Friggin' Divas...

Divas... Oh how I hate to harbor the disdain I have for you... but I harbor it anyways, and I can't help it.

Because... Lying to yourself about your self-worth is downright damnable. These divas and their shameless cognitive dissonance... at once, so self obsessed that they notice all of their flaws and have become conscious enough of them to get all wobbly-headed and finger-shaking whenever anyone such as seems to notice one of them, yet so over-the-top about how awesome they are that they, and the legions like them who have fallen in love with the makeup that these two syllables (Di-Va) provide, actually say stuff like, "I'm a Diva"... even when they can't sing. How many of you know what a diva really is. 'A diva is a celebrated female singer. The Italian term is used to describe a woman of rare, outstanding talent in the world of opera. ' Forget the real meaning, most of you chicks aren't even cool... and, your proclamation of divahood makes you much worse. The self obsession that points out your flaws and makes you self-conscious is the same general self-centered-ness that engenders these hollow diva claims. Choose one, self-conscious or conceited. All the nonsense has me dizzy as a Salvadore Dali painting. You're a diva huh? DESPITE YOURSELF...

But (and we all know that all great arguments are like good women in that they have massive, uningnorable but(t)s) perhaps this is not such a bad thing... at least not at first glance. It is when you give that diva a chance to tell you about themselves that the good evaporates.

In our transient world... where so many people we come in contact with, we never see again, makeup motivates people to improve themselves. The makeup that we all wear, man and woman alike, be it the stuff we put on our faces to hide blemishes, the clothes we wear that 'compliment' our figure, the way we have taught ourselves to walk or shake hands to exude confidence, or how we have altered our speaking voice to make ourselves more attractive/professional, serves as an advertisement for our understanding of perfection. When I see someone's bright red LV shoes that I like, I might go out and get some just like it. When I see someone's abs (I think this is when I'm supposed to say 'no homo'), I might hit the gym harder so I can get mine like that. Negative things can have the same effect. Seeing the fat dude coming out of mcdonald's could send me to the gym just as quick as an underarmour commercial (no homo again?). But... there is definitely a difference between the subtlety of wearing, speaking, or walking in a way that we think is attractive and the brash act of announcing one's diva (or "the man") status from the hilltops.

I suggest that we all be fly in silence... (ellipsis)

The Origin of AIDS

Firstly, I'd like to recommend the website www.documentary-film.net. It's great; it has a ton of interesting documentaries on it.

If the origin of AIDS is of any interest to you, check out the following documentary: http://www.documentary-film.net/search/watch-now.php?&ref=5

... (ellipsis)

Where is John Galt?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/04/27/ayn.rand.atlas.shrugged/index.html

... (ellipsis)

Taliban in Pakistan

The Taliban—from the Arabic word for student, “taleb”—are fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, mostly from Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes. The Taliban dominates large swaths of Afghanistan and a large part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
The Taliban seek to establish a puritanical caliphate that neither recognizes nor tolerates forms of Islam divergent from their own. They scorn democracy or any secular or pluralistic political process as an offense against Islam. The Taliban’s Islam, however, a close kin of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism, is far more perversion than interpretation. The Taliban’s version of Islamic law, or Sharia, is historically inaccurate, contradictory, self-serving and fundamentally deviant from prevailing interpretations of Islamic law and practice.

And they are encroaching on the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad.

... (Ellipsis)

Am I glad I left?

Not that I had any choice in the matter...

I recieved an email asking me if I am glad that I left Pakistan. The email contained this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/pakistan.taliban/index.html

... (Ellipsis)

GOD IS NOT GREAT?

The title of this post is not a declaration of my religious apathy... it's an ode to blasphemy, a sin personified best by the great thinker Christopher Hutchens, author of a book sharing the title of this post.

If fornication is sex as sin, Blasphemy is breath... as sin... to be alive, one must blaspheme, or at least perform it's cousin vanity's bidding. Blasphemy is no more than the public, exhibitionist cousin to vanity. Once expressed outwardly, that tendency for some to understand themselves as being larger in relation to God than the Church intends, is blasphemy. Some say blasphemy is the use of the name of one or more gods, in a manner which is considered objectionable by a religious authority. This manner is typically any usage that belittles these grand gods in such a way that they lose relative greatness to Us (I blaspheme with my capitalization) as humans. It may include using sacred names as stress expletives without intention to pray or speak of sacred matters (Christ!, for instance). It is also sometimes defined as language expressing disapproved beliefs, or disbelief. (God is not great!, for instance) "Blasphemy" may be used by extension to describe any display of gross irreverence towards any person or thing deemed worthy of exalted esteem. (The King of England, despite his Divine Right, is not right at all. Didn't he screw the Boleyn girls?) Sometimes the word "blasphemy" is used loosely to mean any profane language, for example in "With much hammering and blasphemy, the locomotive's replacement spring was finally fitted."-- cause we all know how mechanics curse, don't we? With such a diverse group of definitions for this one term... and such grave consequences for its execution: Mat. 12:31 says, “Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men..." it looks like we are all in trouble doesn't it? Cause blasphemy is just about any shocking public expression, from cursing to making any statement challenging those who are revered.

I honor blasphemy, as an idea, for the protection it provides Us from Us (I blaspheme again); from offending the great myths that we have made about our deaths, a stage that constitutes the vast and ever-growing majority of our futures... afterall, the Bible says that if we insult these myths in any way, they will magically cease to be our future realities... instead of myth, we will be given nightmare. I have also chosen to honor blasphemy in the same general, though more sound, way that some idiots in Springfield will one day honor a "great" coach like Larry Brown, who is capable of reining in a young and wild Allen Iverson... because the word blasphemy has come to symbolize our tendency, as humans, to be controlled by fear of the unknown yet inevitable... death. It is my belief that we cannot avoid blasphemy, at least not private blasphemy (although that adjective and noun might work together in oxymoronic opposition); we are all guilty, or blessed, with our questions...

And I do not honor blashphemy in any particularly blasphemous way... I do not honor it out of defiance to Him, nor out of hatred for life or Him. I honor blasphemy as that vain self-understanding, or search therefore, that makes real discussion, thought, and discovery possible. What shocks Us piques the attention of listeners and fosters educational environments.

Our ids require a me-centric approach to life which puts God second, places Him in our eternal vanity. He lives in our shadows... it is our fear of the darkness surrounding Him that incents us to exalt Him, praise Him, even capitalize HIM. Exalting Him, who we conveniently meet in our own personal armageddons (the only kind that me and Hutch believe in) brings light to the unknown darkness of death... and no more.

Just some dumbass thoughts... (Ellipsis)

Here's to Finding what we Want

So... In my time away I have been cooking up ways to give my blog some steam... I have enlisted a group of writers... two visionary mothereffers whose cups collectively runneth over with thoughts about the world... so look forward to their contributions.

As a man with the last name House, there is a sort of narcissism about my daily viewership of the show House M.D. As I watch the show, I find myself thinking, "hey, I do that too," or, "I say stuff like that all the time," in the same manner that I catch myself looking at my parents and noticing how similar I am becoming to them as I get older. Sometimes I almost feel like there's some genetic connection between House, M.D. and I although he is, for one, a caucasian male with blond hair and green or blue eyes, and, to make matters even more ridiculous, really a dude named Hugh Laurie from frigging England... both issues limiting the likelihood of any material genetic connection almost completely. There is definitely a delusionary quality to my "connection" with House, M.D. I guess it's kind of asexually Freudian, in a way; I kind of just want to be like House, M.D. He's ridiculously witty, great at figuring things out, flawed, nearly fatally, but has put himself in a position in life where his work and personality have negating moral effects... as shitty a guy as he might be, as many awful and unethical things as he might say or do to people, he's still saving lives. I'm trying to find that kind of freedom in a profession... I want my life work to be something so great that it allows me to just be who the hell I am and do what the hell I want... Here's to finding what we want... (ellipsis

What's Off Limits???

The American condition is an endless war of heterogeneity, the battles of which take place wherever the races and ethnic groups mix and mingle. There are many fronts, many different warring factions, many alliances, and many different weapons used in this war. Our institutions, when effective, manage to muzzle the roar of war, but the sheer existence of many of them, affirmative action being the first example to come to mind, evidences the fact that the war wages on. This war has the same types of participants as conventional wars:



The fractious and divisive leaders: your Rush Limbaughs and Al Sharptons

The Diplomats: Those who work to advance race and ethnic relations... to end the war.

The Protesters: your me's, and anyone else challenging the validity of the "enemy" lines that the war's leaders fight to advance.

The warriors: your typical citizen who has chosen to identify solidly within the confines of one conventional American ethnic identification category.



As the great American "melting pot" heats up, we are compelled more and more to avoid conflict by thinking more thoroughly before we speak. Who can say what?: a fundamental and very American question that must be asked repeatedly during hetergenious social interaction. Adding a third dimension to this question, depth if you will, are any or all of the following ammendments: when, to whom, and how? This post seeks to foster discussion about the 4th, oft-challenged dimension: why can one say something sometimes, to some people, and in some ways, while others can not?



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