Terri Shiavo, or "How free thinkers are being culled from our society"

Yes, yes, I know, she's dead, and the issue is kind of moot at this point. Thats ok, because I dont want to talk about the issue. The issue was so clear from day one, that only someone who believes what the MSM tells them. A quick overview for those who dont get where im comming from:

• She said she didnt want to live life as a zombie.
• She is now a zombie. Her condition is not contraversial. There has been such an incredable amount of grey tissue loss that there is nothing left that is "Terri Shiavo" other then a shell.
• This campeign has been spearheaded by a mother who cant let go. I figured this out in under a minute. I know its tough to read people sometimes, but when someone describes a corpse (whether breathing or not) as her "life", that means they havnt let go.

That is all there is to it. Anything else was a media invention. And what an invention! America was in an uproar, and for what? To enable a breathing corpse to continue breathing, and to keep the false sense of motherhood alive in a desperate woman. Yeah, now theres a worthy cause we can all get behind.

Anyways, I'm not going to argue about Terri. To quote Paul Graham, "Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot.". Anyone who believes she should have lived is an idiot. What I'm going to talk about is the level of reaction that we have seen from it.

First of all, lets look at the MSM. We all know that as a general rule, todays media has heavy left-wing bias (or as one conservative commentator described it: “echo chamber of left and further-left scribblers and talkers and self-reinforcing head nodders who were overwhelmingly anti-Republican, anti-Christian, anti-military, anti-wealth, anti-business, and even anti-middle class". I just love that quote, all the statements apply to me even though I believe in christ and think liberals are just as dumb as conservatives). But this is most definately not a left-wing cause. The christian right is against euthanasia of all kinds (other then the kind that involves nukes and arabs), the american right is huge on family, and such a big deal being made of her husband remarrying is a good indicator of where this came from, and who it is targetted at.

We are watching propaganda in action folks. The american president pushing for special laws for a special situation consisting completely of dishonest hype. The country embroiled in an arguement over an issue that doesnt matter in any way, shape, or form, while remaining blissfully ignorant of the things going on which are imparative to address. Why dont we talk about globalization? Or the patriot act? Or the fact that the entire fuckin world is furious at you for acting like hitler, but are too scared of you to do anything about it? But instead of the global economy, the president of their country throwing away civil liberties that were bitterly fought for by their forefathers, or the fact that they are blithely walking towards ww3, the American public would rather blather on about shiavo.

Lets think back a few months ago, we saw a very similar situation. The american elections. After the previous ones, I said "Bush will not get another term, unless the democrats put up a total and complete incompitant to run against him.". I still stand by that. You watch the news, or the debates, or the interviews, waiting for someone, somewhere to ask a question that is real and that matters. Instead, we get this partisan bickering, arguments over gay marriage or abortion (which are far outside any conceivable jurisdiction of a federal governament by the way. The late, great Canadian Prime Minister Trudeux said it best: "The governament has no place in the peoples bedrooms".). Of course, this is nothing new, but in my short span on this earth I have never seen such firm division between right and left. It is like someone took all of north america, devided them up, and told them if your on the red team, you believe this. if you are on the blue team, you believe that.

It is just stunning the level of stupidity involved in partisan beliefs. I have halted pro-lifers in their tracks by saying "Noone wants to have an abortion. The fact that so many teens are having them nowadays means that there is something horribly wrong with the way we are bringing up our children. Attacking abortion will be bringing down the only possible way out these kids have, and give them no superior alternative. Fix the problem, or at least come up with a better band-aid before you go off on something you obviously havnt thought through.". Now, I believe I am an intelligent guy, but in the grand scheme of things there are PLENTY of people out there brighter then me. So where are they? Why is my voice the only voice of reason in this cacaphony of zealtry and idiocy?

I believe these people, people like me, are the free thinkers. We make our own beliefs, and pass them down to others. We dont accept the tripe that our culture tries to shove down our throats. We are also in short supply.

Once, long ago, america was lead by free thinkers. Read some James Madison (known as the father of the american constitution), and you will see an incredable amount of intelligence and forsight. It is no longer the case, we are targetted now at the elementary school level as troublesome, and have our excess will, determination, innovation, and creativy beaten out of us. We scare the leaders, because we challenge the very reality they have constructed. So they have created an environment that doesnt stifle us so much as strengthen our greatest opponent, idiocy.

Our world today is black and white. Red or blue. Left or right. Christian or muslem. I am constantly attacked for things I do not believe in, and have never professed to believe in, because the assumption is made that since I believe in something else, I must believe in this too. I am considered left wing by the right, right wing by the left, anti-christian by the christians, christian by the atheists, a warmonger to the pacifists, and a coward by the warmongers. I have learned that to say anything worth saying will result in meaningless arguments around things that mean nothing, and will continue until I lose the will to fight it any longer. I have learned to keep my mouth shut, to keep my ideas to myself, and to distance myself from the very things that NEED people like me to change them.

So to answer my question, the reason the world is so devoid of free thought is because the free thinkers are tired of trying to shout over the throngs of sheep that will fight to the bitter end for something that someone else believes in. That isnt the case accross the board, there exist small candels in the darkness. The old hackers are pretty much to a man free thinkers, by very definition they have to be to be true innovators. You see men like noam chompsky, who started out full of purpose, but have wasted their lives arguing petty arguments and accomplishing nothing. You hear the protest singers of the underground screaming their songs, but the only ones listening are the informed, or kids who are in love with the image, not the soul that lies behind it. But these are the exceptions. Daily life is tightly controlled, pasturized, and rationed in familiar and comfortable bite sized morsals. Dont rock the boat, dont challenge someones mind, dont grow beyond yourself. Just continue in mindless, boring, day to day routine until any desire for something different is bread out of you, and you become another brick in the wall.

"Turn Those Clapping Hands Into Angry Balled Fists"

Sleep on pillows made is Singapore
Wrapped in comforters
Sweatin through sheets
Drinkin coffee in the morning
Floatin on Airplanes across the vast seas

And your house is made of wood
Central air, central heat
You got your furniture on particle board
Your doors are locked for, for safety

And your walkin around in shoes
Pants of denim, a black cotton sweatshirt
And you do what you do
because doing, you start to form a habit

And you drink all night long
And you sleep through the morning
And if something doesn't break
I'm just gonna go, go fucking insane

And you sweep up the floor when its dirty
You do the dishes, when the sinks full
And when the refridgerators empty
well its time its time its time, its time to go the store

You put your books on a shelf
Clothes arranged in the closet
You hang the things on the wall that you dont wanna be so easily forgotten

I hate these songs
I hate the words
That the singer is singin to me
I hate this melody
I hate this stupid fucking drum beat

But I'm not gonna tell anyone
What I'm really thinking about
Keep the convorsations on the surface
Just keep on smiling
Just keep on saying
Everythings gonna be alright
Its gonna be alright
Alright

-Tom Gabel, Against Me!