiting from this. It is easy--however right--to point fingers at the U.S. and the Big Oil cartel for supplying arms to the region, enabling both factions to have their war. But handing them weapons is not enough in itself to start a war. You need to ignite their passions somehow, and make them believe the other side is out to get them. Religion is their tool. The division in the Middle East has been carefully maintained and staged since the creation of the state of Israel.
Just think! It is 1945. Palestine, the Holy Land of every major Western religion, enjoys a few moments of uneasy peace after the horrors of Nazi Fascism which had trickled down through it and all the way to the Congo. Are the Jewish people an enemy? A distant one, perhaps, as anti-Semitism had been brewing for a century, from Europe to South Africa. The Jewish population in Palestine is small, but settlers have been trickling in steadily for a long time, and especially since 1881. Suddenly, the Palestinians see their lands re-appropriated by Western powers for the settlement of Jewish refugees. Displaced foreigners and nationals claim the entire region, creating refugees out of those who had lived there all their lives, and indeed for half a millennium. Muslims are moved into ghettos on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Both sides' underlying hostility towards each other is revived and compounded. Civil war erupts almost instantly.
For a moment, let us examine the situation with an important modification: the removal of religion. First of all, it has to be granted that the Second World War would have been a very different affair, and of course there would have been no genocide of the Jews, since there would be no such thing as a Jew, in the sense that it is understood today. Without a common religion and religion-enforced language, who could guess what would have become of the Hebrew people as they merged with various other populations? But, for the purpose of this exercise, let the focus be kept on the situation in Palestine after 1945.
What we have, then, is this: an Arab nation (but not Muslim, of course), moderately wealthy but wracked by war since the beginning of recorded history, being injected with roughly one million refugees from a war in Europe, turned into settlers. First great difference in this alternate history: they are not viewed as invaders or with latent hostility. What's more, they speak the same language as over ten percent of the population, so their integration should be quick and easy. They also happen to be the richest refugees one could hope for, as they bring huge financial and political backing from relatives in more stable countries, notably in the United States and Great Britain. Gentle readers, the situation I am describing here is one of a people welcoming new settlers with open arms. Sixty years later, this state would be so rich as to rival its oil-drenched neighbours. Jerusalem would be another Dubai, only bigger! The Middle East, collectively, would have an enormous political and economical weight, easily equal to that of the European Union.
One could very well speculate endlessly about the immense improvement this scenario would bring in the lives of millions in that region. But the point, I hope, has been made clear enough. Religion is the cancer of our society. It rots the core of every country it touches, and runs so deeply we sometimes have a hard time discerning its effect when its corrosion reaches the surface. Remove religion from the world and you hobble a large part of the impetus for conflict.
It is depressing to think that the powers in place would still be able to manufacture wars when it suits them; as I've said religion is a mere tool for them, but I cannot help but think it would be much harder to rile up a country or a region's inhabitants if they were all thinking rationally. More disquieting perhaps is the thought of a nation entering in a war rationally. On purpose and with clear reasons and goals. I would hope that it would happen less often in a world without religion.
On to other topics, dear Compatriots; I have harped long enough on my dim comprehension of the ongoing events on the oriental Mediterranean coast. And also on my growing resentment towards all things spiritual (by which I mean irrational). I have been following the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast for a few months and I am afraid it is starting to show. This is a positive thing.
On the creative front, personally, I am optimistic. I have been getting all sorts of ideas and inspirations and the point when they will reach critical mass and pour out of me and onto paper feels very near. I had, when NaNoWriMo started, worked on an outline for a novel I meant to write during that period. It did not quite work out that way, but the outline is there, and it could still happen. I think it would make a good book, if a little soul-destroying and bleak; making people happy is not one of my literary concerns. Many ideas for short stories and plays seem to be taking shape as well, and if I could break free of this paralyzing bout of utter sloth, by some miracle, my creative output could very well soar to heights I had never so much as dreamed of.
In fact, I have been to a few slam evenings in the past months, and plan to attend several others very soon. Specifically I have done four slams during two or these nights in Sherbrooke, in French, and I am hoping to make a first English slam at the Throw Collective's first slam gathering of the year at the Cagibi next Saturday. At least, if they are having one. It would be their first of the season.
Finally, hockey. The Habs have been doing well, hovering between fourth and fifth place in the whole league (and also fourth in the conference, due to Boston's inexplicable domination of the East). It is nice to see they are keeping their momentum from last year. I credit coach Carbonneau, who has taken this team firmly in hand. They have scored twenty-three goals in the last four games, which is a great sign that our offense is picking up. Our powerplay was first in the league last year, but this year it has been struggling. The six powerplay goals in the last three games should help.
Incidentally, tonight's win gets him the All-Star East team's assistant coach spot, with Boston's Claude Julien being the head coach, obviously. I think five of our players made the All-Star team, plus the coach; that is a good showing. The game will be in Montreal; I wish I could attend but ticket prices are astronomical because of the online scalpers like Ticketmaster and Co.
I think that is all for now. Have a good year, imaginary internet friends.
My dear Compatriots, it seems we have made it, however haphazardly and drunkenly stumbling along, through another year on Earth. Many things are still going as bad as they could, and it would be a deep exaggeration to say anything is looking up, let alone things, but some cautious optimism is not wholly unwarranted. The imminent death of the big North-American automakers and the further economic collapse it will bring is a very encouraging sign of things to come. People are buying fewer cars, and more importantly they are buying less of the badly made trucks and large-sized gas guzzling shitpiles the automotive industry in the United States is known for. Granted, those people are checking their car-buying habit against their will, namely because they are too poor to buy a new car every year like they used to, but at this point we shall take the victories we can get. Any dent in this infinitely wasteful industry is a positive.
May we live to see the day when what kind of automobile one drives no longer defines and illustrates one's status in society. May we live to see the day when cars are no longer viewed as a mythical symbol of freedom, but rightly as an ugly, self-centered waste of perfectly good raw materials.
I dream of free public transportation for all. I dream of clear, smogless skies over our cities. I dream of a weekday morning when the smell of car exhaust does not mar the sweet smell of the wind rustling the tree leaves. I dream of those self-same leaves, unstained by the grey ash of morning traffic and tire rubber. This economic crisis will pass, and we will endure as always, but with a little luck, it will bring a shift in the paradigm of the Automobile, however slight.
On the spiritual front, our world seems to be maintaining its careening pace towards global religious war. Out of the din of weapon fire and bombardment, out of the chaos, we must find meaning. We must discover the driving force of these crises, their goals, their methods, their purpose. It is clear that some actors of the present conflicts--and indeed, all conflicts--are driven by greed. That much is easy to divine. Greed may well be the underlying factor in all of it, but it is not at the forefront. What made Israel decide to bomb Gaza to the ground? What made Hamas foolishly pull the Middle-Eastern badger by the tail, like the Hezbollah had done before them, and why did they not learn from the Lebanese group's mistake?
Someone down the line is profiting from this. It is easy--however right--to point fingers at the U.S. and the Big Oil cartel for supplying arms to the region, enabling both factions to have their war. But handing them weapons is not enough in itself to start a war. You need to ignite their passions somehow, and make them believe the other side is out to get them. Religion is their tool. The division in the Middle East has been carefully maintained and staged since the creation of the state of Israel.
Just think! It is 1945. Palestine, the Holy Land of every major Western religion, enjoys a few moments of uneasy peace after the horrors of Nazi Fascism which had trickled down through it and all the way to the Congo. Are the Jewish people an enemy? A distant one, perhaps, as anti-Semitism had been brewing for a century, from Europe to South Africa. The Jewish population in Palestine is small, but settlers have been trickling in steadily for a long time, and especially since 1881. Suddenly, the Palestinians see their lands re-appropriated by Western powers for the settlement of Jewish refugees. Displaced foreigners and nationals claim the entire region, creating refugees out of those who had lived there all their lives, and indeed for half a millennium. Muslims are moved into ghettos on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Both sides' underlying hostility towards each other is revived and compounded. Civil war erupts almost instantly.
For a moment, let us examine the situation with an important modification: the removal of religion. First of all, it has to be granted that the Second World War would have been a very different affair, and of course there would have been no genocide of the Jews, since there would be no such thing as a Jew, in the sense that it is understood today. Without a common religion and religion-enforced language, who could guess what would have become of the Hebrew people as they merged with various other populations? But, for the purpose of this exercise, let the focus be kept on the situation in Palestine after 1945.
What we have, then, is this: an Arab nation (but not Muslim, of course), moderately wealthy but wracked by war since the beginning of recorded history, being injected with roughly one million refugees from a war in Europe, turned into settlers. First great difference in this alternate history: they are not viewed as invaders or with latent hostility. What's more, they speak the same language as over ten percent of the population, so their integration should be quick and easy. They also happen to be the richest refugees one could hope for, as they bring huge financial and political backing from relatives in more stable countries, notably in the United States and Great Britain. Gentle readers, the situation I am describing here is one of a people welcoming new settlers with open arms. Sixty years later, this state would be so rich as to rival its oil-drenched neighbours. Jerusalem would be another Dubai, only bigger! The Middle East, collectively, would have an enormous political and economical weight, easily equal to that of the European Union.
One could very well speculate endlessly about the immense improvement this scenario would bring in the lives of millions in that region. But the point, I hope, has been made clear enough. Religion is the cancer of our society. It rots the core of every country it touches, and runs so deeply we sometimes have a hard time discerning its effect when its corrosion reaches the surface. Remove religion from the world and you hobble a large part of the impetus for conflict.
It is depressing to think that the powers in place would still be able to manufacture wars when it suits them; as I've said religion is a mere tool for them, but I cannot help but think it would be much harder to rile up a country or a region's inhabitants if they were all thinking rationally. More disquieting perhaps is the thought of a nation entering in a war rationally. On purpose and with clear reasons and goals. I would hope that it would happen less often in a world without religion.
On to other topics, dear Compatriots; I have harped long enough on my dim comprehension of the ongoing events on the oriental Mediterranean coast. And also on my growing resentment towards all things spiritual (by which I mean irrational). I have been following the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast for a few months and I am afraid it is starting to show. This is a positive thing.
On the creative front, personally, I am optimistic. I have been getting all sorts of ideas and inspirations and the point when they will reach critical mass and pour out of me and onto paper feels very near. I had, when NaNoWriMo started, worked on an outline for a novel I meant to write during that period. It did not quite work out that way, but the outline is there, and it could still happen. I think it would make a good book, if a little soul-destroying and bleak; making people happy is not one of my literary concerns. Many ideas for short stories and plays seem to be taking shape as well, and if I could break free of this paralyzing bout of utter sloth, by some miracle, my creative output could very well soar to heights I had never so much as dreamed of.
In fact, I have been to a few slam evenings in the past months, and plan to attend several others very soon. Specifically I have done four slams during two or these nights in Sherbrooke, in French, and I am hoping to make a first English slam at the Throw Collective's first slam gathering of the year at the Cagibi next Saturday. At least, if they are having one. It would be their first of the season.
Finally, hockey. The Habs have been doing well, hovering between fourth and fifth place in the whole league (and also fourth in the conference, due to Boston's inexplicable domination of the East). It is nice to see they are keeping their momentum from last year. I credit coach Carbonneau, who has taken this team firmly in hand. They have scored twenty-three goals in the last four games, which is a great sign that our offense is picking up. Our powerplay was first in the league last year, but this year it has been struggling. The six powerplay goals in the last three games should help.
Incidentally, tonight's win gets him the All-Star East team's assistant coach spot, with Boston's Claude Julien being the head coach, obviously. I think five of our players made the All-Star team, plus the coach; that is a good showing. The game will be in Montreal; I wish I could attend but ticket prices are astronomical because of the online scalpers like Ticketmaster and Co.
I think that is all for now. Have a good year, imaginary internet friends.
